It had been an utterly wild time during the past year and a half. She had been given a promotion, which was fantastic and made her feel like she was worth something, of course, she truly did doubt the wisdom of the cat who had petitioned for the growth, for now she had done absolutely nothing since being given it. Daphne hadn’t powered up once, hadn’t done much, truth be told.

She hacked off her hair, and now sported a very short pixie cut. It hadn’t been planned, one day after not hearing from Lori in over a year, Daphne had simply gone to a salon and asked for everything to be sheared off.

She had ended up with a buzz cut that day, but had decided she didn’t like having that little hair, but the length it was at now, she enjoyed…and so she kept it.

There wasn’t much that Daphne really felt anymore except lonely. No Lori to fill the space left by Castalia’s death…and no Castalia to help ease her through the loneliness of being forgotten by the girl she had…

Well. Mistakenly loved.

She knew it was dangerous to go around alone at night, but lately, she almost hoped she would just be taken by some rogue negaverse officer, her starseed plucked from her chest. She would get to see her sister again…

With a sigh, Daphne continued walking, but paused outside of a bakery, where the smell of cookies almost made her mouth start watering. Looking up at the sign above the window, she saw that it was a late night spot for cookies…and that…

Damn. A cookie sounded really good right now.

Making her way into the small, warm space, Daphne ordered a small plate of chocolate chip cookies and a cup of milk. She sat down at a small booth, built for two and waited for her treat to arrive.

Daphne sighed softly and resisted the urge to just lay her head on her arms and…cease to exist.

She was supposed to be past all of this. Supposed to not feel such utter and all encompassing melancholy…it wasn’t good for her. Wasn’t good for anyone. Or anything. Just a waste of time.

Reaching up, she rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying and failing to banish her thoughts. She wasn’t a waste of time. She wasn’t a waste of anything. This was just a rough month. Rough year. All of the good that had built up had been taken away and…she simply had to build it up once again, that was all. She could do it, it had happened once before after all. So she could do it again.

When the cookies were dropped off at her table, Daphne thanked the server with a small smile and drew in a deep, long breath, reaching for one of the warm, chocolaty treats. This was going to be fine. She was going to be fine, this was simply a new start. A new chance to…do something. That was all.