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It had been a couple of days since his suspension and Titus found himself needing to get away from school. Not that he had a lot of options on where he could go at the moment. Mostly it was to his dorm, Professor Zephron’s office, and any jobs he was assigned on campus. So far cleaning up the lunch room had been the worst and he was not looking forward to what joyful activity they had planned for him tomorrow. He supposed he should be thankful. Since his Uncle was close by and technically his guardian they were able to involve him and not his father. If his father got wind of this he risked a very likely chance he could be permanently ended.

His feet had taken him in no real direction but after a while the aches and pains that had been following him around since his crash caught up to him. The street was mostly lined with buildings and dark gnarled trees but every once in a while there was a bench and it was said bench he sat his a** on as gently as possible. Considering his crash he wasn't too worse for wear. A bruised rib or three, a cut on his lip and cheek and a small crack in his horn that had been mended with some sort of glue. Titus didn’t ask he was just glad he wasn’t going to be lopsided. How embarrassing that would be.

With a frustrated sigh he leaned back, resting his arms on the back of the bench as he stared up at the darkening sky. Life had certainly gotten difficult all of a sudden.

There were a number of people Titus had expected to see in and around the park. The very top of the list were old ladies feeding vermin. That was always a classic. Maybe some old dudes playing chess and of course the occasional scareling hell spawn. Maybe even some people getting high. It was a thing. What had not ranked on that list, or at least ranked very high, was Riyo.

The demon jerked slightly in surprise, wincing a bit as he did so. He had tensed muscles that would have been better off untensed(its a word now shh). Straightening slightly, his eyes giving away his discomfort, he turned to look at Riyo measuring carefully what he wanted to say. There were a number of things he thought of saying. None of them were particularly nice considering how their last conversation had ended.

After silence loomed for a bit longer Titus finally settled on something. He didn't have the willpower to really muster up an argument so he simply went with "Hey" as well. It was safe.

Leaning back Titus rested his arms on the back of the bench once again and did his best to play off like the subject matter didn’t bother him. It did. It really really did.

“Killing time since it’s the only thing I can do. My Uncle has my car and my games until I prove I deserve to have them back.” His tone was rather mocking apparently trying to imitate his Uncle’s words. Titus was very bad at imitations of other people but it seemed no one had bothered to tell him yet so the boil just kept at it when the moment presented itself.

He almost thought to mention his Uncle currently had his foxfires too but that was mostly because Titus didn’t have the means to get them food at the moment so it was better that way. His dorm room was oddly empty though.

“So why are you here? Looking for a new feline to add to your hoard?”

Titus wasn’t sure he believed Riyo. He didn’t go to her room often but there were a whole new variety of small pointy eared creatures there when he went each time. The collection had to grow somehow. “Right.” Fresh air, sure. That’s what he was doing too and not sitting here sulking and feeling sorry for himself.

When she asked about his Uncle, however, Titus gave Riyo a curious glance. Was she concerned that she might be in trouble? “Eh, a little. I think he would have preferred if I asked. You’re not in trouble if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Having had his fill of relaxing on the park bench Titus pushed his way up somehow keeping his groans of pain to a minimum. Once he was on his feet he faced Riyo. “I think he was more upset about me crashing into a car anyway.” He managed to say it fairly casually like it wasn’t a big deal.

Her response was not quite what Titus had expected and his look became curious as she questioned him like she hadn’t heard right.

“Yeah, I tried to fly home. It turned out not to be a good idea.” It didn’t clarify much. Especially how one has a car crash while flying but the demon left it at that.

“Listen...about the other night.” Titus wasn’t sure where he was going with that sentence when it started which was evident by the way it trailed off into silence. “I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I like having you around I’m just not ready for...for that.” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the word marriage but it was probably the best apology he had managed to muster in all his years.

“Yeah….that.” Titus struggled to clarify. “I mean I’ve been fighting the whole thing with Gina and my parents.”

She had taken his hand and it was a rare occasion because Titus didn’t pull away. He looked down at the point of contact and slowly wrapped his fingers around her hand to give it a light squeeze of his own. The demon had never really held hands before but the gesture was rather comforting and he didn’t realize how desperate he was for said comfort until it happened. Needless to say the last few days had been rather rough.

“So are you headed anywhere specific? I need to walk a little.” He had gotten a little stiff just from the short period of sitting down. Moving would likely help ease that a little.

Not sure when was the appropriate time to let go Titus continued to hold Riyo’s hand until she pulled away on her own. It was nice like this for the time being anyway.

Managing a rather flat stare Titus drew back his lip in a sneer. “Monster truck? Really. That’s rather insulting.” Shaking his head he just started to walk in a random direction. “You could have put in a little effort and come up with a name like ‘The Bulldozer’ or ‘Crusher’ or something. Sounds much more intimidating.”

“Playground?” Titus looked toward the playground equipment and the scarelings that were running around. It was such an odd question to ask. “Once.” He nodded trying to remember the experience.

“My mom took me because my father refused to take me.” He really couldn’t remember much else about it. Just his yelling father when they had gotten home. “How about you? Ever play on any of that stuff as a kid?”