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Immediately after an epic failure to re-insert herself back into Dallas' life, Solas was certain she was on the verge of another epic failure. After leaving the ranch, she parked Nadia's little white sedan on the street in front of one Jules' house. The woman looked out the passenger window at the little home with its clean and pristine appearance and adorable picket fence. She could remember it a bit---a few times, from when she teleported into the neighborhood as Stillwaterite.

She couldn't remember Jules' face first hand.

She had written about the woman in depth---but that was all she could remember.

Once more, Solas sighed. Her heart was heavy, and after the disastrous attempt with Dallas, she couldn't help but wonder if it was too selfish of her to try this. Maybe it was just best to leave them both be, after what she had done. Solas' hands tightened on the wheel. She hadn't wanted to leave them. But how could she ever explain the depth of the situation she had been in? She wasn't sure she ever could.

She almost left, but instead of turning the keys to get the car started, she took them out. The door closed after she stepped out. Well. If she had ruined it with Dallas, maybe she should go finish it off with Jules.

Solas stepped up onto the porch, and then knocked on the door.

When the woman answered the door, Solas honestly felt a little frustrated with herself.

Seeing this woman, she felt this strong feel of nostalgia that she had no memories to attach to. She just looked so...welcoming. So...

Mom, dad won't let me come home.

It was such an absurd random thought, she almost wanted to laugh. She didn't want to give in though. At that moment, she almost felt like she might start to cry instead.

Instead, Solas gave the woman a small smile, though it didn't touch her eyes. "Sorry to bother you. Are you Jules?" She paused for a moment. "My name's Solas. I'm Knot's cousin...she said you'd be a...good friend to have when I arrived in the city."

So it began. Again.

Maybe with less shotguns this time.

It was easy to read the little signs, and if it was possible, Solas' heart started to sink more.

She shouldn't have come.

But she was dedicated now to seeing how this went.

"Yes. We do." She murmured in agreement, and stepped into the house when invited. Solas paused in the doorway, where she took a moment to take off her boots. They were dirty, from moving about the ranch for her limited stint there. It left her in her socks and gray jeans, and she quietly turned to the woman, waiting for her direction on where they should go next. It was her house after all.

Funny, how she had this kind of respect for Jules' in her home, but not for Dallas in his.

Oh.

The infamous cookies.

She had written about those, too.

"I would love some. Thank you and yes." She did follow after the woman, eyes taking in the sights for what she knew was the second time. It was a tidy home. Well kept. Cozy. It felt familiar---especially the kitchen.

"All over the place. I traveled around quite a bit, but I just got back from a peace mission in Iraq this past year." Came the even and practiced lie. Enough detail to be credible. Vague enough to pass. "I didn't know where to go when I got back, but Knot insisted on Destiny City, so here I am."

Solas watched as Jules just...went about prepping cookies and getting milk. For her. She had written about this too. About how Jules mothered. The feelings of Deja Vu came crashing in again, and it only worsened as she took a seat at the kitchen island, in the chair Knot liked to occupy every time she had come to visit as well.

She took a cookie, quietly thanking Jules, and took a bite and...oh. It was so good. It tasted like home, and she didn't even really know what that meant.

"Indeed. I'm here for good, now." Her chest tightened briefly, as the conversation turned more towards the person she had been, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that this question would be coming. She was both honored that this woman care for her so much---and felt awful at the same time, that she would have to be a bearer of ill news.

"I haven't. Not since she left." Solas paused for a moment as she looked to Jules. "There won't be any reaching her---where she went. She's not going to come back, either." She hated saying that to this beautiful and kind woman, being a piece of Knot who was sitting right here. "She didn't want to leave you. You or Dallas---and she didn't tell any of you in person because she knew neither of you would have let her go." It was here, Solas smiled a bit. A smile that was a little too deep and sorrowful for her supposed role in all of this as simply the cousin. "But she had to."

"Not since she left, yes." Solas replied evenly. "But before she left---we spoke quite in depth. We're very close."

She took a drink of milk, setting the glass on the counter, when Jules asked a loaded question. It was about as loaded as that shot gun Dallas had fired at her not even an hour prior. "My second." Solas answered.

"My first stop was Dallas' ranch." The woman paused for a moment. "If your next question is going to be how did that go---" Solas gave Jules a wry smile.

"The answer is not well."

Solas couldn't help but feel herself sit up a little straight as well in response to Jules. That look. That tone. It brook no argument. Only compliance.

It was a mother look.

Solas gave Jules the straight to the point recap of events. She did not embellish, and she in no way, shape, or form tried to cast Dallas in a bad light. Knot had written that she needed to stick to her guns. Solas had tried. Dallas stuck to his guns better. She had been on his property without permission.

As much as it hurt her to be rejected, she could see how it all went down for what it was, too. A reaction to someone who had been affected by a sudden departure as well. It didn't make it hurt any less, for her, but it came from a place of understanding.

"I'm borrowing a friend's car." She finished. "So after the first round sprayed the barn wall to the side of me, I knew it was time to go if I wanted to return it to her."

Solas had a feeling, and it had not been her intention, that she just landed Dallas into a pot of boiling water.

No. Scratch that.

A pot of lava.

"Jules, please---" Solas found herself starting, but paused. What she wanted to expression was too complex. Too many other emotions tied into it. She didn't want to stir things up between Dallas and Jules. They had gone through a lot by her own hands, and were continuing to do so, because she couldn't take her hand out of it. But perhaps she needed to. "Please." She said a little quieter. "It's alright. Some things----they just don't work out, and I know Knot asked you both to look out for me but---" Her chest felt tight. "It's not worth any heartache it's causing either of you." She looked at the woman in earnest. "Because the last thing I want to do is cause either of you anymore pain."

She fell silent for a moment, feeling oddly exhausted. Her emotions hadn't run this high since her purification. It was a bit odd to feel the turmoil once more.

"I don't have any plans." Solas answered slowly, wondering why the woman was asking now. Nadia didn't expect her back in time for dinner, and Sergei was working during 'normal dinner time' hours on this day so she was pretty much on her own.