A day later, Nina stood between two racks of clothes with a blank expression on her face. Things around her had slowed down to a surprisingly normal pace ever since Reina and Svanda had left them to their own devices, but the thoughts in her head hadn’t received the memo. Just being in public was draining, and the worst part was that she knew she had nobody to blame but herself for it. Ormain wasn’t around the corner, and the woman behind the counter at the shop wasn’t Rucille in disguise either. It should have been simple logic, but Nina couldn’t help but feel tense to the point where it was almost laughable. She’d been praying for a break for so long, yet when she finally got it she couldn’t even unwind.

“This one’s cute,” Jade hummed as she pulled a white shirt from the rack, twirling it around by the hanger as she admired the lace design on the sleeves. “Try it on?”

Nina’s gaze slid from empty space to the shirt in Jade’s hands, her expression revealing nothing about her first impression. It was alright, she guessed, simple along both the front and back where it would be visible underneath her jacket. The lace wasn’t going to do anything for her besides add to the price tag, however, and she wondered if she could make it through the day without burning a hole in her pocket. Probably not, considering that she was with Jade. Nina did admit that she had a good eye for design, but practicality wasn’t exactly her strong suit. Almost like an opposite to Svanda when she thought about it, and for once she probably wouldn’t have minded shopping with her.

“She just needs something comfortable,” Aline said with a sigh as she appeared before them, a light t-shirt draped over her shoulder. “She can wash her other gear in the meantime, so just let her take something to relax in.”

“Not cute at all,” Jade said with a pout as she examined Aline’s selection, folding her arms without discarding what she had chosen. “Maybe Nina wants something nice to wear out for lunch tomorrow, how do you know?”

“Why don’t you ask her then?” Aline replied before smiling in Nina’s direction. “You just want something to relax in at home, right?”

“She doesn’t,” Jade answered for her. “She wants to look cute when she goes out so that she feels better!”

Nina’s thoughts slowly drifted as she glanced at the two offerings before her, wondering why she felt like she was picking between the people instead of between what they held. It was a trap that she wasn’t about to fall for, however, and so instead of selecting a favourite she randomly reached into the rack beside her. Finding that a checkered shirt of white and pastel blues had appeared in her hand, she glanced over it quickly for size before stepping past the confused pair beside her.

“This’ll do,” she said as she walked towards the cash register, silently praying that it wasn’t too expensive. At least the fabric felt nice, but at the same time she knew that she wasn’t out of the woods just yet. She’d avoided picking a side for now, but her choice of when to wear her new addition would do that anyway. Wear it at home and Aline would surely claim victory, while if she wore it next time they headed out then Jade would do the same. It was unavoidable, it seemed, until she had an idea. It wasn’t an idea that she was particularly happy with, but at least it would let her keep the balance in check.

Rueing her finances, she swiped a faded yellow shirt off the rack on the way over to the register. Why couldn’t Reina pay their bonuses now instead of when they returned to Luem?

Asking that very question after the trio had clambered into the car, she found that Jade wholeheartedly agreed with her opinion while Aline seemed indifferent. Euris helped calculate it all through a series of complex processes, apparently, although it sounded like a poor excuse for delays. Surely there was a minimum ‘kidnapped by a crazy woman under your watch’ bonus or something similar, and Nina wouldn’t mind seeing it before she was killed by the persistent captain on the other side of the fence. At least she had defused the clothing dilemma smoothly, her yellow and blue shirts marked for indoor and outdoor use respectively. It was the best of both worlds when it came to pleasing the pair, but Nina would have been happy under a blanket in her room where clothes weren’t even required. Instead, she’d put a hole in her pocket for clothes she couldn’t take with her to the next plate while managing to get roped in for lunch tomorrow at the same time.

She really needed a bath.

“I wonder how Svanda’s doing,” Jade mused, one of Nina’s new shirts held up as she ran her eyes over it. It seemed to pass the initial test at least, because before Nina knew it she had reached for the other. “I know Trim said to avoid it, but I’m still interested. They’re super rich right? I wonder if they have a castle or something.”

“Don’t expect me to go with you if you get the chance,” Aline said before frowning. “I don’t think you should go in the first place. Keeping your mouth shut isn’t exactly your forte, and who knows what kind of trouble it would land you in.”

Nina smirked as Jade hit Aline on the shoulder with a light punch, pouting before turning her attention to the window. Nina watched her blue eyes in the reflection as they followed the scenery which flew past them, noting the hand that idly moved up through her hair as though she had lost herself in thought. It was a familiar sight over the last couple of days, and it wasn’t just Jade who had been drifting off either. They all had, and is she was frank, Nina didn’t like it. As terrible as it was, the pressure that they had been under over the past few weeks had always given them direction. It had aligned them, and in turn it had integrated Nina as a part of the group. When there was no time to think, all they could do was just… do.

With the pressure now off, however, the tight-knit group was beginning to drift apart. Reina and Svanda were off doing their own thing, while she felt like walls had suddenly appeared overnight around the rest of them. It was silly, really, but Nina wanted to know what was going on in Jade’s head. If Ormain was right in front of them she would have known that the focus was on the problem at hand, but what was Jade thinking about now? When everyone else was lost in thought, where were they?

A light cough from Aline disturbed her thoughts, causing a wry smile to appear on her lips at the irony of her plight. She’d been the same recently, lost in thought with nothing to show for it. If they asked her what she had been thinking about, what would she say? It would be embarrassing to admit that she had been hung up to such an extent over something so trivial, and so instead of waiting for the question she decided to go on the offensive.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked Jade, the question pulling her attention away from the window. She didn’t know if she was stepping on anything that she shouldn’t be, but Jade was probably more open about this kind of thing compared to anyone else. It certainly wasn’t a question that she’d try with Reina or Svanda, for instance, but that was something that she could work towards with time. Baby steps were fine for now, she could chip at the walls before going after any of the larger chunks.

“About the first time I came here,” Jade eventually replied, her expression pensive. “It was similar to this time around I guess, where Reina, Svanda, and Trim left the two of us for a few days while they went to see the Daerx Clan. They told us that we wouldn’t want to come, but I just couldn’t believe them at the time. They were heading off to meet one of the most powerful groups of people on the plate, and in their place we’d been left with dropping a bunch of packages off around Southstone.”

“It was fun, just the two of us in a whole new city,” Aline said with a smile as she placed a hand over Jade’s. “Our families would never find us on a different plate, so it was the first time that we truly had time to just ourselves without worrying about the people behind us. It was time that we needed, and Reina gave it to us while only expecting a day’s work in return.”

“It was nice,” Jade admitted with a shy smile. “But it didn’t last. A few days after that they returned, and the moment that they walked in the door I realized that they hadn’t been lying when they said leaving us behind was for our own good.”

“Why was that?” Nina asked.

“Reina was fine,” Aline continued with a shrug. “She always seems to be fine. Svanda and Trim though…”

“Looked terrible,” Jade concluded.