Time off, time healed (open)

[Yulia Sokolov]

It had been a long few weeks, but she had needed it. She had needed it after what happened and she just could not seem to get the help that she had needed in Pilot Ridge. It had been odd, having to talk about everything, having to air everything out. Lia had thought that she had adjusted to everything so well when she had moved, but it turned out she just had it all under the surface. However, it must have been deep enough for her not to notice, or at least deep enough for her to ignore it. Perhaps the strangest part was the whole ‘you are not alone’ bit. Lia could not decide if that was comforting or not. She wouldn’t wish what she had been feeling on anyone else.

Still time had passed and all of that talking had actually done something. It was the sort of discussion where she could not endlessly and easily dodge questions, or just refuse. Instead things were under control and she was back home, because Pilot Ridge really was home to her. Still some things were harder to keep in mind than others. She was still a little anxious about going back to work, and living normally. That was a whole other wall to climb, because honestly practically living in that room in Ben’s house was not normal life, not the way that it was supposed to be. She wasn’t going to move she was just going to function more.

Then on the other side of this was all of the positive. She wasn’t worried anymore, about herself, or about her ability. She had learned to fall back less on her military tendencies and actually address the issue at hand. The final addition to all of this? She had quit smoking. That was the only thing that she wasn’t sure about. However she also knew that smoking was a link and a very unhealthy way of coping with things. Instead she had been able to pick up new hobbies, the main one being painting. This had started to manifest itself in a number of ways, and she was far from good, but it was relaxing.

Yulia got off the bus. She had contacted Hammel to say that she could be coming back to work, but she hadn’t really contacted any of her friends. She wanted to ease back into that. Lia slung her bag over her shoulder and looked around. She wasn’t sure where to go exactly, but the long bus ride had made her hungry. She walked over to the nearest café and bought a sandwich. Lia sat down by the window, just wanting to look at Pilot Ridge for a while and enjoy the quiet.

[Caedynna Night]

Cae felt like a walk in town. She put on some clothes, of what quality she wasn’t sure. She felt a long skirt and pulled on some boots. She didn’t know the colors, though her mom had spent hours upon hours trying to make her different outfits and put them in containers with brail on the front of it. It told her, what was inside and what color. Black, but pretty black. She pulled on the blouse and tied what seemed like a belt around her waist. She grabbed her wallet and shoved it in a purse around her shoulder. Clipping the leash to Zero’s, she walked out of the dorms, singing a happy tune underneath her breath.

They approached the bus and she could almost feel his hesitation, but when she gave him a winning smile, he seemed to melt. He safely led her into the first seat, his hand temporarily on her shoulder. She had paid the fee and sat there until the bus stopped and he announced that they were in Pilot Ridge. She had never been in town by herself and was well aware of how dangerous it was, but she wanted to feel the air without someone trying to help her.

She felt a lot of energies around her. She could smell various things, shops and head conversations that made no sense to her. She concentrated on her power, evading tables and chairs, and benches. She hadn’t bumped into something yet, which put her in a pretty good mood. Cae was getting pretty hungry. She had breakfast earlier that day, but lunch was rolling around and her stomach growled at her in pity. She had money folded in different ways. One was folded into a little square telling her she had about twenty on her. She walked into a café and purchased some food. She was so intent on eating it as she walked out and feeding some to Zero; she bumped into a table and a chair at the same time, knocking over the chair. “I’m so sorry,” she said, bending over to pick up the chair and hopefully she hadn’t knocked over the person. Or their food or drink if they had any.