'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do

Iris had never once engaged in these types of activities before in her entire life. Without many friends in school or her 'home', she hadn't connected to anyone enough to initiate this kind of joyful get-together. She'd equipped herself with a few blankets, a change of clothes, a brush and other toiletries necessary for sleeping and such. As for anything more fun-oriented, the girl had brought a single notepad, as Minnie had recommended from the previous night. There were too many suggestions that her caretaker had made from their talk on the phone, and thus the girl hoped that the main element would be a bit more of socialization. If anything, it's what she needed more practice with.

Clad with her tote bag to hold all of her items for the night, Iris stood before room fourty-three, clutching the small slip of Sandra's note within her trembling fingers. Of course she'd been apprehensive, but she didn't want to decline the invitation. If anything, it was a nice break from the tense situations she'd found herself sucked into recently, and it was a small step towards becoming more socially active. Besides, she'd wanted to see Sandra again for quite some time, and she took advantage the moment the opportunity presented itself. Releasing a long, shaky exhale, she gently rapped her knuckles on the door, speaking in a quiet tone, "U-Um.. H-Hello, S-Sandra, i-it's I-Iris." She fell silent then, her throat constricting slightly in case this hadn't been the girl's room. In that case, she would surely be surprised and disappointed, but she brushed such ridiculous theories aside.

The slight buzz of her lamps were easily overshadowed by the noise coming from Sandra’s surprisingly large home entertainment system. How she was able to get such a TV up the stairs and through the door itself was quite questionable, but it was there and it wasn’t a particularly interesting story anyway. The film buff herself was laid upon her bed watching the motions of what was on screen. The current display would be something that any sane person would question if it wasn’t Sandra who was watching it and still it would raise anyone’s brow.

She found herself biting her lip to try and stop her eyes from shutting completely, but they still challenged her regardless of how much she tried to combat them. She probably should have put on something a bit more lively or entertaining before Iris showed up, what fun was a sleepover if the host fell asleep before midnight? Speaking of which, Sandra heard a knock at her door at last which was followed by a voice softer than a cat mewing. It was pretty obvious who it was after that point, most people who came to her with noise complaints were much louder than that. A quick pause from the remote and she bounced off her bed to answer the door. Before reaching to open it, she investigated what she was wearing first. Pajama pants and loose long sleeved shirt, good to go. Not that she cared that much, she just needed to make sure she was still wearing something appropriate. The girl was easier to frighten off than a gazelle.

With the opening of her door came a wave of heat flooding into the hallway, faster than any actual liquid movement. “Eh, you made it! Good thing, it would’ve really been a dud if my only guest didn’t make it” she joked with clear enthusiasm in her voice. She swiftly moved out of the doorway to allow her guest through. “You can have a seat on the armchair if you want, you might have to turn off the heat lamp over it first, depends on how quickly you want to be fried” she then gestured to the chair at the corner of the small space.

Sandra quickly ran off to her television set to eject the current tape that was in it because she was almost certain Iris wouldn’t have the taste for ‘Heil Honey, I’m Home.’ Although, depending on how fast Iris would enter the room she may get a brief glance of what was on screen. “You know, I thought a sitcom about Hitler might be funny, but turns out it really isn’t. Its novelty really wears off after the first few minutes.”

The girl took note of the immense wave of heat that had been brought upon her once the door opened, but she wasn't too offset, seeing that she was often cold and even with her oversized sweatshirt and leggings. Perhaps it was just her odd affinity for colder weather that kept her in cooler temperatures, but the warmth was welcomed. She nodded politely to Sandra as she entered the room, switching off the lamp that had been hanging over the armchair she'd referenced earlier. Seating herself in the chair and placing her tote bag by her feet, she felt a sense of insecurity wash over her from having been inside of someone else's home. Iris drew herself a bit closer in then, pressing her knees and intertwining her fingers with each other in slight uncertainty.

Out of pure chance, she'd caught a brief glance at the television screen, but it'd been so quickly turned off that she hadn't had time to comprehend exactly what she was seeing. "O-Oh, u-um... I-I'd imagine s-so," she mumbled in response to the girl's comment, a bit surprised at how easily she spoke of these things. She'd always labeled anything associated with Hitler to be extremely negative and avoided in conversation, but that didn't seem to be Sandra's method of thinking. To be truthful, Iris turned to literature or her studies rather than television or anything of the sort, having never found much interest in it, but then again, the television back at the home was used only for the news. "S-So, h-how have y-you been d-doing?" she asked tentatively, attempting to try initiating conversation as she had with Silas on the beach. Perhaps it was hint easier than before, but still all the more challenging for her. Still, it's a step in the right direction, and the girl was determined to reach a point where both her stuttering and social fear would dissolve completely, yet she had quite some work to complete before that occurred.

Sandra placed her bootleg VHS back onto her standard issue bookshelf that ironically lacked any books. She briefly scanned her wide selection of end labels, her lips pursing as she tried to figure out what she could put on in the background that wouldn’t scare off her guest almost instantly. Given that most of the films she liked were extremely exploitative, there was a good chance she wouldn’t find much that would appeal to both of their tastes. She was going to show Iris some of her ‘initiation movies’ someday, but as it stood it was a bit too much to ask of her currently especially if the girl hadn’t sat through an everyday slasher movie alone.

Sandra dove back onto her bed after deciding her search was fruitless. Besides, it was too early into the night to watch something anyway, maybe she’d put something tame on later, well relatively tame for Sandra’s standards. Perhaps something actionier than horror.

Her lips popped at the sheepish girl’s question. Perhaps she didn’t need the entire brutal answer, but she could have a bit of a sample for it. “Hrm, as well as a human bomb could be I suppose. Had a bit of an issue with glowing hula hoops a little while back and my body going into a state of uncontrollable rapid explosions, but besides that not too bad. On the bright side I’m still alive” she spoke as though she was reading off an ordinary agenda rather than entailing the seriousness of such situations with her tone. “Although, I don’t nearly feel as sick as I was the last time we met, so that’s something.” While it may not have sounded like she was lessening the load, she could’ve included the other factors of that night but she didn’t because that would also need a bit more explanation to it.

She rolled onto her back and faced Iris upside now. “So, how about you? Get into any shenanigans lately?” she questioned with a charismatic grin upon her countenance. “Oh shit, I just remembered! Thanks for the valentines gift by the way” she swiftly mentioned, probably giving off less of a sense of sentiment about it than she actually felt. At the time, the gift was much appreciated and if anything it did influence her seeking out Iris’s company more than anything. After that night at the rooftop though, just about anything could’ve lifted her spirits. While it was slightly degrading that the name on it wasn’t from a certain source she was hoping it was from, that didn’t quite taint her feelings about it.

Iris's had expression had shifted to one of utter shock at Sandra's nonchalant reply. Had she really been in such a dire situation? The thought frightened the girl, seeing that she wished all of her companions to always be in good health. "O-Oh my, I'm g-glad you're f-feeling b-better, then.. I-If you feel i-ill once m-more, l-let me know a-and I'll t-try t-to help you," she said with a sense of urgency and concern. It irked her to no extent when one of her friends were discomforted, and always felt the obsessive need to repair it as soon as possible. However, seeing how calm Sandra was about it, she wasn't quite as worried as she'd typically have been. Besides, there must've been some sort of positive progress if she wasn't feeling sick at the current time, although it only provided marginal relief for Iris.

The girl then blinked curiously at Sandra's inquisition. What had been transpiring lately? Certainly, that would prove to be a touchy subject, seeing that most of it revolved around Eris. "W-Well.. R-Recently, I-I've been a-around my f-friend Eris... A-And Silas even more lately," she mumbled, furrowing her brow as she began to grasp the memories out of her mind to formulate an acceptable response for Sandra, "I-I've been fairly g-good, though, I-I suppose m-many things h-have happened, so I-I've been coping w-with them.. I g-guess that's just h-how l-life is, though." Realizing that she'd fallen into the vicious habit of rambling, she combed her fingers through her thoroughly brushed hair anxiously, not wishing to dwell upon the past. There had been far too much tension for her liking during the time she'd spent with Eris and Silas, but it had been her previous encounter with others, so she had to at least tell her friend this much.

Since blood was beginning to rush to her head, Sandra flipped herself back onto her stomach as she continued to listen to Iris ramble. It was strange to hear her ramble, especially since she used to restrict herself to one word sentences when they first met. Progression was good, but it was a further leap than Sandra had thought she would be at this point. These new people she was hanging out with must’ve been helping her socialness a bit. She felt a little bit of jealousy that she wasn’t the one to do it, but at the same time it was one step closer to making Iris more outgoing or at least capable of speaking to other people on her own.

“You and me both sister” she spoke intertwined with a sigh. Her flux of discharges were reverting back to normal and finally she wasn’t super charging or whatever it was that was happening before the incident at the roof. For some odd reason whatever happened that night fixed the damages of her winter adventure in the forest last year, it was about time. “Ah, don’t be too hard on yourself, it was just some strange bodily functions that needed to happen before it got any better. If there was something you could’ve done I would’ve let you known. Thanks for your concern though. Means a lot” her tone became strangely sincere the more she delved into her speech. With a quick quirk of a smile though, she moved on to other business.

She perked her lips in curiosity as Iris mentioned the two boys’ names. Sandra’s mind didn’t quite dive into relationship suspicions as she herself had plenty of guy friends, in fact as she thought about it Iris was probably the only other girl that was her friend. Probably why she was the only one she invited to the sleepover. Although her mind began to drift as she imagined what it would be like if she invited Felix and Jason over as well. How silly. Right, she was speaking with Iris. “Eris and Silas eh? Never heard of ‘em. Wait, is either one in our dorm? If not, wanna give me a brief rundown on who they are?” Sandra asked with quick twitch of her brow.

The girl was delighted that Sandra had genuinely thanked her, already feeling a bit closer to her friend. "O-Of course," she answered her with a polite nod, a small smile pulling up the edges of her lips. With Sandra also having been the first friend she'd made at Foresta, she'd already found herself somewhat drawn to her. Her racy, flushed pink hue hadn't faded from the first time they'd met either, and the buoyantly charismatic yellow hadn't dared to subdue itself. It was a welcoming feeling to recognize said colors upon the girl. Iris then perked up slightly at her next question, falling silent as she gazed at the floor in thought. Tell her who they were? Although she didn't quite feel at liberty to describe them, she decided that there wasn't any other way around this.

"S-So, Eris i-is a boy I-I met in th-the c-cafeteria," she began softly, not quite sure how she should proceed, "H-He's about m-my a-age, I-I think, and h-he's very n-nice to m-me.. U-Um.." Once more, she was unable to continue as she tried to identify him, "F-For the most p-part, h-he's kind o-of.. W-Well.. V-Very calm a-and collected, b-but l-last time w-we were t-together, h-he seemed a l-little f-frustrated." Iris shrugged the thought off as she chose to move onto the other boy, "A-As for S-Silas, I'm n-not sure a-about his a-age, b-but h-he's around mine I s-suppose, a-and.. H-He's also v-very kind.." Her description of him was already beginning to sound similar to Eris's, and she emitted a quiet sigh of defeat, pushing on, "H-He's a l-little m-more outgoing than E-Eris, I th-think.. Y-You s-see, I-I was at th-the beach w-with him a-and Eris a few d-days ago, a-and from th-the other t-time I'd m-met him, th-that's wh-what I'd g-gathered." Iris shifted uncomfortably at the thought, recalling the taut atmosphere and smiling nervously at Sandra, murmuring a soft apology, "S-Sorry, I-I'm not r-really good a-at showing wh-what people a-are like.."

Sandra could tell fairly easily that Iris was having a difficult time expressing their personalities even before she apologized. Either she didn’t really know the boys for that long or she was just bad at placing traits to people. Given the girl’s crippling shyness either one would make complete and total sense. With the information that she was passed down by her friend, she could probably piece together a sensible narrative that could entail more than Iris was letting on. If she was the type of person who could assume so much out of people, that could be an easy task, but that wasn’t quite the case for her.

“Nah, that’s fine, that’s fine. I just wanted a reference for ‘em, I didn’t necessarily need an essay explaining their depth” she rolled her eyes as she reassured the girl. She adjusted the way she was laid on the bed and rested her chin against an arch she made from her arms. “So this Eris guy is usually calm and collected, but as soon as he met up with another one of your guy friends, who’s plenty more social than he is, he became flustered? Uh-oh, you may have some guy problems on your hands” she joked playfully with a bit of an airy snort. She’d be the first to admit she was probably not the best person when it came to anything involving relationships, but something was probably up with the situation Iris was describing. It could easily be that Eris could be just jealous of the other boy for purely friend reasons alone or he could have been frustrated for other reasons entirely and it was just coincidence, but if she didn’t pry a little bit then she might not get anything further from that out of Iris. As well, the girl could easily be tossed around through a love triangle so it’d be better to give her some advice than none at all.

“I don’t mean to pry here, but do you think there might be a little more to this. Two friendly guys that don’t get along that also have a mutual, excuse me, ‘girl’ friend seem a bit peculiar?” she challenged the girl a little bit with an exaggerated squint. Sandra really didn’t enjoy having to talk about relationships and the like, in fact it stung her heart a little bit as her brain kept reminding her of her own problems in that department, but it was a bit different for Iris considering how fragile she was.

The girl was undoubtedly relieved that Sandra was comfortable with her mediocre methods of describing others, since she'd always feared rejection. However, she felt a ease now, nodding briefly in thanks. But, Iris's naivety was even outmatched by her younger peer, for she tilted her head in an innocent fashion the moment she spoke of guy troubles. "G-Guy trouble?" she echoed softly, furrowing her brow in slight confusion once Sandra elaborated a bit, "I-I'm not s-sure I-I understand wh-what y-you're s-saying, I-I mean I-I only introduced them t-to e-each other th-that day, s-so I-I think I-I was th-the one wh-who somehow m-made E-Eris frustrated.. M-Maybe I-I offended h-him or s-something." Her oblivious attitude towards the entire ordeal didn't seem to assist her now, however she'd remain in this blissful state of unawareness until corrected.

Still, she was determined to comprehend what Sandra had been trying to convey to her, "P-Peculiar? I-I don't th-think s-so, E-Eris was b-bound to g-get a-angry at me a-at some p-point." From Minnie's words of wisdom in the past, she knew that it was normal for companions to go through rough patches. It showed how close you were to someone else that you were able to express yourself and have disagreements, or at least that's how her caretaker had worded it, only this time the girl was unsure of what she'd done to cause irritation within him. Iris released a quiet sigh of resignation at the thought, having chosen to be kind to him as she'd always been in hopes that the issue would resolve itself. If anything, probing in on whatever was irking him surely wouldn't result in something positive. Instead, the girl kept her attention focused on Sandra, her expressively green eyes locked upon the vibrant student.

Sandra shook her head softly as she let out an auditory “Oh, ho” while she began to shift around with her seating once more. She figured Iris would be mystified by the whole concept, but not nearly as clueless about it as she was acting. She supposed the sheepish girl’s mind was always busy on how people were treating and reacting to her that she didn’t quite pay attention to such things, it was either that or she was truly that clueless. Given that she had stated before that she hadn’t had many friends in the past it could easily be a combination of both. Finally Sandra had herself sitting up right with her legs crossed. She felt like a parent that had to discuss about the birds and the bees to their child, the comfort levels were begin to phase a little bit to that state as well.

“Okay” she started as she wiped her face with both palms to prepare herself. “First off, you really need to stop assuming that whenever someone is upset that it is toward you because things are going to get very complicated for you if you continue to do it. It’s cute and all, but just cut down on it a smidge” she continued and after this point her words were becoming more broken up as she was speaking as she was thinking. “Now, don’t take what I’m about to say as complete fact as I’m taking some liberties since I don’t know these guys, like at all. I think this Eris guy might be jealous of Silas and that could either mean he wants to be really close friends with you or… you know, I’m not gonna beat around the bush here, he probably wants to get in your pants. ‘Scuse me, if that’s a bit too vulgar for you and I’m pretty sure he has better intentions than that, but that’s probably what’s going on” the last half of her statement regained her fluid way of speaking.

If anything, it was Sandra's soft murmur that had given Iris the impression that she was missing something vital. Confusion was painfully evident upon her easily comprehensible expression as she bit her lip, trying to understand exactly what her friend was attempting to say. Her first statement caught the girl a bit off guard, but she knew that it was a pestilent habit of hers to voluntarily become the scapegoat. Only now was she really cognizant of the fact, and despite this, most likely she'd continue the persistent pattern. In response to Sandra, she nodded earnestly, taking it as constructive criticism, yet releasing a quiet apology as a precaution, "S-Sorry.." The last thing Iris needed was accidentally offending her friend who was so determined to work with her.

"J-Jealous?" the girl repeated distantly in response to her, about to question the theory further when her features began to heat up considerably as she continued on. Wait, what? she thought in utter disbelief, blinking a few times to try and force down the rising blush in her cheeks. "O-Oh n-no no n-no no no.. I-I do n-not think E-Eris would.. E-Even consider something s-so... P-Profane.. A-And I-I w-would not be th-the type of p-person t-to elicit th-those types of f-feelings in someone," she attempted to reassure Sandra, wringing her hands together anxiously as she gazed determinedly at the ground. She hadn't felt this flustered since her escapade with Eris while he was ill, and she thought that was embarrassing. "R-Really, E-Eris is v-very kind a-and p-polite," Iris continued in desperation to preserve his name, "H-He's a g-good p-person.. A-And besides, I-I th-think w-we're, u-um, a-already good f-friends, so.. S-So envy i-is not something I-I'd imagine him h-having.. I-It doesn't qu-quite fit his calm d-demeanor." The girl cast a weak smile in her friend's direction then, swallowing thickly to calm her rapidly beating heart.

If under any other circumstance, Iris’s rapid reaction to Sandra’s words might have been somewhat hilarious to her. She acted upon it with more volume than she had ever heard out of the sheepish female, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. Sandra saw it as a bit of a good thing, it at least let her know for sure that the girl’s vocal cords weren’t broken to the point she couldn’t yell any louder than a whisper. She wasn’t that loud, but still it was a step up.

“Okay, maybe it was a bad choice of words on my part. That’s just the way I think. It still remains that this guy might have feelings for you whether or not his thoughts are as racy as mine. Besides, you’re like what? Eighteen? You’re going to be dealing with stuff like that way more than I am” she quickly rebutted in defense of her previous words after experiencing Iris’s reaction. She switched her seating once more as she knelt while sitting on her legs and beginning to lean in toward the girl opposite to her. For some reason Iris preferred a G-rated look onto the world and Sandra had no clue why. It might’ve been more noticeable for her since she preferred her world to be unrated. It was strange how they got along sometimes, but it was probably because Iris could get along with just about anyone who was able to carry a conversation without her.

“I have no doubts that he is a good person, for all I know he could be Jesus reincarnated, but everyone can feel jealousy every now and again. It’s not like a calm and rational person can’t act outside of those boundaries and when they do it’s usually something their passionate about, in this case that thing is you. And don’t give me that, I’m not worth it thing. If you were more social I’d bet you’d have guys chase you all around the school” she explained simply with a slight roll of her eyes near the end.

Sandra's quick-witted retort only caused her to blush further, her naivety truly seizing her like a raging storm. "U-Um.. W-Well.. I-I mean, h-he," she stuttered for a few minutes, before managing to reply to at least the second half of the girl's rebuke without an answer to the first section, "A-And.. I-I don't i-intend t-to partake o-of s-such activities l-like that n-now, d-despite.. M-My age.." She placed a quivering hand over her reddening cheek then, managing a strained smile in her comrade's direction. To be truthful, she was very surprised at how risque a girl younger than her could be. However, the fact that she was often sanctioning herself off from others in the home probably contributed to her avoiding any sort of inappropriate behavior or discussions.

Luckily, it seemed that her hasty words of reassurance had ensured that Eris's reputation was still amiable. She was still a bit surprised at her friend's assumptions that the boy viewed her as something more than a friend. But, when it came to romance, Iris required blatant signs to fully comprehend what was transpiring, and even then she felt herself baffled by the concept in general. So, of course she'd have difficulty relating to what Sandra was saying. "I-I don't kn-know a-about that.. I-It's odd t-to view E-Eris with h-having p-passion, since he's so c-composed, a-and.. I-I.. Hmm," she murmured, before feeling her face gain a few more droplets of color at the girl's compliment, "A-And.. I-I cannot i-imagine m-myself in that p-position, I-I suppose.. I-I'm very u-unused to... Th-Those k-kinds of relationships.." As Sandra leaned a bit closer to her, Iris instinctively jolted back her head ever so slightly, blinking a couple of times in disorientation, "B-But um.. Th-Thank you f-for th-the kind w-words."

Sandra had no clue why their conversation was going so deep into something she had no knowledge of. Not only was she not the person to ask for advice on dating 101, but now she had taken the grounds of assuming that one of Iris’s friends had a crush on her. At this point she began to question whether she was the one in the right, she was going off of so little a fact as Eris became upset when he was introduced to another of Iris’s male friends. Although that was a big indication, she was still assuming a lot in order for her to be right. She couldn’t just go back on her word now though, they’ve delved too deep for her to back down now. Besides maybe the girl could use a boyfriend, if anything it would make her a little more adventurous. A tiny bit.

“No one says you have to have sex… Well, maybe Mother Nature, but yeah whatever. I’m just saying it’s probably gonna come up at some point in your life whether you like it or not” she answered as she leaned back a bit considering how close she was to the other girl’s glowing red face. It almost reminded her of her own face after sitting under a heat lamp for too long. Blushing hardly revealed anything because the minute Sandra mentioned something remotely hinting toward anything sexual Iris’s face tended to light up like a Christmas tree.

“Everyone has a passion for something, if Eris doesn’t I’d check for a battery port because he might be a robot. As I said though, I’m taking a shot in the dark here when I say that he might like you, if you like the idea then go ahead take your shot, if you don’t then don’t. It’s simple as that. I’m not going to force you into anything, but I have a feeling you have a good shot at ‘em” she answered returning a small bright grin to the girl. Sandra rolled off the other side of her bed and toward her wall of movies. She knelt on the ground next to her bed with only her head poking out from the other side. “Now what should we put on? Naturally, a sleep over calls for a sorority slasher flick” she spoke like she was surveying the girl. Her sudden change of pace was mostly to change the topic before it began to involve herself.

To be honest, Iris had been attempting to veer away from the more racy topics, however even with Sandra's closing statement she felt her face bury itself within the comfort of her hands to disguise the intense color having risen onto her face. She couldn't grasp even the simplest of replies to offer her friend now, for she wished to avoid anything to do with such intimacy. At least, she'd steer clear of it for as long as humanly possible. Iris meekly peeked out from between the cracks of her fingers, her bright, green eyes surveying her friend with a timid quality about her. In fact, she hadn't made any auditory sounds until Sandra brought up something about Eris being a robot, causing a faint smile to enlighten her features. She removed her palms from her cheeks and murmured softly, "I-I c-can see wh-where you're c-coming from.." However, she couldn't quite answer her when it came to deciding how she felt about Eris. That would require a deep and long consideration and delving far to in depth into her emotions, and she wasn't quite sure if she was ready to take on such a momentous task.

All of the color that had accumulated into Iris's face seemed to bleed out with her friend's simple statement, her beating rapidly within her chest. "S-Slasher?" she echoed quietly, imagining a blood-soaked killer rampaging through the black-and-white scenes of an old horror film. Or at least, these were the fragmented memories she'd possessed from her childhood, having sneaked a glimpse of that type of movie from the other boys before. It was a rare find as she recalled, but she'd always been too tentative to let those images rampage her mind and add to the nightmares she'd find herself entrapped tangled in as an adolescent. Although she might not have had Minnie here to nestle her head into for comfort, she decided that if this is what her companion wanted to do, she'd stick with it and endure the film as to both try and increase her tolerance for elements in life that would've typically frightened her. "Wh-Whatever y-you want i-is fine," she said with a polite nod, offering Sandra a weak smile.