"Sure." They headed back inside, though R.D. stopped outside of the entryway to look back. What a day.

He stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Now to figure out how to get back into the room without upsetting Alasea more than he has already.

Fortunately, Matt stepped over and knocked on the frame. "You done in there?"

"Go away," came the curt reply.

Well, he wasn't going to tolerate such rudeness. "See, if you had dressed in the bathroom rather than out in the open, maybe this wouldn't have happened," Matt said. "And maybe I could've understood if you WEREN'T sharing your room with a GUY, but seeing as how you ARE..."

"I said go away!" Alasea snapped back. The words irritated her because they were correct, but that didn't matter.

"C'mon, let's just give her some space for now," R.D. said, putting a hand on Matt's shoulder briefly before going through the door into Matt and Helena's room. At least they could hang out for a bit.

Who repaired this door, anyway? he wondered, looking at the restored paper in it. Maybe the Narrator, if he was still hanging around.

Inside the room, Ileyna frowned a bit as she looked over at the older girl. Alasea was huddling in her futon, now clad in both her nightgown and a bathrobe. Her face was half buried in the bathrobe while she sulked, her face still red with embarrassment combined with irritation.

"You okay?" she asked, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Mhmm," Alasea murmured. "I just need to calm down and I can't do that if they're gonna harass me about what happened."

"So that's why you froze the door shut from this side?"

"Mhmm."

Edited by RisingDragon on January 30, 2010 at 16:17:11.

Helena glanced up from her book. Her hair was still sleek and wet, and she had changed into a nightgown, messily modified for her wings. "Did you find who it was?"

"It was nothing," Matt grumbled. He sat down on his futon and started pulling off his shoes.

"Just a bit of an accident," R.D. said, sitting down on a cushion on the floor. "Nothing to worry about."

Maybe they should've kept all the girls together instead. Not one of his wisest decisions, but he could fix it. "Helena, if you wanna sleep with Alasea and Ileyna, you can," Matt said.

She shrugged. "I don't really mind where I sleep."

"When you turn in for the night, can you see if Alasea's calmed down?" R.D. asked Helena.

Edited by RisingDragon on January 30, 2010 at 16:45:16.

"Sure," Helena said. "Why? What're you doing?"

"Yeah I'm probably not allowed in there right now," R.D. said. "Even though all my stuff's still in there."

"Is that what's going on?" Helena asked. "Is she mad at you?"

"Something like that. I'm sure she'll tell you about it when you ask."

Helena marked her place and pushed herself onto her feet. "Hold on, lemme get your stuff. We might as well switch if you two are mad at each other." She shot R.D. a sideways glance, and they both knew what she was thinking about. "Which you shouldn't be."

Helena slid apart the door and walked over to the other room, rapping on the frame. "Hey, it's Helena. Can I get R.D.'s things? I'm going to be sleeping in there instead of him."

There was a moment of silence before Alasea said "Come on in, Helena," through the door.

Entering the room, Helena avoided Alasea's gaze, looking for R.D.'s pack. She found it sprawled on the simple wooden desk shoved against the wall of the room, and as she picked it up, she let it hang, almost touching the floor. A quick trip back to Matt's room and an exchange of gear, and Helena appeared in Alasea's room again, setting down her things in the corner.

"So what happened?" she ventured.

Edited by The Helldragon on January 30, 2010 at 20:19:23.

Alasea merely looked off to the side, her blush intensifying. Seeing the older girl hesitate, Ileyna decided to tell Helena for her.

"R.D. walked in on her while she was changing," she explained.

"Ileyna!" Alasea yelped, mortified by the girl's blunt response.

"Ohhhh." Helena sat down next to Ileyna, pulled her legs in so they crossed. "It's not the end of the world, though. He's probably sorry."

Alasea sunk deeper into her bathrobe. "I know that," she muttered, looking away. "He didn't have to stare so much, though."

"Well, can you blame him?" Helena asked. "You look better than I do. And he's a guy, anyway."

Alasea sank even lower, having no comeback for that. "I already know I messed up there," she said. "I didn't want them to come in and make my mood even worse..."

They remained silent for a while, before Alasea spoke up again. "You looked pretty cozy back there at the beach with R.D.," she said, glancing at Helena.

Uh oh. She knew. Helena didn't know that for certain but quickly the fear rushed up through her body to her mouth and she let out the first coherent excuse that came to mind after the pause everyone would notice. "I just wanted to ask him what he was doing after all this was over."

Alasea seemed to relax a bit. "What's he planning to do?" she asked. "After he finds his sister, I mean. Did he tell you?"

"No," Helena said. That part was true, at least. "But I told him that once he has his life settled, he needs to spend more time with the people he cares about." Again, not a lie. Mostly.

"Mmm."

Alasea laid back against the wall, relaxing completely now. "That might be hard for him to do. He wants to search for Mesia, now, and on our world..." she let the statement hang. Finding Mesia could be next to impossible on their world.

"What about you, though?" Ileyna asked, leaning forward.

"What about me?" Alasea asked, looking at the girl.

"Don't you like R.D.?" the girl asked. "Aren't you gonna want to spend more time with him?"

Damn. Caught. All Alasea could do at that statement was blush furiously.

Edited by RisingDragon on January 30, 2010 at 21:20:09.

Helena hunched over, resting her forearms on her knees. "You know, he likes you, too. Actually, I was talking to him about you two becoming a couple, but he doesn't think it's a good idea while he's being pursued by Re-Tuul and all his other enemies."

"W-w-w-what!?" Alasea yelped, going even redder in the face. "You told him that I like him!?"

"Keep it down!" Helena hushed, pushing down on air with her claws. "I just thought that you two should get together while you could!"

Alasea fell backwards on her futon and groaned, covering her face with her hands. "This isn't happening, this can't be happening," she mumbled repeatedly. After a second or so, she lashed out with her power, warding the room so the boys next door wouldn't be able to overhear them.

This wasn't good. Oh, no, this wasn't good. This was a stupid choice she made. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Helena said. "I just wanted to make R.D. feel better!"