It wasn’t difficult to tell that something was weighing heavy on Athena’s mind, though she was similarly afflicted. Most of the time Ara found herself lost in her thoughts, so she wouldn’t blame the woman if her attention was elsewhere. The surprise to be spoken to was evident, though Ara mirrored her expression slightly - she often wore a somewhat dazed, vacant expression these days, it seemed, and today was little different. Through the furrowed expression she had tried to force a smile, hoping to seem as friendly as she felt.
Athena said she’d been better - but worse, too. She nodded slowly, wishing she didn’t understand exactly what she meant. "I’m about the same, I suppose," Ara admitted after a moment of thought. It hit her suddenly that nobody had asked her about Novel’s ongoing absence, and she hadn’t spoken about it to anyone either. At first she had thought it’d make everything feel all that more real, but she knew now that Novel’s absence wasn’t a fluke; she wasn’t coming home. Or, at least, Ara shouldn’t expect her to. "I’m… tired," she admitted softly, releasing a soft breath of air that she’d been holding in without intending to. "I never really understood the whole ‘getting old thing’ until now." It wasn’t even the physical things that bothered her. She wasn’t really that old, not yet, though she did notice herself wanting more sleep and getting tired more quickly. It was the emotional burdens that pained her, and only seemed to worsen with time.
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