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[blue_wayfinder]

Characters: Aqua and whoever she runs into
Location: Special mention of the library, the super market, and the Outer Quarter, but feel free to catch her en route to any of these places or near Death City Heights!
Rating: PG
Time: February 19, all day
Description: Aqua's keeping busy.


Aqua's morning was spent running errands. The fridge needed restocking and other supplies that needed replacing. That she hadn't noticed until she was nearly all out said a great deal about her life recently. Sometime after that she'd parked her bike outside of the library intent on getting some reading done. What she ended up doing was falling asleep on a book for a few hours. Later in the evening she would be out and about in the Outer Quarter doing patrols.

Honestly, after everything that had happened, she felt exhausted, but what else can she do but try to keep going?

Comments

[thewarisover]

I think Flynn and Hawkeye can handle it in my stead. Just this once.

[blue_wayfinder]

If you say so. [A pause, then a bit more quietly.] I think I could use the company.

[thewarisover]

[He figured as much.]

I could too. A lonely patrol route is a boring patrol route.

[Stepping away from his bike, then, and pausing briefly to check up on the guns holstered at his side before nodding at his companion.]

Shall we?

[blue_wayfinder]

[She flashed him a quick smile, followed by a nod, making sure he was moving before started walking.]

[thewarisover]

[And he's falling in step beside her soon enough.]

It's been a while since I've hit your sector. Anything I need to know?

[blue_wayfinder]

Luckily, we're far enough away from the busier areas, so we didn't sustain as much damage when people were under the influence of the Black Blood. Most of the lasting damage done came from the Witches' familiars that attacked the city later. [Her tone was a little clipped. This wasn't exactly something she was in a hurry to remember.]

[thewarisover]

So nothing out of the ordinary. Good.

[Not pressing.]

I wonder if we'll ever fix this area up again, or close it up for good. Might be in our best interest to consider the latter.

[blue_wayfinder]

[A part of her felt the area needed watching, if only so they could spot the threats before it got to the busier districts, but...]

With the amount of people being sent back lately we might not have much of a choice.

[thewarisover]

Exactly.

[A quiet sigh.]

We'll have to see. There may be other changes to consider as well.

[blue_wayfinder]

One thing at a time, all right? You're not doing yourself any favours by trying to take on too many things at once.

[Pot calling kettle black much, Aqua...]

[thewarisover]

[Glances at her, amused.]

I know.

[blue_wayfinder]

[She's quiet for a moment because she does realize that she didn't exactly have room to talk.]

...I'm sorry by the way.

[thewarisover]

[Blink blink.]

For what?

[blue_wayfinder]

[For being irresponsible. For trying to take on everything by herself even though she should know better than to do that.]

For being so stubborn.

[thewarisover]

[Oh, that. He smiles a bit, and turns back to the road ahead of them.]

Everyone has their moments. Friends are around to call them out on it.

[blue_wayfinder]

[Friends, huh?

She smiled wistfully.]

I guess...I was alone for so long that I forgot that.

[Even at her worst and most stubborn she'd never have let things get so bad. The Realm of Darkness had changed her, but she hadn't realized until now how much it had.]

[thewarisover]

Alone, huh? What happened?

[blue_wayfinder]

...it's a long story.

[And there was a lot of it that she can't tell him, but strangely enough she wouldn't mind telling him about the parts she can.]

[thewarisover]

We have the time.

[blue_wayfinder]

[She was quiet for a moment.]

...I guess you could say I was lost. [Trapped, might have been more accurate, but it was...easier thinking about it this way instead.] Before I came here, I was in a place where there was only darkness and the things that are born from darkness.

I'm not sure how long it's been since I ended up in there, but a friend from my world told me that I've been missing for fifteen years.

[But somehow, no matter how many times she thinks about it, the information didn't seem real. Of everything she'd learnt, this was the one thing she had the most trouble wrapping her mind around. Fifteen years was a long time.]

[thewarisover]

Fifteen years in a place like that?

[That sounded terrible, to be honest.]

It's amazing how you survived that, but I can imagine that such an experience really WOULD change you somehow.

[blue_wayfinder]

I only survived because of my friends...because they were waiting for me. [Because they wanted her to keep living.] I found it was easier to keep going if I just focused on that, if I didn't think of anything else. [She'd taken to running from her problems, only focussing on moving forward otherwise the darkness might crush her spirit....and she'd kept that up even when she came here.

...I guess, even though BREW brought me here, I'd never really left that place behind.

[thewarisover]

It does tend to work out that way. Experiences like that color everything that you do afterward.

[Was he speaking like he knew exactly what she meant?

Yes.]

[blue_wayfinder]

...Commander?

[She could help being worried by the way he sounded. It was just the way she was.]

[thewarisover]

Sorry, just remembered something unpleasant.

[Smiling a bit, then turning back to the streets ahead of them.]

You have friends here. Learn to lean on them a little more.