Tilly immediately cheered up again, her eyes twinkling with joy. She almost lunged forward to snatch it from him but barely managed to stop herself. Parting her lips, she wanted to speak, but Aurora was ahead of her.
"She's not going to work for you!" she snapped at Damian. "If whatever you gave her truly healed her and nothing else, then you have my gratitude, but you can take whatever deal you're thinking of and shove it!"
Aurora couldn't imagine any deals with him would end positively. All her suspicions about him were now rearing their head, causing her to wonder if this was what he'd been leading up to all this time. Yet, even now, her willpower was straining to not look at the pill in Damian's hand.
Of course, she wanted to be healed… She just refused to let herself and her daughter get dragged into Damian's games.
"Mom!" Tilly exclaimed in a panic before turning to Damian. "Don't listen to her!" she pleaded, hands folded in front of her chest. "We'll give you anything! Just please, help her, too!"
"Tilly!" Aurora cried out in shock.
"No!" Tilly answered, stomping her foot as she turned to her mother with determination and anger flaring in her eyes. "I know the truth, Mom! You tried to keep it from me, but Crash thought I deserved to know! You'll be dead in two years, right?! If we're lucky!"
Aurora's eyes widened, and she took a step back. Her whole demeanour shifted from suspicion and worry to shock and despair. She gulped. "T— That's—"
"Don't lie to me!" Tilly screamed, stomping her foot again as tears spilt from her eyes. "I know you don't trust him, but we need his help! Please don't let your wariness take you from us, Mom!"
"I— I—" Aurora, completely caught off guard, stammered for several seconds before coherent words emerged. "M— My death means nothing..." she muttered, defeated and shameful. "I'd rather that than saddle you up with the price for my recovery…"
"Mom! Tha—"
"Cough, cough," Damian gently coughed to interrupt their fighting. "If I may interject for a moment…"
"What?!" both Tilly and Aurora screamed and turned towards him with flaring eyes, clearly not in the right state of mind.
Damian simply smiled calmly, however. "You both seem to think I want some kind of astronomical price for this medicine, so let me clear things up before you continue your game of 'who-loves-who-more'."
With a flourish, he moved the pill to the top of his fingers and extended it towards Aurora with an encouraging smile. "I'm new in this city and have nowhere to sleep. Let me take your couch for the night, and the medicine is yours."
Instantly, Tilly's eyes lit up, and she snatched the small crimson object from Damian's fingers. "Deal!" she cried excitedly.
"See, Mom!" she exclaimed, wiping the tears from her eyes as she turned to her mother. "Good people still exist!"
Aurora seemed bewildered. She panned her gaze between Tilly and Damian with confusion. "That— That can't be all you want!" she accused adamantly, yet with a wavering voice. "S— Someone like you could surely afford a hotel!"
Smiling, Damian simply shrugged and said nothing. He looked like the picture of innocence.
Despite her continued suspicion, Aurora was truly wavering now. She gulped softly. "Y— You'll be gone by morning…?"
"Well, I'm not going to hurry myself, but I'll be gone before lunch, at least," Damian assured her as the eternal smirk hung from his lips.
"I— I'll be sitting on that chair the whole night!" she continued, pointing at an old, ratty chair beside the couch. "I'll keep my gun at hand, and I'm not sleeping!"
"Hehehe," Damian chuckled gently, honestly impressed by her fortitude. "Not the most relaxing way to sleep, but if that's what you need to feel safe, I certainly won't object."
Aurora's resistance continued to crumble, her eyes blinking as she searched for anything she hadn't thought of yet. "I— I won't take it immediately, either! If there are any negative consequences to Tilly, at least I won't be affected, so I can help her!"
"It's your medicine now," Damian shrugged indifferently. "Taking it or not is entirely up to you."
'Of course, I'll need to be there to actually control the blood, but that's fine,' Damian shrugged inwardly. 'Either I'll be near enough to notice, or I won't be. And if it's the latter, she'll just ask me why it didn't work, and I'll heal her then. Assuming we're still in contact by then…'
"Happy now, Mom?!" Tilly smiled as she pushed the crimson pill into Aurora's hands. She was a little disappointed her mother wouldn't be healed instantly but eventually was better than never.
Sighing, Aurora finally relented and took the tablet from Tilly's hands. "What about Crash, though…?" she mumbled softly. "He could use this just as much…"
"You know he'd never accept it, Mom…" Tilly pouted, shaking her head. "He's not going to die anytime soon, unlike you."
"Unless…?" she muttered awkwardly, glancing at Damian with hope in her pretty brown eyes.
She didn't dare ask for a third time, but Damian chuckled. "We'll see, Tilly. Let me meet this brother of yours first. I may decide to help him, too."
The cute girl truly started vibrating from excitement now as gratitude flowed from her eyes. She lunged forward across the table and wrapped her arms around Damian's neck. "Thank you, thank you! You're an angel!"
"Haha, you exaggerate," Damian laughed softly as he caressed her dirty, brown hair. 'More like a devil,' Damian smirked inwardly. From the information Nova shared with him, he knew the difference between angels and devils. 'After all, I'm sure you and your family will pay me back in spades…'
"Oh god, right…!" Aurora groaned in the meantime as she palmed her face. "Crash is not going to be happy that I let a stranger sleep on the couch…"
"Don't worry, Mom!" Tilly assured her mother while nuzzling her face in Damian's neck, feeling surprisingly comfortable there. "I'm sure he'll understand when we tell him everything!"
Aurora, however, didn't seem so sure. Her expression was complicated, but Tilly couldn't see it. She seemed in thought for a moment but then shook her head and seemed to finally realize what Tilly was doing.
"You should… let him go now, Tilly," she muttered, her eyes still wary when she looked at Damian, but not as much as before.
"Just a little longer…!" Tilly smiled, her body splayed across the table as she hugged Damian's neck. She enjoyed his smell and the way he caressed her hair, making her feel a level of comfort she hadn't felt since her father's death.
Yet, Damian chuckled and sniffed softly. "Are you sure…? I think the food might be burning."
Instantly, Tilly's eyes opened wide, and she jumped off the table. "Ah! No!" she cried out and sprinted to the stove. Behind her, Damian laughed softly.
About an hour later, they'd eaten an extensive meal—at least Aurora and Tilly had. Damian dissolved the food with myst as soon as it entered his mouth. He didn't need to; he just couldn't handle the taste. After a lifetime of gourmet meals, it would be difficult to adjust to Slagfall cuisine.
But, adjust he would.
They enjoyed some light conversation while they ate, but no further heavy subjects were discussed. Finally, another hour later, Damian, still in his elegant clothes, was stretched out on the couch…