2017-08-21: They're Sensitive
- Log: They're Sensitive
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: Wayside
- Date: 21st August 2017
- Summary: Following their escape from the Warfront, Noeline and Riesenlied wake up at the site of the Tainted's new village...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It is daybreak.
The first rays of Filgaia's arid and unforgiving sun cast its shine over the mountainpeaks, gently limning a crevasse nestled inbetween two grand cliffs that take advantage of cascading colours to hide itself. Here, there was once a village -- a village that had come upon hard times in the distant past, savaged by bandits and the ravages of Aveh and Kislev's neverending war. It was abandoned, more than twenty years ago -- but now...
The chatter of workmanship and construction goes even as the light comes up -- the first few buildings are already underway, with various Tainted setting forth with what they've come used to: creating a new home. The caravan has gathered around a great campfire, upon which several of the Ebony Wings dragons perch around. The Gears that they've taken from Aveh's battlegrounds kneel at the back, as if an inspiring sight for the stone sentinels that they'll become.
Here they are. Wayside.
The village that Riesenlied promised them -- the village that they'll dare to make their stand against the world that casts them aside.
The Tainted commander is resting on a cot in one of the caravan carriages that they've brought -- she had an extensive number of wounds to be looked after, and rest was of paramount importance to her...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Sat next to Riesenlied, one hand in hers, is the Second of the Ebony Wings. The Demon Knight's armor is pitted and broken in a multitude of places, parts of the bodysuit underneath and torn to reveal silvery cuts and thick bruises that her internal healing hasn't even begun to catch up with; one arm has been heavily bandaged for the stress that she put on it in the midst of the Temple. On a table to one side Trouble and Strife sit, the little robots inert and powered down to recharge their own internal supply.
When the light hits her, Noeline starts all of a sudden, realizing that somewhere along the way she'd managed to drift off into a light and fitful sleep. Not that she feels rested, of course - every bone in her body aches with the dull but overriding feeling of exhaustion, the rigours of the Temple clashing with the stress of meeting Equites and the sheer adrenaline of their escape from the frantic battle outside. As if that weren't enough, she'd stayed up long into the night, providing what guidance she could for the fledgling village in Riesenlied's place - especially once Cetiri told her to get out of the caravan and let the medics work.
"... ah..." she squints against the light, bringing up her good hand to shield her eyes - and Riese's with it. Before she can really stop herself, she's grimaced, and immediately reached over for a blanket to drag over the both of them as a shield from the sun.
Moving seems like a /terrible/ idea.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Fortunately for the both of them, they aren't without aid -- both Kalve and Cetiri have no doubt recently collaborated to make sure that ample amounts of medicine that would suit their own biological natures are at hand, so they're out of the danger zone. And hey, Riesenlied even managed to limp out of that on her legs rather than have to be carried -- though Noeline would probably have insisted on the princess carry regardless, at some point.
Riesenlied squints in turn as her eyelashes begin to move at the first sign of light, as she stirs and suddenly realises that she's awake. Much like Noeline, every part of her body seems to be screaming at her, whatever force of adrenaline they were all hopped on during their escape has been well dashed by now.
"... everything hurts," Riesenlied voices a rare complaint. "... but it still feels good to be here."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Mrggrhhhh," Noeline eloquently replies; there's a movement under the blanket, and then her body next to Riesenlied's as she simply hauls herself up onto the cot, as opposed to the floor where she's been sat next to it. While she's been doing her best to be careful of the Tainted commander's wounds, it seems her patience for that extends only so far, and right at this moment she's burrowing in place partially to hide from the sun and partially to fish for a hug.
At least she took her armor off at some point, so the only spiky part is her own elbows.
It takes a while before she can trust herself to speak, not lifting her head. "I am-- absolutely, utterly astonished that we are both alive," she grumbles, not even having the energy to huff the words out. "I am still not sure that we are, in fact. Why is everything so hot and bright," she outright whines afterwards, never mind that she's the one who heaped things on them both.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out just a little yelp, but it's with a very soft chuckle that she replaces it after as she drapes both of her bandage-clad arms towards Noeline's shoulder. "... it's the desert..." she whispers, perhaps too matter-of-factly. A pause, as she glances just outside, lightly. "... perhaps we did push too far in our own way, but... that has always been our way, has it not?"
She lifts her head and rests it back against the pillow, staring up towards the ceiling.
"It's possible... Noeline..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"I'm not sure I'm on board with this 'desert' idea," mumbles Noeline in turn, and it might be harsh were it not absolutely obvious that she's not being serious, so much as just mouthing off to let some of the tension drain from her mind and her frame. "It sounds like a hassle, frankly. My dress will get sand /everywhere/ inside of it."
She doesn't look up when Riesenlied does, but evidently picks up on the motion in some fashion, interpreting it correctly - and without lifting her head, starts to slowly list off a rather barebones report. "... they're building now. The stable is in place, and four houses are up - with many more to go, I suppose, but at least the work is coming quickly. The-- qanat, was it?-- is being further dug out, but initial results look good."
That much seems enough to tire Noeline out all over again, and she sinks a little into Riesenlied's side as she falls silent for a long moment, before her mouth curls into a faint grin. "... really, now... don't tell me that Riesenlied was secretly doubting, in the face of her own hope?" she chides softly.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied reaches down towards Noeline's hair as she strokes and comments gently in turn, "You could always move away," with a lightness that also rather undercuts the harshness of it all. "Besides. There are ways to tame the desert. Once we have more comforts created -- once the qanat is up and running -- it will become much more hospitable. There are ways to make airy, comfortable homes even in arid, cracked deserts."
There is a gentle and throaty hum as she looks towards Noeline and says, "... is it wrong to be a little worried?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Do I get a castle?" replies Noeline, and now her voice has turned rather brattish and petulant for a moment - but if the way she's leaning against Riesenlied's hand is any indication, she's more than content where she is right about now.
"... I suppose we may have rather stretched our limits this time. I think I'm down a couple of lives," she chuckles after a moment as if she were a cat, lifting her head to let her crimson eyes settle on Riesenlied's. "But... pushing too far was the only way we could have ever produced such results. Standing again - keeping that hope alive no matter what may come - is uniquely your own power. And yelling in its face is apparently mine, I suppose," she adds with a rough sort of laugh, disbelieving and relieved all at once.
The spy does at least pause; she's well aware how this game is played, and can already see the potential problems stretch out in front of them, is already thinking of what to do about their self-imposed geas and the conflict of interest it presents to the rest of their race as a whole. "A little worried is fine, I suppose. But I think we now count as actively qualified to take whatever the world chooses to throw at us."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied raises her eyebrows as she murmurs, "... come now, are you not selling yourself short?" She draws in a weaker breath, then leans in and up for that gentle kiss on the cheek. "If you had given up, I would not be seeing you here right now. That you have stood here by my side, however petulant or stubborn you may wish to call it... that is a true power in and out of itself, is it not?"
If Riesenlied is aware of the potential problems, she's not seeing or voicing them right now. "... I know that wrinkle. Let's forget about that for a moment."
She reaches in and places that hand on the same cheek she kisses, to guide Noeline's eyes towards hers. "Right now, it's just us..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Old habits die hard - and perhaps Noeline was getting a little far along in spinning her mind back up a little too soon, because when Riesenlied kisses her cheek there's a soft noise of surprise and then a glowing blush on her face as she's knocked out of thoughts that were getting a bit too deep. "Wh-- well--" she stammers for a moment, and then somehow manages to grump and return the kiss in kind all at the same time, her arms slipping around Riese's shoulders. "It's not as if my own stubbornness is purely my own, you know. If you weren't - you - I would not be nearly so ready to protect you."
She pauses, her eyes searching the other woman's for a long moment before she lets the tsunsion out of her shoulders, allows her grumble to die down into a softer note. "... we have managed to do something that no other Hyadean has. For Equites to recognize us so-- suddenly, we have a very great deal to live up to." She pauses, and chuckles softly. The next kiss sneaks onto Riesenlied's lips instead, as she suddenly looks rather prideful - but also terribly glad. "For now, at least... aah, we're going to be so busy."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied can't help but look cozy and bashful all at the same time, as she drags herself in that much closer. "... I'm glad I could be someone you deem worthy to protect," she bashfully admits, as she leans in again to give her another kiss. "... I was deeply scared. I was scared it was not possible at all. But..."
She lowers her head further. "I was proven wrong. That there exists a scant glimpse of possibility for coexistence... I would take the improbable over the impossible in a heartbeat." She smiles wider, as they lean in and kiss rather fervently. "It's a good kind of busy."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline laughs in return, and for once it doesn't have a teasing edge to it, nor a sarcastic one - it's just a simple, light expression of mirth, and it seems at once odd and heartening coming from her. "Reise! Honestly, whyever would I not--" she does hitch straight afterwards, though, and draws her brow down for an almost thoughtful moment as she cuts herself off, and draws in a deep breath before she continues. "--when you are better, I-- would like to show you my thoughts properly. Then you'll see why I could do nothing less."
The words come out in a rush, and it becomes clear that Noeline is rather embarrassed all of a sudden, hiding her expression in the midst of another kiss. "And why I can say things like that out of nowhere around you," she grumbles as an addition, pouting softly as she sinks down against one of Riesenlied's shoulders.
She stays there for a moment, then shakes her head. "... I have to admit... I'm astonished as well. I truly thought that would be it. If it were Duras Drum, I might have expected we had a chance, if a very capricious one. But for Equites itself to appear... well, we cannot argue with that sort of edict, I suppose."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied smiles, warmly, perhaps knowingly at that comment, answering as she always does: "... I wish to see your thoughts properly. Tell me, and I shall tell you all. More than ever, I'd like to be fully open and honest with you..." as she leans back in as she steals another kiss, needy in her own way. And maybe having a little of that possessiveness Noeline typically demonstrates, in the wake of nearly losing each other to the Temple of the Guardians.
There's a faint and narrow sigh, still with the smile on her lips. "... I want to be surprised myself, but ... I suppose a combative one was an appropriate one to deal with us." A pause. "That you were chosen still represents no small amount of miracle and extraordinary circumstance, you know. I doubt I would have hold on to hope this long without you to inspire me."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... I swear," mutters Noeline between two of the repeated kisses; her own possessiveness is feeding off of the other demon's, leaving her feeling light-headed and heated but also entirely unwilling to give way, her touch drifting at the back of Riesenlied's neck under her hair. "I will share it all with you. We have come that far, after all," she chuckles. "I may have been flighty in the past, but I hope I might make up for that still, and then go beyond."
The black-haired demon hesitates when Riesenlied speaks further, smiling more softly as she glances down between them. "At the very least, I am-- less scared of the prospect, now. Not that I hadn't to some extent before, but I think that now I might be truly willing to face the fact that I have a Medium within me - and I did not want to hide it from those I call allies anymore," she adds, even if 'the five principal Ebony Wings' isn't exactly an incredible upswing just yet. "If they have concerns - I will address them, and we will simply go from there."
She lets the topic go before she can start to worry, though, and simply hums as her fingers begin to move between strands of blonde hair. "So. We have a village. ... what would you want for yourself, as a place to live? There was talk that you'd have the biggest one," she adds, a pleased grin tugging at her lips.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied can't really say she's entirely on her feet right now either -- and that's not even counting that she physically isn't. Her horns wiggle just a little as she gazes back towards Noeline, casting her gaze deeper into her eye. "... there's nothing to apologise for... none at all."
She smiles rather warmly as she laces hands with her as well, and says, "We'll break the news to them together. There's no fear to be had here. This is Wayside. We do not discriminate here. We are a community of tolerance."
She squints just a little as she remarks, "I... well, I wanted an orphanage, so I think that's what they're talking about. It may be foolhardy and dangerous to have one here, but... you often see children that have been cast off to the desert after a Kislevi sweep of a nearby town, or..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline swallows in the face of Riesenlied's solemn declaration, her gaze caught; for just a moment, there's a younger Metal Demon reflected in the commander's gaze, a girl who never quite figured out where she wanted to be, faced dead on by the hope of her life. "... a-alright," she whispers, and then offers a lost smile before a wholehearted kiss. There is absolutely no chance that she realizes how awed she sounds when she adds: "Then, I'll simply make you proud instead."
The spell is lost a few moments later as she blinks in mild surprise, a little blindsided by Riesenlied's answer to her question and visibly wondering if she's been misinterpreted. "No, I mean-- in terms of what sort of home you would wish to stay in--..." she tries a couple of times to get started, before awareness begins to settle in as she cnonects the dots: "You-- would like to run one?"
Somewhere in the back of Noeline's minds, a whole lot of romance novels about vampire abodes just got crossed off the list, and she's not /all that/ sure about the ones that ended up with question marks against them.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks blissfully innocent about any imagination Noeline has had about gothic vampire castles and manors on the picturesque countryside which... doesn't exactly line up with the arid, cracked desert that they have to deal with anyway. What's the desert vampire motif like? Egyptian tombs? Probably tombs. There is, however, a look of recognition at the rather bashful gaze Noeline casts her, which in turn makes her melt just a little. "Um-- is that not good?"
She dithers for a moment. "Of course I can't run it full time. But Val said she'd like to give it a go, and there are other people I can contact who've long wanted to try..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
For a moment, Noeline almost looks agog at the other woman - but then breaks into sudden but vibrant laughter, leaning forwards to catch Riesenlied in a hug that almost threatens to overbear the injured commander and ignoring the flaring pain of protest from her shoulder in response. "Honestly! ... I don't know what else I should have ever expected," she notes with amusement, grinning as she sits up if only to be able to get a better angle on stroking Riesenlied's hair and cradle her, rather than vice versa.
"I /suppose/ I shall have to agree. If nothing else, it is a very /you/ sort of thing to do, even if I fear I'm not nearly as good at children as I could be. As long as they don't start to ask why I keep tugging you away all of a sudden every so often, or else you might have a lot of awkward questions on your hands."
Noeline's meaning isn't clear at first - but then, all of a sudden, she's reached up to experimentally touch one of those wiggling horns with a rich sort of hum. G-goodness!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a whimper of protest from Riesenlied, one of her eyes turning into a star at the squeeze as she pouts, "W-what? What? Is it too-- sappy or something?" She pouts as Noeline suddenly pets and cradles her as she whines and sulks just for a moment. "... I-- um-- what do you mean-- wah!"
Suddenly she knows very much what Noeline means, as she complains, "I--it's a bit sensitive, you know...!"
Riesenlied, you just gave Noeline the keys to the city. ... so to speak.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The cackle from the vampire is perhaps a little uncharitable, and certainly very teasing - but at the same time, it's impossible to miss the way her eyes light up with unabashed joy as she watches Riesenlied's reactions, amazed at this side of the other woman that she hasn't seen before.
"It /is/ a little sappy, but I'll allow it," she adds, her grin toothy as she places a kiss on the other woman's forehead, between the base of her horns. "At the same time - you are their leader, and they may wish to honour that fact at least a little. As much as we'd all like to be equal here, the two of us have a lot more practice dealing with the world at large than most here, right now."
"--oh, are they really?" she adds, musical notes practically dancing around her speech as she drifts her fingers at the base of one horn, obviously just innocently playing with Riesenlied's hair. "I /did/ wonder."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The resounding squeal that Riesenlied makes is both particularly /loud/ and particularly /priceless/, even as she lightly and ineffectually hits her somewhere at her chest and complains, "T-that's mean, no, stop doing that!" with a comical tear on her eyes as her cheeks flare rather deeper and redder than ever before. W-wow...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Even Noeline, beloved of romance novels, has to stop at that noise - her fingers hitch a little in surprise, and her cheeks flare in concert with Riesenlied's, as the spy takes care to package the memory away for later. "W-- well-- it is not badly meant!" she grumbles, pouting all of a sudden as she sinks down in a little bit of an answering sulk. "I simply-- wanted to touch you. ... it may seem insensitive, or rude-- but I have been a little bit jealous of them, sometimes," she sinks to a mumble, feeling herself steam and instinctively wanting to produce another reaction. Perhaps, if she leans in for a hug, her hands can come around just so to the Tainted's back and the base of her wings...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Somewhere outside, the caravan begins to rock as another squealing noise is heard, and Cetiri has to simply shake her head and mumble, "Kids..." as she pads off to go oversee the construction of a particularly heavy gateway just outside.