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 Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:26 pm
It had become apparent to Riley, after spending hours locked away in her room, that she would feel much better if she could just talk to someone for a while. Whether or not they talked about the subject that bothered her was irrelevant - she just knew that sitting alone in silence was doing her no good.
So, with every intention of making sure Malodore and Luce were all right after their mutual ordeal, she came to his dorm very late that night. She knocked on the door softly, hoping that she wasn't about to disturb his sleep.
Malodore? Are you in? She sent, though she could feel his presence even now, so the question was more for manners sake than actual query.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:58 pm
Luce alerted to Riley's presence before the ithilid herself could do so - however, since she knew Riley and understood that she was to be allowed in, the pup just stared at the door, ears raised slightly. It was enough, though, that Malodore wasn't startled to feel Riley's mental 'voice' slipping through its thoughts. "Come in," the plague doctor called. It was comfortably ensconced in its favorite (and only!) armchair, which was made of a thick, odd leather that seemed to be made of many different creature-fleshes, all stitched together. There were a small stack of books at its side, mostly relating to humans... inasmuch as there was. It wasn't much.
Luce was on her pillow, at her master's feet. When Riley entered, she got up to sniff at her with every sign of happiness.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:18 pm
Riley turned the knob and pushed the door open, entering with a graceful glide that seamlessly turned her so she could close the door behind her. She moved to stand at the side of Malodore's chair, before dropping her arms down to scoop up the happy Luce in them.
Hello, precious. She coo'd into Luce's mind, rubbing her face against Luce's shamelessly. I was worried about you. She shifted, and quite unceremoniously sat with her back leaning against Malodore's armrest. One leg stretched out, while the other remained bent up, and she let Luce settle in the crook that was made between her leg and her body. Both of you, really. That was quite the ordeal we just went through. Her head rested back on the armrest, and then turned to look up at Malodore. How are you?
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:21 pm
Malodore sighed. "I am well enough, but I am worried about Luce." It watched Luce greet Riley and smiled faintly, but a happy greeting in the safe confines of its room didn't mean much... "She is so small, and her FEAR... you heard what the secretary said, si? That the reason we were so incorporeal there is because of our FEAR. Luce's fear... is even weaker..." It shook its head. "She nearly vanished completely a few times. Almost torn out of my grasp because her FEAR was gone before mine was."
Luce, as if understanding what Malodore was talking about, tilted her ears back and burrowed her head into Riley's chest. The thump of her tail slowed.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:34 pm
Riley hadn't thought about how much greater the effect of being in the human world might have been on poor Luce. She looked down at the burrowing puppy, and felt a very odd feeling indeed. Pity, perhaps? It almost hurt a bit, in the heart. Breaking? How strange. Her brows tilted sadly, and she brushed her fingers against her fur in soft, rhythmic motions.
I never even thought about that. I suppose we were all a bit too busy trying to find a way out to worry about how pets would respond.. Her words faded out as she spoke. Something had just dawned on her, and she felt a sinking in her gut. Her hand stilled against Luce's fur for a moment as she worked through the thought.
I can't believe I didn't even think about it until just now. My hazmutt. It disappeared somewhere in there. It never came back. She looked down at Luce, and clutched her a little tighter. The idea that Luce could have been lost in that wretched place as well somehow upset her more than the fact that she had, quite probably, just lost a pet of her own.
Her hand resumed petting Luce's fur softly, and she brushed her chin against her head. A gentle, harmonizing thrum emitted from Riley - something that was more of a feeling than a sound. It's effect would be like the feeling a child would get when listening to it's mother sing. We never have to go there again, Luce. She whispered through the hum, making sure not to close her thoughts off so as not to be rude to Malodore and leave him in silence. You have nothing to worry about.
And perhaps, there was a part of her that was trying to convince herself of the same thing, as well.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:55 pm
"You... you lost your pet? Merde..." The plague doctor shook its head, trying to disguise the creeping horror that came over it at the thought. It could have been Luce there, gone, poofed into nothing-
Luce whined, squirmed free of Riley's arms, and dove under the armchair, her bright green eyes shining like twin lanterns.
"... Luce," Malodore sighed, its tone worried. "She refuses to come out of this room. She is happy here, but as soon as I get the leash she runs... ah... Riley. Do you think... can you talk to her? In her head? Like you can with me?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:19 pm
Riley blinked down at her now-empty arms, and then turned her head to look under the armchair. She blinked at those green eyes staring back at her, while she responded to Malodore.
I can try, I suppose.. I don't know if the restraints place upon the Academy will let me get through enough to be understood. I certainly won't be able to understand her, if she tries to respond, since she won't be thinking directly at me..
She put her head back on the headrest, and closed her eyes.
But if I try hard enough, I think I can make her understand me.
She dropped her hand down under the chair, and laid it with her palm facing up. Then, she concentrated. There were steps involved in something like this, and with each step Riley took, she delved deeper into Luce's subconscious, and further away from herself. She sagged just a little as she stopped paying attention to things like her own body.
At first, she said nothing. She continued stepping down, down, until she felt comfortable enough that she wouldn't be thrown back out. It was there, deep in Luce's shaken thoughts, that Riley sent a nudge of comfort. It was wordless, at first, because wordless thoughts were always accepted easier in the subconscious. It was more of a feeling of comfort, and calm - and most of all, awareness. She wanted Luce to be aware that she wasn't alone right now.
Affectionate waves of comfort guided her first worded thoughts in. Luce, precious, you have nothing to fear. Malodore and I will never let anything harm you. We promise. If you understand me, lick my hand.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:29 pm
Malodore was silent as Riley... lost focus, or at least lost focus on it. It could only assume she was trying to reach Luce...
... Luce blinked a few times. Strange! Strange thinkings - warm thinkings - purplefriend? soundslikepurplefriend. She had felt purplefriend talk to her before, but it hadn't been warm and cozy before. The concepts floated through her mind...
But she had been so scared! And the badbad grayplace with the zoomzoom boxes had - she'd gotten thin and so had Master and she had almost gone poof! right out of its hands and then what would have happened? So lonely! And she hadn't gone looking for badbad things like when they went on the zoomzoom box to coldplace! The coldplace things were squishy and crunchy and stripey and minty! She could bite them! Grayplace had no bites! So lonely and no bites! Helpless!
Luce understood. She licked... but she also whined and put her ears back. Riley might well get just the faintest mental whiff of uncertainty, tinged with fear of the unknown.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:45 pm
Riley was stunned. She hadn't expected this to work as well as it had, and when she felt the waves of wordless thought washing over her, she actually understood most of them. It was a little dizzying, if only because she hadn't expected it. It was most extraordinarily interesting, though. She'd never entered the mind of an animal before - at least, not for more than the brief second it took to devour it.
She just barely felt the lick on her hand, which was all the assurance she needed. She all but left herself behind to delve completely into Luce, which in turn made her physical body slump to one side - without the mind, it had no function to sit up straight, or do any of the other autonomous activities her body was programmed for. Her heartbeat slowed with each passing second. Luckily, she'd done this before - and as long as she didn't remain long, she'd be fine.
A warm, encompassing feeling would envelop Luce. Call it a mind-hug, if only to give it a name. Never again. Riley assured her adamantly. We will never, ever go there again. Malodore and I will keep you safe, here. You can go outside, and run, and play, and enjoy life as much as you want, and we promise you nothing like that will ever happen again. We promise.
Bright, cheerful feelings emanated from Riley's thoughts. Don't you want to go back outside and play? It's safe now, perfectly safe. There's so much waiting for you to sniff, and dig, and chase. Doesn't that sound lovely, precious?
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:42 pm
Malodore hurriedly pulled the pillow from behind its back - so quickly that the fabric caught on one of its back-blades, tearing it and releasing some of the fluff inside. Again. But it was a common issue, and easily fixed. The plague doctor carefully propped Riley up using the pillow, just to make sure everything was okay...
... Luce listened tentatively, reacting a bit to some of the ideas Riley was putting into her mind - at run her paws twitched slightly, and her tail thumped against the floor, just once. Warmthoughts! Lovelysquishywarmthoughts...
The tail thumped again, and Luce tentatively licked at Riley's hand again, this time once... twice... and then falling into a regular rhythm of slurps.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:00 pm
By this point, Riley's heart had stopped. She was, oddly enough, well aware of it - for the mind cannot work well without blood circulating to the brain, and so she felt the tug of her mind pulling her away from Luce. She fought it, briefly.
That's a good girl, you want to run. I will run with you. I love to run. We can run all around the campus for hours and hours if you like. I do it every morning. We can stop anywhere you like, if you find something interesting to sniff. Doesn't that sound worthwhile? And I will protect you, I will keep you safe. Malodore will keep you safe, always, as well. We- She felt her thoughts become dangerously lucid, and knew her time was up. She would blame the use of this particular word on her lucidity, later. -We love you, Luce. Come out and play with us.
Rather quickly, she backtracked up the different levels she needed to reach in order to return to her own mind. Once she had done so, it was with a practiced jolt that her mind forced her heart to start beating again, and the blood began to pump through her steadily. For the first time in a few minutes, her chest rose and fell with breath.
Just to be safe, she remained on a subconscious level for a few more minutes, though at least now she could feel the tongue lapping at her hand.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:34 am
Malodore jumped slightly as life surged back into Riley's form... it realized, belatedly, that she had just... stopped. The physiological effects had been more than the slumping. It was a testament to how worried it was about Luce that it hadn't noticed before now. Perhaps next time it could observe the effects on the ithilid more carefully...
But now, it was time for other things. Things more important (?!) than science (?!?!). It tentatively rested one hand on Riley's shoulder. "Are you well? Is Luce..."
Then it stilled as it heard movement from underneath the chair. Slowly, Luce crept out from underneath. Once out, the little pup stood up slowly, lifting her head, her green eyes refocusing on the world.
The next minute, Luce was in Malodore's lap, covering it with licks, with the occasional spin to plant one on the back of Riley's head.
"I think - calmati, Luce! - that worked," Malodore managed, between puppy-licks. It was smiling.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:40 pm
Riley's chest heaved in a long sigh, which pulled her back to being fully conscious. She opened her eyes, and patted the hand on her shoulder softly. She didn't even need to answer his question, as a bolt of white came barrelling at him and started licking away. She would grin if she could - as it was, her eyes slit in a crescent shape, and she turned to lean against the inside of the armrest, watching the interaction.
I think so too. She murmured quietly, tilting her head and watching Luce affectionately. She mused over the things she had said to comfort the pup, and her eyes flickered up to the plague doctor. I wonder, Malodore, what time do you usually wake up in the mornings?
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:59 pm
Malodore blinked - that wasn't a question it had expected. It seemed entirely random. "Ah... if I sleep, usually around six o'clock," it managed, between slurps from Luce's eager tongue. "Scendere, Luce!"
The puppy barked, once, and jumped off Malodore's lap - the plague doctor surreptitiously snuck a handkerchief out of one sleeve and wiped off its mask. A jingle attracted its attention once more, and it looked up to see Luce sitting in front of it and Riley, the leash in her mouth, her very best walk walk walk oh please oh please expression on her face.
Malodore sighed and shook its head, fondly. "Definitely better. Grazie mille, Riley..." it said, relief and gratitude evident in its tone.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:11 pm
Perfect, Riley purred out, pushing herself up to her feet. I may have promised Luce she could come with me on my morning run, sometimes. I run every morning, for an hour. I wouldn't mind stopping by every once in a while and taking her with me, since you would be awake. I would ask you to come as well, though I'm not sure how fond you are of running. I tend to go rather fast. Her eyes lidded somewhat. I love running. These last few words had a growl to them, as there was clear passion behind the thought. It's one of the few physical activities I truly enjoy. The adrenaline is quite addicting.
She looked down at the pup, and her expression tinged with affection. It looks like she wants you to walk her now, though. Should I, ah.. She gestured weakly to the door.
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