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Post by Nephele on Apr 28, 2023 21:48:33 GMT -5
Sky Peak Village was a quaint place, cooler than the Zeinav Desert but still quite dry. The mountains reached up into the horizon for miles, keeping a silhouette around the region. It was teeming with wildlife, and Nephele, for one, absolutely loved it.
Nephele had been tired for days after their job ended. They hadn't wanted to stay for too long out of avoiding the noble douchebags, but Nephele couldn't find the energy to walk around too much so she made up an excuse, saying she wanted to take a look around a little longer. She pretended to sleep when she was around C'Leena, but every time she closed her eyes the morbid images kept waking her up with a start. Whenever C'Leena would catch her awake or startling into consciousness, she would say she was hungry before turning back over, willing herself to close her eyes.
This wasn't the first time this had happened, the last insomniac episode she had was five years ago. This night wasn't any different, staying awake to watch C'Leena work for a bit. She still couldn't begin to understand her work, fiddling with a pen on her desk and nibbling at her thumb nail. She said mostly nothing, her face resting in her folded arms on the desk as she watched on.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 28, 2023 22:23:01 GMT -5
If C'Leena were to describe herself with one word, she might have some difficulty doing so. However, 'Observant' is definitely on the list. Since the job, she'd been gradually recovering, feeling pretty solid these past few days.
When somebody lies, theres always a tell unless someone is incredibly good at it. C'Leenas tell is that she fiddles with something, be it a pen flipping through her fingers or simply wringing her hands. Nepheles tell, whether she knows it or not, is that she doesn't keep eye contact. She holds it fine before and after, but during the lie? She looks elsewhere, often finding the wall or floor to be the most interesting thing in the world.
So, she had noticed that Nephele is making excuses when she wakes up. Now, after the events of the bandit ambush, stress that prohibits sleep is unsurprising. When it lasts for days on end, however? Then it becomes concerning. And concerned was what C'Leena was right now.
C'Leena was currently working on something she'd been wanting to work on for a long time - even before she'd got brought to this world. It's the same concept, but instead of computer code, it's magic code. She likes to think of inscriptions as a programming language, similar to Python or some other coding software. At some point she had bought a few pieces of metal that she could replace one of the panels on her arm with to test the inscriptions without engraving them onto the one with the illusory script.
She just took off the testing panel after another failed attempt. She'd been attaching it, tapping it a few times and taking it back off and adding or removing script. As she set this one down, she also set down her inscription pen and looked to Nephele.
"You haven't been sleeping, have you, hon?" she said in a soft, gentle tone. This wasn't her 'avoid worry' voice, but instead her 'I understand' voice. C'Leena has a hunch that there is far more going on than what Nephele is letting on. She reconnects the illusory panel, her skin rippling over the panel like water.
"You know you can talk to me, Nephele. Why aren't you?" Her voice isn't sad, but simply worried. C'Leena brushes Nepheles hair gently with her fingers. C'Leena was no therapist, but it didn't mean she couldn't at least be there to lend an ear. If Nephele wanted to share, she could, and C'Leena would listen, however she wouldn't pry if Neph didn't want to talk about it.
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Post by Nephele on Apr 28, 2023 22:47:26 GMT -5
Nephele had nearly jumped out of her skin when C'Leena addressed her, tuning in to the rhythmic hum of magic from all the strange devices that she was fiddling it. Her eyes went wide, almost unable to comprehend what was said until she felt a hand in her hair. Damn, how long had she been zonked out? Nephele's exhaustion was apparent in her face and eyes, but as may have C'Leena expected, the nymph averted her eyes to the pen she had dropped on the desk by accident.
"I don't need to sleep, remember? M'fine." Nephele's lie was probably the worst one yet, her voice going oddly high at the question. She wanted to cry, honest to goodness. Nephele had grown to rely on sleep, as she had said over a week ago to C'Leena, so her statement made no sense. Nephele knew that, and it made her feel more guilty.
Silence passed through the room, the only sound being C'Leena's work as they both thought she'd drop it. Then Nephele remembered what she had said not too long ago, and how she would open up to Cee more. It had been ten minutes of silence, and now...nothing. All relationships should be built on trust, and C'Leena had told her story a few times by now. Nephele hadn't said anything about anything since they met. A lump threatened to form in Nephele's throat at the reminder. That wasn't trust.
With that in mind, Nephele took a big, shaky breath inwards, breaking the silence once more with a nearly silent whisper: "I hear my dead mother whisper to me every time I go to sleep."
It was like a waterfall had burst, and suddenly Nephele's face was buried in her arms, digging her fingernails into her skin as she finally let out a fraction of what she goes through. She felt absolutely disgusting saying it aloud, wondering who would think these things or do these things. Communication was a huge factor but what if this was too strange? Hearing the whispers of a dead woman tell you things you can't remember, not to mention the new developments in the passed few days that had actually been causing her insomnia? It was too much. Nephele was trembling, genuinely afraid of C'Leena's response. How was she supposed to explain this? Could she really...?
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 28, 2023 23:35:40 GMT -5
Yeah, something was wrong. Nephele was completely full of shit, saying that she doesn't need sleep. She looks half dead, even as she said so. However, true to her word, C'Leena dropped it. If she didn't want to talk, she didn't need to. "You know I'm here if you need me," she says, giving her a light kiss atop the head before starting her work again.
10 minutes pass before the silence is broken, and what is said stuns C'Leena into silence for a few agonizingly slow moments. Once it sinks in, C'Leena moves her own seat right up next to Nepheles and simply wraps her arms around her. Again, she's no therapist, and she doesn't know what to say here, so she opts to say nothing.
Instead, she takes her hands away from her arms and holds one of them in a gentle grip. Their positions currently make it a tiny bit awkward for C'Leena to hold her, but she does it anyway. Her right arm is slung over Nepheles back and her left is now holding onto Nepheles right hand.
C'Leena has an idea, and immediately acts on it. C'Leena quietly begins singing to Nephele.
"Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like, on Jupiter and Mars.."
Her voice holds a gentle timbre as she sings, careful not to be too loud right next to her ear.
"Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.
In other words, please be true,
In other words, I love you"
She continues singing, with each song finished, she starts a new one, always choosing slow and soft songs. She has gained a feeling for how much music truly means to Nephele, so she hopes she's doing the right thing. She gets through 2 more songs before she pauses.
"Sometimes, not very often, but I sometimes hear Rose calling for me. Usually when I'm moments from falling asleep or waking up. I don't completely understand what you're going through, but I can at least understand some of the distress you feel. I'm not going anywhere, darling."
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Post by Nephele on Apr 29, 2023 0:25:28 GMT -5
Nephele fully believes she could cry herself into a stupor in this moment. Her sobs are silent at first, muffled as she uses her other hand to cover her eyes. She was shaking with tears already, pressing her hand tight to her mouth to stop herself from crying too loudly, making sure she could listen to each one carefully. Like the day they met, Nephele struggled to keep silent as she sang her song, and by the third song she was shivering like a cat drenched in ice water.
By the time C'Leena had stopped singing, Nephele was almost dizzy with how much she'd cried. And then all at once Nephele was talking. C'Leena could hear the shake in her voice as she struggled to articulate some words.
"I lost my mother, Callythia, five years ago. She had me in the Land of Wonder in what she described as a 'field of clouds', and from that day we were inseparable. She raised me there for through my toddler days, until escaping to the Crescent Isles with me. We were always moving, and she would often parade me through town to town. We couldn't afford to stay indoors, so we used to sleep in trees and open fields, wrapped around each other. No one wanted her nor I there, and for really good reason. My mother was a fool, using her powers to scam others into sharing food, resources...soon she started teaching me that, too.
"I remember being spat on, hit, I even remember the day that a man dumped a bucket of cow excrement over us when passing through the Moonglades by some old farmers. We weren't welcome anywhere, and we were each other's everything." There's a palpable pause. Nephele grit her teeth in pure anger, her fist clenching as she remembered. "Unfortunately." The venom in that statement was harsh, like she were spitting the word out. There was not a single drop of love in her voice as she spoke of Callythia.
"I didn't like moving so much, because it scared me so much. I knew she'd send me out to do her dirty work if we left. I usually received the brunt of her consequences, and I asked her to stop but...she just didn't. She couldn't." Nephele brought her hands to her head suddenly, tugging at her hair and shuddering. "I don't know why I didn't see it coming. My mother used to tell me she would haunt me if I didn't do what she wanted. I used to think I needed to be, I thought it only made sense. I said so many awful things, all because I didn't understand her. I still don't understand and now she's haunting me! What did I do?! I did everything I was told and she still died of heartbreak, C'Leena!! Why couldn't I save--"
Nephele sucked in a sharp, heavy breath as she tried to prevent herself from hyperventilating. It was actively failing. "And then...a-and then..." Nephele ducked her head again, shouting in frustration when she couldn't finish.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 29, 2023 0:57:38 GMT -5
C'Leena quietly listened. C'Leena was so very wrong. How long had Nephele been keeping quiet about this? From the looks of things, it sounds almost like she's never told another soul this. Still, C'Leena absorbed every word, every raw emotion flowing from Nephele. Her lack of love for her mother, and frustration at her being unable to continue hits C'Leena like a bullet.
"You've done so well, boo. You don't need to tell me everything tonight. You've shared so much and I can tell it's been difficult to do so; more than words can explain." she says softly. C'Leena carefully takes hold of Nepheles chin and wipes away the flowing tears before holding both sides of her face, looking into her eyes.
"I've always been someone to keep promises. Neph, you and I will get through this together. There will not be a moment where you are without a shoulder to cry on. There will not be a moment where you are without an ear for you to rant to. I promise, Nephele. Even if it's you and I against the world, I'm never leaving your side. Not for a moment."
"Nephele, I love you." She says with her whole heart. There is not a single shred of doubt or hesitation in her words. Still holding onto Nepheles cheeks, C'Leena rests her forehead on Nepheles.
"I'm not going to say I understand what you're going through; because I really don't. It sounds like so, so much. Even so, I'm so proud of you. For sticking through it all, and telling me what you have. Please, cry it out, sweetheart."
She pulls Nephele into a tight embrace, letting her get it all out of her system. Her hold is tight, but comforting despite the feeling of cold steel. One of her hands is holding the back of Nepheles head gently, slowly combing her fingers through the cloud-like hair. C'Leena is deadset on staying right here until Nephele is better, no sooner than that.
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Post by Nephele on Apr 29, 2023 1:51:45 GMT -5
Nephele needed more than a minute to cry again. It felt like a fraction of the heavy, oppressive weight that she'd been carrying with her for her whole life was being relieved, giving her space in her lungs to finally breathe. It was the single most relieving thing she had ever felt, her emotions going basically haywire as she struggled to keep herself centered.
Nephele didn't immediately looked down, afraid of making eye contact and feeling the regret settle in. She immensely better, but the information she had spilled to C'Leena was something she hadn't even thought of before. Nephele had never allowed herself to feel any of this before, all of the things she was saying was her figuring it out herself. It was all so overwhelming, and yet all she had covered was before her death. There was so much more she had to tell her, but she supposed for now with her state, she couldn't say much more.
She almost couldn't believe her ears upon hearing C'Leena say the one thing that she had been terrified to say all this time. Nephele's sobbing almost stopped immediately, as if she hadn't been at all. Her eyes were wide, the tiny little lights gleaming in the dark pools as she stared in complete disbelief. She hoped she hadn't misheard.
"You...love me?" Nephele managed, her voice hoarse by this time. She seemed fully cried out by this time, but her face contorted into pure shock, her eyes lidding as she whispered. "Oh my gods, you love me. Y-You really do...!" Someone loves me. She loves me.
"I c-can't believe you're not a dream I've been expecting to go wrong." Nephele said after a moment, honest to a painful degree. Now that C'Leena knew, the statement was just that much more heartfelt.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 29, 2023 2:45:38 GMT -5
"Of fucking course I love you, woman. Don't make me go all heartfelt on you cause I will," She says, taking Nepheles face in her hands again. C'Leena wiped more of the tears away before C'Leena made sure that Nephele received the single biggest kiss. She's setting herself a high bar. She hopes she can keep getting over it.
"I love you with everything I have. Truthfully, I have since day one in that poppy field." She brings Nephele in for another kiss, this one shorter than the previous time. C'Leena has the single happiest smile on her face, despite what was happening previously. She doesn't mind that Nephele hasn't said it back yet; her tone practically screams it.
"And I can't believe you've given someone like me a chance," she says honestly. With everything going on, C'Leena wouldn't of put it past her to not be interested whatsoever, but she was! She was and she reciprocated it all! She swears, if her heart was capable of it, it might explode.
C'Leena pulls her into another tight embrace, sinking her head into the crook of Nepheles neck. She doesn't care how long they stay like that; truthfully she never wants to leave.
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Post by Nephele on Apr 29, 2023 14:01:53 GMT -5
Nephele is at a midpoint between embarrassed and bewildered. She's so happy but so, so confused. Was Nephele actually conscious? She couldn't be, right? But C'Leena felt so real. She rose a hand to touch the back of C'Leena's head, carding her fingers through the hair there. She wanted to remove the bandages so she could completely feel them, but some part of her felt like even in this moment her partner would find a way to lecture her about it.
And it seemed like that was confirmation enough for her; the fact that she knew that about C'Leena was enough to help her realize it too.
"I...think that I would quite literally kill for you." Nephele said after a moment. It wasn't quite "I love you", but it was her version of it for now. But then she continued with the most shocked look on her face, as if she couldn't believe what she was saying. "I would kill for you, I would fight for you, I would quite literally die for you if I knew that you wanted me to. I would do anything for you to just stay real."
"So...um, could you stay real for a little longer, and could I finally call you mine?" In all honesty, C'Leena had her heart as soon as she heard her poem in that clearing. It was an immense show of strength that she didn't just declare her adoration right after saying she liked her "song". It was silly, but she adored her. C'Leena often told her about how her eyes sparkled with reflections of the sky, but Nephele felt like she was holding the person that hung them there, tight in her arms and hoping she'd agree to create more.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 29, 2023 17:51:07 GMT -5
"You don't need to die for me, dal. Thats a bit dramatic," she jokes, still holding on to her. Despite her overly dramatic words, C'Leena felt the love in them, which just made her hold on all the more tighter.
"I plan on staying real until the day I die, Neph. That has already been proven to be a difficult thing to accomplish," she chuckles lightly. "Truthfully, I've been yours since the poppy field."
C'Leena feels truly happy in this moment. It's been difficult for her these past years, especially trying to get over Roses passing. She felt happy, but it was off somehow. Right now, though? It feels right. She feels lighter, as if the weight of the prosthetics weren't even there. She has a dumb smile plastered on her face that she can't and won't get rid of.
"I'd been thinking recently. Every now and again, I'd look at you and the only thought would be 'Shes the one'. You've done so much for me for so little in return, and I want to repay you in kind, if you'll let me. Your problems are my problems too, now."
"I'm not going anywhere. You don't need to worry about me vanishing." As if to prove her point, she kisses Nephele once again.
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Post by Nephele on Apr 29, 2023 20:30:53 GMT -5
Nephele grinned, so glad that C'Leena feels the same. She burst into a fit of giggles at the last, finite kiss, unable to keep herself together as she did. Somehow, the room felt so much lighter. Nephele didn't really know what to say, so she awkwardly mumbled out a soft: "Thank you." Yes, she did just thank C'Leena for loving her. Was it lame? Yes. Did she notice? Not at all.
And then all at once Nephele's eyes went wide.
"M-My apologies, did I distract you from your work? I didn't mean to do that, I'm sorry. I can help you if you need me to." She certainly looked and felt a lot better, but it was obvious that she was running on adrenaline and adrenaline alone. Nephele's pure need to be helpful was prominent in how she scanned her eyes over C'Leena's tools and other strange gadgets that she was only interested in because of innate curiosity.
"What are you trying to do anyway?"
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 29, 2023 21:04:06 GMT -5
C'Leena snorted and pulled herself out of the embrace - albeit with no small amount of hesitation. She was still smiling even as Nephele almost insisted that she was being distracting. Sure, by definition, but C'Leena didn't care. Initially it was to simply be there for Nephele as she started crumbling, but that quickly changed to C'Leena just straight up telling Neph that she loved her.
If it's for her, C'Leena doesn't care about any distraction. She chuckled as Nephele apologized, but C'Leena waved dismissively. "Sure, you technically did, but I don't mind. I got to kiss you, for god sakes. Which reminds me: We didn't get arrested after the noble job. Feel free to cash in whenever, dal," she chuckles, but is also dead serious.
"As for what I'm doing? A number of things, actually. First and foremost, however, is trying to mimic a sense of proper touch. I feel like I'm getting closer; instead of someone telling me I'm being touched, it's slowly beginning to feel like a light breeze. Although, that light breeze is in reaction to knocking on the thing pretty damn hard." She looks back at her work, bringing her testing part between them so Nephele can see.
"See here. This entire line here is pressure recognition. Essentially, if I press on it, the inscriptions 'feel' that, send that information along these lines here, where it would connect to another panel, which would eventually lead to yours truly. Except that it's not sensitive enough to contact."
"On top of that, I also need to write up ways for these to differentiate between things like Hot and Cold, Wet and Dry, Pain from whatever else." C'Leena has since picked up her inscription pen and has been pointing out the lines using the tip of it. She rests her forehead in her hand and just stares at it, trying to puzzle it out.
She's been trying to learn how to do this since she got here, and truthfully this feels extremely outside of her capabilities as an inscriptionist. But she's tackling it anyway, since it works somewhat well as a baseline for her experience. She can already tell that her inscriptions are not nearly as mana efficient as the illusory skin, both because of complexity and because of method.
"The other thing I want to tackle at some point is to make my prosthetics feel like skin and tissue. Cause you give me a handshake, you already know something is off since there isn't any mistaking cold steel for skin. But that's a task for another day; most likely after I figure this out."
C'Leena continues to explain her processes and what she's doing to Nephele as she does them. Making it into a sort of scuffed inscription 101 class, she explains the basics of what sigils do what, how they power themselves and all sorts of things.
"..You see, Mana is in everything. Be it a rock, or the air itself, and we absorb that in order to build our own 'Mana Pools' as I call them. Everyone has their own, but it's capacity is dependent on skill and experience. What these sigils do, is either draw mana from their surroundings, or from the person they're being used by.."
C'Leena seems incredibly excited to be able to talk about something like this. It's the beginning of her being able to draw her job to Charon. She absolutely adored her job, and still does. Soon enough, she'll be making prosthetics and having them be nigh indistinguishable from actual flesh! Sure, she would most likely have to learn how to blacksmith in order to shape the metals and whatnot, but she doesn't mind that. Truthfully, she looks forward to learning how.
During her impromptu lessons, C'Leena didn't notice herself inching closer to Nephele, ending up shoulder to shoulder with her.
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Post by Nephele on Apr 29, 2023 21:50:04 GMT -5
Nephele was completely ready to zone out and stare at C'Leena's side profile fondly for the next hour or so that she tried to show her how to work technologies not from this world. But somehow, and maybe it was because she wasn't using really big words, Nephele found herself understanding so much more than she expected. As she nibbled softly at the pen she had dropped, she did find herself staring again (slightly due in part to the offer, too. Still, she allowed C'Leena to finish before interrupting her.) Nephele learned vague things about the nervous system in her time being taught by monks years ago, so while she wasn't the best listener, she could understand a little of what she was talking about.
Nephele hummed, listening to C'Leena rave and expand on what she was doing. It took her a bit to find a gap in her explanation to say something, but eventually Nephele chimed in: "Have you tried employing the help of monks? I was taught how to disarm people by attacking their pressure points, but in doing so we learned a bit on how the body operates within the nervous system. They could probably help strengthen that feeling of mental and physical connectivity."
"I wasn't the most diligent student, but I picked up a little bit." Nephele shrugged, a bit sheepish as she awkwardly knocked their shoulders together. "I wonder if that could help you in some way." Nephele really couldn't say she was an expert on the topic, but she knew the very basics on a slightly different level than Cee.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Apr 30, 2023 9:24:09 GMT -5
"The monks? Hm, maybe. Wait, are you a monk? You said that you were a student." C'Leena asks curiously. C'Leena doesn't know much about the past of Nephele. Sure, she knows a bit more now after her episode, but not nearly as much as Nephele knows about her. But that's okay, she'll learn with time.
Now, C'Leena had an excellent foundation on the nervous system. It was a requirement for her job, since you had to directly link prosthetics to their nervous system for them to function. However, her knowledge might as well be useless now that she's working with technology damn near a thousand years old by her standards. Add magic to the equation? She knew basically nothing. Sure, she gets the biological side of things, but you can't link technology you don't have to a nervous system.
"But yeah, you might have a point there. It would be a good idea to get their input on this. I've been looking into the prosthetics directly to try and wring out anything I can find. It's been helpful, but it would be better to learn from someone more experienced. My knowledge is probably useless here."
C'Leena yawned and stretched, absent-mindedly scratching a non-existent itch. C'Leena hadn't really been sleeping well; her concern for Nephele was keeping her up. C'Leena was fairly sure that she knew that, but it hadn't been brought up. Although from hearing what Nephele deals with, she's happy to stay up longer with her. She'll head to bed with her when she's ready.
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Post by Nephele on Apr 30, 2023 14:15:04 GMT -5
Nephele hesitated before answering, trying her best to explain her situation.
"Ah, not...exactly?" On any other day she would have shrugged the information off and continue with her point, but Nephele seemed to be in a sharing mood tonight. She continued. "I attended a few training sessions for self defense when I was in the Crescent Isles. I was taught by a group of Shita Eodum-Taiyang monks, but it didn't last long before I grew bored. I joined a few months after my mother died, and they taught me the workings of the nervous system, chakra, and some other things I do not remember anymore."
Nephele poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue, reflecting on it with an irritated sigh. She both deeply regretted and was relieved that she didn't continue with her studies, but Nephele was a creature that picked things up and dropped them as soon as she lost interest. Not to mention her mental state wouldn't allow for her to retain much information, so she unceremoniously left, leaving a sour taste in every one of her teachers' mouths. It wasn't like they liked her much anyway, but Nephele doubted she could waltz back in.
"So in short, no, I'm not. Technically I still am because I didn't formally resign, but I'm considered dishonorable and can never claim to be part of their ranks." Nephele sighed. She watched C'Leena yawn as she spoke, and smiled teasingly, gently poking her in the side where her arms had lifted in a stretch. "Oh Cee, am I boring you?"
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