Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

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Alianora
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Alianora » October 15th, 2017, 7:16 pm

Amaranie
Her mother taught her? Amaranie had difficulty imagining the sort of world Haxia must have come from, to have so much time to do nothing except play games. She wondered what the other girl's parents did for work that allowed their daughter that much free time. Her own parents had raised both their children to know the importance of hard work, and even as a young girl, Amaranie had understood that it took the work of all four of them just to be able to afford simple items such as food and clothing. Not having to work was something that Amaranie had never considered before. She did not ask Haxia about that, however, sure her curiosity would be impolite at best.

Instead, Amaranie focused on the instructions Haxia was giving her. Though she'd observed people playing cards before, she had rarely seen the game up close, and knew nothing of the rules. It sounded simple enough, and she flipped over the five cards that Haxia had passed to her. She let the other girl see them, as Haxia had suggested, though she suspected that the cards she held were not very good. She couldn't quite be sure without playing, but Amaranie thought the higher numbers were more sought after, and the majority of hers were on the lower side.

She laid them in front of her, displaying them for Haxia, when the other girl surprised her by asking where she was from and stating the name of her own country. Amaranie had been asked this before, and knew by now that Haxia most likely intended no harm by asking. Still, she was reluctant to answer. Few girls here came from Amadicia, and she'd learned that giving other girls even that much information about herself led to questions about how she'd come to the Grey Tower, or why she was here, that had answers Amaranie could not bear to remember. She squirmed and looked away from both Haxia and the cards, not sure whether it would be best to just give the other novice the information she wanted and hope she'd be satisfied, or pretend she hadn't heard the question. It was difficult, but Amaranie decided it would be better to answer, to do her best to get along with her new roommate, which would not happen if she gave into the temptation to ignore her. "I'm from Amadicia," she whispered without looking up, so quietly that she wasn't actually sure Haxia could hear her.

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Bridget
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Bridget » October 17th, 2017, 4:00 am

Haxia
Light, Amaranie was from Amadicia? No wonder the other girl had squirmed so at her question. It took a moment to master herself, but Haxia managed to shut her mouth before Amaranie looked up and saw. How had she made it to the Grey Tower? Haxia could only imagine, and she was certain she had no true idea of the trial it must have been. Swallowing, Haxia reached out to grasp the other girl’s hand for a moment. “I am glad you are here, Amaranie.” She told the other girl, before withdrawing her hand. Suddenly nervous that she had said and done the wrong thing, Haxia returned her attention to the game.

She explained their hands, her voice too loud and excited for the topic, and lead the two of them through the first few rounds. Light, Amadicia? Altara separated Murandy and Amadicia, but Haxia still knew enough about the nation to be horrified. Whitecloaks had come to Lugard once, although Haxia had only seen them from windows, and never actually encountered them. Still, it had been frightening, and her father’s words on them had been anything but admiring. And Haxia knew very well what Whitecloaks thought of Aes Sedai- witches and darkfriends. She could not comprehend what Amaranie might feel, to find herself a novice. At least Haxia knew she was not a darkfriend, even if she had no desire to be Aes Sedai.

Suddenly, it did not seem enough that she had only traded her nationality for this knowledge. “My father forced me to come to the Grey Tower.” Haxia told the other girl, as she played the ace of clubs. Her hand was better than Amaranie’s, and unless the other girl drew something truly miraculous, she was about to win. For once, it brought her no joy. “I kept having dreams. Dreams where I was at home, only no one was there with me, even though it felt like someone was watching me. Doors would open with no one behind them, a vase might disappear and reappear somewhere else...” Haxia shuddered, drew an arm about herself. “Something happened in those dreams, so father sent me here, for the Aes Sedai to fix me.” She smiled, grim, and could not bear to tell Amaranie about what had happened. She rubbed at the scar on her forearm, hidden by her sleeve, and looked away. “But apparently there is no fixing me, and they were only too happy to see me sign the novice book.”

Alianora
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Alianora » October 18th, 2017, 1:06 am

Amaranie
Amaranie barely resisted the impulse to pull her hand away from Haxia's. Haxia might claim to be glad she was here, but Amaranie was not. She could not imagine a time would come when she would be. It was a relief when Haxia quickly returned to their game, though as they began to play, Amaranie could tell that she was correct about her cards not being the best. She found herself playing the best cards she had early, and as they approached the end of the first game, had nothing useful left. She was just preparing to confess this to Haxia and admit defeat when the other girl began talking to her, and what she said took Amaranie completely by surprise.

She has bad dreams too? Not that everyone didn't dream sometimes, but Amaranie had known since they started that the ones she thought of as her bad dreams were not quite the same as the more ordinary sort. As Haxia continued, Amaranie became confused. What Haxia described didn't sound like her own problem at all. Scary in a way, but if she had had the choice, Amaranie would have much preferred Haxia's dreams to her own. Shifting doors and objects didn't sound threatening at all when she compared them to her own dreams, which always seemed to result in something terrible happening, and she never knew what it would be, or when it would take place. Most of the time, Amaranie feared that she was causing these events to happen, just by allowing herself to sleep, and then to dream. It was not a comfortable subject for her, and it was a struggle to listen to Haxia instead of focusing on her own problem.

She wondered what had happened in the dreams Haxia had described that had ended in her arrival here, but Amaranie wasn't about to ask. For all she knew, whatever it was had been as difficult for Haxia as Keegan's death had been for her, and she wasn't about to make the other girl relive something like that. Instead, she found herself confiding in the other girl. "I have bad dreams too," she said quietly. "Nothing like yours. Nobody watches me, no objects move. They seem normal to me....but sometimes, bad things happen. When I was younger, I dreamed that the neighbors' house caught fire and burned to the ground, and within the week.....it did." She knew she sounded crazy, and dropped her gaze from Haxia's to stare at the arm that bore the scar from...whatever Keegan had done. She wondered if Haxia would even believe her. Amaranie did not think she would have herself, were it not her own experience. She laid down her last card without looking up, dreading Haxia's reaction.

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Bridget
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Bridget » October 18th, 2017, 2:15 am

Haxia
It felt almost as if the Pattern must have woven their threads together, to have brought them both to this room. Amaranie’s dreams did not sound at all like hers, but Haxia could do nothing but believe her. She felt a sudden kinship for the other girl, and found herself terribly glad that she had not raised a fuss about her cup of tea. She and Amaranie would be friends, if Haxia had anything to say about it. But Amaranie’s dreams… the one she spoke of seemed almost prophetic. At least Haxia’s dreams were not like that, although she supposed that Amaranie could not die in hers.

To cover her silence, Haxia swept the cards together and began to shuffle once more, saying nothing about the outcome of the game. She let the deck pass from hand to hand, spinning sections of the cards before shuffling them all back together, shuffling more than she needed to in an effort to soothe herself. “I believe you, Amaranie.” Haxia spun the cards again, careful to place her fingers at exactly the right spots, wary of sending the deck scattering. “The Aes Sedai say my dreams are a true thing. I go to the World of Dreams.” It seemed too much to say Tel’aran’rhiod. “It is- a reflection of the world?” She could not help her questioning tone; much of what the Rylaine Sedai had told her had made little sense. “It is strange. I could go to my family home in my dreams, or to Lugard, but it would not be quite as I know it. But it is real enough, I think.” Haxia trailed off, and began to deal out the cards once more. “Rylaine Sedai told me that I could die there.” Certainly I know I can be hurt there.

She did not let herself dwell on it, thought only of the feel of the cards passing through her fingers instead. “If my dreams are… something, I don’t doubt that yours are as well.” Haxia glanced up, to try to get a look at the other girl’s face, but Amaranie’s chin seemed to be all but tucked to her chest. “You could tell the Aes Sedai about them?” She suggested, voice hesitant. Haxia did not think Amaranie would, not if she saw Aes Sedai as witches. But Aes Sedai knew things, even if it seemed they were more likely to keep that knowledge to themselves than to share things. It was worth a try, even if Amaranie refused. But she hoped the other girl would not hate her for suggesting it.

Alianora
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Alianora » October 20th, 2017, 1:33 am

Amaranie
Amaranie looked up just enough to watch the cards as they slid through Haxia's hands. She wasn't ready to look at the other girl, but focusing on the cards seemed safe enough. "You can't possibly believe me," she said quietly, more to herself than to Haxia. "I know how impossible it sounds." While she watched, she did her best to listen to what Haxia was saying about her own dreams, but little of it made any sense at all. Another world, as real as ours...that one could die in? It sounded as if Haxia was no better off than herself after all. Amaranie wasn't sure which of their situations was worse, though she still thought she would have chosen Haxia's over her own. Dying herself, she was sure, would be far better than some of what she'd seen in the worst of her dreams.

Haxia began to deal the cards again and Amaranie's gaze drifted back to the wooden floor beneath her. She nodded at the other novice's suggestion. "I know you're right," she said. She had intended, when she'd come here, to ask about her dreams, but as time passed and she heard nothing of anyone else having the same struggles, Amaranie had begun to think that it was a problem only she had, and that she would just have to suffer it alone. " It's just that....I've never heard anyone mention anything like this. What if it's just me?" I could be losing my mind, or worse, maybe these dreams are causing bad things to happen around me. She did not think she could live with herself if that were so, though she did not mention that to Haxia. She wanted to trust the other novice, even befriend her, since they would have to live together, but there were some things Amaranie could hardly bear to remember herself, which made sharing everything about her dreams quite impossible.

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Bridget
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Bridget » October 21st, 2017, 3:34 am

Haxia
Amaranie’s calm acceptance of her suggestion, when Haxia had expected the opposite, was a relief. And Haxia could understand the sentiment- if she had not had ample proof that her dreams were real, or at least real enough to leave her bleeding, she would not have brought it up with her father, let alone an Aes Sedai or Asha’man. But if there was anything she had learned in her short time at the Grey Tower, it was that these things mostly were real. It terrified her. The first time she had seen a woman channel... Dreams were nothing, compared to that.

Gathering her cards, she tapped them into an even pile, and spread out her hand to look. It was a terrible hand, which was probably for the better- if Amaranie lost every game, she certainly wouldn’t want to play. Haxia peaked over the top of her cards to study the other girl, considering. She liked Amaranie, which was a big unexpected, considering the slight kerfuffle over the cup of tea. It would be a small thing, probably, to help her- although nothing to do with Aes Sedai or Asha’man could be trusted to be simple. And Haxia desperately wanted a true friend, here at the Grey Tower. She ached for her friends back at home.

“Well,” she started, gesturing for Amaranie to begin the game, “perhaps I could speak to an Aes Sedai, to see if the dreams you’ve had are something known to them.” Haxia tapped her fingers on the desk, considering. “I could give the details of one of your… more mundane-” No, that was hardly the correct descriptor for either of their dreams. “A dream you would not mind sharing.” Haxia continued, quirking the corners of her lips up at her error. “If it is something known, you can then speak to someone.” And I will pretend it really was a mundane dream.

Alianora
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Alianora » October 21st, 2017, 9:19 pm

Amaranie
Amaranie picked up her cards and flipped through them, not displaying them for Haxia this time. She thought her hand was better than the previous one, though she still wasn't quite sure. The novice fanned them out in her left hand, using the cards to distract herself from recalling the dreams she did not wish to remember. She hoped Haxia wouldn't ask her any more questions about them, as she really did not want to tell the other girl more than she'd already shared. Amaranie laid down the seven of spades, which was neither the highest nor the lowest of the cards she held, and was startled into looking up at Haxia when the other girl addressed her.

"No!" she said automatically. She barely trusted any of the Aes Sedai as it was, and could not imagine telling any of them about her dreams, or allowing Haxia to do it for her. There was something comfortable about talking to Haxia, as if she and her roommate might become friends with time, but all of the Aes Sedai she knew were cold and distant, hardly the sort of people to care about a novice's problems. "I mean, I appreciate the offer," she added, not wanting Haxia to be offended. "I just....I can't talk to any of them. Not yet." Amaranie wasn't sure she would ever be able to do that, despite knowing she should. There were no dreams she could imagine sharing, excepting the one about the fire she'd described to Haxia already. Her dreams of the Grey Tower before her arrival were not really strange enough to convince anyone that there was something odd about them, and as for the others Amaranie vividly remembered, of her arm bleeding, the rope around Keegan's neck.....there was no chance she'd ever share those, with Haxia or anyone else. Even the memory made her sniffle and blink, fighting off the tears that threatened every time she remembered her brother and the events that had taken him from her. Amaranie studied the card she'd put down, doing her best to focus her attention on something else before she could start crying.
Spoiler: show
Since Haxia wants to help Amaranie talk about her dreams, would you/she like to do that during the MRP?

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Bridget
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Re: Up All Night, attn Bridget/Haxia

Post by Bridget » November 6th, 2017, 2:31 am

Haxia
She flinched back at Amaranie’s vehemence, fingers tightening on her hand of cards in surprise. Haxia had thought she had Amaranie’s measure: kind and thoughtful, but truthfully quite docile. This… was not the response she had been expecting. Amaranie should have been thankful for the help, or at least grateful for the thought. She had agreed that she should talk to Aes Sedai! “Of course, Amaranie.” Haxia told the other girl, as gracefully as she could manage. She had had no choice but to go to Aes Sedai, and she would be the first to admit that their answers were never what she wanted them to be. But at least they were answers!

But tears were glistening in Amaranie’s eyes, and- Haxia understood. Was it not enough, that they could channel? There was enough torment in her waking hours, after all. She smiled at Amaranie with renewed sympathy, and readjusted her plans. After all, Haxia was hardly thankful that her father had forced her to the Tower to speak to Aes Sedai. It would not be an auspicious start to a friendship to force the same on Amaranie.

They played a few more hands in silence before Haxia spoke again. “If you ever do want to tell someone about your dreams, Amaranie, I am always here.” She offered the other girl a nervous smile, tilting her shoulder in an awkward shrug. “And I am always glad to play cards instead of sleep.”

It was hours before either of them slept, and neither girl said anything more of consequence. But it was a comfort to play cards in silence, and Haxia went to bed in better spirits than she had in months.

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