bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
In the short but hurried walk from the library to her door, Beth hadn't exactly forgotten that there could be consequences for aiding in a cover up -- she'd never done anything to warrant a serious reprimand from their superiors before, and couldn't imagine what it would be like to sit opposite of Irving and have him be so terribly disappointed in her. Nevertheless, Constans' sudden apology came as a surprise, as she had already decided at that point that she was too mired in the situation to put any potential blame on him. It wasn't as if he had threatened her into keeping silence; she'd decided of her own free will to put heerself on the line by protecting him.
"What are friends for?" She flashed a smile at him as she shut the door behind her, quietly as possible. The old hinges gave a loud creak that evidently woke someone up, since the cacophony of snores that had been echoing off the walls came to an immediate halt, followed by a series of choking coughs. Beth winced, put a dirty finger in front of her lips, and ushered Constans even more quickly toward her section of the room.
"Bethen...is that you?" a groggy voice called out from the same area that the snores had come from only a moment earlier.
"Yes, yes, just me," replied Beth, trying not to wake anyone else up at the same time that she was trying to reassure her dorm-mate. She tucked her stained hands behind her back as she peered around the dividing wall and held her breath. But she saw no one emerge.
"Well, could you please be more quiet? Not everyone needs to rise quite so early."
"Of course, Lirana. I apologize. Won't happen again. I'll be quiet as a mouse..." She rolled her eyes, even though the elven woman wouldn't see it. Not that she would want her to see it, anyway -- Lirana complained about enough things, and to have her accuse Bethen of being unjustifiably hostile toward her (probably because of her race, she would say, no matter how utterly untrue it was) just wasn't worth the trouble. The only response was some kind of grumbling noise, then that dreadful snoring resumed. Beth turned back to Constans and shrugged, before rolling up her sleeves and opening the faucet on the sink. The basin quickly went from clear to red while she scrubbed, and would need to be thoroughly sanitized later.
Hands clean, she turned to the armoire against the wall. Sadly, as with most mages, there was very little variety within, only several sets of the same robes hanging inside the wooden cabinet. The exception was the last set of apprentice robes she had held onto for sentimental value. They obviously weren't a fit for Constans, though. Gingerly, so as to avoid spreading the mess, she grabbed one of the clean garments by the hook and laid it out on the bed spread. Her fingers began to work at the clasps on what she was wearing, before she became quite aware of herself and the fact that there wasn't anything to hide behind while she changed. They were obviously close friends, but she'd never stripped down to her smallclothes in front of him before. Unlike some of their more experimental peers, Bethen had retained quite a lot of her innocence, even into adulthood.
She couldn't look him in the eye, feeling embarassed enough as it was, and just barely glanced over her shoulder as she whispered: "Er...you wouldn't mind turning around, would you?"