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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 13, 2023 20:29:08 GMT -5
Once the group and herd arrive at the barn and are secured inside, C'Leena and the Replicant stand side by side, both looking incredibly amused. C'Leena puts out a fist for the duplicate to bump, which it does and shimmers out of reality in the same action.
Nepheles response was incredibly heartwarming, and her smile only grew. God she's so fucken precious. The look on Nephele as she quietly begs for help is priceless, so she steps in. Judging by Nepheles particular reaction to the cider, she'll see what she can do.
"Hey, if you're offering, we'd be more than happy to accept. I think my gal here likes the idea of cider." C'Leena laughs as she approaches behind Nephele and wraps her arms around her. C'Leena has never been huge on cider herself, but she's more than happy to accept for Nephele to enjoy.
Aelwyn enthusiastically leads them to the hut where she runs inside for a few minutes. From inside, the noises of crashing furniture ring out occasionally, and the frequent annoyed mumbling from Aelwyn herself. Soon enough, she returns with a small pouch filled with what is presumably the cookies, and a pretty decent sized bottle of the cider. She extends both items, her arm visibly struggling with the bottle a bit more than the pouch.
"Here! For a job well done!" C'Leena takes the bottle and pouch from the kid, who immediately drops her arm and shakes it a bit, recovering from the weight of it. C'Leena chuckles and hands the bottle to Nephele. The bottle isn't very heavy, but it's clear how someone like Aelwyn could struggle with holding it out with one hand.
"Thank you so much! I wish I could help with that latch but uh, I'm not a very handy gal when it comes to that." She rubs the back of her neck as she speaks, clearly unhappy with not being able to help further. Although, C'Leena hasn't missed that Nephele doesn't seem too pleased with being in the kid's presence for an extended period of time.
"Now, I do believe that her and I have some important things to talk about. Again, thank you for the cookies and cider! Nice meeting you!" She says and extends a hand to Nephele. "C'mon, lets go. Theres still plenty of daylight left." C'Leena has a smile still on her face despite the days events.
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Post by Nephele on May 13, 2023 21:31:52 GMT -5
Nephele glared half-heartedly up at C’Leena, embarrassed and fully ready to protest until Aelwyn came back with the cider and cookies. She seemed to immediately perk up, eyes wide and twinkling as her shoulders rose in excitement. It was almost ironic, how someone born as a fey, known for their trickery and cunning, was such an awful liar. Every single emotion showed in her body, even if her voice was the steadiest in the world.
“It’s all a-okay! I’ll figure it out, thank you again! Bye!” Aelwyn called, removing her hat from her head and waving with it. Despite herself, Nephele sighed, waving back awkwardly before taking C’Leena’s hand, beginning to make their way back to the road.
It took Nephele a few moments to gain her senses, before her embarrassment caught up to her and she let out a long, strained whine of exhaustion. She tossed her head back and squeezed her eyes shut, not realizing how tired she was until she did. “Gods she was obnoxious, wasn’t she? Are children always that nosy?”
Despite her disdain for Aelwyn though, she silently had to admit that she wasn’t all bad. In fact, Nephele would go as far to say that she was rather pleasant in comparison to other children she’d met. Now, would she ever say that aloud? Never. But was it ridiculously obvious? Maybe a little.
“Well at least you got to see a few fun animals too right? That billy goat was really sweet to you,” Nephele smiled in recollection. She honestly loved handling them, finding C'Leena absolutely adorable and hilarious when she was around them. That spell really did wonders. Then Nephele's smile faded, just barely but it was noticeable enough as she continued on: “Do you want to talk now? Or a little later when we’re off the road?”
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 13, 2023 22:04:55 GMT -5
"Obnoxious? I wouldn't say that. Overly curious, sure, but I didn't find her annoying in the slightest. Although I am used to working with kids who ask a lot of questions. She actually reminded me of one of my patients back on earth who came to me to get a prosthetic attached. Bit younger than Aelwyn, though." C'Leena had a fond smile on as she spoke. C'Leena was familiar with dealing with kids. Sure, she wasn't the best at it, but she could get by.
Her smile morphed from being fond to being excited as the billy goat was brought up. "Dude, it was so damn cool! Their eyes are all weird - I see the irony in that statement, shush. I really wish I could actually feel them, though. It was funny when he tried to headbutt me, too!" C'Leena chuckles at the memory. It was startling, sure, but it was quite funny to watch it be confused at the unexpected solidity of C'Leena.
Her smile fades when the next subject is brought up. Not because shes upset, but simply because it's a more serious topic. She takes a few minutes to respond, and by the time she does, the pair have almost reached where they had met Aelwyn. "I don't know what exactly to believe. I mean, what you said checks out with the wings and halo and whatnot. I mean, after the uhm, volcano thing, um. Sorry, after that, I was feeling.. Odd? Not bad per se, but I dunno. It's hard to describe." It's clear that C'Leena is uncomfortable, but she continues on regardless.
"If what you said is correct, then my life has been flipped around for the fourth time in as five years. It's getting frankly exhausting. I don't want to be affiliated with celestials or whatever, especially if it means I'm going to be doing magic shit without knowing about it." She pauses for a moment, more thoughts running through her mind. "I'll have to do some research. I'm just worried about what it all means, you know? I'm thankful for the abilities, truly. I just want to be in control of when they are used and all that."
C'Leenas free hand twitches hard, hitting the side of her leg. She stuffs the hand into a pocket and continues walking with Nephele, holding her hand in a loose grip. Her focus shifts from her own mind to Nephele, on the 'feeling' of Nepheles hand in her own. She looks down at her grip and tightens it slightly, but keeping the hold gentle, but firm.
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Post by Nephele on May 13, 2023 23:26:08 GMT -5
Nephele nodded as she listened to C’Leena speak, catching the aggressive twitch of her hand and flinching on instinct. Her limbs had yet to misfire around Nephele just yet, so she wasn’t too sure what that entailed. That had to hurt, right? Of course she couldn’t exactly feel them like Nephele could touch and feel them under her own fingertips but... she just couldn’t figure it out. Nephele hated not understanding things, often choosing to stay ignorant about subject matters she didn’t understand out of fear of misunderstanding. This was one of those times, where her frustration in not understanding C’Leena was growing once more.
“I see.” Nephele nodded, stiff. C’Leena was transported to Charon without much of a crash course other than a few chance encounters that she mentioned offhandedly. Whether these people were nice or not Nephele didn’t know, nor did she care much. All she knew was that this was almost entirely unfair.
Celestials or not, C’Leena didn’t know what the hell to do in this situation except research it. Protection be damned, if that chaos in the volcano said anything it was that C’Leena was a swing first think later type of person. Unfortunately, and especially in the presence of celestials, that was a recipe for disaster if she wasn’t more careful. Nephele found herself squeezing C’Leena’s hand, though it was nearly twice as tight than C’Leena’s own grip.
Nephele bit her lip, deep in thought for a moment before hesitantly saying: “In that case, then you need to learn to control it. All of it. That stuff is dangerous when used idly.”
With that statement, Nephele loosened her grip, looking up with C’Leena with a determined look on her face as her tone completely morphed into something more serious than nervous. “How tired are you right now?”
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 13, 2023 23:52:55 GMT -5
She didn't miss Nepheles flinch. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, but it concerned her nonetheless. "You don't need to worry, dal. I'll figure it out soon enough. You're right that it's dangerous, so I'll try to be careful." C'Leena brought up Nepheles hand and kissed it, smiling to herself. Nepheles body temperature still was an unknown to C'Leena, but she seems perfectly fine. Very blue, but fine. Honestly, the blue suits her. It pairs well with her eyes and hair.
She finds herself looking at Nephele as she gets lost in her mind and smiles just a bit wider before looking back in front of them. She furrows her brow at the question of how tired she is and takes a moment to answer. "Uhm, kind of tired? Thats nothing new, though. Why do you ask?" C'Leenas sleep schedule has been consistently poor throughout her stay in Charon, as well as before she got summoned. She sleeps when she needs to, and only really gets 4 hours of sleep tops, usually averaging at about 3 hours a night. Not at all healthy, but C'Leena operates well despite it.
With her freetime, when her and Nephele aren't wandering the streets or the area around the town, C'Leena is often working on her inscriptions. Primarily her sense of touch, and she's been making good progress. She sees this topic as a good way to change the subject away from the Celestials for a while. "Oh! I don't know if I've told you, but you know how I work on my inscriptions whenever we aren't out and about? Well I've been making good progress! The touch itself is still much the same, but now I can differentiate between different things like cold and whatnot!"
C'Leena looks incredibly excited about the progress she's making, and in reality, she's far more excited about it than she can express. Nephele asked about it some time ago, and C'Leena had downplayed her response. Truthfully, C'Leena really missed feeling things. With the combination of her burns either dulling or completely numbing her nerves, as well as her prosthetics, there are very few places that she gets proper touch. So this breakthrough is huge for her.
"It's still not perfect, mind you, but it's something!" She says. Shes since removed her hand from her pocket and is now actively fiddling with the pendant that she refuses to take off during the day. The only times she's seen without it is when she's asleep, but it's always nearby. The pendant means the world to C'Leena, so she would absolutely shatter if she lost it after she takes it off. To solve that, it's simply never off of her person, or never more than 5 feet away from her.
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Post by Nephele on May 16, 2023 0:28:53 GMT -5
Nephele nearly forgot what she was going to say, what with how excitable C'Leena was getting. The inscriptions, as she described them, were still a mystery to her on how they worked. She was thrilled that she could feel temperature though, even if they were just whispers of what the really were. Intention and inner power seemed to be at the crux of all magic, and due to recent events it seemed as though C'Leena had a lot of potential. Nephele always called her smart, constantly singing her praises to C'Leena and praising her "beautiful brain" every chance she got (after a while she started saying it to see her reaction, it was always so cute to watch). Maybe intelligence wasn't the only factor at play here.
Then Nephele blinked herself out of her reverie, seeing C'Leena's gentle fiddling with her pendant and feeling herself smile unintentionally. She wasn't too sure how much C'Leena would like her gift, feeling like she would give her the stars that hung in the sky if she could. But for now she basked in that warm feeling, lovingly watching her for a bit before breaking her short silence.
"In that case," Nephele hummed, "Remember when we said we'd teach other how to fight?" The nymph smiled, a little awkward as if she wasn't sure how to propose this. Her nail gently scratched at her cheek, dirt stuck under the beds. Nephele made a mental note to find a bath. "I'd like to teach you mental fortification, as well as how to protect yourself from further injury. Meditation can provide protection from necrotic harm. I highly doubt your way of a blade has much room for intensive martial arts training, but I could help you."
Nephele wasn't flimsy when making C'Leena's pendant; obsidian was a naturally protective charm. Being within a volcano, staying resilient in the face of disaster...her eyes may be aquamarine, but Nephele saw obsidian encrusting C'Leena's soul. It protected her, even now.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 16, 2023 1:36:47 GMT -5
"What?" she asked, startled at the 'beautiful brain' comment. She's done this plenty of times now, but it never fails to startle C'Leena. Nephele has been pretty much the only person to make C'Leena blush consistently, and this very moment is proof of that. "Piss off." she says softly and half heartedly. Despite her words, she has a smile on her face as she grows redder by the moment.
She is eternally grateful for the subject change as she grasps the escape with both hands. "Whaat? Me? Injured? Nah, you're thinking of someone else. I am keen on learning, though. To ensure I get extra-not injured. y'know?" She pauses and thinks on the martial arts that Nephele mentioned. "Forms are always adaptable. Everyone has their own unique take on various forms. There's nothing stopping someone from adapting unarmed martial arts into swordsmanship. I'd be stoked to learn, honestly."
She pauses once again. "You mentioned that Iron is a bit of a fucky thing for you, right? If that's the case, I'm not sure how I'd be able to teach you my form if you're unable to wield my rapier. If that's the case, would you be willing to learn magic?" She looks at Nephele, hand still lightly toying with the pendant. If she was going to teach Nephele magic, she reckons beginning with Light Domain would be a good place to start. Minor Healing would probably be the first spell. Because C'Leena never gets hurt. Yep. Not at all. She opts to ignore the prosthetics for but a moment, living in blissful ignorance.
Although, perhaps Nepheles inherent 'allergy' to iron is about the density of carbon in iron? Her rapier is made of steel, which if C'Leena has her facts right, has very little carbon content form the iron. C'Leena has no idea how she'd test that without hurting Nephele in the process.
"Having said that, how does that iron thing with you work? Is it like a prolonged exposure that causes the damage, or is it immediate?" she asks, now incredibly curious. Out of nowhere, she also remembers the whole pressure point thing that Nephele knows and used on her all those weeks ago. She still needs to ask about that.
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Post by Nephele on May 16, 2023 2:08:26 GMT -5
Nephele had to stop herself from rolling her eyes too hard at C’Leena’s jest, unable to stop herself from giggling even a little behind the back of her hand. She was thrilled that C’Leena was so willing to learn, it’s still one of her steadily growing favorite things about her. “That is true. I could show you what I know and we can build off of it together. It’s seemed to work thus far.”
At the mention of magic, Nephele hesitates before responding: “I would, yes. I would ask that whatever you teach me, please do not teach me anything to do with manipulation. I’m not saying that’s what you do at all, but I do ask that you don’t teach me calm emotions or the like.”
It was a clear, albeit weirdly specific boundary, but Nephele couldn’t in good conscience learn something like that. Callythia used it far too often back when she was young, among other things. It wasn’t the most fun thing to watch. Granted, C’Leena was using her skills for good, but for Nephele? She didn’t want to touch that until she was ready.
“Cold iron, as it’s called,” Nephele continued, “is lethal to most fey upon simple contact. Usually a slash or Shan would kill my kind instantly. For whatever reason though, it doesn’t instantly kill me. That’s nothing a little force won’t change, however. It feels like if you were to use a freshly forged sword and tore it through skin, except it disintegrates the skin and muscle.” She sighed, the scar in her thigh feeling much more prominent now. “Because of my slight immunity, I can wield steel weaponry, but I have to wear gloves. As I said before, vampires to the sun, or silver to a werewolf. It’s an instant effect. I once was stabbed with an iron rake when I was young. That’s the only reason I know I won’t die instantly. I still have the scar.”
The scar, obviously, wasn’t visible. It was located on Nephele’s naval, which she always took great care to cover. It was less traumatizing than embarrassing now, but it was still a blemish on her skin that she hated.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 16, 2023 2:51:21 GMT -5
"I have gloves you can use. They're not on me right now, but I do have them. But that aint the focus right now. Come on, lets go find somewhere quiet, yeah?" C'Leena says eagerly. Honestly, she sees this as a way to learn both about this meditation thing she's willing to teach, but also a way to learn more about Nephele herself. C'Leena assumes this is something she learnt at that monk monetary thing she said in passing.
With a smile on her face, she walks in front of Nephele and takes her hand and begins leading her down the path they were already walking just a little faster. "Is there anything I need to know before we get started? I know the basics of meditation, but it was always more of a self-center sort of thing that never really provided any other benefit other than just clearing your mind. I expect some sort of magic bullshittery to be involved." She laughs, that tinkling sound making a reappearance. It is one of the many quirks she has. Another prominent one being the fact that she hums instead of snores.
Walking down the path for the next few minutes, C'Leena returns to Nepheles side, still holding onto her hand. C'Leena is looking everywhere, taking in as much of the scenery as possible. She's confident that she'll never grow used to seeing this much nature. Being with Nephele, both in a physical and a romantic sense, has been nothing short of incredible. Nephele has shown her so many things that she simply couldn't wrap her head around, and has just been absolutely precious.
In order to express that without saying anything, C'Leena simply kisses her on the cheek without a word. May you never leave my side, She thinks to herself.
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Post by Nephele on May 16, 2023 19:02:34 GMT -5
Nephele felt so ridiculously lucky, letting her be dragged along with a surprised huff of laughter through her nose. She had to think for a minute before responding: "Well, I think that all you have to know is that it's not going to be easy. I've never taught before, but I was taught by some really strict monks. So if I seem mean, please don't take it personally."
Nephele looked up, the sun still slowly creeping its way through the sky. She's nearly completely thrown off at the kiss to her cheek, making a soft "ah!" sound and placing her fingertips to her cheek. Shyly, Nephele huffed, bumping her hip into C'Leena's playfully and scratching her cheek again. Nephele then pressed a kiss to C'Leena's open palm, reciprocating the love back. Nephele wanted C'Leena to feel it though, all of it. She said she'd be the one to help her, right? Nephele was ready to keep that promise, even if it was purely metaphysical. Whatever helped, she'd do it. As she continued walking, Nephele thought of how she would be executing this session, biting her lip and humming a clipped little melody under her breath.
By the time they were back at the village, Nephele ushered C'Leena to change into some comfortable clothing, as they would be walking a little longer today. They had a long session ahead of them, and Nephele was going to make every second worth it. They took an hour and filled up on water, brought a few things to snack on in between, and as they walked into a clearing a bit away from the village, Nephele found a long, wooden stick about a head shorter than her.
They settled down at a patch of dry land on the outskirts, a rock settled a ways away for if either of them got tired, Nephele dropping her things and letting out a deep, heavy sigh as the sunset glared behind her eyelids. It was mildly breezy, perfect weather for such an arduous occasion. She then turned to C'Leena, and stretched her arms above her head with a grin. They were going to have fun.
"Alright, dearest, are we ready?"
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