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Zophe's smile almost completely faltered. She was insistent, wasn't she? The little wench. Shifting out of bed, he got up and patted her shoulder lightly, that smile returning. "I know. It must have been hard on you to be there for so long. Twenty years? That's a mighty long time, for certain... Let me make you something special for breakfast, to commemorate your escape from... well, wherever you escaped from."

He started to head for the kitchen, gesturing for Angel to follow him. "And, if you don't mind my prodding, while we're at it, can you tell me about yourself? Like where you came from? Why you escaped? I'd like to know a little bit about you. ...It's a shame you're leaving so soon. It's the least you could do," he prompted, without making it seem he was pressuring her too much about it. Merely suggesting.

But in his head he swore to whatever god or savior or whoever up there in the heavens that if he honestly let this one go, he'd shoot himself in the damn foot. She was too valuable for him to let her leave. "Oh, hold on. Let me wash my face first. Don't leave yet!"

Zophe detoured to the bathroom and closed the door. He turned on the water, doing exactly what he said he would. But afterward, he opened up the medicine cabinet and quietly sifted through the various over-the-counter drugs he'd acquired over the years. He found a relatively fast acting sleep aid and tapped out a few tablets. He stuck them in his pocket before putting everything away, closing up, and heading back out without any hint or change in his attitude.

"Angel?" he called out, just in case she wandered off somewhere, and continued to make his way to the kitchen.

Angel frowned slightly at the memories that came to her mind as Zophe commented about what she'd said. "Yes, it is a long time, especially if it's all you've ever known and it wasn't that great. I had no freedom." She sighed to herself, but a smile came to her face as Zophe spoke. "All right, that sounds delightful." She stated as she followed after him towards where the kitchen was. Angel bit her lip as he asked her about herself, and the facility she had been kept at. Angel didn't want to talk about it, but he was right, it was the least she could do. He had the right to know after saving her.

She was about to talk and explain, but decided to wait as he said he had to wash his face. She moved on to the kitchen by herself as he left to go to the bathroom to clean up. She sat on a chair and waited patiently, her wings folded neatly behind her. Finally he came back and she smiled. "The kitchen!" she called out as he called her name.

As soon as Zophe came in, she took in a deep breath and decided to talk about herself now. "I'm not sure where, since they were smart to not give me any guidance on geography and where we were located. With my instincts, I was able to just get away from them." It was a little difficult to think about them, but she opted to continue on despite her uneasiness on the subject. "Why? I left because they used me for their own gain, they're trying to refine the human race by giving them wings. It's a ridiculous pursuit that I do not support. I love being able to fly, but when you're grounded your whole life, it's pointless. You can't even begin to imagine how hard it is to have them talk about you as if you were some dumb creature, or you were deaf!" she said angrily as tears came to her eyes.

"They've kept me as their prize, refining me, testing my strengths, pushing me to the point of passing out because of my exhaustion. I am not an animal, but I'm not human either. I just want to be free! I want to live! I'm sick of a cage, and I'm sick of a box! I don't want to have clipped wings anymore!" she spoke with such passion that for a moment she realized where she was and quickly calmed herself down. She wiped the stray tears of anger away before sighing. "Z, you can't imagine what it's like." She spoke softly, looking at him with desporate eyes.

Zophe found Angel in the kitchen and smiled at her when he saw her. He immediately went to the fridge and pulled out some fruit which he started to cut into bite-sized pieces. He listened to her talk as he did so, then put the pieces into a large bowl. He set it aside on the counter and got rid of the rest for compost. While he wore a look of sympathy on his face, inside he felt like snorting at her sob story.

Boy. He'd shoot himself in the foot if he was any one of those people who used to take care of her. Zophe knew nothing of who they were, but they must've been some sick people to do this to her. He had to thank them for their wasted, hard work because it helped him out so much.

Glancing at her, he reached out and gently pet Angel's hair, brushing a stray tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry," he said, appearing sincere though he was anything but. "I can see why you want to leave so badly. But don't you think it might be more dangerous out there? Even if it is your freedom, what if the world is worse than you expected it to be?" he asked, looking at her in false concern.

He drew his hand back in order to cook, making her a hearty breakfast that she wouldn't be able to refuse.

Angel finally began to get a grip on herself as she realized she must seem a little like an idiot with her sudden spurt of anger and her rush of feelings. She thought over his words for a moment as he pulled his hand back from her face. The spot he touched was hot, and it made her wonder, but she pushed the thoughts away as she sighed. "I don't know, but anything is better than living in a cage. I know I'll have to be careful, and cautious. I understand that I'm rare, so a lot of people will want me, but I can fly, remember?" she stated with a small smile.

"No one can catch me in the sky, that's where I belong and that's where I'm free." She closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of the air rushing around her and through her feathers, before she opened her eyes.

Angel watched Zophe cook the breakfast, the smell was certainly grand. She began to undo the bandages on her wing, they were soaked with blood, as were her feathers. She moved and began to clean her wing off by the sink carefully using warm water. Soon her feathers were pure white again and she turned back to Zophe. She attempted to stretch her wings again, though there still wasn't enough space for her to stretch them fully and feel satisfied. She felt cramped, and caught again.

At her mention she could fly, Zophe wanted to laugh. She was injured, the idiot. She wouldn't be able to fly for a while until it fully healed. Even if she did heal quickly, she'd only injure herself further if she moved it too soon in the process.

With a nod, he kept most of his attention on the food before him, continuing to cook. When he heard the water running, he glanced over his shoulder and saw her washing her wing. From just a glance, he could tell she indeed was a fast healer, faster than he expected, but she would still be risking further damage upon herself if she strained it so early on.

"Here, why don't you take the fruit and set it on the table, okay? Go ahead and start eating. I'll be done in just a minute." He went to one of the drawers and pulled out a fork. He set it on the counter next to the bowl of fruit and nodded for her to go take it and sit down in the dining room.

"Besides, I don't want you to accidentally get hurt in here. There are too many things that might fall or harm you if we're not careful. Not to mention I'm using oil and it'll definitely hurt if it gets on you." He hoped she would comply. If she was in the dining room, her attention would be turned elsewhere. And not to mention the wall between them would do wonders in allowing him the opportunity to do what he really wanted to do.

Angel was in fact, healed. Her wing was slightly sore, but if anything, she could fly on it. Of course if she did strain it too much, it would damage it, but she knew that she'd be fine. She dried off her feathers and put the blood stained bandages to the side and looked up at Zophe spoke. She didn't exactly want to start eating without him, and she had a feeling she should stay and watch him, but she brushed those feelings aside. After all, what could he do? He was by far the kindest human being she'd encountered so far and she didn't think he'd intentionally harm her.

She picked up the fruit and the fork before nodding her head. "All right," she stated and knew that she didn't want the oil to get on her or her feathers. She moved out of the kitchen and into the dining room where she sat down and put the bowl of fruit on the table. She looked at the fork, studying it before she forked a piece of strawberry and ate it.

It was good, juicy and ripe. She chewed it slowly before she continued to eat the fruit. She didn't eat too fast, not wantint to give herself a stomach ache. The smell coming from the kitchen was quite good, but she didn't investigate as she sat at the table and tried to wait patiently for the breakfast.

Zophe waited until she was gone and happily occupied with the food before he turned his attention away from the dining room to favor that which was in front of him. While he cooked, he took out a mortar and pestle. Putting in the little Benzodiazepine tablets into the mortar, he began to grind them up, turning it into a powder. Every once in a while he glanced behind him to see if Angel suddenly had the urge to snoop in and see what he was doing, yet she didn't once appear.

When he was done, he sprinkled a fair amount into the food then left the rest on the side. He served it up on a platter. Then he went to the fridge and got out the juice. He poured some in a glass then poured the rest of the powder into the drink, stirring it up afterward to make sure it spread throughout the liquid. After that, he made sure the stove was off and he put everything back that needed to be before he took Angel's food and drink to the dining room.

"Angel," he called her attention. "Here's breakfast." He set it down in front of her with a smile. "I hope you finish it. It's really good, I promise."

He let her alone for a minute to get himself a drink. Then he returned to sit across from her at the table with mug in hand. "Let me know if there's anything you don't like, or anything you really do like. Even if you leave, I'll still be here, so whenever you're hungry, you can always come back here and I'll whip you up something tasty. M'kay?"

Angel felt a little impatient even though she had the fruit to snack on until he was done with the food. After a few more mouthfuls she pushed the bowl away and began to strum her fingers on the table as she waited. She wanted to leave, but she was hungry and she didn't want to be rude and just go. She thought to herself where she would go, and how she could possibly blend into society with her large and feathery wings.

Finally he came in and Angel smiled. It smelled very tantalizing. "It smells great," she grinned and looked down at the food. She took a deep inhale before frowning, it smelled wrong. She bit her lip and glanced at Zophe's back as he went to get his own drink. Had he tampered with the food? She was still hungry, but had lost her appetite for that food. Something felt off, and she suddenly no longer felt like a guest there. She wanted to leave, but now she was afraid. How could she get out without him getting suspicions of her.

Angel grabbed her glass and gave Zophe a smile. She didn't find anything wrong with it and drank nearly half of the liquid before she set it down and wiped her mouth with a napkin. She picked up her fork rather slowly, trying to bide time, but her eyelids began to feel really heavy as she stared at her food. Her whole body seemed to become detatched from her mind as she knew something was wrong and she needed to get out. Angel put the fork down and stumbled to her feet.

"I'an't stay." She said a bit slurred as she tried to keep her footing. "It smellz greatt, but I need to go-" she stopped before she gave him a poor attempted smile. She stumbled forward before she bumped into the wall and fell over as her mind became unconscious.

Zophe said nothing, merely watching as Angel got up, only to stumble and wobble like a newborn fawn that didn't know how to use its legs. He sipped from his mug, hiding the smirk that curled his lips wickedly. His gaze followed her as she tried to walk away, but she didn't make it very far. For a moment, he just let her stay on the floor and finished off his drink before he set it down on the table and went around to pick Angel up off the floor.

He gently folded her wings against her body before scooping her up and carrying her off down the halls to the other room where he often kept his equipment and cages for the various animals he brought with him. As he came to the locked door, he set down her feet so he could pull out his keys from his pocket, and unlocked the door.

Picking her up again, he carried her over to the large Jasper bird cage in the corner of the room. He unlocked the door and gently put her inside, allowing her to curl up on the metal floor. Just like any bird cage, the bottom was made with slits, but instead of flimsy wire that could certainly not hold a human weight for long, he had it reinforced with steel. The whole cage was reinforced to make sure no matter how many animals he stuck in there, no matter now larger or rowdy, even if they tipped it over, the cage would not break.

And lucky for Angel, the cage was clean. There were was some fresh newspaper underneath in the droppings catcher for her. Zophe touched her face, checking for any bruises, then tucked her hair behind her ear and closed up the cage, locking it with a key. He went to the side where the food dishes were and found them both clean and empty as he expected. He took them out and with him to the kitchen where he filled one with clean, fresh water, then the other with some of the fruit that she didn't eat.

He came back and replaced the dishes, and closed the gates for the dishes as well. He turned on the ceiling fan on low so that she wouldn't get too hot, but really, it wouldn't matter all that much if he did since she wouldn't be waking up for several hours. Probably not until evening at the earliest. The next day at the latest.

Clicking his tongue, Zophe pulled out his phone and aimed the device at her. Your loss, sweetheart. He took her picture and stored it before heading out, closing and locking the door behind him. He returned to the dining room and kitchen and got rid of the leftovers, throwing them away. He washed the dishes, made sure no residue from the medicine was left, then took up his keys and wallet, and left the house. He had work to do before the evening came by. Now that he had another "pet" to take care of, some supplies would be necessary.

He's take care of her and whatever tantrum she was sure to raise when he got back.

The whole day Angel was out like a light. She didn't stir or move at all in the cage as she was too asleep to even bother much with moving. She wasn't awfully uncomfortable, so she had no reason to shift in her sleep. As the day was coming to an end, Angel's eyes began to open and she looked around. Her head hurt slightly, but she ignored the pain as she sat up. She was so confused as to where she was and what she was doing in a cage.

Angel thought back, trying to remember what had happened and what was going on. She remember getting shot out of the air, she remembered Zophe coming upon her, and she remembered the fruit for breakfast. She frowned slightly before her eyes widened and fear swept over her. She quickly got to her feet and looked around, she was in a room, but more importantly, she was in another cage. Anger seeped through her body as she gripped the bars and rattled them. She tried using her weight, but she was so light, the cage barely moved. She growled out as she continued to look for a weak spot in the cage, but there was none.

Anger was in her, but mostly she felt betrayed and hurt. Now it made sense to her, the only reason a human would ever treat her so well, was to make sure she was healed and fine before locking her up. She could feel the bitter tears fill her eyes, but she refused to let them fall as she moved to the platform off of the ground. She hated him, she could never forgive him for this. How in the world could she escape now? She wouldn't be used for tests, no, she was going to get a fat price set over her head.

After a moment of thinking, she opened her mouth and began to scream. It was her only release for anger, and the tone and pitch of her scream was ear splitting and extremely high pitched. She continued like that for a very long time, she never was winded and since she had bird tendancies, she could go all night. She hoped Zophe would go deaf! Angel felt like such a fool for trusting him. Oh how she loathed the man.

Zophe was in midst of typing at his laptop when he heard the muffled but definite shriek of Angel's voice. Lucky for him, he had long since renovated that room for the specific purposes of holding loud and noisy animals. He had his fair share of aggravated guests in his house to know better than to keep the house as is without some specific remodeling to allow him at least a semi-decent night of sleep.

And let's not mention the thick walls and a lot of yard space to put some distance between him and any neighbors. He didn't need them to hear what was going on in his house while he was pretending to be a normal, single male on his own.

Still, at this close proximity, he could hear her and had to sigh. It was irritating. Ignoring it for the moment, he continued to type, finishing up before saving and sending it off to his editor. The guise of his day job did well in covering up all the increase in his bank account as well as why he always seemed to be at home or going off at unusual hours.

The fact that he had wide birth of land property on top of owning the house as well, wasn't all that unexpected considering his job. So when his hobby took the forefront, no one even batted an eyelash. He was the modest rich man in the neighborhood. If one could even call it as such. There was so much space between each house, and a high fence to mark off each plot of land, there was more open space than housing.

As he closed up his laptop, he took it back to his bedroom and put it away. He grabbed something from his drawer and shoved it in his back pocket before leaving. He made a pit stop to the bathroom and pulled out a pair of earplugs from the bathroom before he made his way to the kitchen, grabbed some fruit and raisin bread slices before making his way to the room where he kept the little shrieker.

He unlocked the door and pushed it open, only to be immediately bombarded with sound. Even with earplugs the sound was still loud, but at least it didn't hurt too much. So long as he didn't stay here all night listening to her screaming he would be fine. He'd probably escape with just a mild headache. Hopefully.

Closing the door behind him, he stood there, balancing the food in one hand as he shoved the keys back in his pocket. He waited to see if she would shut up otherwise he would rattle her in a very unpleasant way. "Tell me when you're done," he said calmly.

Angel heard the door unlock, but she didn't stop. She saw that he was wearing earplugs, but when she saw him cringe slighty as he was bombarded with her screaming. She watched him come over and spoke calmly. She glared at him, but she stopped and closed her mouth. "I'm not done, I'm merely taking a break." She glowered at him before she jumped down from the platform and walked over to him. The bars were a barrier inbetween them, but she wrapped her small hands around them and glared. "How could you do this?" she asked in a venomous voice.

"I did not come here to be put in another cage Zophe," she hissed his name as she glared him down.

Zophe was taller than her, so she had to tilt her head up slightly to see his full face. "I never expected you to do this, why in the world were you ever nice to me?" she snapped at him, she wanted to wring his neck so hard it would snap. "You should've just tossed me here in the first place if this was your intentions the whole time." She spit on his face before her glare turned icy. She turned around and flitted up to the platform once more. "I hope you know, I can starve myself without ever being tempted by your food." She threatened.

"Who would want me than? No one wants a stick with wings!" she laughed dryly, her back still turned to him as she folded her wings tight to her back. She hated him, oh how she hated him. She wanted to just rip his head off, or pull him up to the sky before dropping him. Humans had such fear of heights, it was laughable.

"The things I would do to you if I could get out of here." She growled in a low voice as she shut her hearing off and fully ignored him. Angel was not going to make this easy for him. If he wanted an angel, he'd have to find another one. She was not about to be sold off to the highest bidder. Now that she thought about it, she'd much rather be back at the facility. At least then she was treated better, sort of. Here Zophe would do everything he could to break her and turn her tame, but she would not have it, she would not be tame. She was wild, and not a soul on earth would be able to tame her heart.

When she finally stopped screaming the house down, he allowed himself to pull one of the earplugs out to hear her as she spoke. Her tone of voice wasn't surprising. Neither were her words. In fact, all the animals he put in there seemed to to hate him with every bone in their body. And yet, he didn't quite care considering he never understood their "words" to begin with.

Now that there was actually something behind those bars that could speak the human language, he found that it didn't appeal to him very much. Sure it gave him someone to talk to, but over all, it was the same as hearing any other animal shriek at him. He just happened to understand what they were saying this time.

Swiping his hand across his face as she spat at him, he continued just let her say whatever she wanted, waiting for her to finally stop. When she finally did, he gave a soft sigh. "I did tell you, didn't I?" he said, not caring if she was ignoring him or not. "The world's more dangerous than you think it is. So what if you can fly? Rip those wings off and you're just like the rest of us lowly bastard humans."

He came up to the cage and put the food down on the ground for a moment before opening up the small food gate and pulled out the tray. It looked like she didn't eat. Oh well. He left the pieces there and placed a couple slices of raisin bread inside. Then he put the tray back and locked it up again. "You were probably better off wherever you came from. You're too naive to live in this world. Too innocent. It's a shame that I have to do this to you. Were I actually a virtuous person, I truly would've given you shelter. But see, this cruel cruel world just didn't raise me that way. And you'll see that whatever they taught you in that place you came from is far from the dark truth of reality."

He stood back and took the food with him. "If you want to obstinate, that's fine. I have methods for forcing you to do what I want. But let's hope I don't have to do it because I guarantee if you thought your old masters were harsh, I'm worse than that. And I'm considered a lot nicer than most people out there who would love to get their paws on you." With a sharp, harsh smile, he left the room and shut the door after him. He paused to take out the other earplug before locking the door; he couldn't afford anyone sneaking in there without his permission.

As much as she did a good job of ignoring Zophe and pretending that she couldn't hear his words, she absorbed them like a sponge and wished she hadn't. She loathed him, and she hated him, she didn't care what lay beyond this house and in the world, she'd rather be out there dying than with this man who had betrayed her trust. She wanted to rip his hair out, but she stayed perfectly still as he went on to speak. She pursed her lip slightly and her eyes flashed as he spoke of her being too naive and too innocent, it was the only movement she made as he finished.

Angel did not care if she was put into crueller hands than his, she'd rather have that than him. Zophe had saved her, and then he had caged her. She couldn't forgive him for that, she just couldn't. She felt so angry and so bitter than she wanted to just throw herself at the cage and let herself just die. At least then he wouldn't have a prize to sell off to the highest bidder.

The thought was so despicable to her that she found no words came to her mouth. She was merely an item, a prize, she knew she'd be sold for an extremely large amount of money. Why would he do this? Didn't he have any sense of what was right and wrong? Well of course he didn't, he had said so and it was very obvious by his actions that he didn't know. Angel was having a hard time fathoming it. There was no way he had methods to force her into doing what he wanted, she had lived with scientists who had used every tactic on her, there was nothing new to her.

Abuse? No, she could survive that. The scientists had thought that would fix her when she was around 13, but they soon realized that it only made her worse. Angel could hold up against abuse.

Drugs? That was another one the scientists had tried and failed with. The drugs reacted really strangely with her body, they either put her into a coma that could last for days, or it sucked the nutrients from her body as it passed through her. They had opted that one out since they didn't want to damage her too much.

Starvation? Nope, she could do that one all on her own.

Intimadation? Angel wasn't exactly one to be intimadated. She loathed those who tried to scar her, and she couldn't really be scared. She had seen a lot in her life, nothing could scare her into complying with what was wanted of her.

Threat of torture? That was laughable to her.

No, there really wasn't anything that could get at Angel. She was so confident with herself that she could hold out. She walked over to the food trays before she picked up the food and began to fling it out of the cage. She threw it well across the room, scattering it everywhere, making a large mess. She wasn't even going to tempt herself. She opted to keeping the water, but she checked it to make sure it wasn't drugged with sleeping medicine or whatever he had used on her.

When she was done, she sighed sadly and flitted back up to the platform. She wrapped her arms around her legs before she shrouded herself with her wings to block out everything. How had she ended up there?

The next day, when Zophe had mind to check up on Angel and see how she was doing, he didn't comment on the spilled food everywhere. He just took up a broom and dustpan and cleaned it up. He gave her fresh water, another piece of bread, then left. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she hated him, and extended periods of visits weren't in order right now.

So for the next several days, an easy sort of relationship came. It was simple. Angel was kept in her cage, she was fed, watered, and for whatever mess she made, it was cleaned up promptly. Zophe didn't trust her enough to let her out, and if he did he'd probably clip her wings. But he refrained from touching her in that manner, so that for the most part, they stayed out of each other's way.

Zophe worked his "day job" without too much disruption, and when opportunity struck, went out twice in search of other animals that might bring in a high price. The task was harder than one might expect. Hunting meant going out of city limits and wandering the outskirts. Normally, he would take extended trips, but with a guest in his house already, he could only go little by little, day by day, sometimes overnight, odd hours, etc.

By the end of the week, he had yet to get another animal. And what more, he was still looking around for a buyer for Angel. He couldn't just sell her off to any person. Though money was quite the briber, he wanted to make sure she received a special home. And what did he mean by special? Well. That was a secret.

It was Saturday evening and Zophe was bringing over more food for Angel and so he could change her water. He unlocked the door and entered, prepared for whatever new trick she had up her sleeve.

Angel didn't say a single word to Zophe when he came in. She pretended that he didn't exist and continually was throwing the food from her cage. Everytime he brought it, she flung it out without thinking. She was starting to grow a little weak, but she ignored it and simply kept with drinking the water. She didn't want his food, she just wanted to be let go.

She was patient, or as patient as she could be considering what she had been through. She had thought she was free and in the clear to escape, but she was obviously wrong and now was paying for that by sitting in a cage day in and day out. At least at the facility she had been able to have different activities instead of being bored 24/7. She knew that the silence and nothingness would drive her insane soon enough, especially depriving herself from the food.

The relationship between them was rocky, but a quiet one. She sat quietly in her cage up on the platform, her wings folded behind her. She had found that even though she hated Zophe and everything about him, he had become the highlight of her day since it was something other than the impossible silence. It was easy to tell she was starting to get thin, she had no problem refusing his food, but what she craved was company of any kind, even Zophe's.

Her resolve to be indifferent to him crumbled as he came in, for one she was actually facing him instead of having her back to him. Her eyes were trained on him carefully as she watched him. She finally sighed and spoke.

"You have no idea how boring this is."

Zophe stared at her. At least she wasn't as venomous as before. He supposed that was a good thing. She was still rather stubborn about many other things, though. She didn't eat, for one. It was a little irritating to waste food on her, but he held his tongue about it and just let her do as she pleased.

As she sat there on her perch and stared at him, it seemed as though they were going to go through another silent day. But he assumed to quickly when she suddenly sighed and talked. Boring, was it? "I imagine so," he said dryly.

He took the water out and left the room to dump what was left of it onto an indoor house plants. He invested in one considering how much supplies she wasted. He even started feeding neighborhood animals with all the food she didn't eat. The compost could only take so much in such a short time.

"But I can't really do anything about that considering your dire need to fly away. Elsewise, if I had your trust, I might let you out to stretch a little. But I can't afford that," he said as he came back in and gave the water back. Then he pulled out the food dish. Empty. But not because she ate anything.

"I suppose I could give you something to read or play with. In exchange for your cooperation." He transferred the food from bowl to dish---crackers and cheese cubes and little ham slices. The healthy kind. Then, he put the bowl back and looked at her from across the bars of her cage, one brow raised.

Angel stared, her eyes pleading with the words she didn't dare want to speak. She watched him carefully, as much as she hated him, she yearned for his company. Perhaps he had found a way to break her, give her silence, and no interaction with anyone or anything. It was highly irritating and boring to have nothing to do. Angel prided herself a little in the fact that she could be patient, but she couldn't any longer, she was cracking under the boringness of her new life.

She bit her lip slightly as she knew his words were spoken true. She didn't blame him for being cautious, if she was in the same position, she'd be the same way. She wouldn't let herself out for a stroll, but now she was willing to do anything to change the pace of this tedious life.

Angel wasn't that desporate, at least not yet. She wasn't about to beg for him to let her out, even just in the room to stretch properly. She was still greatly soured against him, but it was melting away a little every day as she was finding that even though she hated what he had done to her, she didn't hate him any longer.

"I'm not eating if that is what you mean." She hissed coldly, but when she realized that she was probably going to cut even further interaction with him by that, she quickly recovered as she wasn't ready to lose him yet. Even if they fought, if she could keep him a few seconds longer, perhaps she wouldn't go crazy.

"Z?" she began once more. "Please, just...I'll die in here of boredom." She looked away from him, her strong facade disappearing for a moment as she appeared very weak in that moment.

He stared at her silently, watching the way her expression changed with every passing second. Was she willing to comply to him? Would she bend? Was she that desperate? ...No. It seemed not. Her answer didn't faze him. He merely shrugged in response. It would be her loss more than his. He wasn't the bored one around here.

Watching her just a while longer, he listened to her plea and found himself wanting to laugh and shake his head. He did neither of these, only replying, "I'll think about it. In the meantime, I suggest you reconsider your choice of actions. I might be more willing to say yes if there's something to motivate me."

He moved away and gathered up his things before leaving. Like always, when he shut the door, he locked it after him, ever careful about anything capable of coming in or out of the room.

In truth, he didn't mind giving her something to occupy herself with. However, he didn't want her to starve and wither away either. It was a tough call to say yes to something like that. He was considerate enough to ponder the idea of letting her out, but only if she proved she wouldn't bolt the second the cage opened. He didn't trust her. He didn't trust anybody. At least not so easily. If she wanted something, then she would have to first offer up something of her own.

Her pride was a good start. Eating would be nice too.

Angel watched him go, she knew that he was a hard nut and she wouldn't be able to crack him very easily. It made her upset, to think that he was so capable of brushing these things away so easily. She knew he wasn't the one who was barely holding onto sanity, so she had to offer him something that was vauable enough for him to give her a little room to breathe.

She glanced at the food and sighed. She didn't want to eat, she was still paranoid that he had done more to the food, but perhaps by now he wouldn't have since she hadn't even touched it in the first place. Either way, the food actually looked good now. She had to give up her starvation, that was her first step.

Angel was appalled with herself for giving in, but she had no choice. She moved over to the food and began to nibble at it slowly. It tasted better than she had thought, but she refused to enjoy it.

As she sat there eating, she pondered. She knew he didn't trust her, but at this point she wasn't trying to escape, she was merely trying to hold onto her sanity. Angel finally came up with a solution, but it was not one she liked. She hated the thought, but it was her only hope.

Her wings were going to be clipped. She knew it was the only way he would let her have more freedom, the thought appalled her greatly and was horrifying, but she found she no longer cared. Her feathers would grow back, so it would be only temporary, either way, it was her only choice since she didn't have his trust. Now all she had to do was wait until he came again, and that felt as if it would take more than a lifetime. She dreaded the thought of waiting, but it was her only option unless she wanted to scream herself into insanity. Angel still couldn't grasp that she was giving up her flight for him.