The creature he'd met almost seven years ago would have recoiled, spit, and gnashed her teeth at him had he even attempted to raise his arm in her direction; she would have been incapable of comprehending the ease with which Lucia now leaned her small body against his under the familiar weight of his arm. Safety, security, companionship... those weren't things that beaten, fragile creature would come to know until much later, and even then it had taken years, literally years of trial and error to get there. But they, this strange pair, had endured, and they had done it together.
It was truly an inexplicable thing, the way they had found and kept each other against all better judgement. She couldn't even truly say why she had stayed in the first place after those initial injuries had healed. She couldn't articulate why she felt at ease around him, or why the smell of him felt like home, or why the feel of his arm around her shoulder made her feel as tall as he was. She didn't know, and had stopped trying to figure those things out a long time ago.
Now even closer, she tilted her head back against his shoulder to peer up at his face, some skepticism playing in her dark eyes as they took in his features. She had long ago memorized every crease, angle, glare and cartoonish grin Nik's face had to offer, and she was concerned to see him looking so... what was the word... hellish. Yes, he looked haggard as hell. "Yea but even the vampires look like they've slept in the past week," she retorted softly. "You, not so much." But she wouldn't press him further on the issue, knowing that if he really wanted to talk about it he would do so eventually, without any prying or insisting from her. This was another rough lesson they had come to understand about one another, and one that had led to more than one of their more explosive arguments over time.
She inhaled deeply as they stepped out to the Midway, breathing deep the myriad of smells that greeted her there, and pressed her lips together as she deliberated. "Hm. I feel like seeing something creepy. Let's stick with the Puppeteer's tent, then." As they strolled, she was sure to keep her voice low lest any of the guests overhear. "This place has everyone really on edge. Did you find anything else out today about what's going on? Someone mentioned a reality tear. Sounded like something out of a SciFi movie."