December 26th
Ana's House - Just past 2am - Chilly
Anastasia Asher
Ana huffed as Nev and Aidan disappeared up the stairs. Far from sober herself, she nonetheless managed to get to her feet without assistance, brushing down the rather too-fancy dress she still wore and glancing between the rest of them. "You don't have to sleep now, of course, but it might not be the worst idea. I'm going to go make sure Nev has enough pillows and a glass of water, but if anyone needs anything just let me know!" Her fatigue and drunkenness combined made the words come out a little slurrier than intended, and for some reason this was kind of funny to her, so she giggled a bit, but she was fairly sure she was at least coherent.
That was good.
Ryk nodded his head, a subtle smile on his face before he turned towards Kas and Cyrilla.
“As reluctant as I am to move, I suppose I should go with," Cy stated as she extracted herself from Kas. “That way I can help make sure Nev is comfy," she added, grinning rather broadly. “And also to make sure I have somewhere to sleep, too."
Kas pouted in an exaggerated fashion, letting go of Cy with a great show of reluctance. "I feel cheated," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "That was five minutes of cuddling at the most."
"Oh," Ana said, frowning back at him in a mirror of his own expression. "I'm sorry; should we have played again?"
He laughed and shook his head. "It's fine, Ana. Go get some rest, and make sure Sis doesn't roll off the bed or something."
She nodded and turned to Cyrilla. "Guess we better go make sure they didn't fall down on the way." With a little smile, she glanced between Kas and Eryk. "Good night; sleep well!"
“Good night, Ana," Ryk replied.
“You two behave yourselves!" Cyrilla called out to the two of them as she followed Ana towards the stairs. “You know, there are worse things than the two of them falling down on the way to a bedroom," Cyrilla teased, wrinkling her nose in Ana's direction.
“And it wouldn't be the first time they fell down together," she added, snickering softly as if she'd found something amusing. “What about you, Ana? Did you enjoy yourself tonight?"
"Um... what? I don't want them to hurt themselves?" Ana had literally no idea what Cyrilla was getting at, but she dropped it easily when the next question arose, nodding with enough vigor that she felt herself get a little dizzy and had to reach out with one hand to steady herself on the wall. "Of course I did! I always have fun with all of you. Did you have fun?"
“Hm, I did, actually," Cyrilla replied, rocking her head from side to side with a smile on her face. “It was probably the most fun I've had in a long, long time," she continued, following Ana up the stairs. She started humming, the tune nothing in particular, until she stopped, and glanced at Ana.
“We should do this more often, play games and have sleep overs," she stated, placing a hand on the wall as if to keep herself steady. “What do you think, Ana? Even if it's just us girls and we can kick Ryk out to go bond with his boy friends," she continued, chuckling lightly to herself.
Ana's eyes rounded. "Oh, but.. I wouldn't want to kick him out," she said, chewing her lip as she reached the top of the stairs. "It's—well, I guess he doesn't think it's his home since he's renting the room, but..." She felt her heart sink in her chest, remembering that he'd been very specific about that earlier. It was only her home, according to him, and for some reason that made her very sad.
"But still. I wouldn't mind having you over more often, just... we can't kick him out. He always has a place here if he wants one." She nodded firmly, almost tripping over the carpet runner in the hallways as she made her way to the guest room.
“I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. Ryk is... well, he's a little special. That's all I'll say on that," Cyrilla replied, chuckling softly as they neared the room. When they entered, it looked like Nev had yet to release Aidan, and was smiling as if she were in some kind of dream-like state.
“Oh, arceus, Nev, release the poor man," Cy stated as she laughed.
“But he's so warm!" was Nev's response. Cyrilla rolled her eyes softly.
“I'm sure he is, but I'm also quite sure he'd like to go get some rest of his own. You can cuddle tomorrow if you want, but you should get some rest since we're all a little drunk." Nev seemed to contemplate it for a moment before reluctantly releasing Aidan.
“Fine, fine. You've a point. Thanks for bringing me upstairs, Ser Maribelle!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Lord Balthazar." Shaking his head, he deposited her carefully on the guest bed, tugging his vest back straight and offering the other two a nod as he stepped out. "Do me a favor and make sure she sleeps on her side, okay?"
Ana's medical knowledge was more than enough to inform her that the request was good sense, so she nodded in return. "We'll look after her, don't worry."
She closed the door over behind him, smiling brightly.
Nev stretched out on the bed, laying on her back for a moment and staring at the ceiling. Cyrilla, however, took a seat on the edge of the bed, and was grinning like a cheshire meowth. “So, how was it being carried upstairs by your knight in shining armour, Nev?" Cyrilla asked as she arched a brow. Nev merely grinned in return, but kept her gaze on the ceiling.
“It was great! He smelled really nice up close, too," she replied as Cyrilla rolled her eyes.
“Nev has a crush on Big Brother Aidan, just so you know," Cyrilla whispered in Ana's direction.
"You do?" Ana felt a big grin spreading across her face. "That's so cute! You look great together, by the way, and he's so nice to you! Well, he's nice to everyone, but especially you." She nodded sagely, stepping away from the door and moving to sit on the same side of the bed as Cy, only she brought her legs up underneath her and leaned back against the headboard.
“Wait, what?" Nev nearly sputtered as she blinked a few times. “Oh, no! No, it's not... it's not like that?" she seemed a little confused as Cyrilla laughed.
“Arceus, Nev. You're what, thirty two? It's alright to admit that you like Aidan, even if it's a bit of a crush. Acknowledging it is the first step to a happy marriage," Cyrilla stated as Nev's eyes widened.
“Oh, no, no no, we're just friends! Honest!"
“Uh, huh, friends. What do you think, Ana? Do you think they're just friends?" it was obvious that Cyrilla was teasing Nev.
Ana didn't really know how to tease people, but she decided to do her best to go with the flow of the conversation. "Um... no? I mean, they could be, but they could also not be... and he just..." She hummed, trying to find a way to describe it. "He looks at you a certain way, Nev. I'm sure of it." It was hard to see, and maybe if Ana were a more talkative person, who participated more fully in conversations, she'd have missed it. But she was used to watching people, and there was just a certain way his expression changed around Nev specifically.
It wasn't anything obvious, like adoration, exactly. It was just... attention. "He's always paying attention to you. Looking out for you. And I think it's really sweet, the way he always asks if he's allowed to touch you or something." She grinned, and tried for a more teasing lilt like Cyrilla's. "I bet it felt really nice to be carried, right? He's very strong." She winked.
Nev pursed her lips together as she stared at Cyrilla and Ana. “Well, I think it's part of his job to look out for me, really. Not because he wants to, or is... uh, in...terested?" she didn't seem to know how to word that sentence, however; Cyrilla merely chuckled and shook her head.
“Sure, he's a glorified babysitter, Nev, but I think it's a little more than that. Ana is right, though, he is very strong, isn't he? I'm not saying you're a heavy person, Nev, but he picked you up like it didn't even matter to him," Cy stated as Nev pursed her lips into a fine line.
“Well..."
“Go on, Nev, tell us all about it."
“It was nice," she finally seemed to confess.
Ana made a happy little noise that turned into a giggle. Something about the whole thing just tickled her. It made her a bit wistful, too—something like that just sounded so... nice. It wasn't that she was lonely, exactly. Or at least not anymore, now that she had these wonderful friends. But still... it seemed a little different. Like a kind of warmth she'd never be able to feel herself.
Her smile wavered, but she pushed the thoughts away. "You spend a lot of time together, right?" she asked, genuinely curious. "What's it like, when it's just you two?"
Nev smiled softly at the question. “Honestly, sometimes it feels like we've known each other forever. Er, well to me it feels that way. It's very comfortable and I don't... well I don't feel like I've failed at a lot of things. He's very patient with me, and it's so much fun when we're playing video games. I know that if it were anyone else, they would have stopped playing with me altogether with how bad I am."
“Other times we can spend hours in silence and it's still very comfortable. It's nice having him over, and... well, honestly I've thought about asking him to move in with me. I mean, it'd make sense, right? We're always over at each other's apartment, and Mama Basil even cleared out closet space for him. Oh, but... I don't know," she explained.
Closet space? That seemed very... intimate, in a way. And there would be only one closet in Nev's place; Ana had been there and was pretty sure it only had one bedroom. She blinked wide eyes at her friend. "Where would he sleep?" she asked, not sure if Nev meant what she seemed to mean.
“Oh, well the apartment I have has a den that I originally planned to convert to a study," she began, turning her head so that she was glancing in Ana's direction. “Since I do a lot of my work at... work, I don't use it. It has a small closet that he could use if he wanted to."
“But isn't the den smaller than an actual bedroom?" Cyrilla inquired, seemingly amused by something. Nev, however, shook her head.
“You know how big the Cloyster's apartments are. The den is basically a second bedroom," Nev explained, and pursed her lips together. “But it's not like he'd ever accept the invitation, and I don't want to intrude if he'd rather keep his own space."
Ah, that was different than Ana had thought. It made more sense, of course; somehow she doubted Nev was really considering inviting Aidan to share her room with her, but the closet thing had kind of made her wonder for a bit. "Are you sure he'd decline?" she asked, tilting her head. "I mean... it might be a bit sudden, if you can't explain why exactly you want to, um, be closer to him, but..."
She wasn't sure how to break it to her friend that if Cyrilla had noticed her feelings, Aidan probably had, too. They were alone together a lot, after all, and wasn't he kind of... well-known for being very good at noticing things?
“Definitely sort of sure he'd decline," Nev replied, earning a soft snort from Cyrilla.
“It's one or the other, Nev, not both. Also, I'm almost one hundred percent certain that Aidan wouldn't hate the idea of living with you. That is, assuming, you can give him a plausible reason to do so without actually blurting out the fact that you're in love with him," Cyrilla stated in a nonchalant fashion. Nev's eyes widened, though, at the statement.
“Oh, no, I'm not in love with him or anything. I just... well, I have a crush on him. I don't think it'll amount to anything, though," Nev responded as she covered her face in her hands. Cy just smirked. “I think you're right, Ana. It would be a bit sudden and I can't give him a why without letting it be known that I do have a crush on him. He's just... he seems so far out of my reach, you know?"
“Wait, wait. You think Big Brother is out of your league? Nev, darling, you need a little more confidence in yourself. Aidan's not the type to judge you based on your looks. Even I know he's not a shallow guy." Cy turned to Ana as if she were expecting Ana to confirm.
She was plenty happy to give it. "He's very handsome," she said with a nod, "but you're beautiful, Nevena, and even if you weren't, you heard him earlier. He thinks you're brilliant, and admires you for it. There are a lot of people who don't like it when you're smarter than them, but he thinks it's a good thing that you're so clever." She definitely had some... experience with people being irritated at her in this way. Her cousin, for one.
“Ana's right, you know. Just like how the Rykster told Ana she had beautiful eyes. It wasn't any part of her physical appearance that he'd found beautiful, it was her eyes," Cy stated as Nev just pursed her lips together. “Speaking of," she added, turning her attention on Ana.
“I'm sure Ryk's the same with you, Ana. He seems much happier living here with you, and being near you." Cyrilla's lips took on a subtle curve as she addressed Ana.
"Um... my eyes are part of my physical appearance, though?" Ana didn't really catch the implications of Cyrilla's further statements, but it almost didn't matter: even the remainder of the compliment was enough to flush her a deep pink, heat blooming over her cheeks and disappearing under her neckline. "B-besides, he had to pick something; it was a rule!" One she could not quite bring herself to regret making, even in spite of her embarrassment. It was just... no matter what she told herself about the whys, the what was... well, she could let herself dream a little, couldn't she?
“All very true, but," Cyrilla began, leaning forward a bit as she arched a brow, “he could have picked anything else. Your hair, your face, your body shape, your personality. He could have picked how welcoming you were, how great your baking is, and so on and so forth."
Nev giggled lightly. “He almost looked like he was getting lost in your eyes. Tell me, does he stare at you often like that?" Cyrilla asked.
"W-what?" Ana pulled her knees up towards her chest and hugged them, shaking her head. "N-no. Of course not! He just—" She hadn't noticed anything of the kind! She felt ashamed of herself, for the way her heart kicked up in her chest, hammering a rapid pace against her sternum. The way she wanted it to be true. She shouldn't be thinking things like that. Not about her tenant, and not when she was...
Ana swallowed. "He doesn't look at me like anything," she said firmly, as much to remind herself as to convince the others.
“Really? It kind of looked like he was staring at you for a majority of the game, and even smiled when you sat next to him. I don't recall ever seeing Ryk smile like that, and I've only known him for a few months," Nev stated, almost genuinely surprised. She turned her attention towards Cyrilla, and asked, “did he smile like that when the two of you were growing up?"
Cyrilla smiled almost ruefully at the question. “He... hasn't smiled like that in a long time, really. The last time I saw him smile like that..." she trailed off as if she were trying to recall the time in question. “I was fourteen years old."
“Wow, so it's been almost ten years since he smiled. I wonder why," Nev asked in an innocent manner. Cyrilla winced slightly, but didn't say anything.
“In any case, I'm glad he's found his smile again. I think you're the main reason, too, Ana," Cyrilla stated, wrinkling her nose in Ana's direction, clearly still teasing her.
"That's—that's not fair, Cyrilla," Ana protested, shaking her head vigorously and pausing when it made her vision swim. "Eryk is changing just fine on his own, not that there was anything wrong with him to begin with. I'm just around. You should—you should see him with the pokémon. He smiles at them all the time. Much more than at me!"
Cyrilla's expression softened as she gently shook her head. “It's not the same thing, Ana. I grew up with Ryk; I know his true smile. The smile he gives pokemon is different from the smile he gives you. There's warmth behind it, genuine warmth. Sure, he might smile more with the pokemon, and he might be happy with them, but there's just something about the smile he gives you. It's... like you have your own little piece of him, your own special little smile."
“And a mountain could move and Eryk wouldn't change. I think his change is brought by how at ease he feels with you. Even if you're just around, it's done a lot for him, I think," she stated before shaking her head.
“Do you think he likes Ana, Cyrilla?" Nev asked, her eyes widening with delight, it seemed. Cyrilla snorted softly and nodded her head. “Oh, that's so adorable! You'd both look so cute together!"
Ana dropped her eyes, hugging her legs tighter and propping her chin between her knees. "I know you guys mean well," she said softly, "but I... I can't hope something like that. I can't... I can't let myself hope that." She squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled a shaky breath.
“Why not?" Cyrilla asked, tilting her head.
“Is it because he's part of NTR?" Nev added, furrowing her brows slightly.
"What?" Ana's eyes snapped back open, and she regarded them with puzzlement. "N-no, of course not. You're all with NTR, right? It doesn't bother me." She shook her head; Ana knew lots of people were skeptical about the organization, but as someone who'd been on the front lines of the effort to care for abused pokémon, she knew that at least part of what they did was absolutely necessary. And besides, her friends were sweet people, and she just couldn't believe any of them were involved in anything shady.
"It's..." she bit her lip. "It wouldn't last."
Realizing what she'd just said, she cleared her throat and covered the slip with something else that was true. She didn't know why she couldn't share the truth, except... she really didn't want any of them to look at her any differently, and she knew they would. Everyone did, and they in particular were kind. They would care, if she told them. "You've said it yourself, Cy. You have to move around all the time, you know? Wherever you get sent. I can't... I don't think I can do something like that. Even if... even if I believed you were right, that'd just make it worse. I'd get all hopeful in my head and then I'd wake up some morning, and you'd all... you'd all have to go. And then I'll..." She swallowed thickly. "I'll be alone again."
As it was, she didn't know if that would happen first, of if she'd leave them, but either way there was an expiration date on their time together. She couldn't let herself hope for more than she already had, or it would become too painful to lose.
“You're right," Cyrilla stated, and for a moment, Nev seemed a bit skeptical. Cyrilla ran a hand through her shortened hair, and smiled at Ana. “It wouldn't last," she continued, before shaking her head. “It sounds so disappointing when you put it in that perspective, but Ana..." she glanced in Ana's direction to hold her gaze.
“I don't think you understand the extent of how new all of this," she gestured in a vague way around them, “is to all of us. I've never had friends before all of you. I never even knew I could have them. I know Ryk certainly feels the same way because we were never allowed to think like that. We weren't allowed to think of ourselves as people that could be normal, and to have friends and people we could care about. It might all seem temporary, but..."
“Even if we have to leave, it's not like we could ever forget about you, Ana. Regardless of where our jobs took us, we would still want to come back and see you and see how the shelter is doing. This is new for me, too. The only friend I had growing up was Miles, my parents' Mr. Mime. We would send you cards and letters, or even call you! We wouldn't want you feel lonely, even if we can't always come visit!" Nev stated as she sat up slowly from her spot.
“Is it so wrong to want to have a little hope that maybe Ryk does think of you that way, no matter how much time you might have together? Wouldn't it be nice, even if it was for a fleeting moment, to know that he cared about you in that way?"
That was just the problem, though. It would be nice. And then it would be gone. Ana swallowed thickly, her fingers tightening in the folds of her skirt. Some rebellious part of her wanted to agree; what would it matter, after all, if she took the chance? Maybe it would be nice for a little while, and then she'd be—gone, anyway. It might never have to hurt her. And didn't she—couldn't she have one nice thing before her time was up?
But it was such an incredibly selfish way to think that she couldn't bear being in that frame of mind for more than a moment. "Even if I could think of it that way," she said softly, "there's him to consider. Wouldn't it be awful if something like that happened and then went away? Maybe—maybe friends can stay friends even if someone moves away, but... but something like that is... different. So it's probably better if it just... stays like this."
Cyrilla chuckled lightly, though it was unclear what Ana had said that she'd found funny. “Maybe. That's the problem with us being friends with the guys we like. It's always so damn hard to think of it anything else. What if we mess up our friendship? What if he actually doesn't like me like that, and if I confessed, would it ruin everything that we had?. Those kinds of things are dangerous thoughts, but I think you don't give Ryk enough credit."
“Ryk wouldn't go into something half-assed. He's well aware of our jobs and that they require us to move, but... it would be something he chose to do. It would be something he knows wouldn't last long, either, but would do it anyway because that's just how he is. It's something to think about, at least. It wouldn't just be a decision you made. If, by some arceus intervention, you both ended up together, it would have been because both of you decided to do it regardless of the consequences." Cyrilla smiled after that, however; Nev arched an eyebrow at her.
“What do you mean by guys we like, Cy? Do you like someone, too?!" she inquired as Cy just held a finger to her lips.
“This isn't about me; this is about Ryk and Ana."
Ana didn't think she was giving him too little credit at all; she still found the idea that any of this was remotely possible completely ludicrous, because Eryk was the kind of straightforward person who said what he thought and meant what he said, and he'd never so much as given a hint that he thought about her as anything other than a friend. If even that.
But all of it was much too messy for her to want to talk about, so Ana latched on to the topic change Nev presented. "It's about you, too," she said, trying to inject lightness into her voice even thought she didn't really feel it right now. "After all, if you took your own advice you'd probably be with Kas, right?" It was sort of a guess, but it wasn't like they didn't really obviously flirt with each other all the time, too.
At first she'd sort of thought it was just because they both flirted a lot period, but sometimes—like today—it was obviously more than that, and even someone as slow on the social uptake as Ana could kind of see it.
“That is a whole different can of wurmples I'll have you know," Cyrilla stated as she laughed. “My advice doesn't work for me the same way it works for everyone else. Besides, Kas and I really are just friends, even if I wanted it to be more than that," she murmured, as Nev snickered softly.
“So... what you're saying is that you want something with Kas, but you also don't? I'm so confused," Nev stated as she shook her head.
“Correct."
Ana snorted. "You don't get to exempt yourself from your own advice just because," she said. "And what makes you say you're just friends anyway?" Ana didn't know a lot about how any of this worked, but it seemed like they got along really well, even if Kas was kind of hard to read.
“I'm pretty sure I would know if we were more than just friends. First of all, we'd probably go out on dates and other shit like that, and I haven't slept with him," Cy replied in a nonchalant fashion, grinning slightly at Ana. “Every relationship reaches that point in time, after all, so I know we're just friends."
Ana coughed, feeling her face get hot again. "That's... not what I meant," she said. "And you know it, because by that criterion, everyone in this room is... just friends. With, you know, the people you were making fun of us about. So." Oh arceus. She was not going to think about it. No. Not even a little bit. Not even—
Just no.
“I'll tell you what," Cyrilla began, glancing in Nev's direction, who had turned a bright red at the statement, before returning her attention back to Ana. “How about we all ask the boys out for a Valentine's Day date? If they agree, well then that just means that they might think of us as more than just a friend. And you can't make the suggestion as if it were friends asking out another friend to hang out or whatever. It has to be in a way that makes it obvious that you're kind of interested in them."
“Oh, I don't know about that. It just... it seems weird and they might take it the wrong way," Nev replied, pursing her lips together. Cyrilla rolled her eyes, though.
“That's the point, Nev. You want them to think that you're genuinely asking them out on a date as a potential lover, and not just as friends."
“Hmm," Nev seemed to be genuinely thinking about it. “I'll do it if you do it."
Oh no.
This was just wrong in so many ways.
"I—I wouldn't even know how to convey that," Ana found herself saying. "And it's such a bad idea. I don't—I don't think I should do that."
Cyrilla snorted.
“Ryk is the easiest to ask out of the three, Ana. All you have to do is literally say, Ryk, can we go on a date on Valentine's Day? That's it. He's a very straightforward person, as you know, and if you tell him directly, he'll know. Trust me on that one," she stated as she chuckled.
“I know the boys are still up so I'll text Kas right now to ask him. That way I can't say I didn't try, and I have physical proof. You don't have to text Ryk, or Aidan, but you have to still tell him, deal?" Cyrilla continued as she pulled out her phone. She typed something on her phone before glancing up at Ana and Aidan. “Say the word and I'll push the send button and show you his reply."
Ana hesitated. This really was a bad idea, and a terrifying one, even if part of her did want to—no. No, it was stupid. He'd say no, because he didn't feel that way, and it'd crush her, and more importantly, it would make things awkward because they lived with each other.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, shaking her head. "I know you want me to do this, but I can't." Maybe in a different world, where there wasn't a clock running down inside her, but... this wasn't a world like that. This was the world she lived in, the only one she got, and she had to live in it understanding that she wasn't free to take leaps like this and hope for the best.
“Too late," Cyrilla stated as she hit the send button on her phone. “Now, just because I did it doesn't mean you have to do it. I'll relieve you of that kind of pressure, but Ana, I just want you to know... sometimes it really is worth just taking a chance. Sometimes it is worth stepping outside of our comfort zone to just see what will happen, regardless of what happens."
“Valentine's Day is still about a month and a half away, isn't it? Can we just... have a little more time, maybe?" Nev asked as she glanced in Cyrilla's direction.
“Sure, why not? Give it some time, I guess."
Ana wanted to protest, but at this point that would just make them suspicious, so she swallowed the words and nodded instead. She had no intention of seriously considering it at all. Cyrilla's words might be fine for other people, but Ana's circumstances were different. They'd always be different.
Cyrilla's phone chimed a moment later.
Cyrilla smiled brightly at her phone as her eyes skimmed it. She seemed to type a reply as she grinned at Ana and Nev. “Well, guess I'll be the only one with a Valentine's Day date, then!" she stated almost too excitedly.
“Wait, Kas agreed?" Nev asked almost skeptical.
“Yep."
The phone chimed again, and Ana tilted her head to the side, studying Cy's face in an attempt to read her reaction.
Cyrilla coughed slightly as a light pink dusted her face and she shot another reply. The pink, however, did not fade from her face, and if anything, it turned into a darker shade.
“What did he say?" Nev asked, seemingly curious as to the text Kas had sent Cy. Cyrilla didn't immediately reply, and seemed to contemplate her answer.
“Hewantedtoknowifitmeanthecouldkissme," she stated in one breath, and was seemingly refusing to meet both Ana and Nev's gaze.
Ana felt her mouth drop open for a moment, before she recovered. "Did—did you say yes?"
“Yes," Cyrilla replied, her face turning just a shade darker.
“So does that mean the two of you are kind of official? Wait... wait, does that mean you are official?!" Nev asked, seemingly excited at the news.
“Maybe? Yes?"
"Uh... congratulations?" Ana was admittedly kind of confused still, but... it didn't seem like a bad result at all. She huffed lightly, then smiled. "It's still a month and a half away, I suppose. Something could change, but... let us know how that goes."
“Sure thing, Ana. Now, who wants to just gather into a cuddle ball and go to sleep. I could use an extra body or two," Cyrilla replied as she opened her arms out as if to invite either Nev or Ana into them. Nev laughed softly and shook her head.
“The bed is big enough for all three of us, I think, and it's proven that people sleep better when there's other people in the bed," Nev stated as Cy chuckled.
“I don't think that's actually a proven thing, Nev, but it could work for now!"
"We could do an experiment?" Ana said, finding her smile again and scooting in next to the others. They were all sill wearing their fancy dresses, but she was too drunk to care, maybe, because she didn't feel uncomfortable at all, really. "Just for... verification."
She wasn't even awake long enough to hear if either of them responded.
-
┇ DOCILE
┇ RASH
