Family Reunion: Meeting Zairra
Ziazu sucked on a cigar, drawing the rich smoke into her lungs as her golden eyes perused the Synergetics dorm from her vantage point on the stairs. She reclined on the flat slope, precariously on the edge, but she appeared to be perfectly relaxed all the same. Smoke escaped in slow curls from her nose; she had been sitting there for an hour now, watching the students come and go, and one in particular which occupied a desk pouring over books, a datapad and inhaling her own vapour from a glass smoking tube. Zia frowned, the same question playing on her mind since she laid eyes on the young Asura - Should I introduce myself? But even the desperate yearning in her heart didn't convince her to go down there and meet the first member of her family she had seen in twenty-one years. She sighed heavily and flopped back, but misjudged the trajectory and cracked her head on a step. It was unprotected as her hat sat discarded to her right. Cursing to herself, her words interspersed with several colourful phrases from Lion's Arch, Zia pulled herself upright and cradled the back of her head, eyes scrunched closed. "Ah, hi? Are you, like... are you okay? Whoo! I've never heard someone swear like that before." Zairra giggled. Ziazu peeped her surprise. In her distraction she had let the Asura creep up on her without physically creeping, something she hadn't let another do in a long time. Her short stay in Rata Sum and its surrounds had come with a lot of changes. The young Synergetics student smiled gently, her deep blue eyes heavy-lidded as she gazed with concern at her. Zairra glanced around briefly as the silence drew out and, though she was a touch airy-fairy on narcotics, it was enough to register. "Uh... hello? Tyria to stranger." Zia shook her head vigorously and winced, regretting doing so. She held the back of her head again, some moisture dampening her clawed fingertips, but the fingerless gloves protected the rest of her hand. "Eeesh! You must have hit your head pretty hard! Sorry for scaring you. Here, let me." Zairra leaned over, setting the feathered hat on the steps aside so she could sit next to the older Asura. She pulled the glove from her hand as her fingers crystallized with ice and placed it on the rapidly swelling bump. Ziazu mumbled quietly, too astounded that she was in the vicinity of, let along talking to, a member of her much elusive family to say more than a meager 'thank you'. "There, that's better, huh? I have to, like... do this a lot too, hee. I'm always bumping into things," Zairra chattered, oblivious to the tumult of emotions in the other female. The older Asura blushed slightly, embarrassed - she hadn't intended to meet her like this! And yet, here she was with her cousin administering treatment to her wounded head, regardless that blood oozed onto her own hand. Ziazu cleared her throat slightly as she fished for a scrap of cloth in one of her drab brown coat's many inner pockets, trying not to get blood on the leather as her other hand remained occupied by the lit cigar. "Uh... aye, tha's... tha's much be''er... ta," she attempted a smile, which turned into more of a grimace on her face. "No problem," Zairra chirped, keeping her ungloved hand on Ziazu's head, "I'm Zairra, by the way." Zia peeked sidelong at the younger Asura, her voice almost cracking with emotion as she spoke her name, "Ziazu." She absently rested the cloth on her lap, already dirty, but suitable enough to wipe the blood off her fingers. The student blinked at Zia, her head canting to the side until a speckled eartip touched her shoulder, "You know, I had a cousin named Ziazu. It's a nice name. She died before I was born though." She smile warmly, as yet clueless that Zia was in fact one and the same. She hadn't died. With a halting start, Zia met Zairra's eyes, "Ah ...Ah didn... die... Ah... Ah'm 'ere. Ah was... stolen. Ah'm yer cousin." She stared at the young Asura who stared back with a mixed expression - disbelief, uncertainty, wonder and back again. Her heart hammered. She could handle a fight. She could handle physical punishment. She could handle a lot of lemons that life threw at her, but this? The importance of this moment resonated deep inside. "No way... nooo way! But... what? I don't even... hooow?" Zairra shook her head, frowning her bewilderment, and continued her babbling, "No, like... I think you're mistak-" "Zal'' foond th'files fer me. He- 'is... freend... said we 'ad a similar... facial structure, y'ken?" She cut in, speaking on as Zairra stopped, her speckled ears perked to listen. "Yer mum... she's m'aun'. An yer granny's mine tae. 'oo're cousins." Zairra gazed at Ziazu, her hand no longer pressed against the wound, delight gradually easing onto her face as the explanation convinced her. "No way!" she squeaked, but she didn't sound disbelieving, and threw her arms around Ziazu's shoulders, smushing her tight, "Aw man! This is, like... sooo endothermic." Wincing for the jostling to her bruised ribs, Zia gave a relieved sob which turned into happy giggles as moisture gathered in her eyes. She stubbed out the cigar and, dropping it, wound her arms around the younger Asura's waist, hugging her in return. "You have to tell me all about yourself! What happened? By the Alchemy, you have to meet my parents! This is gonna be, like... so amazing. They're going to be so happy." And so they spent much of the night sitting on the stairs catching up with one another, telling each the other of their lives with the occasional tears shed and many a cuddle. Though the typical Asuran family would be more invested in intellectual pursuits as opposed to social relations, Ziazu grew up in an entirely different environment, and this was what she had always dreamed of. Now she can look forward to getting reacquainted with her own identity and a new tomorrow.
