Ribbon and Roses

*Boom*

Waking up to the abrupt sound of thunder Tearia opened her eyes and saw a flash of lightning before the peaceful sound of rain hitting the ground entered her ears with an occasional thunder here and there. "What time is it?" From what she could see it was still dark out with the rain clouds in the air but now that her body had gotten more into a routine she guessed it was a little bit before she would have to wake up normally. "Just great." Yawning she looked around her room in solitude before finding what she was looking for.

"Found it."

Feeling around a little bit she grabbed a small glass vial that was empty and a small little white ribbon from her desk beside her bed. "It doesn't really fit me at all does it but.." It was a little childish but she just couldn't turn it down or not use it at the time. Xilo had given her this to tie her hair the one time he went shopping with her when they finally arrived back. Back then she was ecstatic and wore it everyday whenever she could but now she hadn't touched it since. It had just been a small piece of cloth sitting collecting dust in her room. "Maybe I'll wear it again some day though I really need to teach Xilo a thing or two about fashion." That was a huge complaint she had about him even now, he always walked around in whatever plain clothing he could find never seeming to care otherwise and well that was fine here and there he could still improve his image a little more but she didn't have the time to even try and fix that.

"Haaa...."

Rubbing her finger over the glass bottle she sighed as she went to put both back where they were before as another crash of thunder roared to life. It wouldn't be too long for her to begin training again and it didn't matter to her Grandfather whether it was clear skies or rainy and well she loved rain herself that didn't mean she wanted to be out there all day as it poured down on her. There were tools and ways to stop that though but she highly doubted her Grandfather would use those. "He'll just tell me to toughen up and deal with it like always." Getting up she rummaged around for her training clothes that were loose and easy to move in as she arrived in front of her mirror and got ready for the day.

Now there was only three weeks left for her to decide before the competition and she still hadn't made up her mind yet. Putting on a loose shirt and pants that thought prevailed in the back of her mind like it had been the past little bit ever since her Grandfather had brought it up but honestly she didn't even have time to think about it properly. She had so many things to do in a day nowadays that the only time she ever got to take a break was just before she was going to sleep and even then she was just too exhausted at that point to barely form a thought in her mind.

"There we go."

After getting everything on she turned towards the door getting ready for her morning. "There will be so many people there." Whether they were people she had known before or others she had never seen before it was definitely not an easy thing to swallow even as someone who used to be quite active socially. Though it had changed now a days and she hadn't seen or even talked to anyone she had before however that didn't bother her too much because she never really considered them her friends before. "Except her, I wonder how she's been lately." She had met her by chance one day while walking through the streets and bumping into her and honestly she hated the girl at the start after getting into a fight over who was in the wrong but they kept meeting more and more over time and slowly became friends like that. Until eventually the girl finally decided to tell tearia her name.

"Probably a fake name though."

She had called herself Rose and always said she was a part of some clan in town that she would sneak away from. But the few times she had ever called Rose's name Rose never responded right away almost like she didn't realize she was being talked to though that stopped after some time had passed but that had left some suspicion in Tearia's head but she never bothered to pry about it. "I do miss her a bit." Walking down the steps Tearia thought about the next time she might be able to see her again but with her current schedule it was a pretty low chance.

"Good morning Tearia."

"Hi."

Seeing her Grandfather so suddenly after leaving the steps she was slightly caught off guard as she looked up at him wondering why he was here and not at his usual spot. If he wasn't with her Grandmother or training with her he would always be at the front counter by himself watching time pass by.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"The rain woke me up a little bit earlier than normal today."

"Ah perfect, then come with me for a little bit."

Feeling her hand get grabbed so she had no choice in the matter as she was dragged to the back door and outside into the rain. "Not already." Dreading they would start practicing so soon Tearia almost tried to escape but her Grandfather just brought her to the bench him and her Grandmother would usually sit on and guided her along with him.

"Take a seat."

"Okay...."

Sitting down beside him she turned to face the rain and watched as it fell to the earth in silence while they were protected from it by the rooftops waiting for her Grandfather to say something.

"Let's talk."