Suddenly the air stilled. It was if a spectre had passed through the room. The atmosphere became silent and cold before thickening to a toughness only describable as chocking. Yuri still stared back at me as if I had said nothing. "Yuri-" I began to speak before stopping myself intentionally. She stared back at me but with unblinking eyes, a line of cool sweat appeared on her brow. Yuri  took her hand and placed it upon her chest and hovered for two heartbeats before her entire arm collapsed to her side.

I said nothing but leaned in closer while beginning to stand up. I listened. Yuri's breathing had stopped, completely. "Yuri?..." I called in a much quitter, frightened voice. She stood ever still breathing in sharply before leaning backwards. Her eyes began climbing towards her head as if she was thinking. Before I could even realise what was happening Yuri's eye and body movement ceased. She uttered a single insipid "ha" accompanied by a brief smile before collapsing out of her chair.

Like instinct I rushed to her side. Not in time however for her to have fallen completely onto the floor. Upon my distant inspection she seemed to be fine, her head not in any danger of being damaged as she fell angled on her back. I took no time and rushing over to her aid. Luckily she seemed to be coming to, blinking rapidly a few times before I finally got to her. Yuri still dazed turned to look at me. I was stunned. I tried to muster a sentence but nothing came out. I tried once again failing as I had before.

I felt Yuri delicate fingers curl around my arm as she began to raise herself upwards. I did not move an inch. In a tired but other wise normal tone Yuri asked herself "what did I-" before briefly gasping and looking downwards. I tried to speak this time before I was interrupted. "Its over here" Yuri stated far too normally for what had just occurred. She began to climb her stairs as I wandered over to her, quite confused.

I still couldn't truly understand what had happened and was still computing the whole incident as Yuri grasped me by the hand and led me into the upstairs hallway. By the time I had gained the  full concept of Yuri fainting then her shaking it off like nothing had happened I had been led through her bedroom door. Finally allow my worries to wear off, I took a small dejected gasp before forcibly retaining my composure and examining the room, not for the first time on my visit. Rather like I had envisioned the room really screamed Yuri from top to bottom. The walls were a dark purple mixed with swirls of cream and heavy denim blue. The curtains were solid indigo and covered the predominant back half of the room. 

Yuri's had a wardrobe to her left along with a storage box. To her right a massive bookshelf, unsurprisingly filled with unfittingly thick novels. Finally her bed was positioned at the core of the room. Draped with thin, linen curtains it stood on a very tall mattress. It was adorned with tens of plush pillows and was surely a double queen if not king sized bed. The only surprising thing was the duvet, like mine it was thin and presumably very cold in that case. There were no blankets or extra covers in sight.

After scanning the room as I had others before Yuri sat on her bedside, I did the same. She then raised to her feet and opened one of bedside drawers. I was honestly prepared for the closet to be filled to the brim with blades and to act as though such a thing was not an unhealthy obsession. Instead Yuri motioned my attention over and held out a rectangular, crystalline case. As I inspected closer, past the Chroma glare I saw that the case held, on a pillowed bed, six very fancy looking knifes. As I looked closer I caught a glimpse of Yuri out the corner of my eye.

She was not blushing nor worried from the looks of it rather content and calm. Really strange for something so personally audacious it caused her to faint. Never the less the knifes were very nice. All of them seemed to be very unique some small and broad, others with patterned bases and handles, quite beautiful for weapons. One of them was quite a bit larger and had a gruntier feel but other than that the knife collection seemed rather simple, almost like a kitchen knife.

~She didn't have the blue one that she did at the festival though. I wonder where it could have gone?

Yuri seemed to know I was finished so she retrieved the box from me and placed in on her lap. "What do you think?" Yuri timidly remarked in anticipation.

~Thought it would have been a little bigger if it was worth fainting for...

"Well..." you struggle to think of an answer to the massively underwhelming situation as compared to your own stipulation of the event. "I think they're really cool!" I said rapidly attempting to add something else as I saw the dejection rise in Yuri's eyes.  "What's that one?" I tried very hard to seemed enthusiastic pointing to one with a broad blade and bronze, flat hilt.

-There are more I know it...

"That!?" Yuri spurted abruptly. "Well, its an African base but the blade for a more balanced feel, the handle is actually ceramic, but repaired with copper and silicone-" Yuri went on, obviously able to elaborate and speak clearly due to this being the description of something she enjoyed.

I had kind of lost track of Yuri's description mid way through but was able to pick up on when she had finished. As she did I picked out another knife and she described that one as well. Although my intentions were nothing but to humour Yuri I was actually starting to find Yuri's limited collection reasonably interesting. Although sharp objects were not my forte there seemed to be a different story behind every one.

And furthermore Yuri always knew it.

In fact the amount of detail she could provide on the subject was immense. Whether the blade was silver or steel, integrated or fashioned she knew. One would usually ask where she obtained such things, knowledge and knifes, but as she explained I was beginning to at least understand her infatuation. Eventually as time bore on Yuri took the blades out of the case and let me touch them. I tried with the upmost caution not to cut myself as I had before. Occasional as I turned them around in my palms the edges would nick my skin or gently prick me but nothing major occurred. 

As Yuri continued telling me about the blades, her enthusiasm and confidence increased as well as her happiness. She was more confident and spoke with pristine fluency, something of which I had completely foreseen for an event such as this. However her euphoric mood was certainly of surprise. Nothing of which I was to distain from but certainly rival with an inquisitive tendency. As we came closer and closer to the end of the list of blades Yuri's happiness seemed to rise still. She smiled far more frequently than was necessary unceasing me slightly. Mabey she was enjoying sharing something she liked with someone's she liked. This seemed the most probably but was still not enough to distract from Yuri's long and unfaltering additionally uncharacteristic grin.

As Yuri finished on the back story of the last Knife I was holding she took it carefully from my hands, by the handle before placing it and the rest into their respective places inside the container. I waited patiently as she began to pack the rest of the knifes away carefully grasping each on with a fluency I had never known before sliding the last one into place and shutting the lid of the container. As she stood up and took time to stretch her legs I realised it was 4.06 meaning we had been there for over an hour. After stretching she seemed to sheepishly open her bedside drawer before quickly throwing the box inside and slamming the drawer shut.

I had naturally looked as she did this and so saw nothing else inside the desk besides a ball point pen. For no reason it caught my eye, as though it meant something, I was certain it did not. As Yuri Returned to sit with me I stared outside the darkened window, the air still sending tiny wisps of snows to scatter the air. "Thanks Alex" I heard from my side, Yuri staring out the window with me. "Yuri why were you afraid?" I asked in an almost rhetorical tone.

I was greeted with a silence before Yuri spoke, "Because-because I care about-" she stopped. "I care Alex, I don't want you to think that I'm strange or-" I stopped her there. And then we hugged again, for longer this time.