"Ashes Reborn, Trauma Reformed" Nimona

"Groceries"

Nimona and Ballister had been on the same mission for weeks, desperately trying to prove the former knight's innocence in the Queen's murder. They had been sneaking around, trying to unearth any clues that would prove his innocence, and Nimona had been breaking anything she could whenever Ballister would allow it. It was the most fun she'd had in god knows how long.

They had been investigating for days on end, and the strain of the mission was beginning to take its toll on them both. But Nimona was determined to prove Ballister's innocence, no matter what it took. She had a feeling that they were close to discovering something important, and the thought of finally being able to clear his name filled her with a sense of purpose.

Nimona had grown to admire Ballister's unwavering determination, and she had found a kindred spirit in him. She was beginning to feel like they were a team, and she was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery with him. When they had planned to find and kidnap the Squire, she'd been more than thrilled to accompany her boss in the mission.

And yet here she was, only a few months later, on the same subway to the same old market with a different mission at hand and a sheet of paper in hand that she fiddled with disinterestedly. Upon its surface, the paper displayed a list written in bled ink, reminding her of their newest mission.

Grocery shopping.

While Ballister sat across from her writing a second shopping list with the last drops of life that their pen had to offer, Nimona sat disgruntled, staring at the basically dead tree in her hands as though it had offended her in some way. She traced its coffee stained surface with her thumb as the droning rattle of the train carried them to an open and populated area full of stalls of crap they had to pay for when she could oh so easily steal it.

The journey alone had put Nimona in an inexplicable huff as she refused to understand why they had to travel their in such a mundane way when she could have flown them both there in a third of the time this was taking them, let alone travel there at all.

Nimona hadn't even realised she'd crumpled the paper in her boredom until she felt eyes boaring into her with a frustration that darkened already heavy brown eyes, and she connected her brighter ones with them, a innocent look crossing her features.

She knew the reasons behind his agitation. That was easy. It was her - it usually was.

Not just her, of course, but she was currently the most prominent one, and she knew it. It would have been easier all around for her to just talk to him about her own mood, but she'd rather blow herself up all over again if she was honest.

The problem was that Ballister relied on clear communication and trust, whereas Nimona just... didn't. It wasn't that she didn't want to make things easier by being that way too, of course she wanted their relationship to be full of those things, but a century of betrayel had taught her it just wasn't worth the hassle and discomfort it accumulated.

Besides, it wasn't as if she'd been given many reasons to be vulnerable and open, so when even was it time to even start doing that? How did anybody know: 'Hey, I can trust this person all of a sudden. Neat!'

Yeah, no.

That was a topic she wasn't ready to broach anytime soon.

The pull of the trains breaks halted her thoughts in their tracks alongside the hunk of metal they both sat within to even get here. Nimona blinked heavily, sunlight now blinding her through the window, and she exhaled loudly, pink eyes scanning the ridiculously plain platform. Sighing dejectedly, she hauled herself into a stand, list still scurnched in her hand as she stretched upward.

"Whelp, at least there aren't guards after our heads this time." Ballister joked, trying to lighten the mood. Whose mood specifically, Nimona was unsure, but whoevers mood was to be lifted, it sure wasn't hers, and she didn't need to say it for it to be blatantly obvious.