He sighed softly. “It’s just..my younger sister, she has this long term immune disease so she has to be in the hospital practically all the time. We never really had much money to begin with so it’s hard to make ends meet when we have to worry about paying for her treatment.”
Arien listened quietly.
"I…" Damn. This was definitely a tough situation for Rafael, huh..?
"I could help, if you'd let me," he said softly.
His face brightened up. “R-really?” He quickly shook his head. “There’s no way I could let you do that, I-I could never possibly repay you.”
"N-No, you wouldn't need to repay me!" Arien said quickly. "Please, you've gone through a lot since you met me, I want to help. Really!"
He smiled, and he looked like he honestly might cry as he hugged Arien tightly. “Thank you.” He whispered.
Arien hugged Rafael in turn, holding the man close.
"You're welcome," Arien said softly. He was grinning a bit, glad to see Rafael so happy.
After a few seconds of tightly hugging the other, he spoke. “You know that piece I played for you the first time we met? She wrote that.”
Arien's eyes widened a bit.
"R-really? She's really good!" Arien grinned a bit.
“Mhm! She’s really awesome. I love her a lot.” He smiled softly.
"Yes, I can see." Arien chuckled softly. "I'm glad you have a good relationship with your sister."
He nodded. “Me too…” He smiled at the other.
Arien smiled some as well, shifting his arms a bit while still holding Rafael close.
"Is there anything else we'd like to know about each other."
“Are there any other friends of yours that I should know about? Just so I can get out of any potentially bad situations by saying that I know you.”
"Ah… well, the demon you had to deal with won't be an issue from now on, thankfully. His name's Dain, by the way. Then their's Bruno, the werewolf, but he's pretty nice in general. The only one I think you'll have to worry about other than Elliot would have to be Francis. He's a skin stealer." Arien shivered a bit.
"Just- if you every encounter him, just… tell him you're a friend of mine too and he shouldn't do anything to you."
“Well he sounds mildly terrifying so hopefully I won’t have to deal with him anytime soon.” He leaned his head onto Arien’s chest, sighing contently.
"Hopefully, yes. Though I'd prefer you meeting him with me around so he doesn't try anything." Arien started playing with Rafael's hair again, smiling softly.
"Most of my friends are quite nice, once you get to know them."
“Hmm I don’t know, I’m pretty sure Elliot like…hates me.” To be fair, the guy had blinded him, so Rafael had a good reason to not like him.
"I'm pretty sure too." Arien sighed some. " He's not a big fan of humans, and he can get… Territorial with his friends."
“Is there any way he’ll just decide he doesn’t want to kill me anymore? Because I really don’t want to be on his bad side..” it wasn’t even because he wanted to be nice to Arien’s friends, it was just because he knew Elliot could easily kill him.
"Once he gets used to you being around. He was my first friend after I got turned, and he always reacts like this when I start making more." Arien let out a soft breath.
He nodded, deciding to just trust Arien on this one and believe that everything would be fine.
Arien rested his head on Rafael's lightly.
"And until then, I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you anymore," he promised softly.
“Thank you.” He whispered, gently wrapping his arms around Arien. He exhaled softly, feeling peaceful.
Arien smiled. He gave Rafael a gentle hug, resting his head on the man's again.
"You're welcome…"
“You know I really think he would’ve killed me if you hadn’t shown up…” Rafael said after a few moments of silence.