[center][img] https://fontmeme.com/permalink/210131/53a200cc81a754fbfea32363291eca9d.png [/img][/center]
[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=92278f][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Laughing Worg -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
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Seele listened quietly as Alja got her bearings, only for her to quickly come apart again. She put a hand over the woman’s own, much bigger hand, and put on a consoling smile, but did not interrupt. Sometimes it was right to try and divert a self-destructive path early on, but sometimes it was also just as right to let the person grieve. Alcohol wasn’t making Alja bitter with herself, but it was making her honest and open about it, which was, in way, good. Better that thoughts like these were given to the air, rather than left to fester inside. This way at least, there was an opportunity to help.
[color=#2E2C2C]…[/color]
Alja settled back down onto the table, and Seele leaned closer to her. Her eyes were shut, but the bitterness was still evident on her face. The beginnings of a sob worked its way into her voice, briefly, before the woman trailed off. Seele’s heart grew heavy. 

[color=92278f]“No. No, honey, no. It wasn’t you. Whatever happened back there, it is [i]not[/i] on you. None of us would be alive if you hadn’t been as brave as you were. Oh, Alja…”[/color] She tried her best to shimmy the woman’s arms under her head, so she at least wouldn’t be resting her face against the table for too long. [color=92278f]“There was no way to know. There just wasn’t. Sometimes things happen and all you can do is…go forward. And you did, Alja, you did that. You pulled yourself out of the dark and you went on. That’s not easy, it really, really isn’t. I’m so proud of you.”[/color]

She realized quickly enough that Alja had already drifted off. The best she could hope for was that somewhere, subconsciously, she was getting through to the woman, but either way she wasn’t going to abandon her. None of them should have been alone right now, it simply wouldn’t do. Luci, thankfully, had Leaves and Priscilica to be with her. 

[color=92278f]“Ah, shoot.”[/color]

Seele dug through the vast and nebulous pockets of her robe, producing a small copper key. The curio she’d taken from Enos’s body the other day. In the tantrum swells of panic and melancholy that had taken the group, she’d forgotten to pass it on to one of his friends. Oh well, next on the agenda, she supposed. At the very least, it was an excuse to check in on Mystic Prophecy.
[color=#2E2C2C]…[/color]
Absently she’d begun stroking fingers through Alja’s hair and humming quietly to herself. It wasn’t a particularly strange thing, just an old resurfacing habit. She didn’t even recognize the tune, really, couldn’t have named it to save her life. 

Just a reflex.[/indent][/indent][/indent]