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I could be with you, though.

For a little while.

you wouldnt mind?

No. You're at your new home?

yea gone out few times but havent been able to find any solid answers so staying in for now

I'm really starting to hate all of this random nonsense. But I'll be right over.

[ It's about a half hour later when a very tired looking Beatrice, dressed abnormally plainly, knocks at Rey's door. She's been having a rough time, and it shows on her face. ]

you get used to it after awhile even if you dont want to

[For Rey it's all about perspective, but she'll leave it at that until Beatrice can arrive. When the door knocks, she is answering, haggard and weary with dark lines under her eyes. She clearly hasn't been sleeping much -- well, even less than usual, that is.]

Hey. [Without even so much as a "come in" Rey just steps aside, silently offering entry.]

[ Beato enters, looking only marginally more well-rested. Why can't anything just stop here, let her catch her breath? Still, the witch's face softens in sympathy. Despite all her playing at being a fickle witch, she could be quite kind. ]

Ah, I should have brought something to eat. Sorry.

Edited 2021-10-14 20:57 (UTC)

[If it was one thing Rey's old life had prepared her for, it's to expect the worst. Being swept away to other worlds turned out to be no exception to this clause, so much so that she can't bring herself to be put upon anymore. She just grunts in response at Beatrice's apology.]

Haven't felt hungry, anyway. Could make some tea, though...?

[The kitchen area is ready for the most part, so getting a kettle going is a trivial matter.]

[ Beatrice knows that everything ends sooner or later, and that it was usually sudden and heartwrenching. Even as a witch, she will someday fade away in the infinite sea of worlds and stories.

But why must it always come at the cruelest possible moment? She often thought that God was playing a sick prank against her specifically. ]

That's probably all the more reason for you to eat something.

[ But she lets the point rest, wandering through the kitchen. Not a bad place, especially given those two's habits of living outdoors. She's jealous. It must be nice to share a cozy home with the one you loved. ]

I would rather like that. Where do you keep it?

[Of course Beatrice is right. Rey knows that. She just didn't feel like troubling others any more than she already has.

[Bit too late for that, isn't it? Already she's caused distress for Kainé, and that's more than enough for her. Grimacing, she sinks into the couch in the living area.]

Top left shelf, over the stove. [Rey gestures vaguely, indicating the aforementioned shelf. There's already a kettle on the electric stove, with water inside.] Camomile with gin should be fine. Bottle's above the fridge.

[Rey tried that combination recently, and learned that she quite liked it.

[Should she be drinking in her current state? Probably not. Does she care? Definitely not.]

[ That is an insult to the dignity of tea, and Beatrice would not permit that. The witch heads into the kitchen, taking the tea tin and liquor bottle. She starts the heating element. ]

Understood. Chamomile for you, and the fiery draught of juniper for I.

[ She pours herself a swig of gin and tosses it back. Hypocritical? Maybe. But she was in perfectly fine physical health, and she could really use a drink. She coughs for several seconds after the gin goes down. Somebody isn't used to the hard stuff. ]

And honestly, tea bags? [ She flops into a chair, as she waits for the water to come up to a boil. ] Hmph!

[As Rey tries to settle, she casts a questioning look at her guest's comment. When Beatrice sits down, a brow raises.]

There something wrong with bags? They don't have tea cubes in this world, so those were the closest thing we could find.

[Ahhh, the conveniences of future discoveries.]

[ As ever, the exasperation is mostly performative, but she does have high standards for tea. No matter how many times she was harshly scolded and punished for little errors in serving tea, she made it into a passion of her own. ]

Cubes!? My tongue shrivels in my mouth to imagine! In any case, the tea packed in tea bags is nearly always of inferior quality to loose leaf tea. The sort worthwhile for cold brew and making tea flavored confections, but that is all.

[For most things, Rey isn't picky. When you spent so many lifetimes without being able to taste anything at all, food is food -- or, in this case, drinking tea. She hasn't quite had the chance to expand her tastes yet, so she just responds with a nonchalant shrug.]

How do you drink, er... loose leaf? [The name itself should be telling, but surely people don't just... drink with the leaves still in there, right?]

[ Beatrice isn't generally as snobby as she put on, and honestly, she'd made tea with bags herself when she was tired. She wants quality when she can get it, but sometimes she just wants comfort for a little effort. Mostly, she's bringing this up because she wants to reach for something to talk about, something to distract both of them. ]

It depends, but I assume you're referring to the western style of making tea. You steep it in the teapot. Either there's a strainer, but for authenticity, you simply have dregs at the bottom. [ Yes, they do. ]

[It's such a mundane topic. Not the first thing Rey would've chosen to bring up, but it distracts her from the crippling headaches she gets sometimes.]

That's... People do that? [Rey blinks, brow raised. She really has no concept of tea culture.] Don't you end up swallowing the leaves, too?

[Okay, eating leaves doesn't sound too strange. She's had to do it for survival before -- but this is something people enjoy?]

[ Beatrice shrugs nonchalantly, takes a sip. ]

Some people do, in fact. It's just tea. The leaves are where the flavor comes from in the first place, yes?

Huh. You'll have to show it sometime. Don't really know much about that st--

[Rey is cut off by a jolt searing through her brain. Her hands flies to her face, her words cut off with a startled yelp.]

--shit.

[ Beatrice's eyes widen, and she's immediately at Rey's side, putting a hand on her arm, and extending a channel of Synchrony. ]

That's what its like, then?

[ Despite the blunt words, her voice is quiet and soothing. ]

[The Synchrony helps, if not a little to ease the pain. The same images flash on the back of her lids, blinding for only a moment before Rey is able to look up to see Beatrice again.]

Worse. Keep seeing shit. [Her words are shaky when she speaks, her hands occasionally moving in a way like she has next to no control of them.

[In a way, she doesn't. But at least it's not the familiar feeling of someone else commanding her movements against her will. It's the only thing keeping her from doing anything more drastic.]

[ For the time being, Beatrice doesn't move. She kneels at Rey's side, letting the Manna flow, her fingers drawing gentle circles on her arm. ]

Mm. I'm staying here a while.

[ Catlike, she nudges her head against Rey's, a wordless gesture of comfort. She can't leave her alone in this state. She wouldn't want to be alone if she was like this. ]

[It takes a minute for the pain to subside. For Rey to stop twitching involuntarily, and the visions of metal to fade to the shade of blood vessels on the back of her eyelids. Her breathing had since quickened, but now starts to calm as the episode does as well.

[Drawing in a sharp breath, she leans forward. Separating her head from Beatrice's sweet scent to bring hers between her knees, Rey just tries to focus on breathing for another moment more. She then presses her side to the other woman's, seeking comfort in the contact as she fights to get her bearings again.]

Fuck, s-sorry you had to see that...

[Even if "that" was the reason why Beatrice is here in the first place.]

[ Beatrice can feel some of that pain, of course, but she won't let the link break. Not now. She grimaces, sharing a portion of that agony. She suffered alone for years, six, one thousand, and the thought of that befalling somebody else is unacceptable.

To her great disappointment, she has to weaken the link before Rey's episode stops. But she stays silently by Rey's side, soothingly running her fingers through her friend's hair, listening to her breathing start to slow. It's at least a minute before she suddenly rises. ]

Right. You're eating something.

[ She says this with complete determination. This is an inevitability. She strides over to the kitchen to see what she has to work with. ]

[In her current state, Rey hadn't even been able to think about her empathic connection, that undoubtedly extended to Beatrice now. She just... didn't want to think about anything.

[Not even when part of Rey wishes to protest when Beatrice gets up again. In an ordinary circumstance, she would feel embarrassed that she needed someone to care for her (again) at all. But her whole many lives were far from ordinary.

[Taking a few extra moments to focus on her breathing, Rey just lifts a hand to gesture vaguely at the kitchen area.]

Should be... somethings. To make a sandwich with. In the fridge.

[It wasn't anything fancy, but Rey did have a refrigerator installed after she had the power grid set up. Inside the retro-style box would be some bread, cheese, lunch meat, some vegetables from Konoha's garden... Things you need for a good hearty sub.]

[ Beatrice would probably feel the same way. She doesn't want to be pitied. But she'd also wished, with a desperation that turned to rage, that somebody, anybody, had helped her while she was hurting.

So she can't ignore her friend while she's like this. ]

And this witch will take some as payment for her kindly deeds.

[ She's quite impressed by Rey's selection. She thought that it would probably be much more spartan than that. Subs aren't really a thing where she's from, but she kows how to make a sandwich, and she makes one for each of them, quickly and efficiently.

She brings it over on a plate. ]

Here. If you can eat now, you should.

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