[hider=The Power Of Friendship]
[h3][center][color=MediumVioletRed]Julia[/color]/[color=Aqua]Jillian[/color][/center][/h3]

Being caught off-guard was as unusual for Julia as most mundane things were these days. On the outside, she blinked owlishly at the girl in front of them, her tired eyes wide with surprise as her grasp on her other self slackened. Internally, however, she berated herself endlessly. [i]Stupid, stupid, stupid.[/i]
 
[Color=MediumVioletRed][i]Jillian, I thought you were keeping watch.[/i][/color] She did not [i]mean[/i] to sound so accusatory, but it seemed like a perfectly valid accusation to her at the moment. Her other self had taken her slackening grasp as the sign to slip away from her, propelling her weightless body with little pushes of gravity until she was between the new girl and Julia.
 
[color=Aqua][i]I was![/i][/color] she defended herself, her mind buzzing as Julia focused on her to avoid having to read the new girl too deeply. She could see the way her protective other self's thoughts were already clicking into place, some other part of her that Julia simply lacked allowing her to come to fairly quick understanding of the nature of this girl. Then again, one didn't need to be psychic to sense the instability present.
 
Still, she was not acting without Julia's consent. That pleased her, and helped to soothe her rapidly frayed nerves. [color=MediumVioletRed][i]She's dangerous, Jillian.[/i][/color]
[color=Aqua][i]She's lonely. You're right, we really do need to make connections.[/i][/color]
[color=MediumVioletRed][i]... Yes. We do.[/i][/color]
 
The conversation had only taken a few moments between the ghostly girls, but even that felt like quite a long time to the nervous Jillian. She offered the other girl a warm smile, raising her open and weaponless hands in front of her soothingly. [color=Aqua]"Hello, Caroline. I'm sorry we didn't answer you, you startled us."[/color]
 
Julia watched as Jillian offered up her hands, palms facing upwards. [color=Aqua]"Actually, we're really happy to see you; We've been looking to make friends. I promise that we'd give you a hug too if we could, but..."[/color] Jillian offered her pale, fuzzily-incorporeal hand up to the girl, patiently waiting for the girl to demonstrate for herself why such a thing wasn't possible. It was equal parts a demonstration of their plight and proof of the offer of friendship; an extended hand of 'trust'.
 
If Julia was not essentially an apparition herself, she would have been sweating. As it was, she had schooled her features into a slight smile, her eyes not leaving Caroline. Jillian was always better at making friends than her, at acting as her hand when the time came to make proper connections beyond demanding that the lessers around her [i]kneel[/i]. She would leave this in her other self's capable hands.
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