Reflections on powdery white stuff
Who: Aida, Essdara
Where: Southern Bowl, High Reaches Weyr
When: Day 9, Turn 2
Comment: Confessions in the freezing cold, and a revelation that causes harm.
It is cold. It is very, very cold. There is snow on the ground. Thankfully, the wind isn't so bad right at the moment, and the sky is clear. These things are helpful, somewhat. Still, most sane people? They're inside. Where it's warm. As has already been established, Aida is not to be counted amongst such numbers. Instead, the young woman has found her way down to the lakeside. A large rock has been cleared of snow, and she has climbed up onto it and is crouching on top. It doesn't look like the most comfortable of positions, but at least it doesn't look actively /uncomfortable/. She's got gloves on of course, and has apparently found a scarf somewhere and wrapped it around her neck. There is huddling in her jacket. There is *also* staring up at the walls of the bowl...scanning the various ledges. Her expression is perplexed. A bit annoyed. Thoughtful.
Cold it is, and yet to the residents of the weyr, not abnormally so. Indeed, it's been remarked often how /mild/ this turn is compared to others. And so, with a look of fierce thought, Dara is out plowing through the snowbanks. This has been helped that she is not the first person to have come out into the snow, and she unconciously follows the most recent of the tracks. Bundled in an old flying jacket and riding gloves - probably her mom or dad's - she doesn't seem to feel the cold very much. Eventually, the tracks end, though she's stopped a good minute before this sinks in.
Whatever it is that she's thinking about doesn't seem deep enough to actually have her lost in thought; Aida's attention drops from the ledges to shift over to Essdara when she hears the movement, one eyebrow lifting as she studies the other girl. It's a skeptical look she gives her -- why on earth is she out in the cold? Silly girl. Nevermind that the infirmary aide is out here herself. It's only after the other has stopped that Aida clears her throat, then asks, "Dara? What are you doing?"
Essdara literally jumps a few steps backwards, looking up at Aida with wide eyes. "Shard it, Aida, don't scare me like that!" She takes in the girl's curious location and pose with surprise. "What're you doing?" She echose. "I just... I needed some fresh air, to think in, that's all." She takes a deep breath. "Definately fresh out here, yes?"
"It is," Aida agrees, straightening from her crouch carefully until she's standing. The young woman's head turns away from looking at Dara so she can eye the ground, and two steps forward lead to a bounce from top-of-rock to snowy ground. Thud. She lands solidly down into another crouch, both hands hitting the snow to ensure her balance. Up to her feet, a beat later. "I was not going to be able to avoid startling you," she points out. "You didn't know I was there. There's no easy way to handle that. I...am realizing how dumb I am. Someone invited me to come pester them in their weyr at one point. I said I would." Beat. "I have /no/ idea which one it actually is. That makes it difficult."
Essdara blinks, and looks up, then back to Aida. "Why didn't you just ask a rider? They'll usually give a lift on their way up to their own weyrs. Just grab one leaving the caverns. S'how I visit mom and da." She watches the other girl, though with fond amusement and not the distrust she once would have. "Who was it?" She asks, curiously.
"Because," Aida answers the question loftily, "I don't want to." She shrugs her shoulders then, grins sheepishly as she brings a gloved hand up to ruffle it through her curls. "I don't know how that sort of thing works. And, um." Beat. "The person who was gonna show me maps and let me read some things. I was hoping to spend some of today studying."
Essdara grins a little. "Dearheart, trust me, if you don't take a dragon to get there, you're not getting there. His could be any of the weyrs up there, or even the ones high up." She turns and puts her back to the rock Aida was on, leaning against it, though her eyes keep tracking Aida. "I really didn't expect to run into anyone out here. Shoulda guessed by how fresh the path was."
Wrinkling up her nose, Aida gives a look up. It's a dirty look. It doesn't last long, and soon enough the girl's attention swings back down to Dara, a grin offered over. "So much for that," she says. "I spend a lot of time out here; you would be surprised at how many people end up wandering around or even playing in the snow. I got into a snowball fight out here the other day." With Dara leaning, she turns back to her rock as well, promptly starting to scramble back up the side of it, at one moment wobbling a bit and looking like she's going to tip over and fall back. Luckily for her dignity, she does not actually go down.
Essdara lets Aida escape her watching, staring at the snow-covered lake instead. "Yeah, I know they do, but I guess I don't expect the transplants to. Most of them spend so much time whining about the cold, I forget there are some sane ones in there." She must mean Aida, even if sane is a stretch. "Kinda glad I ran into you, though. I had to get up early for my time making breakfast, and didn't get the chance to talk to you at all before I did. You sleep very solidly." Her tone is wistful jealousy for her own insomniatic ways.
Once she's reclaimed her perch, Aida settles back down into her crouch. Instead of being watched, she becomes the watcher; her attention rests on Dara and stays there, for the moment. "I grew up with this," she points out. "And I'm well aware that it's /freezing/ out here. It's not comfortable, that's for sure. But I like it anyway. And I'm glad you ran into me, too. It's nice to have company and things."
Essdara doesn't seem to mind being watched. She grins a bit at the lake, amused. "Things? But yes, it is." A deep breath. "I did something interesting, today. Well, couple interesting things, but one I'm not sure about. Might've made a bit of a fool of myself with Aelan." If her hears are pink here, surely it's the cold. "Was given something new to try with my klah. It was... Intense. And hard to explain. I liked it, though."
"Huh?" Aida asks, her tone threaded with curiosity. "Something new to try with your klah? Made a fool of yourself with Aelan?" She puts her hands down onto the rock again, tipping herself forward to peer more closely at the other girl. "What did you dooo?"
Essdara shakes her head a little. "It's... Hard to explain. It was a lot like fellis, but instead of making me sleepy and distracted, it made me happy. Very happy. I didn't care about any of the things bothering me. Didn't care much about anything. Which wasn't the bad part. But came a point where it stopped, and it was... Well, it was like everything came back at once. And I haven't exactly had an easy week... Said some things I shouldn't have, 'bout myself and such."
"Um," Aida starts, and then...well, her words fail her, for a moment. She gives Dara an entirely perplexed sort of look, her nose wrinkling up and her eyes squinting a little bit. "It doesn't sound very good. Not really good at all. Who gave it to you?"
Essdara sighs. "I can't say." It's not a lie! If she doesn't know, she can't say! "It wasn't bad. I think I just wasn't expecting the letdown at the end... I'll know better, next time. Might try a smaller dose; the hours it lasted was a bit much at the dose I was told..."
"You can't say?" Aida's tone touches towards wary, a hint of concern touching her expression. "Dara? You don't even like /alcohol/. There's a lot of medicines and things that have odd effects...you might want to have somebody in the infirmary...you know, look at it."
Essdara waves it off a bit. "Don't not like alchahol, just don't like what it makes me do. Makes me lose control, do stupid things. This wasn't like that. Also didn't leave me hurting and useless the next day!" Still, she's carefully not looking at Aida. "Just got me thinking, that's all. Wanted to come out here where I could have a clear head, not stuffy and noise-filled and crowded."
"Dara," Aida states more firmly, sliding forward to plop down on the edge of the rock, legs dangling. She's gonna have a cold and wet behind, she is. "Tell me a little bit more? Please? I'm curious. If nothing else, it sounds as if it was wonderful."
Essdara looks up at the feet dangling a short way away, and bats at one playfully. "It was intense, and it felt really good. And it /was/ very nice not to have to care about anything for a while." She shrugs. "It was intruiging enough that'll I'll try it more.
"Will you share a little with me?" Aida asks, feinting a kick towards Dara's hand without any heart to it -- all playfulness. "Or at least tell me where I could get some? Intense is good, and it doesn't seem like anything I've ever done before."
Essdara looks up more at Aida, and gives a dazzling smile. "You know, I would like that very much. It would be nice to have someone else who's actually had some, and whom I trust."
Thudding her feet against the rock, Aida shrugs her shoulders and offers back her own smile -- it's a bit rueful. "Are you gonna mind if I test it a little bit first to make sure it's not like, poison or something? Just a little bit of poking at it in the infirmary?"
"If it were poison, I'd be dead now." Dara states, though something in that statement really hits her. Her gaze is quickly returned to the lake with a slight frown. "I don't have very much, but I'll give you a dose and you can do what you like with it?"
"Not necessarily," Aida points out, reaching out to ruffle Dara's hair lightly. "But that is good for me. I'd appreciate it. It's....definitely something that intrigues me." And scares her to death, but she won't be mentioning /that/. "What is it? I mean, what's wrong?"
Essdara shakes her head. "Nothing, just thinking about something." And even she can hear the lie in that, with a wince. She pulls the riding jacket closer around herself. "I've been inside too much this year, feels colder than normal."
"Future reference," Aida notes, leaning back away again and shifting her weight to drop it back on the heels of her hands when they set down behind her on the rock. "I'd rather hear 'I don't want to say' than something not truthful. Just so you know." She follows that with a chuckle. "And yes, I think you're right. It does feel colder than normal. Maybe the weather is more mild but the cold is worse?"
Essdara nods softly, with a blush. "I don't want to say, Aida. I'm sorry. I just am not ready to be yelled at for that. And yeah, that could be it. Or maybe getting older makes it worse. I remember when I was a kid, I'd spend hours witht he other kids out in the snow. Snowball fights, dragon sled pulls, all sorts of things. The cold never bothered me. Now it does, and I dunno when it started to."
"I will promise not to yell?" Aida asks hopefully, giving the other girl a pleading sort of look. "But...okay. I won't push you." Oh, though, it's so very clear that she /wants/ to. Even so, she tilts her head back and stares up at the sky. "I think it might be getting older on top of it, yeah. Then it was fun. Now, it's just cold. I don't know. It freezes, but I like it. I like the snow, I like being out in it, I like how nice the warmth feels once I go back inside. And maybe it's a little bit fun, still."
Essdara grins slightly. "Someday, you should try coming out here with someone you like. There's nothing so pleasant as curling up with someone, sharing warmth, being close and happy, while all around you everything is frozen and desolate." quiet, and a sigh. "I don't want to hide things from you, I just know, Aida, that I did something very stupid. And it's going to make you angry. Cause it would make me angry if you did it."
"I don't always blow up when I'm angry," Aida says, sitting up and forward again, scooting. "I will hold my temper, Dara -- I'd rather know than worry. I'll get sick with worry." This sounds terribly genuine, the concern threaded deeply through her tone. It's enough to even make her apparently miss the first line of conversation.
Essdara is quiet. It's clear by her expression that she is torn; her fear is evident in the set of her shoulders, the way she pulls the jacket tight again. But the expression on her face, though, is one that clearly wants to talk about it. Still, she stays quiet.
Temptation. Oh, lord, the temptation. Poke. Push. Aida resists, though; instead, she scoots all the way to the very edge of the rock, then slumps and leans over to wrap her arms around the other girl as best she can. Careful hug. Very careful hug.
Essdara sighs at the touch, leaning into the hug a little. "That's not playing fair." She complains, softly, though it's clearly not heartfelt. She sighs. "I don't know where it's from, Aida. It was just there, waiting for me, when I came back from my shift."
"Again, no othe-" wait. Though the response was started to counter the initial statement on Dara's part, Aida registers the second bit of what was said partway into speaking, and so cuts off. Words are traded for a squeak, and she starts to sit up all in a panicked rush...oops. Squeak turns into squeal, and her balance tips. Down into the snow for Aida. Thud. Oh, so graceful.
Essdara echoes the squeak, kneeling down next to her, "Aida, you ok?" She asks, hurridly, reaching to help the girl right herself. "Shard it, love, if you hurt yourself then I'll throttle you!"
There is sputtering and squawking on Aida's part as she attempts to scramble to her feet, followed by a great deal of cursing as she tries to brush snow off her face, her jacket, her behind. There is some hopping around and other such things, as well. It's very much similar to the reaction of a cat thrown in the bathtub. If she's hurt herself, she hasn't registered it yet. She's too busy swearing.
Essdara helps her to her feet, and helps her with brushing off the snow. She doesn't seem to mind the distraction, really, that let her give in and, so far, not talk about what she said. As they run out of brushing, she asks again, "Are you ok, Aida?"
"No," Aida states, her tone all indigence. She brushes at her thighs a few more times even though there's really nothing clinging there, and then her eyes are lifted so she can give the other girl a look. "My pride is /very/ damaged. And my rear end hurts. I think I landed on a rock." That has her twisting about and poking at her own behind. Predictably, it's followed by an, "Ow."
Essdara can't repress a chuckle; nor can she, apparently, resist reaching around and poking the same spot, "Here?" She asks, innocently. "I promise, I will never tell anyone about this! Though, you do make the cutest sounds when panicing..." And she giggles again.
"Ow!" Aida accuses, swatting at Dara's hand and turning her head back so she can send a glare the other girl's way. "That /hurts/. Yes, there." She makes a face, and then chuckles herself. It's a rueful chuckle, but a chuckle all the same. "Stupid snow."
Impish, Essdara at her most typical. "I'd offer to kiss it and make it better, but I fear then /I/ would be the one nursing a sore cheek." She shakes her head. "It's easy to lose your footing in snow and ice!"
"Hrmph," Aida proclaims, shifting to turn and lean back up against the rock. She settles down then, her expression smoothing out into something far more serious as she regards Dara. "Was there any indication of where it came from or anything? At all? Any information?"
Essdara makes a face; Clearly, Aida was supposed to have forgotten. She sighs. "No, Aida, there wasn't. Just a packet of it, and instructions. I just figured it was from someone I knew, wasn't until after I tried it that I realised noone I knew had anything like /that/."
Exhaling a sigh, Aida shakes her head. "Yeah, I'd really like to have a dose of it, if you wouldn't mind," she says quietly, offering a small smile. "Thank you for telling me." While she doesn't look to be /angry/, the young woman is very clearly unhappy, right at the moment.
Essdara sighs, and moves to hug Aida. "That's all you are going to say?" She is quiet a long moment. "You are going to give it to someone else, aren't you, see what they think of it. It's going to be a big deal, and everyone is going to know." She is decidedly fearful. "I don't want that, Aida. It's not a big deal, it really isn't. It's just something fun to play with."
"I'm not making a big deal out of it," Aida points out, leaning into the hug and holding the other girl close. "If it's just something fun to play with, then there's no reason anyone will make a big deal about it. I just want to find out what it /is/, Dara, that's all. Before anything else is said, done, anything. I want to know what it is."
Essdara sighs against her. "Do what you will, Aida. I'll give you some when we get back to the dorms." She steps back. "And I can't complain about you caring enough to want to."
Aida holds the other girl tight for a moment, shifting her weight, and then...squeak. That is a pained noise, and it accompanied said weight shifting. There's a little curse given, and then a /dark/ look sent down towards her foot. It's shaken off after a moment, and she of course lets Dara go when she steps back. "Thank you," she says quietly. "I appreciate it. I'll do my best to keep it from being a big deal, okay?"
Essdara looks down; not in shame or embarassment, but worry, towards the tender foot. She makes a face. "Dearheart? How do you fall on your face, and hurt your foot?" She looks back up, and offers a slight smile. "Do I get to worry about you, now? We do seem to like to keep things in balance, don't we?"
"I don't know," Aida comments, giving the spot she landed a skeptical look. "Did I hit feet first? I thought my butt hit first." This seems to perplex her a bit, but then she's glancing down towards her foot again. "I need to wrap it up. There's no need to /worry/. I...have done worse to myself. Climbing things often means falling."
Essdara nods. "Can you walk ok? The infirmary isn't far, and I wouldn't mind the chance to look in on K'sar anyway. He shouldn't be left alone or he'll find trouble to get into." She grins a bit, and offers her arm in case Aida needs it. "I worry that you are so casual about hurtign yourself, though I admit, I do it to myself enough as it is. Hence how we met!"
"I didn't hurt myself /bad/," Aida points out, reaching out with said foot and shoving it down in a heavy step in front of her to prove this. Of course, it causes her to wince sharply, but she does not go down again. "See?" Eyes are crossed, and then she's starting to limp her way back through the snow along the pathways. "And I'm not casual about hurting myself in general. It's not something I do on /purpose/. It's just, well, what goes up must come down. Sometimes faster than it wants to."
Where: Southern Bowl, High Reaches Weyr
When: Day 9, Turn 2
Comment: Confessions in the freezing cold, and a revelation that causes harm.
It is cold. It is very, very cold. There is snow on the ground. Thankfully, the wind isn't so bad right at the moment, and the sky is clear. These things are helpful, somewhat. Still, most sane people? They're inside. Where it's warm. As has already been established, Aida is not to be counted amongst such numbers. Instead, the young woman has found her way down to the lakeside. A large rock has been cleared of snow, and she has climbed up onto it and is crouching on top. It doesn't look like the most comfortable of positions, but at least it doesn't look actively /uncomfortable/. She's got gloves on of course, and has apparently found a scarf somewhere and wrapped it around her neck. There is huddling in her jacket. There is *also* staring up at the walls of the bowl...scanning the various ledges. Her expression is perplexed. A bit annoyed. Thoughtful.
Cold it is, and yet to the residents of the weyr, not abnormally so. Indeed, it's been remarked often how /mild/ this turn is compared to others. And so, with a look of fierce thought, Dara is out plowing through the snowbanks. This has been helped that she is not the first person to have come out into the snow, and she unconciously follows the most recent of the tracks. Bundled in an old flying jacket and riding gloves - probably her mom or dad's - she doesn't seem to feel the cold very much. Eventually, the tracks end, though she's stopped a good minute before this sinks in.
Whatever it is that she's thinking about doesn't seem deep enough to actually have her lost in thought; Aida's attention drops from the ledges to shift over to Essdara when she hears the movement, one eyebrow lifting as she studies the other girl. It's a skeptical look she gives her -- why on earth is she out in the cold? Silly girl. Nevermind that the infirmary aide is out here herself. It's only after the other has stopped that Aida clears her throat, then asks, "Dara? What are you doing?"
Essdara literally jumps a few steps backwards, looking up at Aida with wide eyes. "Shard it, Aida, don't scare me like that!" She takes in the girl's curious location and pose with surprise. "What're you doing?" She echose. "I just... I needed some fresh air, to think in, that's all." She takes a deep breath. "Definately fresh out here, yes?"
"It is," Aida agrees, straightening from her crouch carefully until she's standing. The young woman's head turns away from looking at Dara so she can eye the ground, and two steps forward lead to a bounce from top-of-rock to snowy ground. Thud. She lands solidly down into another crouch, both hands hitting the snow to ensure her balance. Up to her feet, a beat later. "I was not going to be able to avoid startling you," she points out. "You didn't know I was there. There's no easy way to handle that. I...am realizing how dumb I am. Someone invited me to come pester them in their weyr at one point. I said I would." Beat. "I have /no/ idea which one it actually is. That makes it difficult."
Essdara blinks, and looks up, then back to Aida. "Why didn't you just ask a rider? They'll usually give a lift on their way up to their own weyrs. Just grab one leaving the caverns. S'how I visit mom and da." She watches the other girl, though with fond amusement and not the distrust she once would have. "Who was it?" She asks, curiously.
"Because," Aida answers the question loftily, "I don't want to." She shrugs her shoulders then, grins sheepishly as she brings a gloved hand up to ruffle it through her curls. "I don't know how that sort of thing works. And, um." Beat. "The person who was gonna show me maps and let me read some things. I was hoping to spend some of today studying."
Essdara grins a little. "Dearheart, trust me, if you don't take a dragon to get there, you're not getting there. His could be any of the weyrs up there, or even the ones high up." She turns and puts her back to the rock Aida was on, leaning against it, though her eyes keep tracking Aida. "I really didn't expect to run into anyone out here. Shoulda guessed by how fresh the path was."
Wrinkling up her nose, Aida gives a look up. It's a dirty look. It doesn't last long, and soon enough the girl's attention swings back down to Dara, a grin offered over. "So much for that," she says. "I spend a lot of time out here; you would be surprised at how many people end up wandering around or even playing in the snow. I got into a snowball fight out here the other day." With Dara leaning, she turns back to her rock as well, promptly starting to scramble back up the side of it, at one moment wobbling a bit and looking like she's going to tip over and fall back. Luckily for her dignity, she does not actually go down.
Essdara lets Aida escape her watching, staring at the snow-covered lake instead. "Yeah, I know they do, but I guess I don't expect the transplants to. Most of them spend so much time whining about the cold, I forget there are some sane ones in there." She must mean Aida, even if sane is a stretch. "Kinda glad I ran into you, though. I had to get up early for my time making breakfast, and didn't get the chance to talk to you at all before I did. You sleep very solidly." Her tone is wistful jealousy for her own insomniatic ways.
Once she's reclaimed her perch, Aida settles back down into her crouch. Instead of being watched, she becomes the watcher; her attention rests on Dara and stays there, for the moment. "I grew up with this," she points out. "And I'm well aware that it's /freezing/ out here. It's not comfortable, that's for sure. But I like it anyway. And I'm glad you ran into me, too. It's nice to have company and things."
Essdara doesn't seem to mind being watched. She grins a bit at the lake, amused. "Things? But yes, it is." A deep breath. "I did something interesting, today. Well, couple interesting things, but one I'm not sure about. Might've made a bit of a fool of myself with Aelan." If her hears are pink here, surely it's the cold. "Was given something new to try with my klah. It was... Intense. And hard to explain. I liked it, though."
"Huh?" Aida asks, her tone threaded with curiosity. "Something new to try with your klah? Made a fool of yourself with Aelan?" She puts her hands down onto the rock again, tipping herself forward to peer more closely at the other girl. "What did you dooo?"
Essdara shakes her head a little. "It's... Hard to explain. It was a lot like fellis, but instead of making me sleepy and distracted, it made me happy. Very happy. I didn't care about any of the things bothering me. Didn't care much about anything. Which wasn't the bad part. But came a point where it stopped, and it was... Well, it was like everything came back at once. And I haven't exactly had an easy week... Said some things I shouldn't have, 'bout myself and such."
"Um," Aida starts, and then...well, her words fail her, for a moment. She gives Dara an entirely perplexed sort of look, her nose wrinkling up and her eyes squinting a little bit. "It doesn't sound very good. Not really good at all. Who gave it to you?"
Essdara sighs. "I can't say." It's not a lie! If she doesn't know, she can't say! "It wasn't bad. I think I just wasn't expecting the letdown at the end... I'll know better, next time. Might try a smaller dose; the hours it lasted was a bit much at the dose I was told..."
"You can't say?" Aida's tone touches towards wary, a hint of concern touching her expression. "Dara? You don't even like /alcohol/. There's a lot of medicines and things that have odd effects...you might want to have somebody in the infirmary...you know, look at it."
Essdara waves it off a bit. "Don't not like alchahol, just don't like what it makes me do. Makes me lose control, do stupid things. This wasn't like that. Also didn't leave me hurting and useless the next day!" Still, she's carefully not looking at Aida. "Just got me thinking, that's all. Wanted to come out here where I could have a clear head, not stuffy and noise-filled and crowded."
"Dara," Aida states more firmly, sliding forward to plop down on the edge of the rock, legs dangling. She's gonna have a cold and wet behind, she is. "Tell me a little bit more? Please? I'm curious. If nothing else, it sounds as if it was wonderful."
Essdara looks up at the feet dangling a short way away, and bats at one playfully. "It was intense, and it felt really good. And it /was/ very nice not to have to care about anything for a while." She shrugs. "It was intruiging enough that'll I'll try it more.
"Will you share a little with me?" Aida asks, feinting a kick towards Dara's hand without any heart to it -- all playfulness. "Or at least tell me where I could get some? Intense is good, and it doesn't seem like anything I've ever done before."
Essdara looks up more at Aida, and gives a dazzling smile. "You know, I would like that very much. It would be nice to have someone else who's actually had some, and whom I trust."
Thudding her feet against the rock, Aida shrugs her shoulders and offers back her own smile -- it's a bit rueful. "Are you gonna mind if I test it a little bit first to make sure it's not like, poison or something? Just a little bit of poking at it in the infirmary?"
"If it were poison, I'd be dead now." Dara states, though something in that statement really hits her. Her gaze is quickly returned to the lake with a slight frown. "I don't have very much, but I'll give you a dose and you can do what you like with it?"
"Not necessarily," Aida points out, reaching out to ruffle Dara's hair lightly. "But that is good for me. I'd appreciate it. It's....definitely something that intrigues me." And scares her to death, but she won't be mentioning /that/. "What is it? I mean, what's wrong?"
Essdara shakes her head. "Nothing, just thinking about something." And even she can hear the lie in that, with a wince. She pulls the riding jacket closer around herself. "I've been inside too much this year, feels colder than normal."
"Future reference," Aida notes, leaning back away again and shifting her weight to drop it back on the heels of her hands when they set down behind her on the rock. "I'd rather hear 'I don't want to say' than something not truthful. Just so you know." She follows that with a chuckle. "And yes, I think you're right. It does feel colder than normal. Maybe the weather is more mild but the cold is worse?"
Essdara nods softly, with a blush. "I don't want to say, Aida. I'm sorry. I just am not ready to be yelled at for that. And yeah, that could be it. Or maybe getting older makes it worse. I remember when I was a kid, I'd spend hours witht he other kids out in the snow. Snowball fights, dragon sled pulls, all sorts of things. The cold never bothered me. Now it does, and I dunno when it started to."
"I will promise not to yell?" Aida asks hopefully, giving the other girl a pleading sort of look. "But...okay. I won't push you." Oh, though, it's so very clear that she /wants/ to. Even so, she tilts her head back and stares up at the sky. "I think it might be getting older on top of it, yeah. Then it was fun. Now, it's just cold. I don't know. It freezes, but I like it. I like the snow, I like being out in it, I like how nice the warmth feels once I go back inside. And maybe it's a little bit fun, still."
Essdara grins slightly. "Someday, you should try coming out here with someone you like. There's nothing so pleasant as curling up with someone, sharing warmth, being close and happy, while all around you everything is frozen and desolate." quiet, and a sigh. "I don't want to hide things from you, I just know, Aida, that I did something very stupid. And it's going to make you angry. Cause it would make me angry if you did it."
"I don't always blow up when I'm angry," Aida says, sitting up and forward again, scooting. "I will hold my temper, Dara -- I'd rather know than worry. I'll get sick with worry." This sounds terribly genuine, the concern threaded deeply through her tone. It's enough to even make her apparently miss the first line of conversation.
Essdara is quiet. It's clear by her expression that she is torn; her fear is evident in the set of her shoulders, the way she pulls the jacket tight again. But the expression on her face, though, is one that clearly wants to talk about it. Still, she stays quiet.
Temptation. Oh, lord, the temptation. Poke. Push. Aida resists, though; instead, she scoots all the way to the very edge of the rock, then slumps and leans over to wrap her arms around the other girl as best she can. Careful hug. Very careful hug.
Essdara sighs at the touch, leaning into the hug a little. "That's not playing fair." She complains, softly, though it's clearly not heartfelt. She sighs. "I don't know where it's from, Aida. It was just there, waiting for me, when I came back from my shift."
"Again, no othe-" wait. Though the response was started to counter the initial statement on Dara's part, Aida registers the second bit of what was said partway into speaking, and so cuts off. Words are traded for a squeak, and she starts to sit up all in a panicked rush...oops. Squeak turns into squeal, and her balance tips. Down into the snow for Aida. Thud. Oh, so graceful.
Essdara echoes the squeak, kneeling down next to her, "Aida, you ok?" She asks, hurridly, reaching to help the girl right herself. "Shard it, love, if you hurt yourself then I'll throttle you!"
There is sputtering and squawking on Aida's part as she attempts to scramble to her feet, followed by a great deal of cursing as she tries to brush snow off her face, her jacket, her behind. There is some hopping around and other such things, as well. It's very much similar to the reaction of a cat thrown in the bathtub. If she's hurt herself, she hasn't registered it yet. She's too busy swearing.
Essdara helps her to her feet, and helps her with brushing off the snow. She doesn't seem to mind the distraction, really, that let her give in and, so far, not talk about what she said. As they run out of brushing, she asks again, "Are you ok, Aida?"
"No," Aida states, her tone all indigence. She brushes at her thighs a few more times even though there's really nothing clinging there, and then her eyes are lifted so she can give the other girl a look. "My pride is /very/ damaged. And my rear end hurts. I think I landed on a rock." That has her twisting about and poking at her own behind. Predictably, it's followed by an, "Ow."
Essdara can't repress a chuckle; nor can she, apparently, resist reaching around and poking the same spot, "Here?" She asks, innocently. "I promise, I will never tell anyone about this! Though, you do make the cutest sounds when panicing..." And she giggles again.
"Ow!" Aida accuses, swatting at Dara's hand and turning her head back so she can send a glare the other girl's way. "That /hurts/. Yes, there." She makes a face, and then chuckles herself. It's a rueful chuckle, but a chuckle all the same. "Stupid snow."
Impish, Essdara at her most typical. "I'd offer to kiss it and make it better, but I fear then /I/ would be the one nursing a sore cheek." She shakes her head. "It's easy to lose your footing in snow and ice!"
"Hrmph," Aida proclaims, shifting to turn and lean back up against the rock. She settles down then, her expression smoothing out into something far more serious as she regards Dara. "Was there any indication of where it came from or anything? At all? Any information?"
Essdara makes a face; Clearly, Aida was supposed to have forgotten. She sighs. "No, Aida, there wasn't. Just a packet of it, and instructions. I just figured it was from someone I knew, wasn't until after I tried it that I realised noone I knew had anything like /that/."
Exhaling a sigh, Aida shakes her head. "Yeah, I'd really like to have a dose of it, if you wouldn't mind," she says quietly, offering a small smile. "Thank you for telling me." While she doesn't look to be /angry/, the young woman is very clearly unhappy, right at the moment.
Essdara sighs, and moves to hug Aida. "That's all you are going to say?" She is quiet a long moment. "You are going to give it to someone else, aren't you, see what they think of it. It's going to be a big deal, and everyone is going to know." She is decidedly fearful. "I don't want that, Aida. It's not a big deal, it really isn't. It's just something fun to play with."
"I'm not making a big deal out of it," Aida points out, leaning into the hug and holding the other girl close. "If it's just something fun to play with, then there's no reason anyone will make a big deal about it. I just want to find out what it /is/, Dara, that's all. Before anything else is said, done, anything. I want to know what it is."
Essdara sighs against her. "Do what you will, Aida. I'll give you some when we get back to the dorms." She steps back. "And I can't complain about you caring enough to want to."
Aida holds the other girl tight for a moment, shifting her weight, and then...squeak. That is a pained noise, and it accompanied said weight shifting. There's a little curse given, and then a /dark/ look sent down towards her foot. It's shaken off after a moment, and she of course lets Dara go when she steps back. "Thank you," she says quietly. "I appreciate it. I'll do my best to keep it from being a big deal, okay?"
Essdara looks down; not in shame or embarassment, but worry, towards the tender foot. She makes a face. "Dearheart? How do you fall on your face, and hurt your foot?" She looks back up, and offers a slight smile. "Do I get to worry about you, now? We do seem to like to keep things in balance, don't we?"
"I don't know," Aida comments, giving the spot she landed a skeptical look. "Did I hit feet first? I thought my butt hit first." This seems to perplex her a bit, but then she's glancing down towards her foot again. "I need to wrap it up. There's no need to /worry/. I...have done worse to myself. Climbing things often means falling."
Essdara nods. "Can you walk ok? The infirmary isn't far, and I wouldn't mind the chance to look in on K'sar anyway. He shouldn't be left alone or he'll find trouble to get into." She grins a bit, and offers her arm in case Aida needs it. "I worry that you are so casual about hurtign yourself, though I admit, I do it to myself enough as it is. Hence how we met!"
"I didn't hurt myself /bad/," Aida points out, reaching out with said foot and shoving it down in a heavy step in front of her to prove this. Of course, it causes her to wince sharply, but she does not go down again. "See?" Eyes are crossed, and then she's starting to limp her way back through the snow along the pathways. "And I'm not casual about hurting myself in general. It's not something I do on /purpose/. It's just, well, what goes up must come down. Sometimes faster than it wants to."