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[willing_sheath]

[A standard pre-recorded message starts:]

Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. [There are a few long moments of dead silence before someone draws a breath speaks in a stiff, uncomfortable tone:] Himura Tomoe... [and another long few seconds of silence where she apparently didn't realize how to stop the recording.] is not available. At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up or press one for more options. To leave a callback number, press five.

[BEEP]



[ooc; for action spam to be counted as log activity feel free to comment to my annual log under the appropriate month]

Comments

[arkfall]

How long ago was the Lost July Incident? You'd have to ask Vash that. He's the one that counts down the seconds since then...

[willing_sheath]

[She frowns at that--because she didn't know how long it had been, aside from the fact that it had been years...]

Then... you only recovered recently...?

[Well. "Recently" considering the 150 year time span they were looking at...]

[arkfall]

Relatively speaking.

Back home, the last year or so I've been...

[He stops. He frowns. For the first time, he finds he's worried about the reaction admitting what he did will bring.

Shame. He's experiencing shame. And not shame over 'hurting Vash' or something like that. Actual shame that he's going to admit to killing an entire people.

Strange.

He knows he didn't clamp down on his emotions. She can sense that him and the confusion feeling it brings up in him.]

[willing_sheath]

[It's curious, what she feels coming from him... it isn't what she expected--and clearly it isn't what he expected either.]

You don't need to tell me. [She looks down at her glass.] I know it's bad... whatever it is.

...

Enough that Vash is dead set on returning to stop you... no matter how horrible that planet is...

[arkfall]

It is bad.

So many people have died because of me.

[willing_sheath]

...

Do you regret it...?

[arkfall]

Not in the way that Vash wishes I did.

[willing_sheath]

[She nods. She can imagine... Knives makes no attempt to hide his disdain for humans so it likely isn't because of human loss of life...]

[But any remorse is better than none at all.]

What is it that you regret then...?

[arkfall]

I regret that it hurt him. I regret that my actions made him have to fight me. I regret every single strand of black hair on his head.

[willing_sheath]

[She nods slowly before finishing her glass.]

...

[She doesn't entirely wish to change the topic... but it has been something she's wondered about... worried about.]

My hair was black before... Does it mean anything that it didn't change...? Or will we simply not know...? [She looks up then, studying him for a moment.] Could you tell...? At the end...? With or without the visual clue...?

[arkfall]

I've been wondering that too.

You don't feel drained. [He reaches out to take her hand again. It will be easier to tell if they are touching.]

It feels like a haziness to me. As if my body struggles to maintain its shape every second.

Do you feel anything like that?

[willing_sheath]

[She lifts her hand so that he can actually hold it this time, recognizing the fact that he was checking for something--even so she flushes again with the touch.]

As though it wants to break down...? [She shakes her head.] No... It's the opposite.

Sometimes... I feel as though I'm... losing my edges--but it's not erasure, it's expansion. Like a pot boiling over...

[arkfall]

You do feel full of energy.

And... young? [He isn't sure that's the right word.] Perhaps the dark hair is a hold over from your previous form?

[willing_sheath]

[She hums at being called 'young'--though perhaps the word he wanted was 'fresh' or 'new'...]

I suppose I am young to someone well over a century old... Vash had a small panic attack when he realized my actual age...

[It feels odd to term it 'previous form' when outwardly she still appeared the same.]

It makes sense... I imagine I would look very strange had it changed as well...

[arkfall]

Usually, it would make my heart break to see a Plant with such dark hair. It suits you, though.

You really are very beautiful.

[He's usually much more reserved with compliments, but with her it feels right to praise. Her transformation has been wonderful to behold.]

[willing_sheath]

[She flushes again, all the way to the tips of her ears until they're burning. Sincere compliments always got her, and considering she could feel it aside from hearing it in his voice heightened the reaction.]

Thank you...

[But he would be able to feel the reaction beyond just seeing it, the stir of embarrassment coupled with confused warmth--and even the hint of desire mixed in the same as it had been the day she'd changed--the later stirring up more embarrassment knowing he could likely feel it.]

[arkfall]

[Knives tilts his head as he processes her emotions.]

You like the way I look too, don't you?

Is that because I look like Vash?

[willing_sheath]

[And it all just amplifies, lead by that jittery embarrassment, at being called out point blank. She huffs lightly through her nose--something he'll eventually recognize as a laugh from her if they are around each other enough.]

That is a bit of a trick question, you know... [She lowers her eyes and with the subject broached (and the whiskey taking a bit of effect) her mind can't help wandering back.] You are both attractive... yes... [She lifts her glass to her lips again, keeping her eyes down for shyness as she attempts to reach out across the connection to him, and hopefully only him.]

I like being able to feel you...

[arkfall]

[Knives doesn't usually care about privacy. He never uses filters on the network, for example, but this he keeps between them. It's not as if Vash would want to hear them flirting.]

I like being able to feel you too.

[He isn't even ashamed or nervous about that fact. He finds her extremely desirable the way she is now.]

I wouldn't mind touching you either.

[willing_sheath]

[She shivers slightly, hearing his voice in her mind having more of an effect on her than she was expecting it to. It is so rare for her to feel a pull like this--rare enough that she was sure she could count the occurrences on one hand. She bites her lower lip slightly, hyper aware of the fact that he'll be able to pick up on that change in her easily seeing as how she hadn't managed to mask her emotions yet.]

You can... if you want to... [She looks up then, still unsure--not of what she wants but of whether or not she should pursue it.]

When I first changed... when you touched me... what was it that you did...? You did it again later... when we were together...

[If it wasn't obvious before it certainly was now--the curiosity and desire was there, the invitation so clear it may as well have been hung as a sign around her neck.]

[arkfall]

Which part? The aura or the melding?

[He had projected an aura around her to calm her down then and he had melded his body into hers and around hers. He wasn't sure what she was referring to, but whatever it was he'd be willing to do it again.]

[willing_sheath]

Both...

[But she had picked up on the aura almost easily.]

...

But... the "melding"...

...

I... want to do it again... but I can't imagine Vash being receptive to it...

[At least not when she wasn't in danger of losing control...]

[arkfall]

Not likely...

I'm afraid I might have ruined it for him.

[Which is to say, he definitely ruined it for Vash.]

If you aren't careful with that, you could end up consumed.

[willing_sheath]

[she nods. It is not a surprise. Not really. Something that has the draw of a drug would naturally have the risk of one as well--and for a wild moment she wonders if the city would allow such a thing to happen, and if it did whether it would be a "death" that she would be returned from or not.]

[Best not to find out.]

Is that so...?

[arkfall]

I can teach you how to do it safely.