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 Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 4:10 pm
What time was it? Acubens had no way of knowing... and something in her suggested that, perhaps, she didn't want to know. She had spent that last lifetime going between books that she had laid out in a circle and now she lay, prostrate, like a sacrificial lamb in the middle of the array. She was exhausted, and with every blink of her eyes, the lids smarted with fatigue. But if she gave into the leaden draw of sleep that constantly smoothed her brow, reality would slam against her like a tidal wave and bring her sputtering back into reality. So she lay, somewhere between sleep and reality, trying to make sense of the endless litany of strange characters that danced before her, bound in fabric and leather and stock.
Acubens knew there was no puzzling out this mystery. She wasn't a linguist. There was nothing for her to grab on to. She knew that languages needed repeating characters to be a coherent system of writing, and while she had found those characters, they were, in the end, meaningless.
She felt useless.
Remarque and Leto were probably already working on a plan that she wasn't privy to and it annoyed her. She wanted in. She wanted to be part of the solution. She wanted... she wanted...
She wanted to help.
And she couldn't.
So instead she breathed deep the scentless air around her and scratched the spine of the book just within reach pensively. Who knows... maybe she recorded something meaningful... maybe she recorded a recipe. Only one person knew, and Acubens was in no hurry to ask her for help. Who even know if Queenie would tell her the truth.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:11 am
She still felt so tired, even though she had tried to go and sleep for a little while longer after her chat with Avior, but it hadn’t done much. She was still tired and feeling…rather lonely. Of course, perhaps if she went out to explore a little bit more, maybe that would get her tired enough that she could get some good sleep. Either that, or she would be spending tonight in Elsa’s room, just to make sure she got some good rest.
It wasn’t that Chione was afraid. Because she wasn’t…she was just…uncomfortable. And quite alone.
Her feet were moving of their own accord and she bumped into a wall while fighting against a yawn, though paused a moment later, seeing an open door. She felt someone inside and walked over, peeking in. Maybe it was Remarque, whoever it was felt like an Eternal, strong and sure…
And whoever it was they were in a library to boot. It had to be Remarque. Unless it was Avior again. That was a possibility but…as Chione drew closer she saw that it wasn’t Avior or Remarque. It was Acubens. For a moment, a pang of joy flooded through her, though it was quickly replaced by something less cheerful. Clearly this was a time where Acubens didn’t…really want to see her. Perhaps Avior’s words had really turned her off of their relationship. She had been acting like it. At the table she had seemed to forget that Chione was even there and the senshi had been so sure that Acubens would find her way to her room last night…but that hadn’t happened either.
Swallowing hard, Chione took a few steps backwards, trying to leave the room without alerting her girlfriend to the fact that she was there.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:02 pm
It was too late. Acubens had already felt the presence near her and forced her eyes open. With a rather painful sounding grunt, she forced herself up onto her elbows and searched the room with bleary eyes. Clearly, though she had not been sleeping, she was bone dead tired, and it took her several long moments of searching to finally register what she was seeing. Her face split into a wide smile as she forced herself to her feet, groaning with the strain and the aches in her body from spending the night on the floor. Even though she tried to hide the pain of her movements from her girlfriend, she failed. Rather miserably, actually. Rising to her aching legs, Acubens' smile turned more into a grimace. Still, she was happy to see the other woman. All things being told, she was worried... terribly so... that her outburst had turned Chione off of her. She had worked so hard to cultivate the image of a put-together young woman with command and some level of maturity... in a moment Laverna and crew had torn that away from her and she became the braying girl she was running so desperately from. She stumbled as she moved, like a baby giraffe, and was afraid, for just a moment, that she would face plant right in front of Chione. May as well crawl back into a hole at the point, she figured... that really would have been the nail in her coffin... oh s**t, Chione would think... is it too late to get away from this angry hot mess of a woman? Was it too late to rebuild that image? It tore at Acubens' heart but she had to try. Best not to talk about it... maybe if she didn't bring up her short comings, neither would Chione. Would that be enough to keep Chione from leaving her? She'd worked so hard to sort through the mess of emotions that Chione had, for some reason, fanned to life inside of her. Surges of feeling that Acubens had previously thought there reserved only for one person... they were suddenly redirected when Chione slipped into her life. To lose that now. Acubens scrubbed at her eyes as tears from her fatigue (yeah, that was it. Fatigue) threatened to weaken her further in Chione's eyes. "Sorry about my absence," Acubens muttered, stopping just short of Chione, staring at the floor between them because if she looked Chione in the eye and was met with disapproval, it would break her. Acubens could not take another heart ache. "I got sort of wrapped up in... ah ********..." Acubens had pivoted to point to her research, but in her absence, servants swept in from God only knew where and began picking up her mess. "I'm going to have to find those again..." She sighed deeply, chest aching from the sudden expansion, and turned back to Chione. "I... I" You what? "I don't suppose you've managed to get any more comfortable than me, huh?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:16 am
When Acubens moved, and then looked at her, and then smiled. Chione knew it was too late to get away. But…the smile was somewhat reassuring, and she tried to return it as best she could, even going so far as to raise a hand and give a little wave. “Uh. Morning.” Or…maybe not morning, honestly she still didn’t know what time it might be…but they had slept…so clearly that was morning enough.
Chione couldn’t think of what to respond to the apology…sorry about her absence? It wasn’t really an absence…more of…well…that didn’t matter now.
“Oh, yeah, no that’s fine…I uh. I figured you’d…yeah, It’s fine.” She flashed another smile, hoping that it looked genuine, or hoping that she at least could pretend that she was just tired or something. It wasn’t a lie…she was tired. “I mean, I got a little sleep I suppose, I was fine. The rooms are nice enough…bed was comfortable.”
I was hoping you’d join me though. The words she wanted to say were unspoken and she glanced back towards the door. “If you want to get back to your research, I can go, it’s no problem. I get that you have your own stuff going on, and I don’t want to bother you…I was just…looking for my brother, that’s all.”
It was an excuse that was vague enough to work, and she wasn’t really lying…she would like to talk to Elsa…she always liked talking to her brother, especially when she wasn’t happy about things.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:17 pm
Orangeish Sherbert "Neglect," she blurted, suddenly very aware of how passive 'absence' had sounded. While she hadn't been avoiding Chione... she should have been there for her. As frightened as Acubens was, Chione must have been just as scared. Her mind tried to rationalize it as sacrificing one person for the good of the Court but she crushed that idea as it budded. Sinope had been right, after all. If Acubens was going to be spouting all of this nonsense about family, then she had to stop acting like the buck had to stop with her. She wasn't a royal. She wasn't the Queen. She wasn't anything. She was just... Acubens.... The realization left Acubens breathless, simultaneously unspeakably relieved and crushingly empty. "I neglected you." Her hand moved down Chione's wrist and wove into her fingers. "And I'm sorry. That doesn't make up for it but... No, there's no but. I'm sorry." She wanted to explain herself, but this wasn't the time. Her apology had to stand on it's own... anything else and it would cheapen how she felt. "You still look tired..."
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Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:55 am
Chione jumped when the hand grabbed her wrist and the look she gave Acubens was full of confusion. “Uh…excuse me?” Had the other senshi forgotten her name? When she spoke again, Chione just nodded. “It’s fine. We’re in a strange place. People react differently to stress, I get it. There’s no need to apologize, Acubens, I’m honestly fine.”
She allowed her own fingers to curl around the welcomed hand and sighed. “I’m not…really tired. I got some sleep…then got up and talked to some people then took another little nap…but…” A yawn escaped her then, causing her cheeks to grow warm with some embarrassment. “Well. I mean I supposed I’m a little tired, but…I’ll be fine. Really.”
There wasn’t much to be done about it other than go back to bed yet again…and while she didn’t really mind that idea...she didn’t think that it would be what Acubens wanted to do.
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Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 7:45 pm
She was still holding her hand. Good. That was good... right? Acubens glanced down at their hands and offered a small smile. It felt... right. No one was ever going to shame her out of holding this hand ever again. Chione's yawn was contagious, and Acubens caught it, sleep suddenly hitting her like a huge wet blanket. She felt light headed and giddy suddenly with the sensation of it. Her eye lids smarted when she blinked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sinope reminded her that there were others to share the burden of getting home with her. That many hands made little work and she didn't have to do it all on her own. She looked back at the now spotless library and shrugged. "I've bled this b***h dry... there's nothing. Probably won't be anything to do but wait anyway... and I need a bath and some good sleep... do you want to join me?" She hadn't specified which activity Chione was invited to partake in, but Acubens wouldn't have been sad if she acquiesced to both.
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:15 pm
“Yeah. I have a room for us. I figured…yeah. I’ll show you where it is and you can come back after your bath.”
She had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to voice, that again Acubens would vanish and she wouldn’t see her for a while, but that wasn’t something she wanted to really think about right now. “Come on, Acubens. Let’s go to the room, this place…exhausts me.”
Chione gave another yawn, and tugged the stronger senshi’s hand, wanting to get back to the moderately comfortable bed as soon as possible.
It was naptime. Again. Perhaps if she just slept through this nightmare...she would eventually wake up back at home. She doubted it, but she hoped for the best. That was all she could do right now.
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 9:52 am
Oh god, she'd gotten them a room. And Acubens hadn't even seen a bedroom save for Remarque's when she went to him for some guidance. Acubens' heart sank lower in her stomach at the realization of just how much she'd been neglecting Chione... But dwelling on it wouldn't help. Acubens could feel sorry for what happened until the days turned back and the stars fell from the sky. That wouldn't fix it. Doing something would fix it. "It exhausts everyone, I think," Acubens sighed, following Chione's lead with heavy eyelids.
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