Vaan heard the door to his â€œroomâ€ open, and a greeting came, accompanied by echoing footsteps. The hovering Silencer opened his blood-red eyes, seeing exactly the person he was expecting. The man smiled. â€œWell good evening,â€ he said, sinking down gradually to the floor. He extended his legs into a standing position as soon as he was close enough, and the two met, facing each other in the middle of the room.<br/><br/>Vaan looked down slightly in order to make eye contact with Merle. â€œSo, you said you'd found something interesting, Merle?â€<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Merle continued walking forward until she was face to face with him; she had to look upwards to make eye contact, considering the rather glaring height difference. A wicked grin crossed her face before she spoke. "How does his location sound? Interesting enough for ya?"</span><br/><br/>For a moment, Vaan's eyes widened, as if he were surprised, then a grin settled on his face. Vaan shook his head, smiling. â€œYou always bring me such lovely news, Merle,â€ he said fondly. â€œYou really are the only one I can count on around here to ease my boredom.â€ He had closed his eyes for a moment in praise, then opened them again, looking down to the mismatched girl. â€œSo, what did you find?â€<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Merle's expression shifted to a genuine smile at the praise she was given. "You'll always be able to count on me. You know that." For the next few minutes, she went over the events that had transpired leading to her discovery, including the encounter with Levin. She kept no secrets from this man. "It's almost directly south of the southwestern-most corner of our territory. Coronis will lead any you deem worthy there, at your order," she concluded, gesturing to the crow who was now gliding lazily around the room.</span><br/><br/>Vaan smiled. â€œWhy that's very kind of Coronis,â€ he teased. â€œBut no, Iâ€™ve already made plans for such an occasion.â€ The man pulled his arms up in a stretch and yawned slightly. â€œI'll be going to meet him after Iâ€™ve had a good night's rest,â€ he said when he'd finished. Being alone in this dim tower all the time, Vaan simply followed whatever odd schedule he chose most of the time. Apparently, now he felt it was about bed time.<br/><br/>â€œIf you'd be so kind as to wake me up early tomorrow, that would be wonderful,â€ he said, smiling to her. Vaan pulled his legs up and hovered just about a foot higher than he had been. It was as if he were sitting in a comfortable chair, rather than floating in midair. â€œBut in the mean time,â€ he said, â€œIt's been a while since your last visit. Would you like to chat for a bit?â€<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Ooh, you're paying a visit yourself? How honored he should feel," she said, giggling a bit. She listened as he spoke again, her expression drooping slightly. "Oh, okay. I'll wake you tomorrow, then.. Should I-?" She was cut off by him talking once more, inviting her to stay and chat for a while. The smile returned to her face, and she plopped down onto the floor, leaning back against her hands so she could look up at him easier. "Yeah, I'd like that. There's not a lot of people worth talking to anymore.. not that there were before the invasion, either," she shrugged, her distaste for the general populace obvious in her words as well as her features.</span><br/><br/>Vaan laughed at that. â€œPerhaps not,â€ he chuckled. â€œAt the very least there's less to choose from now.â€ The Silencer shifted in the air so it was more like he was lying on his stomach, his hands holding up his head and his elbows supported by some unknown force. â€œSo,â€ he said, speaking in a kind voice he didn't use much nowadays except around Merle, â€œmade any new friends?â€ he said, half joking.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"True enough. Finding a needle in a desecrated wasteland is easier than a haystack," she replied, giggling. "Well there's Gabriel, the Silencer I was with when we ran into that 'Levin' guy. He's not much of a friend though," she said apathetically, looking off to the side. "Nobody I can really think of, aside from that. I can't imagine you get much company up here, either..? Don't you get lonely?"</span><br/><br/>Vaan smiled slightly, shaking his head. â€œNo, not much," he said to her first question. "Those geezers want to keep me some sort of big secret for whatever reason. I guess they have a point though. If I wasn't in here most of the time I'd probably just go around incinerating everyone.â€ he shrugged, â€œI suppose I don't mind it too much, but I might go crazy if you didn't show up now and again.â€<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Merle leaned forward, her expression full of sympathy. Despite the fact that she wasn't a social butterfly, she couldn't imagine it would be very much fun being cooped up in a tower all day. "I dunno, I think it would be pretty entertaining to see you wreak havoc. Would definitely be more efficient than the hit-and-run crap they've been pulling," she replied.<br/><br/>Once again, she smiled as he spoke. "Aww. I'm glad I can be the one to help keep you sane," she said, only half-joking. "If they're that determined to keep you a secret, what do you do up here all day, anyway? Float?"</span><br/><br/>Vaan laughed. â€œEffective, yes. But they complain that my powers aren't very... discriminatory.â€<br/><br/>Vaan sighed at her next comment. â€œYeah, that's basically it. If I couldn't fly, I'd probably just roll around on the floor instead,â€ he said, laughing.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">She arched an eyebrow, waiting for a moment before shaking her head and responding. "So instead of pulling back demonic forces and sending you out to kick ass, they send wave after wave of fodder at them, watching our forces dwindle while the Hunters get stronger? Yeah, I can see how their plan is working much better."<br/><br/>She soon found herself laughing with him on his comment. "Oh god, I can't picture you rolling around on the ground like us common folk unless someone cut all of your limbs off and left you to rot. Knowing you, you'd find a way to chase them down just by rolling around," she joked, laughing even harder. "I guess I'll just have to come keep you company more often, though. I wouldn't want you to get too bored. Plus, it's kinda nice in here.. just the two of us," she added with a smile, after the laughter calmed down a bit.</span><br/><br/>Common folk huh? Things had changed a lot in the past several months. He wasn't, well, at the bottom of society anymore. Vaan smiled again, â€œI'd be glad to get more visits. Maybe I can get my hands on a deck of cards or a board game or something so we have more options up here. Oh, and if you find one, bring a fire extinguisher. We wouldn't want to damage the games,â€ he smirked, obviously joking. A fire extinguisher wouldn't do squat against his hellfire. He'd actually burned a couple in the past.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Oh most definitely, it simply wouldn't do for one of those torches to fall off the wall and set our games on fire," she said with a giggle, turning his joke into a literal situation. The two continued on talking for a while before Merle bade him farewell, letting him sleep in preparation for tomorrow's events.<br/><br/>For her part, Merle headed back down the tower and retreated to her hideaway along with Coronis, intent on not doing much of anything until tomorrow came. She planned on asking him if she could come with him when he went to raid the hideout; partially because she wanted to help, but mostly because she wanted to make sure he was unharmed. Logically, she knew that if anybody possessed the strength to defeat Vaan, she would stand no chance; but she would rather throw her own life away than let him die.</span><br/><br/>Vaan let out a breath, which wasn't quite a sigh, after Merle had left. Suddenly, his room felt very empty and quiet again. He hovered higher in the room and made himself comfortable, falling asleep quickly. Luckily, he was able to maintain his levitation while unconscious, unless the state was triggered by injury, that is.<br/><br/>Something about fire that people tended not to mention, was that it had sound. Vaan found the sound of fire soothing, and it broke the otherwise silence of his room. It was part of the reason he had his room lit by torch light instead of electricity. It may have been considered odd, but the Silencer looked rather innocent in his sleep. Funny how that always seemed to be the case, even with the most wicked of people.