Robin's phone rang on and off all day. Neglecting to pick it up all day, the gaps between the calls gradually became shorter, until the intervals were only five minutes apart. When it rang for the third time at dinner, Tharja took matters into her own hands, swiping the phone from across the table and hovering her finger above the accept call button. She doesn't even look at the caller ID, instead holding eye contact with Robin until she breaks.

"It's... him."

"Oh, right. Makes sense."

The phone stops ringing.

"The next time he rings, I'm answering it. He's just being annoying at this point."

"Don't you dare," Robin threatened, spearing a piece of broccoli with her fork and waving it at Tharja. For the next four minutes and thirty three seconds (not that she was counting), the table sat in silence until the phone rings again, piercing through the silence and causing Robin to flinch. Sticking to her word, Tharja answered, putting the call on speaker so everyone can hear.

"Hello?"

"Hello?" Came the voice from the other end. "Who is this?"

"It's Tharja."

"Oh." Validar couldn't sound more disappointed if he tried. "Can you put Robin on for me, please? I don't know what you're doing answering her phone in the first place."

"She's having a nap right now, sorry."

"She hasn't answered her phone all day."

"She was at work this morning," Tharja shot back. If there was one thing she was good at, it was lying to other people about Robin. And Robin's family were no exception. "They made her work a double shift."

"I had her booked off the next two weeks. Tell her she needs to phone me so I can pass on her flight details."

"Will do when she wakes up, sir. Though that might not be until this time tomorrow. She'll probably sleep right through the night, and then I'll be at work when she wakes up..."

"Fine, I'll just email her. Tell her to call anyway."

"Of course. Anything else?"

"No. Goodbye."

Validar hung up briskly, leaving Tharja cackling as she handed the phone back to Robin. Robin set it face down on the table with a sigh, sinking in her chair as she attacked more of her vegetables with her fork. All three pairs of eyes were on her, but she ignored them. It wasn't really any of their business, and yet they were all getting involved regardless. Well, by 'they', she meant Tharja.

"You're going back to Plegia?" Henry asked, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"No I am not," Robin snorted. "He thought it was a good idea to book me two weeks off work for my birthday. Booked me flights too, by the sounds of things. I had to beg Raimi for my shifts back." Henry pulled a face at that- clearly, it wasn't just Robin that had such an opinion on the emergency consultant.

"Can he do that, though? And it went through Raimi?" Henry pressed.

"Well, you know who he is. And what he's like. And trust me; I'm as surprised as you that Raimi even allowed me two weeks off in theory. He told her it was a family emergency."

"Would you, hypothetically, go to his funeral?" Tharja asked.

"I haven't thought about that, funnily enough," Robin spat. She may not like her father, but for one of her friends to openly talk about him dying was another thing. A line that shouldn't be crossed. If they were in Plegia still, Robin was sure Tharja would be arrested for that comment.

"I have no idea what any of you are talking about," Lon'qu eventually said, getting up from his seat and removing everyone's plates from the table.

"Nothing to worry about," Robin laughed weakly, before excusing herself from the table and heading to her room.

Wallowing in self pity was not something that Robin did often, but today was an exception. She was annoyed at Validar, primarily, but she was annoyed at Tharja too, for interfering where she didn't need to. Robin lay on her bed, phone sitting on her stomach, hands behind her bed, and stayed perfectly still for almost an hour and a half until someone knocked on her door.

"Come in," she called. Henry came in first, followed by Tharja and Lon'qu, who looked as though he'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

"We were thinking," Henry began.

"That sort of sentence always scares me."

"We should go out since it's your birthday."

"We didn't go out for your birthday last month."

"I was working," Henry excused. "And I did celebrate, just not with you."

"Gee, thanks."

"But you have no other friends apart from us-"

"That's not true!"

"Name them," Tharja cut in. Robin hesitated. "Exactly."

"Just let us take you out," Henry said gently. "We know you've been under a lot of stress recently, so this is the least we can do."

"Fine. Fine! You make all the plans though. Just make sure it's somewhere nice." Giving in was easier than arguing more, Robin decided. "I don't know why you all needed to come to tell me that."

"Neither do I," Lon'qu said, already backing out of the room, Tharja following him.

"It was your idea," Robin heard Tharja say, and the white haired woman immediately perked up. She rolled onto her side, eyes closing, and Henry left the room, leaving her to smile alone.

All dressed up for the night, Robin began to feel a little better. It was amazing what a little coercing from Tharja could do to her self confidence (and a pot of glitter that was sprinkled on her eyelids). They phoned for a taxi to take them to their destination, and when they arrive Robin was relieved to discover that they've taken her to one of the classier establishments in town. She reckoned it was Henry that picked it out, since unlike Tharja, he didn't relish in making other people miserable.

Tharja, however much she enjoyed making fun of Robin, insisted that drinks tonight were on her, and when she and Robin had bright coloured cocktails in hand, they made their way onto the dance floor. Henry and Lon'qu, as had happened so many times before, were abandoned at the bar, the latter making it very clear that he didn't want to be there. He may be friends with Robin (the other two... well, not so much), but that didn't mean he wanted to spend his Saturday night in a club. He ordered a soft drink, much to Tharja's disgust, but she didn't dare complain, since his drink was less than a third of the price of hers.

Robin watched her two male housemates out of the corner of her eye, before Tharja spun her off in another direction. It was hard to dance with a drink in her hand, but she managed to find a balance between dancing and fending off the advances of random men. Her hair colour was something that people found interesting, and felt the need to comment on. Upon sharing these complaints once with Henry, she discovered that he received the same torture for his hair colour. The majority of Plegians had dark hair, but the white hair was interesting to Ylissians. Exotic, she was called once. Needless to say, that admirer was quickly put in his place, and if wasn't for Henry pulling her off the guy, he probably would've ended up in hospital.

"Your phone is ringing," Tharja drawled in Robin's ear.

"I'm ignoring it."

"I don't even think you noticed. Where was your mind?" There was a smirk on Tharja's face, and she pointedly looks around to the bar area.

"Correct, I was thinking about Henry. More specifically, the time he had to pull me off that guy because I nearly broke his nose." She said that loudly, in case anyone around her was getting any ideas.

"You know that's not what I meant," Tharja hissed.

"Really? Enlighten me."

"Stop being difficult and just enjoy yourself."

"I am enjoying myself." Robin grinned at the dark haired girl, managing to take another sip of her drink while moving.

"Seriously though," Tharja said, dropping her voice to barely above a whisper. "What's up with you and Lon'qu? You two are really weird around each other."

"We are not!"

"Well, it was actually Henry that told me, but I've been keeping an eye out and I have to agree that something is definitely up with you two."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I will find out, you know."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"You're no fun," Tharja pouted. "Go find Henry for me."

"Gladly."

Robin stalked off the dance floor, drained cocktail in her grasp. She sat in a seat between Henry and Lon'qu, calling over the bartender to make her another drink. A part of her brain wondered why they were sitting so far apart, but didn't question it out loud- both of them were weird in their own ways. Not that she could talk, she thought, but that was another thing that she kept inside her head.

"Tharja told me to send you to her," she mumbled to Henry.

"Why, what did she want?"

"Said I was boring."

"It's your birthday," Henry pointed out.

"And how is that relevant to whether or not I'm boring?"

"She's supposed to put up with you today even if she thinks you're boring."

"Just go and dance with her," Robin laughed, sending him away with a grin on her face. "Not drinking?" She asked Lon'qu, who seems to be content on ignoring her.

"I find it hard to make good decisions when under the influence of alcohol."

"Is this about-"

"No."

"Because if it is, I'm really sorry."

"It's not. "

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said with an air of finality, and with a sigh, she slid off her chair and headed into the bathrooms, determined to make some new friends there, since Henry laughed at her earlier for having no friends.

And maybe getting Lon'qu off her mind was part of the reason too.

For the first time in a number of weeks, Robin received a text from her father. She had long given up on her quest to make friends at the club, and was now downing another drink, Lon'qu regarding her out of the corner of his eye. When she occasionally glanced up at him, he looked away, pretending his concern was elsewhere.

"Who's 'dad'?" He asked.

"Who do you think dad is?" She countered.

"Is this the guy who's been phoning you a lot?"

"Yeah. But I'm good at dealing with him, so it's no big deal," she said, waving her hands aggressively, until she smacked his arm.

"How many of these have you had?"

"A few."

"You should go outside and get some fresh air. Maybe answer your texts."

"Fine." Her voice was slightly slurred by this point, and she had long ago lost track of Tharja and Henry in the crowd. Despite it getting later, the club was getting fuller by the minute, people coming in who just didn't want to go home.

The outside brick wall of the building was somewhere that Robin had admittedly spent a lot of time against, either by herself trying to sober up before going home or with someone else (also before going home). Tonight, she gave in and checked her phone, stomach dropping after reading the text. Her immediate reaction was to look around- was he here? No, he was definitely still in Plegia. She reread the text, in case her inebriated brain interpreted the words wrong.

Have a fun time out tonight, Robin. Happy birthday. Don't drink too many of the blue cocktails- I've heard they're dangerous.

She had been drinking those blue lagoon cocktails all night, until Lon'qu forced a bottle of water on her and sent her outside. Blue drinks were not at all popular in Ylisstol, and to her knowledge, this was the only bar in town that sold them. So that meant Validar knew where she was, and probably had been tracking her somehow. Despite sober Robin being incredibly smart, drunk Robin was not, and drunk Robin threw her phone against the brick wall, watching as it shattered into pieces, and then stamping on them for good measure. There. That would keep her father off her tail.

Her face was suddenly wet with tears, and she wiped furiously at her cheeks in a vain attempt to dry them. She hadn't even really noticed she was crying, but as she lifted her broken phone parts from the ground and stuffed them into her clutch, she couldn't ignore the dark spots falling on the ground. She decided that maybe she should just head back inside and tell Lon'qu that she wanted to go home, and even if Tharja and Henry weren't ready to go, they could go home and maybe she could cry on him again.

"Need some help there?" A voice said, and Robin looked up to see two dark haired men towering over her. Still unsteady on her feet, and with the heels not helping, she rose to her full height, not too far off their own heights.

"I'm okay," she managed to say. "I'm just going home now." At eye height with them, she could see that they are Plegian, and this set her heart racing.

"You could come home with us."

"I'd rather not."

"Have a boyfriend?" One asked, and Robin shook her head hesitantly. "Then there's nothing tying you down."

"My friends are inside. Housemates."

"And you've never stayed out all night before? C'mon, lighten up."

"No, thank you," Robin said, attempting to make her way around them. The taller of the two grabs her arm, keeping her from moving anywhere. "Let go of me." Her voice is calm and measured, despite the amount of alcohol in her system, the adrenaline from knowing (or at least assuming) that these two were sent to follow her by her father counteracting everything else she feels.

"Nice hair. Very distinctive."

"Don't touch my hair."

"You know who has this hair? The Grima family. You look Plegian, don't suppose you're a relation?"

"Get off her," another voice called from behind them. Robin craned her neck to see Lon'qu standing behind them, Robin's jacket in his hand. She wasn't entirely sure how he got it, but the second the man loosened his grip on her she pushed him off, and all but ran past them to Lon'qu.

"And who are you? She said she didn't have a boyfriend."

"This is one of my housemates," Robin contested.

"What's your name?" The other man asked. "You look familiar."

"Lon'qu."

"Ah. Let's go. This isn't worth our time."

Robin watches them leave, willing the sick feeling in her stomach to leave. Whether it was from her situation or the alcohol, she couldn't quite tell. But just standing beside Lon'qu made her feel safe, and she let out a loud sigh. He handed her the jacket, and she slipped her arms into it, not really noticing the chill in the air before.

"I want to go home right now," she managed to say before she burst into tears again, clinging to Lon'qu's arm.

"Uh- okay. Come inside while I find Henry and tell him we're leaving. I'll phone for a taxi. And- get off me!"

"Lon'qu you are the nicest person I have ever met."

"Okay."

She let go of his arm, but held on to the back of his coat as he pushed through the finally waning crowd of the club. She tried her best to keep her distance from him, knowing that it was for the best for both of them. But when she falls asleep on his shoulder in the taxi home, squished up between Lon'qu and Henry, he can't find it in himself to complain.

.