2017-05-25: Don't Leave Me
- Log: Don't Leave Me
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: Photosphere, Riesenlied's quarters
- Date: 25th May, 2017
- Summary: Noeline escorts Riesenlied back to her quarters after their talk with Kalve.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
After their conversation with Kalve, Riesenlied returns to reclining on her chair and having a shaky little sigh. She picks at her hair for a moment, glancing out the large-paned window of her office to ensure that there's nothing else that she has to attend to, before murmuring, "The Operation is tomorrow... there is so very much to do. You should... rest while you can. ... I should rest as well..."
She sags just a little more. It's hard to see the winged woman so drained of life.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
There's silence for a long, long moment - enough that one might even think that Noeline has slipped away, as she is so wont to do, and left Riese to her own thoughts.
But then there's a hand resting gently on the commander's shoulders, squeezing it just a little in a gesture of solidarity. It stays for a moment, then is joined by the touch of Noeline resting her head against Riese's, burying just a little into her hair.
"... I am where I wish to be right at this moment, thank you very much," she grumbles, but there's really no bite to it compared to normal, no teasing little edge so much as just a quiet, almost subdued voice. Well, for a moment, at least. "... and you are terrible at resting. What kind of adjutant would I be if I left you alone?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese -- starts and gasps, rather surprised; she might have just very well have drifted into fitful sleep, dazed in her own thoughts. She winces a little and draws away -- her left shoulder is still injured, from all the way back before they explored the Hollow. It isn't any kind of wound to be taking into a major Operation.
"... Noeline..." Riese sounds defeated, lowering her head. "I just need some time... I'm sorry..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... you're still injured..." she mutters to herself, her eyes narrowing. If nothing else, it firms her resolve; the path she's taking might be a rather duplicitous one, trying to play each side off against each other and protect Riese in secret, aiming to have her cake and eat it too - but it also means she can be there to protect the Tainted officer, and at least try to ensure she doesn't hurt herself further.
Not that that line of thought is a conscious one, right now - for the moment she simply puts on a quiet smile, lifting her hand away as Riese jerks back. "... of course. ... my apologies," she adds, trying not to sound too affected by the movement as she lightly bows her head and straightens up all at once. "But... I am not sure I should be leaving you alone, right at this moment. ... may I at least stay?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's injury will set her back too; her arm is more or less barely functioning at this point, given the damage on the shoulder... and that's her good hand. Though it's likely possible that Riese can switch to her off-hand and do well regardless... but it will slow her down. "... all right," Riese nods faintly. Her head lulls to one side as she looks towards the jewelled box, and says, "Was that... all right? It was curious... to see you be asked for by name."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
If there's a spike of worry at Riese's condition, or hurt at being brushed off, or jealousy as to those connections Riese can't tell her about... Noeline doesn't show it. Now isn't the time, after all, and the spy is well aware of that much - and willing enough to wait. "... it's fine," she decides after a while, letting out a breath as she moves away to the chair across from Riese's, leaning idly on her desk. "Rather-- I'm pleased, I suppose. It isn't often that other demons take an interest in such things, after all."
"... should I have been more forthcoming, I wonder?... I don't think anything I said was incorrect, exactly," she sums up after a moment. "Symbology really is the place to start, if you aren't a capricious Crimson Noble."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"I told Mister Kalve of everything I knew too," Riesenlied spoke firmly. "He is intelligent. He'll figure it out." She shivers very faintly, and then -- winces rather painedly, saying, "This isn't the place to stay... should we... retire somewhere? My quarters...?"
She clings at her hand for a moment longer, finally sloughing that well-weathered cloak aside to expose the sleeveless shirt she has on underneath. "It is not the most... comfortable place, in comparison to some settlements in Adlehyde..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... only if you would like," notes the metal demon as she shakes her head. "... I know how much the view here means to you. I would rather see you in the infirmary, to be quite honest... but I know there will be no dissuading you from that much. If there is comfort in being home, then that is more than enough for the moment."
She pauses, and then sighs to herself as she stands up, moving around the desk to offer Riese a shoulder for support. "... really... for all the warnings and consideration you gave me... I am more worried about you, than myself," she admits as she carefully helps the other woman up to her feet, and then slowly tilts her head. "As are the Ebons."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has a rather weak smile as Noeline helps her up, saying, "I will spend time with them tonight as well... in so many ways, this is a start to something different, something new..." She leans against Noeline gently, letting out just the littlest wince. "I have been back to the infirmary, but there wasn't anything they could do at this point in time..." A pause. "Wherever you'd like me to be."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... but it does not mean that you have closed every door behind you. ... and it does not mean that you, yourself, need to change to something different. Do not-- try to force yourself," she adds solemnly, her voice dropping to a quiet mutter as she starts to lead Riesenlied away from her office, cautious and careful while helping her superior along. Of course she knows where Riese's living quarters are.
It's a few moments later, moving carefully through the pathways of the Gutter, that she quietly adds: "... because it certainly seems as if you are right now."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied stumbles just a little bit as she lets Noeline lead -- just after they've left the office, there's a familiar loud mewling as Salamandra lowers her head and sticks her tongue out. She... blinks a few times, before laughing very gently and pats the flamedrake under her chin ands sratches it gently. "Salamandra, this is Noeline..." There's an adorable-sounding mewl.
"... were you not the one teaching me that it is all right to deceive people, as we slowly become that deception...?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's brow furrows slightly, even as she quietly reaches up to pat the drake atop the head. "... I did, I suppose," she huffs softly, her expression distant. "But-- caring about others - be they human or demon or anything else - is something I would rather not be lost in a deception. It is what makes you... you." She pauses, looking to Riese with a drawn expression. "... I am sorry. I have made it that much harder on you, after all."
She barely gives it time for her apology to sink in before she's looked back to the drake with a sing-song of a voice. "Salamandra, dear, I am going to make sure Riese rests up for tonight. I think it would rather do her good," she adds with a nod. "After all, we both have a part to play in keeping her safe tomorrow."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks at Noeline for a long, gentle moment as the flamedrake mewls enjoyably at headpats. Yayyy headpats. How did Riese grow the most adorable Metal Dragons in the entire Photosphere? It's just what makes her her, as Noeline has put so eloquently. "Take your rest, please..." as she draws her head gently against the Dragon's, before heading down the corridors towards the Gutter proper towards her quarters.
"... you're so kind, Noeline," she whispers, as they head up a set of stairs and towards her still rather limited quarters. Commander or not, she isn't exactly afforded the most luxurious of spaces... but she keeps it entirely cleanly and neat, and very homely. It... contains a rather large amount of accoutrements and memoirs of the steppes and the tribes, come to think of it. Riesenlied may not exactly be a Beastman of Elru's wastelands by nature, but... she almost wears the look, sometimes.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has never been in Riesenlied's quarters before - but now is not the time to huff in embarrassment, nor sit there blushing like a tomato. She does pause for just a moment as she helps Riese cross the threshold, though, just a little surprised that the other woman would dare show so much of the outside world here in the Photosphere.
"... there are not many that would say that," she whispers in return, letting out a rather soft sigh as she searches for a little amusement - and for a place to set the other demon carefully down, the better to convalesce. "... and I am not sure that my kindness, however much it may be, matches up to that of a self-sacrificing commander so willing to let her subordinates roam free... in her place." She pauses - and lifts up to detach her headpiece and ribbons, letting her hair down as if it were a ceremony.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is lowered towards her own bed, which is comfortable, but a little spartan. She watches Noeline gently as she lowers her hair, the faint glimpse of a smile lingering on her face. "Your hair is beautiful," she softly expresses. "... and there are not many who would say that this foolish nature of mine is commendable, in turn, do you not think?"
She trembles just a moment, and then lowers herself onto the mattress as she shivers, gasping. There really are quite a lot of ornaments -- a dreamcatcher, various kinds of small effigies laced in feathers and other kinds of tribal paraphernalia. Noeline realises some of them -- it's been collected over a great many centuries, observing the pattern of the tribes around the steppes.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... at least tell me that there is something you can apply to dull the pain, if temporarily," she mutters, for a moment letting her concern poke through their back-and-forth of comments; she rests one knee on the other woman's bed, leaning over her and letting her hair frame her face as she smooths Riese's back, worry scored across her features.
What the blonde-haired woman says finally registers - and this time, she huffs softly as some colour makes its way to her cheeks. "They would be fools for not realizing it. Because that is what binds the Ebons to you - what makes them want to follow you. That is what gives you strength, and sets you apart."
She pauses, swallowing for a moment; several sentences nearly cross her lips, but she finally grumbles and looks away to start searching for something to help treat Riese. "... and-- really. You have more souvenirs collected than even /I/ do. ... it's a pleasant place."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"There's-- medicine, in that cabinet," Riesenlied points towards another wicker and wooden chest seated at her countertop. Riesenlied sighs just a little moment and draws her head up, closing her eyes. "... they have all suffered in their own regard. I was only merely in a position to lend a helping hand when I could... and we have created something wonderful out of nothing."
She looks towards the effigies and says, "These are all reminders of how we started, far back when. If we did not trade with the wandering tribes, if we did not gather information and look after each other, we truly would have been lost to the winds... recall that the Photosphere did not even acknowledge us as a formal unit back then."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... it is more than that, surely," Noeline hums gently to herself, flicking out her hair a little but otherwise working quickly to extract and prepare some medicine for the prone Metal Demon. When she reenters Riesenlied's vision, it's with a glass in one hand and a number of tablets in the other, and she sits carefully down on the edge of the bed to offer them over. "I know you better than that. You have always identified with that way of life, at least a little. After all, you and the Tainted were the same as they, for a long while."
She sounds fond, at least, careful as she helps Riese with the water. "... and you do yourself an injustice. They stay with you for more than just your leadership. Even Cetiri was worried over you, and she is not someone who worries easily."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied draws just a little closer as Noeline fetches her medicine, and she takes some of the painkillers and lets the Crimson Noble(?) do her work, drinking the water rather gingerly and softly. "You are right. They are some of my closest companions, and have been for centuries..." She pauses, before laughing to say, "Cetiri does not show it, but she is such a worrywart and I know that... she does rather remind me of you sometimes."
She sighs very faintly, looking a bit more cheered, a bit more lively. "Noeline... thank you for being here." She bites her lip. "Do stay a little longer... I know you already said you would, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... do you really think I would leave at a time like this?" Noeline presses - gently, but still insistent, her gaze catching Riesenlied's as she watches over the other woman. She's still fussing, making sure that Riese isn't going to catch her wounds on any of the harsher surfaces of the Photosphere architecture. "Of course I will stay - tonight, and afterwards. You would have to try hard to stop me," she adds, with a certain measure of pride in her voice.
The thought of mentioning it almost gives her pause-- but she lets out a little sigh as she nods her head. "... even tomorrow... I will be with you, in my own way. I am going to do what I can to protect you - and to bring the fighting to an end as swiftly as possible, for all involved. ... that-- I believe, is my answer to this situation."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's eyes are starting to waver, and her focus is rather distinctly starting to leave her. Those medicines must be quite strong. She doesn't answer immediately, clinging onto her hand, her clothes. "I don't just mean... I mean..." she draws her breath shakily, whimpering. "Sometimes I feel as if... everything will leave me again..."
Riesenlied, you're not exactly being coherent right now.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline pauses - and lets her hand find Riese's, leaning in closer to let the other metal demon cling to her rather than herself. "... I will not leave you," she whispers, too concerned even to indulge in the moment when she could reassure instead. "And I will work to ensure that no-one else does. ... at the very least, for tonight, do not worry. ... rest, in the Crimson Noble's embrace," she adds, placing a kiss at the blonde's hairline.
Okay, maybe she'll showboat /a little/.