Snowbunnies (2) : Winter seems to bring out the cutest of all rodents; this isn’t the first time that small, white rabbits have infested Destiny City. They’re small, rarely larger than a guinea pig, and have large eyes and wiggling noses. They are always pure white and seem to show up whenever there’s snow. They aren't menacing or evil, they're just everywhere. They seem strangely domesticated; they are sweet, curious, and friendly creatures that will eat anything you give them. They always seem cold to the touch, and when they shake, little snowflakes sprinkle off of them.
While they seem to be social creatures who seem to appreciate anything warm and will cuddle up to steal body heat, they are too skittish and fast to be kept for pets. They can show up just about anywhere, either alone or--often--in pairs. They tend to wander off on their own without any trouble, but if you surprise them or try to catch or hurt them, they may bite. Their little teeth are enough to break skin, but after one bite they run away. The bite itself isn’t bad, but the effects are a bit unpleasant: for roughly two days after the bite, the injury is cold and the victim will feel random, cold, shooting pains. Their core body temperature will drop and they will often be sent into random fits of shivering. No medicine seems to help, and no amount of blankets or hot baths can soothe the chill. You're just going to have to deal with it and hope it gets better…
Most experiences with the bunnies are perfectly pleasant, you just have to worry about them burrowing. There are holes peppering Destiny City, and with the fresh fallen snow it can be impossible to tell where they are hiding. The holes range from small holes to several feet deep, so can be a minor inconvenience to a potential hazard. On the bright side, sometimes you wind up covered in bunnies looking for warmth from their sudden guest. On the other hand, there are a rising number of trips to the hospital for twists and sprains. The bunnies always leave with the snow, so best to enjoy them--or avoid them--for as long as you can.
“I find it fascinating — the range which defines an herbivore. We don’t eat meat, for example? Not in the traditional ‘Earth’ sense, and I wouldn’t think these creatures would either. I looked over some books,” He nearly added that they were of the non-fiction variety, he’d already made the velveteen rabbit mistake once! It was in fact a lovely story about coping with earth-ridden diseases if he was asked — and yes — childish affection towards inanimate objects. “And at their bones — the museum here is a rare wonder when it’s actually open, you know? But—“ He grumbled dismissively, his breath coming out in cold huffs, misting the air beyond his hooded gaze, he swiveled to face Nessa properly as he paused in crunching his way up the icy hill; the weather had called for soft drifts and fluffy flakes, but this was certainly nothing like that!!
“The rumor is that these rabbits do.”
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2024 6:48 pm
This was supposed to be Tenoch's grand idea for an outing? Nessaela looked at their surroundings as they both struggled to make it over the rise in the hill before she stopped to adjust the layers of winter outdoor apparel that she had on. So the temperature wasn't exactly what she would have been comfortable with, and the icy pellets that were bombarding the outer shell of the jacket she wore made the strangest sounds upon impact but the exercise was nice for a change. It was also a lot different from being buoyant in the water before she went on one of her dives. But still ... what was the purpose?
"Tenoch," and she had to raise her voice to compete with the sounds around them, "why exactly are we looking for rabbits?"
Even if it was strange to hear stories of a creature which was classified as an herbivore eating meat. But that wasn't the whole story, was it? Had she also not heard tales of these specific rabbits? It wasn't that they ate meat ... just that they seemed to eat anything that was offered to them. At least that was what she thought she had overheard someone say before.
Her eyes swept over the snowy vista before she turned her violet orbs onto her fellow teammate. She stared hard at him before she softened the look. She couldn't be mad with Tenoch. He infuriated her at times but she couldn't ever be angry with him.
"The truth..." His features pinched as he considered, truly, why they were out in the crisp cold, breaking up the frosted crust of the bitter Earth and running trails through the landscapes less than friendly winter fields. He decided that it was more than worth it to be honest with Nessa. The way he couldn't help but fold beneath her gaze, the way she'd so effortlessly surpassed him in rank -- like a shining star.
Because you're not trying -- because you gave up -- because --
"Is that I miss Eso -- I miss home --" He swallowed dry and cleared his throat of the cold that tickled at it mercilessly. His words soft under her hard gaze, softer still when he realize she was being gentle with him about this. About entertaining his flights of fancy and tactless hunt for a myth. "My other projects feel like utterly fruitless and futile -- ufh -- wastings? I don't know how a seed that refuses to thrive under my touch will potentially save us, or how starseed starved robots played in -- or tamogatchi like tech-bits aid any of our endeavors except to reveal how bleak things've become..." His words spilled out in a frenzy, pelted the air like the ice chips that rained down across their heads.
"And---while I was in the library reading children's tales and peeling through books on horticulture..." And rabbits, of course, any multitude of pets because ever since his encounter with the kosopods in space and then again the cicadas in the fall he'd become more interested overall in the critters that lurked Earth and how they compared to other entities across the cosmos. "I came across a great many deal on....feelings..." He spat the word like it was a curse upon himself, some miserable thing to admit to. "And how, naturally, 'humans' and their ilk go about handling the more negative ones." He sounded judgemental at first, looked bitter at a glance, but even that he had to let go of -- like uncurling a fist slowly -- it was a very pins and needles experience, letting go when he wanted only to hold onto whatever anger would keep his nonexistent fires alive.
"It seemed relevant, is all -- to then go out looking for rabbits with a friend." He swallowed again as he looked beyond the fields and then back to her just as quickly; something like worry being covered with hope in his gaze. A layer of sterness in his spine. He knew what he wanted to hear -- what he hoped for -- and if he didn't hear it? Well -- he thought maybe he might've deserved that by now, that he'd earned it from her after all this time and him bearing no gifts or fruit or --- there were only so many ways he could feel sorry for himself, for the others, for the world, before he was out of sorrys to feel.
"We are still friends, aren't we Nessa?"
tefla
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:01 pm
As the admission of missing Eso left Tenoch's lips Nessaela felt her insides contract a little. She could relate fully to the fact that she too missed the other Velencian that made up their little trio since that disastrous attempt that Lyndin had orchestrated in an effort to reclaim the royal starseed of their peoples true leader, Caedus. There was the banal admission on the tip of her tongue that she too missed Eso's presence before she swallowed it back down. Tenoch didn't need to hear something like that coming from her of all people. She had not been as close to the other as Tenoch had been but she had been grateful for the assistance he'd rendered in making sure that she had been able to rejoin the group of her own people instead of leaving her to possibly perish on that battlefield.
As Itztenoch continued to press on about the failures that he was experiencing did Nessa feel like the proper answer would to be assure Tenoch that it'd just take a little bit more effort to get results that he wanted but she refused to say that too. Instead she simply listened to what her comrade was saying. Her own seed had long been forgotten as she had been too busy with a different sort of research. There were still times when she wondered what it was she was still doing with the larger group of Vanguard. She still didn't trust their Commodore, she certainly didn't idolize him the way that certain others seemed to, but yet she seemed to maintain her presence simply for the familiarity of it all. To strike out now, on her own, well that wouldn't be the best idea.
Even as she thought through this, Nessaela almost missed that final pleading question being directed at her. That unfamiliar clenching of something inside nearly caused her to nearly stumble in the snow. This snow wasn't like the other disastrous type that had caused her and Tenoch to become stuck but still even as she windmilled her arms to maintain balance did she move to close the distance that had sprung up between them. Her eyes took in the field that lay beyond before she reached out to hesitantly grip Itztenoch's face between her hands. Her voice, though soft, was full of resolve as she made sure that he was listening to her, "Are we still friends? Do you doubt me that much that you'd have to ask? I know I've been seemingly distant; locked away with the research, but don't ever entertain the thought that the research is more important than the bond we have. As teammates, as friends ... and," here she leaned forward to gently ghost her lips against his own: a fleeting touch; milliseconds long but enough to hopefully drive home her point, "maybe something more."
It was strange that it was a very short moment of contact but Nessaela still felt a strange amount of freedom for at least taking that reckless action. She knew that they were still friends but there was always that desire for closer camaraderie. Looking beyond Tenoch as she moved to pull away, just a little, she gave a soft sigh, "I don't know why things may not be working out for you in terms of research, but don't lose hope. Please?"
Quite suddenly, he no longer cared about rabbits. They were, in fact, the furthest thing from his mind as his focus shifted to Nessa alone while reaching out to catch her against himself; aiming to help steady her out of her stumbling, even as she seemed to manage it on her own. Always so self-sufficient, the way he knew she didn’t truly need him.
Likely hardly needed the others either, or so he assumed. It was all long-held affection and nostalgia, the desire to cling to something known when thrust onto a world as strange and a situation as precariously alien. It was why he’d stayed past his longing and remained past his enthusiastic dreams of playing new explorer on a path of planetary conquest for his people.
For those like Nessa and the rest—-
Selfishly, maybe. Because certainly it benefited no others. He opens his mouth to say as much, and found his voice stolen by an unfamiliar touch of warmth on his face; such gentleness in all that soft resolve, the way he would’ve prefered to melt beneath it in the chilled silence instead of hear whatever easy let-down would fall from her lips like a hammer on the glass of his hopes.
Because he was listening, truly. Caught and unable to look away, unable to escape the chastisement he was sure was coming for having been so faultily foolish for so long! He’d done nothing but entertain negativity, embrace meanness, harden himself into a miserly bit of exhausted stone. Not so hard that couldn’t be cracked open by the fleeting press of lips against his own. Oh, he was a solid two on the Mohs scale; a soft bit of gypsum, easily carved, easily crushed.
As she moved away and the words truly sunk in he reached for those same hands that’d held him to pull her back; heat across his cheeks and panic in his eyes as her plea fell on deaf ears. He’d long since lost hope for the research; all the studies he’d thrown himself at, had followed ceaselessly while under orders. Never did he find the fire within himself to rekindle that old purpose, not now that he knew the whole of their mission was done under false pretenses. How that made so much of his long-yet-young life feel like a lie.
His hope in Nessa, however? Much like his hopes in their team; it was an unwavering sensation. The doubts that crawled across his mind like earth-born slugs and trailed their nastiness all over his worry that she’d grown beyond him. But not his hope for her success. Not his belief in her potential. Never that. Only I’m himself and all on is own—
“For you.” He swallowed around a sudden dryness in his throat, blamed the cold and cleared his voice rustily. “If that’s what you want— if — “ He faltered as his fingers trembled with everything but the cold, with raw emotion and nerves.
“I’ve been so foolish, haven’t I?” He wondered how it was hee missed this— how Nessa had gone unseen in this light for so long? “I’m bemoaning all this *loss* — when you’re right here. When the team is still — so many of them —“ He huffed a frustrated half-sound and clutched with cold fingers a little more tightly.
“But never-mind that…it’s all secondary to how much a fool I’ve been to not see you, Nessa. How could o have missed this?” Apologetic, a different kind of plea for a new kind of forgiveness. He wondered if he’d slighted hee. He wondered if she would kiss him again. “Lamenting what I’ve not yet lost instead of trying to take initiative and— you’ve always been this bold, haven’t you? Always in battle. But now in this as well? I shouldn’t be so surprised.“ Yet he was, pleasantly so, giddily so! The way he couldn’t quite keep an anxious sort of yearning out of his voice, out of his gaze.
He wanted….
“Can I ask you….would you mind if I tested a hypothesis? Just a small one.” And he did find it within himself to sound briefly hopeful as a smile crossed his face.
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 5:05 am
Nessaela had backed away from Tenoch after the sudden press of her lips against his, momentarily afraid that there might have been some lasting damage done to the easy camaraderie they always seemed to possess. It wasn't like Itztenoch to have been doubting himself like he'd been doing so. Ever since that evening in which they'd hunted down summer time insects had the corporal felt as if her friend had been trying to slowly withdraw from everything, and everyone. Perhaps she had been too caught up within the world of research that she'd been tasked to investigate to have even noticed. It wasn't exactly like old times anymore. The original members of the Vanguard that had come to Earth ... were splintered. It almost seemed inevitable after the betrayal that Caedus had experienced that schisms would form between the groups. They were still the Vanguard in name only it seemed. Her heart hurt almost as much as her mind did for the cohesion that had been lost but in the meantime there were bright spots to celebrate in.
"You've not been foolish Tenoch. Never belittle yourself like that. We've been here for each other. Sometimes we just seem to miss the bigger picture because we're so distracted by other things."
Pressing her fingers to her lips almost as an afterthought to the action she had taken seconds earlier Nessaela gently swatted at Tenoch's questing grasp before she simply gave her fellow cadet a shy smile. It was true, she had always been bold and she knew it and it seemed like Tenoch recognized that trait in her as well. Her teal hair fell into her eyes momentarily and she hastily made a move to sweep it out of the way before she spoke.
"Bold perhaps, but I swear others would call it being reckless. Sometimes the decisions I make out of being bold, don't always come with the result I seek."
Look at her interaction with that corrupt senshi that had certainly ended up in disaster. She wondered even if the senshi remembered that she had made him a deal. Nessaela had also been bold in her declaration in fighting for what she had believed in back during the conflict that had torn so many of the Vanguard apart. That had almost resulted in her being left behind, except for that Tenoch & Eso had both risked their necks to see to her safe retrieval.
So it wasn't really hard to see that for all intents and purposes, she would acquiesce to whatever hypothesis that Tenoch seemed to want to test. Her gaze met his own before she nodded, "Hypothesize away. I am really curious as to what theory might be stewing away in your mind."
He suddenly wanted to know what she sought, and quite desperately at that, to be the end result that existed for her in some unknown hypothesis. How long had he liked her and not considered it? How long had she been there, by his side? Even if before it was 'brotherhood' and 'platonic comradery', how long, and how had he not seen Nessa as she was until right now?
'Fool, fool, fool -- '
But not in her eyes, and all the way out here they existed far beyond Velencya, beyond their floating home in space, and their Commodores watchful gaze. Beyond the council as well, in some grand capacity. Maybe he wasn't quite the fool he thought he was, if only because Nessa was the one telling him so, he supposed that if he couldn't trust himself on these sorts of things, he could at least trust her judgement, right?
'I can be nice to myself, for a little while, if only for her---' Because he didn't want to see that knowing frown on her face, the tinge of soft sadness in her eyes. He always thought she looked much prettier when she was thinking deeply, when there was a curve to her lips that told him in utter certainty that he was being teased in a playful manner. "I truthfully don't care what others would call it, because I've always called it the one thing. Boldness. What brought you to stand beside us when things are tough, to speak the way you do before the others, to climb rank....and even with a knife on your hip...to seek kindness..." He knew she could fight, that she could kill, but that she didn't seem to ever want to? At least to not cause undue suffering for the sake of greater knowledge...
He thought she was maybe better than him on a few points, a perfect half.
"There are no guaranteed results for anything in life...even things like this..." He tried to sound encouraging of her nature, of taking those risks; even as a flash of dark lavender blush passed over the bridge of his nose and graced his cheeks. 'She's always so amenable to my ideas---' He remembered warmly, every half-brained scheme, and hair-cocked idea he'd tossed her way nigh childishly, because he wasn't so of a mind for serious research the way the others were, and yet? She'd always humored him, tagged along, been a solid foundation of reason and logic. He felt like he owed her----
No, like he wanted to be beholden to her, even if superficially, if only so he could have more of this, her time, her appreciation, her company.
"Especially in things like this, but..." That was why they tested anything at all, wasn't it? Why they bothered with having any ideas at all. For moments like this, when he could meet her eyes properly, and watch with wonder as she played along with his attempt at being sly. "That's why we're supposed to keep trying, isn't it?" And if he thought of the first hastened kiss that stole his breath and focus a sort of control sample; that every subsequent after would give him only more data. While swiping soft, pale green strands of lengthy hair back from her cheek and leaning in again to steal yet another kiss; softer, more slowly, with less chance at leaping back in surprise. His eyes hallways-shut and his motions tender while the cold environment enveloping them both seemed a far distant thing to his senses. Because she was just so warm; warmer still, in his mind. Every held breath, and her arm through the suit where he curled his fingers over it to hold her close, the pulse of life beneath her skin.
Warm, and soft, and electrifying---
He'd liked the first kiss -- the second one better -- the third that he leaned in for, blushing but no longer shocked, no longer so shy. That one truly did feel the best of all, as though it could solidify his hypothesis that *yes* Nessa wasn't merely pitying him, or trying to shut him up, and *yes* he liked this -- liked her -- wanted for fourths and fifths. For her to enjoy this moment too as much as he hoped she would.
For a very, very, very long lifetime....
tefla
We can probably wrap this~
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 1:40 am
What hypothesis was Tenoch trying to form? Giving her head a little tilt to the side in order to observe the other did Nessaela come to the realization that she could no longer simply classify Itztenoch as simply just her friend and comrade. They had been close before: Eso, Tenoch and herself. A small trio grouped within the larger group of the Vanguard. But even as time flew by had it become obvious that the small group of three had now just become a group of two ... and sometimes a singular unit. Would things have been the same if they had never come to Earth? What if thoughts though were not constructive and instead Nessaela once more brought her attention to Tenoch as he spoke. Praising her boldness once more. His motion of sweeping back a few strands of her hair had her emitting the softest chuckle in response as the moved strands tickled her cheek as they were brushed aside. She let a soft smile grace her features before she tried speaking again, "I still think it could be classified as-"
Almost as suddenly as she had begun to speak had her words been cut off just as abruptly by the feel of Tenoch's lips ghosting over her own. The surreal sensation had the instant effect of causing her to lose her train of thought. She wasn't sure if this was the hypothesis that Tenoch wanted to test out but even as he sought out a light grip on her body did Nessaela find it hard to think at all. She yearned to put just a little bit of space between them at first, in order to get the ability to ask if the hypothesis conclusion was what he expected it to be but even as he returned to press his lips over hers twice more did the urge to pull away simply vanish.
This new sensation that was bubbling up inside had her trying to categorize exactly what it was that she was experiencing. Once before Nessaela had been privy to a moment, brought on perhaps by Order's magic, that had two other members of the Vanguard exchanging sweet kisses but there was no magic here: nothing that could explain the sudden swell of rising emotions that were building inside. Unless somewhere, deep down inside, this attraction had always been there, just waiting and growing, soft as a flickering flame before erupting into an inferno. She had been the first one to act, more out of desire to impress upon her friend that he wasn't useless. That had been the initial spark.
But the response and Tenoch's further hypothesizing; that was the inferno roaring to life. Nessaela wouldn't know it just yet, as dumbstruck as she seemed to be, that something had changed in that pivotal moment: changed and been redefined for the future to come.
“A success—-“ He breathed over the seam of her soft lips, with lashes lowered, thoughts whirring, smile small, but the most real it had potentially ever been on his face. He classified it as a success, this moment, the entirety of their mission, even if they saved no one but themselves. This was maybe the only win this planet had granted him.
A few moments of brilliant realization in the form of *her* and his burgeoning feelings for her. The way they crystallized into something more solid — more real — as the seconds ticked on and Nessa stayed; firm, lovely, hand in hand and close enough to feel the warmth pouring off of: like a blanket against the encroaching cold around them.
It was something magical in a tangible way; watching Nessa derail ever so slightly, the joy of witnessing something new and beautiful unfurl in her eyes. What he’d taken as hope for himself — as pity — but from this angle? It looked like so much more—
It felt like so much more—
The way the warm clouds of air their individual breaths made out in the cold funneled into nonexistence so long as they were sharing each others, however chastely, or tentative the moment was drawn out.
“But maybe it needs some research? Always done better with a partner— a fresh pair of eyes…” it took him a moment to worry if he was smothering her, if he was crossing boundaries and over-encroaching, so much so that he felt a flame of new color darken his cheeks like a lance thrown through the sky. “A proper hypothesis needs treat testing after all..doesn’t it? Ah — peer review..” He felt stupid, almost. Found himself laughing in spite of himself as he fumbled gently free and tugged Nessa the direction of home. The task he’d set out to do with her initially, whatever study it was? Now long forgotten, back of his mind, to be picked up and looked over another day.
Or not at all. If things went well enough…there were far better things to look into right now, much closer to home.
