Strip Away the Whitewash (Patty & Albrecht)

"Yeah, i did." Albrecht would flash the redhead a gentle smile as he wiped away her tears. He didn't want to see her sad, he wanted her smiling and happy. Her radiant and lovely smile. She seemed relieved, still sad but her mood improved  slightly. That was good enough, slowly but surely he'd drag her out of this hole she found herself him. Though a part of him felt like the worst, not leaving her was a promise he couldn't keep. One day he'd be dragged away, by war or death. The best he could do was stay with her until the consequences of his path caught up to him.

Though her first response to his rant was a joke, he didn't mind. She wanted to lighten his mood, she always does. "I... growl when you pet me?" Come to think of it, that's right. He was so focused on caging his enjoyment of it he ended up growling. But right now he just closed his eyes with a faint smile while she ran her fingers through his brown mane of hair. "I like when you pet me."

Her response continued, and so did her insistence that he didn't want to hurt anyone. Though she expanded upon it a bit. Saying something similar to what he had told her just earlier. Perhaps in a way, they had similar struggles to each other.

"I... don't know, Patty." His head shook, hanging low a bit. "The demons took away my sister, she meant the world to me. It awakened in my a hatred, and i don't think i'll ever find rest from it. If i'm not bad, then at the very least i am not normal, following a career and settling down? Not for me, i crave vengeance and the heat of battle." And then he was silent, no more words would come from his mouth for a while until Patty started to sing. His eyes settled on her. It was the song playing when they first kissed.

His head tilted to the left a bit, an idea crossed his mind. One of the knight's hand would slide down to her waist, gently he'd pull the girl closer to him, she already had one leg on his lap. Might as well go all the way through and just sit on his lap.

"I have been waiting for this moment all my life." He'd sing along, putting up a smile.

"Mmmhmmm. ....grrrrr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r," Patty growled low as she scratched his head more intensely, baring her teeth. But he promised and he said he'd keep his promised, and he was getting happier. That's all that really mattered to her. Albrecht was nice and he liked to teach people and take care of them, he would pick them up. There was just this part of him that she could feel that was like so... intensely ANGRY and it made him shove people away like he almost left that time. And he wasn't mad at other people, like, he was mad at everyone or maybe just himself or maybe it wasn't even anything. Maybe he was just mad and didn't know how not to be mad. But that was okay. She could teach him how that even if life sucks you can be happy. Her life sucked too and she had a lot to be mad about, and sometimes she was and she'd throw fits and break stuff but she could make jokes around awkward people and go to clubs and have good conversations. She could put her anger in a box and drop it in a hole where she didn't have to look at it until she had to.
Yeah, that was it. Patty would be his No-Mad Zone.

He was trying. The German boy was trying not to be mad and he was just upset but sometimes it was hard to let that go. Like it clung onto you and stuff and you could try to have fun and not think about it but sometimes it was impossible when that was all you could think about. She got it, even if she didn't experience. It was pretty easy for her to not think about things that made her upset, because she knew if she didn't think about those things then she could start being happy again. Don't sweat the small stuff, don't let anything get to you and keep you down. Patty didn't give power to things that made her upset but she knew they could be powerful. Especially to people who didn't know they could be happy just by wanting to be. The freckled girl lilted her head against his and tugged softly on his earlobe, just to touch him.

"...I don't think she would've wanted you to be mad, Albrecht," she said quietly, "...I think she loved you, and you want the people you love to be happy. ...I think she would've wanted you to be happy, Albrecht. Even if you miss her and it makes you sad or angry sometimes, she wouldn't of wanted you to be miserable all the time, and mad. It's okay to be sad or pissed... only sometimes..." She breathed in slowly and breathed out just as slowly, "...I want you to be happy, baby. You don't have to be normal, no one is. I'm not normal. ...I want you to be happy. I want you to do things that make you happy, if they make you happy. ...m'kay?" The valley girl took her lips to his lower jaw closest to her and put her head back where it was. She wasn't smiling again. All this talk about people being lost including themselves drained her. Albrecht's sadness seeped into her and stirred into something even more unpleasant. The intensity of her glee and the pureness of her anger was true for everything she felt and when he felt sad, she felt it, and it felt horrible that her boyfriend was that sad and just couldn't be happy. It made her want to cry again but she didn't have any energy to cry. It was the lazy drifting kind of sadness that made you stay in your room all day and shut the world out. That's the kind of sad he felt and wanted to save him from.

He'd pull her into his lap like dead weight, but she stuck to his side and chest like a sloth. Patty put her hand on his arm and patted it, rocking a little as her lusterless eyes stared at the icy raindrops plinking against the concrete. Until he started singing too. It made her smile and the warmth of it she took to her core. She still felt sad and it was like being soaked, like soaked in soggy despair but the fire inside was drying it. And you could still wear a kinda wet shirt, no one would notice the difference after a few hours. Her smile became more genuine and she felt more alive in his grip, but suddenly she took his arms off of him to flail them.
In an air drum solo.

"BU-DUU BU-DUU BAH-DUDUUUU TSSSSH!! I CAN FEEL IT COOOOOM-ING IN THE AAAAAIIIIR TON-IIIIIIGHT!!!"
Patty'd basically scream it in what was definitely not an inside voice, looking back to the kind boy with a stupid grin.
"Oh Looo-hahahaaa..! Ahah, ahahahaheeheehahaaaaaa...!" It would seem that the dark clouds would melt away as Patty tossed them in the box and threw them over her shoulder, turning toward the German boy to playfully poke at his face and upper body in a giggle fit.

"Grrrr to you too." He'd growl back at her, this time playful in manner rather than his instinctive and animal like growling he usually does. There was a brief moment where he stopped, as if something was going through his head. Just to resume the playful growling a moment later and lightly tickle the druggie chick. He wouldn't tickle her for long or a lot, it would be quick. Though on the converse side, while he had drifted in thought, she'd tug his ear. Causing him to look down at her, not quite understanding the meaning of it but he wouldn't complain either.

Finally she replied. To what he said about his sister. Patty had a point, she wouldn't want this life to him. Astrid would want him to have a perfectly normal life. But that was something he could no longer do, to just settle down and be normal. But he could try to be bit happier, for her, Patty and Maria. None of them would want him to be doom and gloom all the time. It was a duty he couldn't escape forever, he didn't want to, but relaxing a bit won't be harmful. "I guess you are right. Astrid would hate to see me like this."

She offered little resistance when he pulled her closer. He could tell she was feeling down from her body language. Without will or her burning happiness.Though she seemed to light up her mood when he sang along, that brought a smile to his face.

"Have you ever thought of a singing career, Patty?" The knight spoke as she poked him on the face. He didn't react much to it. Again just letting it happen. "I promise i'll be there for all your shows if you do." Albrecht teased, though it was through his semi serious expression. He paused, thoughtful.

"There's a festival coming up in little Tokyo. We should go together, like a date."