Cromadh ar Chomhrá

Who: Aiden and Tensiel
Where: Dorian's home
When: Very, very late

The couch wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on, and Aiden had woken several times during the night to shift around until he finally sat up and grabbed the pack of cigarettes he had found under his car seat earlier from the table. He lit one, briefly wondering if he should open a window. Too tired to bother, Aiden rubbed his temple, he muttered in Gaelic more out of the fact that it was three in the morning than necessity. Necessity only came when he didn't want anyone else to understand what he was calling them. "Fucking couches. Should have just driven home."

Tensiel had been practicing being stealthy by necessity as she crept out of Caleb's room on her way to the bathroom. She hadn't wanted to disturb his sleeping, and so was using all her concentration to tip-toe and keep her balance as she leaned against the hallway wall on her way back. But then she was soundly distracted from her oh-so-stealthy steps by the smell of smoke.

Okays, if the house was burning down maybe she'd better do something about it.

Padding quietly and quickly as she could towards the scent, she paused when she realized that a) the house wasn't going to burn down, b) oh, hey, gaelic! and c) there was a strange man in Dorian's living room. Naturally, of all the things to be concerning herself with the most important was b) so she went up behind him and eyed the couch. Then him. Then the couch.

"Did the furniture bite you, too?"
Aiden didn't startle, instead he shifted his gaze to the young girl eying him curiously. Obviously this was Caleb's friend Dorian had taken in and while he wasn't surprised to see her standing in the room at this hour, he was mildly surprised that she spoke Gaelic. Without answering, Aiden set the lit cigarette on the ashtray Dorian had given him earlier, and grabbed his t-shirt from the arm of the couch, tugging it over his head before picking up his cigarette again.

"No, it didn't bite, though it's as uncomfortable as fuck." He eyed her warily and took a slow drag off his cigarette. "You know Gaelic." It wasn't really a question, as quite obviously she did. But she didn't sound Irish and Aiden rarely ran into anyone who could understand his language who wasn't.

Perfectly accustomed to people cursing away in such a pretty tongue, Tensiel rolled her eyes and leaned some of her weight on the back of the couch as she stayed standing there. "I lived in Ireland for a few months when I was small," she replied quietly. Her stomach felt very pinchy, and sore, but so long as she leaned some on something somehow it wasn't as painful. "You're supposed to be here, right?" She figured it might be prudent to ask.

Aiden turned his head just so to look at her, a smirk on his face. "Yes. I don't usually make it a habit of breaking into a strangers homes to crash on their couches. I'm Aiden," he said, finally introducing himself. "I knew Dorian in college and I'm in town for a bit visiting." It was strange to have a conversation with someone else in his native tongue. This girl was the first since he last saw his father and sister in Ireland a year, or so, ago. Stranger than that, she was a teenager. Teenagers tended to irritate him on principle and he usually avoided them at all costs. Having a conversation with one in Gaelic made him think that perhaps he was dreaming - or hallucinating. He motioned for her to sit on the couch, if she so wished. "Do you know whereabouts in Ireland you lived?"

Tensiel edged slowly and still-silently around the back of the couch, until she could take a seat on the end opposite Aiden. It was way easier to keep track of things when she was sitting, so this was welcome if they were going to have a conversation. She'd missed talking in Gaelic, and it hadn't been since she was last in Ireland that she had done so. "All around County Armagh in Northern Ireland, then over the border south to Dublin," she said, looking over at him. Most of their time had been in Northern Ireland in and around Armagh, for her father's calling - trying to bring some grace to unsettled times; but they'd gone south to Eire itself for several weeks afterward. "I'm Tensiel, hi."

"Armagh," Aiden repeated, studying her closely. "Small city, that is. I'd only been there once or twice when I was little. I grew up in Cathair na Gaillimhe," he explained, tapping the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray. Galway was the extreme opposite of Armagh, and he found it interesting that she had lived there, albeit briefly. "My father owns a store on Shop Street. But I'm not a big fan of Dublin, though. Too many tourists during the year." Aiden looked at her again before offering a cigarette. Yeah, she was clearly underage, but Aiden wasn't one for caring much about legalities. It would be impolite not to offer. "Do you like living in Michigan?"

She had to concentrate for a moment to recall the proper name for Galway, but she did. She hadn't made it there, but she wished she could go back and see all of the island one day. It'd been way too long, and she remembered the wish for that she'd felt when she spoke to Joshua and heard his accent. Silently she declined to smoke (never did, her mother would kill her - even if it wouldn't) leaned back into the couch a bit more and let her head tip back against it a bit more. "Michigan is nice, but I hear it becomes cold early and warm late," she answered, sticking her tongue out on the last bit. Ergh. Bad weather didn't endear her at all. "I just got here. You did too, I guess. If you'd ask that?"

He placed the pack of cigarettes back on the table after she declined. "Cold weather is not so bad," he told her absently. Of course, he usually had whiskey or a woman to keep him warm during those months. Aiden glanced at her as she asked the question. "A couple days ago. Just passing through." Although that was more likely to change if he had a legitimate job lined up for him. "You plan on living with Dorian and Caleb through school?"

It was odd, but Tensiel didn't think to question that this random guy on Dorian's couch knew her business. She looked at him properly though, at his features and his eyes particularly. Traveled like she was, Tensiel had seen so many kinds of faces and it was a private point of pride she had that once-in-a-while she could place somebody with how they looked. Place their blood, anyways. In the darker light though, it was hard to tell with Aiden - though of course his language and his words had already done it for her. "I can't. It's too long." She stated simply, quietly. "I'll find somewhere to stay, probably look soon. They already give me so much."

"Dorian's too nice for his own good. Even if it's an inconvenience to him." Aiden never considered his words may be blunt, or insensitive. It was the truth, and he had no reason to hide it, even if she was pretty young. What she would do if she left here was none of his business, and not his problem. He'd seen his fair share of teenage runaways. Kids annoyed with their parents, trying to prove a point they could survive on their own. Most of them couldn't, and wound up dead within the first few years away. He put out the remainder of his cigarette. "Even if you're a burden, he'd take offense if you decide to leave on the account that he's already done enough for you."

Tensiel rolled her eyes at him, as this was an obvious point. "I'm not going to tell him that. Or Caleb. But facts are facts." And surely, if this guy presumed to know so much about Dorian and life in general he'd have worked that out. Her hand brushed absently at her stomach, feeling the tender pinches in her flesh. Without Dorian's kindness, and Caleb's, there was no way she'd have made it far after fighting with that demon.

Of course, she also wouldn't still be in Marquette. She'd have stopped a few days and then taken off again. The girl looked around the darkened room and back to Aiden's face. "You're far from home, too."

He grinned in the dark at her, noting her discomfort as her hand fell against her stomach. But he didn't pry about whatever injury she may have. It was again, none of his business. "Ireland is where I was born, but I don't know if I'd call it my home." It hadn't been his home for several years. "I moved to New Orleans, which is where I met Dorian. I left Ireland when I was sixteen and I haven't been back except for a couple of weeks last year." Why he was still talking to this girl was beyond him. And talking about anything related to his personal life at that. He barely spoke to Dorian at those things, but for his hunting. "My sister, Shannon, and my father still live in Galway. America suits me," he told her, leaning back now, on the couch. He shot her a smile. "Everything moves much more quickly here."

"It does," Tensiel agreed, noticing the smile. A pause... "Except for how they talk, up here anyway." Compared with other places she'd lived, like the UK and Ireland, the pacing of words was much slower. Not that there was anything wrong with that, at all.

He chuckled and folded his arms across his chest. "Agreed. I think sometimes people get about a third of what I'm actually saying, but are too polite to ask me to repeat it. It's an advantage, if you're looking to confuse someone, or get them to agree to something they're not quite sure of." Aiden paused and looked at her, somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that he was having a conversation with a girl who looked only to be about fifteen, sixteen maybe. "I don't think Dorian would appreciate me keeping you up at this hour." Dorian probably wouldn't appreciate Aiden offering the young girl a smoke either, but that was beside the point.

A small half-frown for that. Not least because she kind of knew he was right. "Maybe he wouldn't appreciate me keeping you up at this hour, either." Fair enough, Tensiel knew she was tired and that it was late, but she was a free-agent (whether she wanted to be or not) and she picked her own bedtime. Unless Aiden just wanted to oust her so he could sleep, which was fine too. "Just tell me to skip off," she said with a perfectly transparent expression. "It's not like you can't be blunt."

Aiden really, really tried not to smile, but he couldn't help it. She'd called him out on...well, he wasn't quite sure what she had called him out on, but he had a feeling she had his number in check. Turning to her, he tried to keep his voice neutral, despite the amusement dancing inside of him. "Look, love, I'm not a resident of the house, nor am I a teenager. You're quite obviously hurt, or not feeling well," he said, motioning to her stomach, "and the last thing I need is for Dorian to get hacked off at me for keeping you awake when you should probably be sleeping."

Well... Dorian could probably be a handful if he was mad. And also, Tensiel didn't want to give him any reasons to punch stuff in hissy fits (he wasn't winning on that score - at all) so for his own good, it was probably a plan to prevent such things. Plus... he was right about her stomach (even if he didn't know why) and anyways, she had to sneak past Caleb again. Because he definitely wouldn't be happy about this. She sighed and reluctantly nodded. "If your fear of Dorian is this great, I should respect it." She said, with a sideways half-smile, getting up very slowly and transferring her weight down her arm to the side of the couch as she tried to keep from putting any strain on her middle. It took a good bit longer than it should have if she wasn't hurt, but she got back onto her feet and tried not to wince much. "Goodnight, Aiden. Mind to open a window," she said quietly.

He was about to bite back that he wasn't afraid of Dorian in the least, but he knew Tensiel was simply baiting him by her smile. Instead, he returned the small smile. "'Night, Tensiel." He watched her move slowly away from the couch and back toward the other room. When she disappeared from view, he sat silently for several moments, staring at the opposite wall before he got up and walked to the window, opening it just enough to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke by the morning. Returning to the couch, he lay back down, one arm up and under his head, the other resting lightly on his stomach. It was a long time before he finally fell asleep.