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The Next Day - Evening

Delia makes her way towards Gillian's room, at a time when she's done her duties for the day (and the leftovers from the previous day), and is reasonably sure the Satyr is also done with her day. The Corgi is dressed in simple shorts and shirt, fairly casual, just not as dust-and-grimed as her work overalls. She finds herself actually kind of excited for this evening, it has been a fun change of pace to talk with Gillian about this all (and slightly overselling AD-HOC while at it, but hey, she can admit to being biased).

Most people really don't talk with the Corgi all that much, but she admittedly likes to keep it that way. The AI's especially are... exhausting, since they rarely understand the concept of being tired, let alone being tired and not wanting to discuss much of anything. So Delia keeps a bit of a surly facade just to be able to get on with her day without small talk.

Gillian though, Delia feels is more on the same kind of wavelength. Quiet, yet very friendly and she feels there's more to her once she dares to open up a bit. Some part of Delia is unsure why she especially would be the one to help the Satyr open up, but it just feels right to keep trying. With that in mind, and her smelling just a hint of something good cooking... she knocks on the door.

Gillian has started to take the first steps to make her time at AD-HOC into a routine. She does very well for herself when she feels like there's a routine, though she's markedly shy around others, doesn't raise her voice much. She's rather meek, something the volunteers helping her today gently probed, but it's not something Gillian felt comfortable talking about, other then to assure the AD-HOC workers that no abuse occurred.

Still, she's a fast learner, and did well with the baseline exams to see what kind of education might be available to her through the facility. A bit of talk with a counselor as well, though she was rather quiet there, still unsure what kind of future she wants, let alone will be able to reach for.

But she did manage to gather a bit of ingredients together from the tiny shop set-up in one corner of the facility to help encourage residents to learn some life skills and take care of themselves. Today's been a lot, but part of her has been looking forward to getting a chance to cook for herself... and for someone else as well.

She rather eagerly prances to the door on her hooves, opening it a little too quickly, quite excited at this particular bit of company, "Delia! You came! Please, come in! Come in!"

Delia blinks at the sudden door opening, then smiles brightly: "I did say I would, aye?" She looks the Satyr over, appreciating her with her eyes for maybe just a second too long before snapping back to the conversation: "So, how was your first day? Good I guess, considering?"

Gillian is dressed in a simple black skirt and a conservative light blue top, nothing special, just some donated clothing to replace her maid dress, which is laid out nearby. It was rather dirty after she'd come in off the street, and as awkward as she feels not wearing it, she needed to change until she could get it mended and cleaned up. "Good. A better day than I'd had in a long time, at least."

Delia smiles as she enters the room, tail wagging in excitement: "Always good, to be able to say that." She turns to Gillian: "You certainly look more relaxed, now."

Gillian nods, watching Delia walk in with a smile before she turns back to check the oven before she can give Delia her full attention. "T-trying to be at least. Trying not to think about some things, and having a plan to follow certainly gives me plenty to do. So, having a schedule helps me stay together and on track. I... I don't do well without some kind of schedule..."

Delia shrugs with a warm smile: "I can see that. Sometimes it's easier to have structure in your life like that." She then gives Gillian a look: "And yeah, having other stuff to think about as well. You can take your time now."

Gillian bows to Delia somewhat formally, "That's... it's a weird feeling, yeah. Everyone was so kind today, and so helpful... I just didn't know where to begin." She checks her timer and smiles, posing a little stiffly in a well rehearsed fashion, "And dinner will be ready soon, I do hope it's to your liking."

Delia's smile wanes the tiniest of fractions at the stiffness, but lets it slide. "And don't worry about it, I'm sure it's great. Certainly smells pretty divine." She tries to relax herself, and only half succeeds, leaning on the wall, misjudging the distance and flailing for a second, then grinning with a blush.

Gillian gasps, starting to rush forward to try and help Delia before the canine rights herself, after which she pauses, awkwardly standing close, but not quite too close, and now completely unsure how to deal with this situation. She's very used to playing the role of maid, other social situations are beyond her. "Ah! Are you alright? Gosh um, oh... I... um... y-yes?"

Delia laughs awkwardly as she gathers herself: "Eh huh yeah. I'm fine, just mistepped... misjudged. Failed at the... Thing. What were we talking about?"

Gillian scratches at her head, rubbing a hand down a horn, slightly flustered, "Err... not... not much? I just... dinner and um... what... do you want to talk about? I'm not so good at this, and dinner has to finish cooking... I um... sorry, my timing wasn't great on it."

Delia giggles awkwardly: "We um... We did yeah. Dinner. But we could like... Sheesh, this is hard, isn't it?" Some psych major. This shouldn't be hard.

Gillian chuckles awkwardly, "Oh um... yeah... it kind of is? I don't... I mean, I've been trained to host guests to the manor and all... you're... you're like my guest, right?"

Delia smiles warmly: "Only in the literal sense that I am right here, as sort of your guest. No pressure though, I'm easy to impress." Her tails wags as though to prove her point.

Gillian smiles, glancing around the room. There's two older styled chairs, a bit out of fashion, and then the bed of course. Her maid dress is spread out on the small office table in the corner. "Um... you can take a seat wherever you please, of course. Please, make yourself at home! Anything you need? Um, water? Juice? I oh... I didn't really stock anything... I d-didn't think about drinks... it might just be water."

Delia blinks, then shuffles her way to one of the old style chairs: "Oh. Yeah. No worries. You, uh, just came here a-and it's fine. And stuff." She sits down, feeling... well, feeling, and unsure how to deal with this right now.

Gillian frowns slightly, and starts fiddling with her hands. "Oh um... okay." She pauses, letting the awkwardness hang a moment as she stands there, blushing slightly as she watches Delia, still uncertain what to do.

Delia lets the awkward hang in the room like a third guest for a moment, before she forces continuation, tapping the seat next to her: "It's your home too. Please, join me."

Gillian nearly jumps, startled back into the moment by Delia's request. But as she processes the words, she clops her hooves over to the chair and slowly lowers herself down, careful of her skirt. She laughs again, still blushing, "Never um... never gotten to sit down like this when guests were over... g-guess this is sorta what it feels like to be on my own, hm?"

Delia smiles: "Probably. No one to bow at... definitely not me." She hums, leaning back: "I guess I don't know what situation you came from, but I can guess you never had much time for you."

Gillian shakes her head, pursing her lips. "I... I guess I didn't say much about it before... do you... want to hear about me? W-where I came from?"

Delia smiles warmly and lowers her voice a bit: "Only if you want to open up about it. It's not always easy."

Gillian takes a a deep breath and nods. "I just... don't want you to think less of me, that's all. I... it's pretty foolish, when I think back, why I'm here and all. S-sometimes I question if they weren't right. But if you want to listen... I'll..." She swallows and looks up at Delia. The canine has done nothing but help her. She absolutely does not want to face some kind of judgement from her, but something tells her that that won't be the case. " I'd like you to know."

Delia smiles wryly: "I was quite the idiot when all this started, but that's a story for another time. Please, if you don't mind." She shrugs: "I admit I'm curious."

Gillian blinks at Delia, tilting her head slightly, but then she sighs and laughs, "W-well... I was adopted, um, sorta. I don't really know the circumstances, just that... it was a rather influential family, and they took me in when I was so young I can't even remember. They raised me as part of the family, gave me a home, clothing, a purpose. I got to be their maid, and I was grateful to them." She frowns, knowing how this seems to paint her in a rather selfish light. "I just... I wish that sometimes... they... I don't... I don't want to speak ill of them, afterall, but sometimes... I didn't feel... ah... appreciated?" The last word is practically a squeak, so quiet and embarrassed that she should even desire such a thing, she could practically sink into the chair and disappear in shame.

Delia listens, and her ears droop as she does. "Oh... oh. You uh..." She can't stop herself from wincing: "That's... that's awful. Disgusting."

Gillian starts, hands clinging at the sides of her chairs, "W-what? No! It... they were good to me! A-and I was... I... I know I wasn't a very good maid, b-but they were kind! They were... they... they... I mean... I... I shouldn't have said anything."

Delia looks at Gillian disbelievingly: "They adopted you to be their indentured servant." She takes a breath: "Even if they were the nicest people in the world - and I'll take your word for it - it's still incredibly wrong."

Gillian sighs, hanging her head a bit, "I... m-maybe..." She takes another breath, squirming a bit uncomfortably, "I... should have stayed... b-but... I just... the Lord's son, I was serving him, and just... I couldn't... I couldn't take it anymore." She's growing quite upset, tearing up as she talks, but she pushes through, wanting Delia to understand. "He was... he just said things, and... it made me feel like... nothing. I... ran. I ran in full uniform and everything! I just ran... until I saw a flyer for this place."

Delia looks at Gillian, her anger fading just as quickly as it started to rise. She gets up, and with no real hesitation anymore, leans over to hug the Satyr tightly.

Gillian stiffens slightly, but then leans into the hug and sighs ,"I'm sorry..."

Delia: "Don't be. No one deserves to go through that. No one." She gives one more squeeze, then lets go and looks Gillian in the eyes for a second, before moving back to her own chair, realizing she overstepped.

Gillian does seem a bit reluctant to let go of the hug, but slowly recovers, wiping the tears from her face with a faint smile at Delia. "T-thank you. I know it's not... it's not the worst thing. I just... I don't know. I thought, maybe... I could do something for... for me. D-don't even know if I'm good enough to do much, but... I want to try? J-just to see for myself."

Delia smiles weakly: "Everyone deserves to live for themselves." As she sits down to her own seat, she offers her hand to Gillian: "And that means you as well."

Gillian pauses, watching Delia open her hand towards her. She smiles softly, reaching out to take that hand and squeeze. "Appreciate that thought... I hope to make it work... make something work at least."

Delia squeezes Gillian's hand, then sniffs the air with a smile: "If nothing else, dinner. As said, it smells divine."

Gillian laughs, "It's simple... just a pasta bake. Like... a very simple one, b-but I didn't have much time after all the activities today, so I hope it'll be okay."

Delia glances towards the oven: "It also smells ready, but you'll be the judge of that."

No sooner does Delia finish her sentence than the timer dings, and Gillian releases the corgi's paw to quickly head to the kitchen, "Oh! You're right! Let me get that out and ready to serve! I've got bread as well, but it's just a pre-made bit of garlic bread! You should see what I can do with time and the right ingredients, trust me! If you enjoy this, then a true meal will really impress you!"

Delia can't quite stop herself from smiling as the Satyr whirs into action, previous downer of a mood forgotten in an instant. She watches her with warm amusement, happy for her and eagerly anticipating a meal.

Delia starts idly humming as she sits down at the table, watching Gillian set it up at rather admirable speed and efficiency, if also slightly nervously. Delia the catches herself as to what she's humming and quickly stops with just a bit of a blush.

Gillian very efficiently gets everything out of the oven, and onto the table with surprising speed. She cuts into the pasta bake and sets out a serving for Delia... standing at attention nearby for a moment before she blinks, then blushingly gets herself a serving as well, awkwardly taking a belated seat at the table.

Delia smiles at the Satyr: "Old habits die hard, hmm?" She starts eating as Gillian does, mm'ing softly at the deliciousness of it. All the while she is eating, she is giving Gillian these not-so-subtle glances.

Gillian nods shyly, "Y-yeah, guess so... Sorry. Hope you enjoy!" She waits a moment for Delia to take the first bite, then begins to eat as well, every so often looking up at Delia, shyly looking away whenever their glances meet.

Delia eats with visible enjoyment, clearly loving the pasta bake. If she admitted it to herself, she would note that she usually subsists on microwave meals and takeout, so of course anything homemade tastes great, but admitting things to herself has never exactly been her strong suit...

Gillian eats a little more casually than her rushed eating in the cafeteria the other night. She's just simply enjoying herself, enjoying the meal, and enjoying the company. All things she's not been particularly able to do in a long time. The two both opt for seconds, and as the meal winds down and plates are emptied, Gillian stand up and begins to clear the used dishes off the table, "I'm glad you enjoyed everything!"

Delia smiles brightly: "Are you kidding me? That was nothing short of amazing, I could barely get a word out!" Her tail is wagging and the corgi is very much content right now, if also slightly admiring Gillian as she works.

Gillian blinks, certainly having not expected that level of praise. Still, her smile brightens considerably. "Ahh- Y-you're just saying that. Thank you. th-thank you though. I... it wasn't much."

Delia leans back a bit, grinning: "W-well, yeah, I am just saying that, 'cause you deserve it. Ever considered a career in cooking?"

Gillian's face goes red, and she shakes her head, "Oh no no no! I'm not good enough for that. I just... I like cooking... I used to read cook books whenever I had free time. I tried to do things in the manor kitchen too, b-but they didn't much appreciate my cooking."

Delia gets up, crossing her arms as she leans on the counter next to Gillian: "All I'm saying, you now have that chance to learn on your own, if you wanted to. It's obvious you have a passion."

Gillian glances down at the dishes as she starts to run water in the sink. "W-well... I mean... maybe? I don't really know if passion alone.... can um... w-well... I mean... d-do you really think I could?"

Delia shrugs: "You probably know better than I do, I'm just saying it's possible now for you to pursue it. I reckon you want to do something with your life once you get on your feet. Err, hooves."

Gillian giggles a little at the latter comment, but nods. "Well... y-yeah. You're right. It's at least an idea. Something... something to aim for."

Delia hums: "Not that you need to know any of that right now I guess." She smiles as she ponders on this: "One day at a time is also a way to look at things, that's how I usually roll myself." Now, admitting to herself that the corgi is actually kind of stuck in a rut and afraid to pursue her own career... not going to happen just yet.

Gillian scrubs at the dishes, getting the suds up on to clean off the residue left by their meals, quiet for a moment as she thinks, "I um... w-well you know talking about what brought me here and all... I um... c-can I ask... your story?" She rather quickly adds, "You don't have to share anything of course!"

Delia blinks, then hesitates. She then takes a deep breath: "Well..." She pauses again, trying to put her thoughts on the matter in any kind of form: "Suppose so, yeah. I uh, had a pretty average upbringing. Mostly grew up with my Dad." She winces slightly at that thought before continuing: "Started studying, found a great boyfriend, wrote for a successful student magazine, had life all planned in front of me..."

Gillian listens intently, setting the dishes down to give Delia her full attention. "What... what happened then? I don't mean to pry I just..." She trails off, blushing a little once again. She really just wants to learn more about Delia.

Delia gives Gillian a weak smile, nods, then continues: "Well, in a nutshell... had my first uncontrolled change, my boyfriend freaked out, had to drop out of school because I couldn't risk changing in the middle of the day like that..." She waves a hand, sighing: "...things fell out in a myriad of ways, and one morning I found myself at the door of this facility." She pauses: "Well, this facility about three buildings less than it is now. Auriel had sort of just started, then."

Gillian blinks at the word 'change'. She struggles for words, trying to be sensitive about this whole topic, but unsure how to ask, "Uncontrolled... change? You weren't... or, you aren't normally like this? Or are you something else or...?"

Delia gives a pained smile: "I was born a human. Nowadays... I can not change back without the pain pretty much knocking me out. Anything further than this-" She gestures at her small anthro dog form: "And the change hurts too much to do."

Gillian 's face falls, "I... had no idea. I'm sorry..." She sighs, feeling rather guilty for making Delia bring this up, but manages to force a smile, "G-Guess you at least got lucky that this form is so beautiful, hm?"

Delia blinks and blushes: "I er uh... beautiful?" Her tail swishes a couple of times: "Me?"

Gillian's face goes red, and she coughs slightly in embarrassment, "W-well, um... I mean... yeah? Of course you are. N-not that you weren't before, of course! I don't mean to imply that! I just... think... you're quite beautiful like this. Th-that's all."

Delia blinks couple of times more, then manages a blushing smile: "I well... I g-guess I have to take your word for it. Thank you." She reaches for a chair, fumbles her hand in the air for a bit as her gaze doesn't leave Gillian, and finally finds a place to sit on.

Gillian glances away for a moment to finish up the dishes, then takes a deep breath, "I... I hope that's not out of place for me to say. I'm just... well, it's just how it seems to me. But I've always been like this."

Delia gathers herself from that compliment: "N-no one's said that sort of thing to me in a long... long time." She swallows: "S-so, no, not out of place, just... caught me off guard." She smiles with a bright blush visible through her fur.

Gillian sets the last of the dishes to dry, then comes back around the counter to take a seat next to Delia at the table. "W-well I'm glad, then. I... was born like this. I was taken in young, never really knew anything else. But you had everything you wanted, and lost it because of these changes. If... if there's anything I can do for you...?" She is absolutely in no position to be offering anything to Delia, but can't help herself.

Delia sighs as she looks down, then shakes her head. "Not really... it's all in the past, anyway." She gives Gillian a smile: "I may have lost the life I had, but I have gained something worth more. I would at least like to think I am making a difference, being here." She pauses, briefly frowning: "Well, probably."

Gillian smiles back, "W-well, you made a difference for one person at least, so no probably about it."

Delia smiles and offers her paw to the Satyr: "Thank you."

Gillian raises her hand to take Delia's paw once more, "And... thank you."

Delia smiles warmly: "I-it's rare to have someone listen to me." She shrugs: "My story is not pretty, but it is what it is. I'm not going to spend my days wallowing in it. I can't change the past."

Gillian nods, smile fading just a little. "I guess... I don't know what to think about my past. M-maybe it was terrible and exploitative... b-but I still thought of them as my family? I keep thinking I should go back and beg for apology... but I need to look ahead too, don't I?"

Delia smiles softly, squeezing Gillian's hand gently: "For now, it is probably best to focus on the here and now. Get you back on your hooves, and then worry about dealing with all that other stuff."

Gillian squeezes back, "That... sounds much more doable. It feels like there's so much that I don't know, or don't... I barely have any money, only th-the little I took. I probably shouldn't have taken it."

Delia shrugs: "Do you think they'll even notice to miss it? You're doing what you need to, to survive."

Gillian sighs, "It... it's both comforting and heart-breaking when I think about it... b-because they probably won't miss it, or me. That's both why I left, and why it hurts so badly."

Delia considers, then squeezes some more: "Can you promise me one thing, Gillian?"

Gillian tilts her head at Delia, then nods, "Um... what's that?"

Delia smiles, though then it wanes slightly: "Don't go back until you are on your own for real. I know the temptation to face what you left is there, but it's better if you take your time."

Gillian hesitates a moment, then nods. "I... I promise. I won't go back there until... I... I don't know until when. Until I can say I don't need them..."

Delia smiles: "Atta girl. Focus on the here, now, and most importantly, you."

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