When the woman spoke of how his father would be proud of him for what he was doing, Alburn felt the tip his ears getting hot. After hearing what she'd said, he came to an understand he'd spoke too much about him - more than he would've like to. Even so, something inside him felt lighter than it did. It was rather difficult to describe, but he hadn't felt something like this for a very long time. If he were to describe it, it didn't feel bad. It felt nice to have someone listen. For the majority of his life, he brushed people off and pushed away those that tried to get close to him that he forgot how it felt to have someone by your side, listening to whatever story you had to tell them. 

After a period of short silence, the woman at his side began to talk about her own father. Like him, she sounded fond of his existence - but only difference between them was that she wasn't talking about him in the past tense as he'd done. It meant that he was alive and well, which quite frankly, made Alburn a little envious. He would give anything to spend time with his father again - even if it was just for a few short moments to simply talk to him, to hear his voice, to be in his arms again. At the end of every year, he would visit the place he was buried, bring flowers and pour his favorite brand of whisky on his stone, but how could a dead man possibly speak? 

“I learned everything - and I mean everything - that I know from him. I remember when we would play tricks on some of the other students or monks, climb the mountains, dive down waterfalls. You name a pastime, there was a chance my father and I did it. He is, to me, the best dad in the world." She started to laugh, but tears started noticeably form within her eyes. Alburn never would've thought that he'd see such side of her. Though a warrior in nature, but right now, she looked like no more than a little girl who simply missed her home, being with her father. Perhaps it was true that everyone had a child inside their hearts. The feeling of home sickness was something that the male knew all too well. “Despite being away from home for so long, I find it hard to imagine life without him - you know? He's my hero.”

”You ought make an effort to visit your father, too, then," Alburn placed his hands in his pockets as his eyes wondered towards the city lights, "Not everyone has a father like you do, so... you should cherish whatever time you have with him while you still can. Not many people have the same privilege as you do. A life is as fleeting as those lights we see below us, you never know when one of them is going to disappear, you know?" 

With the winds blowing, the rooftops were getting a little cold now for his liking. He wanted to go back inside, but he wasn't sure if 'Remmy' was wished to do so, so he stood by her, waiting for the woman to dry her tears using the coat he landed her, all the while pretending that he wasn't watching her do so. Admittedly, this supposed light topic of their conversation did become a little too intense for the two of them, this was something even Alburn was forced to admit. It took quite a bit of self control to hold back what was about to pour forth earlier. 

“Is…there anything else you’d like to talk about? Anything else you’d like to do? Might do us both some good if the mood was lightened just a little bit.”

Alburn tilted his head, he came solely up here to simply avoid people from eves dropping on their conversation in regards to the 'Red-Eyed Maiden'. He never really thought about what they ought to do after that, really. There were still festivities going on below them, so... maybe they could go down there, or something. With that in mind, the Officer briefly checked his watch. The night was still yet young, but the time had gone by surprisingly fast. Now that he thought about it, 'Remmy' was an important guest of the party, and people would be wondering by now where she was. If she were to be reported missing, there was no doubt in his mind the entire crew in this station would be searching for her. 

The Police Chief certainly wouldn't be all too pleased if he found out that he'd ran off with the VIP on the rooftops. It was one of the restricted areas in this place, and not to mention, he might get the wrong idea, and cut his paycheck for this month. Given the type of a man that he was. Alburn certainly wouldn't be surprised if he'd do so without even hearing his point of view. Well, time to give her back to the crowd, he mused. Though preferably, he wanted to stay. With her. If anything, the only reason that kept him grounded to this event was his former enemy here. 

"Well, you're an important guest, aren't you?" Alburn asked rhetorically with his hand outstretched towards her, "I'm sure a lot of people are expecting you at this point." 

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As the woman's hand met his, Alburn could finger the softness of her fingers against the palm of his hand. Before he could make the first move, the woman suddenly closed the distance between them - and now, they were simply inches apart to a point of him being able to hear her breathing and feel the tiny heat radiating from her body. The male simply found himself paralyzed by it and his stomach tightened as her ruby eyes locked onto his own. It was almost as if venom was coursing through his veins. Strange, he never had any problems moving on his feet quickly when the two clashed blades with one another as they'd done typically in the past, but now, the Officer found himself in quite the predicament. It was... a bit troubling. Never in his life had he felt like this, not even once when someone came up to him like that.

The night was more eventful than he'd suspected. At first, he thought that meeting 'Remmy' would be rather troublesome, but instead of the two bickering, it almost seemed as if the bad blood between them almost ceased to exist altogether. Though by no means Alburn considered her a friend - or somesort, but... he felt like he could trust her. After all, all this time, she never lied to him once, even if he was her enemy for the past few months. 

Then, she suddenly raised her hand, gently putting fingers against the place where she gave that jagged brand on his face that he saw in the mirror every morning. Even now, he could still yet recall the burning sensation where the sword had split him open during their first encounter, but why was she so fascinated by the scar she gave him? Was it because she never truly noticed? Or was it simply out of random curiosity? Still, even with all these questions being raised in his head, he made no effort to stop her. It was fine - it was fine if she touched it. Despite the fact that it hurt previously, he couldn't say it didn't feel too unpleasant when her fingers touched it. 

He couldn't help but wonder what went through her head as she touched it.

"Did it hurt?" She'd suddenly ask, “It looks like it hurt.”

Alburn huffed in slight annoyance to the question. The way the two fought - of course it was meant for the other side to get hurt. If it didn't, well, it wouldn't exactly be considered a fight in the first place. The objective of a battle was to make the opponents on the other side to quit at the end of the day. Did she not realize this? Surely she should've known how painful the sting from a blade could be. Asking the obvious, he the man thought. "It actually hurt, a lot." He nodded, "The cut was pretty deep - so, they stitched it up, and well, it left the scar you're touching right now."

However, the woman fired off another question. This time, it felt almost as if she was trying to make him good on the promise that he'd made. Remy was a lot more sly than he'd made her out to be.... The woman giggled, almost teasingly. Well, he did promise her not to leave her alone if she needed him, and she certainly didn't want him to leave her alone with all the people down there. Technically, she was calling his help for that. If he said 'no', then he'd be going back on his word, wouldn't he? A small mist cloud formed from Alburn's elongated sigh. 

“I figured we could go down and mingle for a bit. Maybe dance? I-if you don’t mind, I mean. If you want, I was thinking it’d be nice if you could show me around town, too. I’m not familiar with this part of the Kingdom.”

"I can't dance," He shrugged. Well - that was a lie. It was more along the lines that he wasn't willing to. Not in front of all the people downstairs. Alburn couldn't stand being around large body of people, let alone dance with so many eyes on him. The last time he'd done something like this was with one of his teammates, and even then that was dance was obligatory, if anything. However, he certainly couldn't consider himself as a bad dancer in any sense of the word. "You're probably going to have more fun out of that if you ask someone else." 

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Alburn's protest against dancing was met with relatively sharp resistance from 'Remmy'. Well - it was more like he wasn't given any choice on the matter as he was quite literally dragged towards the door leading back inside. "Wait, I think this is a really bad idea...." But was she listening? Nope. Instead, the woman simply laughed it off, and dictated that he'd be the one accompanying her on this dance. Both of them somehow pulling it off wasn't exactly the problem here. Ever since he was a child, he was never good in front of large crowd, and with someone like Prime Minister of the Legion at his side - there was not a single doubt in his mind that a lot of eyes at the ball room would be on him.

However, she seemed to have notice some his reluctance in his steps downstairs; instead of stopping, the woman tightened the hold around his hand and didn't show any signs of letting go any time soon. She had him locked tight in her jaws. Alburn knew he was fighting a losing battle, so he simply surrendered. She probably wasn't going to listen to any of his pleas anyway, and getting the Prime Minister upset was the last thing he wanted. Only god knows the kind of shit storm he'd unleash if she went home angry. He'd never hear the end of it from Police Chief - or worse, so he went along. Even if he didn't like where this overall route was going.

Eventually, the two reached the ballroom. The Police Chief, as expected had a thing for theatrics and went out of his way to spent quite a bit of money on the decorations to make this place look like a ballroom. Knowing him, he spent most of this out of his pockets. Alburn couldn't imagine the amount of cash that went into making this whole this possible. It almost reminded him of a Vytal ball that he went to during his years as a Hunter-in-Training, if not a little less fancy. As soon as they made their way through the crowd, the male could already feel the eyes of many jealous man, and women staring daggers at his back. 

A palm of his hand met his face. I seriously can't believe I'm putting myself through this. 

The male then noticed the dancers. His eyes and ears caught onto the beat of their movements. All of them were moving in uniformed steps. One, two, three, four and five.... He counted on top of his head, getting a grasp of their overall pattern. All he had to do with copy them, right? He wasn't familiar with this sort of dance, but it certainly wasn't to his tastes. However, a little tug on his arm briefly threw off the male's focus towards the dance, forcing his attention to go to the woman at his side. 

“So - slow dancing, or something else?" Remmy grinned, almost excited. She seemed to be looking forward to this. “Kind of a typical little formal shindig, huh? Reminds me of the stories of the Vytal Ball. Always wanted to go, never got the chance.”

"Police Chief has a thing for formalities," Alburn spoke, "You're probably going to be hearing something like this a lot if he throws a big party."

As the music came to a stop, the male felt his stomach tighten again. He never felt so nervous since the Vytal ball when he had to dance in front of everyone, except he was in the same position as he was back in his teenage years. He swore to himself to some fictional god - if there was ever one up there, watching over him like an amused kid with a magnifying class over an ant, laughing at his overall misery, that after this dance, he would never do something like this again. However, Alburn had a feeling that somewhere in his gut this would not be the last time he'd have the pleasure of dancing. 

Once again, unfairly, the ball was on his court. Alburn officially have sealed his fate, and thus, the male gave a loud, audible sigh only enough for her to hear. The music was about to start soon, and she wanted him to lead the way. He tapped his foot to catch the timing, whether it was the music or the constant beating of his heart, he didn't know. 

"Okay, on my mark: Three... two... one...." Then it started, "Now." 

Alburn gently raised up Remmy's hand to his eye level, slowly leading her to the dance floor with everyone else. One... two... three.... the male silently counted under his breath as he moved about in sequence of movements that was literally drilled into his body. Despite the fact it's been years since he last danced, the male felt that he was getting a good grasp of it - though he did stumble here and there awkwardly from the lack of practice, but the male quickly fixed his overall balance. Four.... five... six.... Surprisingly, the male found it amazing how he was faring so well. 

Well - perhaps it also probably had to do with the fact that Remmy was also leading him long with some difficult parts that he wasn't exactly familiar, but for someone who hadn't danced for over 10 years. Not bad. 

"You're a good dancer," He spoke with his face leaning in for the part of the dance, "You took some lessons for this, haven't you?" 

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It didn't surprise Alburn to hear that she took some lessons in the past, but the reason for this was quite different than he'd first expected. Given some of the unsavory aspects of her criminal carreer with the White Fang, he'd thought that she had learned dancing for a use of the terrorist organization's assassination attempts. It didn't take a genius to figure out that a well-placed assassin would simply walk up to important targets like this event, ask them for a dance and kill them inconspiciously among the crowd of people while their guard was completely down. To the woman, however, it meant something else entirely: 

“A-…a few, here and there, yeah. I took lessons, hoping I’d have a chance to go to Vytal’s ball - that whole big shindig out at the Academy. Chance never came, though." She looked away from him, “Before the Siege of Rift, I…I was seeing someone - and we had planned to go to it together, but… H-he was killed in action, so…it never happened.”

The male grew silent, almost feeling terrible he'd even bother asking the question in the first place. Alburn never knew that a such simple, innocent inquriy would lead to pulling out something so traumatic. Only assumption that he had was that the man she'd talked about was her lover (it couldn't have been anything else anyway), and seeing how she talked about this 'Siege of Rift', the event of his death couldn't have been all that too far off from the pieces of the conversation he gathered from her. The Officer had to wonder, however, just what kind of a person was he for 'Remmy' to care about him so dearly? What did he do while he was still alive? Even if he wanted to ask these questions, he didn't think she'd be so willing to answer them.

Perhaps such things were better reserved for some other time, but even so... he wanted to say something. Something to make her feel, well, less sad, really. Alburn wasn't exactly religious, so he couldn't find it in himself to say that he was probably in a better place - or was in good hands. All he could find it in himself to say was: "Hn, sorry to hear that." 

Once again, the dance started to slow, and Alburn leaned away from 'Remmy' to give her some breathing space. She almost seemed to suffocate with him leaning up so close when he asked that question, Almost immediatley, the woman's mood seemed to lighten up a little. Even though the painful subject had been brought up, she seemed to be coping rather well, and genuinely having fun. A small smile grew on the Officer's face at the realization, but it quickly faded as it appeared. Perhaps there was no need for him to really say anything, after all.   

“So, what about you? Did you take lessons? For someone who can’t dance, you seem pretty good on your feet.”

Alburn huffed. She was teasing him again, but the male showed little surprise to it. Yes, he technically lied, and that was not something that he was afraid to admit. The reason being, again, he just didn't want to dance in front of all these people. "Well, I lied," He sharply admitted. Perhaps there was a slight tinge of anger to his voice that he was being teased about this. "And Vytal tends to teach you a wide variety of things. Ballroom dancing, for some odd reason, happened to be part of it. In preparation for that big ball, no doubt. And no, you're not the first woman that I've danced with." 

Eventually, the music seemed to come to a halt, and Alburn came to a uniformed stop with the rest of the dancers, finishing in the exact same position as they were. The crowd outside of the circle clapped their hands, and already a next batch of dancers were coming into the circle. Surprisingly enough, Alburn had worked up quite a bit of sweat even though he was far from tired. Who would've thought that dancing would be so difficult...? He actually found it much easier to swing his gunblade at targets, but since the music was over, Alburn found that this was the perfect time to escape from this situation without making Remmy feel all too bad. She wanted to see the city anyway, so he might as well show her around, but he wasn't exactly too sure how she'd feel about riding around in a cop car through the city.

His car was devoid of most forms of luxury, let alone with a seat that 'Remmy' could sit comfortably in. It barely had any cusioning. Space was cramped, all of it was traded off for maximum protection of high-quality armored plates to keep any hazardous materials from penetrating the surface of the vehicle. Alburn sighed, perhaps that wasn't such a good idea after all. Might as well continue dancing, she seemed to enjoy this anyway.  

"You owe me another dance," Alburn coughed into his hand. He felt tad bit embarrassed to ask this, but... "Would you give me the honors?" 

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