“Pronto.”

She had picked up her phone without looking at the name. Someone was always calling her for one reason or another; and if it was just some random solicitor, Lazuli just hung up without guilt or flinching. It wasn’t as if she was hosting, either. At which point she would have just muted her phone. Nope. None of that. Lazuli fumbled for the knob of her stove when she heard the over voice on the line. Well, this was surprising…and she wasn’t sure whether to call it welcome or not. They hadn’t exactly left each other on the best terms.

Still. He had her phone number and either had it saved or remembered it. Lazuli had never deleted his contact. Call it sentimentality or call it weakness.

“What happened?”

Senon was one of the most capable people she knew, and if he needed her help…well, no need to get too into it. He was calling and he needed assistance. That was all that mattered now.

“I’m home. Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

And he knew her well enough to know the true depth of that. If he was near by she’d scoop him up. If he was in another city? She’d be figuring out a way to get there or get him some help. Lazuli fed another leaf of kale to the sewaddle on her shoulder. He was blissfully unaware of the newfound tension, but her other two companions were not. Her banette and gastly hovered protectively, and they had stopped smiling when she had.

“Oh, motherfu – there we go. I can be out the door in a few minutes. Are you okay?”

Lazuli had wrestled with the knots of her apron for all of one second before Ciccio was assisting. Her stomach was roiling with hunger and dread both. It was true they had broken up, and truer still it had not been on fantastic terms. But the baldest truth of all was that Lazuli still cared deeply for Senon regardless of their affiliations. She was already shoving her feet from fuzzy house slippers into a pair of flats by the door.

It had been years, but Lazuli still remembered his old habits. It was true, people could change quickly, but it was hard to iron out things that had been ingrained over years. When you learned to ride a bike, it stayed with you. Likewise, Lazuli had a feeling he would be entering as quietly as he could. It helped that she left her door unlocked for Sénon. In the meantime, she was pacing the kitchen in short bursts. If she wasn’t pacing, Lazuli was fussing over her ribollita. And if she wasn’t doing either of those, she was scarfing down bread and feeding her sewaddle. Worry had all but eliminated her earlier hunger, but she had to eat. Otherwise she’d regret it later.

It was only when her banette and gastly tensed that Lazuli knew he was there. Bastiann had not been with her that long, but Ciccio…Well, that whole thing about banettes being bitter wasn’t a lie. He was hovering by her shoulder now, arms crossed like some disapproving father. Considering just how long they’d been a family, it wasn’t exactly an unfounded stance.

“Are you okay!?”

Lazuli was mindful not to shout (she had neighbors, after all), but she was definitely raising her voice above a whisper. And if she could not yelp at full volume, her hands were moving quickly. She was always a gestural person, and it was showing now as she fussed – patting down Sénon frantically as if to try and find any injury, tutting over the state of him, and running her hands through her hair in a flurry of concerned frustration.

“Really…you must be up shit creek if you’re calling me. Have you eaten?” Lazuli sighed.

And she was ladling a bowl of ribollita even as she asked. Doubtless he was screwed eight ways to Sunday if he was calling her – a loyal Rocket grunt, and his ex-girlfriend.

There was a great steelix in the room. Sénon had a new love, and word was that he was a parent…so why was he here? And while it gave Lazuli an unfortunate little thrill to see him again, she was no other woman.

“Fine,” Lazuli repeated. Her tone was flat, and her expression was very obviously doubtful. “You’re a guest in here, you know! You can be less of a dick.”

But she wasn’t shooing him out of her home yet, at least. Instead, she leaned against a wall with her arms folded. Lazuli could be as fierce as she was loving, and her hackles were already raising. She should have expected this, but some stupid part of her had expected this to go a little more…warmly? At the very least, she wouldn’t be getting annoyed so early on. Ciccio was bristling already, so she stopped any curses and anger by handing the banette the sewaddle instead. Something else to baby aside from her.

“It’s just us, and ghosts don’t need to eat much anyway. What guy?” Lazuli’s moue softened into a puzzled expression. “A roommate? This is a one bedroom – and a two bed here is pushing it as far as rent. Would love the extra workspace, though…”

It came dawning on her when Bastiaan gave her an incredulous expression. Lazuli’s eyes widened, and she shook her head.

“What, like a boyfriend? I haven’t been out with anyone in a while. I got a bit tired of telling people my favorite color on the first date. It’s exhausting.”

And, well, she may have been a bit too attached to Sénon. Case in point: his unchanged contact in her phone. God, talk about pathetic.