soulfred:

“O-oh yeah, well, you know— - This place is real nice, and there’s great food and showers, and of course you all have been so wonderful, lettin’ me stay here, even if I’m still kinda…”

[ She ducks her head bashfully, trailing off into a one-shouldered shrug and a vague swirly gesture toward her head. Part of her honestly wonders why these people put up with her at all.

Fred looks up again from her file and returns the smile, though it’s somewhat forced. Cordelia is so nice and normal, even with those awful visions that fill the hotel with painful screams every now and then. Whereas she had to stand in front of her door for the better part of ten minutes just getting the nerve to even turn the doorknob and come down here. Making people worry over her would just be imposing even more, with all they already have to deal with. ]

"But really, I’m doin’ just fine. No need to worry or anything.”

[  Her beam slowly fades into something softer, more sympathetic, as she studies Fred’s actions. Honestly, at this point, she is worried; Fred may say she’s alright, but someone who’s alright doesn’t have so much trouble just leaving a hotel, nevermind her own room.

Cordelia finds herself almost wishing she could understand, but she can’t. Her short time in Pylea may have been fairly traumatizing, but not to the extent that Fred’s was. Of course it wasn’t. Sure, she had a pretty damn rough start– - being captured, enslaved and abused is never a walk in the park, no matter how short-lived it may have been– - but then they made her a princess, a messiah in a dimension where humans are no more than livestock. Even if that had all been just a smokescreen, and she herself had been no more than a means to an end, it wasn’t the same as being a slave and fugitive for five years.

She reaches out a hand, hesitates, and drops it back onto the counter instead.  ]

 "Are you sure? That might convince the others, but I was there too, you know. Pylea isn’t easy to get over, and you were there for so long…“

(via soulfred-blog)