2018-01-18: Part and Personage

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  • Log: Part and Personage
  • Cast: Riesenlied, Neriah Parringer, Millenia
  • Where: Baskar Bar, Krosse
  • Date: January 18, 2018
  • Summary: Millenia seeks out a young woman with a little something in common with her.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied had taken a worse injury than even she anticipated at El Pazzo.

It was supposed to only be a bullet to warn, but it had struck deeper and more critically than either Riese or Ambrosius anticipated. Perhaps it was the weight in which that first, single shot signified that really set the two apart... where they had been working hand in hand with each other, under a fragile pretense that could not last forever, given Lord Siegfried and Volsung's auspices.

And it did not.

The town of Baskar Bar, not far from Marze, received a very curious visitor in the dead of the night. A young blonde woman in a light pink gown and pretty brown capelet, stumbling her last steps towards its perimeter, red blood flowing at her side. She made it perhaps three feet in before her wounds finally overtook her, and she collapsed to one side.

The denizens were understandbly confused and concerned -- but no one wanted to touch her; some whisper, "What's with the horns on her head?" "Is she a demon?" and stirring even worse as one man says, "I--I know her face, she's a wanted girl! She'll only bring misfortune to us!"

"W-we should-- we should kill her now, before she wakes up...?" one wiry man suggests, cowardly.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

'We should kill her now, before she wakes up...?'

"No," a third voice adds, low and flat.

The denizens blink with surprise as the air besides Riesenlied shifts and ripples. It parts down the middle - and then the sandy mound beside her fades to a more neutral black colour as Neriah parts her chameleon cloak and pushes back her hood with one hand. She's kneeling next to Riesenlied, reaching out to check the Metal Demon's pulse before realizing how ludicrous that is.

She settles for just holding Riese's hand as she looks up at the denizens.

"I'll take care of her. You don't have to worry about misfortune," she says as she moves to slide an arm under Riesenlied's knees and another under her shoulders. It's not the most elegant princess carry in the world, but it's the best she can do.

"I'll take the misfortune for you," she says.

-----

When Riesenlied does stir, the village of Baskar Bar will be off in the distance, a twinkle of light in the Badlands just on the not-Krosse side of the border. She might just be able to make it out through the flap of the tent she's in. But there are more immediate senses. Like smell. Warm, homey. They waft from a tall bowl sitting next to where Riesenlied has been laid out, in a sleeping bag by a small warming light.

There's a spoon waiting. The soup in the bowl is not cucco. It's a warm bean soup seasoned with a few pieces of salt pork. It's tasty enough for government work, but whoever made it is no Lunata in the kitchen.

"Take it easy," a low voice urges. Neriah slips into Riesenlied's field of view, the light source casting a few shadows across her face. She's hatless as she leans forward to check on the other woman.

In the time between Riese's discovery and now, Neriah has laid out Riese on a sleeping bag within her tent. The Hyadean will find herself bandaged where bandages are needed, with a cool, damp towel resting on her forehead as though to bring down the woman's body heat.

Neriah's smile is genuine, but underlaid with worry. "Don't try to push too hard. You were hurt pretty bad."

Finding Neriah's tent - on the outskirts of the area - wouldn't be too hard. The villagers'll tell you she's the only strange visitor in town who showed up after the Black Star fell, and the only one to have set up camp out here.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied does have a pulse, so it's not as ludicrous as Neriah might first think! Is there no comparison to a human that she does not embrace? She is feverish through the night, however. On inspection, there appears to be a bullet that didn't manage to pass through her cleanly, perhaps due to the different viscosity and arrangement of her body to that of a human's. She doesn't heal like a regular Metal Demon does, so it's in a rather wan and weak manner that she arises in the morning, stirring slowly.

"... who's..." Riese manages to murmur out, her voice haggard and strained as she squints towards the light source. "... Neriah...?"

The pain is still racing through her entire side, though dulled compared to how sharply it did last night as she walked through Filgaian wastelands. She'd been separated from the other Drifters she fled El Pazzo with...

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

"You two sure have made yourselves hard to find~," comes the voice of a woman, high above. She descends from the sky slowly and with elegance, two long, demonic black wings carrying her with little effort until she lands, high heels tapping onto the ground. That garish, crimson outfit of hers would be hard to miss, even in the dead of night, though it pales compared to that long hair and those horn-like accessories hanging from it.

The wings flicker out of existence, Millenia stepping towards the tent to look inside. "Well good morning sunshine <3! YOU must be Riesenlied, and YOU," she says looking at Neriah with maybe too enthusiastic a grin, "Are my new best friend until I get bored and hungry. How about it? Adventure! Passion! HERESY!" That's a good word, she thinks.

She laughs, and fake-bows. "I'd say that was a nice entrance, wouldn't you? The name's Millenia, and now you don't get to complain I know more about you than you about me!" That's absolutely not true, she still does. Though, something within Neriah probably calls to her. Valmar, more than anything, wants to be whole again.

"I hope you've got more of that soup, I'm famished."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah made sure to do a thorough inspection of Riese's injuries. She'd even carefully gone in to try and pluck the bullet out. She probably even stood a good chance at succeeding, unless it's in there too deeply for her to reach with the delicate pair of excavator tweezers she's normally use for picking crystals out of a lump of rock.

Fortunately, Frontier Doctor N. Parringer also has enough Heal Berries to ensure she didn't mutilate Riese in the process...!

"It's me," Neriah says with a blush, reaching out to rest a hand on Riesenlied's other shoulder. "Don't push yourself... someone shot you, but you're safe now..."

Which is when someone suspicious calls out from the 'bove.

"...I should've closed that tent flap," Neriah mutters. Looking out through the flap, she stares at the sight of someone impossibly garish touching down, framed by the opening of the tent as though to paint a terrifyingly pretty picture.

Good morning, sunshine.

The grin outright startles Neriah. Taken aback, she hunches her shoulders a bit as if to try and shield Riese with her body. "Being my friend isn't all its cracked up to be," she says, tense and with a certain self-scolding bitterness lacing her tone.

"There's soup, but it's only for people who explain why they're landing in front of my tent and declaring themselves my best friend when I have no idea who they are."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied is sweating, her skin paler than normal as she nods slowly, feeling Neriah's hand on her shoulder more than she sees it. Her eyes focus and unfocus--

You two sure have made yourselves hard to find~!

Her eyes widen as she tries to pull her head up, with a gasp. Who was this red-haired woman, draped in wings and horns... well-- not unlike her, and with an outfit that's... well-- not unlike Noeline, really? It was like someone envisioned their teenage daughter, in an alternate universe!

"... how do you know... my name?" Riesenlied asks a dumb question, given her face and name is all over wanted posters everywhere.

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

"A little nun told me~," Millenia smiles to Riesenlied, speaking the truth (technically). "Why, she also told me you're an abomination onto Granas, Neriah! My, what terrible things to say of someone. I would say they don't know you that well at all, if that's their take on this!"

She seems carefree, and certainly not in the least bit concerned about potential hostilities. Mostly, she's upset when Neriah with-holds soup from her!

"But I just told you! I'm Millenia, and that's all there is to know! ... well, maybe not ALL, but a girl's gotta have her secrets, right? <3" That playful tone probably doesn't help.

"I just came to talk! Get to know my new BEST FRIEND better. Hm, too much? Partner in crime? Compatriot? Heretical sister? Pieces from a pod?" She didn't say peas. It's certainly intentional.

"Any~way! Don't get up, Riese dear, you look hurt! You rest, we can talk and keep you company. No violence, promised!"

A sideglance at Neriah. "But if you pick a fight I might just have to eat you whole, and I'm REALLY hungry~." She wants that soup, okay?

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah blinks a couple of times before giving Riesenlied a look that's equal parts quizzical and anxious. Her uncertainty flickers in her eyes.

The look hardens just a little as Millenia calls her an abomination unto Granas, then calls it a terrible thing to say to someone. "Sometimes I wonder if your nun friend is wrong," she says with a sigh, squeezing Riese's shoulder once more before turning to better face the incredibly garishly-dressed woman in the tent flap. "In any case, you already seem to know who we are, Millenia... I suppose you're free to come in if you're not here to shoot anyone or pull a lynch mob out of your cleavage or something."

Not sure how else to handle someone quite so vivacious, Neriah begins to spoon out another cup of soup. As Millenia declares her her heretical sister, though, she nearly spills her ladleful, starting and biting down to her lower lip.

She finishes spooning out the soup. "I don't want to pick fights. I just want to be peaceful and not hurt anyone. That's all." As Neriah turns back, she shrugs, then holds the cup out to Millenia. There's a spoon waiting in it for her.

Behind the bitterness, something else flickers in her eyes, though.

A spark of curiosity. One she lets burn a little. "So you'll have to explain to me how we're pieces from a pod and partners in crime."

The only crime I can see right now is those cuffed boots, Neriah reflects inwardly.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied was, perhaps, expecting someone to be after her. So when Milennia speaks out about how Neriah is an 'abomination onto Granas'... about how they're both 'partners in crime', her eyes only seem to widen further as some measure of inner strength prompts her to sit up, regardless of how much it hurts.

"A nun?" Riesenlied asks, thinking of poor Rosaline first and foremost, OH NO. If she were less hurt and anxious, she might already be flailing and gasping at how racy and forward that outfit is! As it is, though...

"... is she a-- 'number'?" she asks Neriah, the only point of reference in this affair that she can possibly guess.

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

"The only thing in my dress is divine beauty, sweetheart," Millenia informs Neriah, confirming she has no secret lynch mob stuffed in there. She'll take it as a compliment, though, because that's how she rolls.

She comes in, taking the bowl of soup quite happily. She'll let it cool a bit before she sips from the bowl. Who even needs a spoon?

"Peace and quiet, is it? That doesn't sound very exciting! You know, those zealots'll never leave you be. You'd have to run away forever to be at peace! But there's a slight problem with that too." A smile. Fanged, this time. "You know what it is, right? That calling! To gather the other fragments and pieces. Surely you don't think you're the only one who feels that way. Why, now that we're so close, I've just got this URGE to bite in drink it all up!"

That's when she chooses to sip from her cup of soup. That'll quell the hunger, surely. She lowers it again. "And that's how we're pieces from a pod~! A very desperate pod trying to put itself back together."

And that might even answer Riesenlied's question too.

"But it's way too early for that! I just want to see the world right now! I'll figure the rest out later."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I don't know," Neriah admits, her voice low as she glances back to Riese. "I mean, I've seen all the Numbers in my dreams, and none of them were ginger...."

And yet, as Riesenlied raises the thought, something profoundly curious hangs behind Neriah's eyes. She bites down to her bottom lip firmly.

"...None of them are divine beauties, either," she admits as she looks back towards Millennia, surrendering the soup to her. Settling to her knees, the Excavator folds her hands atop one thigh. She's gloveless; her right hand lays over the back of her left. "In fact I think the only one of them who's even female is Number Seven, and that's Mom."

'Those zealots'll never leave you be.'

"Tell me about it," she sighs. "Not everyone is one, though." Neriah glances back and flashes Riesenlied a grateful smile.

The expression breaks as Millennia explains something. Sitting up straighter, Neriah widens her eyes, then looks down at her hand sharply, turning it over as if expecting something to manifest in her palm. Splaying her fingers, she closes them again, then opens her hand one more time. "You mean you... also have a curse...?" she asks with growing understanding, lifting her eyes to meet Millennia's.

"But I've never felt an urge to gather anything," she admits, her voice smaller and full of confusion. "I always thought I was the only one... even my mom doesn't have any curse powers like me."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I don't know," Neriah admits, her voice low as she glances back to Riese. "I mean, I've seen all the Numbers in my dreams, and none of them were ginger...."

And yet, as Riesenlied raises the thought, something profoundly curious hangs behind Neriah's eyes. She bites down to her bottom lip firmly.

"...None of them are divine beauties, either," she admits as she looks back towards Millennia, surrendering the soup to her. Settling to her knees, the Excavator folds her hands atop one thigh. She's gloveless; her right hand lays over the back of her left. "In fact I think the only one of them who's even female is Number Seven, and that's Mom."

'Those zealots'll never leave you be.'

"Tell me about it," she sighs. "Not everyone is one, though." Neriah glances back and flashes Riesenlied a grateful smile.

The expression breaks as Millennia explains something. Sitting up straighter, Neriah widens her eyes, then looks down at her hand sharply, turning it over as if expecting something to manifest in her palm. Splaying her fingers, she closes them again, then opens her hand one more time. "You mean you... also have a curse...?" she asks with growing understanding, lifting her eyes to meet Millennia's.

"But I've never felt an urge to gather anything," she admits, her voice smaller and full of confusion. "I always thought I was the only one... even my mom doesn't have any curse powers like me."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The Eight Numbers... Riesenlied had only seen a brief glimpse of what that was like -- and the presence of that elder man, the one Neriah had mentioned was called 'One'. And now 'Seven' was her mother...? In what manner did that curse spread? But then Milennia opines that she was not part of that structure... and Neriah herself says she's never felt the urge to gather.

Ever more puzzling...

"What fragments do you refer to? An ancient artifact, or some kind of relic?" Riesenlied finds herself wondering. "Or do you mean something less physical, like energy...?"

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

"Really now?" Millenia asks, lowering her head closer to Neriah as if to inspect her. "No... hunger, no desire to be whole, no craving the power other people have?" This just got weird! But it probably wouldn't spare Neriah from the other pieces. From Millenia, though? Oh now she is CURIOUS. And you don't eat your science projects now do you.

"Well! I don't know what a Number is but I can assure you I'm not one of those~. But maybe, just maybe, your mother is like me. Mysteries of the world! Who knows?" Something she looks forward to discovering.

Riesenlied asks a more pointed question, to which Millenia waves her hand in the air. "Like poor little Neriah here says you might call it a curse! One big grand curse onto the world torn into so many pieces dying to undo that madness. But then what is she, if not a piece? A piece of a piece? Someone's attempt to make a new piece? Oh I'm getting excited just thinking about it! Now I want to know more!"

This is NEW! This is incredible. Millenia sips from her soup, big, happy smile on her face. "Though curse is such an awful word. Do I look like a curse to you? A blessing, more like!"

She flicks her hair proudly.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"Yeah... I'm not sure what there is to be fragments of," admits Neriah, her gaze lowering to her hand. "I don't even...."

The dark-haired girl trails off as Millenia leans in to inspect her like that. Feeling a little like a side of beef being eyed up at the butcher's stand, Neriah blinks back a Millenia, beginning to lean slightly towards her.

"I don't think Mom is. She's never had what I had. The nightmares since I was a baby, or...." Trailing off again, Neriah hesitates for a moment.

"Riese, how's your side feeling," she asks, because that's a safe way to collect her thoughts. So is reaching for a cup and spooning a bit of soup for herself into it. Granas only knows if she intends to eat it; the movement at least puts her mind at ease for a few seconds.

"No. You look very...." Neriah gropes for the proper word. "...bountiful," she decides.

Bountiful, but curious - and she seems to know things about Neriah. That in and of itself makes her want to press on - to find answers nobody has been able to give her.

"I don't know what I could be a piece of. I've always thought I was just the only freak," she admits. "I always had horrible nightmares, even when I was little... there'd always be people screaming, and huge monster faces and wings in the sky, and a man's voice talking to me. And the Death Guardian would always show up and try to kill me while screaming 'seven' over and over." Soup cup in her left hand, she turns her right over.

Hesitantly, Neriah holds it out to Millenia. "...About the time I started filling out, I'd get... weird bleeding out of this hand. I still do. It gets worse any time I'm around a dark energy. Then I found I could pull power out from it. It used to really hurt a lot...."

In her memories, Virginia Maxwell's face flickers. "...It doesn't hurt that much anymore. It's just... there's so much now that I'm a danger to everyone around me."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied is starting to wake up from the sheer adrenaline from what she thought was going to be a harrowing skin-of-their-teeth battle, so it's-- at that point that she's starting to cotton on to the kind of outfit Millenia is wearing. Her cheeks visibly flush as her horns wiggle in consternation.

"Better..." Riesenlied says slowly. "El Pazzo was certainly a dangerous place, though it was not the Black Ties that dealt me this wound."

Her lips thin just a bit as she hears Neriah's story. To have the Death Guardian show and attempt to destroy you... it's a terrifying image.

"... could Miss Millenia perhaps guide you how to better control that power, if she feels you are both-- similar?" she's hopeful. She can't just ignore the fact that a village was massacred... but it isn't like she'd stop trying to help.

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

"Well, whatever you are, it's ~interesting~!" Millenia says, happily. Bountiful, she'll take it. Certainly better than 'a curse'. "And you're no awful, cursed child to ME. A future meal, maybe," she says, very openly, "But before that right now I think you're so very interesting, and I want to find out what you are! And here I was drawn to you thinking we were the same, and it'd turn out we're only kind of similar, maybe!" No way to tell. They draw on the same source of power, at least that much is certain, at least.

"Oh, dear, what you have isn't a danger to others. It's your right to be dangerous! To teach those bullies not to pick on you, to make people listen to you, to be heard! It's your ticket in a big great world filled with nasty, powerful people and monsters who only care about each other. You should hone it, not reject it!"

Which is precisely what Riese suggests. Millenia seems to like the idea a lot, as she suddenly moves to HUG Neriah. "Oh that's a lovely idea! We'll give you some right proper training and make those nightmares disappear!"

She ponders. "And maybe when you're ready we'll take it all out on those jerks who hurt your friend!" Meaning Riese, obviously.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neither can Neriah ignore the dead and orphaned of Three Cucco Spring.

She hasn't been sleeping much lately. There are new faces in her nightmares.

Trying not to dwell on her guilt, Neriah smiles lopsidedly back at her Hyadean friend. "I'm glad you're alright... those Black Ties are pretty troublesome. Whoever shot you, you didn't deserve to have that happen to you."

When Millennia speaks up again, though, the dark-haired excavator's gaze returns to find the redhead's. Her lashes lower a little, her dark-painted lips curving into a slight, sour frown. "Don't think I'm not capable of nibbling on you if the occasion arises, Fancy Boots," she murmurs.

Perhaps Neriah can't sass too much about fashion, considering she wears that really dark lipstick basically all the time. But it's a gimmick, right?

Then Millennia jumps in and hugs her-

something resonates. subtly. there is a brush of neriah's fingers against millennia's hip. a brief flash of something. a power seeming to lock hands with a power. a set of wings unfurling. a wizened figure lifts his head from an altar and smiles. the chains of arius rust and fray. a thousand buzzards darken the night. vast faces roar in the heavens and the hells.

SOAR UPON THESE WINGS.

Stiffening a bit, Neriah bites her bottom lip as the thought rings through the hollows of her mind. Millennia will be able to feel it more than hear it.

A Riesenlied endorsement is a Riesenlied endorsement, though, even if the little voice in her head is feeding her weird messages again. With a sigh, she brings her arms up to loosely return the hug. "I'd like that," she admits; it's unclear if she means vengeance, or having proper control of her powers.

"I don't know how the same we are," Neriah admits. "I don't know much of anything about why I'm like this. But I really need help. Thank you for being willing to."

[ Neriah joined the party! ]

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... it was a friend," Riesenlied has to admit. "Someone who... has their reasons. Perhaps it is what makes it hurt so much."

But then Neriah gets a hug from Millenia! The bright and vivacious, fiery demon exclaims that would be a great idea... and Riesenlied can't help but smile weakly.

They draw upon the same source of power...

That much, Riesenlied can't ignore -- whatever gut feeling drew Millenia to Neriah is no coincidence, even if Neriah's circumstance is slightly different. But it gives her... a strange, roundabout kind of hope -- that if there are others whose powers stem from the same source as Neriah's...

Perhaps this 'curse' was laid atop it, and could be shattered. Perhaps the source of the power could be more benign.

Oh, Riesenlied.

"I'm so glad..." she whispers with a smile to Neriah. "It's a good first step, isn't it...?"

Even if she also can't ignore the way Millenia said that Neriah may be a 'future meal'...

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

So something does resonate after all! It's so faint. But there wouldn't be any mistaking that they share a power now. It might be Neriah's no piece or fragment, but she's certainly a Dark One. Oh, what a terrible word. Millenia grimaces just from having thought it.

"Oh, don't worry about it. <3 I can't stand the sight of a lonely or sad child, you know?" Now that she thinks about it, what a weird thought. She even vocalizes it. "You'd think I'd know why that is, having been locked in a box for so long, but really I'm just so happy to be free I couldn't care less why I feel the way I do!"

She breaks the hug, eventually, to look at Riesenlied and tilt her head a bit. "You have very odd friends if you let them hurt you. You should burn them to a crisp, hurt them back! Let them know you're not some damsel they can beat on to make a point!" Maybe she's not as nice as she seemed. "How rude, really. Why if someone I cared for hurt me I'd never let them off the hook!"

"You're right though, it's a good first step! We'll teach you to tap into that ~oh so awful~ curse of yours, and before long you'll see it's no curse at all! It's the power to make a difference, it's just a bit different from others'."

She wouldn't know the first thing about the Guardian haunting her dreams though. That's certainly an unique condition.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

It's not the same, and yet it is. Millenia can feel that much. What she can feel quite clearly, though, is that Neriah's darkness is...

...old. like a thing forgotten forever in some dusty attic. rusting locks upon a chest of treasures. mouldering chains upon a body long dead. a crumbling dam unable to hold back a river of blood.

a frayed flicker of an image around the edges. a thin chain forged by death itself.

a sad and frayed little thing, unable to bind the beast.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's a really good first step," Neriah agrees, blushing and leaning back. Her hands return to her lap, one folding atop the other. "And, y'know... I've fought people before who've tried to hurt me."

there is the face of that man. ethius, the man who tried to slay her. cry! wail! suffer like you made me suffer!

"I just don't want to hurt people who've never done anything to me, though. If I can do that...." Brightening visibly, she holds her hands out to try and take Millenia's and squeeze.

"...if I can do that, I'll be so happy," Neriah admits, more effusively.

Something occurs to her, then. Neriah tilts her head to one side, her smile fading. "Wait, who locked you in a box?" she asks with a certain wonder. "Why would anyone do that to someone? Did they...." A bolt of understanding crashes home. "...did they put you in there because they were scared of you?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied does feel little flickers in her stomach, like she may be a bit concerned that while Millenia is cheerfully friendly and welcoming at her surface... her rather outwardsly cavalier expression of freedom may not be the best influence on Neriah herself. But still... her friend needed this at this point in time.

"... I can't quite speak to the same experience, but... it does always sadden me to see people resort to violence or isolation as a means to put away that which does not agree with them..." Riesenlied speaks as a response to Millenia's comment of that which locked her away in a box.

She wonders if it's a metaphorical box, or a physical one. ... it could be both, honestly.

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

Millenia takes Neriah's hand, and answers the questions at the same time. "Let' say there were disagreements. Big, world-shaking disagreements! I was part of that big great curse, and someone saw fit to take a very large blade to it. Now there's lots of little curses, all boxed up in ruins and churches and behind zealots and monsters. Well, not for long, at this rate~." Darkness stirs, and nobody on Filgaia could say they hadn't noticed. It wasn't just the Devil of Darkness. It was Malevolence, and the Metal Demons, and the Veruni, and ancient forces beyond them still. But all of it was stirring all at once, and it called for more to awaken like an awful chain reaction.

"Ah, but you see, I don't hate violence! Violence is so easy to deal with. You can crumble, or you can fight back! No complicated decisions to make, no puzzles to solve! You just hit those suckers with enough lightning to power a small nation for years to come and call it a day!" Or fire. She likes fire too. Warming the hearts of people has never been such a literal occupation.

"I wonder if that's how you Metal Demons saw it back when. Why worry about complex solutions when you can just fix it with firepower!" Granted, that didn't work so well. Working a bit better these days though.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"People always want to isolate things they're scared of," Neriah murmurs. "Like when I lost control for the first time... they ran me out of my village because my powers terrified people so much."

Millenia's fingers close around Neriah's hand, then.

Again, that power resonates. Neriah's heartrate quickens a little as darkness stirs. There's an echo between herself and Millenia that she can't quite describe. Not an urge to eat her, at least.

For just a moment - for an incredibly compelling moment - all Neriah wants to do is be close to Millenia, at any cost. The surge of feeling within her bubbles up almost like an odd passion. She doesn't even know this woman all that well, and yet....

"There are... other curses?" she asks with a slow blink, her voice a little higher and a bit more breathy as she leans slightly forward. "So I'm not the only one after all... or at least, even if I'm not a piece of the same curse, it's still... pretty close...? Or at least close enough that maybe we're different curses fro the same place...."

Neriah looks between Millenia and Riesenlied, pressing her lips together. "I think it's important to defend yourself. I just want to... make sure that if I'm gonna fight back, I'm not going to do more damage than I mean to. There are people like Riese who've always been kind to me... I don't want to put her in danger."

In Millenia's grip, that echo of two powers continues to subtly linger. The other woman can feel something wet in Neriah's palm. A small drop of blood beading into view, seemingly from nowhere.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied sucks in a quiet breath as the ebb of two powers begins to emanate, which gets subtly reflected onto the Dragon's Tear as a soft... deep purple light, nearly black. Then it fades. She isn't quite sure what or how to make of it... but Neriah's is not something that's foreign to her. She'd seen it firsthand in Nortune, before.

"... Filgaia is unfortunately rife with such old stories. Whether it is curses, or ancient weapons, or beings made of the lifeline who seek to destroy us..."

A little sigh escapes her lips, but she blushes a little in turn. "... control is important... and-- you've... been good at not directing that power onto me, even when you're out of control..."

<Pose Tracker> Millenia has posed.

Every inch, every cell, of Millenia's body is telling her to go for the bite. It'd be so EASY right now to just... claim Neriah. Whether she's a piece, a fragment, a copy, an experiment, or something else, it wouldn't matter. Power is power, and darkness seeks to be whole.

She resists the urge, because her curiosity overpowers it, and because the very essence of the Wings is freedom. They rebel and seek it, even against themselves.

She catches the drop of blood with a finger, eyeing it curiously. "Like Riese says, there's a lot! So many old stories. So many gods and demons, so many sources of light and darkness. I don't know them all! But I know there's tons. So of course it bears thinking, there must be others like you and a point you originated from."

Millenia lets go of Neriah's hand, still smiling. "Well, that's rather enough for today! Your friend's in no state to be anywhere near us when we practice, I think she'd just worry! She needs rest, and I need my beauty sleep!"

Unspoken is the fact her host is waking up.

The woes of mental cohabitation.

"Sounds like you already have a solid base controlling your powers though!" she says, having heard Riese's comment on it, "We'll work on that next time I'm awake! For now, the soup was great! Thanks for the meal, sweetheart. <3"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I could never hurt you," Neriah says immediately, looking back at Riesenlied with a gentle blush. "Riese, you... you welcomed me into your home and always treated me like I was important to you. You're one of the only people who's ever cared about me."

Her pale blue eyes soften, and she flashes the Hyadean a genuine smile. It's small, but there's emotion in it. "I'll never forget that about you," she says. "There are so many humans in the world who have less humanity than you do. Filgaia's hateful and brutal sometimes... you're different."

The drop of blood just sits there. Neriah doesn't seem to be about to lose control right now.

"Oh," Neriah murmurs as Millenia prepares to leave. She eases back, but when she smiles again, it's bright with anticipation. "Okay...! I'd say look me up, but I get the idea you kind of know how to find me already....

"...I'll see you again soon, I hope!"