Sense of Self

Desires and Decisions

"Here." Eric offers Evanora a bottle of water as he takes a seat beside her on the marble bench. They had moved to one of the maze's dead ends to get privacy away from the party, courtesy of Rex, knowing all of the known paths by heart.

"Thanks..."

As she takes a drink, he nods up at Rex, who approaches with a palm scratching at the back of his head. "They drop off the lightweight at his dorm?"

A nod.

"They give you any trouble when you reported the incident to the dorm presidents?"

A cutting motion swivels around the side of his neck as he shakes his head.

"Dumbasses..." Giselle grumbles, patting out the dirty scuffs on Evanora's skirt.

"I'm sorry," Evanora murmurs. "Some of the butterflies were torn off."

"Why are you apologizing? Those jerks are the ones who stepped all over you," she growls back in frustration. "I oughtta make them buy you new clothes for being idiots."

Eric gives a frown, noting the rips in the mesh shirt and the frayed stitches from the missing ornaments. "I'll replace everything. This happened 'cause things got out of control at our party. I hope some of it's at least salvageable," he adds.

Evanora shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. I should be able to patch most of the tears, and I can get the scuffs out fairly easily. Besides, I'm fine. Not even a bruise," she reassures with a soft smile. At this, she looks up at Rex and gives him an impressed raise of her brow. "And you! You can sing?" she praises.

He shrugs and gives a cocky smirk.

"Singing is fun but socializing not so much, huh? Hehe, fair enough. You were both amazing, actually," she adds before turning back to Eric. "The more I see of you, the more I realize you're really full of surprises."

The yellow eyed party host blinks in temporary stunned silence before immediately recovering and gently scratching behind his ear. "I just do what Rex does. It's not a big deal."

"You guys give everyone an environment where they can let loose and have safety for themselves. That sounds like a big deal to me, at least. Everyone needs to feel levity between all the serious waves in life." At least she thought so. And so did he, because he didn't rebuttal her as his cheeks started to tint again.

A look passes behind the veil of the pointy-eared beast mage's hair, a small smirk reaching his eyes as he gives his friend a mental poke that has the latter's eye twitching as if to cast it off.

"Well, do you feel okay returning back to the party, or do you think you've been scared off for a while?" Eric tries.

She gives a sad smile and sighs. "Don't get me wrong, I had fun while it lasted, but I think I may need a timeout mentally," she admits. "I might've thrown myself in headfirst too aggressively."

"I wouldn't call that aggressive on your part, but I get it," Giselle chimes in. "I can walk you back to my dorm, and we can just watch movies and have some tea. A calm, boring night," she suggests.

Evanora immediately starts waving her hands in disagreement. "No, no! You don't have to leave because I'm feeling overwhelmed. I'd feel terrible. I'll be alright just winding down on my own," she asserts. She, too, feels a mental nudge and turns to the brunette. "Shaken up or not, I'm fine now, thanks to you guys. I'll spend my time studying and catching up on lessons."

Eric frowns. "From what I hear, you study hard enough as it is. Are you sure that's how you want to spend your Friday night?" The trio wasn't blind to the light trembling of her hands in her lap either. With another tap, the larger male turns to his partner in crime and tucks his tongue in his cheek in consideration. "What Rex said. It's not fair to keep Hepfield from the party, and there's two of us hosting. At least let one of us sit with you for a bit while the other one goes back to the party."