I Think We've Been Here Before

[elle]

Amy watched, hypnotized, as the water rushed down from the mountainside, crashing into the rocks below. All she could hear was the sound of the water; even the cries of the birds were being drowned out. Just sitting there, watching the falls was enough to make a person forget where they were completely. That was part of the reason why Amy had taken a liking to the place.

Since arriving on the island, she'd felt even more isolated and alone than ever before. She'd seen creatures here walking around in full fur and scales. Though she had known of the existence of the creatures for awhile now, it was still a culture shock to her. All she could do was stand back and stare in shock and awe as the giant cats or lizards walked all around her, chatting amongst themselves just like humans would. Then again, she would never again be certain if the person she was talking to was indeed a human.

Of course, there was another town on this island too. It seemed more geared toward humans and human life, which delighted her, though she wasn't naive enough to think that everyone who lived there was actually a human, and she didn't like to stay there longer than she had to.

So here she was, essentially an outcast among them all. This was why she preferred the outlands. They couldn't be much safer - or safe at all - but at least she felt some form of acceptance. Sure, she was still alone, but at least the plants here, or the falls never judged her. They weren't new and foreign either. In fact, they reminded her of home. She liked this feeling.

With a sigh, she hugged her legs close to her chest, resting her head on her knees. She would have closed her eyes had she not remembered that she was still in the middle of wild freak territory, and anyone of them could be hiding behind any of those bushes, just waiting for her to look away so that they could ambush her.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] For some reason or another, he liked it out here. It wasn't nearly as neat and orderly as the town was, and he was in constant fear that one of the plants would suddenly begin to move an attack him, but it was really a pretty nice place. After all, the town had a habit of becoming unnecessarily crowded, which then drove him out here where he could find a moment of peace and quiet by himself. So all in all, this place wasn't much different than that castle and the town on the mainland that he used to frequent for awhile. Perhaps this place was a little more dangerous, but honestly, who could beat him? Well... It would be damn hard to catch him, that's for sure, and if he couldn't be caught then he would be just fine. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to stick around this place for a little while longer. After all, they were all on an isolated island, far away from humanity, where it would be quite difficult to escape, and most of the people here didn't seem to care about what he did to anyone. It was a pretty sweet deal. As he continued to walk, he fell in step beside the river, watching it flow downwards as he continued his trek ever so slightly uphill. If the noise was any indication, there was a waterfall just up ahead. That sounded like a decent place to relax for awhile. It made for nice scenery, and who had ever heard of anyone being ambushed near a waterfall? Perhaps he spoke to soon. He came to a sudden stop as he noticed a girl already seated by the bank. Normally, this would be a nice, unexpected opportunity to engage in some of his favorite activities. However, this was no ordinary girl. This was the same girl who refused him, insulted him, and forced him to tell her about them and then leave without being able to take advantage of her even once. Rude, little *****. It was about time someone showed her just what happens when you deny Hendrix. He strode up to her, stopping just beside her. However, as he looked down at her, his train of thought was completely derailed. Instead of telling her in graphic detail about what he planned to do to her, all he could manage was a weak "Hey." Very nicely said. You never were one for confrontation. Taking several steps back, he turned away from her, hiding his scowl. He looked instead for something better to say: some way to redeem himself. In the end, he found nothing. With a sigh, he looked toward the ground. "Mind if I sit down?" Evidently, he wasn't in charge here.

[elle]

Still staring at the water, it was obvious that she was paying way to much attention to the scene in front of her rather than anything that was happening to the sides of her or behind her. So she didn't noticed when someone came to stand right next to her, hovering over her for a long moment. She only noticed them when they finally spoke, and her response was to flinch and throw herself backwards, as if that act would save her enough time so that she was able to run away.

When she saw who it was, however, her reaction went from shock to anger to fear, then a little more shock, then back to fear, though it wasn't as bad as it was initially. Perhaps it was because he hadn't killed her last time they met, so she trusted him a little more. Only a little. Only enough to believe that he wasn't planning on slitting her throat as soon as she looked away. His very presence however, still managed to unnerve her. She still hadn't forgotten what he'd done. Any of it.

She tried her best to hide all that she was feeling at that moment, and she only shrugged indifferently at his question.

"It's a free country. I think."

And that was it. She wasn't about to ask why he was here or what he wanted. Although a part of her did want to know, she wasn't about to let him know that. If he wanted to talk, then he could, but all he'd get from her is a blank stare and an "I don't care enough to even respond to you with actual words" shrug. He wasn't worth her time.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] He sighed as he sat down beside her. She was obviously still upset about... Well, everything he'd done to her. Not that any of it was his fault, of course! She was just too narrow-minded to see things for how they really were. If she'd just take a moment to stop acting so childishly... And to stop acting as if he was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to murder her. "I'm not going to hurt you," He muttered, annoyed. Had he done anything that would make her think otherwise? Sure, he hadn't tried to stop Ziza from attacking her, but he'd never done anything to her. Why would he? Why wouldn't he? That... Was strange after all. That was normally what he aimed to do. That was always what he aimed to do. He'd stalk the dark alleys at night, waiting for unsuspecting girls to fall into his trap. He'd get real close to a girl just so he could find the perfect opportunity to get her alone somewhere where no one would hear her scream. Somewhere like here? Yes, actually. This was the perfect place. Far enough away from civilization so it was unlikely for groups of people to be out and about. If there was a person or two around here, the waterfall was sure to drown out the noise anyway. What's more, if someone was traveling through the outlands by themselves, would they really be the type to care if they heard a scream? It was all quite perfect. So why are you hesitating? He only stared blankly at the water in front of him. Why was he hesitating? There would never be a more perfect opportunity than this. Surely if this were some other girl he'd have no problem- But why not this girl? Right there. As good as any other girl. Why won't you do anything?! He had his reasons, of course. He had to have reasons. It was all a matter of... Of proving something. Yes, that was it! Already this girl thought she knew him so well. He wouldn't stand for that. Even if her assumptions were correct, he would stop at nothing to prove her wrong. Or you could just kill her and be done with it. He could do that, but he liked his solution better. Closing his eyes, he tried to will away the pain in his head as he calculated his next moves. This all had to be done systematically. One wrong move and she wins. Well that wouldn't happen. He'd show her. He wasn't just some insane rapist/murderer. If she was waiting for him to attack her, she'd be waiting for a very long time. However, try as he might, a suitable course of action never came to him. This left him to merely sit there in silence, lacing and unlacing his fingers together. Having almost completely lost his train of thought, he picked up on another one that had been at the back of his mind for awhile. It was something he'd been wanting to get someone else's opinion on, though it was rather difficult to bring up in casual conversation. Amy would be as good a person as any, and their relationship was anything but conventional, so it wasn't as if there was much to lose. "Hey, lemme ask you something," He turned to her, pausing as he tried to find the proper words, "Do you think I act... gay?"

[elle]

She succeeded in not moving one bit when he sat down next to her. She didn't let any emotions show as she stared straight in front of her. In actuality, it was taking every last bit of her concentration not to shift or glance over or make any sort of motion that showed she acknowledged him. She wanted nothing to do with him and he would learn that.

The sigh and annoyed words were almost like a victory to her and she had to struggle to keep a triumphant smile from spreading across her face. She almost wished he would try to talk to her now, just so she could continue ignoring him. It was a silent battle and she was pretty sure she was winning.

Unfortunately, not much happened for awhile. There was just more silence, with both of them staring straight ahead. It was rather disappointing, and she got tired after awhile, though her stubbornness still forced her to sit as still as possible, her eyes barely moving from one fixed spot at the base of the waterfall. Why wasn't he doing anything? Maybe the jerk was trying to beat her at her own game.

However, then he did finally speak. Though what he said caught her completely off guard.

Despite herself, she looked over at him with a quizzical glance, taking a few moments to make sense of his words. He... he really just asked her that, didn't he? How was she supposed to respond to that? Did she just answer normally?

Did he act gay? Well no, she didn't think so from what she'd seen of him. Although something must have happened to leave him wondering, so who knew.

She should probably just continue ignoring him. It was a stupid and pointless question anyway.

Or maybe she could go about things in an entirely different manner.

"Well..." She paused, looking away as she tried to keep the smile off of her face, "Wait, you mean you're not?"

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] He had thought that he was asking a question only because he was genuinely interested in her answer. Though unbeknownst to him, he may have had another, ulterior motive for asking such a strange, blunt question. When she turned to glare at him he did feel a strange sense of accomplishment for getting her to acknowledge him. However, rather than show her that by flashing a triumphant smile, he simply waited patiently for her answer. Her answer was, however, not at all what he was expecting. At first, his natural response may have been to respond in anger, but that quickly dissolved away into shock. He looked away, toward the ground in front of him, trying to figure out if she was being honest and if so, what sort of "gay vibes" did he send out. He looked back toward her, though she was avoiding his gaze. He shook his head, chuckling a bit in disbelief. "No. No I'm not!" He brought a hand up to his head, wincing at the familiarity of the situation. He... Hadn't made a very good argument last time, so he wasn't planning on making the same mistake twice. "Do you know how many women I've been with?" He didn't speak as loudly this time, but she still should have been able to hear him, "What would make you think that?" How could anyone... He would get more women in one week than most guys would get in their entire lives. Women would throw themselves at him, beg him to do whatever he wanted to with them. And he would. Guys didn't do that, but if they did, he'd kill them. Because he wasn't gay. If he had been in the proper frame of mind at the moment, he might have thought about how it probably wasn't smart to talk about all the women he'd ****ed with another woman, but this was more important than remaining civil. The random hookups and "forced hookups" that he had were getting to be common knowledge anyway. What he needed to set her straight about was his homosexuality... Alleged homosexuality! Alleged!

[elle]

Amy had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing as she felt him staring at her incredulously. It seemed as though the guy was really insecure about his sexuality. Who'd have thought? It wasn't exactly an uncommon thing for guys to be insecure, but since this happened to be about this guy in particular, it just made it so damn funny!

She was able to compose herself enough so that she could look over at him as he mumbled some sort of excuse without even cracking a smile. It seemed like it was remarkably easy to get under his skin. If she'd have known this, she would have done this from the very beginning.

"See, I thought you just got with so many women to mask your true desires. It's really nothing to be ashamed about though."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but wonder if her words were true. It did make sense to her. It would explain why his hair was always so fabulous and why his outfits were always so perfectly coordinated, and even why his nails were always so perfect and shiny. Not that she was paying attention to those things though!

"Well, maybe not gay, but I could totally see you as a bisexual. You seem like a very sensual guy. Why limit yourself to just one gender?"

She shrugged and looked at him with a serious expression which lasted for about five seconds. After that she burst into a fit of giggles. It was simply impossible to talk about such a subject with him and remain serious. From the way his voice got all high and squeaky when he was flustered to that look of sheer terror on his face. It was all too much for her to be able to retain her serious composure.

He was awfully cute when he was insecure though.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] It seemed as though everyone here was always too eager to taunt him. Was he really such an easy target? This never happened before. Well, yes it did, but not nearly as frequently. Though it might have something to do with how he had been trapped with these freaks for an extended period of time and they had gotten to know him a little to well. That was why he used to move around much more often. Actually... That was strange. He wasn't really trapped at all, but he made no attempt to run anyway. What he wouldn't give to be able to leave now, though that might cause her to question his sexuality even more. Instead, he just listened to her responses, desperately looking for a suitable reply while also forcing himself to ignore the sound logic in her answers. Then she did something he wasn't expecting. She laughed. It wasn't an offensive sort of laugh either. It sounded more amused than anything. He watched her in confusion for a few moments before having a revelation, causing him to smile hesitantly and chuckle nervously. "You're joking. You are joking, right?" He nodded to himself, answering his own question as he looked away, nonchalantly sliding closer to her. It wasn't like he was consciously trying to make a move on her. It was just habit. Besides, it was rather difficult to hear her over the sound of the waterfall. Yeah, that was it. But that wasn't important right now. What was important was... "I'm really not gay." He just had to reiterate his main point. For another moment he was silent, remembering that he hadn't in fact brought up this subject only to be ridiculed. However, now that he tried to think about it, he couldn't remember what his initial purpose had been. There was too much of a sensory overload right now and he couldn't think clearly. Perhaps that was the reason he ended up staring at her again. That enchanting laugh of hers... It was so adorable and... Vaguely... Familiar... ... Oh right. Still staring. He cleared his throat and looked away again, picking up on an earlier thought. "Believe it or not, I actually had a reason for asking. Recently I've noticed people seem to think... That of me. ****ing morons, so ****ing blinkered. Just because I look better than them?" Realizing that he was very close to going off on a rant again, he stopped himself. Instead, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, only just realizing the terrible headache he had. What caused it, however, he was unsure of. Certainly it might have been them, after all, they didn't need to be speaking to discipline him.

[elle]

He looked so confused that Amy couldn't help but laugh. So she did. Even after he caught on, she couldn't help herself. He really was that insecure. It was damn funny for one, if not a little sad. Just a little though. It did make her wonder what someone must have said or done to him to make him like that.

With a sigh, she leaned back further, still smiling as he tried to make sure that she understood how he really wasn't gay. All of his repeated denials might have been enough to make one have doubts about him. His fears were understandable though. A guy like him who apparently got with several girls a week had a lot riding on his reputation. The way people looked at him could change significantly if they thought he was gay. Not that there was anything wrong with that.

"Okay, okay. I am just kidding. That's beside the point, anyway. Forget what anyone else says. If you say you're really not gay then I'll believe you, and that's that."

She shrugged, broadening her disarming smile.

Of course she still remembered that she had still been really upset with him at first, though it was pretty difficult for her to remain angry. She still was slightly upset, though she did understand, if only a little. She didn't have much experience with guys, and Hendrix was a particularly... special case. She still didn't know how to react to him, but what good was that stubborn resentment doing? It wasn't making her feel any better either. That didn't mean that it didn't hurt anymore, but it was getting better. Besides, how could she stay upset with the guy who kept stammering on in his cute, little accent.

Speaking of which.

"Oh, are you British?"

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] He had almost been expecting more teasing remarks. She seemed to be enjoying herself with them. The response he did get, however, wasn't even close to what he had come to expect, and it left him dumbfounded. She was... So weird. First of all, no one usually had the guts to tease or insult him like that for fear he'd get angry. Stranger still, people weren't just automatically cool with him after he'd almost gotten them killed just a few months prior. It all made him very suspicious of her. Which was ridiculous. What could she, a human, do? He was only being paranoid because she was being... Well, nice. He smiled and looked away awkwardly, completely unsure of how he was supposed to respond to her. Letting his head fall into his hands, he attempted to massage the headache away. Then, as she asked another question, he couldn't help but chuckle at the rapid transition to a new topic. He didn't mind though, even if he had brought the previous one up. At least this topic wasn't as delicate, even if it was slightly difficult to explain. "Sorta. See, it's like... Well, I'm not from here at all. I'm from somewhere very, very far away." Honestly, he wasn't sure how far away his world was, but since he'd never seen another Nocturne that he hadn't created, he was guessing it was far enough. Besides, the sun here wasn't like the sun in his world, and the only darkness that existed there was man-made. It was quite a shock to him when he first got here, to go through continuous periods of extreme light then extreme darkness. He got used to it over time though. However, on the rare occasion that the sunlight managed to mimic the twilight of his world, he still felt a pang of nostalgia, if not also a pang of hatred. "Ah... The first place I came to was right outside of London, though. It was there were I learned English and about human society in general. And non-human society, of course." That was also the first time he'd seen a human female. Now that was a very good memory.

[elle]

Amy noticed how he seemed to be stricken with a rather bad headache, which made her wonder if she'd somehow caused it. She must have had some part in it, at least, and that made her feel sorry. However, she quickly got over it. Though a guy like him may deserve some pity, she wasn't about to pity every single thing about him. Besides, there was too much to list.

"You okay? I think I have some aspirin."

She reached for her purse beside her, but stopped short.

You'd think that after finding out that that some of your best friends were really just mythical freaks in disguise, there wouldn't be a hell of a lot left that could surprise you. The notion of aliens had never seemed that far fetched in comparison to some of the other theories that she'd heard, or even some of the truths that had been revealed to her. It really shouldn't have been a shock, and yet his words left her completely amazed, and she stared at him with what probably should have been a sort of fear, but was really an avid curiosity.

"You're an alien too?!" She was staring at him, wide-eyed, as the many questions she had tripped over each other as she tried to ask them, "How'd you get here? Why'd you come here? What do you look like? Are you really like green with antenna and stuff? Oh, when did you come here? Ever miss your home planet?"

She inhaled several breaths as she thought about other questions she wanted to ask. After a moment, she decided to take a break and wait patiently for answers to her first batch of questions first. Semi-patiently, at least, as she was kneeling, facing him with the stupidest grin on her face. For once in a long while, she was excited about something again.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] His world had once been an enjoyable place. His childhood had been spent relatively comfortably. That was, up until he was thrown into a cell and all but forgotten for ten years. Suffice it to say that he didn't care to talk about his past too much. The mere thought of them disgusted him. Even the way he really looked disgusted him. Of course, he was going to do his best not to show her that. He smiled at her childish enthusiasm as he waited for a break in her list of questions that would give him enough time to respond. In the meantime it gave him time to think about how to respond. How to answer all of her questions by telling her as little as possible. How to get through his response without appearing too upset or disturbed about what he was saying. When she paused to take a breath, he seized the opportunity and selected the question that would be easiest to answer first. "What do I look like? Well, not your traditional "alien." Like..." He turned to focus on the ground between them, reaching out with his mind. In a matter of seconds, a small creature appeared to be clawing its way out of the ground. As soon as it was through, he grasped the strange, lizard-like creature in his hands and held it up to her, "Like this, only much bigger." He set the docile beast on the ground where it looked around curiously. All of its needs had been disabled, except for the need to breathe, which left Amy in no danger from it. The other questions she'd asked didn't have such a simple response. "Well... I really never meant to come here. I just sort of stumbled into... Something. I'm still not entirely sure what it was. Next thing I knew the sun was gone. It was late at night when I came here. There really wasn't a nighttime where I come from, so everything about this place was just so... Well, alien," Was there a reason to explain what he had been doing when he stumbled upon this "rift between the worlds"? Of course not. She didn't need to know about some of the first things he did while he was here either, "But, the year I got here... It was in the 1670s, I think. Maybe '74 or '75. I'm bad with dates." The best question he'd saved for last. Did he ever miss his planet? For as much as he grew to hate it, it would be a lie to say that he didn't miss it at all. He might spend more time in the shadow plane if it didn't also bring back those bad memories. Of course, who knew what his world was like now? It had been hundreds of years, and maybe even more time had passed on his planet. Whatever it was like now he was pretty sure that everyone he knew was dead. Though that shouldn't matter much. They'd essentially abandoned him near the end of his imprisonment. "Sometimes, I guess. Although I like this world much better." He laid back down on the ground, smiling slightly to himself. Looking up at her, he was all too willing to put the spotlight off of him for awhile, though he needed to act quickly before she caught her breath again. "But hey, enough about me. What's your story?" Although he was certain that he had asked her a similar question shortly after they first met, he hadn't been too interested in the answer and so he had all but forgotten it now. Well there was no time like the present to make amends.

[elle]

For a moment she thought that all of her questions may have frightened him. They had a habit of doing that to people. However, it seemed like he was... smiling at her? Why would he do that? It made her suspicious to say the least. Although in the end, her curiosity won out over her suspicions. It was probably a foolish thing to do, though her mind was too clouded by notions of aliens and other planets at the moment.

She watched in amazement as a small creature appeared to claw its way out of the shadows in front of her. It reminded her of a sort of dinosaur, which should have probably frightened her, but its small stature and cute, little tuft of fur on its head pushed it beyond the realms of frightening and straight into cute. When he set it down, she moved her hand over to it slowly, seeing if it would attack. When it didn't, she carefully petted it atop its head. It seemed to like that, as it edged just a little closer to her. As she listened to the rest of his replies, the little creature held the majority of her attention. However, she was in no way ignoring him.

Something about the short replies made her think that maybe he didn't like to talk about his past so much, so she didn't press it. There was one thing that she couldn't help herself about, though.

"Sixteen seventy? Wow, you're ancient! Well... you don't look a day over one hundred!"

She smiled as she brought the creature into her arms, hugging it close to her. It even made an adorable purring sound! So Hendrix looked like this cute, little beast, huh? Well there must have been a reason why he showed her this one rather than showing her how he looked himself. Perhaps he was much scarier and he didn't want to frighten her? Or maybe he had a few deep dark secrets.

Well maybe she'd learn something more about him later. Right now, it was her turn. Great.

"Not much to say," She shrugged, "Born and raised in California for my entire life. About a year ago I was sent up north and, well, you know what happened after that."

That was perhaps the shortest life story ever, but there really wasn't much to say. And what there was to say, she didn't want to say. Apparently, they both had a few skeletons in their closets, but something told her that his secrets were probably much worse than hers. That was all very depressing to think about.

"Ya know, my family's originally from the London area. Hey, you could be my great great great grandfather, or something!"

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/hendmiddle1.png] He propped his head up on his hand, only smiling as she marveled at his age. She seemed to find the Nocturnni just as amazing, as she wasted no time taking it in her arms and acting as if it were an adorable kitten or something. He'd never seen anyone think of the creatures as particularly cute, but he'd known there was something strange about this girl. Not that that was a bad thing. Actually, he really enjoyed it for some reason. After she finished her own story in two sentences, he shrugged off her comments after that, deciding he'd rather know a little more about her than think about the possibility that he may have at one point been trying to get his granddaughter into bed. She had neglected to ask him any further questions, and he appreciated that. However, he wasn't quite as nice. For some reason, the girl didn't enjoy speaking about her past, and he was curious as to why. "That's it? I'm guessing you've got some issues with your past. Family-related, perhaps? Well, c'mon, you're away from all of that now. No better place to start anew." Of course, that brought with it a whole new slew of problems. She was human, after all. In a world now dominated by mythicals. Back on the mainland she had been surrounded by them there as well, though they usually appeared as humans, and there were a few rules in place to protect the actual humans. Yeah, bad things happened when you broke those rules. But now what was there? Haven was a safe place, though most of its inhabitants walked around in true form, so the human population must feel isolated. Sol was more equipped to a human's tastes, however it was much more dangerous. So perhaps that was why she was here now, by herself, by this waterfall. It was rather sad actually. "But... Enough of that. So how're you holding up?" He'd asked enough questions of her, and it would probably be rude to pry anymore. Instead, now he turned his attention to the present time. It usually wasn't as interesting as the past or the future, but it had this strange habit of being just as important.

[elle]

When he proceeded to ask her about her past, she only sighed and continued to pet the bizarre, little alien creature. It wasn't as if her past was horrible or really, overly depressing or anything. It was just like he said. She had some issues about her past that she wasn't willing to talk about. Besides, she knew some people had lives that were much worse, like Hendrix probably. It wasn't right of her to complain.

"Eh. Parents who treat you as nothing more than a trained poodle and don't bother to call unless they need something."

She shrugged, putting an end to that topic with one, short sentence. Luckily, he was nice enough to change the topic really quickly. Though her life hadn't been terrible, it was still annoying as hell. They probably didn't even know that she'd essentially vanished off the face of the earth. It was a stretch to say that they'd even care once they did find out. But Hendrix was right. It was like she was in a whole new world now, and she could do whatever she wanted.

"I'm doing okay, I guess. This place is very different than home. What I thought was home, at least."

She wouldn't bother explaining how lonely or out of place she felt. How she would sometimes see a group of giant wolves running together off in the distance and wish that she could have been born a mythical wolf too. What did it matter that she spent almost every day by herself, wandering around aimlessly while wondering if every tree or rabbit she passed had the ability to kill her. She didn't belong here and she knew that, but she didn't belong back "home" either. All she could do was make the best with what she had. Whining about it wouldn't fix anything, so she just had to shut her mouth and keep moving forward.

Great, now she was getting all depressed again. She'd better think of something to lighten the mood a little.

"I haven't been getting much sleep though. I think it's, uh, mating season for the people in the room next to mine."