"I know," she said, a bit resentfully. She hated having to talk about this. Hated that it was, like, probably really needed? "And that's mostly because I drag her into it. She doesn't ask me to do things."

Which was a different problem, really, but not one that she wanted to talk about now.

"It's not about doing things," well, mostly not, "it's about..."

Maybe she should have bought new shoes while they'd been out and about. Or an ankle bracelet or something. Since she was busy staring at her feet and all, it would have made the view at least more interesting.

"Being needed," she said, finally. "No one needs me. No one ever really wants to be friends with the Academy's charity orphan who lives in a dorm all year around because there's no where else to go. That's lame, that's pathetic, that's something they don't want to deal with. So... so when you called Vette, you needed her, and then I had to read about it on radio, after Sabine had told me that day that I wasn't the sort of girl she thought could fight, it just made me feel..."

Small. Pathetic. Worthless.

Nina hugged herself, hoping he'd think it was just that she was cold.

"Useless," she settled on. "And that upset me. So it's stupid, since neither of you did anything wrong. I just..."

She shrugged.