A spider in the snow.

Dalia left the community center no worse for wear when she'd gotten there. Not in a physical sense anyway. But talking about dating, about courting. Seeing Iesha and Orsick and feeling those strange, fluttery feelings in her chest again. It made the scars from where Jax had mauled her hurt again.

She had forgotten her jacket. It was freezing and the snow was up to her waist almost. But she couldn't go back. The tears had started falling almost as soon as she was away from the building. They wouldn't be easy to stop, least of all not in the time it'd take her to go back and get her jacket. She didn't want them to see her like that. Pathetic.

So she trudged through the snow, shivering like crazy and trying to warm herself up with her white flames despite knowing that they didn't produce heat. If she could just get to a road, she could take the bus home. Get some hot cocoa. Hopefully not see Amber and feel all those fluttery feelings again. Until then, it was walking.

Dalia sensed the snowball coming her way, but she was in too sour of a mood to really care. So she let it hit her dead in the side of the face, splattering against her and freezing a line of snow to her face in her tears. She looked over at Aedes and sighed a bit, putting on the best smile she could manage.

"Hey Aedes. Aren't you cold?" Her tone was flatter than usual, lacking the punch and emotion it normally held. Dalia stuffed her hands in her pockets, though they did little to keep them warm as her pants were already beginning to soak in the snow around her.

"Gonna post that online? Make fun of me?"

"Sorry. I'm not really feeling very fiery tonight. Or... just lately at all." Dalia gave a shrug and slowly wiped the frozen tears off of her face. She looked at the phone and then at Aedes and gave a kind of shrug. This was nothing she hadn't dealt with before. Argenta's bullying had been much worse.

"If you wanna post it go ahead. Don't stop on my account. But we should probably get out of the cold before we freeze to death." She knew she'd just come back. Probably at Iesha's house or her own. Depending. But she didn't know if Aedes would. She didn't know how any of her stuff worked.

Dalia shrugged as the two of them began to move, cutting a path through the snow with her body as she walked. "I've died before. I'll just respawn when the sun rises. But it'd be annoying to lose my phone and stuff."

She didn't flinch when Aedes mentioned Jax. She was long beyond flinching and wincing like a hurt puppy would at a newspaper. But that didn't make it hurt any less. Dalia just kept walking, her movements stiff despite the shivering.

"It's more than just Jax. My sister Phaedra left me too. And my Mama. And my dad. and one of my best friends. It's just been- I dunno. I don't feel like I'm good enough for them. They all promised they'd never leave and then- well..." Dalia trailed off, shrugging. She barely trusted Aedes. She liked her well enough, but definitely didn't trust her. Nevertheless, it felt good to vent to someone.

Dalia was kind of uncomfortable with the way Aedes stared at her. But she was more uncomfortable with the question she was asking herself. What if Aedes was right? She slowly clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to warm up her freezing fingers. There was a path up ahead, so at least they could stop walking through the snow itself.

"They promised though. I loved them and they promised and they left anyway," she turned and looked at Aedes head on now and noticed something. The thread between the two of them that only Dalia could see, the one that told her what their relationship was like, had grown another strand. Jealousy? Aedes was jealous of Dalia? Should she bring it up? Dalia chewed on her lip and decided that she light as well. They had a long walk still. And Dalia didn't want to lose another, well she guessed Aedes was a friend, because of some underlying issue.

"Why are you jealous of me?"