The Dangling Conversation

cue the [OLD] running joke in my fics/posts that the TTGC gang keeps a schedule of whose turn it is to comfort Haze when she goes off the handle about ghosts which as it turns out was already somewhat done here but hey even i'm allowed to retread stuff sometimes :3

Mythra is, unfortunately, not the first person Haze would choose as an exemplar of "comforting" in presence or aura, or even reassuring statements made to contradict that impression. She's just a bit...prickly. Lady Brighid is scary, to be sure, and even Jin is an acquired taste, in that way, but there's just something different about Mythra that makes Haze hesitant.

If only she weren't so afraid...

But, ironically enough, what Haze is afraid of even more so than fellow team members is ghosts, and the looming-lurching threat thereof. No matter what Hugo or Minoth tell her to try to combat Addam's wicked little wiles attempting to rile her up, she can't stand to sleep alone. Certainly, with more travelers than there ever have been (and those she knows, too, not just foreboding "fellow" mercenaries), there should be no reason to fear. Still...

Well, she can't just keep begging Mikhail or Lady Lora to sleep next to her.

Tonight, it's Mythra's turn. Like her Driver, she doesn't remove her armor to sleep, but her armor also has more spikes than anyone else's. Really not helping Haze feel more at ease, but from the look on her face, Mythra is just as unsettled.

She might as well ask. "What's wrong, Mythra?"

Mythra shakes her head, grumbles. "I just...don't feel like the right person to be doing this."

You're not alone in that, Haze thinks, but doesn't say. Instead: "There's not really much to do. I guess you just have to promise not to sleepwalk."

The Aegis's eyes dull and lid further. "Right. Promise."

"Is...that a problem?"

"Sleepwalking." Mythra gestures to the rest of the group. "Kind of my thing."

Maybe she's alluding to a subconscious desire to get away from them. Not the easiest thing to address, and Haze isn't going to try. "I'll hold you down, then," she offers brightly, as if that's a normal thing to say.

Shockingly, Mythra agrees, wrapping her arms around the back of Haze's neck just as Haze does to her. Maybe she just wants to get it over with. The sigh that drifts saffronia-heavy into the expansive curtain of Haze's hair is the only thing that reminds her just why they're doing this - but she does indeed feel protected from any more elusive errant gusts.

And maybe they'll talk about this more, tomorrow.