1x1 w/ Paintyneko

[cinnamice]

єlєnα nαvαrrσ
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"Yeah, it is strange. She was a good friend of mine, actually. Even more so when..." Elena broke off, the realization hitting her, and she continued in a more subdued manner, "When I stopped spending time with you and hung out with her instead..." Was Melanie really that twisted? To ruin her friendship out of jealousy? The pieces fit together too well for her to find a way to counter it. Elena would have confronted Adelaide, probably, if it had been a rumor any stupider, like how she did her hair. In a sickening way, Melanie made sure Elena would stay mad enough to simply block Adelaide out of her life.

She faded into silence. Was that really all there was to it? All these years she's hated her, worked extra hard at the cafe to spite her, and now, she might not even be responsible for the very thing Elena was mad at her for? Of course, she should be happy at this... should. Now everything just felt awkward and misplaced. If the decade-long silence between them wasn't awkward enough, this certainly made it so. Would they just be business partners until all of this was over, and then go back to not talking again? Even if Elena wanted to bring back that friendship, she wouldn't even know where to start.

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[maximum entropy]

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dr. adelaide cavendish
job: archaeologist

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adelaide let the silence linger, preferring it to the conversation. she had never been much of a talkative person, unless it was about archaeology. she could go on for hours about that. she finally chose instead to pull out her book, diving back into the realm of middle earth. at least focusing on tolkien would be something she didn't dread, and it would allow her subconscious to work on the problem at hand. gods, ten years was a long time. she had really been fundamentally changed--while she had originally struggled to make friends, the rumour had made it impossible. she had learned that making friends was impossible and a waste of time, and had floated through college, living off campus in a tiny studio. she had managed to be even more isolated for her doctorate, pretty much only speaking to her advisor.

would they even try to be friends again? this was the question that floated through her mind. the two of them had changed so much from high school, and now everything would be so strange and foreign. would they be able to even bridge that gap that had opened between them, or would they, after all this was over, separate never to speak to each other again? she let out a quiet sigh, hoping that everything would be alright and that her friend would be there on the other end.

after dinner she allowed herself to sleep, hoping her buzzing mind would be relaxed by the time they got to schripol. a two hour layover later, she'd be able to sleep again, whilst they were on their way to egypt.

[cinnamice]

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Elena thumbed through the images of the sky she took on her phone, choosing which to send over to her grandfather, thankful for the silence that existed between the two. Perhaps with time the uncomfortable awkwardness would subside and everything would go back to how it used to be - if she even remembered what that felt like, it had been so long. If not for their past, how would they have been now? Would they have become friends through this mission?

Elena toyed with her wandering thoughts before her phone vibrated in her hands and she clicked open the text. An video, taken from her grandfather, of Adam chatting with some party goers and then making eye contact with the camera and giving it a thumbs up appeared on the screen, eliciting a smile from the girl, and Elena leaned against the window. Her grandfather was in safe hands, and she knew she could trust Her best friend. With that thought in mind, she hoped the party would end soon so she could text them both, and put on another episode of her favorite cooking show to pass the time - with all the commotion surrounding the trip and Melanie, she wasn’t in a mood to sleep anyway.

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xx

[maximum entropy]

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dr. adelaide cavendish
job: archaeologist

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adelaide leaned back in her chair, shutting her eyes. she knew the importance of sleep, and was quite adept at doing so, though it took longer than average, she though, to end up falling asleep. she awoke as breakfast was served, and she ate rapidly, looking idly out the window, a grin spreading on her face. gods, she loved egypt so much. it was so fascinating and beautiful, and there was so much history behind, well, behind everything.

she stood up and went to the bathroom, carefully redoing her braid. she returned to her seat as the captain turned the seatbelt sign on again and announced their descent.

"so my friend will be waiting for us at the airport. he's picking us up and we're headed straight to alexandria. i have a hotel set up right there, so we'll drop off our stuff and then head immediately to the library. best to work fast... who knows how much others know." her voice got somber, but she looked up with a wild grin. "but hey! at least we're in egypt. maybe on the way back we can stop, do the pyramids. or something else touristy you may want to do. i've done it already--well, got to go in as an archaeologist, wonder if the tourist perspective is any good?--so whatever you want to do, we can. after this whole mess is over. can't go to egypt without doing one interesting egyptology thing. great museum in cairo." she rambled on. she was so much happier when dealing with things she was good at.

[cinnamice]

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Her body didn’t seem to care for whatever stubborn point she was trying to make, as when the next morning came, Elena did indeed wake up from a sleep she didn’t intend to fall into, slightly groggier than she normally was. Blueberry waffles were enough to shake off her cranky morning mood however, and she found herself contently leaning back into her chair and texting her Grandfather good morning. But why time was it though, back home? Would he be getting his message in the morning or some other time? Elena made a mental note to herself to check the time zone differences when they landed, which seemed to be coming up shortly.

Adelaide’s smile as she spoke of Egypt was contagious, despite yesterday’s awkwardness, and Elena could feel her lips peeking up. She wasn’t too fond of Adelaide’s plan to work right away, but then again, it wasn’t like she hadn’t expected it. Touristy attractions did sound appealing though, and Elena wished it were all over already more quickly than before.

“Yeah, looking forward to relaxing after this is all over - though, I haven’t really researched anything to do yet, I figured we would just go with the flow. Then again, I figured you always had one anyway, so why bother with my own?” Elena offered a playful grin, but it lacked too much enthusiasm - whether it was because it was the weird tension between Adelaide and herself, or her lack of good sleep, she wasn’t quite sure.

“Pyramids sounds good... as well as the library. Right after the flight.” She added, more hesitant on the latter.

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