The facade slips, if only briefly.
Who: Aida, Essdara
Where: Hot Springs
When: Day 27, month 1, turn 2 of the 7th Pass. (See, I said I got better about this later.)
What: Bathing Dara's father's dragon, and a bit of discussion on where Aida's road is going. Aida, as always, does her best to evade the topic.
It's late morning and the bathes are bustling. One of the three present dragons is an old blue; average in size, average in color, average all around. Korth is his name, and his rider is currently housed in the infirmary with a nasty threadscore on one leg. Essdara and Aida have been called on to give the dragon a bath, Essdara being Korth's rider's daughter. She grins to her friend as they stand in the water next to him. "So, you've never done this before, Aida? It's a lot of fun, sometimes, though with Da hurt I can't imagine Korth'll be much interested in playing. It's pretty easy, just scrub him all over. I'll take care of his wings since they're delicate, but other than that don't hold back, you won't hurt him.
"Scrub." Aida echoes back, still staring a bit wide-eyed up at the old blue. She brings a hand up to shove it through her hair, then goes for a handful of sand. "I think I'm probably relieved that he doesn't feel like playing," she notes, glancing over towards Dara and then back up at the dragon. "No offense, or anything." Deep breath, slow exhale, and then she sets to it -- to her credit, she's not being overly delicate, even from the start.
Essdara sets in with her, scrubbing along the blue's hide. "Don't worry, love. I've been helping with this since I could walk. It was one of the few ways I could reliably spend time with my da, and I never let a chance slip by. Korth, he's like a second dad to me." She deftly climbs up onto his back, going for between the wings. "I imagine you'll get lots more practice once you and Br'ce spend more time together, it'll be good to know how!"
"That's taking a lot for granted," Aida points out, sending a skeptical look up to her friend before she chuckles and looks back to the dragon's side, shifting her weight to put her back into it. Scrubscrubscrub. "It's really nice in here; I don't think I've been into this area before. The water is really, really nice."
Essdara nods, grinning. "I come here almost as much as the main bathes. There's small little pools off over there where you can come and just hang out. I find it a lot nicer than inside, and not as many people, 'specially in winter. And I do take a lot for granted, cause it's obvious! He's not stupid enough to not make this work."
"It is not assumed," Aida counters, shaking her head and making a face as she continues to work carefully on the scrubbing, taking as much time to watch what she's doing and the result of it as she does actually working at it. Movements and sand amounts are tested -- there is experimentation. "And it's not obvious. There's any number of things that can happen, and...everything else. We haven't even talked about any of it or anything."
Essdara rolls her eyes and works along his back. Unlike Aida, her strokes are quick and practised. Korth, for his part, rumbles quietly in contentment and settles down for the cleaning. "Well, allow me my illusions of you being happy then, would you? Sheesh, you sound like you are waiting for something bad to happen. Just enjoy things and be happy and at least pretend you think it will work1"
"I'm not saying that I won't be happy or that it won't work out or that I think anything bad is going to happen," Aida protests, shaking her head rapidly and then letting out her own laugh, moving down along the dragon's flank. "I just don't want to make any assumptions or...count on something that might not happen, that's all. So they just let other people in here, and they can be used instead of the baths?" There's a glance over in the direction of the smaller pools.
Essdara grins, "See, now that's a good sound, laughing. Just keep positive and I'll stop poking you about it." She starts on the base of one wing, working along it gingerly. "Well." She says, in a conspiratorial voice, "Normally they post guards, but they take breakfast around now, so anyone can sneak in. But you have to be really really quiet!"
Aida blinks, shifting up and starting to glance -- and then stopping and instead turning her eyes up towards Dara. "That's not funny," she points out, but she's grinning all the same. "Mean!" More laughter, and more scrubbing. Down along a leg; she doesn't seem to mind getting soaked. "I like him. He seems to like me. I'm not taking anything for granted beyond that, right now."
"I know you aren't taking it for granted! But we're girls, aren't we supposed to, you know, talk about these thigns and plan out your life and stuff? Never had someone I cared about enough to want to!" Dara grins down at her a moment before climbing out on an outstreched wing. "I'll have to get down to do more." She says, to the blue. "I know a lot can go wrong, butfor a little bit, why not pretend it can't?"
"It's hard to plan out my life when I'm not certain what I want," Aida points out, straightening back up and sliding over to start on another patch. "I'm not looking for anything to go wrong, but...what if he only sort of likes me, or something? I don't know. And...well, I don't know what I want. Boys never figured into any of it before. It changes a lot."
Essdara grins a bit, "I can see that, yeah. He... Didn't seem the type who was just trying to get into your pants, at least. Though I've seen the shy boy routine done for that purpose before, so I couldn't say for certain. But he really, really seems nice." A bright grin, "To be fair, boys don't factor much into my life, either."
Aida laughs and makes a face up at Dara, grinning a bit sheepishly. "I can't believe I'm talking like this," she points out, glancing ceilingwards for a moment before dropping her gaze back to what she's doing. "He does seem very, very nice. And I don't think he's trying to just...get into my pants, either. He doesn't seem the type. I just...don't know."
Essdara grins, and scrambles down from the blue, who tips his wing downward from long practice. "What are you unsure of, dearheart? What about it scares you?"
"I don't know!" Aida proclaims, shaking her head and making a face over at the other girl. She continues scrubbing away, moving to yet another patch. At least it's not a terribly difficult thing to figure out. Clean the dragon. "I really don't know. The whole thing is just confusing."
Essdara chuckles softly and works at the wing. "So talk to me, Aida. Tell me what's confusing you, let me try to help? I mean, if you can't trust your best friend who is in love with you to give you good romantic advice, then who /will/ you trust? Neiran?" She teases.
"I don't know what's confusing me," Aida points out, and then stills, and turns her head to look over at the other girl, and frowns. "You are not in love with me," she points out. "And I certainly am not going to go talk to Neiran about this, that would be silly. But I don't know if there's anything to talk about, because it's just...confusing. I don't know what I want. That's it. I don't know where I hope it goes, or what's going to happen to my life if it does go somewhere."
"Of course I am!" She says, grinning. "Enough to know that it wouldn't work. And... Do you now, otherwise, where yuor life is going? I know where mine is going, cause it's mostly there. Head cook, and hopefully sharing someone's bed who cares. Where do you want yours to go, Aida?"
Making a cranky noise, Aida shakes her head, putting extra vigor into the scrubbing. "Everybody keeps poking me about that lately," she states, something faintly annoyed tracing into her tone. "I want things that I don't want to talk about right now."
Essdara pauses a bit, andis quiet a moment. She nods, then, slowly, though her voice is a touch hurt. "You don't have to talk to me about anything, Aida. I don't mean to poke you about private things, it was just a question. You pick something to talk abuot."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Aida exhales a quiet sigh. She waits a few moments -- probably counting to ten in her head -- before she lifts her head and turns to where she can look over at the other girl again. "It's not /you/, Dara. It's not that I don't want to talk to *you* about it, it's that everything is all mixed up and confused. I want to stay here now, and I don't know that that was...my eventual goal. There's other things, but they're just...I'm here. I like it here. I care about things here. But there's nowhere for me to work up to, here. All the goals that I could set that are within my interests are so small, if I stay here. And I'm not satisfied with them, but I'm less satisfied with the idea of leaving, even if it does mean going to a crafthall." Beat. "I think I'm a little power hungry, that's all. I'm way too ambitious for my own good."
Essdara nods softly, "I understand, Aida, and I meant it. I don't mean to pry, and all you ever have to say is you don't want to takl about something. Just don't bite my head off for accidentally asking the wrong thing." She smiles at her a bit, "And I am glad you want to stay. My life would be a lot worse without you, and I am selfish. But... I do understand. I think it's part of why I asked about Caucus. Because... Even if it doesn't change my end goal, it would be oppertunity, it would,for a while, be part of something I could never get to otherwise. And I think you feel that more than me. You aren't content to be a pawn, to be someone else's plaything, while I've long since learned that's all I can hope for."
"I understand that it's my lot in life unless I follow a particular route; I understand the route I would have to take to get there," Aida states quietly, shaking her head and exhaling a quiet sigh. She slides around to another spot on the dragon, continuing to intently scrub the creature. She's industrious. "The problem being is that I do not want to walk the road that will take me to where I want to go -- I /desperately/ want to find a shortcut, or...something. Trying to define it, the best way I can explain, Dara, is 'I want I want I want'. What /don't/ I want is a better way to put it."
Essdara smiles a bit. "You are for all of your life, what I am for love." She summarizes. "I do understand. ANd I will help however I can, Aida. Not that I will be able to do anything, but at least you'll know you aren't doing it alone. And it doesn't have to be your lot, you are not me, we are not the same. You are stronger, more driven. Your name will be remembered, I am sure."
"A significant part of my goals, Br'ce is going to help me with," Aida explains quietly, offering over a slight smile. "Which I can hardly wrap my mind around, honestly. And...yes, I think I am to life as you are to love. And I know you'll help me however you can, though I don't know right now if there is any helping. It's all in little pieces. Right now, I need to learn. That's my immediate goal; learn."
"Learning is good. And fun. I don't think you will have any trouble there. And I am glad he can do that for you, Aida. I think he will have a big impact on your desires, and it will be for the better." Dara smiles brightly, moving to work on the dragon's tail with the wings clean. "I am very eager to see how it all turns out."
Aida slides over to the other side to start scrubbing away there quite enthusiastically. "Long term, all of it," she says. "Though Br'ce had an interesting point that I hadn't considered the other day; if one could get ahold of the schedules for the Falls, one /could/ still travel without too much potential danger. I don't know why my father decided to stop."
Essdara shrugs. "Maybe he felt it wasn't worth the risk? Maybe he found something there that made him decide that he wanted to be there, more than anywhere else, kind of like you have? I dunno... I don't pretend to. But I'm glad he did." She sighs. "I think we are about done, hon."
"Are you sure? I may have missed a spot over here," Aida points out, grabbing another bit of sand and darting to scrub at the indicated spot. "But...yeah, I'm sort of glad he did, too. After a fashion. I'm certainly much happier here than I have been elsewhere for any length of time, that is for /sure/."
Essdara grins and moves around to see where she is scrubbing. "Looks good to me. But you are welcome to keep going, they love the attention and the pleasantness of it. Can't say I blame them, what's not to like about being bathed by pretty girls?" A bright smile. "And being happy is what is really important, AIda. I am glad to hear you say you are."
"Of course I'm happy," Aida replies flippantly, shaking her head. She scrubs for another moment, then brushes water up and over the hide before she slides back, inspecting her work carefully. "I have a warm bed, protection from the sky, good food to eat, plenty of work to do, and friends. There's little reason for me to be unhappy at all." Nod.
Essdara laughs softly, "Put that way, I feel rather selfish for the times I am not unhappy. I've all those things, and more. And yet... I am not, come down to it, particularly happy. But that's the kind of person I am, at heart, so it may not be the same."
Aida grunts. Yes, she grunts. Then she's sliding back away from the dragon, heading for the edge of the pool and then out of it. "I'm convinced that regardless of the obstacles or barriers in my path, I will eventually get what I want," she explains. "And I'm willing to do whatever it takes. My goals? Don't rely on somebody else's cooperation. That's why I can be satisfied."
Essdara follows her out, smiling a bit. "Your plans sound lonely. I will stick to mine." She says easily. Korth, behind them, gives a shake and himself slips from the baths, and the caverns. Dara yawns, stretching. "Guess that means I will have to go back to work."
Watching Korth go, Aida chuckles and shakes her head, then turns to look at Dara, a grin offered. "To each their own," she says easily. "I think I feel better now. This has been bothering me for a while."
Essdara tilts her head a bit at her. "I don't think I did much more than annoy you, but I am happy to have helped. And you always know I will listen, about anything. If I can do nothing else, I can offer that much to your life."
Aida rolls her eyes, reaching over to mock-punch Dara lightly in the shoulder. "You didn't annoy me," she points out. "She just made me think. I know they look the same on the surface, but they're really not. And you're my friend, damnit. You do lots for my life."
Essdara grins teasingly at her, "Until you hit a point when I am a liability. Then, whooosh! Who was that cook, anyway?" She ducks out of the way of further mock-punching with a giggle, reaching for a towel. "You are, if nothing else, fun to tease."
"Oh what-ever," Aida says, rolling her eyes and taking another swing without actually moving, so of course she just hits air. She shakes her head, turning and moving to grab a towel, starting to do her best to dry herself off. "Fun to tease. I'll show you fun to tease." It's not real grumbling.
Essdara grins impishly. "Admit it. Without me, you'd take everything horribly seriously. I keep your life interesting." Dry, she starts tugging on her clothing. "But that's ok. You make mine a lot less boring too."
"Horribly, painfully seriously," Aida states, giving a solemn sort of nod. Her own clothing is retrieved, and she starts pulling it on easily, getting herself all situated. "I am glad that I keep your life interesting, though. I'd hate for you to be bored."
Essdara laughs softly, and stands up. "No, never boring, and never lonely. And that is no small feat. You off to the infirmary?"
"I think so, yes. I'm going to at least go check in and see if they need me," Aida replies agreeably, flashing over a warm smile. "You gonna be alright, huh?"
Essdara tilts her head. "Huh? Why wouldn't I be? I'm off to finish my day of cooking, and maybe I'll see you after, or in the dorms." A wave as she heads for the passage out, wrinkling her nose. "Still miserable out there."
"Just...making sure!" Aida points out, lifting a hand to wave after her. She's a bit more slow in wandering out that way, likely dawdling just a little bit. "I'll see you after!"
Essdara shoots her a grin, and is out into the snow.
Where: Hot Springs
When: Day 27, month 1, turn 2 of the 7th Pass. (See, I said I got better about this later.)
What: Bathing Dara's father's dragon, and a bit of discussion on where Aida's road is going. Aida, as always, does her best to evade the topic.
It's late morning and the bathes are bustling. One of the three present dragons is an old blue; average in size, average in color, average all around. Korth is his name, and his rider is currently housed in the infirmary with a nasty threadscore on one leg. Essdara and Aida have been called on to give the dragon a bath, Essdara being Korth's rider's daughter. She grins to her friend as they stand in the water next to him. "So, you've never done this before, Aida? It's a lot of fun, sometimes, though with Da hurt I can't imagine Korth'll be much interested in playing. It's pretty easy, just scrub him all over. I'll take care of his wings since they're delicate, but other than that don't hold back, you won't hurt him.
"Scrub." Aida echoes back, still staring a bit wide-eyed up at the old blue. She brings a hand up to shove it through her hair, then goes for a handful of sand. "I think I'm probably relieved that he doesn't feel like playing," she notes, glancing over towards Dara and then back up at the dragon. "No offense, or anything." Deep breath, slow exhale, and then she sets to it -- to her credit, she's not being overly delicate, even from the start.
Essdara sets in with her, scrubbing along the blue's hide. "Don't worry, love. I've been helping with this since I could walk. It was one of the few ways I could reliably spend time with my da, and I never let a chance slip by. Korth, he's like a second dad to me." She deftly climbs up onto his back, going for between the wings. "I imagine you'll get lots more practice once you and Br'ce spend more time together, it'll be good to know how!"
"That's taking a lot for granted," Aida points out, sending a skeptical look up to her friend before she chuckles and looks back to the dragon's side, shifting her weight to put her back into it. Scrubscrubscrub. "It's really nice in here; I don't think I've been into this area before. The water is really, really nice."
Essdara nods, grinning. "I come here almost as much as the main bathes. There's small little pools off over there where you can come and just hang out. I find it a lot nicer than inside, and not as many people, 'specially in winter. And I do take a lot for granted, cause it's obvious! He's not stupid enough to not make this work."
"It is not assumed," Aida counters, shaking her head and making a face as she continues to work carefully on the scrubbing, taking as much time to watch what she's doing and the result of it as she does actually working at it. Movements and sand amounts are tested -- there is experimentation. "And it's not obvious. There's any number of things that can happen, and...everything else. We haven't even talked about any of it or anything."
Essdara rolls her eyes and works along his back. Unlike Aida, her strokes are quick and practised. Korth, for his part, rumbles quietly in contentment and settles down for the cleaning. "Well, allow me my illusions of you being happy then, would you? Sheesh, you sound like you are waiting for something bad to happen. Just enjoy things and be happy and at least pretend you think it will work1"
"I'm not saying that I won't be happy or that it won't work out or that I think anything bad is going to happen," Aida protests, shaking her head rapidly and then letting out her own laugh, moving down along the dragon's flank. "I just don't want to make any assumptions or...count on something that might not happen, that's all. So they just let other people in here, and they can be used instead of the baths?" There's a glance over in the direction of the smaller pools.
Essdara grins, "See, now that's a good sound, laughing. Just keep positive and I'll stop poking you about it." She starts on the base of one wing, working along it gingerly. "Well." She says, in a conspiratorial voice, "Normally they post guards, but they take breakfast around now, so anyone can sneak in. But you have to be really really quiet!"
Aida blinks, shifting up and starting to glance -- and then stopping and instead turning her eyes up towards Dara. "That's not funny," she points out, but she's grinning all the same. "Mean!" More laughter, and more scrubbing. Down along a leg; she doesn't seem to mind getting soaked. "I like him. He seems to like me. I'm not taking anything for granted beyond that, right now."
"I know you aren't taking it for granted! But we're girls, aren't we supposed to, you know, talk about these thigns and plan out your life and stuff? Never had someone I cared about enough to want to!" Dara grins down at her a moment before climbing out on an outstreched wing. "I'll have to get down to do more." She says, to the blue. "I know a lot can go wrong, butfor a little bit, why not pretend it can't?"
"It's hard to plan out my life when I'm not certain what I want," Aida points out, straightening back up and sliding over to start on another patch. "I'm not looking for anything to go wrong, but...what if he only sort of likes me, or something? I don't know. And...well, I don't know what I want. Boys never figured into any of it before. It changes a lot."
Essdara grins a bit, "I can see that, yeah. He... Didn't seem the type who was just trying to get into your pants, at least. Though I've seen the shy boy routine done for that purpose before, so I couldn't say for certain. But he really, really seems nice." A bright grin, "To be fair, boys don't factor much into my life, either."
Aida laughs and makes a face up at Dara, grinning a bit sheepishly. "I can't believe I'm talking like this," she points out, glancing ceilingwards for a moment before dropping her gaze back to what she's doing. "He does seem very, very nice. And I don't think he's trying to just...get into my pants, either. He doesn't seem the type. I just...don't know."
Essdara grins, and scrambles down from the blue, who tips his wing downward from long practice. "What are you unsure of, dearheart? What about it scares you?"
"I don't know!" Aida proclaims, shaking her head and making a face over at the other girl. She continues scrubbing away, moving to yet another patch. At least it's not a terribly difficult thing to figure out. Clean the dragon. "I really don't know. The whole thing is just confusing."
Essdara chuckles softly and works at the wing. "So talk to me, Aida. Tell me what's confusing you, let me try to help? I mean, if you can't trust your best friend who is in love with you to give you good romantic advice, then who /will/ you trust? Neiran?" She teases.
"I don't know what's confusing me," Aida points out, and then stills, and turns her head to look over at the other girl, and frowns. "You are not in love with me," she points out. "And I certainly am not going to go talk to Neiran about this, that would be silly. But I don't know if there's anything to talk about, because it's just...confusing. I don't know what I want. That's it. I don't know where I hope it goes, or what's going to happen to my life if it does go somewhere."
"Of course I am!" She says, grinning. "Enough to know that it wouldn't work. And... Do you now, otherwise, where yuor life is going? I know where mine is going, cause it's mostly there. Head cook, and hopefully sharing someone's bed who cares. Where do you want yours to go, Aida?"
Making a cranky noise, Aida shakes her head, putting extra vigor into the scrubbing. "Everybody keeps poking me about that lately," she states, something faintly annoyed tracing into her tone. "I want things that I don't want to talk about right now."
Essdara pauses a bit, andis quiet a moment. She nods, then, slowly, though her voice is a touch hurt. "You don't have to talk to me about anything, Aida. I don't mean to poke you about private things, it was just a question. You pick something to talk abuot."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Aida exhales a quiet sigh. She waits a few moments -- probably counting to ten in her head -- before she lifts her head and turns to where she can look over at the other girl again. "It's not /you/, Dara. It's not that I don't want to talk to *you* about it, it's that everything is all mixed up and confused. I want to stay here now, and I don't know that that was...my eventual goal. There's other things, but they're just...I'm here. I like it here. I care about things here. But there's nowhere for me to work up to, here. All the goals that I could set that are within my interests are so small, if I stay here. And I'm not satisfied with them, but I'm less satisfied with the idea of leaving, even if it does mean going to a crafthall." Beat. "I think I'm a little power hungry, that's all. I'm way too ambitious for my own good."
Essdara nods softly, "I understand, Aida, and I meant it. I don't mean to pry, and all you ever have to say is you don't want to takl about something. Just don't bite my head off for accidentally asking the wrong thing." She smiles at her a bit, "And I am glad you want to stay. My life would be a lot worse without you, and I am selfish. But... I do understand. I think it's part of why I asked about Caucus. Because... Even if it doesn't change my end goal, it would be oppertunity, it would,for a while, be part of something I could never get to otherwise. And I think you feel that more than me. You aren't content to be a pawn, to be someone else's plaything, while I've long since learned that's all I can hope for."
"I understand that it's my lot in life unless I follow a particular route; I understand the route I would have to take to get there," Aida states quietly, shaking her head and exhaling a quiet sigh. She slides around to another spot on the dragon, continuing to intently scrub the creature. She's industrious. "The problem being is that I do not want to walk the road that will take me to where I want to go -- I /desperately/ want to find a shortcut, or...something. Trying to define it, the best way I can explain, Dara, is 'I want I want I want'. What /don't/ I want is a better way to put it."
Essdara smiles a bit. "You are for all of your life, what I am for love." She summarizes. "I do understand. ANd I will help however I can, Aida. Not that I will be able to do anything, but at least you'll know you aren't doing it alone. And it doesn't have to be your lot, you are not me, we are not the same. You are stronger, more driven. Your name will be remembered, I am sure."
"A significant part of my goals, Br'ce is going to help me with," Aida explains quietly, offering over a slight smile. "Which I can hardly wrap my mind around, honestly. And...yes, I think I am to life as you are to love. And I know you'll help me however you can, though I don't know right now if there is any helping. It's all in little pieces. Right now, I need to learn. That's my immediate goal; learn."
"Learning is good. And fun. I don't think you will have any trouble there. And I am glad he can do that for you, Aida. I think he will have a big impact on your desires, and it will be for the better." Dara smiles brightly, moving to work on the dragon's tail with the wings clean. "I am very eager to see how it all turns out."
Aida slides over to the other side to start scrubbing away there quite enthusiastically. "Long term, all of it," she says. "Though Br'ce had an interesting point that I hadn't considered the other day; if one could get ahold of the schedules for the Falls, one /could/ still travel without too much potential danger. I don't know why my father decided to stop."
Essdara shrugs. "Maybe he felt it wasn't worth the risk? Maybe he found something there that made him decide that he wanted to be there, more than anywhere else, kind of like you have? I dunno... I don't pretend to. But I'm glad he did." She sighs. "I think we are about done, hon."
"Are you sure? I may have missed a spot over here," Aida points out, grabbing another bit of sand and darting to scrub at the indicated spot. "But...yeah, I'm sort of glad he did, too. After a fashion. I'm certainly much happier here than I have been elsewhere for any length of time, that is for /sure/."
Essdara grins and moves around to see where she is scrubbing. "Looks good to me. But you are welcome to keep going, they love the attention and the pleasantness of it. Can't say I blame them, what's not to like about being bathed by pretty girls?" A bright smile. "And being happy is what is really important, AIda. I am glad to hear you say you are."
"Of course I'm happy," Aida replies flippantly, shaking her head. She scrubs for another moment, then brushes water up and over the hide before she slides back, inspecting her work carefully. "I have a warm bed, protection from the sky, good food to eat, plenty of work to do, and friends. There's little reason for me to be unhappy at all." Nod.
Essdara laughs softly, "Put that way, I feel rather selfish for the times I am not unhappy. I've all those things, and more. And yet... I am not, come down to it, particularly happy. But that's the kind of person I am, at heart, so it may not be the same."
Aida grunts. Yes, she grunts. Then she's sliding back away from the dragon, heading for the edge of the pool and then out of it. "I'm convinced that regardless of the obstacles or barriers in my path, I will eventually get what I want," she explains. "And I'm willing to do whatever it takes. My goals? Don't rely on somebody else's cooperation. That's why I can be satisfied."
Essdara follows her out, smiling a bit. "Your plans sound lonely. I will stick to mine." She says easily. Korth, behind them, gives a shake and himself slips from the baths, and the caverns. Dara yawns, stretching. "Guess that means I will have to go back to work."
Watching Korth go, Aida chuckles and shakes her head, then turns to look at Dara, a grin offered. "To each their own," she says easily. "I think I feel better now. This has been bothering me for a while."
Essdara tilts her head a bit at her. "I don't think I did much more than annoy you, but I am happy to have helped. And you always know I will listen, about anything. If I can do nothing else, I can offer that much to your life."
Aida rolls her eyes, reaching over to mock-punch Dara lightly in the shoulder. "You didn't annoy me," she points out. "She just made me think. I know they look the same on the surface, but they're really not. And you're my friend, damnit. You do lots for my life."
Essdara grins teasingly at her, "Until you hit a point when I am a liability. Then, whooosh! Who was that cook, anyway?" She ducks out of the way of further mock-punching with a giggle, reaching for a towel. "You are, if nothing else, fun to tease."
"Oh what-ever," Aida says, rolling her eyes and taking another swing without actually moving, so of course she just hits air. She shakes her head, turning and moving to grab a towel, starting to do her best to dry herself off. "Fun to tease. I'll show you fun to tease." It's not real grumbling.
Essdara grins impishly. "Admit it. Without me, you'd take everything horribly seriously. I keep your life interesting." Dry, she starts tugging on her clothing. "But that's ok. You make mine a lot less boring too."
"Horribly, painfully seriously," Aida states, giving a solemn sort of nod. Her own clothing is retrieved, and she starts pulling it on easily, getting herself all situated. "I am glad that I keep your life interesting, though. I'd hate for you to be bored."
Essdara laughs softly, and stands up. "No, never boring, and never lonely. And that is no small feat. You off to the infirmary?"
"I think so, yes. I'm going to at least go check in and see if they need me," Aida replies agreeably, flashing over a warm smile. "You gonna be alright, huh?"
Essdara tilts her head. "Huh? Why wouldn't I be? I'm off to finish my day of cooking, and maybe I'll see you after, or in the dorms." A wave as she heads for the passage out, wrinkling her nose. "Still miserable out there."
"Just...making sure!" Aida points out, lifting a hand to wave after her. She's a bit more slow in wandering out that way, likely dawdling just a little bit. "I'll see you after!"
Essdara shoots her a grin, and is out into the snow.