Welcome to Gaia! ::

Several weeks had passed since the whole ordeal with the Umbrae Hotel and rescuing those who had been kidnapped from the Negaverse. Most people had since been found but according to the news reports a few were still missing. Just like with most things, as days passed so did the headlines till no more aired on the evening stations or on the radio stations between songs.

It had been little over a month since the last time Mei had spoken to Delilah about the strange dreams she’d been having mostly due to the fact the young womans friend was in the hospital. The strange thing about it though was that Delilah had been at the hospital almost every day to the point that she had to bring her raven haired friend food and take her home to take a shower at least twice. Now that Hannah had woken up, it seemed their friend had dove straight into her design work.

“Delilah? Hey?” Mei waved her hand in the girl's face to get her attention. “Are you okay?” Jade-pink eyes looked on with concern.

This had to have been the fifth pen of the week that Delilah had nearly chewed the end off. She would have had her body not jerked back into attention with several fast blinks. “Huh what?” Red eyes seemed to come into focus as she lifted her head from the sketchbook and across at her friend.

Weakly smiling as she pulled the pen from her mouth, Delilah only nodded. “Yea. I’m great. Sorry. The belt is giving me issues. I can’t decide if it should be a large, high waist fixed to the dress or detachable.”

And her eyes looked back down at the paper. Truth was she had been having a hard time lately making little decisions. Ever since leaving the hospital that day, she had plastered a smile on her face and caught up with school. Now, she had more designs than she knew what to do with! Even her professors were starting to get concerned….she was overworking herself.

“Mmhmm…” Mei raised an eyebrow clearly not convinced. “The way you go to town on those pens makes me wonder if they really taste that good despite having zero nutritional value.”

After finishing off the last bite of her home grown garden salad, the creme haired young woman put the tupperware lid back on and sunk back into the cushioned seat. Given the time of day it was surprising that the dorm lobby was this empty. Then again there was a big game tonight that people were likely getting ready for. “Anywho, you know that’s not what I was referring to.” Her voice was calm an almost motherly in a way.

“I don’t know, you just seem so consumed by this fashion show lately…” Mei’s voice trailed off for a moment then offered Delilah a rueful smile. “I’m worried about you. I understand that it’s a big thing but you still have three more years, and with everything that has happened recently, I honestly think you need to slow down or you’ll burn yourself out.”

Delilah looked down at the pen and gave a snort like laugh. “Well, another one bites the dust. At least this one was caught before I bit into the ink again. Took forever to get that taste out of my mouth.” She dropped the pen over the side of her chair and back into her bag.

Just as she was about to go fishing for another one, Mei’s movement caught her attention. She raised a brow and then sat back up. “Shouldn’t I be consumed? I’m a first year that they asked to display in a third and fourth year show. Mei this has to be amazing!” Delilah turned and looked at the woman beside her. It was a honor after all. But if she had looked in the mirror, she would have seen just how red her eyes were.

A deep breath came and she plopped the pad into her lap. “What else should I do? I patrol. I go out. I see Quinn still.” She shrugged, the name of her boyfriend bringing a smile to her lips. “I’m fine Mei. Once the show is over, I’ll come back down. Really.”

Loose strands of hair that didn’t quite reach her ponytail swayed in sync with Mei’s head movements as she closed her eyes and shook her head. “If you say so,” she finally muttered under her breath though not so softly so that Delilah couldn’t hear.

Either red rimmed ruby colored eyed girl really was that oblivious with what Mei was getting at or she really didn’t want to talk about it. Either way, who was she to press her friend any more. “So I’m assuming things between you and Quinn are still going well?” Changing the topic seemed to be the best course of action for now until another opportunity presented itself. At least this one had Delilah grinning in that almost giddy girly blushy fashion; okay not that bad but he at least made the woman smile.

The question did bring a smile to her face as she looked towards the dorm window. “Once we cleared up the misunderstanding of who he was, yes. Very.” Now that had been a fun dinner. Quinn had been making that one up to her for awhile. Mostly it was just her dragging it out but she had finally, completely, forgive him. ”But on the other side, he’s still being stupid. I mean…”

She lifted a hand to the bridge of her nose. “He met my cousin. Mathias. I’ve told you about him haven’t I?” She looked over with one eye towards Mei. “They happened to meet each other randomly and his cat destroyed my cousin’s art pieces. And they are still hanging out!”

“Really?” The look of shock on her face was unmistakable. “He must really like you then if he’s playing nice with your cousin. I guess this is what happens when you don’t have siblings they can latch onto.” Yeah, a few guys that had wanted to date her back in Washington prior to moving to Destiny City tried becoming buddy buddy with Shen so they could get to know her; didn’t work.

“To answer your question though; no, you haven’t told me about him.” The two girls had only been friends for about half a year; since school started. Mei was still learning the ins and outs about the girl sitting across from her. “I take it he lives near here then?”

“Really? I haven’t?” Delilah raised an eyebrow. “He’s the closest thing to a sibling I have. We aren’t far apart in age but we are on opposite sides of the family. Mine makes money. His is military.” She reached back into her bag and pulled out her phone. Flipping through a few images, she finally turned on back around. It was Mathias from the last ‘grandkid’ get together. She had gotten him in his swim gear showing off the MMA body he had.

“I show this one off for him. After he lost his last girlfriend, he was kinda...off. Better now though.” She shrugged sliding her the phone.

“Honestly though, I think Quinn and Mathias just get along. Quinn likes to push the extremes. Mathias, well, doesn’t know when to stop?” She chuckled with an eye roll. “But yea. He’s a student here too. Arts Department.”

“Huh, he’s cute.” Mei nodded her head with an ‘I approve’ expression on her face. “I’ll have to meet him sometime.” He really wasn’t bad looking, somewhat how she expected her brother to look when he came back from his current deployment. “You two could probably swing having classes together if you really wanted to.” Art history, color theory; both were considered electives for other majors but were required among art students.

“We could but honestly, no thank you.” Delilah chuckled as she pulled her phone back. “We have two very different styles to have we live and thing. No mixing.”

“Hmm...makes sense.” Mei nodded her head in understanding. Just because two people were related didn’t mean they necessarily meshed very well. “Speaking of siblings...” Her voice trailed cautiously seeing this as a good segue back into what she had tried to point out just a bit ago. “How is Hannah doing? It’s been awhile since you’ve shared any updates.”

Delilah was about to say something else when Mei’s comment caused the slow forming smile on her face to drop. All of a sudden, she looked even more exhausted than she had moments before. Her hands dropped back to her sketch book and she held onto the edges tightly.
“Alive.” She started off in a long exhale. No thanks to her. “Her mother says progress is slow but she continues to improve. Dr. Jacobs is keepy a very watchful eye out on her. Treating her like his own sister.”

“You don’t seem to be too happy about that.” The way the raven haired girls demeanor changed so suddenly made her look so defeated. It was almost as if she had resigned herself to being replaced by someone whose job required him to be there. In truth her reaction made sense but still…

“It sounds an awful lot like hearsay though, when was the last time you saw her?” A million dollar question that might shine some light onto why Mei’s friend here was so intensely focussed on school and patrol.

“Awhile ago.” Delilah admitted calmly as she leaned back in her chair. That was was true. “She’s got limited visitation right now until she gets some of her strength back.” As if that was supposed to explain anything. It was honestly a verbal excuse and Delilah knew it.

“And things got in the way.” Opening her eyes, she glanced towards Mei. “Two lives in one is hard.”

Pushing herself off the cushioned chair, the creme haired woman got up for a moment only to sit down on the coffee table in front of the other. Leaning forward she took Delilah’s hands in her own and smiled. “It’s only as hard as we make it , and that’s why it is important to have friends who understand both sides of who we are and can help us up when we’re about to fall.”

Mei gave the woman's hands a gentle squeeze of reassurance. “I have a feeling she needs you just as much as you need her.” Even with the strong front Delilah put on, after the ordeal the two of them had went through to find Acrucis, Mei understood just how much they meant to each other. The lengths Delilah was willing to go in order to get even the smallest amount of information left little room for doubt as to how much they meant to one another.

“C’mon,” she nodded her head towards the front entry door indicating she wanted to go somewhere. “Lets get out of here. You yourself said you’re having trouble with the design. Maybe a change of scenery will help.”

Delilah could not respond. Mei was right about having friends who understood both sides. When she had first awaken as Phact, Delilah had tried to keep it to herself. The weight had quickly eaten through her. Finding out Hannah was part of it shook alot of that weight.

It had been replaced now though. Guilt covered her heart. It ate away at her and keep her from sleeping many nights. Make up could hide alot of it. She also physically would run herself ragged just to sleep. How many nights had she powered up and just...ran.

But Delilah did not fight her as she stood up and grabbed her bag. “Alright.” Trading her note book for sunglasses, Delilah motioned towards it as well. “Where too?”

Mei merely smiled as she slung her own bag over her shoulder so she could fish around for her car keys. “I think you know where.”

The two of them hadn’t been friends for very long but Mei at least understood the sisterly bond the two girls shared. It was something she sorely lacked because every time she got close to someone, her father would be stationed elsewhere and they’d have to move again. Because of those reasons Mei took it upon herself to pull Delilah out of the funk she was in and, if necessary, drag her into the the hospital kicking and screaming if need be. But first things first, getting her there.