Private Tales Eating The Stars Like Salt Out of a Pretzel Bag

[Niamh]

"Okay." His response did not satisfy her in the slightest. If anything it made her much, much worse. Had he been any other person, she would have not spared a second before prying into where she was not wanted in order to prepare herself.

Was just talking something that was normal for people to do when they spent long amounts of time together? As far as their relationship had been, they seemed to skip any sort of 'talking' part, instead going straight to a bed or any other surface when they got together.

With a perplexed look on her face, she followed him out of the alley and back on the trail of their contact who had finally decided to grace them with his appearance only twenty or so minutes too late. Elias seemed to be capable of the conversation, which Niamh was thankful for at the moment as she nodded along.

---

She dragged her finger along one of the tables in the room, holding it up to her eye to assess for dust. It was eerily clean for some sort of safehouse. "They got maids in safehouses these days?" She commented aloud as he fiddled around with the balcony.

The mention of formalwear caught her ear. Not that Eli would know, but Niamh loved to dress up. Coming from a wealthy family, dressing up was common. Attending dinners and balls for whoever and whatever was frequent. It was one of the only things Niamh actually missed from her life before the academy.

"Let's see what they've left for us!" She flounced over to one of the wardrobes and threw it open, eyes scanning the plethora of fabrics. "They gave us jack shit to spend, but at least they gave me options!"

She pulled out one of the dresses, holding it up against Elias' own outfit to compare the shades of grey. "It matches!" She gave him a satisfied grin as she turned toward the mirror and began getting undressed. "Help me in, please."

 

[Elias]

Elias had picked up a long time ago that the girl had some... confusion about colors. He had subtly asked her several times before to compare different colored items. The results had been eye-opening, but he'd never broached the subject.

"Sure," he said quietly and loomed behind her as she undressed and then helped where he was needed to fit Niamh into the luxurious dress, which was fashioned in a Kaliti style. It was nothing like the tight an frilly styles you would often see in Anirian high-life. And Elias noted that it exposed a decent amount of skin compared to what he was used to seeing. Likewise, the dress seemed perfectly tailored for Niamh. They must have prepared all of this rather thoroughly.

"You're a bit chipper now, aren't you?" he flatly remarked.

 

[Niamh]

"Chipper?" She raised a brow, smoothing down the skirt as she admired herself in a large mirror. She twirled to watch how it would move when she would be dancing. It may not have been her style, but Niamh would have killed a man for the opportunity to attend galas again. "I thought I was in a pretty good mood this whole time." She shrugged.

"How does it look? Be honest." She turned to face him, giving him full view of the other side of the dress.

 

[Elias]

"If that's a pretty good mood..." Elias mumbled under his breath, the words trailing away with no conclusion.

He tilted his head down to look at her, a brow raising up. For a moment, Eli's features softened and he quietly sighed.

"You look great in anything," the Initiate relented, "You know you do."

 

[Niamh]

The look of excitement fell as she heard him sigh. "Yes, I know I do...but I am asking what you think. I don't want to have to poke around in your head for answers. Sometimes I like hearing them from your own mouth, you know."

She moved over to the armchair that was placed next to a window and sat down, facing away from him. "What is going on with you?" Her voice was soft as she questioned him, her eyes never leaving the window. "Something seems...off."

 

[Elias]

"What's going on with me," Elias echoed, "Oh, that's just—that's precious. Really."

He remained firmly rooted in front of the mirror, hands on his hips. Eli's head dipped and he shook his head.

"You know, I had thought that we were... I thought that something changed. That we didn't have to always be at each others' throats."

Friends weren't a thing that they were taught how to make. Rather, making a friend at the Academy painted a target on your back. There were some fools who threw the word friend around like it had no meaning, but Elias couldn't ever bring himself to label a person with that. He wasn't about to start with Niamh, but...

"Was I a fool to think that we could actually be nice to each other?"

 

[Niamh]

Her brow furrowed as he responded, but Niamh gave him the time he needed to talk. "What the fuck are you on about now, Elias Sirl?" She crossed her arms. "You thought that we were what? What exactly?" She turned her face partly in his direction so she could see him at the corner of her eye.

"Did you think we were friends or something?" She snorted. "Think we were anything more than two people who just seemed to enjoy fucking one another when it was convenient? Elias, I know what you're like...and you know why I enjoy the time we spend together, but that hardly makes us friends."

She shut her eyes and tilted her head back, like she'd seen people do when they were trying to hold back tears. "You really didn't notice I hadn't been around at all for the past month or so. Absent from class, missing out on anything going on. Not a single though spared for me." Another quiet chuckle. "How could you, though? Your thoughts are always centered on someone else. Whatever. Doesn't matter. I just think I'd notice my friends if they suddenly disappeared from my life."

 

[Elias]

Elias pursed his lips, then quickly licked them. He jabbed a finger in the air at her.

"You turned me away. I came to you."

He had loads more to say, and they could go back and forth for... well, until the sun set and rose again.

The boy ground his teeth and then sighed again, "But it's good to know where things stand with us. Whatever. Doesn't matter." There was a side room, and an archway connecting it to where they were. Elias stomped towards it, seeking as much separation from Niamh as possible. Passing behind her, he said defeatedly and wearily: "Just stay focused on the task."

He retreated in the side room. Niamh could hear a dull thud as he dropped his travel bag on the ground, then a second one as he flopped down on the small bunk in the room.

 

[Niamh]

You turned me away. I came to you.

"Huh?" Her head shot back down with this new development. He came to her? When? To her knowledge, she had only been the one to make some sort of effort, letting herself in his room when they were due for a meeting. After all, breaking and entering was in a way how they had first gotten to know one another and she quite enjoyed revisiting that memory.

Still, she was incredibly confused about his statement and if he hadn't continued speaking shortly after, she would have hit him with another 'what the fuck are you on about?'.

"Oh my god. Elias!" She pushed herself off the armchair and followed after she heard a thud, hesitating before she entered and stood in the archway. "I don't think you understood what I said..." She sighed, abandoning her own thought before speaking up again. "What do you mean you 'came to me'?"

 

[Elias]

Elias, who was lying on the bunk, arms crossed behind his head, just stared up at the ceiling. Then he suddenly sat up, as if pretending to just know notice she was in the archway.

"Oh, sorry, did you want the bed?" He narrowed his eyes at Niamh, "It was a long trip. We should really get some rest. But don't wrinkle the dress, yeah?"

He'd been around her enough to pick up on all her mannerisms. The same ways that she drove him mad, he did to her. Avoid the question... ramble about some nonsense.

She wasn't the only one capable of all of that.

 

[Niamh]

"No, its fine. I'll sleep on the chair." She muttered, stepping closer. Another lie on her end. Had Eli been awake for their entire trip, he'd have noticed she hadn't slept. She would assume he didn't care enough to notice the dark circles forming under her eyes or the yawning every so often. It made more sense than ignoring it.

"If you want to sleep, be my guest." She sat at the edge of the bed and grabbed his arms to prevent him from laying back down before she was satisfied with the conversation. "But you're going to answer me first. What did you mean by all of that? When did this happen? When did you come to me?" An unfamiliar hint of nervousness was clear in her voice as she spoke, even if her face wouldn't reveal her feelings.

 

[Elias]

"You mean when I thought we were getting closer, so I come to you for a change... Trying to be kind. And you bite my head off? Are you seriously fucking playing games with me right now?"

Elias jerked his arm out of her grasp, scowling. The calm demeanor he'd maintained for most of their journey began to crack and his notorious temper was given the subtle opportunity to rear its head.

 

[Niamh]

"Elias, can I be brutally honest with you?" She let her hand fall after he yanked his arm away. "I don't see any value in friendship. Least not with anyone in the academy. It sounds cruel, but...you seem to forget that I get to hear people's thoughts. Hear the things they plan to do in order to ensure they're always on top. The people they are going to betray. They are nothing but a bunch of snakes, I can promise you that."

Niamh focused on the archway as she talked. "As much as I'd like to think you're immune..." She paused for a moment, before looking back at him. "You don't even want me here. You've had nothing but thoughts about how much better it would be had you been paired with Ral. You would have cast me aside without giving it a second thought."

 

[Elias]

Friendship isn't a label that Elias throws around willy-nilly. There are very rare few that the word could apply to, but Eli likes to think that the bond he shares with those people goes beyond rudimentary descriptors. They are relationships that go beyond something easily defined as "friendship".

He becomes stricken by Niamh's words—wants to explain something, but falls silent instead. It's easy to remain unresponsive, and he does his best to put on an apathetic, but a mildly annoyed expression. It was a trained reaction that serves him well at the Academy and serves him well now.

"At least she remains true with me," Elias says bitterly and continues, "She doesn't act sweet to me one day and treats me like waste the next. So, yeah. I think it'd be better if she were here instead."

 

[Niamh]

The line between Niamh's eyebrows deepened as she got more frustrated with the man in front of her. The audacity he had to agree with what she said only made her more upset with him. Had he any sort of brain in that thick skull of his, he'd know when to shut up and agree that he was in the wrong. He would know that now was not the time to do anything but appease her.

He was choosing his fate.

"As far as you know..." She responded to the first comment he had after his silence. "You know, Elias, you're shockingly unobservant. This revelation has me seriously doubting your capabilities as a Dreadlord." She shrugged, any anger that had been present on her face was absent from her softened voice as she spoke.

 

[Elias]

Elias immediately raises his hand level with his chest, and he makes a yapping gesture with it at Niamh.

"Talk, talk, talk. Bitch, bitch, bitch. At least I can count on you for that."

 

[Niamh]

"At least one of us can count on the other for something. Doubt I could ever count on you for anything...maybe giving me gonorrhea from one of the nasty creatures you're fucking." Niamh muttered, rolling her eyes at his childish gesture before smacking his hand. "You're a real dickhead, you know that?"

 

[Elias]

Eli's features begin to change into something like a triumphant expression. After she smacks the rude gesturing away, the seated Initiate leans back on both of his hands.

Suddenly the joy falls from his face and his countenance sours. The lines of Eli's face become hard and stern, and his voice is harsh as he responds to Niamh, "And this has been a really good talk. Truly. Now get the fuck out of this room and leave me alone."

 

[Niamh]

"Mmm..." She had noticed the sudden shifting in his tone as he spoke, cycling through bitterness, annoyance, indifference, and now hostility. And he thought she was the moody one. "I don't think I will do that." She took advantage of the moment he leaned backward to pounce on top of him, pinning his arms down.

"I'm afraid it is a shared space, my dear, and we are far from done talking." She spoke as though she were talking to a child. "Are you really in such a hurry to get rid of me? Are you afraid of talking to me? That's a bit pathetic, don't you think?" Her head tilted to the side as she studied his face.