How Do you Know? (Della)

[Giselle]

Giselle was running across the commons, her red hair, in two braids (crows were not much help with her hair it seemed) trailed behind her as she ran after a large grey wolf. "Sage!" she called, breath coming a little heavily from all the running. "Come back with my ribbon. I need it to finish doing my hair." There was a crow flying along with Sage, keeping up with no problem. "Indigo," she called to the crow. "It's not very nice of you to play a trick on me."

She had to stop running, so she did, watching both the wolf and the crow keep going. The wolf had a long yellow ribbon in its mouth, matching the dress that Giselle had on. "Please come back," she called after them. And after a moment it was clear that they weren't coming back, so Giselle, tired and out of breath, sank onto the ground. It wasn't worth it. Sage and Indigo would come back eventually.

[Della Miller]

It was actually turning out to be a very good morning for writing in the Commons (she kept SAYING this place was the source of her best ideas, didn't she?)...but Della was only human, and it wasn't every day you heard someone shouting "Sage!"...and then caught sight of a wolf and crow seeming to be racing off together with a ribbon. Already confused, she then turned towards the voice, and realized that she recognized the owner of that voice...oh that explained why she seemed to be shouting after the animals.

Unfortunately by the time she put two and two together, the animals were pretty far ahead, and it was unlikely she'd be able to catch up...and besides, how the hell was she supposed to get a ribbon out of a wolf's mouth? She could barely win tug o' war with Rook when he was still alive...gods, should she get another dog? Or was that going to make things worse?

She shot a sympathetic wince towards Giselle. "Trouble in paradise?" she asked, and then she pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair, holding it over...and yep, she had one around her wrist too. "They're not color coordinated, but I figure they're better than nothing, right?"

[Giselle]

Giselle blinked up at Della. She was fairly certain she was sweating for the first time in her life. It was not pleasant, but she would handle it as she handled all things. "Oh, they're just playing a trick," she explained. "Crows are very tricky like that. Plus, crows and wolves have some kind of bond." She shrugged. "They'll come back. Or I could call them, but I'm very tired from running."

She looked at the hair ties, confused for a moment, before realizing that Della meant them for her hair in place of the ribbon. "Oh," she said, smiling up at the other redhead. "Thank you, but I need the ribbon. I'm going to weave it into my braids." She demonstrated by pulling the braids up and over her head so that they overlapped each other, milkmaid style. Then she mimed weaving a ribbon in and out of the braids, going so far as to pretend to tie the ends in a bow. "But it's a very kind offer. Thank you!"

[Della Miller]

It was really kind of bizarre to hear someone talking about what animals were thinking as though it were a fact. Even Panic didn't really do that...though that was mostly because it was hard to get more than a few words out of him on the best of days. They really could've used Giselle at the pet store back when she worked there, now that she thought of it...she wondered if that would be reopening. Couldn't hurt to make a few extra bucks between writing and maybe doing the PI thing here. And now that she seemed to be talking to her on a semi regular basis, she could probably get some pointers.

She nodded very slowly as she explained why the hairband wouldn't work. "Oh, you're going fancy here...you ever heard of Instagram? I feel like you'd fit in on that site, lots of girls show off their cute...fashiony things." She shrugged at the thank you. "Eh, no big deal. I feel like most women know it's basically law to offer that sort of thing when someone else needs it."

Honestly, Della didn't quite know what to make of Giselle. She was so...stereotypical princess, the kind she really hadn't met very many of despite being at a literal fairytale school...but that didn't necessarily mean she wouldn't at least try to maybe strike a friendship, if no other reason than for their mutual love of animals. "So besides your pals being mischievous, how's the return treating you?"

[Giselle]

Giselle beamed up at Della when she called her hairdo fancy. Giselle hadn't really been going for fancy. Crows were no good at doing hair so she had very little help with it, which was alright. It just meant that she had to do something a little simpler than usual. "Ooh, Instagram," she repeated, enjoying the sound of the word. "I've never heard of that, but it sounds fun! I would love to share my pictures of my hair or my animals friends. Or my regular friends!" That sounded like such fun!

Giselle smiled. "I found Bartok," she told Della cheerfully, still sitting on the ground. She wasn't planning on moving for a while. "That was nice. And it's mostly been okay. A little sad sometimes though. I was thinking about my squirrel friends that I had before and during the war, but they're gone now. But that's okay because I've got new friends! And they're great."

Giselle let her braids flop back down onto her back. "How have things been for you?" she asked in return.

[Della Miller]

Della had to laugh at her response to the suggestion of Instagram. "Yeah, that sounds like a pretty typical one, you'll fit right in," she agreed. "I never really got into it, but if you want to find pretty pictures, that's definitely a good place." And she could definitely see that being something Giselle would enjoy doing in her free time...just...all the cute animal and fashion pictures, probably.

And...gods did she envy Giselle. Sure, it was clear that she wasn't 100% happy all the time, but she let things roll off her back so easily, even the loss of friends. She almost brushed off the problem of losing her squirrel friends, but...honestly, to Giselle it was clearly not much different from losing Rook. And hey, if you can befriend animals as well as she did, why would it be? "Yeah, I definitely have an idea of what you mean..." Della's expression fell. Was that a sign that she was ready for a new dog or desperately unprepared for it? She honestly wasn't sure.

Just like she honestly wasn't sure of how to answer Giselle's question. How was she? This...all felt awfully personal for bringing up to a virtual stranger, plus she was so sweet did she REALLY want to bring up her personal dramas...but she also got this weird sense that she'd feel lousy if she lied to her. Maybe it was her trusting innocence. She couldn't imagine anyone managing that unless they were morally bankrupt or Hermes.

So she pondered how to answer this, her eyes making their way down to her ring as she answered, "Complicated."

[Giselle]

Giselle smiled up at Della as the other woman laughed. She remembered Della from before and she was obviously older now. She had weighty-er things on her mind now. Something seemed to press in her heart, but she could still find it in her to laugh. "Oh, I'm sure I'll like it. We'll have to take a picture together for it!" she exclaimed. "That would be very fun."

That sounded sad. Giselle didn't like to be sad, but sometimes people had to be sad. It was necessary to feel it so that you could move on and be happy again. "I'm sorry," she said softly even though she didn't know what she was apologizing for. She wasn't even sure if it would make Della feel better, but maybe it wouldn't make her feel alone.

Giselle patted the ground beside her. When things got complicated she found that it was best to talk about it. "I have time to talk about complicated if you like," she offered. "I'm a good listener. Or, I can be a good talker. Or, we can sing about our feelings instead." She smiled. "I love singing about my feelings." And then she looked serious for a moment. "But you don't have to sing if you don't want to. It's not for everyone."

[Della Miller]

"You got it, Giselle, whenever you want," Della agreed, and while she wasn't a bundle of enthusiasm like some people present, she couldn't help but keep the fond smile. Again, social media wasn't quite her thing beyond blog posts about recent movies or writing frustrations, but why not support whatever made such a sweet girl (because...yeah, damn, she was practically a kid in comparison to her now, wasn't she?) happy?

Della softened at the apology...and well, since Giselle shared her own grief... "My dog died a little while back, so...yeah, I know how you feel. Kudos to you for bouncing back so quickly, I'm not sure if I'm ready for a new one..." And...well that last part about singing her feelings made her laugh, but in a more uneasy way. "Oh gods...um...give me some alcohol and some Queen karaoke tracks and maybe then we'll talk...but yeah, honestly, it's just..."

...well she WAS a quintessential Disney princess...surely she'd get the whole "trouble in paradise" being a terrible thing to deal with...

"My fiance's acting weird and after ten years of waiting to at least get some closure, it's...just kind of a lousy feeling. Especially since I'm SURE I could help if he'd let me."