A midnight return
Who: Aida, Essdara
Where: Female Dorms, Hallways, Infirmary
Comment: Aida returns to the dorms and is greeted by an old friend.
Late night in the dorms, and...well, that's an unexpected sight. It's an Aida at one of the cots, down on a knee at the foot of it and packing things into a chest from a bag. The young woman is looking very solemn right at the moment, the most tired of expressions worn on her face for all to see. Clothing is folded, tucked away. Books get set in their own little stack to the side, rolled up hides on top. Slow and careful, quiet.
In a nearby cot lies Dara. Restless, she tosses and turns trying to get comfortable and to fall asleep. As she gets to the point of giving up, she sits up in her cot with a frustrated sigh. A rub of her eyes and she looks around at the sleeping people around her - and her eyes are drawn to a definately NOT sleeping figure. Suprised, she squints a bit as if trying to make sure she is really seeing what she thinks she is seeing.
No, she's really seeing what she thinks she's seeing. Once Aida has everything packed away from the one bag, the other she's got is shoved beneath the cot, the lid of the chest snapped closed. Then she's circling around to sit on the edge of the thing, leaning down to start working on untying her boots. Quietly and calmly, her expression all sorts of lost to thought. No tears, no tear stains. She just looks tired.
Essdara stands slowly, and carefully makes her way towards the assistant's cot. Weeding her way through the rows to approach her, she is watching the entire time. When she arrives, she stops a few feet away, watching her awkwardly. "Hey." She says, quietly; the greeting is tense and uncertain, but not unkind.
She doesn't look up, no. Aida continues studying her boots, though her fingers still about halfway through the first knot. She's quiet for a long moment, and then a breathy, humorless chuckle is escaping. Quietly. "Hey," she answers, softly. "How are you doing? Been a while since we talked." Beat. "Sorry about it all, if it helps." For all that the words are spoken low so that they don't disturb anyone sleeping, there's a tone of idle conversation, there.
"Things happen, and I've gotten past it." She replies, echoing her casual tone. "Was rough for a bit, but I'm sure those rumors have long since been heard so don't need rehashing. Things are better now." A shrug. "How about you? Everything ok, Aida?" Another, careful step closer. "I didn't think I'd see you down here anymore."
"I think you just answered your own question," Aida says mildly, movement starting again as she finishes untying that boot, turns to start working on the other. "It's over. I'm as alright as I can be, right now. Mostly just numb."
A hand half raises, and is firmly forced down by Dara's concious will. "Yeah." She says softly. "I was kinda worried that might be it. I'm really sorry, hon. For what it's worth, I always thought the two of you were great." And her voice is genuinely sad. "Can I do anything for you, Aida? Get you anything, move anything for you?"
"Pull a star down or two, light the night back up for me?" Aida requests softly, sitting back up just enough that she can lift her feet one at a time, pulling the boots down. "Failing that, no, not really. Not unless you want to go find a bowl. I might throw up sometime soon."
"Stars are a bit more than I can manage, love." Dara says, with some amusement creeping into the words. "But something to be sick in... That I can manage." A soft smile. "I'll be back presently, hon, if you really want me to get that... Or if you'd just like me gone, then I can just go..." It's a hesitant offer, the last, and genuine. "I won't be hurt if you want to be alone right now."
"Needed to talk to you anyway," Aida points out quietly, giving a shrug of her shoulders. Once her boots are off, she finally lifts her gaze to fix it on the other girl, and...yeah, there's something hurting, there. It's got a layer of numb and calm over top of it, but the melancholy is not perfectly hidden. "Mind pretending I wasn't a colossal ass for a good while there, just for tonight? We'll...talk about things later, and I'll apologize properly. Don't have it in me, right now."
Essdara shakes her head softly. "You were never an ass, Aida, and you've nothing to apologise for." Her voice is firm, and now she does approach, stopping next to Aida. "So I don't need to pretend anything. Things happen, people drift apart... But I'm here, and always will be, I promise." She kneels down next to her, and offers a hand. "But I think you are right that we can worry about us later. Right now... I think you need a friend more than any apology or explanation?"
"I don't know what the shells I need," Aida admits darkly, reaching out to give that offered hand a brief squeeze before she lets it go again, flops back across the cot, laying on her back across it sideways, rather than lengthwise. "Besides maybe to throw up."
Essdara makes a face. "OK. That's twice you mentioned it, love, and I am going to take you at face value." She rocks to her feet. "Try to hold it in a few minutes, though, while I get something to, ahh, contain it." A weak smile and the cook is off. Thankfully, buckets are a thirtysecond-mark a dozen in the lower caverns, and she is back in a little under two minutes with a sturdy model of pail, which she sets next to the cot. After a moment, she perches on the edge of it, looking down at Aida with a sad smile. "It hurts a lot, breaking up." She empathises softly. "That never changes. The last one for me, Jiann... That one hurt the most for me, as it was completely my fault. But I still got over it... I don't pretend, Aida, that I've ever felt what you two did. But it'll stop hurting, I promise."
Silence, until after Dara is back with the bucket and has settled on the cot, spoken again. Aida turns her head to eye where the bucket is, then settles back to her back and closes her eyes. "I believe you," she states, a few long moments after the other girl has made her promise. "I do believe you. I know it will, eventually. Right now, I don't even have words for it, though. There's just...nothing to say. It's over. I thought it was forever, and now it's over."
A soft sigh, and an unseen nod. "I did, too." Dara admits quietly. "There were few things I have been sure of lately, but..." A sigh, and she lightly pats the leg next to each other. "All I can do, all I can say Aida, is that you aren't alone. You've still you got your friends, and we'll always be here for you when you need us."
"I know. Even if half of them won't be speaking to me any more because of this," Aida says, allowing a glum note into her tone. "Tiv's gonna..." Ok, that registering? There it is. She swallows hard, and then she's sitting up, rolling over, and grabbing for the bucket. There needs not be any description of what comes after, beyond that it is gross.
Essdara is strong of stomach, and strong of friendship. As Aida leaps for the bucket, she does her best to help. Hair is carefully grasped to keep the shoulder-length curls out of the gross, her other hand moving to the woman's back to lightly pat at it. While she's being ill, there are no words spoken by the cook. Just quiet support, a steadfast presence without any indication of leaving.
No fun for anybody. Aida does not protest her hair being held, and eventually the ill does stop. She coughs a little bit, shoves up to her hands. Spits a few times. "Towel, glass of water?" The requests are made with a hoarse, raspy sort of voice. A little choked, really. "Please?
Essdara is moving almost before the request is out; she's been on both sides of the bucket exchange before, and knows what is needed. She returns promptly with both, offering them out to her. "He won't, you know." She comments. "I know him well enough to know that he won't let this stop him from liking you, Aida, any more than Ginella hating me stops him from liking me."
The towel is grabbed first; Aida wipes her face, wipes her hands, sits up. Her mouth is rinsed out with the water, which gets spit into the bucket. Once, twice. And then she's drinking from the glass, swallowing it all down. Wincing, a little -- but it doesn't send her back to the bucket. "He's gonna yell at me," she points out. "I've made such a mess of things. But it had to be done."
Essdara shakes her head softly. "He won't yell, and if he does... Well, I'll kick his butt for you. But he won't. He's a good person, T'ral, and one of the few of my indescretions I don't much regret. I know he'll be understanding and supportive... Hon, if it got to this point, then it wasn't something small, not some small misunderstanding."
The towel and glass are transferred to one hand, and Aida slides up to her feet, moving to pick up the bucket with a wince. Ew. "I...yeah," she says. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it. It wasn't small, no. It wasn't a misunderstanding. We...view the world very differently, and the viewpoints aren't compatible."
Essdara shakes her head. "Don't think about it, don't talk about it." She agrees. "For now, for a few days, just... Don't. Give the wound time to heal, and let your friends be bandages." She gives what she hopes is a reassuring smile, though it's a bit thin. "The first few days are the hardest. But it gets easier faster from there. Just... Don't give in to the pain. Don't give in to the hopelessness, the darkness. I know it's hard, but there's nothing to be gained that way."
Perhaps assuming that Dara will follow her, Aida turns to start slinking out of the dorms, bucket in hand. Bare feet mean nearly silent feet, at least, so she's unlikely to disturb anyone. "I wouldn't know how to give in," she says, and there is something so very, very bitter there. "I don't...my head hurts."
A safe assumption; Dara is following along easily behind her. "Wine." She says easily enough. "That stupid powder. Bedding everything that passes by." A soft snort. "Those are the ways I've tried, at any rate, and none of them brought me anything but more sadness, and none of them ever made me feel any better. At best, they just made me not feel for a while... And not live, for that same time. And I imagine it does, Aida. Maybe some fellis, for tonight? Just so you can rest, without worry or interference from dreams?"
"No," Aida states softly, giving a light shake of her head. She's heading for the infirmary, it appears -- after all, they know how to properly, ah, deal with buckets like this. Such lovely fun. At least she cleans up after herself, good girl that she is. "No, no fellis. I'm...tired enough. I'll sleep."
A quiet nod from Essdara, and the point isn't pressed. "Sleep is good, it's what will do the most good right now." She sighs, softly. "I'm sorry, Aida. For this, for everything... I never wanted you to be anything but happy, and I wish I could do more to help than sympathise and be your friend. But that, that I will do with all my heart."
"You're helping a lot," Aida notes, glancing sidelong over towards Essdara, offering a small smile. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but you're helping a lot. This...it's good. Keep me talking." Headshake, back to looking ahead. "That's all. I just have to put one foot in front of the other. I've choked down worse." Two steps into the infirmary, and she sets the bucket down. The towel down. The glass, it was set somewhere along the way. This, it appears, is the extent of her good nature -- she waves down an aide she knows (and probably doesn't like), points at the bucket, and then she's turning to flee again. This time, bare feet take a good dozen or so steps at a run before she slows again. Coward.
Essdara is hot on her heels; she doesn't know infirmary etiquette, but she can guess that was bordering on the rude at the least. "That's all you can do, really." She agrees, with a scrunching up of her nose. "And, well, I know you will be ok. I've never met anyone as strong as you are, Aida, and I know that you'll handle this as best as it can be. I found not being alone to be a big help. I know others find the opposite to be true. Just... Whatever you need, Aida. I'm here for you."
Rude? Yes. Possibly going to get her squawked at later? Very likely. Not that Aida much cares right now, and she owed that kid one anyway. She ducks down a side tunnel fairly swiftly, circling around the long way back towards the dorms. La la la. Entirely out of place with this whole thing, she offers over an impish smile. "I know," she says, tone now touching with something reassuring. "And you're being here for me right now, and I appreciate it a /lot/. I'm gonna be okay, though. This, right here, is exactly what I need at this moment. Do you ride? Runners?"
A slight wince. "Twice." Dara admits. "And the last time was... Well, let's just say there's bad memories there. I prefer my transportation to have wings and enjoy being shamelessly flattered." A sligh grin of her own. "Besides, dragons don't leave my butt as sore as runners do."
"Well, there goes that idea," Aida comments lightly, smile touching apologetic. "Sorry, about the bad memories. Didn't mean to bring them up." Her pace slows considerably now, turning lazy, and she tucks her thumbs through the scarf at her midsection as she walks. Casual, superficially relaxed. Look, she's fine! Really.
Essdara shakes her head, chuckling softly. "Nah, it's ok. Just that, really, the last time I rode one was when Jiann and I talked about things that led to our own breakup." A shrug. "But, that's in the past, and best left there." She looks over at Aida, clearly not worried. "Sleep, Aida. Honest, you will feel better for it."
"Jiann," Aida chuckles, shakes her head. "She's...I met her. We talked." Those lips twist, now, up into a wry smile. "You're better without. Not that it's any of my business, but..." One shoulder is shrugged. "And yes, I'm going to. As soon as we get back. I just...well. Yeah." She shakes her head. "Shells."
Essdara laughs softly, "You say that about everyone I'm with, Aida. So either you want me single, or I have terrible taste. I think I will wait a few turns before trying to tell you the other person I'm... Involved with, I guess." She looks over at her with an amused smile for a moment. "And yeah. It's all kinda like that, isn't it? I do understand."
"Well, I may not have said that about her while you were with her?" Aida suggests, giving the other girl an innocent look. "She was just...rude...about stuff. Just, you don't want to know. She's pretty broken up, that's all. Saying stuff I'm sure she doesn't mean and so on. She was...very unhappy, with Vanya." Beat. "Who are you involved with now?"
"Oh. Yeah. I guess she would be, at that." Dara says, with the decency to blush. "And, ahh." A quiet passage of time while they walk. "It's not romantic, exactly. Just... An arrangement. We ease each other's loneliness, and he's helping me with a lot of things." Evasion, and she's looking around to see how far it is until they are back to the dorms.
They're really only a handful of paces away -- it's in sight, even. Nearly free from Aida's questioning! Lucky! Still, she casts a grin over Dara-wards, for all that it's not yet making an appearance in her eyes. "That's good, to hear," she says. "I won't press further. Long as...well, long as you're content with it."
"I am." Dara says simply. "I don't think anyone would understand, but I am. He treats me well, and he cares about me like noone has. And, well, R'vain understands what it's like to fight against the rumors, against the burden of past mistakes and misdeeds. We understand each other very well." A soft laugh. "And neither of us expects more than the other can give."
And she got a name. She wasn't going to press! Aida gives the other girl a raised eyebrow look, considering for a moment before she gives a nod. "I'm glad for you," she states, and there is nothing but sincerity there for those words. "For both of you."
And the dorm is reached. "Thank you." She looks over at her companion, and worry creeps back into her features. "You know where I am, Aida. You know if you need me, I'm just a few cots away. I don't care if you need to wake me up, I'd rather you do if you need me."
"I will if I need to," Aida promises quietly, lifting a hand to ruffle it through her curls. "Thanks, Dara. I appreciate it a lot. I'm...gonna go get some sleep, now. I'll talk to you soon, I'm sure." And she's turning to shuffle off, back towards her cot. Ugh.
Essdara follows her; for a while, at least, their paths are together. "I look forward to it, Aida." The pause of a breath. "I've missed you. And I hope you sleep well." Is her final comment, before turning off towards her own cot.
"Missed you too," Aida comments quietly before she moves to flop down onto the cot. Stretch out, bury her head beneath her pillow. And try to sleep. Ugh. Cot is so /small/.
When Dara resumes her own attempt at rest, it is more forthcoming, and it isn't long at least before the cook is lost in the realm of dreams.
Where: Female Dorms, Hallways, Infirmary
Comment: Aida returns to the dorms and is greeted by an old friend.
Late night in the dorms, and...well, that's an unexpected sight. It's an Aida at one of the cots, down on a knee at the foot of it and packing things into a chest from a bag. The young woman is looking very solemn right at the moment, the most tired of expressions worn on her face for all to see. Clothing is folded, tucked away. Books get set in their own little stack to the side, rolled up hides on top. Slow and careful, quiet.
In a nearby cot lies Dara. Restless, she tosses and turns trying to get comfortable and to fall asleep. As she gets to the point of giving up, she sits up in her cot with a frustrated sigh. A rub of her eyes and she looks around at the sleeping people around her - and her eyes are drawn to a definately NOT sleeping figure. Suprised, she squints a bit as if trying to make sure she is really seeing what she thinks she is seeing.
No, she's really seeing what she thinks she's seeing. Once Aida has everything packed away from the one bag, the other she's got is shoved beneath the cot, the lid of the chest snapped closed. Then she's circling around to sit on the edge of the thing, leaning down to start working on untying her boots. Quietly and calmly, her expression all sorts of lost to thought. No tears, no tear stains. She just looks tired.
Essdara stands slowly, and carefully makes her way towards the assistant's cot. Weeding her way through the rows to approach her, she is watching the entire time. When she arrives, she stops a few feet away, watching her awkwardly. "Hey." She says, quietly; the greeting is tense and uncertain, but not unkind.
She doesn't look up, no. Aida continues studying her boots, though her fingers still about halfway through the first knot. She's quiet for a long moment, and then a breathy, humorless chuckle is escaping. Quietly. "Hey," she answers, softly. "How are you doing? Been a while since we talked." Beat. "Sorry about it all, if it helps." For all that the words are spoken low so that they don't disturb anyone sleeping, there's a tone of idle conversation, there.
"Things happen, and I've gotten past it." She replies, echoing her casual tone. "Was rough for a bit, but I'm sure those rumors have long since been heard so don't need rehashing. Things are better now." A shrug. "How about you? Everything ok, Aida?" Another, careful step closer. "I didn't think I'd see you down here anymore."
"I think you just answered your own question," Aida says mildly, movement starting again as she finishes untying that boot, turns to start working on the other. "It's over. I'm as alright as I can be, right now. Mostly just numb."
A hand half raises, and is firmly forced down by Dara's concious will. "Yeah." She says softly. "I was kinda worried that might be it. I'm really sorry, hon. For what it's worth, I always thought the two of you were great." And her voice is genuinely sad. "Can I do anything for you, Aida? Get you anything, move anything for you?"
"Pull a star down or two, light the night back up for me?" Aida requests softly, sitting back up just enough that she can lift her feet one at a time, pulling the boots down. "Failing that, no, not really. Not unless you want to go find a bowl. I might throw up sometime soon."
"Stars are a bit more than I can manage, love." Dara says, with some amusement creeping into the words. "But something to be sick in... That I can manage." A soft smile. "I'll be back presently, hon, if you really want me to get that... Or if you'd just like me gone, then I can just go..." It's a hesitant offer, the last, and genuine. "I won't be hurt if you want to be alone right now."
"Needed to talk to you anyway," Aida points out quietly, giving a shrug of her shoulders. Once her boots are off, she finally lifts her gaze to fix it on the other girl, and...yeah, there's something hurting, there. It's got a layer of numb and calm over top of it, but the melancholy is not perfectly hidden. "Mind pretending I wasn't a colossal ass for a good while there, just for tonight? We'll...talk about things later, and I'll apologize properly. Don't have it in me, right now."
Essdara shakes her head softly. "You were never an ass, Aida, and you've nothing to apologise for." Her voice is firm, and now she does approach, stopping next to Aida. "So I don't need to pretend anything. Things happen, people drift apart... But I'm here, and always will be, I promise." She kneels down next to her, and offers a hand. "But I think you are right that we can worry about us later. Right now... I think you need a friend more than any apology or explanation?"
"I don't know what the shells I need," Aida admits darkly, reaching out to give that offered hand a brief squeeze before she lets it go again, flops back across the cot, laying on her back across it sideways, rather than lengthwise. "Besides maybe to throw up."
Essdara makes a face. "OK. That's twice you mentioned it, love, and I am going to take you at face value." She rocks to her feet. "Try to hold it in a few minutes, though, while I get something to, ahh, contain it." A weak smile and the cook is off. Thankfully, buckets are a thirtysecond-mark a dozen in the lower caverns, and she is back in a little under two minutes with a sturdy model of pail, which she sets next to the cot. After a moment, she perches on the edge of it, looking down at Aida with a sad smile. "It hurts a lot, breaking up." She empathises softly. "That never changes. The last one for me, Jiann... That one hurt the most for me, as it was completely my fault. But I still got over it... I don't pretend, Aida, that I've ever felt what you two did. But it'll stop hurting, I promise."
Silence, until after Dara is back with the bucket and has settled on the cot, spoken again. Aida turns her head to eye where the bucket is, then settles back to her back and closes her eyes. "I believe you," she states, a few long moments after the other girl has made her promise. "I do believe you. I know it will, eventually. Right now, I don't even have words for it, though. There's just...nothing to say. It's over. I thought it was forever, and now it's over."
A soft sigh, and an unseen nod. "I did, too." Dara admits quietly. "There were few things I have been sure of lately, but..." A sigh, and she lightly pats the leg next to each other. "All I can do, all I can say Aida, is that you aren't alone. You've still you got your friends, and we'll always be here for you when you need us."
"I know. Even if half of them won't be speaking to me any more because of this," Aida says, allowing a glum note into her tone. "Tiv's gonna..." Ok, that registering? There it is. She swallows hard, and then she's sitting up, rolling over, and grabbing for the bucket. There needs not be any description of what comes after, beyond that it is gross.
Essdara is strong of stomach, and strong of friendship. As Aida leaps for the bucket, she does her best to help. Hair is carefully grasped to keep the shoulder-length curls out of the gross, her other hand moving to the woman's back to lightly pat at it. While she's being ill, there are no words spoken by the cook. Just quiet support, a steadfast presence without any indication of leaving.
No fun for anybody. Aida does not protest her hair being held, and eventually the ill does stop. She coughs a little bit, shoves up to her hands. Spits a few times. "Towel, glass of water?" The requests are made with a hoarse, raspy sort of voice. A little choked, really. "Please?
Essdara is moving almost before the request is out; she's been on both sides of the bucket exchange before, and knows what is needed. She returns promptly with both, offering them out to her. "He won't, you know." She comments. "I know him well enough to know that he won't let this stop him from liking you, Aida, any more than Ginella hating me stops him from liking me."
The towel is grabbed first; Aida wipes her face, wipes her hands, sits up. Her mouth is rinsed out with the water, which gets spit into the bucket. Once, twice. And then she's drinking from the glass, swallowing it all down. Wincing, a little -- but it doesn't send her back to the bucket. "He's gonna yell at me," she points out. "I've made such a mess of things. But it had to be done."
Essdara shakes her head softly. "He won't yell, and if he does... Well, I'll kick his butt for you. But he won't. He's a good person, T'ral, and one of the few of my indescretions I don't much regret. I know he'll be understanding and supportive... Hon, if it got to this point, then it wasn't something small, not some small misunderstanding."
The towel and glass are transferred to one hand, and Aida slides up to her feet, moving to pick up the bucket with a wince. Ew. "I...yeah," she says. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it. It wasn't small, no. It wasn't a misunderstanding. We...view the world very differently, and the viewpoints aren't compatible."
Essdara shakes her head. "Don't think about it, don't talk about it." She agrees. "For now, for a few days, just... Don't. Give the wound time to heal, and let your friends be bandages." She gives what she hopes is a reassuring smile, though it's a bit thin. "The first few days are the hardest. But it gets easier faster from there. Just... Don't give in to the pain. Don't give in to the hopelessness, the darkness. I know it's hard, but there's nothing to be gained that way."
Perhaps assuming that Dara will follow her, Aida turns to start slinking out of the dorms, bucket in hand. Bare feet mean nearly silent feet, at least, so she's unlikely to disturb anyone. "I wouldn't know how to give in," she says, and there is something so very, very bitter there. "I don't...my head hurts."
A safe assumption; Dara is following along easily behind her. "Wine." She says easily enough. "That stupid powder. Bedding everything that passes by." A soft snort. "Those are the ways I've tried, at any rate, and none of them brought me anything but more sadness, and none of them ever made me feel any better. At best, they just made me not feel for a while... And not live, for that same time. And I imagine it does, Aida. Maybe some fellis, for tonight? Just so you can rest, without worry or interference from dreams?"
"No," Aida states softly, giving a light shake of her head. She's heading for the infirmary, it appears -- after all, they know how to properly, ah, deal with buckets like this. Such lovely fun. At least she cleans up after herself, good girl that she is. "No, no fellis. I'm...tired enough. I'll sleep."
A quiet nod from Essdara, and the point isn't pressed. "Sleep is good, it's what will do the most good right now." She sighs, softly. "I'm sorry, Aida. For this, for everything... I never wanted you to be anything but happy, and I wish I could do more to help than sympathise and be your friend. But that, that I will do with all my heart."
"You're helping a lot," Aida notes, glancing sidelong over towards Essdara, offering a small smile. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but you're helping a lot. This...it's good. Keep me talking." Headshake, back to looking ahead. "That's all. I just have to put one foot in front of the other. I've choked down worse." Two steps into the infirmary, and she sets the bucket down. The towel down. The glass, it was set somewhere along the way. This, it appears, is the extent of her good nature -- she waves down an aide she knows (and probably doesn't like), points at the bucket, and then she's turning to flee again. This time, bare feet take a good dozen or so steps at a run before she slows again. Coward.
Essdara is hot on her heels; she doesn't know infirmary etiquette, but she can guess that was bordering on the rude at the least. "That's all you can do, really." She agrees, with a scrunching up of her nose. "And, well, I know you will be ok. I've never met anyone as strong as you are, Aida, and I know that you'll handle this as best as it can be. I found not being alone to be a big help. I know others find the opposite to be true. Just... Whatever you need, Aida. I'm here for you."
Rude? Yes. Possibly going to get her squawked at later? Very likely. Not that Aida much cares right now, and she owed that kid one anyway. She ducks down a side tunnel fairly swiftly, circling around the long way back towards the dorms. La la la. Entirely out of place with this whole thing, she offers over an impish smile. "I know," she says, tone now touching with something reassuring. "And you're being here for me right now, and I appreciate it a /lot/. I'm gonna be okay, though. This, right here, is exactly what I need at this moment. Do you ride? Runners?"
A slight wince. "Twice." Dara admits. "And the last time was... Well, let's just say there's bad memories there. I prefer my transportation to have wings and enjoy being shamelessly flattered." A sligh grin of her own. "Besides, dragons don't leave my butt as sore as runners do."
"Well, there goes that idea," Aida comments lightly, smile touching apologetic. "Sorry, about the bad memories. Didn't mean to bring them up." Her pace slows considerably now, turning lazy, and she tucks her thumbs through the scarf at her midsection as she walks. Casual, superficially relaxed. Look, she's fine! Really.
Essdara shakes her head, chuckling softly. "Nah, it's ok. Just that, really, the last time I rode one was when Jiann and I talked about things that led to our own breakup." A shrug. "But, that's in the past, and best left there." She looks over at Aida, clearly not worried. "Sleep, Aida. Honest, you will feel better for it."
"Jiann," Aida chuckles, shakes her head. "She's...I met her. We talked." Those lips twist, now, up into a wry smile. "You're better without. Not that it's any of my business, but..." One shoulder is shrugged. "And yes, I'm going to. As soon as we get back. I just...well. Yeah." She shakes her head. "Shells."
Essdara laughs softly, "You say that about everyone I'm with, Aida. So either you want me single, or I have terrible taste. I think I will wait a few turns before trying to tell you the other person I'm... Involved with, I guess." She looks over at her with an amused smile for a moment. "And yeah. It's all kinda like that, isn't it? I do understand."
"Well, I may not have said that about her while you were with her?" Aida suggests, giving the other girl an innocent look. "She was just...rude...about stuff. Just, you don't want to know. She's pretty broken up, that's all. Saying stuff I'm sure she doesn't mean and so on. She was...very unhappy, with Vanya." Beat. "Who are you involved with now?"
"Oh. Yeah. I guess she would be, at that." Dara says, with the decency to blush. "And, ahh." A quiet passage of time while they walk. "It's not romantic, exactly. Just... An arrangement. We ease each other's loneliness, and he's helping me with a lot of things." Evasion, and she's looking around to see how far it is until they are back to the dorms.
They're really only a handful of paces away -- it's in sight, even. Nearly free from Aida's questioning! Lucky! Still, she casts a grin over Dara-wards, for all that it's not yet making an appearance in her eyes. "That's good, to hear," she says. "I won't press further. Long as...well, long as you're content with it."
"I am." Dara says simply. "I don't think anyone would understand, but I am. He treats me well, and he cares about me like noone has. And, well, R'vain understands what it's like to fight against the rumors, against the burden of past mistakes and misdeeds. We understand each other very well." A soft laugh. "And neither of us expects more than the other can give."
And she got a name. She wasn't going to press! Aida gives the other girl a raised eyebrow look, considering for a moment before she gives a nod. "I'm glad for you," she states, and there is nothing but sincerity there for those words. "For both of you."
And the dorm is reached. "Thank you." She looks over at her companion, and worry creeps back into her features. "You know where I am, Aida. You know if you need me, I'm just a few cots away. I don't care if you need to wake me up, I'd rather you do if you need me."
"I will if I need to," Aida promises quietly, lifting a hand to ruffle it through her curls. "Thanks, Dara. I appreciate it a lot. I'm...gonna go get some sleep, now. I'll talk to you soon, I'm sure." And she's turning to shuffle off, back towards her cot. Ugh.
Essdara follows her; for a while, at least, their paths are together. "I look forward to it, Aida." The pause of a breath. "I've missed you. And I hope you sleep well." Is her final comment, before turning off towards her own cot.
"Missed you too," Aida comments quietly before she moves to flop down onto the cot. Stretch out, bury her head beneath her pillow. And try to sleep. Ugh. Cot is so /small/.
When Dara resumes her own attempt at rest, it is more forthcoming, and it isn't long at least before the cook is lost in the realm of dreams.