Welcome to Gaia! ::

As the girl had found herself doing on an increasing amount of instances, Nina walked the streets by looking past all of the passersby to her side, caught in the webs of her thoughts. She stuck to hugging the sides of the buildings as she walked by, trying to hide in the shadows as much as she could to keep from being noticed. Her misty wings were still out of reach of her complete control, so remained tiny at her back, as far as she could get to dispersing them completely. At this moment, she knew she was very vulnerable to any stranger that passed by -- she may jump at a simple question or, no matter how incredibly unlikely it was, be attacked without having any defenses up -- so attempted to stay out of anyone's direct line of sight.

She grumbled to herself, pulling out of the tangle of her inner thoughts to glance around the area. Would acting like this label me as being paranoid? she sighed to herself, noticing how many people rarely hesitated to take a second glance at anyone nearby, keeping to whatever task they had in mind. She had one bad experience with a person who couldn't see past the fact that she was part demon, it didn't mean that everyone that wasn't would act in the same way. But... it wasn't just with her; she wasn't the only one that had these experiences. So not everyone held the grudge, but the very moment that she doubted if someone did, it could be the last time.

Shaking her head, Nina continued on. "Maybe I just need to get out of the sun," she said silently, before she found herself halting just as abruptly as she had continued along. A red and blue blurry pattern had made it's way onto her hand as she had lifted it to tug at her scarf. Frowning a little in confusion, she looked to a building that nobody else seemed to notice -- probably due to it's precarious placement, almost hidden. Or maybe it was because the place looked condemned, she didn't really know nor did she care to. It was their loss that they didn't notice the beauty of a window in the cast shadows.

Taking a quick glance back to make sure that nobody was watching her, she made a quick move for the door. Honestly, she half-expected it to be boarded shut, with the way the rest of the building had seemed it would be, but was thrilled when she could open it. Ducking in, she scooted closer to get a better look at the stained glass, trying to keep her head below the sill so nobody else would follow. Unfortunately, with how quickly she spun on her heel, she hadn't had the time to notice the single flame of a candle, or the familiar face partially lit by it. She hadn't bothered to look, being so sure that nobody would come into a place like this for more than a second. Perhaps if she had gone through it all in her head she would have thought better about it, but her mind was so scattered and yet focused on a single thing at the moment that logic seemed to escape her. Instead, she crouched down and grinned up at the elaborate colored pane.

She could have given herself a swift kick with the amount of attention she was paying to her surroundings, but with the fogginess that was clouding her perception, Nina didn't have the sense for it until Damien recognized the familiarity of the girl in the shadows. With a sharp, silent gasp, she nearly bit her tongue as she spun around on the balls of her large feet. Unfortunately, the movement was too quick and reactionary for her to construct opposing barriers, and she fell backward rather unceremoniously against the wall. Senses focused on the origin of the voice, but it took a few seconds for her sight to cut through the darkness in the room to the figure by the dim candle light.

It didn't help that the last time she had seen Damien, he was but a toddler. Nor did it help that the boy's voice was strained to an unrecognizable degree. "W-Who..?" she tried to growl back defensively in reaction, but stopped herself to think about it. There weren't very many people who knew her name that she would consider enemy-material, and once she was able to catch glimpses of the warm stripes of color across patches of skin, she also considered that she really didn't know any wrath-kids that she held a grudge against. Who else would have that color adorning their skin? Then the golden headwings... ahh yes, she knew exactly who it must be.

With a relieved sigh, she couldn't help but pull a smile out of the tension. "Damien, is that you?" she asked quietly, sitting back up to balance more steadily. She noticed something else, once her eyesight adjusted, "You got bigger!" It had apparently slipped her mind that she had also gone through similar changes since they had last seen each other.

Ahh right, how could she have forgotten? Damien had always been such a shy kid, she probably shouldn't have growled as a first response like that. She cringed slightly, side-stepping from the window to refrain from casting a shadow to the outside as she rose to her feet. In a reaction to the fall, she absently brushed at her clothing, trying to come up with a way to get him to relax. Well... maybe more to get them both to chill out.

The girl flashed a meek smile, waving a hand as if to brush off Damien's apology, "No, no, it's my fault! If anything, I should have at least noticed that someone was here to begin with!" The light might not have been very strong, but it was still a noticeable flicker of illumination. "My mind's been a little..." she lingered a few moments on the thought before making a motion with her other hand, like the fluttering of a leaf caught in the wind, "...I keep getting lost in it. Don't think about what I'm doing, that sort of thing." Strange, she didn't usually say something like that to... well, anyone. Then again, she wasn't the most familiar with talking with anyone so timid.

She looked down at herself; another reaction, but to the words. She had nearly forgotten that as well! "Oh!" she snickered a little, "Yeah, I did!" She was still a little uncomfortable with the changes, though they were more of an unease of things other than outward appearance. Well, except for the continuing spread of the tattoos, that is.

Enough about that, though. This nervousness, it had to go. It wasn't everyday she got to see a friend, and in these times, she held the privilege in high regards. "What are you doing here, anyway? It's pretty dark," she asked, shoving the meekness that had previously shared occupation with her smile aside. Curiously, she added, "You hiding, too?" Maybe that would get him to relax a little...

Nina seemed a little surprised that Damien admitted to having a wandering mind like her's, but after a moment, she wondered why she had such a reaction. She hadn't exactly been the most diligent at lingering on a subject, thinking things through when they weren't in front of her eyes. Well, at least she hadn't been when she was Damien's age, but that didn't mean that everyone was like her. She nodded with a grin, "There's a lot to think about out there, isn't it?" Sometimes, she would wish that time would just slow down a little, so she could pull everything together. But even that wouldn't help in some matters, would it?

"Oh?" she found herself curious with what it was that Damien was studying, but with the way he still seemed to be so wound up, she thought better of coming closer. Perhaps once he relaxed a little, but she didn't want to make him feel like she was backing him into a corner. Instead, she nodded, "Yeah, it is pretty quiet in here! A lot better than out there," she indicated the streets just outside with a flick of her head, "Usually pretty busy around home?" Well, Damien did have a brother, after all. She couldn't relate to that, exactly, but she could picture it with what she had seen elsewhere.

She laughed a little before nodding her head at the question he friend had posed, to denote that she wasn't laughing at him or his question, but to the way she had worded it herself. "Yeah, it's way too busy out there. I don't like the crowds, so I suppose I'm hiding from them," she answered, "And I suppose I wanted some fresh air, too." She left out the family problems, figuring it would only complicate things -- not to mention she wanted to get away from it, not talk about it!

Jolting after a moment, her mind finally unscrambled enough to notice something. "Aw crud, and I suppose I'm not helping your concentration with my chatter, am I? I can be quiet and let you finish that, if you want," she suggested. She could also leave if he wanted, but was unsure how to word that without sparking him into panic mode again.

For a moment of silence, Nina tried to imagine a houseful of guests and the pains one would have to go through to get any thinking done. First, she tried her hand at the image of trying to write something down in a crowded street, like the one she had just avoided, but it was much too awkward of a conversion. Next, with hesitation, she tried to grasp the image of trying to write a journal entry down during the last instance company came to visit... in triplicate... and immediately closed the book on it. She shuddered slightly, shaking her head and forcing a smile above the reaction, "Sounds like something like that would be impossible, yeah." With a firm nod, she added, "Well, then it's a good thing you found a place like this. I mean, it's busy out there, but there's a surprising amount of insulation when it comes to sound." This little tidbit of information, though, had only recently came to her attention as she took another look around. Perhaps it was the way the building was facing, sandwiched between other, stronger foundations, that caused this effect.

Frowning slightly, she caught Damien's motion to hide behind himself. That wouldn't do, it really wouldn't... They were friends, after all! There had to be something she could do to get him to relax, to let him realize that she liked being here. Or was she making the things a little too fitting for uneasiness? She'd have to think on this one...

However, this particular conversation made it easy for her to get her mind off of her own problems to realize, no, she was not alone in life's rather large annoyances. It wasn't very often where that could happen so naturally; it was a welcome change. "So you come here very often, then? To get away from all that hustle-and-bustle of home life?" she asked. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn't blame him. Then again, she wasn't entirely positive how antisocial Damien was, especially where choice was involved. She grinned, happy that she wasn't being intrusive. Trying to help him along, she offered, "It's just the ones that constantly need to be the center of attention, even though they can see you any other time, right?" It was a good thing she had such an imagination, though she could always blame that fact on the television.

Hands loosely resting on her hips, she huffed a sigh. No real irritation in her posture, but more one of thoughtfulness. Matter-of-factly, she insisted, "You need to relax, you know? You aren't going to hurt my feelings, 'cause I know you're a friend, okay? Besides, I like spending time with you, too. I also know that some things need to come first; I understand that." She nodded once again, smiling as she sat herself down on the wooden floor, making sure she kept enough space between the two of them so as not to make either of them feel uncomfortable, but not enough space to be worrisome. "How about this: I'll stay for a bit, but then I'm going to leave so that you can finish your homework. We can always see each other again, right? Maybe it could even be something planned," she attempted to compromise. Honestly, she didn't want to leave too soon, but priorities were priorities, even if she hadn't seen the kid in a while.