Ana Datla

The oven was nice. Quinn was used to an old, temperamental thing that was just as likely to burn your food as it was to keep it cold. This one though? It had a working stove top, buttons that registered when they were pressed, and perhaps most startling of all: it had not yet burned her.

She liked it about as much as she liked everything else in this damn house. Which is to say, not at all.

The welcome sound of someone not minding their manners nor caring about their appearance forced a small and genuine smile to Quinn’s face. She turned to face the newcomer, and couldn’t stop her smile growing into a smirk as she noticed just how much of Ana’s mouth was taken up by food.

“Naw, don’t worry about it,” she dismissed. “You have no idea how nice it is to see someone who doesn’t give a damn in this place.” Quinn gestured to the oven, as if drawing someone else’s eye to it would make it behave in a way she understood.

“I can’t get this damn thing to work. It refuses to burn anything and when an oven refuses to do that, I don’t know how to cook.” Three failed attempts lurked on the counter top, a prefect punctuation to her point.

“I don’t suppose you got any tips? If you help, I’ll gladly share whatever I can whip up?”

A laugh began to play on her lips, Ana had never met anyone as incompetent at cooking than herself. As a child, she always had help with the cooking and these fancy ovens were nothing she could even dream of using. 

“I’m not even from this country.” she smiled, putting her food down to help with the oven. “We used horribly old gas stoves at home. Ovens were meant for storage, quite honestly.” she added on, still inspecting the contraption a little confused. 

Playing with the nobs, she inspected everything carefully but honestly had no clue. “Warm food sounds amazing, however, I’m not sure how much help I can offer.” she said, with a shy shrug. “But! I am happy to learn with you!”

He truly hadn’t meant to intrude, but sleep still evaded him even when he knew there was a dream he could hop into without being yelled at. It was an invasion of privacy, invited or not, and Liam was still hesitant to be privy to strangers subconscious thoughts.

Being awake, however, let him hear the shifting of someone else in their room, and curious to see who else was a fellow late night owl, he got up to investigate. Getting closer, he could hear soft humming coming from… oh what was her name… Anna? Naya? Something like that. He was still shaky on names. Her room.

Too late, he realized that he probably should have knocked. He cleared his throat awkwardly, unsure whether or not he should draw back. “I’m pretty much always awake,” he replied, his voice low. “You’re awake too.”

A small smile rested on her face at this person’s words. She had felt it, in their small time in the new home, they all had no clue how to even begin. It wasn’t like in elementary school where everyone was innocent and wanting friends, here they all had their own demons they were keeping hidden. 

This person though, he seemed genuinely unsure how to handle it, but also awake in the eerily quiet home just like her. “Yea, just... meditating?” she said, haphazardly. She couldn’t really call her hallucinating meditating, but it did provide that same calming effect. “I’m not a huge fan of sleeping, tends to end in nightmares.” she said with a grimace and shrug to exaggerate her point. 

👗 - dressing with style

Color. Anything with color has always been Ana’s favorite. Growing up in India, everything is swathed in bright, brilliant colors. Mixing different patterns, Ana’s sense of style is no where near ordinary. She doesn’t like to stand out too far from the crowd in personality, however, she loves to feel like her clothes are as bright as the sun, it reminds her of simpler times in her childhood. 

🔮 - magic

Tucked away in the corner of a room, Ana sat curled up against the tall backed chair. Her cheek rest softly against the back as she hummed to herself, soothing her mind.

It was late, most of the house had quieted down already. Ana had been in bed, fast asleep when the nightmare jolted her awake, tears steaming down her face as she chose to instead go downstairs to evade sleep in the soft light, in safety. 

If she was in a public area no one could get her, that was at least her thought. 

Ana was in her mind, her vivid imagination causing the act of her father petting her head feel almost real. Sometimes she could fool herself like this, it was just the manifestation of her power but comforting none the less. 

Footsteps could be heard from somewhere far in the quiet home, as the neared, Ana was forced awake out of her day dream. Still a little hazy, she looked at the man who greeted her confused, hands rubbing her eyes. 

There wasn’t time to pack much when Ana left. It was a rush out the door, hurrying to get away before her absence was noticed. The limited time gave Ana absolutely no time to get her things together, she wasn’t going to run away, she hadn’t been prepared. 

Pulling the small framed photo of her father and her as child out of her bag, a small smile rested on her face as she placed it on the windowsill so he could see the life she created for herself. A deep sigh left her lips as she determined that she must have been starved.

 Heading downstairs, she found herself pulling some leftovers out of the fridge and just eating them cold. 

Sitting on the counter and a few bites in, Ana finally took stock of her surroundings. A woman stood towards the oven actually cooking something. 

You know those people you’ve met who are just always smiling? It could be the worst of weather and everything can be going wrong but they’re sitting over there grinning like a coyote and internally you just want to smack that smile right off their face. That’s Ana. The girl radiates sunshine; while she can be quiet at times, she always seems content with her situation. Rarely will she speak a word of discontentment and is always willing to lend a helping hand.