[Mari]

Raffine emitted a simple "Hm" in response to Amitie's offer of pizza. Her tone was that of approval, indicating her satisfaction with this compromise. She was almost grateful that she wasn't supposed to eat much, as she would have felt quite greedy taking food that wasn't intended for her--especially during a famine. Regardless, when they got to Amitie's apartment the awkward silence wasn't lost on Raffine. All it meant to her, however, was that the direct route would be the least painful for everyone involved.

"Good evening, Miss Rider. I hope you won't object to me explaining myself." Raffine greeted, simultaneously addressing the elephant in the room. "I didn't know Zoh was staying here too"

"You should know the truth. ...I actually think quite highly of what you did for me. It's not every day someone saves your life..." Raffine began, only trail off and turn her gaze upon Amitie. She seemed to have become a bit flustered. It turned out that this level of praise actually was difficult for her.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rider stood silent for a small while...before nodding in understanding. Amitie almost automatically let out a huge sigh of relief. The conflict she expected to happen was avoided, thanks to Raffine's clarification.

"I see...in that case, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding..." Rider said. "Um...what are you doing here?"


"We're having a sleepover~! How's the pizza, Rider?"

Rider was a bit surprised by the fact Raffine came by a sleepover, especially on their apartment. You'd think that a person that...wasn't in the best terms with Amitie wouldn't like to be in their house. "U-um...it'll be ready in a couple of minutes...I assume Ms. Raffine would like a bite?" She asked as she went back into the kitchen to look into said pizza. Amitie, on the other hand, sat on the sofa.

"Make yourself at home! We got a couple of movies we could watch!" Amitie said to Raffine

[Mari]

Raffine seemed still hesitant, a tad flustered here. Rider wasn't wrong. Being here was entirely odd for her, and she did have her feelings towards Amitie. Yet, ...she'd also never been in such extreme situations before. This world was far darker than anything she'd ever experienced on Primp for sure. Her concerns on Primp had always been her image, and her feelings towards Amitie suddenly felt rather petty now that her life, everyone's life, was on the line. It didn't stop her from being a little uncomfortable with all of this, however.

"A single slice would be more than adequate, Ms. Rider." Raffine would reply. She was too hungry to refuse the food, but her honor and desire not to die a most humiliating death, followed by a metaphorical death by humiliation, prevented her from asking for anymore.

She then turned and ...emitted a gentle sigh, moving to sit down next to Amitie. Raffine crossed her legs, folding her hands in her lap and looking away wistfully for a moment before turning her gaze back onto Amitie. "...What do you have to watch?" Raffine wound up asking curiously, unable to talk about her feelings. A part of her suspected Amitie probably didn't have good taste in movies, but the other part of her knew they were both girls and she herself could enjoy a good chick flick. There might just be common ground to find in their tastes, as much as she didn't want to vocally admit she was into some of those kinds of videos.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rider didn't buy the whole 'single slice' bit. Of course, this could've been Raffine trying to maintain a more 'proper' weight due to her goals of becoming a lady, but was she even fed at the hospital? And if she was fed, was it properly? She heard horror stories about hospitals serving mediocre food at best...

"Y-you sure about that...?" Rider asked while she looked at the pizza. "It's looking quite tasty, if you don't mind me saying..." She continued. Whether she was playfully teasing Raffine over her choice or making an innocent comment was only up to the future lady.

Amitie found herself questioning why Raffine sat so next to her. Like what she said once before, she wasn't oblivious. Why would she sit next to someone she so openly hated? Well, it was all in the name of good fun apparently, as she asked her what could they watch.

"Well, we have a couple of cartoon series, some of those Wild West movies...and whatever may be on TV right now."

[Mari]

Raffine smiled slightly at Rider's offer. ...Heh. Even after earlier, she was offering her more than she'd asked for. Her smile soon faded however as she found herself dispirited by the knowledge that she wasn't properly welcome. " . . . Very well. I'll accept a second slice... if there's unwanted leftovers." Raffine relented. She was then silent for a very long moment. Amitie's choices of movies not-so-surprisingly disappointed her, but that wasn't why she was quiet. On one hand, she resented her current circumstances. On the other, though, she was trapped. There weren't really any good ways out of this, and she was being forced to ask some rather uncomfortable questions about her own feelings. Raffine swallowed her feelings before speaking.

"Do you have a favorite? To watch, that is..?" Raffine asked. It was obvious she was trying to be nice, but it was equally obvious that something was bothering her.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rider sighed after Raffine answered. "If you say so..." She said as she picked up the pizza and began slicing it into edible pieces. Putting three slices on three separate plates, she called over to the other two girls.

"Pizza's ready~ Come get it while it's hot!"

"Thank you, Rider~" Amitie said before picking up one of the pizza slices. She sat down back on the sofa as Raffine asked about her personal favorite movie. Curious, why did she ask that? Was she perchance displeased with her movie choices? She wouldn't be surprised at this point, knowing...well, how Raffine was. She glanced around.

"...Well, the Western movies are my favorite..." She replied, deep in thought.

 

[Mari]

"Well, why don't we watch that?" Raffine remarked light-heartedly. Amitie was likely right to assume she didn't like her choices, and the care-free manner in which Raffine spoke beget an apathy towards the choice at hand. "I probably haven't seen it." Raffine went on to remark, waving a hand idly as she moved to get up and take her plate of pizza.

But ... three slices? Raffine was shocked and torn. She couldn't... eat this. She knew very well that a single full meal could put her right back in the hospital. Her nurse had expressly warned her not to do this. ...She took the pizza anyway. "...You're quite generous, Ms. Rider. Are you in the mood for cowboys?" Raffine asked idly, moving back to sit down next to Amitie again.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rider looked at Raffine in curiosity. Seems like her friendlier display wasn't lost on the smol girl. She wasn't sure on how to react about Raffine being that nice, but she gave a nod in response. "U-um...sure! It could be a nice movie..." Rider quietly said before grabbing her own pizza slice and sitting down on the sofa.

"Okay, I'm just gonna put the movie one, then we can--" Amitie said before hearing a knock on the door. "Huh? Another visitor?" She said before walking to the door and opening it...and then there was silence.

"Ammy...?" Rider questioned Amitie's silence, but once she saw who was behind the door, she let out an audible gasp.

"......"

"B-but...this...can't be...!"

"...Finally, I found you."

"Ms. Accord!" Both Amitie and Rider glomped their teacher who just popped in. The teacher herself didn't seem to mind and hugged the two back.

[Mari]

Raffine just sort of casually leaned forward to get a view of what was going on. Ms. Accord? Here..? So there were more. Raffine awkwardly got to her feet, holding her plate of pizza with one hand. She shifted it out to her side so that she might have a clear visage of the other and vice versa. She looked like she'd seen better days. One could see the strain in her muscles if they were very perceptive. Raffine was at the limits of what her still recovering body could handle after having made the trip to Amitie's home. She probably couldn't have gone out house searching even if she tried, liable to collapse under much more strain.

"Ah, what a pleasant surprise. Ms. Accord, how nice of you to join us. I take it your arrival was quite recent?" Raffine asked, returning to her normal self for the moment being it seemed.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Both Amitie and Rider looked at Raffine.  The choice of acting more like her natural self at that particular point in time was confusing for the two. Both girls let go of their teacher as if to let her at least see Raffine more properly. Ms. Accord herself just walked away from the doorstep and pushed a chair so that she could sit.

"Oh, if it isn't Ms. Raffine." Accord replied. Well, at least her students were okay. "...You seem to have been weakened considerably since I last saw you. I don't suppose you have been slacking off on your usual gymnastic duties? Fufufu..." She asked. Whether the little teasing was going to upset the pinkette or not was to be discovered later.

"U-um...I can explain..." Rider said, before relaying what happened on her mission...down to the slightest details. The teacher (and Amitie) listened intently to what Rider had to brief through, and by the end of the whole thing...

"So you mean to say that you went through the infamous Dark Emerald Beach alongside the Dark Wizard and fought against dangerous foes to save Raffine?"


"Wooow, Rider, that's...so incredibly brave of you!"


"I-I don't feel like I deserve that particular praise..."

[Mari]

Raffine flinched at Ms. Accord's accusation. She was quite proud of her body, and being teased like that didn't do her bruised ego any favors. Before she could get defensive and interject, however, Rider spoke up and stole the wind from her sails. Listening to her recount the tail, Raffine felt herself relax. As undignified as the journey had been as far as her ego was concerned, she could make no excuse for her unfortunate accident that hadn't actually been her own fault at all. Yet, hearing Rider talk down her achievement bothered her. Unwarranted modesty just wasn't her style, you see? The pink haired woman meandered her way over to the trio, speaking as she went. "...A life is a precious thing, Ms. Rider." Raffine reminded the other, politely correcting her modesty.

"A couple of days ago, I would have never have believed you would be carrying my broken form from that nightmarish place. P-Please, aah..." Raffine went on to reassure. It certainly sounded like she was trying to tell Rider how much it meant to her again, but all of a sudden Raffine's composure fell apart mid-sentence, a tremor running through her body. She recoiled slightly, one hand rising to cover her mouth for a moment as if to stifle any further words that dared betray her. The moment would pass however and she would hold up a single finger, uttering a shaken sounding "Sorry..." before moving to excuse herself. Apparently, she needed more than just a moment to regain her composure. One could only speculate as to what exactly had caused that rather big reaction out of the blue, unless, of course, they were willing to follow Raffine outside as she attempted to inch her way around the other girls to ask her.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Amitie and Rider look just as confused as beforehand as Raffine's composure just sort of...broke down. Normally, the girls would just leave Raffine to do her own thing, but this felt rather...different. This wasn't any sort of normal stuff coming from the pink-haired girl. The two reluctantly let Raffine go out before starting to question it.

"Um...should we leave her be for now?" Rider asked to Amitie (and to an extent, Ms. Accord). Amitie looked at Rider and just answered with a "I don't know, actually." before trying to think of something. It was that point that Ms. Accord tried to intervene.

"Ms. Amitie, Ms. Rider. I must admit that this behavior from Ms. Raffine is quite unexpected. However, I believe I can say with a certain degree that she just needs a bit of time to sort herself out."

The two students just sort of stared awkwardly at each other before nodding. "If you say so, Ms. Accord...I'll trust your words~" Amitie commented.

[Mari]

Without another word, Raffine vanished into the evening. As the evening wore on she did not return either. She was gone. To where, with her incredibly weak body, was up for speculation. Raffine was probably asking that same question of herself. Perhaps she simply wouldn't have an answer. Regardless, it was now likely too late to change anything. The wheels were set in motion, and Raffine's pride would not permit her to return and explain herself.

[End of Presence]