Her unsuccessful attempts at grappling hand-to-hand with Kavius still fresh in her mind, Ashley silently cursed at herself for being so weak. Where had all of her strength gone? Wait a minute, had she eaten anything at all aside from that swamp water she'd tried to turn into coffee? Oh, [i]of course[/i] she hadn't! When she got into a working mode, Aunt Alma would often have to force her to eat. As if her body were suddenly reacting to this "new" information, Ashley noticed that her hands were shaking—not out of fear of what these girls might to do her in the hotel room bath, but out of hunger.

Change of plans. The bath could wait; what she needed more than anything right now was some food.

As Ashley began thinking of what she might say to the girls to get them to change course, Nitonka saved her the trouble—in a truly dramatic fashion that even left Ashley a little stunned. She was certainly awake now. This woman... was kind of a badass, huh. [color=#ff39d6][i]I wonder if she realizes that they were only after my money... or does she actually think I'm worth a second glance?[/i][/color] Ashley wondered, a little bemused. Before Ashley could offer to buy her a drink, though, she walks away and another familiar face approaches.

[color=#f7941d]"Would you like an escort?"[/color] came the slightly sarcastic, faux-gentleman voice. Forgetting her manners, Ashley snickered.

Rather than taking his hand, Ashley took the whole arm. Now he'd done it. He'd given her an inch, and she was going to take a mile... or so it seemed. Rather than feigning bashfulness and cracking some joke about how she'd scored her Santorini dream date with Mikhail exactly as planned, she simply leaned into him like someone who genuinely needed the help. [color=#ff39d6]"I need food, coffee, and a bath, and I don't care where, as long as it's me and you, no locals, and no ocean,"[/color] she says as she slightly struggles to re-adjust to walking on solid ground.

Her veneer of "noble lady knight" charisma had been chipped away little by little over the past few days, at least around Mikhail. Was it because she was finally away from her mountain of duties back on Faroth-En, and felt no need to wear a mask in front of him? Had the camaraderie of the crew, cheering on their "little champ" lowered her guard a little? Or perhaps it was the cynical option: just a lack of coffee. Whatever the reason, she was acting unusually vulnerable today.

[color=#ff39d6]"Thanks... for catching me back there. Though I'm supposed to be protecting you, it ended up like this."[/color]