Private Lessons of the Heart

[Reina Daival]

Location: Coruscant
Tags: Amelia Zin
Lightsaber - Pequod
Leg - Anchor

"No. Only around the people who've earned my trust."

Reina was even more honest. It wasn't like her normally. But she was riding a high right now thanks to AMelia. A high that would potentially become a low but none of that mattered to her right now. What was important was Amelia. This stranger she had only just met. She was struggling with her own worries. The person who had made their way to Amelia's heart had vanished...Reina had no clue how she'd feel if that had been Everest who vanished for her...

"You can have my drink. I don't think I need it anymore. You've...helped me find the answers I was looking f.r"

With that, Reina pushed the glass of colourful liquid against Amelia's glass. She didn't need it anymore as she then leaned against Amelia, wrapping an arm around the woman to try and help comfort her. Reina wasn't going to make a thing out of it. She didn't want to. After all, Reina wasn't exactly a fan of hugging people or physical affection herself, unless it was Eve...yet...

"...I won't make a thing out of it, as long as you don't make a thing out of trying to hide how you're feeling."

​

 

[Amelia Zin]

Tag: Reina Daival

Amelia didn’t move right away. The offer of the drink was met with a sideways glance, then a snort — almost amused, almost touched. She took the glass with one hand but didn’t sip just yet. Her other stayed braced loosely against her knee, uncertain.

And then Reina leaned in. The arm came around her, light but solid, and Amelia stiffened — just for a second. Instinct. Habit. But the warmth was real, and strangely, so was the girl offering it. After everything Reina had just said, there was something disarmingly honest about the contact.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Amelia leaned into the touch. Just enough for their shoulders to rest together. Just enough to let her breathing ease.

"...You're alright, kid," she muttered, barely loud enough to hear.

Her edges hadn’t melted — not fully — but they weren’t so sharp now. A softening, not surrender. She stared into her glass for a beat longer, letting Reina’s warmth settle against her like a blanket she didn’t ask for, but maybe needed. Then she scoffed, but there was no venom in it.

"No promises. Hiding’s half of what I do for a living."

But she didn’t pull away.

She stayed right where she was.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Coruscant
Tags: Amelia Zin
Lightsaber - Pequod
Leg - Anchor

"...Then you better expect a lot more hugs outta me."

Reina sounded hesitant whilst saying that. She didn't want to actually annoy Amelia with this but...there was something in the other redhead that Reina saw as kinship. It was similar to a feeling she had with Alana so long ago before the woman seemingly vanished. Her face fell slightly at the thought. She missed the white haired woman. Alana had made Reina feel like she wasn't so broken...of course, other people had filled in that spot now but it didn't mean she couldn't miss her.

"I'm...sorry if I don't get...this whole personal space thing. Never had parents to teach me...and a bunch of fishermen arne't the best teachers for this kind of thing. Heh...Who'd have guessed not having a family makes things hard?"

Why was she telling Amelia this? And why didn't Reina care? There was just...something about Amelia that made Reina let her guard down. It wasn't in the same way that Everest made Reina let her guard down. No way. Amelia was a bit...too old for that anyway. No. It was more...she helped Reina feel seen. Like she wasn't something broken. And she appreciated it more than anything in the Galaxy right now.

​

 

[Amelia Zin]

Tag: Reina Daival

Amelia huffed — not annoyed, not really. If anything, it was the sound of someone caught between wanting to keep their walls up and realising they weren’t as tall as they used to be.

"Better brace yourself then. I bite," she muttered, but there was a faint smirk tugging at her lips, even if her eyes still carried the weight of something distant. The words didn’t have the bite they might’ve once. If anything, they were... dry. Wry. Maybe even fond.

She let Reina’s presence stay where it was beside her. Didn’t lean further, but didn’t pull away either.

"Family’s overrated anyway," Amelia said after a moment, her voice quieter now, more reflective. "Had one. Didn’t help much. The ones that matter… you find 'em later. Or they find you, I guess."

Her thumb traced slowly along the rim of the borrowed glass, but she wasn’t looking at it. She was watching Reina now — not just her face, but the way she seemed to be fighting herself. That edge of vulnerability trying to wear its armour again.

"You’re not the only one who grew up learning the wrong things," Amelia said, softer now. "I learned how to run. How to hide. How to laugh louder than the noise in my chest. Thought that was enough."

A beat. A breath.

"But sometimes... someone looks at you like they see you... and all that armour just starts to feel heavy."

She didn’t say Alana’s name. Still couldn’t. But her voice carried her weight, and Reina was smart enough to understand.

"You're doing alright, Reina. More than alright." A pause. Then, dryly, "Even if you are a bit clingy."

But again — no venom. Just warmth. Hidden, but there.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Coruscant
Tags: Amelia Zin
Lightsaber - Pequod
Leg - Anchor

"...Well. I'm not exactly a fan of...people biting if I'm being honest. Had that done to me...before I joined the Jedi."

Reina rubbed her shoulder for a moment, reliving the moment on Jedha when she had gotten impaled through the shoulder. It wasn't exactly a bite but it had been close enough that she didn't exactly want to experience it...Though to be fair, could Amelia even bite that hard?

"The ones that matter are the ones who find you, huh?...Like how I've found you? Guess that makes us family."

Maybe it would be better for Reina if she just kept her mouth shut, instead of potentially saying the wrong thing but she wasn't going to be paranoid about it. Instead she decided to listen to what Amelia was saying, frowning to herself in thought for a moment. If Reina was learning how to be a Jedi off the New Jedi Order...maybe she could learn how to be an actual person from Amelia. But Reina wasn't going to comment on it. Not yet at least.

"The armour has never...felt heavy for me. Eve just managed to get crack it. Find her way through it and I can't repair...It's not fun anymore..."

By now, Reina just went quiet at this point, finally leaning away from the hug to rest her arms against the table for a moment, laying her head atop of her hands.

​