Seaside Wisdom [Van/Vi/Lil]

His lack of human reaction was either evidence of his idiocy or his desire to protect the girl. Either way, Lilith did not care because it was too fucking adorable and her focus was on the girl, or at least figuring out how to help her. For now, silly conversation would be had, so now to make the two of them squirm.

And squirm he certainly did. Was this denial or did he actually not like the girl? The blush made Lilith assume he did like her, but hadn't admitted it or likely thought she deserved better. God, that was such a stupid sentiment so many young people had. And in hearing their story, Lilith looked curiously at Violet. The body language was enough. The girl was pretty much hiding her feelings in her legs...

Lilith looked to Vanyel and raised an eyebrow, giving him the dullest 'are you fucking stupid' expression she could muster. "Oh, so you're just her instructor, then? Are you stupid or blind... You know what... Don't answer that," Lilith put a hand up and then crawled over to Violet. "Hey, so you're single right? Because I have a friend that really could use a nice girl in his life, and you seem like a sweetheart."

Violet raised her head to look at Lilith, her face red and confusion plastered all over it. "Wait, me?" she asked and Lilith nodded. "I-I... well, uh... I am not... currently in a relationship, I guess..." "Perfect!" Lilith began rummaging through her purse and pulled out an old beaten-up wallet. From it, she pulled out her phone and skipped through pictures until she found one of her and a friend and showed it to Violet. The young man was tall, well-built, handsome, and definitely around Violet's age.

"He was cheated on by this whore like two years ago, and is trying to get into the dating scene again, but he's shy, so... I told him if I met a nice girl, I'd see what she thought, and since this idiot is blind. He really is a sweetheart, successful, strong... definitely the kind of guy you'd be proud to bring home, ya know?"

Violet took the woman's phone and stared at the picture. He was handsome, had a nice smile... and Vanyel pretty much spouted that he was 'just a roommate.' If that was all he saw her as... just a friend... a roommate... "Um... I... uh..."

Seeing Lilith's expression turn dull, staring at him like he was stupid, made Vanyel's face turn from embarrassed to confused, even more so when she said not to answer her question. Then, when she started talking to Violet, what she said next suddenly made him freeze. Despite not moving, he listened to everything that was said, loud and clear, and his expression shifted.

His head lowered slightly as he found himself starting to scoot away, his face ridden with confusion, conflict, and discomfort, yet a clear wistfulness mixed in with the sorrow. Then, he heard the last part: the kind of guy you'd be proud to bring home. He unconsciously brought his arms around himself, his legs moving closer to his chest. Why did he care? He shouldn't. He and Violet weren't a couple, he was just her friend and roommate...that's all he was to her, after all. If she wanted to date this guy, why should he stop her if she thought it'd make her happy?

He didn't believe himself to be the kind of guy that someone would be proud to bring home, anyway.

Lilith glanced over her shoulder at Vanyel to see if he was even thinking about stepping forward. She was pretty surprised at his reaction, and raised an eyebrow. He proved how protective he was, but then backs off? These two were just childr-...

"No, thank you," Violet said and handed Lilith back her phone. "I appreciate it... Your compliments are very kind, and I'm sure he is a nice guy, but I don't know him... and besides, I know where my heart lies." Violet shot a direct look into to Lilith's eyes.

"Understood," Lilith smiled. One of them was more aware than the other. 'No wonder she is so frustrated... Poor thing is stuck.' Seeing Violet look out over the ocean, like she was done with the conversation, Lilith looked to Vanyel. She moved closer and put a hand on his shoulder, glancing to Violet to make sure she was distracted. Violet was still staring off at the ocean, keeping herself covered.

"I'm going to give you some advice here..." Lilith whispered to Vanyel, trying to keep Violet from hearing her. "Do you need some advice here? Because I can see you're not... very good at this and I doubt you want to hurt the girl, right?"

Vanyel half-expected her to take the chance. But, on hearing her answer, Vanyel's head lifted, a small smile spreading. Why? Why did he feel so relieved at that? Nevertheless, he found himself keeping an eye on Violet, that smile unknowingly still present on his face, at least until Lilith suddenly put a hand on his shoulder, jolting him from his thoughts.

"I...yes, probably. I don't want to hurt her...I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did. Not...Not after everything she's already been through."

Despite his voice already being low to reciprocate Lilith's tone, his voice lowered just a little bit more at that last sentence. With everything that Violet had already gone through, he didn't dare want to risk hurting her again. One mistake could ruin everything. At least, that's what he thought.

Okay, good. She was right. He did need a bit of a push after all. "Thought so..." Lilith said and then glanced over to Violet again, who was now looking at both of them confused. "Your boy is thirsty...Probably cause he's wearin' the damn shirt. Wanna get him a drink at that vending machine over there?"

Violet just believed the woman. She looked over to the vending machine and nodded. Violet got up, with what little money she had in her wallet and was going to walk off when she saw something being handed to her out of the corner of her eye. Lilith handed her a little more cash, "Mind grabbing me something too?"

Violet nodded again, took the cash, and walked off. The vending machine was in clear sight, next to a resting area with some benches. Once she was at a decent distance away, she looked to Vanyel with an aggressive scowl. "So, first thing," she said seriously, but still keeping her voice low and watching for Violet's return. "She apologizes... a lot... She okay?" "I haven't directly asked, but, she seems to have a lot of...family problems." "So, she was probably abused then... Poor thing."

"Is that why you're being so stupid around her? Worried you might step on a landmine or something? I get it, but if another man catches that girl's eye and she walks away because you keep wE'rE oNlY rOoMmAtE'ing her, you're gonna miss out. I mean, did you not hear that adorable line? 'I know where my heart lies.' Unless there's another man she's living with I'm pretty sure that was a clear sign."

As Lilith asked Violet to get something to drink, her comment to the shirt caused him to glare at her in annoyance. He kept an eye on Violet, watching as she walked away to the vending machine, before his attention got grabbed by Lilith. At first, he didn't understand how she was able to come to that conclusion so quickly, but...he soon realized that it made the most sense.

His eyes widened slightly, that revelation causing a plethora of thinking back to all the small things that she'd said. She never talked about it openly, but...he remembered, those tiny little slip-ups. But, as Lilith continued, Vanyel smiled for a second, thinking back to that line Violet said. It was cute, it was really sweet, but...

The smile quickly faded as he started to bring his knees close to his chest. He opened his mouth slightly to speak, before closing and stopping for a moment. There was hesitation, but, eventually, his body relaxed a tad, and he sighed, before finally speaking.

"I doubt she'd actually like someone like me. Even if she did...I wouldn't be a good partner. I'm just...not good enough. At all. Not for someone like her."

It was that fucking mindset again. Human men are so damn stupid. Lilith rolled her eye and did a quick face palm before exhaling out of irritation. "Not good enough, huh? Let me ask you something... You clearly care about the girl... Yes, or no. Can you guarantee that the next man won't... let's say... use her to get back at their ex?"

"What? N-No, I can't guarantee that, nobody can."

"Uh'huh.... Can you guarantee that they won't cheat on her?"

"N...No."

"Thought so. What about... hit her? Or force her into sex too early? Or manipulate her into doing things she hates? Or how about dump her out of boredom? Decide she's not pretty enough? Can you guarantee that won't happen?"

"No! Even still, not everyone will do that! There's billions of people on this rock, not all of them are shitstains!"

"Are you a shit-stain? Would you do any of the things I just listed off?"

"No!"

"But you can guarantee none of that will never happen to her, right?"

"I...I can't."

"Wrong!" Lilith said adamantly. "You just said it yourself. You are not an abuser. You are not a manipulator. You wouldn't cheat on her. You wouldn't decide you're bored and abandon her. You can guarantee it by being the one in that part of her life. You're right, you can't stop what another person will do to her, but you can control what you do... So, what exactly is so bad about you, huh? Look at her." Lilith stepped behind Vanyel and had him face Violet. She was currently getting a third drink from the machine. "Look at her and tell me you wouldn't try your best."

As Lilith stepped behind him and had him face Violet, seeing her from the distance, Vanyel couldn't help but smile at her, gentle and wistful. If he did, he knew that he would try his best...but, would that even be enough? He hadn't been before, at least, not good enough to warrant his partner actually sticking around for more than a night, if even that. The smile faded, and his head started to lower.

"I don't know exactly what's bad about me. But, whatever is, it was enough to make the last one leave. And...barely ever be around."

Every tiny advance he made but backed out on, the joy he felt at seeing her general health and mindset improve, the progress she was making in their martial arts, and just seeing her happy as a whole...made him happy. He wanted to do more, to say more, yet he kept refraining.

"Even if I did try my best...I don't know if it would be good enough."

"I see..." Lilith released Vanyel's shoulders and crossed her arms. "You really are an idiot..." Violet was on her way back, so a continued conversation was risky. Lilith wanted to understand this young man's mindset more, but from what she could tell, his head was stuck up his own ass. "And you're a coward," Lilith spoke very bluntly.

"The last one didn't work out, so let's use that as a crutch to continue my whining and self-loathing, " Lilith said in a high pitched tone, mocking him and then rolled her eye. She intentionally moved between Vanyel's view of Violet and kept talking. "This is shit teenage girls crying about their school crush do, but you do you, child. A woman like her needs a man, so maybe you're right. It's clearly not what she thinks about you, but fuck her opinion. Who cares about her feelings?"

Lilith picked up her bag and her towel, pretty much done with this kid. "She just admitted her care for your dumbass, but that doesn't matter. I'm sure you're right, she's not worth risking anything on." Violet was back and staring at the two of them, just listening the conversation, cradling three sodas in her arms. "Just ditch the girl, since that's clearly what you want to do. I hate men who play games with women..."

Despite Lilith laying into him, Vanyel didn't have much of a reaction. He had heard worse in his life. A part of him knew that, to some extent, she was right, but, he still remained unmoving. That was, until what she finished with. At that, a hand instinctively went to his pocket, fingers coiled around a knife as his expression suddenly grew far more intense, even more so by Lilith intentionally obscuring his view of Violet.

"Shut. The fuck. Up. I never said anything like that, so don't put words in my mouth."

But, remembering that he had been seeing Violet return, in that time period, he knew that she had to have been back already, just that he couldn't see her because of Lilith. Taking in a sharp breath, he forced himself to calm down. His fingers loosened around the knife, slowly removing itself from his pocket.

"I don't want to ditch her! I would never want that! I..."

His breathing started to pick up the pace slightly, a hand reaching to grab at the opposing wrist as he forced himself to calm down again.

"I...don't know what to say to her. Or...what to do in general with this. But...I do know that I don't want to ditch her, and that I'm not playing games. I...I don't want her to feel like her feelings are misplaced."