"It's not...that I don't like you, Charlie, you know that." Ophidia had gone taut when he began to circle her, but had stopped moving; he really was an animal, sometimes, not that she could hold it against him. It was in his blood, after all.
It didn't mean she had to like it, though. This place...everything about this place made her scared, set her on edge.
"Could you please stop circling me? I feel like you're about to attack me. It's not because I don't like you that I didn't come by...I had to..." A pause, and a struggle on her features. "...I needed to...be away for a while. ...Not just from you, from everything. And it's not as though you didn't have company while I was gone. I can't remember her name...the little shadow-girl in here. I heard you two have been...quite close."
A faint smile, that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Besides, it's not as though you didn't know where to find me. I haven't seen your shadow darkening my doorstep, recently."