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Xara blinked, then stared. "...What do you mean I need more friends?"
Current time: 10:54 in the morning by Above time. Current location: the Orders kitchen with Harper. Current desire: to crawl back into her room and not make new friends.
Harper gave her an affectionate but exasperated look. "It's not healthy for you to stay cooped up inside all day."
Okay... She had a point... But Xara could go outside and not see people. She didn't want to see people. She didn't like people. And she certainly didn't enjoy making new friends.
"I know what you're thinking." Harper raised her eyebrows at her. "But it's not healthy for you to stay cooped up inside your house, no matter how good of a dog Cabbage is."
The emotional support puppy perked up in her lap at his name and wagged his tail. Xara moved one hand to stroke him. "Are you… sure? I'm not really a people person."
"Ellegaard isn't always a people person either, she'll get it if you need a break." The older woman continued to reassure her effortlessly, something she envied. She often wished to be able to comfort herself the same way Harper could comfort her.
"Okay." She sighed, hugging Cabbage a little closer to her chest. "I'll try."
-
As it turned out, Ellegaard was a tall woman with brown hair that just touched her shoulders and eyes that radiated intelligence. She was wearing a more proper attire than Xara's simple checkered shirt and jeans, a fancy, golden brown suit.
She wouldn't be lying if she said she felt a little bit small next to her.
She and Harper were both discussing some kind of super smelter that worked without rails. Xara had come out of her shell to introduce herself and shake her hand (she hated shaking hands but she did it anyway), but other than that was pretty content to sit in the corner and stroke Cabbage.
The fluffy puppy tilted his head, tail wagging at the strange woman. Cabbage yapped at Ellegaard curiously and rolled over in Xara's lap like he wanted to play with her.
Ellegaard, surprisingly, broke her professional demeanour and grinned at the puppy. "What's his name?"
"Cabbage," Xara replied, offering a slip of a smile.
Ellegaard smiled back, a beautiful, great big smile that stretched across her face and shone in her eyes. Cabbage curiously pawed his way towards her and yapped again, tail wagging against her leg. The inventor's hands - soft and slightly pink from years of handling redstone, scooped the puppy up and scratched him behind the air, causing him to flop down in her lap.
All three of them let out laughs at Cabbages antics. The dog yapped in excitement.
They continued talking (well, Xara observed mostly, but she did talk a little bit) about redstone. Cabbage, at some point, had become smitten with Ellegaard and decided that this human was one of his top ten favourites, bounding up and down in an attempt to play. Eventually, their redstone discussion drifted into idle chit chat. Xara participated even less in this conversation, but she still attempted to say a few words now and then, and both Harper and Ellegaard made a heroic effort to include as much as she could manage.
"What's your favourite book, Xara?" The light seemed to make Ellegaards mouse-brown hair glow. "Mine is Hollow."
She blinked, hand coming up from where she was fiddling with her now empty mug. "Serpent Heart."
In reality, Xara could barely remember the plot of Serpent Heart, but it was still one of the best books she'd ever read.
(Good enough that Fred had tried to read it to Romeo only for the red-haired idiot to disassociate and not listen to anything he was saying.)
"Oh, I think I've read that one." Ellegaard carefully deposited a rather tired Cabbage into her lap, ears drooping from all the playing. "Is that the book where the protagonist was a police administrator and a serial killer at the same time?"
"Yeah. She was known as the Hangman and everything." Xara recalled the events of the book, only to hastily summon an apologetic smile at Harper, who looked scandalised that they read books about serial killers, heavens forbid.
Cabbage sleepily licked her before falling over in the cutest way possible and passing out in her lap. The puppy unconsciously snuggled up against her chest, nose twitching.
-
With a rather irritated glare at the ceiling, Xara yanked the covers off the bed.
She'd been trying to sleep for what felt like an eternity, and even though she knew that she was safe, she couldn't sleep at all for fear of something happening to her. Xara almost expected someone to jump her the moment she shut her eyes.
Cabbage stretched in his sleep, whining. Xara carefully made sure to cover him in the blankets, and quietly walked out of the room. The little puppy deserved a rest. If only she could sleep the same way and feel refreshed after waking up.
Xara just needed some air. It was rather hot and stuffy in her room, uncomfortably so, and she had felt the slight beginnings of a panic attack rising as she tried to curl into the fetal position. Cold always distracted her, uncomfortably so since she hadn't felt it for so long. But it was better than the inability to breathe crushing in her chest until it hit her across the head.
Her feet padded against the wooden floorboards. Birch. It was enough to make her heart sting a little, but Xara pushed the emotion down. She couldn't afford to break down right here.
In an effort to distract herself, she moved towards the kitchen. Maybe she could make herself some coffee (it was an absolute wonder at keeping tiredness at bay, and she was astounded that she had forgotten about it), or she could just eat whatever leftovers there were. She was fairly certain she'd seen rice in there earlier.
However, the kitchen was not unoccupied.
Ellegaard was startled from where she was stirring a cup of tea. "Oh, hello! I didn't catch you sneaking up on me."
"Oh, sorry." Xara rubbed the back of her neck. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's fine, don't worry." Ellegaard waved her hand and resumed making her tea, adding a few drops of honey into it.
(Fred had loved honey and kept about a billion bees everywhere. Romeo always complained about them using up the sugar and utilised the large amounts of bees to sweeten his tea)
(Xara's mind blocked out the memory of them catching kissed between sticky lips full of the liquid gold whilst she spied, laughing)
"...if you say so." Xara stiffly shrugged and moved towards the coffee maker. As much as she would love to stuff her face full of rice right now, she wasn't going to embarrass herself in front of Ellegaard.
The silence seemed to spill out from every nook and cranny, trying to suffocate them. Xara half wondered if she should try and start a conversation, but she was clueless about what she could talk to her about.
"So... I assume you can't sleep either?" Ellegaard questioner curiously, tapping the spoon against the mug.
Xara shrugged again, even stiffer than before. "I have problems sleeping."
(She actually meant that every time she slept she woke up screaming, her eyes so red and bloodshot that now she just tried to avoid sleep altogether)
"Me too." Ellegaard sympathetically patted her on the shoulder. Xara tensed up violently but managed to hide the flinch. It was better she didn't dig through millennia of trauma with someone she'd just met.
The pitter-patter of tiny paws came from the doorway, and Cabbage excitedly bounded through and attempted to jump up into her arms. Xara scooped the puppy up and was immediately greeted with rapid licks to the cheek.
"Did you wake up?" She asked the dog, who sniffed her pockets in response. Xara chuckled a little, before digging out a stray dog treat.
Cabbage wolfed the treat down in seconds, before noticing Ellegaard. The puppy yapped and attempted to clamber onto the engineer, almost toppling onto the floor. Ellegaard had to awkwardly manoeuvre her mug of tea down onto the counter but patted him regardless. She booped him lightly on the nose and he wagged he rapidly wagged his tail.
"He's adorable," Ellegaard told her, before giving him belly rubs. He flopped and yapped.
Xara couldn't help but stop a smile from splitting across her face. The feeling was strange, it wasn't like she did it often, but Cabbage was so cute and energetic that she couldn't help herself. Clumsily, he wriggled around in her arms, before sliding off and onto the table, almost knocking over and spilling Ellegaard's mug of tea.
They both laughed together, quietly.
-
The next time they met, they walked into each other.
Literally.
A bark was the only warning before Xara yelped and stumbled backwards, her foot slipping on the pavement as her back hit the ground with a thud. She winced and attempted to push herself up, but her back was aching furiously and refused to comply.
Ellegaard gasped an apology and quickly offered her a hand, arm stretching towards her. Xara didn't particularly like touch, especially with hands, but she took it anyway. To her surprise, the engineer was startlingly strong and had no problem pulling her onto her feet.
"I'm so sorry- I genuinely didn't see you-" Ellegaard franticly continued to rattle off a list of apologies as Cabbage yapped and started jumping around, eager to play with the human.
"It's okay." Xara grimaced as she reached a hand to massage the sore patch. "I wasn't looking either."
"Are you sure you're okay though?" She rushed, barely pausing to hurriedly pat Cabbages head.
She lied, not wanting to make the other woman feel bad. "I'm fine."
Ellegaard didn't look like she believed her, but she didn't look like she wanted to argue with Xara either and smiled sheepishly.
She smiled back, band gently rubbing her back.
Of course, the two of them grew closer as the months went by. Xara started visiting Redstonia more often, becoming close with Olivia. Cabbage loved his new friends and bounced up and down in pure excitement whenever he saw her. Harper was glad she had finally made a friend and gotten herself out and became slightly more sociable.
And of course, when she was teased on it, she just rolled her eyes. Why ever would she want to be Ellegaard's lover? Not that she was bad - she was quite pretty actually, and lots of fun to talk to - but oh no, you misunderstand, their blossoming friendship sad nothing more than a friendship, right?
-
It was around four months since they'd met, and they'd decided to watch a film together. Captain Marvel. It was certainly more interesting and relatable than a lot of the other superhero films she'd seen, and the plot was rather good, but Xara was so tired.
No really. She was exhausted. She didn't remember the last time she'd slept. Just pure old sleeplessness coming back to bite as always.
With a yawn, she settled her head against Ellegaard's shoulder. Cabbage was already curled up in her lap, fast asleep from a fun day of hugs and play. His little heartbeat against hers.
She wasn't going to close her eyes, she told herself. She was just resting her head, she told herself. She did not fall asleep on Ellegaard's shoulder, she told herself.
It was only about an hour later that Ellegaard quietly shook her awake, face flushed. "Sorry for waking you up."
'...'s fine." Xara mumbled tiredly, falling asleep again almost immediately.
When she woke up again, she was covered in a very large blanket, her body stretched limp over the sofa. There was a pillow under her head, and Cabbage was snuggled into her side.
She didn't question it. Just went back to sleep.
-
Ellegaard hadn't allowed herself to get close to many other people. Not after the Order.
Then Olivia came, worming her way into her heart with ecstatic questions about redstone and eagerness to create. Then there was Harper, who was without a doubt the kindest person she'd ever met.
Then there was Xara. Ellegaard had taken her for the quiet, stoic type at first, but it hadn't taken long for her presence to grow on her. She'd never really considered herself one for 'best friends' (apart from one man who'd blown up her machines by accident with a mischievous grin, only to explode her heart as well as he was killed by a monster), but now she wasn't so sure if she could maintain that demeanour.
She smiled slightly at the sleeping woman, curled tightly into a ball on the sofa, Cabbage resting his head on her chest. Maybe she could allow herself to have a best friend again.
-
Their relationship was growing, Harper had noticed.
Often when she visited Xara or Ellegaard, usually one or the other was nearby. She didn't need to see them wander down the streets together, or the way Cabbage jumped up and down when Ellegaard was near, or the way Olivia excitedly talked to both of them like they were her mom's, or the way their eyes flitted to each other momentarily before backing away.
Harper couldn't resist the twitch of her lips whenever that happened. She may have been stranded in an apocalypse for years, but even she could see the telltale signs of love.
-
They were watching another film together when it happened.
Ellegaard couldn't even remember the name of the film, some kind of action-horror, but as soon as the character was slammed against the wall with the nasty snap of ribs, she turned pale.
(Magnus screamed, properly screamed, a loud, piercing noise that sent her blood running cold as the Witherstorm hurled him against the tree with an almost disgusting crack)
Xara looked up at her in surprise, before realisation spread over her face and she fumbled for the remote, hurriedly turning the screen off. Ellegaard was grateful for her doing so, but the memory of Magnus' dying, shuddering breaths that clearly indicated a pierced lung was ingrained in her mind.
And suddenly it was hard to breathe or speak or hear or see and everything was just loud and overwhelming and all too much and she couldn't breathe-
Xara was saying something, shaking her shoulder, but Ellegaard couldn't hear what she said. Before she knew what had happened, she had latched herself onto her in a trembling hug (why was she trembling?) and crying into her shoulder.
(Magnus's hand went limp, a telltale foreshadow of him exploding into dust only a few moments after)
"It's okay," Xara whispered into her ear. "It's okay."
Ellegaard really hoped it would be.
-
A few days later, Ellegaard was making musing sort of redstone contraption, debating whether to use repeaters or comparators, when Cabbage came in barking abnormally loudly.
She'd put it down to something minor, until the puppy jumped onto her, barking even louder, looking incredibly anxious. Ellegaard wouldn't have been able to walk away if she tried.
So she quickly followed Cabbages urgent bouncing and found Xara crouched against the wall, breathing raggedly. The puppy clambered onto her, trying to provide comfort, but Ellegaard could tell from the curl of her fists that she wasn't going to be okay.
She didn't even remember starting to move, but she did, and quickly so, kneeling next to her friend. Ellegaard didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around her, and Xara melted into her hug, letting out low choked sobs. Cabbage whined at her distress.
"Are you okay?" Ellegaard murmured. A weak shake of the head was all she got in return.
"I'm not either." She said and slowly stroked her hair.
The two remained in a tight hug for over an hour. And Ellegaard almost wished it had lasted longer.
-
"I have something I need to tell you." Xara said one morning over coffee, the exact same moment as Ellegaard.
They both paused to observe each other, before laughing. She couldn't remember that last time someone had had an easy time making her laugh. Probably a long time ago, when her skin had been the colour of endstone instead of brown.
"Do you want to go first?" Ellegaard asked, fingers twitching against the handle of her mug. Cabbage attempted to clatter over the tabletop to sit in between them but had to be assisted by Xara.
She hesitated out of nervousness. "Why don't you?"
"Oh no, it's quite alright. You go first."
"Oh... I mean... I was wondering if you wanted to go first-"
"Same time?" She suggested.
Xara cringed a little, before resigning herself. "Okay."
They both took a deep breath, anxious. Cabbage tilted his head in confusion, tail wagging.
"I love you."
"I love you."
Xara stared, blinking in surprise. "Wait wh-?"
Before she knew what had happened, Ellegaard leaned over, interrupted her sentence, and kissed her. Xara couldn't have been confused if she wanted to - she was already kissing back.
-
Both of them were very unaware of Olivia watching through the door with a camera, grinning evilly.