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Gracious Conversationalist
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 Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:19 am
Misha let himself be observed calmly, again sagging a little from the pure lack of energy after that burst of activity just now. When her demeanour changed, he flinched slightly, snapped back to full attention. Had he done anything wrong, had she found out?
After her initial outburst, he was left quite speechless. You could lmost hear the gears in his head grinding to come up with something to say.
And then she changed her mind and started apologising. Way to be consequent... He really didn't know how to react to that now, until he gathered his thoughts again.
Alright, so she'd hidden away now, in plain sight. He broke the silence with some body language, and slowly cuddled into his own blanket. She was right, he was cold and he needed warmth. And sleep, a cuddly bed to close his eyes in and rest. Oh yes.
"You're right, I think. You're fine you say, and I believe you. A bit." he murmured, staring at her. "I'm okay, nothing a nap won't fix, really. Don't be worried... please...?" Now he looked just sad, a sorry, wet, cold mess, not at all pleased with knowing he apparently had caused her distress again. He'd almost begged her, how could he work this out now? For a long time, he truly didn't know what to say. He kept glancing at her, staring at the floor, back at her.
Gack, how awkward... And he wished his knees would stop pretending they were made of jelly and springs. But wait...
"... candy?"
The suggestion'd rolled over his tongue before he knew it, but he decided that it wasn't the worst he could've said. nope. Candy is god.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:39 am
Ellandra blinked and squeaked, shaking her head a little. Was he offering it or asking for it? She didn't have any with her, and she wasn't going to take something of his!
She cowered deeper into her impromptu blanket-shield and dug around in her apron pocket with her free hand, dragging out her notebook to inspect it for water damage.
She made a distressed sound in her throat as she saw that it was wet enough that the ink had started to run.
"Oh no. . . those were all the notes I had for my next book," she exclaimed quietly, trembling.
"My editor's going to be so angry. . ."
She'd completely lost focus on her unusual companion, her grief at her ruined notebook taking up all of her attention.
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:02 am
Watching the little personal drama unfold, Misha now really did feel like giving up and crying. Why did this make him so sad? Everything just mucked together to become one mixture of confusing events and feelings. He could see this caused her pain, that this was that thing called loss. In movies he'd seen things like this, great feelings of love and hatred, but this... this was so much more real.
Rain, ink, wet, loss of data, that was bad, that wasn't easy to undo. He couldn't fix this, didn't know how. His own bag was lined with water-repelling plastic to avoid just this scenario. It was a scary idea, and he knew he'd once nearly panicked when he'd accidently tipped over a cup of coffee over his Owner's paperwork. She'd been angry, but he'd been more angry with himself. It went against his purpose, his feelings of adequacy.
And now this little fragile lady had the same problem.
"..can we... can we fix it?" he almost whimpered it, trying to sound a little hopeful. "We could dry it now, and there are people who are really good at data-retrieval. I could ask my Owner to find that person for you." gulp. Oh dear.
He couldn't know that was an odd suggestion, but he'd seen banning handle ancient documents so tattered and ruined he didn't think anyone could read them, ever. But the man had used his contacts to somehow find the information inscribed on them again, make the unreadable readable.
He hadn't noticed his little slipup about Longway either in his urgent need to help her, make things better. No, why was he going all confused again? Stay CALM darnit.
"Here, take one." He almost growled it, after slipping his hand inside his bag and retrieving a roll of hard candy. He held it out to her. "They're really nice... Don't be upset..." please? He swallowed his irritation at his own ineptness, and smiled at her.
He knew suckling on one of those for a few minutes always helped him see the slver lining. Why shouldn't it work for her?
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:28 am
Ellandra squeaked as the candy was offered to her, but smiled shakily and took it. It wasn't too terrible of a loss, really . . . she hadn't made very many notes in this particular notebook.
There were others, stored in various places around her home. It was still traumatic to lose even this much of her precious notes - the beginnings of her next creation, one could almost say.
"I - I. . . thank you, Mr. Misha. . ." She held the candy in her hand for a few moments, studying it rather than eating it, and shook her head a little. "The ink's all - all run together. . . b-but I have. . . I h-have other notes at - at home . . . these were just - just n-newer. . . b-better. . . I can - I can make more. . ."
And she could, if she could just endure her editor yelling at her again. Why, why, why did she have to let everyone and everything walk all over her so? She looked at the candy, then back at its giver as she finally, finally placed it in her mouth.
His comment about an owner hadn't slipped past her, even in her distress, but again it was something she wouldn't comment on - Mr. Misha had quite obviously not intended to mention such a thing as having an owner, and she had the feeling it was tied into those bunny-ears of his. Those things were his business, however.
She wouldn't bring them up unless he wanted to talk about them.
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 2:24 pm
Misha was glad she took his little gift -while they were his precious little gems of happiness, he wasn't as selfish to not want to share.
"Newer...? Better? Maybe you can remember them, write down really fast what you had... I've got paper and pens right here." he murmured, and tapped his bag.
"Or find even better, newer things, maybe I can help. This all my fault, if I hadn't ran you over you'd have been somewhere safe before the rain I'm sure." He looked at her with such deep regret he wondered himself why his core hadn't burst yet. First times for everything, and lessons like these were hard to learn. he huddled into his blanket a bit more, turned into himself.
"Y... you put that in your mouth, unless you... taste with your fingers..." Why are you examining them, just lick it, you'll feel better, it's all I can do now. He gestured at her to follow his advice, a bit clumsily, with restrained jerky motions. Come on now... At his last words he descended into a little nervous giggle, not at all mirthful like it should have sounded, instead wry and a touch helpless.
"I'm sorry!" gah! Why was he failing so badly at fixing things, why didn't he know what to do now? He was running late, he was wet and tired and his Owner would scold him, or worse, send him out for yet another run today, they were all so busy and now...
He really didn't know anymore.
Losing the energy to drive himself into a crisis, the young Alter sagged, sighed, and looked back at her.
"...what's your name?"
Maybe that'd help him out a little, to at least find out who she was.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:02 pm
Ellandra blinked, blushing furiously. It was so kind of him to offer to let her try and re-write her notes, but that wouldn't work and she knew it.
"I - thank you, Mr - Mr Misha, but there's no pint in - in trying to rewrite them . .. . they - they w-weren't good enough anyway. I've - I'm a-afraid I might - might have run out of - of my ideas," she said sadly.
Then she blinked again when asked her name. No-one ever really wanted to know her name. But then, most people didn't know she existed, either.
"My - my name's Ellandra. .. . Ellandra Sanders. . ."
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:22 pm
The Essentic nodded, sagging more with acceptant despair. Alright... if she said there was no need to try and retrieve the data... What sort of data, ideas did she mean anyway? Was it polite to ask?
"Ellandra... Sanders, Ellandra, Ella. That's... a warm name." he breathed it out, relaxed a little, and smiled softly. "Yes... nice, soft... You ARE nice and soft and warm, aren't you?" Wooo, now he sounded downright dreamy. His fur had begun drying, and floofed up a little in the chill.
He shivered again, with a slight convulsion. His exhaustion was beginning to take its toll on him. His caution was gone completely, right now he'd believe the best of a blood-smeared serial killer who told him to his face he only wanted to give him a cuddle.
"Nice people shouldn't be sad, shouldn't be scared." his speech had gained a sleepy slur now. What was HAPPENING to him? Misha didn't mind anymore, too tired to worry. Somehow, he'd resorted to kiddie-talk to try and keep the awkward silence at bay.
What HAD he been doing? He wasn't supposed to be here... Ooh, that floor looks so comfortable now. Sit down, maybe, curl up and take a break. Gravity's mean.
"I like you."
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:42 pm
Ellandra tilted her head a little as her face flushed to the color of a ripe tomato. This stranger - LIKED her? no-one liked her, no-one noticed her enough to like her, she was invisibility personified!
"I . .. . I rather like you too, Mr- ..... Mr. Misha. .. ."
Goodness, he seemed so drained.
Was he ill? Was something wrong? She didn't know, and worse, couldn't help.
Ellandra bit her lip and took the blanket he had given her from her shoulders and wrapped it around his - noticing yet again the fluffy bunny ears he sported. What sort of being was he? Oh well, it didn't matter anyway.
"You... you should rest, Mr. Misha," she said quietly, worried deeply for the companion she had only just met.
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:03 pm
That cute blush made Misha smile rather oddly, a bit dopey actually. When she returned his compliment, he flushed a bit as well.
"Ah, n... no mister. I'm really just M.. Misha." Aaah, he felt fluffy now, and even moreso when she suddenly decided he should have her blankie, too. At any other time he'd have protested, but it felt so nice and warm to be treated like this. With a slight niggle of guilt, he realised she probably had no idea what he was and what he did, but that stung only for a moment.
"... but now you'll get all chilly." he muttered weakly, sleepier than ever, pawed at the air for a moment like a kitten reaching for its mother. When he had 'found' her, touched her arm, he didn't know better than to softly embrace her into a warm, but still shivery cuddle, drawing the blankets around her, too. It seemed only right, she'd approached him, almost touched him, she was nicer than Timka.
"I am quite tired... for some reason..." His voice was only barely audible now, and he almost whispered, his mind too sluggish to make sense of what he was doing.
"Maybe I should... take a nap, like you say..." he mewled, cuddling her with a sleepy confused-ponderous half-lidded gaze at nothing in particular. "But I don't want you to get cold. The storm's... not over yet. What am I doing..." a faint vocalisation of his thoughts. Yes, what WAS he doing?
It was really just the exhaustion getting to him, but he had never before experienced this. Any other person would've resigned a long time ago to catch some sleep. Or guzzle down caffeine-drinks.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:28 pm
Ellandra couldn't keep her face from heating up again at her very strange temporary-companion's actions, and she squeaked. However, she could tell that he was about as harmless as a newborn, well, bunny-rabbit, for the moment at least.
Which meant that he wasn't going to do anything to her.
That was good.
Smiling timidly and peeking at him from under the brim of her hat, Ellandra spoke again in answer to Mr - Misha's last, rambling question.
"You're resting, Mr - ............. Misha... you - you sound like you n-need it."
And he did. Very much so. This strange rabbit-man-person was, for lack of a better term, drained.
For that matter, so was she. Panicking tended to wear one out, and she'd spent quite a long time wandering through the streets earlier in the day, trying to find suitable inspiration for her book. She shivered slightly, more due to the lingering fear of the thunderstorm than to being cold, and tried to relax a little.
She was safe here, or at least as safe as she was going to get until she managed to return to her own home.
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:43 pm
Half of him'd been prepared for a violent retaliation, and he was ever so relieved she seemed to accept his embrace. Ack, don't you lean into her, are you a man or aren't you? Wait, recap. A few months ago he hadn't had a gender at all. Funny how life goes.
Misha smiled back at her warmly, dozing off a little but he caught himself just in time, feeling the shudder run through her. He emitted a soft soothing noise, nodded at her words. Yes, he appeared to be taking his break right here, right now. But that wouldn't do. He blinked slowly, and made up his mind.
"Whoop, watch it..." he warned her mellowly, then gathered her up, and lifted her off the floor. What a little lithe birdie. He carried her over to the end of the hall, where there were a few large wooden crates stacked onto each other, and he stepped up one and sat down on it, cuddled into the corner with Ellandra on his lap. Drawing the now warm blankets tighter around her and himself, he quietly settled, snuggling her close. He'd tucked his long ears against his front, too. Cold eartips are a bane, and sitting on them wasn't all that desirable. All that he did rather slowly, moving as fluid-cottony a he felt.
"You need a nap, too... I'll keep you safe from the thunder..." just a whisper now, faint and soft and almost audibly twinkling with genuine affect.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 6:26 pm
Ellandra was nearly taken by sleep, but that didn't keep her from squeaking when Mr - when Misha picked her up. But . . . he wouldn't hurt her. . .
He promised to keep her safe. The only one who'd ever promised her that was Papa, before he died. It would be nice, to be safe.
Even if it was just for a little while.
She spoke softly, words spilling out from half-asleep lips as she whispered a quiet, "Thank you."
If he responded, she never heard him. Grey eyes framed by long lashes drifted closed, and her tiny body went limp as her breathing softened and deepened, sleep enfolding her into its numbing embrace.
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 6:42 pm
The young Essentic smiled blissfully at her, hugged her close and felt them heat up into that cosy-sleepy woolly warmth. It was indeed late on the day, he could... sleep now...
He didn't manage to utter anything after her soft words, feeling the silence was just too pure to break now. Only the sound of the continuous rainshower outside came through, blanketing the hangar in a veil of lulling noise. Soon enough, Misha dozed off as well, breathing deeply, only the slightest bit tenser than a normal sleep.
That night, he dreamt again, the vagueness he quite enjoyed to wake up from, if it didn't get too convoluted. He wrinkled his nose in his sleep, gave a soft twitch, whimpered softly, and then drifted into a deeper phase again. Not once did he let his soft grip on Ellandra slack, keeping her cocooned, curled onto his lap and warm.
That night, miss Longway didn't catch even half a minute of sleep. She really should've persisted with Banning to put a tracker on the bunny Alter, but he hadn't allowed her to risk outside sources picking up on any signals coming from this place to his location. A myriad of 'what if's plagued her all night, worries, nauseating fears, pragmatical observations, questions. She swore that if he was unharmed when she found him, she'd fix that quick enough.
When morning came, Misha was still asleep, refilling his Source and body gradually still. He'd been a wreck earlier, and he wouldn't wake up as ungodly early as he usually did today. He'd get hungry later.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:10 pm
Ellandra wasn't normally one to sleep in; but then she wasn't normally one to get caught out in the city during thunderstorms, either.
It was rather late morning when awareness rose within her and her eyes fluttered open, widening with shock and then calming a bit as she remembered the events of the day before.
Still, had she really been sleeping, cuddled up to a virtual stranger for all of this time?
She blinked a little, but didn't move, seeing how Misha was still sound asleep. He had been so kind; she didn't want to wake him.
He may have been a bit stranger than most people, what with the long bunny ears hanging from his head, but then he was kinder than most people, too.
Besides, there was no hurry to get out of here and back home. The storm had passed and with it much of her fright, and the only one who might be awaiting her arrival would be the neighborhood stray cat, who would be expecting his small dish of creamy milk by now.
Oh, and her editor. Her probably very, very angry editor.
No, not much reason to go home yet at all.
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Gracious Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:45 pm
When Ellandra stirred, Misha slipped into a lighter sleep quickly. Unaware of her musings, he slowly came to, broke through the fog that had plagued him so last night, and awoke properly.
She was still there. Wow. The youngling had no idea how to interpret that, he'd never before had an encounter like this. Let alone one that had lead to a hazy experience involving sharing body heat and sleeptime.
He sighed softly, a calm, deep exhale, and glanced her over.
"... good morning..." a still sleep-tainted murmur, a genuine warmth seeping through like sunshine through the cracks of a withered rooftop. "Good morning, miss Ella." Hi there, rise and shine. A renewed smile broke through on his face, and he chuckled softly as he untucked his ears and shoved thel over his shoulders again. Yes, he felt much, much better now, if a little weaker than on normal mornings. He'd missed lunch AND dinner yesterday, but sugar was something he could fix easily.
In the morning chill, he uncurled, tucked the blankets around Ellandra and stretched once he had the room to do so, stifling a yawn.
"How are you feeling today? The storm appears to have passed..." Indeed, a watery sunshine and white puffy clouds could be made out through the small windows lining the top of the hangar.
For now, Misha really couldn't be concerned about the consequences of his extreme tardiness. It had never happened before, but what is done is done. His cargo was safe, and it hadn't been urgent. This was more important than his very purpose.
It was slowly losing its grip on him.
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