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[attr="class","nalyrics"]Mirror, tell me something
tell me who's the loneliest of all?

[attr="class","nabody"]What a strange girl, Ara thought to herself, this Carmen was.

As she watched the other girl lower herself down, there was a stirring within Ara that wondered if - maybe - she had offended her in some way. Despite her extroverted nature, Ara wasn’t always the best when it came to one-on-one interactions with people, let alone interactions in situations that might seem…well, intimate - yeah, that was the word she was thinking. Standing face to face with someone stripped down as she was at the time was something the silver-eyed girl never anticipated for her day, hell she didn’t even anticipate it happening at all. There was a part of her that was just a little too shy for that, despite her little reputation she had started building for herself as a bit of a gossiper.

God, what people would think of her now.
Standing there, naked and dumbfounded, chatting with a complete stranger.

From the other side of the small wall that divided them, Ara could hear Carmen messing around with the knobs of the shower - or at least what she thought was the sound of such. It made her feel a little less uneasy, hoping this meant her initial concerns of offending the girl or something of the like were completely off base. The added humming in response to her quip about her height mellowed her even more, and she let her head hang down against the shower wall with a heavy sigh. “I figure you’ve just not met the right person yet. You’ll find them someday, hopefully~” The girl said, leaving Ara even more dumbfounded than she already was.

“W-w-wha?” She started to mutter. Her face burned, most likely out of embarrassment, but it was hidden well enough by the steam from the two showers. Ara had to think of something, anything, to fire back with. Alas, she could not. The girl simply stood there, sulking for a moment, staring at the back of Carmen’s head as she thought of how to continue on. Carmen made progression easy - answering the question of “What do you do?” with what seemed like - at least to Ara - a little bit of apprehension.

“… I go running a lot? I used to work as a courier back home, so I guess that and riding are just in my blood at this point. What do you get up to for fun ‘round here?”

Ara chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, contemplating a response that would be both viable and engaging. Getting to know new people was always so hard, and part of her hated it in entirety. “Well, not a lot, I guess.” She murmured shyly, rubbing away an itch on her face with her right index finger. “Back home I didn’t do much. My parents run a lumber company, and I just kind of hung around town with my friends. It was actually pretty boring, now that I think about it. Papa wasn’t the happiest when I decided to leave for Vytal, but I don’t think the desk life is the life for me.” She paused for a moment, realizing the blank expression that was nearing a scowl only a minute or two ago was replaced with a small smile.

“I think the life of a Huntress is both exciting and rewarding - and those are two things I want to enjoy most in what could by all means be a very short life.” She added, laughing nervously. “It’s weird to think about, huh? We could totally go out and die tomorrow, and on a training mission no less. It’s scary to think about, really. The monsters out there, lingering in the shadows while we patiently wait for them to pounce. That’s how it’s gotta be in most cases. The Grimm of our time dwarf the ones of old, going out to pick a fight would be suicide for the most part.” Ara propped her elbows up onto the wall between them, peeking over at Carmen with a slightly bigger smile.

“Life’s short, Carmen.” She concluded. “Perhaps you and I can be friends?”