Keira stood abruptly and jostled Tess around a bit as the mattress adjusted its form to account for the shift in weight. The small animal yelped in surprise as she almost got caught up in the tempest that was Keira's hair, which she could swear was swirling around her head like a hurricane, her ends static-y with her charged emotions.
Tess could only respond with a sigh – Keira really was new to this whole drama thing. Daxter wasn't kidding when he said Keira wasn't so good at dealing with emotions… It was interesting to see a girl who was consistent in her expressions and mannerisms flip out like this, to say the least.
The now hot-headed mechanic furled her brow and crossed her arms in defiance of the fact that the Captain of the Krimzon guards was now on her mind. Without even giving Tess context, she leaped into conversation and sputtered, "It's crazy!"
Her hands waved wildly around her head and she threw them up in exasperation, and then flung them about her torso wildly as she continued to spill her entire brains contents on the subject unfiltered.
"Does he want to date her?! I mean, he killed her father, for Mar's sake; there's no bad blood, just like that? She isn't trying to kill him?"
Keira was laughing almost maniacally at this point. "You know a guy for 14 years, suddenly you get thrown through a warp pad after you save the world together, and two years later he's forgotten all about you and has some half-naked Baroness hanging off his arm?"
Tess cleared her throat, "Uh, I don't want to seem pushy, but weren't you seeing Erol at some point…? The Barons Commander of the Krimzon guards…? Who had the same position as Ashelin?"
Keira's face went red. "Uhm… sort of, I guess; it's really complicated, but…"
Tess side eyed her. Keira's face suddenly had stark contrast as the colour drained from her face and went pale white. "It wasn't like that." She went quiet. She didn't want to talk about Erol; not after what he did to her, and especially not after what he did to Jak.
Tess stopped abruptly, instantly catching her meaning. "Oh. I'm sorry…"
A moment of eerie silence passed before Tess spoke up again, "We all had to do what we needed to to survive during the war; Jak being friends with Ashelin is just the same."
Tess moved towards the edge of the bed, letting her feet dangle as Keira paced agitatedly in front of her.
"Sweetie… I know you're upset. I don't really know all the details, but it sounds like both of you did what you could to survive."
Keira nodded and breathed heavily to calm herself; that made sense. It wasn't like she wanted to see Erol, but under the circumstances, she wasn't really given a choice; perhaps the same thing had happened to Jak. She actually wasn't sure - they hadn't really been able to catch up since he was thrust into his new position of Spargus royalty and then almost went away to save other worlds with the Precursors. It's not like they had much time to chat in between saving Haven city and the universe… again.
Tess flicked a short blonde tendril out of her eyes, and moved her hands as she spoke. "Look, you do the whole logic thing right? Ashelin's the Baronness of the City, and leader of the Krimzon Guards – politically there's no stronger ally to have than her."
Keira began quelling the anger inside of her as she began piecing this new information together like a puzzle. She placed her fingers on her lips thoughtfully as she listened to Tess speak.
"Not to mention she kicks ass in combat, there's no denying that!"
Her facial expression lost its friendliness and became serious for a moment, "But Ashelin's my friend too – she's strong in lots of different ways. We both were both in the Underground and just fought a war so we can have a thick skin with your criticism, but there's a lot you don't understand about her. She's fun to be around sometimes, believe it or not. So it's, well…"
"…Kind of ridiculous that this feud is all over a boy?" Keira finished, her shoulders dropping and her ears drooping.
Tess smirked. "Yes, sweetie. You guys are being petty over a boy - And calling her names isn't going to get you anywhere."
Keira's heart sunk at the realization that Tess was right. She was acting childish. She was completely hating Ashelin for a situation she didn't understand, and was likely taking all of her actions out of context too. Keira had only been here for 2 years – Ashelin had lived here her whole life. Ashelin would never understand growing up in Sandover, just like Keira would never understand what Ashelin had to go through growing up as a resistance leader inside of a palace owned by the guy you were trying to take down – who also happened to be your father. Things were a lot more complicated than all the assumptions she had made.
And she had to admit; Ashelin didn't have it easy. Everyone knew who she was, but not everyone knew her. She battled with those assumptions made about her every day, and still managed to get into a position of respect and authority and prove everyone wrong. And now that Tess was bringing that up, Keira was starting to re-evaluate her thoughts and actions towards the red head. She was actually beginning to admire Ashelin; just a little bit…
Tess let Keira have a moment alone with her thoughts so that it could all sink in and process. "This girl can really be a robot sometimes,"Tess pondered - and yet she was just as passionate as any other normal human being. Too passionate about some things though; "And Keira, it's not going to help your situation with Jak, either…" The small blonde chimed in, knowing she would strike a chord with Keira.
And she did – and it was really hard to swallow. A lump formed in Keira's throat as she considered all the mistakes she had made, trying to reflect on what the reality of the situation was.
In Sandover, Keira was the genius child – she was the best at everything she did. And she guessed that since coming to Haven, she discovered she wasn't truly that special. She couldn't fight like Ashelin did – but in Sandover, she didn't have to. She was the brilliant mechanic, Jak was the hero, and Daxter was the side kick. Simple and efficient, and it worked well together. But here in Haven, and the Wasteland, everyone had flexible positions – Vin was just as smart; well… if she was being honest, probably a whole lot smarter, than she was. Tess was a whiz at gun technology. Torn and Sig fought just as hard and as skilled as Jak. Ashelin had just as much political knowledge and skill with strategic planning as her father Samos did. Jinx was just as much as a wise-guy as Daxter was.
Ever since she had come to the future, everyone was better than her, and she was expendable. She wasn't as talented as she assumed she was. And to see other people admire Jak for his talents other than her was a bit frustrating. Not because he didn't deserve the recognition, but because it made her feel good to know she was the one making him special. And… that was selfish of her. She hated to admit it, but it was.
If Ashelin was really as close to Jak as she seemed, then it wasn't a good idea to be making enemies with her. If he really liked her, then she… she need to respect that. She couldn't meddle in his life – hadn't the Baron done enough of that anyways? Jak needed to make his own decisions, and enjoy his life without all of the destiny stuff in the way. Just because she still had a crush on him didn't mean she owned him; and she didn't want to.
Two years of being passed around by the Baron, the Underground, and then the Wasteland was enough – he didn't need to come home to a jealous, whiny friend as part of his victory celebration.
The gravity of her skewed thought process seemed to slap her right in the face – and she realized what a bad friend she had been, and what a bad person she was being. The weight of her guilt instantaneously crushed her, and she burst into tears.
