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 Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:19 pm
Fear was giving way to wonder and amazement as he kept talking. Or, well, 'talking'. So he couldn't get a good read on her, but she could understand him? Tilting her head at him, she nodded at his gesture, walking around to plop on the couch. The angle was a little awkward with their hands still joined, but it was better than just standing there while he worked his space voodoo.
Wait what was.. she felt that. And it wasn't her emotion. Curious, she blinked at him and sent out a silent inquiry down the line. Not that he would be able to know, since she was apparently still mute in this language too, but she'd felt something not-her. Like... like mentally letting go of a held breath. She didn't want to prod at it too much, afraid that the soap bubble would pop under the pressure of her willpower.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:20 pm
He watched her sit down, not sure where to start, if she would even understand what eezo was. But...
His ears twitched, and he looked at her curiously. He'd felt a...response from her, a quiet one, inquisitive. But he hadn't said anything, just relaxed into the couch and...
/Did you...say something?/
He looked at their hands, then up at her again, tilting his head slightly with curiosity.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:21 pm
It was cute to see him be the one to tilt his head for once, and she nodded, slowly smiling. She could -hear- him. Understand clearly, instead of guessing. A shame he was still in the dark but... it was a start. A good one.
Maybe she could try something else? Looking around the room, she started searching for something that would pique her interest, something to ask for. But she had just straightened up earlier and everything was fairly tidy so... wait.
/Do you have anything to feed the burny box?/
She visualized dropping a wrapper in the thing and the silly glee she got from watching it vaporize, the thought wrinkling her nose with a childish smile.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:25 pm
Smiling a bit at the improved communication, even though he didn't get much of an answer. That was familiar enough, just something he'd have to get used to with this as well.
He followed her gaze, getting a bit of feedback from her, but nothing that seemed to register higher than general thoughts. Snapping his gaze to her the moment he felt her trying to talk, he panned across the room while a...happy feeling flowed from her. He frowned a bit, trying to figure out what she meant... ...
/The incinerator?/
Wait, she wouldn't understand that, maybe.
/This thing?/
He slid his hand from hers, getting up to walk over to the item in question, pointing to it to try and avoid any confusion.
"This thing? The incinerator?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:25 pm
She was about to roll her eyes before she remembered that she could speak. Well, sort of, and that's what they were trying to test out anyway.
/Incinerator? Really? Doesn't that lack a little imagination? Not Burninator 3000 or something?/
She imagined herself rolling her eyes at him, but he had already pulled himself away to stand next to her burny box. She started to nod in affirmation and then the realization hit her. She had just thought about it, and he heard it. Understood. She nodded hard and danced a little in a small circle, fists pumping in the air as she grinned and wheezed.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:27 pm
He grinned at her celebratory dance, moving back to where she stood and touching her arm, sliding his hand down to hers. Freezing for a moment, he worried perhaps that was too forward.
He quickly reminded himself that this was how he got flipped onto his back last time. Or...it was more of a communication barrier, which had been the biggest issue all along. Why she got upset when he came home covered in Vorcha gore, and had run off on her own. Which had scared him half to death with the thought of something happening to her, and how relieved he had been when he found her.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he focused on her again, not really sure what to say. But he could say something, he could finally talk to her! That alone gave him a warm feeling, made him excited.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:29 pm
Warmth trailed down her arm in the wake of his touch, her head snapping his way as she quit moving. Beyond the embarrassment, there was something else too, but her own emotions made it difficult to figure out what he was sending. Bits of memory, ideas, his own thoughts and feelings taped onto the snapshots. Him landing on his back, and something about him searching, and filled with worry.
With her hand in his again, his attention shifted to the present. Or, she thought so anyway. A bubbling feeling, but maybe that was her own? She tilted her head at him curiously, trying to ask what he had been looking for. Did she have to form words? This still had to be tested, and she still had no clue how he was doing this.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:31 pm
He furrowed his brow slightly at her inquisitive look, though hidden behind his visor. He hadn't said anything yet, maybe that's what she was waiting for? Might as well do his best to explain it then...
/This is...something I can do because of my biotics, I just didn't know how to before, didn't know I was able to. The Alliance, and humanity as a whole, is still new to the effects of eezo. Hell, they're still experimenting with the amps. Though usually they do a better job than with me, I don't often hear about anyone else with damage from the implant process. Guess I was just unlucky./
His little speech only took a moment to 'say', and he tapped his visor to try and clarify what he was talking about. He wondered if he should just start from the beginning and re-explain everything, now that she could understand him. But what about her? He was surviving well enough, she was the one that seemed out of place. Who was she, where did she come from? So many questions he wished he could ask her…
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:33 pm
When she pushed back her own thoughts and feelings, his became clearer; easier to hear. Now that she was staying calm, little flashes of images or colors; sometimes even sound, were accompanied by his words. Alliance was some sort of military. Eezo was blue glowy? Stone? Maybe some metal? Amps she guessed were amplifiers, but what he showed was terrifying. It looked like experimental surgery.
Maybe something like what the Spartans went through. Augmentations. never fun. Useful, yes, but not fun. His tap made her tilt her head though. He went blind from it? Accident then? Or... not a fully safe procedure? Maybe it was a new program by this Alliance. Related to this eezo stuff. Crap, this was a lot to process.
/Uh, what makes Biotics? What is eezo? You were injured?/
She worried her bottom lip as she tried to talk to him, if only this worked a bit more clearly. Better than the voder at least, for sure.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:36 pm
He paused a moment as he waited for a response, realizing that her mind was quiet. On purpose? Maybe something related to their link? He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to do the same. He still couldn't make out anything she was trying to say, but he could feel her worry, concern.
Looking up at her, he tried to make out what she might be thinking. Concerned about his eyes? Not like anything could be done about them now, the damage was done and long healed over. Still... He tapped his visor again, trying to clarify for her.
/I was one of the first people...'test subjects', to have the procedure done to. There were complications, and long story short they damaged my optic nerves. Thankfully, since the Alliance needed working soldiers, they fitted me with this contraption./
He frowned slightly, trying not to think about that whole ordeal. Or the Alliance. He was doing alright for himself out here, still alive, still surviving. Focusing on her again, he paused for a moment before trying to change the topic.
/What about you? Why don't you speak?/
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:40 pm
She winced in sympathy, wondering if that’s how it was for the UNSC at it’s beginning as well. Or if injuries still occurred and she simply didn’t hear about them. Perhaps they were moved to other groups? They hadn’t moved her, but she wasn’t technically a full Spartan yet anyway, more of an inductee in training programs; and even that was mostly because of who her parents were and the hopes that the genes had passed on rather than a show of talent. Not that she could explain everything anyway, especially since he wasn’t really hearing her. Or, her ‘words’ at least.
Perhaps just emotions and memories would be easier for him to ‘see’? Feel? Whatever the hell she was supposed to call this? Tayce pushed air out, the huffy sigh the best she could do with abused vocals. Eyeing the couch, she decided to try something. She cleared her mind of all emotions and stray thoughts, which took a moment, everything considered; then she looked at Cae and clearly sent out words to him.
/ If you follow me to the couch, I’ll explain. /
She then let go of his grasp and walked over to sit on the well-worn cushions, waiting to see if he’d get the message. She’d put no emotion behind it, maybe that would affect his understanding, though she assumed he’d follow anyway just because she moved away from him. Something she’d have to ask, maybe even with the voder if she had to. This could be a great boon if she could just figure out how to make this thing work.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:42 pm
He listened as her thoughts went from sympathy to turmoil, though he couldn’t make out anything specific. Her mind became quiet again after a few moments, and he tried his best to do the same in the hopes that he could hear her better.
It paid off somewhat, and he could make out the barest whisper from her, almost as if she was writing or typing something to him. He didn’t understand it all, but figured he had the right idea when she moved to the couch. Curious as to what she had in mind, he followed and sat down next to her, offering his hand to her palm-up as he watched her with interest.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:43 pm
She grinned as he followed her, though it was hard to tell if he’d done so because he understood her mental voice or just the social cues; but the transition was so smooth she had to guess he’d ‘heard’ her. Fluffing up one of the ratty pillows and laying it across her lap as Tayce made herself comfortable, she breathed deeply from her tubing before nodding and placing her hand in his again. The corner of her mouth twitched in a shy smile at the contact, it was a strangely intimate gesture to be honest.
She was used to seeing the naked form of comrades while doing patch-jobs and first aid, but you were always focused on the blood and not the body. Medigel had certainly reduced these exposures between them, but they’d definitely shared a few scrapes and had helped each other out. They’d also caught glimpses of each other from time to time; hard to avoid with one bathroom and her sleeping on the couch, but that was just the dangers of sharing living space. She hadn’t thought much of it until she realized his blushing was from more than just a bit of embarrassment. Well, maybe, anyway. She had her speculations. Spartans just weren’t afforded the same luxury of personal space, so it hadn’t really dawned on her. Not until applying medigel on hard to reach spots for each other started to take a little longer and the touches were just a bit too gentle for simply slapping on the medical miracle. Or glances were swiftly turned away with a cough. There was a palpable tension at times, something she wasn’t sure what to do about. Or was even sure if they were imagined or not. Then again he could just be interested for no other reason than being male.
Very male. Tayce’s smirk grew a little as she looked up at him then back at their joined… hands… ********. Eyes going wide as she quickly wiped her mind clean of all thoughts and feelings, she tried her best not to look horrified as she coughed into her other hand. Recovering as quickly as she could since she had no idea how much of her mindless wanderings he had caught on to, she tried to force onward to give him something else to mentally listen to instead of wondering what he was sensing. Or however this mess worked.
/ I can’t speak. Took a bad hit to the chest, which damaged the airway for my trachea and bronchi. Needed assistance breathing.../
She couldn’t help but remember while talking about it. Maybe that’s how this thing worked? She’d speak and the memories sent the idea across? Hell, she wasn’t sure, but remembering what it felt like to take a full kick from her freshly-augmented brother to her chest in training. Without armor. How she could feel her body crumpling and the panic of not being able to breathe. Scrambling for air. Maybe her brother screamed, Tayce wasn’t sure, she’d gone into shock. She hadn’t been augmented for raw power like him, but now stealth wasn’t an option, as the tubing they had originally inserted in her lungs and whatever had expanded her chest had made her wheeze with every breath. Had made her unable to move her vocal chords at all, and she constantly felt like she was choking. Had to fight the urge to gag and stay calm to breathe. She’d been re-worked as just another ground pounder since they didn’t want their money going to waste. She’d taken to shot guns, but couldn’t run like the others. Another augmentation when she proved good enough and they took the massive tubing out, instead installing the much smaller filtration and mouth-bite she currently used. But...
/ Still do, but not like back then. And when they removed all that stuff, I couldn’t talk. They said it was both from the injury and the tubes, that they couldn’t give me my voice back. /
She fought down the memories of some of the jokes at her expense, waving them off mentally. She was still going through dry-run procedures and hadn’t actually been deployed under her new status, so the ribbing was mostly immaturity from her younger comrades and nerves. Maybe. Though a few had dug the whole ‘mysterious, quiet chick’ thing. She shrugged her shoulders but kept the skin contact with him, the gesture both helpless and dismissive.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:44 pm
He tried to quiet his mind again as her hand touched his, breathing slowly while he passively listened. It helped, but he still had trouble making sense of what she was trying to tell him. Blood, pain, fear, camaraderie? Then something similar, but not the same sort of relation. More pronounced, recent? A pain that reminded him of the time she got hit in the leg, one that he'd helped her patch up. Warmth, pain being soothed, something else...something very warm...maybe even-
He looked up at her just as she cut off, trying his hardest to avoid turning red, to keep his mind quiet so that he could listen. It took her a moment to reorganize herself, had she been lost in thought? Something she had unintentionally shared? Breathing slowly again, he pushed it from his thoughts for now, listening as she seemed to relive something from the past. A sharp, paralyzing pain through her body, panic and fear of suffocating. A few impressions of the treatment, physically unable to talk, constant focus on breathing. The newer treatment, less intrusive but with not many other benefits.
/ An injury then, I see... /
He slid his hand from under hers once she had finished, rubbing lightly at the palm with uncertainty as he looked to the side, trying to figure things out while not flooding her mind with his. He'd done his best to avoid trouble with her, especially since she didn't seem to have any other place to go. It wasn't like he could forget the glimpses they'd seen of each other, or the closeness they had, but was that just how friends were, or roommates? He'd gone from barracks to living on his own, never really having to deal with this sort of situation before. Was this closeness friendly, or something more?
Looking back to her, he decided to risk it and slowly reached out for her face, hesitating for a moment before lightly resting his hand against her cheek. He paused for a moment before making a connection again, not saying anything for now, trying his best just to listen for a response. Though, hoping it wasn’t a negative one...
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:44 pm
Tilting her head as she waited for him to process the information she was sending, she nodded at his thought words. At least that had made it across, maybe if she had Biotics too this mind chatter would work better. Feeling him pull away from her, Tayce looked up in confusion, but his head was turned away. She glanced to the side to see if there was anything of interest he happened to notice, just out of pure habit, but of course there was just the wall. Which he didn’t seem to be actually seeing anyway, judging by his thousand-yard stare.
Maybe he just needed a break to replenish his energy? Did he need one of those protein bar things that tasted weird? Or was it something she’d said? Wrinkling her nose at the thought, she tilted her head again as he turned to look at her. He reached out, but not for her hand as she was expecting. Eying him nervously as his hand paused in mid air, she looked at his outstretched fingers before meeting his eyes with a silent question. It’s not like they were touching and she could ask in the mental voice. He didn’t answer her. Well, with words anyway.
She sucked in a wheezing breath through her tube as his hand brushed against her cheek, cupping her face gently as he continued to stare at her. She could feel her eyes going wide as her face started to burn. The expression, and his eyes… that wasn’t the way you looked at a friend. Leaning into his touch without thinking about it, she raised her hand to hover over his for a brief moment before brushing the back of his hand with her fingertips. Her touch was feather-light, as if she was afraid he’d become aware of what he was doing and pull away from her. Tayce took a shaky breath, fighting the urge to cough as she did so. Was this real? Maybe she was reading too much into it. Maybe he was just concerned about her old injury and showing some sympathy. Looking to him for an answer, something, anything, her other hand clutched at the old pillow on her lap as she fought for composure.
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