Mark had been listening for who was at the door, and once he heard Arit ntion that it was her father, he stood and ca over to the man. Arthur tried his best to smile at Mark, and Mark extended his hand with a grin.
"It's been a while, Arthur."
Mark's way of addressing Arthur would be seen as rude by most people, but Arthur was the one who told Mark to refer to him like this, so he didn't mind.
"I've been watching your fights online. You've been very impressive."
Arthur said this to Mark, and Mark just grinned and nodded his head in appreciation before they separated. Arthur looked around the apartnt once more before he shook his head with a laugh. He felt a little foolish for giving Arit and Mark that small apartnt to live in before. If Mark could afford sothing like this, then that must've been a serious downgrade for him.
Arthur was surprised that Mark didn't complain about it at all.
"I didn't know you were coming back, Arthur. When did you get in?"
Mark asked this question, and Arthur scratched his chin while answering that he had co in last night.
"I just had to co in. I couldn't get through to you or Arit for about a week, so I got worried that sothing had happened. I had so holiday ti stacked up at the company, so I just figured I'd co and make sure everything was okay."
Mark raised a brow in surprise once he heard this. He couldn't get through to them for a week? Mark hadn't noticed any issues with his phones all this while, so he knew that there wasn't a network issue on his end. Maybe it was just Arthur's phone that couldn't connect.
If Arthur ca in last night, he should've just co around to the hotel. Mark wouldn't have minded at all.
Mark said this to Arthur and Arthur shook his head to tell him that it was fine. Arthur stayed in another hotel last night since he was tired from the trip.
"And I thought I'd by the forr house. I didn't know where you stayed, so I had to ask so of the people around where you were, and they told about this place. Turns out you are pretty popular. Everyone knows your hotel."
Mark chuckled, but his eyes trailed down toward a notification tab that suddenly opened in front of him.
[Styxwatcher's Discernnt has detected a lie: Arthur never went to your old apartnt complex.]
Mark had to try his best not to frown. He stayed silent and watched as Arit hugged her father once more. Why did Arthur lie? There was no reason for him to lie unless he was doing sothing he didn't want us to know about. Mark tried to think of what Arthur could have been doing since he ca here, but there was nothing he could co up with.
"It must've been hell to get leave from work. Did you co around for anything else?"
Mark asked this question as naturally as possible and he watched Arthur's reaction closely while listening to what he was saying. Arthur's face twitched just a little when Mark said this, but he was able to smile as he waved Mark's concerns away and said it was actually not that difficult to get leave. Arthur only ca in because he wanted to make sure Arit was fine.
Mark kept his eyes on the edge of his system tab and he sighed calmly when he didn't see his [Styxwatcher's Discernnt] bringing up a prompt. That ant Arthur was not lying about coming in to check on Arit.
'Was it the way he worded it?'
The thought that Arthur was here for the governnt never even crossed Mark's mind for a mont. Mark knew how much Arthur loved Arit, so he didn't even think to suspect him in that way.
"There's so food I made this morning if you're hungry. Or maybe you want to take your bath first. Just tell anything you want to eat and I'll be happy to make it!"
Arit was practically glowing with happiness as she spoke to her father, and the man couldn't help but stare at her in silence for a good long mont. She was acting normal. Perfectly normal. Arthur was becoming more and more sure of the fact that Alec was wrong. There was no way his daughter was an anima.
But there was a small part of him that still held so doubt, and it was that small part that drove him to say:
"No, first, I want to talk to you, Arit. It's about sothing important, so let's go sowhere."
Arit's smile dimd a bit as she heard this, and she asked her father what was wrong. Arthur shook his head and told her that they couldn't talk about it with anyone else. They had to speak alone.
"Big Sister Arit, I can't find my stockings!"
Talia's voice suddenly echoed from inside the house, and Arthur raised a brow when he saw the little girl running out from an inner room barefoot. She held one sock in her hand, and there was a look of agitation on her face as she ran towards Arit. Arit smiled softly and bent down to Talia.
"Hey, Talia. This is my father. Say hello."
Talia stared up at Arthur in surprise for a mont, and Arthur blinked at her while wondering who the hell she was. Since when did Arit and Mark have a kid living with them? Arthur knew that they weren't the parents since Talia didn't have any of their features, so at least Arit didn't get knocked up in the short ti that he was away. But it was still weird seeing a child in the house like this.
Talia gave Arthur a curtsy.
"Hello, I'm Talia."
Impeccable manners. Arthur couldn't help but be impressed. He gave Talia a bow in return and smiled.
"I'm Arthur. It's a pleasure to et you."
Talia nodded her head.
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"It's nice to et you too, Old man Arthur."
Arthur blinked in shock. What?
Mark just chuckled while ruffling Talia's head in amusent. He knew Talia didn't an anything by it. She always gave nicknas to people. He was Big Brother Mark, Arit was Big Sister Arit, and now she was calling Arit's father an old man. Who the hell taught you things like this?
"Sorry about that. She's the daughter of a friend of mine that isn't here anymore. I'm taking care of her in his place."
Arthur nodded to Mark in understanding, and Talia turned back to Arit and asked her about the sock again. Arit asked Talia if she checked under her bed, and Talia nodded.
"And the cupboard? Did you check under that? You know you always kick things under there."
Talia blushed as she heard this before she turned and started running back to her room.
"Big Sister Jeanne, we need to check under the cupboard!"
Arthur was surprised when he heard a woman's voice echo from inside the house, saying that Talia was the one who would look under there. He just watched in amusent as Talia ran back inside. Arthur never expected Mark's family to be so...
'I don't even know what word to use for it.'
"What did you want to talk about, Dad?"
Arit suddenly spoke up after Talia left. She had a worried look on her face once more as she wondered what Arthur could be trying to tell her. Arit knew that there was a likelihood that Arthur wanted to tell her to move away from Arica. Arthur was working in Africa right now, and that part of the world had one of the lowest rates of anima appearances.
It was regarded as the safest continent on the planet, and many people from all over the world were desperate to move there for one reason or another. But ever since the number of immigrants increased to such an absurd level, it beca next to impossible to get a visa for any African country. They were locked down tighter than a fortress!
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