with some considerations

Hecate had already lost track of time by the time she settled on top of the tree branch. She knew she'd spent most of the past few hours just tailing behind him but part of her didn't want to think about how long exactly. A few hours is already too much, she told herself, but there was a second admittedly stronger voice in her head that says that it's not even close to enough!

She'd already given up being completely stealthy about 15 minutes ago or so. She was supposed to go back home, or spend the rest of the afternoon in one of the bookshops in the city but oh no, she still kept tailing him. At this point she was jittery, but she couldn't place why yet. She was waiting for him to look back. It wasn't quite Eden though, she knew — It was his other side, Zach. Zach who she knows less about given the fact that other than the first time they met, he was never there when she confronted 3817.

Hecate managed to catch a glance off her pocket watch out of habit, reminding her that she was about an hour off schedule. "Shit, I've fucked up," she muttered, possibly a little too loud to be heard by the next person standing within 6 feet of her hiding place.

@Arcadia

The two locked eyes when Zach had looked up giving Hecate that slight moment for a chill to run up her spine. What gives? Neither of them seemed to make a move though — Hecate at least knew that it was because this was Zach but she wasn't sure why she couldn't. It was just Zach, after all. She tried to play it cool, not giving away any of her emotions.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she spoke evenly, stepping down from her perch. "Or is that how you normally greet people when you're completely sober?"

Hecate had to smother the smile that almost threatened to show on her face, finding his apprehension amusing. She was used to that face to have a wild grin on it when she spoke to him that the scowl felt so out of place. Not to mention the way he spoke to her.

"Maybe I am, who knows?" she spoke while taking a few steps forward so that they were facing each other. "Either work; but today doesn't feel like the day for the second one." She couldn't hide the smirk that appeared on her face.

Eden hasn't spoken to him of anything then, she deduced. Did he keep that a secret from Zach or was he expecting him to find out for himself? The thought itself elicited a soft, if not slightly bashful chuckle from Hecate. Well, then Hecate wasn't going to tell either. At least not blatantly.

So she gave him an innocent look, like she had no idea what he was talking about. "I don't really know what you mean," she said reaching up her hand to play with the strands of his hair. "Though I suppose I could just kidnap you now since you're likely not going to retaliate as much as him. It makes things pretty easy."

Hecate gave him a knowing smile. No, of course she wasn't doing such a thing. She wasn't that type of person to begin with.

"There's no game here, 3817," she told him, glancing at her wrist that he held in his grasp. She made no effort of releasing herself from it, instead she just looked back at Zach, her head slightly tilted in appraisal. "I'm not really up to anything if you're asking. I was really just here to keep track of you today since you don't want to go with me. Nothing more and nothing less." It was half a lie, but still also half the truth.

"Unless of course, you've changed your mind?"