There's No Angels Here

[agentminiskirt]

Who: Aya Brea and YOU.
What: Where has Aya been? Well, now we know...
Where: Eastern District.
When: Tuesday.
Warnings: Sadness? ¯\(ºдಠ)/¯ Iunno.
Notes: Soundtrack Start.

Comments

[quality_friend]

After hearing that New York City from other worlds was often called "Gotham", Dana had decided to explore the Eastern District's Manhattan area in depth, to see if she could match up anything there with home. She had a map on Gotham on her phone's screen and one of Nautilus's Manhattan also loaded, just in case, but to start, she wanted to do this visually.

But whether it was the time difference or the fact that they were two different cities, after an hour of wandering, she hadn't found anything that screamed "Gotham". Discouraged, she started to make her way back to the Welcome House when she ran into an unfamiliar woman. Who seemed to know where she was going, so probably not a new arrival.

"Hello," she greeted with a wave. It couldn't hurt. This wasn't home, after all, the rules for strangers were different.

[agentminiskirt]

There was some comfort in the familiar. Aya oftentimes found it in the Eastern District, being the closest thing that made sense to her. In spite of its little quirks here and there that made it unique from the Manhattan that she knew and lived in, it was still some semblance to home, and that was the fact that mattered.

After the initial greeting of unwanted company, Aya dreaded the next encounter. Thankfully, this one seemed mostly harmless, though Aya was pretty sure she had never met or talked to this person before. With how long it had been since she was... away, it was no surprise that she would find new faces taking up residency in Nautilus.

"Hey..." She glanced over her shoulder, and blinked. "I take it you're one of the recent arrivals?"

Aya seriously had a lot of catching up to do...

[quality_friend]

Dana smiled ruefully. "Relatively recent; I've been here for two months now. Long enough to give advice to other new arrivals, at least."

[agentminiskirt]

"Two months...?"

That almost came as a shock to her. Of course, Aya had been out of it for awhile, and she'd been away...

Well, she didn't know how long it'd been since she went back home. It wouldn't have been the first time that kind of thing happened, either.

"...I see."

[quality_friend]

"December and January; I arrived at the end of November." Dana wondered if she should ask where the woman had been, or offer to fill in the gaps, but she decided against it.

"I'm Dana Tan," she said, holding out a hand.

[agentminiskirt]

That... might explain it, for the most part. Aya left sometime around December in order to escape any of the Christmastime shenanigans the city had to offer. She was never fond of the holiday to begin with, and recent events didn't inspire her with any motives to stick around. Not when she had family on the other side that she could at least be watching over. Even if she couldn't touch them, or be with them. It was better than nothing.

Aya wrenched from her trance, and at the hand that Dana was offering. Her manners were starting to be very becoming of her. "I apologize, I've... been in a bit of a zone lately." She took it with a reluctant grip. "Aya Brea."

[quality_friend]

Dana didn't hold the handshake long. "Been home?" She remembered how awkward just one day was, but maybe others found it easier to live with.

"It's nice to meet you, Aya. Do you have any questions about city news?"

[agentminiskirt]

"Yeah." Aya responded simply. "I wanted to see my family, back home. They left recently, so it's just me here now."

She didn't know how long that was going to last, or if it was ever going to change. Holding out hope was only asking for disappointment.

Aya shrugged. "I don't know. Anything exciting going on these days?"

[quality_friend]

"I know that feeling." Except that in her case, it went so badly that she hadn't wanted to stay there.

She shrugged back. "It depends on your definition of exciting. We had a lot of new arrivals for two weeks, but almost all of them went back to Sleep. Then this month there was a truth-telling storm. Oh, and the Riddler planted bombs for Christmas."

[agentminiskirt]

Aya's feelings on the matter were complicated. No matter how badly she wanted it, or how much she willed it, she could never be with her family again.

Not there.

It was quite the predicament.

The following subject, however, snared her attention just enough to forget any depressing thoughts, stretching her brow upward. Truth-telling. Glad she missed out on that one. And Riddler...

"Sounds like the kind of thing he'd do." She failed to sound surprised by this in the least, despite running into the bastard earlier. "I take it that the situation was taken care of?"