Character: Rachel Backe
Status: Warming up, feeling fine.

Rachel took note of the footsteps approaching her, snapping out of her short moment of calm and shifted her body ever so slightly to face Andrea, [color=beige]"...O-Oh. Of course."[/color] Her voice raised to a more regular volume, although still maintaining a tone of reluctance to them. Having relaxed and opened her coat a bit more, the color on her person had flourished into more than just white now with her blonde hair and amber eyes illuminating the soft light of the flame.

Her thumbs fiddled for a long minute before she finally took a long breath and opened her mouth to speak.

[color=beige]"I... apologize for my silence earlier. I was lost in my own thoughts back there. I found a basket of bread and thought the rest of us would like them for the night, it should be on the table if you need one."[/color] She gestured towards the table behind them where the aforementioned basket was before catching a glance at the quarters for a second where she saw Axol lumbering about, a glint of suspicion in her eyes. 

All these people she'd just moved in with, she'd never seen their likeness before and never with such differences. Even with Andrea, she's keeping her at an arm's length. Back home[s]---[/s]or at least what used to be home[s]---[/s]she'd wake up to white garments and lilies, walk down the hill by the ranch of sheep grazing under the radiance of sunlight, and her neighbors would greet her every morning with the same big smiles and bouts of cheerful laughter that lasted until bedtime. 

In stark contrast, she had just got out of the freezing temperatures in the fog[s]---[/s]she never thought she'd hate snow so much in her first time seeing it in person[s]---[/s]and finally finding some semblance of a shelter only to be met with weathered stoic faces that intimidated her to no end, her nose to be assaulted with a completely foreign smell of molten metal and not to mention the signs of danger to come. She was well aware that it wouldn't be long before she'd be forced to defend herself, after all a soothing voice she could never see but always hear in moments of fear always reassured her that his (if it even was a he) fire could protect her somehow.

But she also knew better than to simply stay on her lonesome from her own experience, [i]safety in numbers[/i], so she simply kept the same stiff smile on display and turned back.

[color=beige]"In my family, whenever we have new neighbors, we'd gift them with a basket of newly baked bread buns as our way of welcoming them,"[/color] She stared into the fireplace in reminiscence, [color=beige]"Often we'd tie it up with a white bow as symbol of our community. It wasn't the same here, but I'd hope the message got across anyway, haha."[/color] Despite her attempts at a more lighthearted chat, it's clear that she's still recovering from the cold that wore her down exponentially throughout the journey. 

She bit down on her own bread again, chewing and taking in the dough's dense texture. Her favorite food, as plain as it was, it's about the only thing that brings her comfort in this place that was so far away from whence she came. It, along with the fire keeping her warm, was the only reason she was even able to push past her own nervousness to talk to anyone.

[color=beige]"You've been quite kind to me. My name's Rachel."[/color] She looked at Andrea.