[Rey says it again, this time throwing her hands up defensively in front of her to illustrate just how much she doesn't need to go to the medbay right now, even.]
Just said, "normal person". Am not normal. Lucky you. [She hiccups, a puff of smoke bursting passed her lips. This time her hand flies to her mouth as she stifles her next cough.
[Nope, definitely not a dragon. Rey normally doesn't puff like that unless she's pissed, so whatever peppers Elleru dumped into her soup must be extremely potent.]
As in, not human. So, am not normal.
[Spoken like it should be so easy.
[...Well, why wouldn't it be? It's not like Elleru is human, herself.]
[She might not be human, but she's doing her best to pretend she is -- or at least that she's an upright, however nebulous the actual definition may be. Her ears prick up with visible interest.]
[Maybe most people would take offense to bring asked that question, but to Rey it's a fair one after what she just said. She chews on the inside of her lip as she thinks, picking at the stew before she decides to give it another try. Now that she knows what to expect, it's easier to brace herself for the spicy inevitable; she barely flinches this time.]
Just... something else. Not born, but made. [She shrugs like it's nothing. To her, it isn't. Why bother trying to hide it anymore -- she knows she's not human. That she doesn't have a home, anyway.]
[With only an adequate grasp on the common tongue and no real basis of comparison for someone who is made rather than born, Elleru struggles to understand exactly what it is Rey is saying. Her head tilts, her brow knitting tighter.]
Are all beings not 'made'? As in making babies? Or making love to make babies?
[Should've figured that someone like Elleru would have easily misinterpreted those words. Rey sighs, setting down the stew to rub her forehead as she wrestles with her thoughts for a second.]
That's... not... [Okay she can feel her face flush a little bit. Hiding that as well.] Was put together. Given different bodies and different lives to live and die, over and over.
[Sad as Rey's answer may be, Elleru can see why she'd say that. If she really has lived many lives and been many people, she must be tired of seeing it time and time again. So much is so new to Elleru, but she doubts Rey feels the same. Perhaps that's why she's so standoffish.
That, or in her many lives, she never learned to socialize.]
Then you must make this life your best one, and do all you have wanted to do in it.
[Ironically, there is still many things that Rey has yet to truly experience. Maybe there is a shred of decency out there for her somewhere, good experiences her past lives had been denied that could perhaps make her crave just a little more time in this life.
[Does she deserve that, though? After everything that she's done? All that she's taken away? She thinks about it a lot -- more so than what would be deemed healthy for someone like her, who carries so many ghosts on her back.]
Mn. You'd think so, wouldn't you.
[Obviously Rey isn't sure if she shares that life philosophy. Still, she had plenty of chances to die; many in which she had hoped for it. Despite it all, she's still here...]
[If this were most situations she had been in, she'd suspect that move to be a lead-in for an attack. Rey tenses, acutely aware of the sudden proximity between her and Elleru, a rational voice or two trying to quell her animalistic urges to interpret harmless gestures as hostile.
[Instead, she directs her thoughts somewhere else:]
Just how young are you talking about? You're at least a grown ass adult, right?
[Elleru looks like she is, albeit acting a bit like a fish out of water -- more so than most of the people here, even -- but you can never tell sometimes. Rey doesn't look her supposed age, either.]
[The question seems to catch Elleru off-guard: her ears flick upward, her surprise evident as a wide smile slowly forms across her face. She leans closer, her voice soft, hushed.]
Can you not tell, either? I have had such trouble knowing who is an adult and who is a child here! So many of you are short, but adults. [Rey included.] I did not want to ask, and I was thinking I might be the only one who could not tell!
[She giggles; her laughter is as inhuman as Elleru herself, her voice carrying a buzzing undercurrent like the thrum of a bird.]
[Okay, that... wasn't the response Rey was expecting. Well, she wasn't sure what to expect, but whimsy wasn't it. She just gapes at Elleru for a long moment, trying to parse where this conversation ends and begins.]
Honestly, that might just be that you're pretty fucking tall, yourself. [And Rey is no tiny person.] You could be some baby giant... elf... thing, for all anyone knows.
[Pause.]
But no, can't always tell. Sometimes people don't look their age.
Ah, this is true. [She sighs, settling back down.] But I am tall because I am an adult. Our kind are rarely as short as many humans. They come in so many sizes.
[Her ears twitch just a bit as she gives Rey a warm look.] Not that there is anything wrong with being short. I like short.
[Flatly:] You like short. [Rey repeats, eying Elleru warily.
[Such an innocuous thing to say, but everything is suspect from where she's standing most of the time. Hell, she wouldn't bother eating someone else's food made for her if not for the fact that she can't be poisoned.
[She just takes another bite of stew, but doesn't stop looking at Elleru, as if waiting for something to happen. On the plus side, at least she doesn't have to worry about some alien baby making innuendoes at her. Eugh.]
[Rey waits for something to happen, and Elleru seems to also be waiting, but while she's being watched with a wary eye, she's doing the watching with all the anticipation and excitement in the world, smiling brightly as Rey takes another bite of her gift.]
[For as obvious as it should be, Rey isn't sure what to make of that. Picking up "vibes" from people isn't really her forte. She's mostly finished with the stew before she can figure out how to respond to that.]
Well. Am not short. Not by average height, anyway.
[Compared to Elleru, though? Yeah, she's pretty dwarfed. Actually, her size and coloring reminds her of that one talking animal Rey had met a while back, who shares a suspiciously similar inflection.
[Is there a connection? Probably. But Elleru hasn't said anything yet for a reason, so maybe there's a reason for that. None of her business, either way.]
[Rey's obliviousness only seems to make Elleru try harder. How cute it is that this upright does not acknowledge her flirtations, she thinks. If Rey said she wasn't interested, Elleru would understand -- be disappointed, but understand. However, she's saying nothing of the sort. She just doesn't know.
That, or she is playing... what is it the uprights call it in their romance novels? Hard-to-get? Not that Elleru is after romance just yet, but she is certainly looking for a stronger connection of some sort with this lonely upright, even if she can't really formulate exactly what that would be in her own mind. Rey is unlike the other uprights, doing her best to not get to know them. That just makes her all the more intriguing.]
[While "playing hard-to-get" isn't Rey's intention, she wouldn't recognize someone's interest of it smacked her in the face with a brick. Flirting... just isn't a thing she does, or other people do to her. Most of her past selves never sought that type of companionship, and the only one that had didn't end very well for her.
[Didn't end very well for the current Rey, either. Then again, maybe it was her fault for developing a fondness for a sniper whose wife she had killed during wartime; though Faye seemed to absolve Rey of her past actions, she's not sure if she's ready to make that step yet. It wasn't that long ago they were laying low in that abandoned hotel in Arkhangelsk, trying to keep the other woman warm amidst the biting cold...
[Rey blinks hard, shaking her head until she quickly finishes the meal Elleru had given her. If there was anything wrong with the spiciness of it, she isn't showing it anymore, now that she was able to expect the sharp flavor. It wasn't the best thing that she ever had, but it was hardly the worst.]
Thanks, by the way -- for this. [Flawless maneuver.]
[That genuine thanks (accompanied by a somewhat nervous-sounding answer) gets an even wider smile from Elleru; she's beaming as she leans back and claps her hands together, utterly delighted to get what is probably the most positive reaction she's gotten out of Rey yet.]
You are welcome, Rrey! I will be happy to make more for you, if you like? I do want to learn, and it is good to have someone other than me to test it. To make sure it is not too hot?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
circumitus) wrote2019-06-10 07:47 pm
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Oh no! I did not know, Rrey! Will you be all right? Shall I take you to the medbay?
[And oh no, she looks like she's about to just hoist Rey up right then and there to do just that.]
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[Rey says it again, this time throwing her hands up defensively in front of her to illustrate just how much she doesn't need to go to the medbay right now, even.]
Just said, "normal person". Am not normal. Lucky you. [She hiccups, a puff of smoke bursting passed her lips. This time her hand flies to her mouth as she stifles her next cough.
[Yup, totally not a normal person.]
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... or is she? After all, Elleru isn't the upright she seems to be, either.]
Not normal? How so?
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As in, not human. So, am not normal.
[Spoken like it should be so easy.
[...Well, why wouldn't it be? It's not like Elleru is human, herself.]
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You are not human? But what are you, then?
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Just... something else. Not born, but made. [She shrugs like it's nothing. To her, it isn't. Why bother trying to hide it anymore -- she knows she's not human. That she doesn't have a home, anyway.]
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Are all beings not 'made'? As in making babies? Or making love to make babies?
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That's... not... [Okay she can feel her face flush a little bit. Hiding that as well.] Was put together. Given different bodies and different lives to live and die, over and over.
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That sounds... so tragic. But you are still you, are you not?
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[The last thing Rey ever wants to do is turn her back on her past selves. Their pain and experiences are her own, after all.]
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Hope not. Least, there sure as hell better not be.
[Just let her rest next time, goddammit.]
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That, or in her many lives, she never learned to socialize.]
Then you must make this life your best one, and do all you have wanted to do in it.
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[Does she deserve that, though? After everything that she's done? All that she's taken away? She thinks about it a lot -- more so than what would be deemed healthy for someone like her, who carries so many ghosts on her back.]
Mn. You'd think so, wouldn't you.
[Obviously Rey isn't sure if she shares that life philosophy. Still, she had plenty of chances to die; many in which she had hoped for it. Despite it all, she's still here...]
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I would. I have only one life and one body, and I am still young. I want to experience as much as I can, and I will do so with whomever I like.
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[Instead, she directs her thoughts somewhere else:]
Just how young are you talking about? You're at least a grown ass adult, right?
[Elleru looks like she is, albeit acting a bit like a fish out of water -- more so than most of the people here, even -- but you can never tell sometimes. Rey doesn't look her supposed age, either.]
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Can you not tell, either? I have had such trouble knowing who is an adult and who is a child here! So many of you are short, but adults. [Rey included.] I did not want to ask, and I was thinking I might be the only one who could not tell!
[She giggles; her laughter is as inhuman as Elleru herself, her voice carrying a buzzing undercurrent like the thrum of a bird.]
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Honestly, that might just be that you're pretty fucking tall, yourself. [And Rey is no tiny person.] You could be some baby giant... elf... thing, for all anyone knows.
[Pause.]
But no, can't always tell. Sometimes people don't look their age.
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[Her ears twitch just a bit as she gives Rey a warm look.] Not that there is anything wrong with being short. I like short.
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[Such an innocuous thing to say, but everything is suspect from where she's standing most of the time. Hell, she wouldn't bother eating someone else's food made for her if not for the fact that she can't be poisoned.
[She just takes another bite of stew, but doesn't stop looking at Elleru, as if waiting for something to happen. On the plus side, at least she doesn't have to worry about some alien baby making innuendoes at her. Eugh.]
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[Rey waits for something to happen, and Elleru seems to also be waiting, but while she's being watched with a wary eye, she's doing the watching with all the anticipation and excitement in the world, smiling brightly as Rey takes another bite of her gift.]
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Well. Am not short. Not by average height, anyway.
[Compared to Elleru, though? Yeah, she's pretty dwarfed. Actually, her size and coloring reminds her of that one talking animal Rey had met a while back, who shares a suspiciously similar inflection.
[Is there a connection? Probably. But Elleru hasn't said anything yet for a reason, so maybe there's a reason for that. None of her business, either way.]
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That, or she is playing... what is it the uprights call it in their romance novels? Hard-to-get? Not that Elleru is after romance just yet, but she is certainly looking for a stronger connection of some sort with this lonely upright, even if she can't really formulate exactly what that would be in her own mind. Rey is unlike the other uprights, doing her best to not get to know them. That just makes her all the more intriguing.]
You are short to me.
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[While "playing hard-to-get" isn't Rey's intention, she wouldn't recognize someone's interest of it smacked her in the face with a brick. Flirting... just isn't a thing she does, or other people do to her. Most of her past selves never sought that type of companionship, and the only one that had didn't end very well for her.
[Didn't end very well for the current Rey, either. Then again, maybe it was her fault for developing a fondness for a sniper whose wife she had killed during wartime; though Faye seemed to absolve Rey of her past actions, she's not sure if she's ready to make that step yet. It wasn't that long ago they were laying low in that abandoned hotel in Arkhangelsk, trying to keep the other woman warm amidst the biting cold...
[Rey blinks hard, shaking her head until she quickly finishes the meal Elleru had given her. If there was anything wrong with the spiciness of it, she isn't showing it anymore, now that she was able to expect the sharp flavor. It wasn't the best thing that she ever had, but it was hardly the worst.]
Thanks, by the way -- for this. [Flawless maneuver.]
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You are welcome, Rrey! I will be happy to make more for you, if you like? I do want to learn, and it is good to have someone other than me to test it. To make sure it is not too hot?
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