Empty Bottle

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Aurelia smirked at his humorous question but, she grew more skeptical when he pointed out the name. "Rambooten." She echoed, trying to pronounce it herself. She smiled as he struggled to prove that his hair was much better, attempting to tame it down with his fingers. "Mmhmm, sure." She watched him carefully open the hairy shell of the fruit to reveal its white flesh, though, and that distracted her.

He offered half of it to her and, curiously, she took it, pressed it into her mouth, and chewed it. Her eyes widened with surprise. It was sweet and soft, with a floral note that intrigued her tastebuds - a fruit that definitely suited Milo. At his comment, though, she started, furrowed brows and narrowed eyes. A glimmer of mischief reflected in her eyes. She leaned forward on her hands and knees, reaching her hand up and pretending as if she was going to be good and sweet. Then, she tousled her hand through his hair, messing it up even worse than before.

"Yeah, I am," she said, laughing softly. She leaned back to sit beside him, her leg brushing his. "Rambutan's your favorite, huh? I'll have to remember that."

Reaching forward to roll a golden honeydew melon out of the bag, she said, quite proudly, "This is my favorite."

She unsheathed her hunter's knife, using it to cut through the skin. The words scrawled across it were a stark contrast against the morning light that shined on the steel. Fear not, my love, for I am with you. She sighed, frowning, reminded of her lost family, reminded of her epiphany, of the gears in the back of her mind that were still turning about it.

Once the melon's seeds were scooped out and tossed into the sand, she cut out a slice and used the knife to offer it to him. "Do you think you'll ever tell your family? About what you do?"

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep