Tea for Two [Bailey]

[Arianna Barrial]

Well... Her talk with Damien had concluded much earlier than she'd anticipated, which left her plenty of time to assuage her worry over all her patients. Though she was on a strict timeline, she was also fairly adept and balanced in keeping her time short but also making her patients feel like they mattered.

Because, well, they did.

Soon enough Arianna had made her way out of the infirmary - which was always the place guaranteed to be her life, where-ever she went - and moved off towards the dormitories. It took no effort to look Bailey's room number up and only somewhat more to get there. She lifted her hand and knocked softly.

"Bailey?"

Well..! She could hope Bailey was here and not elsewhere.

[Bailey Oleander]

There was shuffling on the other side of the door, followed by a muffled "One moment please!"

Inside the room, Bailey was pulling herself together after her extensive talks with people in and out of the infirmary. She ran her fingers through her hair, looking around her room with dismay and a frazzled mind. So much had happened since she'd been out, it still felt surreal. But the knock at the door reminded her that she was still having tea with a friend, and the little blonde turned and made her way to the door, lab coat and work clothes removed for something a little nicer. Heck, there was even a skirt involved.

"Hi, Arianna." She offered the girl a warm smile. "Good to see you again." She'd grab her purse and closed the door behind her.

"Do you have anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"

[Arianna Barrial]

"Okay." Came the muffled response as the surgeon waited outside the door, patiently.

She didn't have to wait long, either way, and soon enough Bailey was opening the door looking...different. No lab coat, she immediately realized, and blinked a few times, like a deer in the headlights in the face of the young woman's question. Pale honey eyes swept over her scrubs and for a moment...she almost felt embarrassed.

"Hahh, well. I hadn't given it much thought, honestly. Apparently I was thinking we would just stay at Cabal. But..." She worried her lip a moment, then smiled, "Why don't we pop over to my room a moment and I can change clothes, then we can go out?"

And get away from everything?

It would be a shame to waste the opportunity, for one, and another that Bailey was quite pretty and deserved to be taken out.

If that seemed like a sound plan to her fellow blonde...she would start their walk off to her room.

[Bailey Oleander]

Oh dear, she had overdressed. Bailey's cheeks flushed a little as Arianna's startled stare took in her appearance, then her own. When the other woman offered to go back and change, Bailey nodded with a smile as a tinge of pink remained on her cheeks.

"Sure, sounds good." Incredibly good, actually. Getting away from here would do them both some good. "It'll give us a chance to get a breath of fresh air." Away from the wounded, away from duty, away from the signs of battle. Even if it was only just for a little bit. The way Arianna had looked earlier, she needed to get out from the same four walls as much as she did, only the taller woman almost lived in the infirmary some days.

Waiting for Arianna to lead the way to her room, she would walk beside her. "Well in that case, we'll have to see what kind of surprises are out there. I haven't really done much looking, myself." She normally just stuck with whatever was on Cabal. That stuff could keep an elephant awake for days. It was her life's blood.

During the walk to the other dorm, Bailey's gaze would occasionally flicker back to Arianna, a puzzled expression on her face. Whatever was on her mind, she kept it to herself for now.

[Arianna Barrial]

Overdressed nothing, Arianna would have said. Her initial jolt was her fault for not considering she should...probably change on top of just cleaning up. It wouldn't take terribly long to get there, all things considered, and if nothing else, changing would be a short blip of time in the grand scheme of things.

"Yes, it certainly will."

Maybe they could both breathe easier for it.

She glanced over to Bailey as they moved down the hall, and smiled. "Nor have I, so it looks like we'll be in for a small adventure."

A lighthearted one.

Though the blonde noticed the glances, she didn't yet address them, not even as she unlocked her room and stepped in before glancing at Bailey almost as an afterthought. "Feel free to come in..? Or stay outside? I won't be too long, either way."

True enough to her word, it didn't take long at all after shutting the door to divest herself of her scrubs and lab coat to slip into leggings and a long-sleeved, dark green dress, and repin her hair in a twist at the back of her head.

[Bailey Oleander]

"Thanks. I think I'll join you." Bailey would take the offer to enter Arianna's dorm, looking around at any decor it might have as she stood to the side, fingers laced behind her back as she did so. She wasn't sure if she was expecting any or not.

"We can probably find something close by. We had a cafe back home, not a chain or anything. It always felt cozier because of it somehow." She would continue light chatter, mostly letting Arianna dress in peace but also not wanting just complete silence. When the other woman entered the room, her smile grew.

"It looks great on you."

[Arianna Barrial]

All things considered, there wasn't much that one could consider personal decor. Whether it meant Arianna didn't intend on sticking around long or that she simply knew she'd be spending most of her time in the infirmary was anyone's guess. So far the latter turned out to be most viable. Either way, there were a few things. An old family photograph of her entire family - parents being the older blond man and redheaded woman, then a younger male that had similar features to Arianna, another blonde that would come to be recognisable as Kyrie if Bailey knew what she looked like, and then there was a younger male with a mop of curly red hair, and the youngest was a girl with red hair - then one with herself and Odin, and another still of a man with brown hair and hazel eyes. Tucked just behind that was a picture of her and Damien, who was instantly recognisable as he hadn't aged a day.

"That sounds like a plan."

Otherwise there were copious amounts of scrubs and a few extra lab coats, and a smattering of less work-inclined clothing.

Arianna's expression softened with the compliment, a smile spilling across her lips. "Thank you."

A quick scoop of her purse from within a drawer by her bed and she was ready to go.

"Alright...shall we~?"

[Bailey Oleander]

She was curious about the photos enough to take a look, especially since they were one of the few things in the room. Bailey figured that Arianna spent most of her time in the infirmary, or maybe just didn't require much here. "We shall." With a playful half bow, Bailey would open the door for both of them, waiting for Arianna before moving on.

Once off Cabal grounds, Bailey let out an audible sigh of relief. The places close by would be best, and she'd chat with Arianna along the way until they found something that caught their interest.

"So how are you holding up? I know you were pretty busy for a while."

[Arianna Barrial]

Bailey's playful gesture brought one of her own, and Arianna made a slight curtsy, with a "Why thank you" in response to the open door. The few minutes it took to get off campus passed quickly, and in apparent comfortable silence, as both heaved an audible sigh of relief upon exiting. Soft eyes roamed over the streets and signs with a soft hum.

"Well...crisis situations are what they are. It doesn't necessarily get easier to deal with them after almost twenty years, but, I've gotten more effective at dealing with that part, I suppose. I'm drained, more than anything." Oh boy, was that an understatement. She could give Kyrie a run for her money. "What about you..?"

Though they looked about the same age, Arianna was keenly aware she had about eighteen years or more on Bailey.

[Bailey Oleander]

Bailey took a moment to answer the question, though she nodded at Arianna's assessment. It sounded about right. "I'm okay, I think. My last mission was pretty rough. I can understand why you would say drained." She was too, in some ways, though it might have been the emotions themselves rather than just the situation that stirred them.

They would reach a little cafe at a corner street called Alchemy Brews! It seemed comfortable through the window, some customers already inside enjoying drinks and a pastry or something else. The furniture looked well loved and plus, almost like a study instead of any fancy tea rooms. The sign advertised local ingredients, as well as the fact they served coffee and tea both.

"What do you think?" She would nod to the cafe. "Sound good?"

[Arianna Barrial]

Arianna had compartmentalized nearly everything, and though she might have liked to deal with the aftermath of everything on her own it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to talk about it with a friend. First things first was tending to Bailey, considering she wasn't fully out of her on-duty mindset.

"What happened, Bailey..?"

The proposed place was something Arianna looked at with a great deal of interest. Homey, comfortable, and it fit the bill with coffee and tea...and sweets.

Perfect to unwind with, right?

Her lips spread with a smile that was genuine and tinged with relief. "This looks lovely."

It was her turn to open the door, and she did so with the smile lingering. "After you, this time."

[Bailey Oleander]

"Thank you." Bailey grinned at Arianna's gesture, nodding graciously as if she was a queen. The effect lasted long enough for her to get into the door before she chuckled and the illusion broke. The smell of coffee and tea brewing filled the air, sweets on colorful display and tempting customers to indulge themselves.

It was heaven.

"It's almost perfect." She gave a wistful sigh and looked over her shoulder at Arianna and nodded to the menu. "Let me know what you want. It's my treat this time." Unfortunately, Bailey was not in the mood to share again.

"It was just...rough. Things didn't go as planned." By a long shot, but even thinking about it made her tired. She could only repeat herself so many times, though she did feel Arianna would understand.

[Arianna Barrial]

Lovely young lady.

Arianna inhaled deeply as they came in, feeling some of the lingering pressure ease up just a tiny bit. "Then our second outing is sealed."

She could agree to Bailey paying for the first one if they had a second. A consistent sort of outing...would probably do her good, considering she essentially lost that with her absence from Abel in this move. She agreed, though, it was nearly perfect, just perhaps for different reasons than Bailey.

For the answer to the question asked, Arianna nodded and didn't attempt to pry further. "I know that feeling. It's a common thread in life, it seems, where things just don't go the way we want them to."

[Bailey Oleander]

"It's a deal." She was looking forward to another outing already. It felt like they both needed it, that the worries of the world were sealed off by the door that closed behind them. Fingers lacing behind her back once more, Bailey would let Arianna look over the menu when she was ready.

Sometimes, they needed to be more than soldiers or medics. They needed to be human.

"Yeah." Her smile turned sad for a moment at the memories. "Sometimes, you can't save anyone, even if you try." It was a hard lesson learned. But she perked up again, refusing to let it taint their outing.

[Arianna Barrial]

Arianna's eyes scanned eagerly over the menu of offered delights. After a few long moments it became quite apparent that she wasn't going to find her favourite dessert. So then her hunt came to be something that would be semi-appropriate to feed the rare need for something sweet, and she came to find..?

"Canelé, please. And a...oh, french press, dark roast?"

Didn't that sound delightful?

"You're right, Bailey. And sometimes, when you can, you face the choice of whether to save them, or let life take its course."