[center][color=ff66bb][h2][i]Nadia Parnel[/i][/h2][sup]Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color] and Sister-Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color]
Interacting with: [color=000000][NO ONE RIGHT NOW] [@][/color][/sup][/color][/center]
[hider= Nightmare (not necessary to read) ]
She'd had this particular nightmare before, many times, but that was always when her mother had been around to prove none of it was real... Nadia was always with her, in their home out in the forest. The dream always opened on that same scene. Nadia was working on embroidering the hem of a dress she'd never actually seen in real life, while her mother sang rhymes and stories while she sewed a matching suit for the dress. 

[color=9e005d][i]"I'd rather waltz than just walk through the forest,"
"The trees keep the tempo and they sway in time..."[/i][/color]

soon, the colors of everything in the scene became distorted- everything looked too saturated and warped. The thread in Nadia's hands turned into a large snake, and it bit her before her dream-self could react at all.

[color=9e005d][i]"A quartet of crickets chime in for the chorus,"
"If I pluck your heartstrings, would you strum on mine?"[/i][/color]

The snake coiled itself around Nadia's body, suffocating her as it pulled tighter and tighter. She tried to call out to her mother next to her, but no sound came out.

[color=9e005d][i]"I've been longing for~"
"Daisies to push through the floor..."[/i][/color]

Nadia felt small- like the snake's squeezing had succeeded in making her the bite-sized snack it seemed to think she was. The tightness finally let up as the Snake released her, but her freedom lasted all but a second, before the creature's sharp fangs closed around her, just as her mother's singing cut out. 

[color=9e005d][i]"I wish plant life would grow all around me,"
"So I won't feel dead anymore."[/i][/color]
[/hider]
Nadia woke in a cold sweat, the pounding of drakkan fists on her door somehow quieter to her than the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears. The drakkan opened the door after a minute, yelling at her to get herself to breakfast. She complied quickly, if only because of all the nervous energy built up in her now. As she sat in the first open spot she could find at a table, she began to actually process what had scared her so badly. A dream- or rather, a nightmare from her childhood. She closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing as she went over the events of the nightmare in her mind, telling herself that it [i]was[/i] all just in her mind. 

Breakfast passed quickly like this. She didn't eat anything- not that she'd wanted to eat the drakkan food set out for them anyway. She was putting that off for as much later as she possibly could. She was finally roused from her thoughts when it was announced that they would be going to a hot spring for the day. Excited chatter broke out among the girls around her, albeit hushed slightly by the idea that it may be another test, or even something worse. Nadia followed the crowd to the springs, and was happy to find that it really was just a nice, natural hot spring for them. 

Nadia wasted no time getting into the warm waters. She put her clothes in a corner with a few other Gem's, and chose one of the shallower pools to sit in and try to relax. The water was [i]hot[/i], but comfortably so. She felt like she might start melting as soon as she got in. 

After a little while, and more gems getting into the water with her, Nadia grinned as an idea popped into her mind. Something to get their focuses off of everything bad around them, at least for now. She waded closer to a small group of girls who were talking, and without hesitation, she pushed her hands towards them just under the surface of the water to make a small wave, splashing all of them. [color=ff66bb]"Come on, splash me!"[/color] Nadia spoke with a small hint of a challenge in her voice as the girls she'd just splashed looked at her in confusion. 

"But... The guards..." The gem who spoke was looking over her shoulder at the entrance to the springs, where a few guards stood watch. They weren't doing anything unless someone got too close to them, so Nadia couldn't see why she was worried. Their little group was on the opposite end of the room. She made another small wave with her hands as she replied.

[color=ff66bb]"Look, they're not coming any closer. We can relax for now."[/color] She smiled as, finally, one of the girls shyly splashed back at her. [color=ff66bb]"There you go. Smile!"[/color] She splashed the group again and a couple more retaliated now, grins starting to break out as they realized what Nadia meant. 

[color=ff66bb][i]If we all smile, maybe we could make that happiness real, if only for just this moment.[/i][/color]

[hr][center][color=808000][h2][i]Onyx Briyll[/i][/h2][sup]Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color] and Sister-Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color]
Interacting with: [color=000000][NO ONE RIGHT NOW] [@][/color][/sup][/color][/center]
The second Onyx's head hit the pillow, she was out. A day of stress and pain and emotion had pushed the Earth gem to her limit. When the thunder came in the morning to wake her and her fellow captives, she felt like she was just barely balancing on the edge of a cliff. Sitting up and yawning dramatically to male the drakkan go away, she decided that if she was going to keep herself together, she needed to avoid the Drakken's attentions for a while.

She stood carefully, testing her weight on her burned feet. The sores were not as bad as they had been by the end of yesterday, but she still winced as she took those first few steps towards the banquet hall. She forced herself to eat, but the lack of gemmenite food made her choices slim. When the speech Drakkan came in and told them about the hot spring, she almost wanted to cheer. A day without horrible lessons or inhuman punishments? [color=808000][i]Vivari is watching over us...[/i][/color] 

She got into a shallow pool, sinking to the bottom so that only her nose and eyes remained above the relaxing liquid. She would have gone back to her room and grabbed one of her books to read while she was here, but the idea of having one of her precious few treasures here, where they could get waterlogged and ruined, made her decide not to even try. Not that the guards would even let her go get one now. 

She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander, until suddenly the water around her, which had been so still up til now, came up over her head making her acciedentially breathe in some of the hot liquid. She stood quickly, coughing and gasping as she got over the momentary panic. Once she recovered, she saw the source of the wave. A bunch of girls nearby had taken to splashing each other, some kind of game she supposed. 

She got out of the pool quickly, and decided to go to another slightly deeper pool now. She couldn't sit in this one, so she stood as the water barely came to her chin. There were only a handful of gems here, but they seemed mostly to be keeping to themselves. 

[hr][center][color=9999ff][h2][i]Kendra Riu Bell[/i][/h2][sup]Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color] and Sister-Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color]
Interacting with: [color=000000][NO ONE RIGHT NOW] [@][/color][/sup][/color][/center]
Kendra was glad the day was over. Even sitting by the fire in every room, and huddling up by the harth all through dinner, she was frozen through by the time the girls were all allowed to go to bed. She praised Naia and Vivari that the Drakken had left a new outfit in her room for her, which she put on immediately before curling up for the night in the bed.

When she woke to the sound of Drakkan knocking on the door again, she considered pulling the blanket off the bed and bringing it with her today- a testamemt to both how much she hated the cold, and a small act of rebellion in her mind. It would be an interesting way to act out, but as she walked to breakfast she realized it would have just ended with her stripped again probably, and she wanted to avoid that at all costs. 

When the Drakkan announced the day would be spent at a hot spring, Kendra was among the few Gems who cheered out loud. Heat! Water! Swimming! It would be a slice of home for her that she doubted she would ever get to enjoy ever again in her lifetime. 

Haarahle had hot springs of its own, a place where she had spent a lot of time with her friends growing up. The scent of hot water and wet stone as the girls all entered the bathing chamber was so familiar, she felt if she closed her eyes she could pretend that she was back home. She wasted no time on figuring out which of the pools was the deepest, and after making sure no one was in the way, gave herself a running start. 

[color=9999ff]"WHOO-HOO!"[/color]

[hider=Summary]
TL;DR:
[color=ff66bb] [b] Nadia: [/b] [/color] has a nightmare and is feeling very homesick in light of it. She eats nothing at breakfast but in the bath she begins to be more lively. She starts a splashing thing. Smile, everybody.

[color=808000] [b] Onyx: [/b] [/color] Sleeps like a rock, and forces herself through eating breakfast before going to the hot springs. She gets caught in Nadia's splashing competition, and runs for it. Books and water do not mix...

[color=9999ff] [b] Kendra: [/b] [/color] SPLOOSH!
[/hider]