apparently, i actually wrote this about a year ago. i was clearing out files and i came across this and wondered why i never published it.
as with being written a year ago, the style is a bit different (read: unpracticed) than my more recent works. amazing what improvement can happen in just a year.
"You and Shad seem close." Ilia spoke with a faint lilt, as if she knew something.
Ashei, on the other hand, didn't seem nearly as amused. She met the Ordon girl's eyes with a flat stare and lips pressed in a fine line. She knew exactly where this conversation was going to go, she'd heard it a dozen times before from different people.
"I s'pose," she answered after a moment, "We've known each other for a while, yeah?"
As she said that, a grin spread across Ilia's lips, stretching across her face. Quickly, she grabbed the nearest chair and scooted close to Ashei's side. The knight bowed her head and sighed, her hand pressed against her forehead. Ilia, undeterred, stared at her past the shadows on her face as if trying to pry answers with her gaze alone.
"So?"
"So what?" Ashei asked.
"Are you and Shad going to get married?" Ilia blurted it without thinking and she realized the way she asked sounded more like a small child giving an adult a randomly-selected questionnaire. It made her cheeks pink.
"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed, "I'm not marrying anybody."
"Huh, but how come? You two seem like you'd be good together…" Ilia's voice lowered, that impish grin returning, "Or maybe you've got your eyes on somebody else?"
"When I said I'm not marrying anybody, I mean anybody, yeah?"
"Don't say that, I'm sure you'll find the right man!"
"No," Ashei mumbled, tearing her gaze from Ilia and staring into the opposite direction, "I don't like boys."
Despite her quiet words, Ilia definitely heard them. However, hearing them didn't mean she understood them.
"Yeah, boys can be a pain sometimes, but there's good ones out there." Ilia assured her, "You just have to keep looking."
"No, Ilia," she started, but stopped as she choked on her words and her voice dropped once more, "I mean, I don't like boys at all."
"I don't think I understand…"
Ashei turned her eyes back to Ilia again, who was staring back with eyes full of confusion and curiosity. She was a sweet girl...but a country girl. City upbringings were far more loose than what they were in the country. Yet, she couldn't imagine Ilia's gentle face contorting into one filled with disgust, calling her names, saying she never wanted to speak to her again. No, Ilia wasn't that kind of person. At least, she hoped she wasn't.
"I like girls, yeah?"
"...Girls?" she echoed.
"Girls." she said
"Like," Ilia slowly began to understand, yet still struggled to wrap her head around it, "You want to marry a girl?"
"That would be pretty cool, yeah?"
Ilia's face turned an interesting shade of red, Ashei noted, and she stammered out several broken sentences trying to find the right one to say. "I didn't know liking other girls was an option."
Ashei opened her mouth as if to say something, but immediately closed it. She was at a loss for words herself, or rather, she wondered if she should say anything at all. Ilia seemed to have still been thinking about it.
"S - sorry," finally came Ilia's response, "Talking about marriage must have made you really uncomfortable, then."
"You're not grossed out, yeah?" she asked, unsure of how to take Ilia's reaction.
"Of course not!" she huffed in offense that Ashei would even suggest something like that, "You weren't gross five minutes ago, you're not gross now."
She didn't know why, but Ashei laughed at her response. It was so unexpected, so straight-forward that it filled her with mirth. As a tear formed in the corner of her left eye, Ilia sat and stared with her lips parted and brows furrowed in deep confusion.
"Did I say something weird?" she asked with worry.
Upon noticing this confusion, Ashei attempted to compose herself and responded with her voice nothing more than a ragged wheeze, "No, just unexpected, yeah?"
Ashei smiled warmly at her and spoke between laughs, "You're honest and adorable."
Ilia squeaked and silence fell between the two. Surprisingly, the silence wasn't awkward, but rather enjoyable. Their conversation meant that the two girls could safely confide in one another, if anything, and there was no way they could feel discomfort from that.
"Um, s - so, what's your type?" Ilia asked quietly after a while, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"My type…" Ashei repeated in thought, then suddenly her pursed lips curled into a smirk, "Girls that are honest and adorable."
She didn't think she ever saw anybody's face turn that red.