Lia was going to ask how far she had to swim and if she was very scared and if there are oceans where she comes from when Abby asks her an unexpected question.
Lia giggles a little in surprise and then stops because she doesn't want to appear rude.
"I am not pretending." She says matter of factly.
"I find you interesting. I wanted to buy you a drink because you told me interesting things and promised me even more intriguing stories. And you're attractive. Often, people are just one or the other."
She sighs.
"But, I hope I didn't offend. I've been told before I ask too many questions." She doesn't add that she thinks it's nonsense. You can never ask too many questions.
"You didn't," Abby says quickly. "It's not the questions, I'm—" just an asshole. She kneads the sore bit between her neck and shoulder with the palm of her free hand, allowing herself a moment to let that knee-jerk reaction slip away.
It does.
"... I'm not used to this." Which has to be more than obvious. Hopefully it's also obvious that she's trying, here. She says, "I like questions." And that is true.
"Before I came here, I was traveling with a kid. He asked me lots of questions. Like, most of the time. It got kinda hard to shut him up."
"He sounds like a very sensible child." Lia responds. "I think that questions are the only way to learn things. Questions and observation. The part where you stop asking questions and observe was harder to learn as a child. But, I did."
She nods her head once agreeing with herself.
"But!" Lia's smile widens excitedly. "You promised me a story about dying and time travel!"
"Yeah," Abby has to agree, "More sensible than me."
Which segues nicely into the story about dying and time travel that she promised to tell, huh.
"Don't look so eager," she complains, but she's grinning anyway. "I told you, it's not a nice story.
"We took a big group out into the Free Marches and got ambushed by soldiers on dracolisks. And they had a fucking dragon, we didn't stand a chance. They wiped almost all of us out at the same time, and then everybody who was left had to come in and pick up the pieces." Literally.
Abby told her not to look eager, however Lia fails completely at this. Her mouth widens and her eyes pop out.
"Dracolisks and a dragon? So you were--" and here she falters. "You were part of the--group that got wiped out?" Her first inclination was to say 'one of the pieces' but that seems garrish somehow.
"Do you remember it?" She asks in a hushed whisper.
Abby really doesn't know how she feels about it. Maybe it should be easy to think of Granitefell as if it were a nightmare: terrible at the time, but something she woke up from; she's safe, fine. But part of her will always know trying to think of it like that won't work.
"Yeah." She was part of the group that got wiped out. She remembers it.
Moving along. "The Research team figured out a way to go back in time. Don't ask me how it works, 'cuz I don't get it. But they sent a couple people back to warn us before we got there. And we still went, to warn off the villagers, but we got back out before the ambush."
Well, go out on a date with somebody from Research then, yeesh.
"Yeah. It's pretty weird. They're separate memories but I can tell where they overlap." And, to be fair, there isn't much to remember of being dead other than a deep, cold feeling that underlines what happened in the other timeline. "Shit like that doesn't happen often," she adds hastily, to reassure. "It probably won't happen to you."
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"How do you mean messing with you?" She responds.
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As soon as she says it, Abby cringes a little. That sounded so stupid. She wishes she could take it back, but she can't, so she sets her jaw.
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"I am not pretending." She says matter of factly.
"I find you interesting. I wanted to buy you a drink because you told me interesting things and promised me even more intriguing stories. And you're attractive. Often, people are just one or the other."
She sighs.
"But, I hope I didn't offend. I've been told before I ask too many questions." She doesn't add that she thinks it's nonsense. You can never ask too many questions.
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"You didn't," Abby says quickly. "It's not the questions, I'm—" just an asshole. She kneads the sore bit between her neck and shoulder with the palm of her free hand, allowing herself a moment to let that knee-jerk reaction slip away.
It does.
"... I'm not used to this." Which has to be more than obvious. Hopefully it's also obvious that she's trying, here. She says, "I like questions." And that is true.
"Before I came here, I was traveling with a kid. He asked me lots of questions. Like, most of the time. It got kinda hard to shut him up."
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She nods her head once agreeing with herself.
"But!" Lia's smile widens excitedly. "You promised me a story about dying and time travel!"
She hasn't forgotten and she will not.
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Which segues nicely into the story about dying and time travel that she promised to tell, huh.
"Don't look so eager," she complains, but she's grinning anyway. "I told you, it's not a nice story.
"We took a big group out into the Free Marches and got ambushed by soldiers on dracolisks. And they had a fucking dragon, we didn't stand a chance. They wiped almost all of us out at the same time, and then everybody who was left had to come in and pick up the pieces." Literally.
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"Dracolisks and a dragon? So you were--" and here she falters. "You were part of the--group that got wiped out?" Her first inclination was to say 'one of the pieces' but that seems garrish somehow.
"Do you remember it?" She asks in a hushed whisper.
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Abby really doesn't know how she feels about it. Maybe it should be easy to think of Granitefell as if it were a nightmare: terrible at the time, but something she woke up from; she's safe, fine. But part of her will always know trying to think of it like that won't work.
"Yeah." She was part of the group that got wiped out. She remembers it.
Moving along. "The Research team figured out a way to go back in time. Don't ask me how it works, 'cuz I don't get it. But they sent a couple people back to warn us before we got there. And we still went, to warn off the villagers, but we got back out before the ambush."
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"So," She says delicately, picking up that Abby is sensitive about it, "you remember both dying and not dying?"
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"Yeah. It's pretty weird. They're separate memories but I can tell where they overlap." And, to be fair, there isn't much to remember of being dead other than a deep, cold feeling that underlines what happened in the other timeline. "Shit like that doesn't happen often," she adds hastily, to reassure. "It probably won't happen to you."
Probably.
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"Well, I definitely don't want to die, but it would be inconvenient to stop bad things from happening to you. Everyone makes mistakes, even me!"
She says this like it's extremely not often that she makes a mistake.
"I am very glad you are alive." She adds primly.
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Obviously.
She says, "Ever had a near-death experience before?" like it's completely normal to ask about something that horrible on a first date experience.
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"Not like that." She says.
"I've had my life threatened many times though and some meant it more seriously than others. I have a nasty tendency of infuriating men."
She speaks of this as if it's the weather.
"Women considerably less so." She gives Abby a sparkling grin.
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She could always use a lesson or two.
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