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 Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:09 pm
As the score turned plaintive, deliate and hopeful, Nadja's gaze strayed back to the film. "Who knows," she murmured into the steam, watching the heroine slowly lower the monster to the wet stones of the balcony and plead as he lay dying.
"This is all my fault. If only I'd gotten here sooner."
"Maybe.."
"Maybe you love him." The elite's voice was absent and low, as if it came from far away, and her eyes dark and contemplative.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:20 pm
Nyx was in the middle of taking a drink of her tea when Miss Nadja said it. 'Maybe you love him.' She made a sputtering noise and started coughing, pounding her fist into her chest to try and cut off the fit. "W-what?! No! No no no!"
"You'll be fine, you'll see. We're together now."
The dandelion head gasped for breath and coughed a few more times. Obviously the movie was throwing her for a loop. "What? I don't-" Quick, how to change the subject? "Who is Hayato?" It came out a little loud and a little rushed, but it was an emergency! Nadja had said something that was too close to the truth for Nyx's comfort!
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:56 pm
The coughing could have gone unnoticed. The redhead was intent on the film's futile reassurances, the last gasping breaths, and only uttered a pensive "Mm" while her hair fluttered around her face. She set her tea down and leaned forward, resting a hand over her mouth.
"Please don't leave me." -Hayato? "..I love you."
For a second she stared at nothing, and her eyes were creased at the corners, pained.
Realization smoothed over Nadja's features in the next moment. Slowly, deliberately, she drew herself up and found Darwin at the back of her neck, half-rolling the little creature into a ball as she lifted him down. Gray eyes fixed Nyx with an intent stare, and there was something dark and careful in her expression as she folded her hands in her lap.
"Where," the elite said quietly, "did you hear that name."
The music rose with hope as the beast began to transform back to a man, but there might well have been silence.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:12 pm
Maybe that hadn't been the best change of subject. Nyx recoiled when Nadja looked at her and, with that quiet tone that hinted that the elite was probably about to snap her fingers and have her loyal canine eat the little minion at any moment, asked where she heard the name. "Y-you said it, Miss Nadja, Ma'am. W-while you were in the infirmary." Nyx felt like one of the people in that ancient pokemon movie, staring at a large, angry Aerodactyl right before it strikes.
Darwin squeaked in protest at being taken off of his perch before he seemed to sense the tension in the air and jumped off of Nadja's lap, scurrying away to find someplace to hide.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:21 pm
Moloch rumbled; Nadja laid a hand on his head.
"Tell me."
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:32 pm
Nyx went pale. Suddenly she didn't feel so chipper about bonding time. "A day or two after the ball, Elite Seth and I visited you." Normally it was just Seth, or 'him' or 'grumpy pants', but the agent felt it was as good a time as any to be at least somewhat formal. "Y-you were heavily drugged and concussed, but you woke up enough to speak, ma'am." Nyx looked meekly at her superior and gulped before continuing, Moloch wasn't so puppy-ish when he rumbled like that...
"E-elite Seth and yourself spoke for a little while, and then you called him Hayato." Nyx wasn't exactly sure what had been said, besides that, she had been busy brushing Moloch.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:56 pm
The elite's lips parted the barest fraction as she listened, and silence spun out across the room.
Then, all at once, she seemed to collapse. All the latent fury and energy left her body with a breath and eyes closed, she bowed her head forward as her shoulders fell.
"Ah."
The world made perfect sense.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:10 pm
Nyx didn't relax so easily, not after coming face to face with her own demise. She hadn't expected her inquiry, as rushed as it was, to get that reaction. The silence was unnerving. "I-I apologize, ma'am... I was too forward. I only wanted to change the subject, and that seemed to be the first thing that came to mind..." Other than what she wanted to change the subject from.
"I'll leave, Ma'am, if you wish." Maybe the idea of bonding with the Elite was too bold, despite Nyx's intense desire to be friends with the woman.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:18 pm
"Are they going to live happily ever after, Mama?"
"Then what happened?" Nadja asked from somewhere between her hands as she movie came to a close.
"Of course, my dear. Of course."
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:28 pm
She was both relieved and terrified that Nadja hadn't asked her to leave. What was she planning to do with her? Obviously she'd heard too much-
"Seth stormed out, Ma'am..." Under normal circumstances, Nyx would have made a sarcastic comment like 'and then Seth was understanding and reacted like a rational person', but this was no time for jokes. "I tried to tell him that you didn't know what you were saying, but..." She didn't need to say it. He wouldn't listen.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 8:14 pm
A soft rock love ballad had started to play over the credits; Nadja narrowed her eyes behind her slim fingers, feeling a sudden flash of irritation. Ignoring the tightness in her stomach, she reached out and ejected the still-spinning DVD.
In the ensuing silence, her shoulders relaxed again.
"I see," she said softly, looking off at something unseen. "Thank you for the information."
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:05 pm
"Yes ma'am..." Nyx wasn't so sure she was happy to have been the bearer of bad news. The agent sighed quietly and reached out to put the plate of cookies onto her lap, she scoot to the edge of the sofa, getting ready to leave.
"You probably want to be alone, ma'am... I'll just find Darwin and get out of your hair." Darwin was no where to be seen from where she was sitting.
The mew in question was in the room, but he'd found a nice hiding spot in one of the lower kitchen cabinets. Something about the situation had spooked him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:53 pm
Nadja's gaze was fixed on a point in the middle of the room, her expression blank - not as if she was working to maintain an impassive front, but rather waiting for something to fill it up. Anything other than the one thing she knew for certain: This is going to hurt like anything in a minute.
Apprehension flickered in her eyes. "Did I.. say anything else?" she asked slowly, not looking at Nyx as the agent gathered her things.
Moloch rumbled unhappily and shoved his head under her arm; the redhead curled her fingers in his mane.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:05 pm
"..." Nyx stared at Nadja for a moment, not sure if she should really answer or not. It seemed important to Miss Nadja, though, and that seemed to win out against her better judgement. Why did she have to bring it up in the first place? "I don't remember word for word" It had been a few weeks, and she didn't hear everything clearly. "But, you said something about being glad he didn't get hurt, and... You thought he was mad." It had made sense to her that she'd been talking to Seth when she said those things. Seth had been on one of the raids with the highest casualties, and he was often mad.
Darwin seemed to have found something, and there was a soft clattering and crunching from somewhere in the kitchen.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:06 pm
After another long pause, Nadja rubbed a hand over her face, then glanced down at the floor with a sickly grin. "Of course I did," she murmured, brushing a loose wisp of hair behind her ear, and sighed. She suddenly looked.. tired, as if someone had tossed a bucket of water on her inner fires - which, when you thought about it, wasn't far from reality.
"Why did you ask me?" The elite's eyes were still distant, and there wasn't any anger in her voice. Anger required energy.
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