2019-10-07: What If I Became A Cucco
- Log: What If I Became a Cucco
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: Lefay, Shrine of the Water Trial
- Date: 7th October 2019
- Summary: In the midst of their arduous journey, Noeline and Riesenlied stop to share a moment...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
In a magic time bubble during the venture through Lefay, the Shrine of the Water Trial...
*sniffle*
Riesenlied is getting some time to cuddle on Noeline's lap, prior to the inevitable battle. Maybe the others are looking around, inspecting nooks and crannies and making it safe for them to proceed. Maybe time is just a suggestion.
She stammers again, strangely fixated on it for some reason: "I will dye it... I promise."
Well, she isn't exactly thinking straight right now. The colour of her hair and her scales are starting to arrive at that same washed-out off-white; something akin to chalk or white stone, perhaps.
"I will go back to the way it was..."
Ah. Is that the connection?
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has been content to leave checking their resting point to the rest of the group. Emeralda's inquisitive enough to keep up the search, while Citan and Fei are cautious enough that she very much doubts there'll be much problem if she continues to gather Riesenlied into her arms and rub a soothing hand across her back.
She can't deny she's worried. Every so often her fingers brush over the terminator where scale meets skin, noting that it's edged downwards once more; she chews at her lips in mild consternation, but sucks in a breath as she makes an effort to let that worry go, especially now when it's likely to encroach upon and feed Riesenlied's in turn.
It's easier when she focuses on their link, on the symbol of the promise that she won't let go. Instead, she chuckles softly, smoothing another hand through the Hyadean's hair. "... so long as that's what /you/ want to do," she says again, leaning in to place a kiss on Riesenlied's forehead. "I don't want you to think I want to push you into it, or anything of the sort."
She pauses, and lets out a quiet hum. "... besides... are you sure? With such a light colour, it feels like..." Another pause as she tries to figure out how to word it, how to pin down her thoughts. It takes her a little while to decide, then she allows a quiet smile. "Like something you have made your own, rather than anyone else's."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied doesn't know that that's what she wants to do, of course. It's kind of obvious the way she kept blurting it out over and over, even as the link soothes her in turn and helps her unwind her own tight knot of feelings and settle down a little. A sniffle.
"I know I am worrying you," she murmurs. "And I worry too. I was sounding so strong and sure earlier... I do not regret anything and yet..."
She lowers her head down, deeper.
"Eh?" she blinks a few times. "Like I have made it my own...?" She doesn't sound like she's ever tried thinking about it that way. She looks towards her ashen-white hair again.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline sighs gently when she realizes that some of her feelings did slip through their link after all - but she dips her head down to follow Riesenlied, sneaking a glance at her eyes, and the impish nature of the motion helps bring her feelings back upwards.
"Some day, we will manage to stop worrying each other," she teases the both of them in a single breath, then laces her fingers gently around Riesenlied's good hand, and carefully but insistently around her more draconic one.
"I'm proud of you. You felt that anger and acted upon it, but didn't let it take you over. A lot of people have done far worse, you know," she points out with a wry but fond smile. "And I wouldn't expect you to go from one extreme to the other so quickly, nor do I think you'd want to."
She gives Riesenlied a moment to peer at her hair, then raises her eyebrows. "The shade is different, but different doesn't mean bad," she comments with a quiet smile as she brushes some whitening scales. "It's almost like a symbol of-- shaking off the fear of Alhazred, perhaps. Or connecting more closely with Odoryuk and the Ley. Or just of your new resolve."
Were it a more tense situation, she might not continue - but there's been a lot to work through today, and she could use a bit of silliness, chuckling to herself. "The Black Knight, and the White Princess. Perhaps?"
she totally stole that from a book somewhere
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
To be fair, the pattern has gone on for long enough that they don't need an empathic link for the familiar cycle of worry to rear its ugly head -- but she sucks in a breath as she mumbles, "... I know. I still remember that argument we had." A pause. "I do not think I have enough energy to argue right now." She finds her fingers -- the good one is easy to take a hold of, but she kind of tentatively dithers when she tries to hold Noeline's hand with her big draconic one.
"H-hm..." Riesenlied mumbles. "I have felt a lot of feelings today. Boldness and resolve... fear and anxiety. Tiredness and frustration. Anger and paranoia. ..."
She slumps her head down, horns wiggling upwards.
"I am really tired."
She looks up towards Noeline as she holds up some of her hair, in the dim light of the shrine. "Different does not mean bad..." She hesitates... but seems to get a little of what Noeline is aiming for.
Then flushes as she suggests those titles.
"... my chevalier," she mumbles.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline also draws in a slow and calming breath, and lets it out before she offers Riesenlied a softer smile. "Then we won't argue," she agrees, and closes her eyes. "I'm simply finding it easy to be overprotective around you. No matter what--" she promises as she moves past Riesenlied's dithering to clutch her demonic hard, heedless of the scales. "--I will be right here with you. I promise."
Her hand returns to drawing slow circles on Riesenlied's back; she huffs out a rather rough laugh as she nods her head, then tucks her beloved's head against her shoulder. "I know the feeling. ... really, I want to curl up with you for a week," she admits in an unguarded moment. "But you did well. You reached our daughter - you made a decision to support her. A difficult one, but I think it was the right one," she adds, knowing the value in saying it out loud.
Leaning forward to huddle protectively over Riesenlied, she places a kiss in her partner's hair. "My light," she mumbles a little bashfully, aware that there are technically other people around but focused in on the bubble they're in. "We'll keep moving forwards together."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied also knows other people are nearby but time is a gooey bubble and will actually wait for you if you ask no matter how lightly you hold onto it. It doesn't make her any less bashful as she murmurs, "... I like it when you get-- overprotective."
She's a little high on her emotions right now, on their link, but nonetheless she's murmuring, "The way you kind of tense up a little and edge a bit closer to cling onto me. Hehe..."
She pauses as Noeline encourages that she did the right thing -- made the right decision. "... I do too," she admits, of curling up for a week. "And..."
A pause.
"We might have to be ready to be away from the Fereshte for a while," she mumbles. The murmur about being her light does make her flush further, though. "Mm."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
With a soft laugh, Noeline pairs the first kiss with a second. "... once upon a time it would have made you nothing but flustered. Then again, once upon a time I would never have admitted to being the sort to worry about anything, let alone tense up and then cling to you," she notes rather wryly, but closes her eyes again as she relaxes against her partner.
"It's a comfort to have you here. To know you're here. What I'd do without you - without any of my family, at this point..." she trails off, and for a moment is almost overcome. She doesn't just leave it there, however, because Riesenlied makes a very fair point, and it makes a frown flicker across her face in uncertainty.
But behind that uncertainty is a rock-solid sort of conviction, not to mention a deep pride and confidence. "Let's hope for the best," she decides quietly, brushing some hair from the other woman's forehead. "Ruins like these have done stranger things in the past. And even if we are... we know they're with us in spirit, and I'd like to think we've helped teach them to look after themselves, and do the right sort of thing."
A pause, and again Noeline reaches for the lighter side of it all. "We'll get back and Janey will be leading the Al Bhed, and Mikaia will be a Maester. Peace in our time," she drawls slightly.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"It still flusters me," Riesenlied reassures Noeline as she accepts and feels that kiss, before returning it with her own. "Just. In a good way." She pauses as she curls up a little further as she mumbles, "I think you were still good at looking out for me... even if you denied it more."
There is a longer draw of breath as she sits up quietly, letting go of her fingers but only so she can curl her arms both around Noeline's elbow. "I would be a mess without you either..." She grumps for a moment.
A pause, as she bites her lip.
"That... seems like the kind of ambitions they might go for," Riesenlied sounds unsure, as she feels her hair being stroked. She nestles a bit closer in turn as she says, "Then again, I think Janey would be just as likely to order the Fereshte to take a nosedive into the lake after us."
A pause.
"And Cetiri, doubly so."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline hums in response, or tries to - she can't help but let her gentle expression give way. "Then I'm glad. On both counts. I do admit that I was trying my best to look out for you too, just that... well, perhaps I spent a little too long thinking that 'from the shadows' was a cool and impressive way to go about it," she rolls her eyes at her own past behaviour, but it's paired with a warm grin as she brushes her free hand at her partner's cheek.
Closing her eyes, she leans in to sneak a brief but heartfelt kiss against that grump. "... even if I don't show it all the time, I'm always thinking of you," she admits - which might be something she's said before, but here with Riesenlied at her side, it always seems worth it to say it again.
Her eyebrows raise at the thought of the Fereshte diving after them; she lifts her head a little, as if expecting the ceiling to suddenly rumble. "It wouldn't even be the most dangerous thing they've done to the ship," she notes with a comically glum frown.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied stammers, "And I was not guilty of that? Trying to drop supplies and other nice things to you while also mousing around, thinking I was not fit to be in your presence." Which is kind of reflective of how nonexistent her self-esteem is, with Noeline being treated the way she was way back when.
She draws in a more faint breath as she whispers, "... me too. Thinking of... what we still have yet to do... how we will-- handle things in our lives to come yet." She smiles a bit more cozily and warmly.
"... true," she also chimes to the topic of the Fereshte taking a nose-dive.
"O-okay. What will we do if we are stranded?" Riesenlied asks. "I do not know where we will surface, if we will at all. We should have a plan."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has to admit that point, which is probably why she tilts her head with a wry little smile and a gentle hum of amusement. "Hmm... I suppose, in the end, we're just biased towards each other," she notes wryly - but pairs it with another kiss as she nestles Riesenlied closer still against her, not caring if she happens to brush against a scale or the stub of a wing.
"I think we must be doing /something/ right," she adds after a thoughtful pause, though there's a note of mischief in her voice. "I think we've gained daughters at a faster rate than anyone else we know, for a start. And a lot of farmsteads," she adds with a playful grin.
It fades, but only a little, as Riesenlied suggests they plan ahead; Noeline nods, because she's the sort of person to whom that sort of planning comes naturally.
"Getting word to Wayside is paramount. They'll have enough scouts to look for the Fereshte in turn, and see if it's crossed over separate to us. After that... if we're near Aquvy, I suppose we petition ARMS for assistance, if they can manage it. Mostly, just for an escort home," she stresses the word 'home' a little bit, looking forward to seeing Wayside once more.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied smiles just a bit wider as another kiss comes. At this point their party members are probably grumbling and wondering what's taking them so long. Or perhaps that's just Save Point privilege. Tents are popular amongst adventurers for a reason...? (not that they're actually in a Tent.)
"They are not farmsteads," Riesenlied grumbles good-naturedly. "The people who have joined us have come far and abroad for many reasons."
She sulks, as she leans and murmurs in turn the word Noeline stresses: "Home..."
A tilt of her head.
"Wayside's contacts go as far as Jolly Roger, but we have not really made much contact with Aquvy. I suppose... oh, yes, Marivel can help us too," she nods. She's not quite as up to speed with ARMS and she's a bit nervous about the group anyway, from what she knows. "Home... to see Wayside again..."
That would be really good.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Many of those reasons are potato-based," Noeline teases again, but laughs gently afterwards. "I wonder how large it must be now?" she wonders, taking the optimistic and hopeful route. "There were about three different expansions going on when we left, after all. It must be quite large at this point, surely?"
She tilts her head, sharing in the smile. "Home. Our home, that we made and grew ourselves," she nods. "It will be waiting for us. Everyone there will be waiting for us."
Across their link, she can feel the touch of Riesenlied's uncertainty, meeting it with a light nod of her head. "I imagine, given everything, that ARMS are going to be too busy to lend us any large amount of help. But it would be enough if Marivel could get us out of Aquvy, and to the Thames. From there, I'm confident that we would be alright."
"And if we landed in Elru... who knows how that place is doing now. But perhaps we could see how much Arctica has managed to nurture itself back to its feet," she wonders thoughtfully.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"I would be surprised if we have not joined Adelyn's trade route at this point, true..." Riesenlied finds herself distracted enough. "... I hope that Adlehyde and the Ranchlands have forgiven enough and the word has gotten through that we wish for peace. There are so many people working towards that end even before we left for Elru..."
A pause, as she bites her lip.
"Elru..." she whispers. "I have left the issue in that village unresolved."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"I certainly hope so. ... I would like to think that opinions have shifted enough - both from everything that happened at the Photosphere, and your own work in forging bridges. It may still be a long process, but I think we are getting there," she notes with a quiet confidence in the other Hyadean.
"Through no fault of your own," Noeline is quick to add when it comes to the Fereshte village, taking Riesenlied's hand back in hers and placing a kiss on the other Hyadean's cheek to distract her before she can get into a spiral of worry. "You were still working through everything, and then all of a sudden we were tossed elsewhere."
But curiosity mixes with concern, and leaves her frowning quietly. "... how do you feel about it now?" she asks gently. "Do you think that you and Odoryuk have reached enough of an accord, after everything?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied seems settled enough on the matter of Wayside -- so many of their ardent and most wonderful of family are there, doing their hardest to make something wonderful happen, after all. On the topic of Fereshte village, though...
"That and-- all that had happened with the Photosphere," Riesenlied murmurs distractedly. How does she feel about it, however...?
"Odoryuk and I... I feel like we are making headway. I still believe in his words from the Tower, so long ago, after all."
A hesitant pause.
"... ... but I am currently ... not doing my duty," she murmurs in admittance. "At least, the duty as far as I know it to exist."
She lowers her head in turn.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
With a sympathetic touch, Noeline brushes at Riesenlied's hair once more. "... that is true... but you just said it yourself. If Odoryuk was upset at you for not doing your duty - if Odoryuk wished to force you in that direction - then you would not be making headway on an accord."
"You have both been through a great deal. And from where I am standing, it is completely understandable that it would take you /both/ a while longer. I know you are worried about the situation in that village... but I don't think anyone, let alone Nasrin or Odoryuk, would want you to burn yourself out trying to resolve it before you are ready."
Another thought bubbles up; would she go back to the site of the Photosphere, to pay it her last respects? She's not honestly sure.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied hesitates further, dithering as she withers her horns down. Her link is getting particularly gloomy, her thoughts a bit incoherent.
"Not Odoryuk's duty. The Fereshte's duty... the Heritor's duty."
Riesenlied closes her eyes tightly as she whispers, "To quell the unnatural surge of the Ley that has happened to the village, the Heritor must become a vessel. Traditionally as I understand it..."
She hesitates, looking frightened for a moment.
The crystal sword flashes into her hands as she quietly holds it, very gently so as to not cut herself.
"There is a reason the Heritor has a sword."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is silent for a long moment, marking Riesenlied's statement with a quiet frown as she digests it. Then understanding flickers across her features and across her link, leaving her to let out an uncertain breath. "... I see," she mutters solemnly, reaching forward to place her hands around Riesenlied's with infinite care.
For a short while she encourages her partner to hold that position, slowing her breathing - doing her best to project calm across their link. "I still think that it would be best to wait. Until you feel more sure of yourself, and your role as the Heritor. Until life stops flinging us to other worlds," she huffs out a breath, then coaxes Riesenlied towards her for another embrace. "It is alright to be tired - to need to rest, first, so that you can pay the proper respects later."
She leaves it at that for the time being, letting the conviction in her voice shine through. Part of her wonders if it would be a kindness to cleave the surge of Ley in two - to let the people of the Fereshte finally have an end to it. But what it would do to Riesenlied afterwards... that's the part she's not sure of.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... there is a lot I do not understand yet," Riesenlied continues onward, feeling the tears well back into her eyes. "What prior Heritors are instructed to understand they must do one day. Nasrin told me snippets, when she snuck me in to play. They did not make much sense to me back then, children as it were."
She lowers her head around Noeline's shoulder, as she feels their hands touching again. It feels infinitely warm right now.
"I am not going to take myself away from you, from Lydia, from Janey or Mikaia... or from anyone."
A pause, as she bites her lip.
"But I just do not know what that means for the issue at hand... an issue the village has dealt with for centuries before they were wiped away. I do not know... there is not much information left. And I..."
She hesitates.
"Well, it makes me feel as if I am not fit for the task. That I am dishonouring them."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's expression darkens, but only in sympathy; for a moment her arms tighten around Riesenlied, not crushing but not far off. "... that has never been the case," she mutters privately, the two of them cuccooned together. "It is not your fault that you were never trained in any of this. It is not your fault that this wellspring of Ley happened in the first place."
She's solemn, but still doing her best to be gentle. "And it is certainly not a black mark against you that, despite both of those things, you have chosen to wear the mantle - to take responsibility and seek to help them. It will surely take time - it may take experimentation, or careful learning, or more of an accord with Odoryuk."
"But I know you will get there. And Odoryuk appears to think so, as well," she adds, letting her surety be an anchor for Riesenlied's feelings across their link.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied doesn't answer immediately, because there is a lot to digest and go through. She's picking up the fragments of a tribe that no longer exists; no longer exists, outside of the strange vestige in which it is rendered from that almost uncomfortable glut of power within the world.
"I think Nasrin..." she whispers. "I think that was what she did."
The quiet girl of the head space shifts on her chair. "... you knew all along, of course, but..."
"... it was just too hard to admit."
She draws in a bit harder of breath as she looks to Noeline. "You are right. I will take my time. I will learn. And--" she finds it in her to smile and chuckle again.
"You are many years my senior in Mediumship and I feel happy to think that way, learning from you." Even if Noeline will disagree on some part! She just likes feeling like that, doesn't she?
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Again, Noeline's senses tickle at the sensation of Nasrin's 'voice'; she can't quite pick out the words, but it's obvious there's something there, a feeling that complements what Riesenlied is saying. "... it may be very painful to help them," she admits, fully aware Riese must know that as well. "But your families - your tribes - will be with you, now and in the future."
She blinks twice as her eyebrows raise. For perhaps the first time ever she doesn't exactly deny it, though she accepts the compliment with a soft little laugh. "I certainly would like to think I can do my best to help centre you, and help you hang onto your identity. I wouldn't go about copying the way in which I use my Medium, mind you," she adds with a quiet chuckle. "I'd much rather see you stay as graceful as you are."
She says this absolutely genuinely, never mind that she's spent the last few battles helping support Riesenlied either via her Accession or directly helping her upwards.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... yes," Riesenlied agrees as Noeline relents that it may be very painful, but... she knows that the memory of the people will be with her, now and in the future as well. And hopefully, in a much more positive way than her embracing the memory of Nasrin has been.
She draws in a bit deeper as she asks, with just a bit of cheek behind it, "Why not? I think the way you play with shadow is very graceful, thank you very much." Someone's clearly a fan. "You have come a very long way. And the way we have complimented our Mediums with each other is... also very wonderful. And-- when I turn into a Dragon, do you not think a lot of that grace goes out the window?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is more than happy to focus in on happier thoughts, humming gently to herself. She can't help a bit of self-pride and preening, because it's been a while for her - but there's a warm smile playing at her lips as well. "I hope so. My accord with Duras Drum has been-- not quite as rocky, but not quite so aligned either," she chuckles. "But I think that's just our differing natures, and how we approach it."
When she pauses it's with her eyebrows raised and a rather incredulous expression. "... Riese," she says after a long pause. "It's-- you become a Dragon. I had thought that was more or less synonymous to majesty and grace." It doesn't sound like she's teasing at all - but that probably just means she's extremely biased instead, because it's not like she's ever used those exact adjectives when it comes to Muni-Muni.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied quietly sniggers as she remarks, "I like the way you both banter. It is a relationship unlike any other shaman." And she genuinely means it. How she knows in the end Duras Drum has their interests well in mind, even if he is a bit cheeky about it... then there is a puff as she remarks, "Just for that, I will try to see if I cannot turn into a Cucco. Would that not be the wonderful end point of it all?"
... she jokes, but there's a dangerous glint in her eye...