Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oreune sat inside the dining hall, her palm propping up her chin. She was exhausted with the change of weather and an apparent increase in work and lessons, though none of the three actually did change.

"X.eee..., er, sure." How was she supposed to address him now? It'd been almost six months since Oreune had spoken to the man she'd come to Western with, if only because he'd Impressed on the Sands and she was left alone and exceptionally paranoid. Her hand moved out from beneath her chin and quickly she rubbed away the red mark she knew must have been forming.

"Bee...been a while."

It wasn't that she couldn't tell when riders were speaking to their dragons - it was more than obvious. For someone who constantly read facial expressions Oreune was a bit more adapt than most at the subtle changes in expression that came when people weren't really just lost in thought. "I'm fine, debating on going back to the Hall though." That was an out and out in lie in both regards - she wasn't okay and she certainly hadn't been thinking of leaving. There was nothing left there for her (apart from advancing her craft) and while she was lonely here at least he was - no, stop it. A shake of her head stopped that line of thought. "How are...you....both?" She couldn't just ask about the rider, right? Wasn't it rude?

"!!!!" There was sudden panic that flashed over Oreune's face as a voiced flooded her mind; it wasn't her own despite how often she talked to herself and the widening of her eyes should have been a clear indication that whatever just happened had caught her completely off-guard. The last time she'd heard someone speaking like this had been the search dragon, if she remembered right, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Was this what happened all the time with -

And then the voice spoke again, something about feelings, and the candidate's face scrunched up. This wasn't something she wanted to hear, not after so long. If he was being so antsy because he wanted to end their friendship after so long he didn't need to beat around the loom. "I. . . . . I'm going to head back to the barracks then, if you don't really have much to say to me."

Oreune was pretty sure she was making a face, and not a pleasant one. She'd often been told when she was younger that she was beautiful, or whatever else, but she was also more than capable of producing a look like she'd just bitten into something super sour and was doing her best to not spit it out. That was the look this time, and it wasn't because of the confession. On the contrary, Oreune was delighted, probably ready to fight the sky if she had to, but she also really, really, really didn't believe it to be true. ". . . . . . you....expect me to believe it? You straight up ignored me for six months, and now you're saying that you 'really like me in the romantic sense' ? You..." The sour fruit look remained, even though a bright red blush was starting to creep itself onto her dark-skinned ears.

"You think I'd buy that excuse?" Of course she would, there was nothing else Oreune would do to keep their friendship going. X'teis was the reason she came here after all and basically the only reason she was staying. She'd gotten to know fellow candidates of course but none of them were really friends. "You can't be around me without having 'romantic thoughts' or whatever? Is that the only way you'd ever seen me?" The red on her ears was getting deeper and for once Oreune was so glad for the darkness of her skin to hide it. "Was I the only one who was really lonely....?"

Oreune shook her head, doing her best to keep her calm. So many scenarios were running rampant in her mind, of what she should do next, what she should say next, and all she could do was try and keep herself from trembling in a mixture of rage-excitement. There was something slightly thrilling about how he really hadn't forgotten her and how he'd instantly come back for her once it was......okay. Not acceptable, but okay and permissible and how neither of them would get in trouble and - oh boy, her wagon line of thought was running off without her. ". . . . . .. I.....I was painfully lonely, you know. You....when you walked off the sands, you didn't even say anything to me. Not a see you later, not an introduction. I.......you're all I have here, but I'm not all for you."