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Aphrodite whines softly in her sleep, curling up in a ball and nuzzling into her pillow. Zi meows softly, jumping up onto the bed and curling up beside Aphrodite.
Soon, Aphrodite was startled awake. She jumps in her sleep and immediately opens her eyes, bolting upward. She yelps once she sees Nishida, jumping again. “The hell are you doing in my room?!”
Nishida was very asleep. She didn't react to Aphrodite besides snoring louder.
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Aphrodite blinks, then gets up and covers her with a blanket before going to the kitchen. She grabs a small apple and quickly eats it, hiding any evidence that she even ate at all.
Nishida stirs slightly as the blanket is placed over her, but otherwise doesn't wake up for another 10 minutes.
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Aphrodite walks into her small study, sitting down and pulling out a book. She sighs softly and curls up in her chair, almost immediately getting immersed into her book. She doesn’t even notice when Nishida wakes up.
Nishida slowly opens her eyes to see that Aphrodite was no longer in her bed.
She tilts her head curiously, and looks down at the blanket covering her.
She did this? she wonders.
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Zi slowly opens his eyes, then gets up and stretches before jumping down off of the bed and slowly making his way to Aphrodite’s study. He meows at Nishida to follow.
Nishida chuckles, getting up and following Zi to the study.
She leans against the doorframe.
"I can smell the apple juice on your fingers." she says quietly.
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Aphrodite jumps and looks at her, “What…?” I washed my hands…what- She started to look panicked, slightly shaking.
Zi meows and jumps up in her lap, curling up and purring loudly.
"Look, apples have a lingering odor. Soap just masks odors, and doesn't get rid of them." Nishida says softly.
"I'm not mad. I'm not whoever hurt you in the past. I understand I messed up earlier by snapping at you." she says, sitting dow and looking away from Aphrodite.
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Aphrodite blinks, then huffs, putting on her ‘mask’. “Whatever…” She goes back to her book, petting Zi. In all reality, she forgave Nishida, but she wasn’t going to tell her that.
"But. It's also because I'm not whoever hurt you in the past that I'm willing to do my best to force you to eat. If I'm reading into this right - which Lord knows I'm probably not - people would always ask why you were eating, because your figure was, well. . . curvy?" Nishida asks quietly.
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Aphrodite sighs, “Just mind your business.”
Zi looks at Nishida and meows, almost to say ‘yes’.
Nishida smiles at the cat.
"Zi said I'm right." she murmurs.
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Aphrodite huffs, “He’s a cat. Now keep your nose in your business.”
"Says the one who decided to go cave diving to find a woman who's been rumored to have been trapped there without food or water for a long time. . . but sure, I'll mind my own business." Nishida snorts.
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Aphrodite looks back to her book, going silent. If it weren’t for the noise of a page turning every now and then, you’d think she wasn’t even there.
Nishida sighs.
"Your cat brought me back here. Did you know that?" she asks quietly.
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Aphrodite sighs, “Most likely you just followed him.”
Zi huffs and bumps his head into her arm, meowing softly.
Aphrodite hums and pets him, “Okay attention seeker…”
"No. He followed after me and stopped me from going too far." Nishida chuckles.
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Aphrodite rolls her eyes. “Whatever…” She continues reading.
"What, you don't believe me?" Nishida asks.
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“Nope. Not one bit.” Aphrodite flips a page, “I’m not one for trusting people.”
"And yet you agreed to let a lady who was, y'know, trapped in a cave for a very long time, live in your house. Who also has a very big sword." Nishida sighs.
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Aphrodite huffs, “Maybe I’m kind enough to let you stay?” She sighs softly, “Now hush. I’m trying to read.” In all reality, she somewhat hoped that the woman wasn’t all that sparing.
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(Meaning- chance of death-)
"And yet I'm trying to repay you with my own form of kindness and you won't have any of it. Tad bit hypocritical, if you ask me." Nishida huffs.
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Aphrodite huffs, “That’s because I don’t need repaying.” She almost aggressively flips her page.
Nishida rolls her eyes.
"It's common courtesy." she replies, just as aggressively as Aphrodite had flipped the page of her book.
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Aphrodite hums, “Well I guess I’m not showing such a thing. So why not drop the act.”
