“I can pay for half.” Sadie offered, thinking that sounded like a fair compromise, though her voice was still quiet. “Tha’ way, you dun--don’t have to be by yourself if you don’t want to and you’re saving money to get home to your Brother.” The last part in particular was what had done it. There was nothing in the world Sadie wouldn’t have given to get home to her family, had it been an option, and being able to help someone else with that along with getting somewhere soft to sleep… It was something at least that didn’t leave her feeling like she owed the woman anything more.. That last bit, keeping things even and level as far as the accounts and ledgers of her existence were concerned, was very important to Sadie Lynn. Lord knew she had a long way to go to getting them back to even, but the last thing she needed was more debt, even if it was imagined.
“Is that fair?” It was important to phrase things as questions now, to avoid subtled influences to the situation which might ‘cause problems when things wore off and people were suddenly confused about why she was around. It’d happened way too many times to go slack on it now, especially considering how everything about this situation had her on edge for just such a reason.
---
Nish considered this for a long time. Part of her wanted to argue, to tell her she could stay for free, that she was more than happy to put her up for a few days as a thank you for staving off boredom and loneliness. Another part of her (the Loki part) eagerly wanted the extra cash, and she firmly kicked him back into the corner of her mind.
But then she put herself in Sadie’s position. Had the situations been reversed, she would be mortified that someone was offering her charity. She would want nothing more than a way to, if not pay back her benefactor, at least mitigate her perceived debt to them. And as much as she was sure Sadie didn’t want to sleep outside in the cold, she didn’t want Sadie sleeping out in the cold even more. So they were both getting what they wanted.
That, and Nish would craftily find ways to return most of Sadie’s money in the form of food and other gifts.
“Deal,” she said, trying to keep her features impassive, but unable to hide the barest hint of a smile at the thought that she wouldn’t spend another depressingly lonely night in a shitty motel room. ’Great,’ Loki commented, sounding both annoyed and amused at the same time, ’a stray puppy. Told you so.’
In answer, she dug into her cake, deep dark chocolate with a thick layer of icing - just the right amount of decadent to put a smile back on her face. “I feel I should apologise in advance,” she said after she swallowed the first bite, washing it down with a sip of coffee. “I’m...well, I’m not the cleanest person to share a room with,” she said, a bit of her old mischievous self coming out for a moment.
---
“I sleep outside.” Sadie replied easily, digging into her own cake with a bit of wry grin. Nish accepting her compromise had stripped the worry clean out of her. It even let the small girl perk right back up, accent and all. “S’not like I’d have any space to say nothin’, it’s a miracle it is I’m even fit to be bringin’ inside.” It was supposed to be a light joke, something no harm could come from. “So I dun’ae mind the mess none. Just appreciate the hospitality I do, s’real kind of you.” And that, she meant with every last bit of her bigger than average heart.
Mostly though, Sadie tried to keep time with the lighter side of things, letting the awkward pass like the tropical rains she remembered. They were all warm and comforting, not unlike this conversation -- at least now that Sadie had relaxed some. She let herself enjoy the cake, though less so than the company. She let herself get excited, seeing her encounter with Misha, and now NIsh, and the offer of a hotel room as just cause. It was the corner she’d been waiting to turn, that she’d been hoping on hope was somewhere in the cards for her.