2023-05-21: Where Did You Go?
- Log: Where Did You Go?
- Cast: Hannah Curie, Eleanor Klein
- Where: The Cape of Breath
- Date: May 21, 2023
- Summary: After the heated battle with Boomerang, Hannah retreats to a nearby hilltop to get away from the crowd. Eleanor eventually finds her and asks why Hannah fell out of touch for so long. Hannah explains about her magic, and Eleanor makes a surprising offer.
============================<* The Cape of Breath *>============================ Stretching from the edge of the slowly-spreading northern desert, the Cape of Breath is the lush southern region of Meria Boule. Farmland and livestock take up much of the hilly region, dotted with the estates and castles of Merian nobles, often at the height of elevation, but across temperate land to the west great forests begin, still part of the great resources of the Merian nation. In places the badlands of the north find mirrors here, hotter regions with accordingly sparser populations... where people could move. To the farthest south and east are the wide coastlines, each marked with large cities. Only the fortress nature of many estates at the hearts of settlements recalls much of Meria's more warlike history, after the great efforts of the late Queen to ensure peace for all Meria Boule, and the spread of knowledge. Nevertheless, the increasing spread of monsters can make travel without caravan or guards a perilous undertaking indeed. BGM: Wild Arms 2 - Field ~ Wandering
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
They'd managed to do it. Navigate the memory maze, learned something... rather astonishing about her mentor while also providing comfort and aid to her, and rescued Eleanor.
And then they'd fought someone who had... merged with a guardian, apparently, in an attempt to free Lord Blazer even at the cost of Filgaia, just so he could have a fight.
And apparently in the middle of all of that had been a marriage proposal???
But they had won out, in the end, and as Hannah rose to her feet and drew her cloak around herself, Zephyr landed on her shoulder with a soft chirp. Hannah just nodded. "Yeah, I guess we did." She looked around at those celebrating--she barely knew any of these people, and really, she'd only come because Marivel had asked for her help. And because she'd suspected Eleanor was in trouble. But while everyone else celebrated...
She just looked awkwardly around. Marivel and Eleanor certainly had a lot more people than her to catch up with, and it was just too awkward standing around as the lone outsider, so... she simply turned and walked away without saying anything.
Zephyr warbled at her.
"No, I know, but what would I even say--"
Zephyr nipped at her ear.
"--Ow! Fine, fine. We'll stay. For a little bit."
She found a quiet, secluded spot on a nearby hill and undid her cloak, with Zephyr hopping off her shoulder to land in a nearby tree. Hannah sat, cross-legged, pulling her cloak into her lap as she started checking it over. Then, from her bag, she pulled out a compact sewing kit and started stitching up a few tears and tatters.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor Klein, for one, certainly has a lot of catching up to do. She has to figure out approximately how long she's been gone (on the order of weeks, apparently), if everyone else is all right (Largely yes), and so many other things. But one of them? One of them is something she hadn't expected at all.
The young heiress is still in fairly poor condition; she's obviously tired, of course, with a number of magical items on her person in varying states of disrepair after all the battles and all the wanderings. Her shoes are intact, and thankfully are flats. Her businesslike attire is tattered in places. But she is bright-eyed (yellow-eyed) and with energy, as she walks about the former battlefield to find...
Ah, there.
Eleanor trudges up the hill to see her old friend, a distinct nonplussed expression on her face as she approaches the rest of the way and then comes to a stop near her.
"Hannah," Eleanor says, with not quite a frown.
"Going somewhere?"
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah hasn't been through quite the same ordeal Elanor has. Not over the course of this mission, anyway.
On a longer timescale, however... she's cut her hair short, ditched the dresses and school uniform, started wearing a cloak, and her usual demeanor seems to be a bit stoic and grim. Though at the moment she seems... mostly melancholy. And tired.
She doesn't look as Eleanor approaches. Really, out of the people assembled, there's only a very small number she'd expect to to begin with, but honestly, since Zephyr can see who's approaching, so can she.
She cringes a bit as Eleanor says her name, but still doesn't look up.
"No," she says quietly.
Zephyr squawks at her angrily.
Hannah shoots him the briefest of dirty looks, glancing out of the corner of her eye, and then back down to her cloak. "Fine. I was, but Zephyr insisted we stay."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
There are other ordeals. Eleanor, of course, sees those differences; she sees the hair, the way she' dressed differently, the way her demeanor has changed. Eleanor is the sort of person to notice these sorts of things even without having reason to pay attention... and she spots that tired melancholy, too.
The elf is not particularly stealthy. She looks older than when last they met, but maybe not enough older to account for all the years; her eyes, though, are yellow instead of brown, and hold a great deal more experience now.
"Thank you, Zephyr," Eleanor says. "I'm glad I can rely on you to be honest with me."
Then she steps forward. Another, and another, and then--
Eleanor flops to the ground and puts her arms around Hannah without any further warning, hugging onto her tightly. "I thought you'd died!" she says, and sniffles once, managing to hold back tears mostly because she's gotten much better at doing so over time.
"I haven't seen you in so long, and suddenly you... show up to help find me? With not a word between now and then!?"
"What happened? Where did you go??"
...Well, mostly holds them back. She is pretty tired.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah has her observant moments, too--helping take care of a bunch of kids in an orphanage makes that a valuable skill, but right now she's mostly focused inward, bracing for the verbal tongue-lashing she assumes is coming. Because even though she knows she had her reasons, it was so much easier to stick to them when she didn't actually have to face those she'd wronged.
She did notice those yellow eyes, but she assumes, for the moment, they must be a trick of the light.
Zephyr chirps happily in reply to Eleanor.
Hannah braces herself as Eleanor approaches, stopping the work on her cloak just in case... but when Eleanor just flops down she blinks, looking up... right before being pulled into a hug. She doesn't exactly resist, but it does take her a moment for her brain to catch up to what's going on.
And then Eleanor says she thought that Hannah had died, and she realizes just what she did to her friend. It's like a gut punch, and the stoic wall she'd put up to weather the angry tirade she was sure she was in for starts to crumble pretty quickly. "W-what? No, I didn't-- How could you... I didn't mean..."
She's getting rather misty-eyed herself all of a sudden, and she starts to lean into the hug finally, sniffling. It's been so long since she's gotten a hug from anyone. "I'm sorry, Eleanor, I didn't mean for it to happen that way, I just couldn't find out a way to fix it and the longer it got the more I thought it'd be safer but then I got Miss Marivel's letter and that Ida woman said you were missing and I knew I h-had to and... and..."
She might have skipped a few steps in that story.
She just sags against Eleanor, her own tears starting to flow more freely. "Why aren't you yellin' and screamin' at me, Eleanor? I know I deserve it, leavin' without tellin' you why all those years ago."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor nods firmly to Zephyr's chirp. And then, well--
Eleanor holds tightly onto Hannah, with a stronger pair of arms than she had when they were younger. "Obviously you didn't!" she answers, and she probably means 'didn't die' but she might mean 'didn't mean' instead. She doesn't shout, or berate. Those things are only sometimes Eleanor's style.
Instead, she hears the apology and, "Oh, but... I would've helped you, whatever it was," she says, and she sounds upset to say the least, and relieved, but also hurt, and trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.
By the time they're both crying, Eleanor loosens her grip and just keeps Hannah against her for the moment. "I don't like yelling and screaming," she protests. "At first I didn't know what had happened, but when you never got back to me again..."
Marivel and Ida, is it? Eleanor registers that in her mind. Very like Marivel, to know to seek someone out
"You didn't have to 'fix' whatever it was just to talk to me again," she says. "I'm..." She laughs, then, despite herself. "Maybe I'd be angrier if I weren't so tired," she admits. "But you said safe? Well, you'll be safe with us, then. You don't have to worry about that."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Dimly, in the back of her mind, Hannah knows she shouldn't be getting this close, that she doesn't deserve this, that she should keep moving, but... she's so tired, both from the fight and the last five years, and this is Eleanor... so she just collapses completely against her friend.
And Eleanor says she would've helped, and Hannah believes it, and the guilt of that stabs at her like a knife. "I know..." she admits quietly. "'Cause you're like that and I just got so scared after the accident that I didn't want to hurt anybody else an' that's why, th-that's why..."
She can't bring herself to say it, but... that's why she left.
"I know," says Hannah guiltily when Eleanor says she didn't have to fix it just to talk to her. Really, she could've sent a letter, or done something, but that would've meant asking for help, being a burden, and Eleanor had so much going on that she couldn't rationalize distracting her...
And it's only now dawning on her that worrying about her friend might've been its own distraction.
She closes her eyes, resting her head against Eleanor as tears stream down her face. "I wish you'd be angry an' yell me," she admits, with a few more wet sniffles. "I didn't mean to... t' worry you all these years..."
She blinks at that last part, and tries to sit up to look at Eleanor directly, but just can't find the strength. "Wh-what... whaddya mean 'with us'?" There is a faint note of panic to her voice as she tries to work up an argument. "Eleanor, I can't stay I can keep in touch but I can't... I can't... I have'ta go b-because..." She's trying to find an excuse or a justification or a rationalization or something but... She can't lie to Eleanor. Not again. Not like this.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Oh, Hannah..." So she didn't want to hurt anyone else. "I believed it wasn't your fault," she says. "I told them as much. And I still believe that." So she said to people at the time; so she still would, if it came up again. But... Hannah 'knows'.
"Well..."
Eleanor keeps Hannah close for the moment, sighing once. It is good to see her again, but, "...Well, I wish you had told me where you were going," Eleanor retorts, not harshly. "...Well, now that I know you're okay..."
Pause. That protest. "Why?" the elf wonders. "If you're scared, then there's nowhere more secure that you could be than with ARMS. And you're certainly not about to run off and leave me again after we've just met again, are you?"
She's going to press on that. She needs a real answer.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah reaches up to wipe at her face with the back of her hand. "You did, b-but... but... i-it was my fault, well, kinda, I mean, I didn't mean to, but I wasn't careful..." She's babbling a little, and still not telling the whole story.
She's starting to run out of tears, for the moment, but there's still a few fresh ones dripping down her chin. "You're right," she whispers, hoarsely. "I should've kept in touch. I promise, from now on I will, okay?"
She tried, in her time at Sielje, to adopt a more city-like, refined accent, but all of that has fallen by the wayside in this conversation.
But the pention of ARMS renews her sense of panic, and this time she does manage to sit up. "ARMS?! Eleanor, I can't--it's not safe. I'm not safe. I..." she looks aside, guilt and worry and fear all naked and evident on her face.
She looks haunted, like she's been carrying this burden for 5 years.
"It's my magic," she finally says, voice weak and timid. "Somethin's wrong with my magic. I... I keep losin' control over it and I don' know how... how to fix it... I didn' start the accident, but I tried to fix it and it just went out of control and made it worse, I almost hurt someone, and..." She looks up to Eleanor, a fresh set of tears welling up in her eyes. "I'll stay in touch, cross my heart Eleanor, I'll write ya n' stay in touch and tell you how I'm doin' and everythin' but..."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
It was her fault. Sort of? Eleanor doesn't quite understand that at first, but she pulls back enough to let Hannah see her face. ...The tears aren't exactly making her look more composed. But there's something sturdy in her that wasn't as present when she was younger. She was always a little flighty, but that core of resolution has become stronger.
"I appreciate that," Eleanor says, of staying in touch. ...She does hear the way she's talking of course. And Hannah sits up with--
"But?" she starts, and she sees that haunted look, too. The blonde reaches up to push some hair back out of her own face as she sits up, and then--
"Oh, Hannah..." Her magic. So that's...
"So, your magic today, when it seemed you were being reckless.... It wasn't just desperation. It was difficulty." She purses her lips for a moment--and shakes her head. "In that case, I have to insist."
"With ARMS--with me--is the safest place you can be. We not only have people who can help if something goes wrong, but we have brilliant mages who can help you with that problem, too." She reaches out to try to take Hannah's hand. "So please, stay. At least for a while. ARMS is... Well. They're the people I trust most. And you can, too."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
While Eleanor's core resolve may have become stronger, Hannah, in many ways, is the opposite. At least in one way. She's built a tough shell around herself, but right now it's fallen apart now that she's face to face with one of her oldest friends.
When Elanor says her name like that, she can't bear to maintain eye contact any longer and drops her gaze. She nods glumly as Eleanor calls back to the battle and how her magic was being cast. "Yeah... I try to hold it back, to rein in whatever's affectin' my magic but..." She reaches into her pouch, pulls out a few of her crest graphs, and hands them to Eleanor.
"There's somethin' corruptin' my magic. Makin' it go haywire. I try to keep it out, but it ain't perfect." The crest graphs are all designed to filter out this so-called corruption, or at the very least, channel it in a known way.
But Eleanor insists... and Hannah's jaw drops a little. "Eleanor, ain't you listenin'? It's not safe for me to be around other people, I could hurt someone, or... or..." She doesn't resist as Eleanor takes her hands, and if anything, her protests grow a bit feebler. She glances aside a little. "... I'm just... a washout with cursed magic. Even if I'm your..."
She wants to say friend, but how can call herself Eleanor's friend after all the anguish she put the other girl through?
"... Even iffin you vouch for me, ask them for help on my behalf, surely... surely they ain't gonna help some nobody just 'cause you say so..."
It is incredibly weak reasoning, and the way she says it makes it clear that yes, she's aware of it too. But then... she's always been bad at asking for help and only slightly better at receiving it. Whether getting tutoring at the start of her time at Sielje to get up to speed, fleeing Sielje without reaching out, or now, when she's trying to think of any reason at all to resist.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor was a flighty heiress, albeit one with a good heart; now, she is... possessed of much more responsibility. She always knew she'd have to grow up eventually, but her time in ARMS has seen her do so.
So, when Hannah can't make eye contact, Eleanor won't make her, but she does look over the Crests. Immediately she sees intricacies in the spell work that suggest the sealing of something in their use. "You..." There's something corrupting them. Eleanor sees it. "So that's why..."
Hannah's jaw drops, and Eleanor looks all the more serious indeed. She goes for eye contact again. "I'm listening," she says. "And you are my friend."
"...Helping people is a lot of what we do," Eleanor says fondly. "Besides. I'm one of their leaders, you know. I can make the call that you're worth helping for myself, and no one will gainsay me. ...besides; you proved that you could be an asset to us, in that battle. We needed all the strength we could get, and you added yours to ours, without even knowing what was going on."
"So in point of fact," Eleanor says, "They will. And... you'd be helping us, too. Give and take." She considers. "...Indeed, on reflection, I think it would be a mutually beneficial relationship. Your power would add to ours, and if it's dangerous, then we'd be best off being able to analyze that danger for ourselves."
"...But do I really need a reason more than that I want you around, Hannah? I can give you a thousand. But I missed you."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah always liked Eleanor, and never really cared if she was a bit flighty or not, just that she was friendly. But that more self--assured presence is some small comfort for her in this moment. Zephyr will always be her anchor, but there's only so much he can do for her.
She just nods silently to Eleanor's comment about the problem with her magic when she's looking over the crest graphs. They're the product of a lot of work and research, despite the fact that she cut her schooling short.
And then Eleanor calls her her friend, and Hannah stammers incoherently for a few moments, and barely has enough presence of mind to put her cloak (with the sewing needle she was working with) aside... then all but tackles Eleanor, throwing her arms around the other girl as a fresh set of tears start spilling down her face.
Eleanor is one of ARMS' leaders. "I know," she whispers softly. "I try t' keep up with the papers." She was an asset... Hannah doesn't let the hug go but she still can't resist the urge to glance away, try to deflect. "... couldn't just stand by while he attacked that sweet little Rito girl... n' it wouldn't be a successful mission if you n' Miss Marivel didn't get back home safely." That might be a habit that takes a while to break her out of.
When Eleanor finally finishes listing all her reasons, Hannah sits up again, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. "... I missed you too, Eleanor."
She's silent for a long few moments as she considers. "Look, if you're askin' me to join ARMS can... can I think about it? Today's been really weird and stressful n' I... I can't make that kind of decision right now." Then, hastily, she adds "--but!" She looks up to Eleanor again. "But I'll stick around. Okay? We c'n... catch up, um..." she looks down again. "... if you want. n' I promise, if I leave again, I'll tell you first. I swear. Zephyr'll keep me honest on that."
Zephyr gives a happy chirp at that.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Friendly she was and is. Assured... Maybe that'll be some getting used to, but maybe it's all right, too.
Eleanor easily sees the work that's gone into those Graphs. They're an achievement, even without knowing what it is she's keeping at bay or channeling or... whichever it is. But right now Eleanor is less concerned with Hannah's magic and more concerned with Hannah herself, and she's knocked halfway over when Hannah goes to hug her but she doesn't really mind.
"Oh.." She does try to keep up with the papers, apparently. "That's all true," Eleanor allows, encouragingly. She knows Hannah has always had trouble accepting help. She won't force her to face the idea that she's just being a good person to Eleanor's mind.
Not now, anyway.
Eleanor sits up, too, propping herself on her hands with a smile. It's a warm one, and full of affection. But...
"You can think about it," Eleanor says. "There is more to ARMS than just being around me, after all; there are things you'd want to decide for yourself." But it's because of the 'but' that she's willing to be so magnanimous about it, "But come back with me to Klein," she says. "I always said I'd show you around. And we can find you a place to stay while you're in the area. ARMS members get rooms at the Chateau, but until then... Well. We have plenty of rooms at the Castle."
She smiles, again. "And thank you, Zephyr. I'll be relying on you, too."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah vaguely gets the sense that Eleanor is humoring her in some way, but... she's much too tired to think about how, in this moment, and is altogether too relieved that Eleanor is willing to accept her as a friend again (still?) to care.
She nods as Eleanor adds that it involves more than just hanging around Eleanor. "Um... I'd be willing to listen to more about it. Later. When I got my head on straight." That might sound like a concession of some kind, but really it's an olive branch. She's trying to show she'll consider her proposal seriously.
"To Klein? I mean, you did, but I just got to Meria, I was hopin' to pick up more--" she cuts herself off. More excuses. Trying to distance herself again. That's just gonna hurt Eleanor. "I mean, if... they're okay wit' someone who ain't all... fancy n' ladylike stompin 'round the place I guess we could stay a spell... Though, honestly, an inn would be more'n fine..."
Zephyr descends from his perch, chirping happily in reply to Eleanor, and then chirps at Hannah.
Hannah rolls her eyes, "Oh no, the last time you did that you got sick."
The hawk squawks indignantly.
"Fine, fine, but don't come flappin' to me when it makes you sick. I ain't cleanin' up after you."
She's mostly only ever talked to Zephyr in front of Eleanor, even if he seems fairly intelligent. This is much more like talking with--or even a small argument.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
That's just called 'diplomacy'! ...And Eleanor, too, is glad. But she can wait on explaining ARMS, in the meantime. "That's fine," the elf answers. "I'll tell you all about it. Truth be told, I'd like to rest before I give a proper pitch, myself!" She takes it as the olive branch it is.
"Hmmm..." Eleanor would've been willing to maybe consider the matter of Meria Boule first, but she for her part definitely wants to get home as soon as possible. "Oh, that's fine. We have plenty of people who aren't ladylike! Tristan, for instance!" She laughs a little. "...But more seriously, you're quite welcome, and an Inn would mean I'd have to go farther to go see you!"
Zephyr chirps, and Eleanor smiles at him. Then--Hmmm. "...What did he do?" she wonders, that made him sick.
She looks curiously at Hannah. This is beyond their old conversations. It makes her very interested.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah nods as Eleanor says she would like a chance to rest before making the pitch for ARMS. "That's fair. Honestly... what even happened to you? I, um... Ahhh... Might've barged my way onto the mission, kind of? Miss Marivel sent me a letter askin' for my help, but since I hadn't been there for the briefings and..." She trails off and smacks her forehead. "Um... Apologies, in advance. For any trouble or consternation I caused. Kinda had to muscle my way in, and I only showed up after they'd already activated the portal, so... nobody really knew who I was, and there was a whole buncha shoutin', and..." She blushes and glances away. "Not... really how I wanna make a first impression."
Hannah sits back and pulls her cloak back into her lap, resuming her mending effort. That cloak's been fixed more than a few times since she's gotten it. There's a few patches, some rips repaired, and so on. "That ain't what I meant, Eleanor," as she jokes about her brother. "I'm a fair bit more..." She searches for the right word. "... rugged than typical castle folk, let's say."
"Jus'... you know, ain't ever really stayed in a castle before."
Hannah holds up her cloak to inspect her handiwork. "Ate some fancy cooked meat. Typically he only likes his prey fresh, but he thought the cooked meat might be to his likin'... but he didn't account for all the other stuff what goes on it."
She used to get feeder mice for him at Sielje and then release them so he could chase him down. After some complaints she made sure to do it where most people couldn't see it as easily.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Oh, that's..."
Eleanor hesitates to answer, so it's easier to address Hannah's own introduction to ARMS first. She notes 'Miss Marivel' again, which is itself very interesting. Also, "It's fine; it all seems to have turned out well, and Tristan said that you helped out quite a bit, actually." She obviously had a chance to talk to her brother before coming see Hannah; she had to see if he was okay. "...Though," she laughs, "Maybe next time showing up in advance might be best."
Still, "...Yes," she says, "I understand. I wanted to lighten things up a little but..." She smiles again anyway. "It's really not a problem. I'm not asking you to attend me at a state dinner, just to spend time at my home."
"Most people haven't, after all," stayed at a castle.
But Hannah holds up the cloak and... Hmmm. "Oh, dear. That would be an issue," she says.
"It's amazing that you've grown so close to him," Eleanor thinks. "You can really understand what he's saying on that deep a level?"
She of course has her own reasons for being familiar with the diets of a bird of prey, but...
Well. One thing at a time.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah sees that hesitation, and is quick to offer, "You can tell me later, that's fine. I imagine you've been through quite a bit." She nods, "I'm glad to hear he thought so. Um... Tristan was... the guy with the shield, right?" She hesitates. "That Rito girl that was with us... what was her name?" There's a faint blush as she looks back down to her handiwork. "Kind of missed all the introductions..."
She nods as Eleanor confirms she won't have to attend state dinners. "Well, if it's just that, I think I can see my way to it. For you. Long as I'm not bein' an inconvenience for you."
She resumes her work on the cloak, but then looks up at Eleanor's comment about their bond. "Hmm? I've always been able to understand him, ever since I was little." She keeps working for a few moments more, and then pauses. "An' he can understand me. Just never really showed it much 'cause people found it odd."
For someone who's been carrying around a secret about her magic for 5 years, she's being... remarkably candid about this aspect of herself.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"I'd appreciate that," Eleanor says. "It's a long story. The simple answer is that we were briefly shunted into an alternate spacetime location on the edge of a black hole," the elf explains. "...But that's not a very simple answer, so I'll tell you more about it after we get some rest."
Then she nods. "Right! The blond man with the shield. He looks like me, too." Not as much as Danielle does, but there's definitely a resemblance. Then, she smiles. "The girl? Medli. She's sweet, isn't she?"
"Not at all!" Eleanor answers of inconvenience. "Definitely not."
"You... Hm!" Eleanor thinks back to their school days. "Well, that makes sense," she muses. "It's not so odd to me, but I can see where you'd be dubious of most people knowing about it. I always assumed he could understand me in any case." Smile.
"...Once you get your cloak wearable, how about we start onward? If you're really tired we can stop off in Meria, first, but I'm... eager to get home. I haven't met my newest baby sister yet..."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah pauses to consider that. "... Was that the Memory Maze, or did that happen before the Memory Maze?" She shakes her head, "Forget I asked. We can discuss it later."
"Medli," repeats Hannah. And then she nods. "And brave. Hope she's doing okay. We saw some... pretty unpleasant things in there." She pauses a moment. "Actually ended up in one of your memories, in fact. As you, fer a moment. Due to a resonance overlap."
"Good," she says, of not being an inconvenience.
"You might not, but growin' up..." She shrugs a little, lifting her cloak up again to examine it. "Just made it easier. But we been on the road so long together that I just... stopped pretendin', eventually." She starts to put her needle and thread away, stashes the kit, and then stands up, wrapping the cloak around her neck and tying it in place. "He can. He's pretty smart. But... we c'n understand each other on a dif'rent level. It's... hard to explain."
She nods, picking up her bag and settling it in place at her back. "Let's go, then. I don't really need to make any stops, so, we can just set out for Klein, if you want. Got all my stuff with me." She pats her bag.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"I'll make sure to look in on her again," Eleanor says of Medli--and then tilts her head. "...I'm curious," she admits, "But we'd better save that topic for a little later, too. I suppose I was there, though; it makes sense that the Maze would have to do with my memories, too..."
Sh's not sure she feels good about that, but it's definitely something that seems to be the case.
"I see. Well, that does make sense," ELeanor says of Zephyr. "I'm glad you've had each other, then. It must have been hard, being on the road like that..." Especially for how young she went out.
But then she smiles faintly. "...All right. Thank you," she says. "Then let's go."