food and friends and first days back {{open to all!}}

Dulais couldn't keep herself from playing with the hem of her loose robin's egg blue dress as she sat at one of the large tables in the dining hall. The room was eerily empty, so empty it seemed she could hear the echo of her own heartbeat, and she supposed that she might have been just a little too early to dinner. Her blue satin flats whispered against each other as she rubbed her feet together in anxiety. She was well aware that she was considered one of the shyer kids in the school, but that didn't mean she was happy without company. Though she wasn't in the habit of starting conversations with strangers, she usually found herself completely lost without a friend around. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable with her own thoughts, though they did tend to wander in strange directions sometimes, it was merely that she really enjoyed the thoughts of others.

At this moment, though, she had only her own thoughts and the quiet whisper of her slippers. She drummed her fingers gently against the table, then dug her hand in one of the large pockets of her dress. She was mightily hungry, and being the first so far in the dining hall, she doubted that dinner would be beginning anytime soon. She pulled her hand back out of her pocket and it was now holding a handful of dried apple slices. She'd made them herself, and had soaked the slices in sugar syrup before she had dried them. She popped one of the delicious, homemade snacks into her mouth and wondered where her brother was.

The teenager yawned widely as she made her way through the spacious hallway towards the dining hall. She stretched her arms upward, making a sound that was something like "Ahnyaa ..." Guinevere ran her fingers through her hair, vigorously untangling any knots she found. The girl had just woken up from one of her frequent naps, and, unable to find any food inside of her room, she headed towards the dining hall in the hoped of grabbing some sort of sustaining snack that would last her until dinnertime. After getting a bit fed up with her hair, Vere pulled it back and tied it into a ponytail, sticking a mint green butterfly clip she had found into her hair to finish it off. Guinevere tugged at her dark blue silk blouse, oriental-patterned with golden dragons. Oh, she was so hungry! Vere made her way into the dining hall, scowling. There was no food. Ugh. She placed a hand on her stomach sadly as she listened to it painfully growl.

As Vere turned around to stomp back out, she spotted a certain adorable shortie sitting in a table nearby. Her face lit up, and she began walking towards Dulais, her black boots making a brisk clop-clop sound as she approached. Guinevere slid into the seat across from her friend, smooling out her dark grey jeans as she sat down. Vere smiled at Dulais. "Hey!" she said, leaning against the table. "I haven't seen you in a while, have I?" The teen stopped herself from staring too much at the nice-smelling snacks the other girl held in her hand. Instead, she asked, "How have you been recently?" Guinevere needed a topic that wouldn't bring back the thought of her aching stomach -- and therefore was concentrating all of her energy into what she was saying, giving her a slightly more ... serious? determined? -- expression than usual.

Dulais perked her head up a little when she heard the tapping of another student's shoes on the shining Dining Hall floor. Her toes curled up in her shoes and she wondered who it was that was approaching her. She thought that maybe they would just pass by and sit at another table, that would spare her the stomach-twisting experience of trying to start a conversation with a stranger. Of course, it could be Dovabelle of Dyrk who was coming, though she didn't think Dyrk's shoes ever sounded like that. She looked up anxiously when the unknown entity took the chair on the other side of the table from her. Her tense face relaxed immediately though; as soon as she realized that Vere had come to keep her company. "Vere!" she said happily, her previous dread dissipating completely. She traced her big toe across the floor beneath her seat and thought over Vere's question. "No, guess not. I didn't see much of anything this summer. Mom kept us all on our toes." Dulais shrugged; the fact that her mother was the Headmistress of Aegnor was something that she would never be able to change. It was just one of those annoying facts of life. Day turned to night and Dulais' mother ran her school.

Dulais dug back into her pocket and pulled out another handful of apple slices. She handed them over to Vere with a smile, "Want to spoil your appetite with me?" She tossed a slice into her smile and chewed it thoughtfully. "What have you been up to over break, then?" she asked once her mouth was no longer full.

Guinevere laughed. "Your mom is the boss around here, isn't she?" she teased. The girl grinned. "I guess I'm just lucky, eh, Dulais?" Vere turned slightly red when her stomach gave off a particularly loud growl. Her face lit up when Dulais offered the bag of dried apples. Reaching over to receive the snacks. "Don't mind if I do," she said happily. "After all, food is meant to be eaten -- even if it's right before a meal." Guinevere took one and ate it, savoring the taste ... and the fact that it calmed her raging stomach.

She thought a bit, chewing the apple thoroughly and swallowing it, before replying. "Well ... I didn't do much, actually. My break probably wasn't nearly as exciting as yours." Vere allowed herself to eat another slice before continuing. "Unless destruction is interesting. I accidentally blew up the shed, which led to a .. ah, light training session with my mother. Needless to say, they weren't very happy with me." Guinevere shrugged apologetically, her face sheepish. "A dog bit me."

Steering away from a potentially angering topic, she added, "But, other than that, it wasn't very eventful. I pretty much slept ... and read ... and slept some more." Guinevere glanced around. It was still empty. No food. She sighed, eating a bit more. "I wish dinner would hurry and start," she murmured. "Why're you here so early, anyway, Dulais?"

Dulais shrugged and laughed along with Vere, "Yeah, and let's not forget it." Dulais was only half-kidding. Her mother did deserve respect, but sometimes she demanded it a little too heavily. "Yeah, you lucky duck. With all your getting to go outside and have a decent vacation." Now Dulais was primarily kidding. She hadn't had too bad of a vacation, just a little tough. In fact, she probably would have chosen to stay at home had she been given the option. After all, her mother hadn't been able to keep Dyrk from having his vacation. Sometimes Dulais wished she could just have a pinch of the strength and stubbornness that her brother possessed.

Dulais smiled and chewed on an apple herself, relishing the delight she saw in Vere's face. It was always nice to have her homemade snacks appreciated, that's why she enjoyed sharing so much. One of the reasons, anyways. "Oh come on, it had to be more fun than practicing moving puddles for a week." Dulais sucked on another apple as Vere continued, holding one end in her hand. She pulled it out of her mouth, "Oh no, did it make much of a mess?" She reached her free hand across the table and squeezed Vere's hand, "Jeez, it's like they're drawn to you, isn't it? Maybe they know you don't like them." Dulais didn't have anything against dogs, but any dog who would mess with her friend wasn't good in her books.

"Me too!" Dulais exclaimed, eager to go along with the subject change. She didn't care much if Vere exploded anything around her (she would probably jump about three feet in the air, but she wouldn't begrudge her friend for that), but Dulais didn't like seeing Vere unhappy. She didn't really like seeing anyone unhappy, for that matter. "I dunno. Dyrk's off somewhere and Dovabelle unpacking in our room, so I didn't really have anything to do. I was kind of hoping food would be coming soon....but I think I was a lot earlier than I'd thought. What about you? You finished unpacking yet?" Dulais popped the apple in her hand into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully.