middaeg | Intro Overflow: May

[ It is very apparent that an offhand query about responsibility, duty to the living she had assumed were left behind as her queen has been left, means something different and very specific to this man.

Nel waits patiently for him to finish, using his anguish as an opportunity for study. What intrigues (and alarms) her the most is the talk of a world, of freeing it, of a choice he made. Maybe that cleansing isn't relevant, but it could be.

Could be. ]

Does it help to get this off your chest if I don't talk back, or would you like me to respond?

Get this off my chest?

[He lets out a short sort of laugh.]

Oh, I do apologize. You're a stranger. [He smiles, easy, pleasant, but there's a glint in his eyes that's too hard to be comfortable, like the tip of something that could be a knife.] I don't even know your name. If it seemed like I was unloading something on you, that wasn't my intention.

[He bows his head. There is no answer to her question. He's effectively cut it short.]

I'm Vashti Venus. A pleasure.

[ Nel won't accept his apology. Not because she took any sort of offense but because the sheer amount of feeling which went into his outburst tells her something about the wellspring of sincerity that rests behind his false smile-- and bitterly surrounded on all sides by revelry, something true is something gained.

She returns his easy, pleasant smile, mirroring it with genuine gratitude. ]

Nothing to apologize for, Vashti. Please, call me Nel, and don't worry. Your honesty is refreshing.

[ Real. ]

Ah, well, honesty and truth really are the best medicine, aren't they?

[He doesn't know if her comment is some kind of intentional slight against him, or if it's merely a coincidence that's rubbing him the wrong way. Of course, of course it's the truth!]

[He glances at her, then at the fire, mouth twisting into a concerned frown.]

Anyways, uh, do you want to step away from the fire? I have the feeling that my hair will get singed if I stand near it too long...

[He does have a lot of hair.]

[ She nods agreeably, to either his last suggestion, the question, or both, having had her fill of sweat under the leather. A damp sheen on her face and neck reflect too much light to be inconspicuous.

Eyeing aforementioned mass of hair, Nel can objectively appreciate the care that must go into maintaining it. Not in her wheelhouse; still of note. Few in the Aquarian army let it grow so long. ]

I would be truly sorry if you were to have an accident. [ A bit of a depression separates the bonfire's edge apart from the safer position Vashti has taken up. She meanders back to him and away from the licking flames, studying him through her lashes now that they've gotten closer. ]

Were you planning to jump over it like the others?

I'd be sorry too. I'd hardly want to cut my hair short when I'm not ready for it, ha.

[He stares down at her. Somehow, even away from the fire, she's still intense as the flames themselves. It's something in her eyes, he thinks. A fire that can't go out.]

I was thinking about it. [He says, after a moment, tearing his eyes away to catch one of the others getting ready to make his jump. The smile on his face seems bittersweet.] I'm not one who can easily let go of the past, though. You?

[ Certainly the kind of fire to eat and eat and eat of itself.

It licks mutinously when she pulls the drapes shut over a jagged sneer that almost forms on her face. Killed before it can manifest, the heat lowers to a resentful simmer. Civility is the more convenient mask, and for Vashti's sake she pretends to consider her answer. ]

You know, I'd like to think that I could, but it's early days. And I'm not very forgetful.

A good memory is both a blessing and a curse, yes.

[It would be easy to forget it all, move on, cut whatever lasting feelings he has and discard them like trash. But he can't, he muses - perhaps that will always be a weakness of his.]

[His eyes narrow - for a brief second, there seemed to be a change in her expression. Interesting.]

If you had the choice, though, would you? Forget it all, I mean.

[ She doesn't get defensive, demand to know why it matters, or respond at all for a tense handful of seconds where Nel's stomach drops to her knees.

Yes. Yes. Oh, yes. A hundred times yes. Scour the knowledge of a god clean, wash that experience away, and it would change nothing except for her contentment. The only person who might ruin it lives a nation away— now a world. ]

That sounds a bit like death. [ She smiles, lips compressing. ] Are you trying to kill something in yourself?

That's a heavy question, you know.

[His smile crinkles upward.]

And you didn't answer mine.

[An answer for an answer, after all.]

If you want to know my answer, then, well... [Vashti lets out a short breath that sounds like the beginning of a sigh.] You'll have to get to know me a little better. I'm not the type who gives away secrets for free.

Edited 2019-05-30 05:23 (UTC)

[ Nel dips her head, conceding his points with apparent grace. What she does not say is that his refusal to answer candidly works just as well to justify her own reluctance; Vashti's protests mirror hers. They no longer need to be said. ]

Definitely. I overstepped, we're just a couple of strangers. You're a particularly well-meaning one, but still a stranger.

Of course, of course! But that doesn't mean we need to be strangers forever.

[Though this woman hardly seems like the type to go out and be friends with people she meets.]

It would be a lie to say that you aren't intriguing.

[ What is he thinkin', everything about Nel screams 'party animal befriend immediately'. ]

Thank you... I think. [ Keeping it light, but watching him with an analytical eye as cold as the bonfires are hot. She blinks, and the invasiveness vanishes. ]

We've been introduced, which I'm told is half the battle. For what it's worth, Vashti, I hope you rest well after tonight.

Intro Overflow: May

vashti

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so sorry for slowness, l i f e

it's okay!!

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sorry for the late, just came back from long weekend!

that is very ok!!!

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