[And a harrowing few days it has been. Safe on the station they all may be, but no one who made the sudden journey from the surface to Thesa was left unmarked. Krile has been busy, between healing and outright telling people to sit down and take a break and trying to keep up the spirits of her friends as well as her own.
And Alisaie kept the damn door locked even after the first time she worked her way in.
At least...well, she's seen Prompto, and spoken to him, and if he's with Alisaie then she won't be alone and left to worsen in despair. He's not here now, though, when a quiet knock comes at the door to Alisaie's room at Lalafell level.
If she isn't awake, Krile can turn and go, but she's lost her sense of day and night like many others have, and it would do her good to at least see that her friend is healing.]
[ though prompto has returned to her, inexplicably, it has nonetheless been a trying week. grief is not so easily reversed, and it had taken some time for her to even accept that he was well and truly back, and not simply some figment of her fatigued mind and despairing heart. the wound still needed time to knit.
even now, it still heals.
but compared with how she looked when krile last laid eyes upon her, alisaie may as well be the picture of health. she looks tired still, and mussed, but she is awake and aware, the shine back in her eyes where it had previously been dull and hollow, and she greets krile with.. something like a smile. weak, and weary, yes, but a smile nonetheless. ]
I should think not. I'd be all sorts of disappointed in myself if you had.
[Krile likes to think she does not do such work by halves! It is most reassuring to see Alisaie on her feet, willingly come to the door, and passing for smiling.]
You look much better. [Honestly, she wouldn't have been at all surprised in the girl was actually ill by now. Krile is smiling, too, just as weary, and the shadows of perpetual exhaustion linger beneath her eyes.] Have you eaten? I came to see if you felt up to the task.
[And to...apologize for more than a day passing since last she came in. Prompto returned, well nigh bowling her over, and she thought it best if she left the two of them to the business of seeing to one another for a time first.]
[ krile looks about as exhausted as alisaie feels, but no doubt every refugee feels much the same. it will take several days of rest, like as not, before any of them feel like themselves once more.
but onward they must march. alisaie is done with grief and pain and hurt, and what better way to fight it off than with distraction, and companionship? already she's turning back into her room long enough to find her boots, and sit to pull them on. the room is.. markedly neater than it had been when last krile visited. ]
I've not yet, no. I may be willing to accompany you, should you tell me the story behind those wounds.
[ even though she's already agreed, considering how she's already getting her boots on.. ]
[For her part, Krile has put aside her standard dress and yellow cloak for something a bit simpler - and less restrictive to fall asleep wearing. The scratches that once bloodied her face are quite faint now, and one more set of spells ought to see them gone entirely, when she has the strength again.
Still, she presumes Alisaie means to ask about those, and one hand touches them gently in response.]
An unfortunate encounter with a much smaller dragon of sorts. I can't say whether it was young, though.
[Meanwhile she's assessing the room. Someone cleaned up. Good. It's no recovery at all, spent in the midst of the aftermath of pain and rage.]
There isn't much story to tell, none of substance.
[ it takes alisaie only a few moments to tug up her boots and stand again, smoothing down her skirts, ready to go. out the small door she goes, tugging the door gently shut behind her so as not to disturb the snoozing prompto. ]
No heroic, dramatic tale, then? No dashing out of the way at the last possible moment?
Unfortunately, nothing as grand as all that. [Her shoulders drop a bit, and it's all the more obvious absent her colorful cloak and hood.] It leapt at me from cover and I had neither the time nor the strength to avoid it.
[She is lucky to have kept her eye, truly. The blood and mud were such that she feared the worst for a short while after the creature fell.]
As you saw, I found myself quite...affected by that great dragon's voice. I hardly recall disposing of my assailant.
[Most of all, she hadn't meant for this friendly meal to take such a turn, and so soon. Krile has done - has ever done - an outstanding job of burying how she feels about everything that happened to the world, to her friends, to her person. In the hall on the way to...whatever meal this is, isn't the time to start pushing dirt aside.
And she is very tired.]
It may not be the heroic ballad you longed for, but it's all I've got.
[ alisaie understands. they are all tired. honestly, tired is hardly a strong enough word. like as not it will be weeks before they begin to feel like themselves again, and not simply shades haunting these halls, aching with loss and pining for purpose.
still, things are better than they had been. they will continue to get better, and easier, still. food always helps. ]
I shall spare us both the overlong emotional moment, but I would be remiss were I not to at least say.. thank you, for all you did for me. I was not myself.
[ and she's embarrassed, honestly, that krile had seen her like that, but then they are not so different; alisaie is no better at spilling her softer feelings. ]
[Healers see people in all manner and state of distress. It weighs more heavily on Krile when it is a friend who suffers, but any embarrassment on their part is...well, theirs. She may tease and wheedle depending on how well they really are, of course. But something as serious as the brokenness of grief is not to be trifled with.
So Krile smiles, weary still but satisfied.]
You're welcome and I probably wasn't myself either, and my fortune is I don't think you can remember enough to goad me with in turn. I'm relieved to see you came back together.
[Even if Prompto had not returned, Krile is sure the loss would not have taken Alisaie completely. She has too much strength of spirit and is as stubborn as the rest of her family besides.]
If that's not satisfactory, I'll thank you again for that chocobo ride and we'll call the ledger balanced.
[ a chocobo ride is hardly enough to repay krile for her care, attentions, and kindness, but alisaie knows she need not continue to drill in the point. what she had been attempting to say has gotten through clearly enough, and krile's warm smile is enough to set her heart at ease.
alisaie exhales a breath she feels she has been holding for days, and turns her attentions back toward the corridor they're walking along. ]
Have you any thoughts on a suitable celebratory meal?
[Krile understood very well what Alisaie meant. Sparing them further emotional awkwardness is for the best. If necessary, she would do it all again and then some for any of her friends.]
Celebratory, is it? For festivities I've always been partial to cake. Chocolate, preferably.
[But cake is not a meal, even on one's nameday, even if one carries the surname of Leveilleur. Krile shakes her head with a sigh of her own.]
Of course, in order for that to work, I would need to want cake.
[If she's honest...she doesn't want anything. She knows she is hungry and needs to eat, and more importantly Alisaie could use both the nutrition and the company. But she's too tired to care what the food is like.]
I should think that we are more than deserving of a little cake.
[ krile knows what's up; even while recovering from trauma, it is difficult to subdue alisaie's formidable sweet tooth. but krile's answer gives her pause, and her smile wilts in part, though not entirely, even though the reminder of despair rises like bile in the back of her throat.
but no. she should not allow it to win. the wounds remain, still healing into scars, but alisaie is so tired of being sad, of being hollow - if she must strongarm a little happiness into their lives, she will. ]
Mayhaps once you see and smell it, you shall find your appetite.
[She even thought of bringing Alisaie something sweet along with the water initially, but then the door was all manner of locked and she decided getting in was more important at the time.
This is, for all intents and purposes, the third time in a very short stretch that Krile Baldesion has lost her home to catastrophe. She is as tired in spirit as she is in body. Driving it back with the act of tending others can only work for so long, and she is not so far gone as to forego her own needs, but she feels very stretched. Rolled and pulled to thinness.
The sense that it will all get worse long before it starts to get better will never leave her at this rate.]
One can only hope. [For the food and their chances.
Alisaie is trying to cheer her up and Krile teeters at the edge of not making that very easy. She hates when other people do this. Why should she do it herself? So, another pale smile.]
You've not lost me yet. It had better be a matchless piece of cake, though.
[ to be fair, she is not terribly good at the cheering up thing.. but she is trying!! and krile is trying, too, which is the best that they can manage right now, so she will accept it.
it isn't long before the cafeteria opens ahead of them. ]
Well, Roman is decent enough with an oven, so I should think we would not be entirely disappointed.
[Though she was here not long ago with Prompto while Alisaie rested, this time it almost feels...too open. Several other refugees are there, and their visible meals run the spectrum from breakfast to supper. At least there isn't much of a line.
Krile wanders a bit aimlessly for a few moments before appearing to come to her senses, circling back to Alisaie's side.]
Is there cake or something like it available or must we place a request and wait?
[ they really should supply stepstools.. she can only assume that those of lalafellin size must not be well represented in the multiverse, which is certainly unfortunate for krile. ]
Hmm..
[ alisaie casts a cursory glance over the long tables and - ah, yes, there's a good cluster of desserts available. given how full the station is at the moment, there must always be food readily available. ]
Yes, there are two cakes available, as well as a tart, and several cookies. Chocolate cake it is, aye?
[ she's already plucked up plates for both of them. ]
[Now they're in range of the cake, Krile feels rather more like having a bit of it, as Alisaie predicted. She ought to know better than to distrust a Leveilleur's assessment where sweets are concerned. She manages something of a devilish grin at the plates.]
Planning to sample from all of the offerings yourself, are you?
[Things are...more normal when someone is ruffling someone else's feathers. But! Celebrations can call for all manner of indulging.
While Alisaie sees to the cake, Krile finds them somewhere out of the way to sit and enjoy it - as best they can.]
[ never doubt that alisaie can pack down a mountain of sweets when she puts her mind to it. so she does stack their plates liberally with a variety of treats, but she adds a sandwich to them as well just so they can have some.. actual nutrition, too. i guess!! then all of it is loaded onto a tray with two cups of cold milk, and she's off to find krile again.
which only takes her a moment, of course, and she carefully sets the tray down between them before sliding into a seat. ]
[Not often one to go wide-eyed, Krile gawks at the laden tray set before her. There is cake, naturally, and a variety of cookies and at least half a tart and...a sandwich, and- well. It's quite full of food.
It makes her want to laugh.
This is, truly, the best she has felt since finding Alphinaud alive and whole when they first reappeared on the station. Though not as ravenous as Aliasie seems to be, she takes a bit more than one piece of cake after all. Every so often she glances over at her friend, just in case she takes some sort of turn, but for some time she is silent in enjoyment of celebratory chocolate cake.
With milk.
After about half of it is gone, she feels fortified enough to talk between bites.]
You said you'd not reopened your injuries, but do they pain you still?
[Now that the both of them have had some rest, she could heal at least the one to her hip the rest of the way.]
[ LOOK... she likes food, okay!! where does she put it all, though? probably she needs a lot of calories to fuel the fires of her ferocious rage and sass.
at least she has the grace to look a little shamed before she begins digging in without preamble. ]
Mm.. only a bit. It is not too terrible.
[ a bit of soreness perhaps, but nothing so bad as to keep her bedbound. though to be fair, nothing short of knocking her out would really be able to keep her off of her feet. ]
Krile plucks a cookie from one of the plates. Eventually she'll get to the sandwich part. Absolutely.]
That's good to hear. I can always have another look, if they start troubling you further.
[Which is really "if you're lying about it and want it all dealt with" but who is asking?
Rather than dive right in to the cookie, though, she breaks it into quarters on her plate, as if she would rather have a task than simply look at Alisaie.]
I got Prompto to eat a bit while you were sleeping yesterday. Every other sentence of his was concern for you.
[ alisaie has no such qualms about keeping distracted, she pops a cookie straight on into her mouth without preamble, chewing thoughtfully. for as.. rough around the edges as she is, at least she has the grace not to speak with her mouth full.
well. usually.
her smile softens, though there's a crease on her brow, pinched with mild concern. ]
.. no doubt he did. Prompto could give Alphinaud a run for his coin when it comes to fretting, surely. Thank you for hounding him.
[Well that perks her up just a bit. The more usual sly grin starts on the left half of her face.]
Well, if I'm to be thanked for it, I'll have to consider making it a daily affair.
[Yet there is a shadow in her thoughts, preventing the apex of this tease. Krile hasn't a real sense of the protocol around revealing what the Echo shows her when it is neither urgent nor particularly informative to the task at hand. Left alone, she might just say outright what it is she saw.
Something in the set of Alisaie's brow suggests perhaps she ought not to.]
Be careful lest you leave the two of them alone for too long, and they work out the incantation for some sort of worry carbuncle.
[ ah, she has never been happier to see that smirk. things have changed, they have been through something harrowing, something that they will never forget, or completely shake off, but they must move forward, and if nothing else - well, they are survivors.
forward.
after another forkful: ]
Gods, that is the last thing we need. Hopefully it shall never come to that.
[Survivors, and with any luck at all, rebuilders. All the world has come out from under them before, in one way or another, and they've carried on. They can do so again.]
Though, I admit, it is rather entertaining to picture - Alphinaud, Prompto, and their shared carbuncle, wringing their hands and admonishing all who dare an incautious step.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a few days after [time stop]
And Alisaie kept the damn door locked even after the first time she worked her way in.
At least...well, she's seen Prompto, and spoken to him, and if he's with Alisaie then she won't be alone and left to worsen in despair. He's not here now, though, when a quiet knock comes at the door to Alisaie's room at Lalafell level.
If she isn't awake, Krile can turn and go, but she's lost her sense of day and night like many others have, and it would do her good to at least see that her friend is healing.]
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even now, it still heals.
but compared with how she looked when krile last laid eyes upon her, alisaie may as well be the picture of health. she looks tired still, and mussed, but she is awake and aware, the shine back in her eyes where it had previously been dull and hollow, and she greets krile with.. something like a smile. weak, and weary, yes, but a smile nonetheless. ]
I've not reopened my wounds, I promise you.
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[Krile likes to think she does not do such work by halves! It is most reassuring to see Alisaie on her feet, willingly come to the door, and passing for smiling.]
You look much better. [Honestly, she wouldn't have been at all surprised in the girl was actually ill by now. Krile is smiling, too, just as weary, and the shadows of perpetual exhaustion linger beneath her eyes.] Have you eaten? I came to see if you felt up to the task.
[And to...apologize for more than a day passing since last she came in. Prompto returned, well nigh bowling her over, and she thought it best if she left the two of them to the business of seeing to one another for a time first.]
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but onward they must march. alisaie is done with grief and pain and hurt, and what better way to fight it off than with distraction, and companionship? already she's turning back into her room long enough to find her boots, and sit to pull them on. the room is.. markedly neater than it had been when last krile visited. ]
I've not yet, no. I may be willing to accompany you, should you tell me the story behind those wounds.
[ even though she's already agreed, considering how she's already getting her boots on.. ]
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Still, she presumes Alisaie means to ask about those, and one hand touches them gently in response.]
An unfortunate encounter with a much smaller dragon of sorts. I can't say whether it was young, though.
[Meanwhile she's assessing the room. Someone cleaned up. Good. It's no recovery at all, spent in the midst of the aftermath of pain and rage.]
There isn't much story to tell, none of substance.
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No heroic, dramatic tale, then? No dashing out of the way at the last possible moment?
[ make something up next time, krile! ]
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[She is lucky to have kept her eye, truly. The blood and mud were such that she feared the worst for a short while after the creature fell.]
As you saw, I found myself quite...affected by that great dragon's voice. I hardly recall disposing of my assailant.
[Most of all, she hadn't meant for this friendly meal to take such a turn, and so soon. Krile has done - has ever done - an outstanding job of burying how she feels about everything that happened to the world, to her friends, to her person. In the hall on the way to...whatever meal this is, isn't the time to start pushing dirt aside.
And she is very tired.]
It may not be the heroic ballad you longed for, but it's all I've got.
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[ alisaie understands. they are all tired. honestly, tired is hardly a strong enough word. like as not it will be weeks before they begin to feel like themselves again, and not simply shades haunting these halls, aching with loss and pining for purpose.
still, things are better than they had been. they will continue to get better, and easier, still. food always helps. ]
I shall spare us both the overlong emotional moment, but I would be remiss were I not to at least say.. thank you, for all you did for me. I was not myself.
[ and she's embarrassed, honestly, that krile had seen her like that, but then they are not so different; alisaie is no better at spilling her softer feelings. ]
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So Krile smiles, weary still but satisfied.]
You're welcome and I probably wasn't myself either, and my fortune is I don't think you can remember enough to goad me with in turn. I'm relieved to see you came back together.
[Even if Prompto had not returned, Krile is sure the loss would not have taken Alisaie completely. She has too much strength of spirit and is as stubborn as the rest of her family besides.]
If that's not satisfactory, I'll thank you again for that chocobo ride and we'll call the ledger balanced.
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[ a chocobo ride is hardly enough to repay krile for her care, attentions, and kindness, but alisaie knows she need not continue to drill in the point. what she had been attempting to say has gotten through clearly enough, and krile's warm smile is enough to set her heart at ease.
alisaie exhales a breath she feels she has been holding for days, and turns her attentions back toward the corridor they're walking along. ]
Have you any thoughts on a suitable celebratory meal?
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Celebratory, is it? For festivities I've always been partial to cake. Chocolate, preferably.
[But cake is not a meal, even on one's nameday, even if one carries the surname of Leveilleur. Krile shakes her head with a sigh of her own.]
Of course, in order for that to work, I would need to want cake.
[If she's honest...she doesn't want anything. She knows she is hungry and needs to eat, and more importantly Alisaie could use both the nutrition and the company. But she's too tired to care what the food is like.]
What about you?
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[ krile knows what's up; even while recovering from trauma, it is difficult to subdue alisaie's formidable sweet tooth. but krile's answer gives her pause, and her smile wilts in part, though not entirely, even though the reminder of despair rises like bile in the back of her throat.
but no. she should not allow it to win. the wounds remain, still healing into scars, but alisaie is so tired of being sad, of being hollow - if she must strongarm a little happiness into their lives, she will. ]
Mayhaps once you see and smell it, you shall find your appetite.
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This is, for all intents and purposes, the third time in a very short stretch that Krile Baldesion has lost her home to catastrophe. She is as tired in spirit as she is in body. Driving it back with the act of tending others can only work for so long, and she is not so far gone as to forego her own needs, but she feels very stretched. Rolled and pulled to thinness.
The sense that it will all get worse long before it starts to get better will never leave her at this rate.]
One can only hope. [For the food and their chances.
Alisaie is trying to cheer her up and Krile teeters at the edge of not making that very easy. She hates when other people do this. Why should she do it herself? So, another pale smile.]
You've not lost me yet. It had better be a matchless piece of cake, though.
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it isn't long before the cafeteria opens ahead of them. ]
Well, Roman is decent enough with an oven, so I should think we would not be entirely disappointed.
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Krile wanders a bit aimlessly for a few moments before appearing to come to her senses, circling back to Alisaie's side.]
Is there cake or something like it available or must we place a request and wait?
[...She can't see the countertops.]
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Hmm..
[ alisaie casts a cursory glance over the long tables and - ah, yes, there's a good cluster of desserts available. given how full the station is at the moment, there must always be food readily available. ]
Yes, there are two cakes available, as well as a tart, and several cookies. Chocolate cake it is, aye?
[ she's already plucked up plates for both of them. ]
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[Now they're in range of the cake, Krile feels rather more like having a bit of it, as Alisaie predicted. She ought to know better than to distrust a Leveilleur's assessment where sweets are concerned. She manages something of a devilish grin at the plates.]
Planning to sample from all of the offerings yourself, are you?
[Things are...more normal when someone is ruffling someone else's feathers. But! Celebrations can call for all manner of indulging.
While Alisaie sees to the cake, Krile finds them somewhere out of the way to sit and enjoy it - as best they can.]
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[ never doubt that alisaie can pack down a mountain of sweets when she puts her mind to it. so she does stack their plates liberally with a variety of treats, but she adds a sandwich to them as well just so they can have some.. actual nutrition, too. i guess!! then all of it is loaded onto a tray with two cups of cold milk, and she's off to find krile again.
which only takes her a moment, of course, and she carefully sets the tray down between them before sliding into a seat. ]
I may have overestimated our appetites.
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It makes her want to laugh.
This is, truly, the best she has felt since finding Alphinaud alive and whole when they first reappeared on the station. Though not as ravenous as Aliasie seems to be, she takes a bit more than one piece of cake after all. Every so often she glances over at her friend, just in case she takes some sort of turn, but for some time she is silent in enjoyment of celebratory chocolate cake.
With milk.
After about half of it is gone, she feels fortified enough to talk between bites.]
You said you'd not reopened your injuries, but do they pain you still?
[Now that the both of them have had some rest, she could heal at least the one to her hip the rest of the way.]
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at least she has the grace to look a little shamed before she begins digging in without preamble. ]
Mm.. only a bit. It is not too terrible.
[ a bit of soreness perhaps, but nothing so bad as to keep her bedbound. though to be fair, nothing short of knocking her out would really be able to keep her off of her feet. ]
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Krile plucks a cookie from one of the plates. Eventually she'll get to the sandwich part. Absolutely.]
That's good to hear. I can always have another look, if they start troubling you further.
[Which is really "if you're lying about it and want it all dealt with" but who is asking?
Rather than dive right in to the cookie, though, she breaks it into quarters on her plate, as if she would rather have a task than simply look at Alisaie.]
I got Prompto to eat a bit while you were sleeping yesterday. Every other sentence of his was concern for you.
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well. usually.
her smile softens, though there's a crease on her brow, pinched with mild concern. ]
.. no doubt he did. Prompto could give Alphinaud a run for his coin when it comes to fretting, surely. Thank you for hounding him.
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[Well that perks her up just a bit. The more usual sly grin starts on the left half of her face.]
Well, if I'm to be thanked for it, I'll have to consider making it a daily affair.
[Yet there is a shadow in her thoughts, preventing the apex of this tease. Krile hasn't a real sense of the protocol around revealing what the Echo shows her when it is neither urgent nor particularly informative to the task at hand. Left alone, she might just say outright what it is she saw.
Something in the set of Alisaie's brow suggests perhaps she ought not to.]
Be careful lest you leave the two of them alone for too long, and they work out the incantation for some sort of worry carbuncle.
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forward.
after another forkful: ]
Gods, that is the last thing we need. Hopefully it shall never come to that.
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[Survivors, and with any luck at all, rebuilders. All the world has come out from under them before, in one way or another, and they've carried on. They can do so again.]
Though, I admit, it is rather entertaining to picture - Alphinaud, Prompto, and their shared carbuncle, wringing their hands and admonishing all who dare an incautious step.
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