007 - out of puns

[mayitlastforeve]

[Like the others, Naal quickly realizes as she wakes that she's not in the right body or the right room. But despite spending a fair amount of time around Sora she doesn't immediately realize it's hers; to her this is just like when she first awoke at Mayfield. Like everything's been reset. Though she does notice that the body is older this time, which is... strange.

She is curious enough to go look for a mirror though, and is mutely shocked when she sees Sora staring back at her. She doesn't know what to make of this at all, but if she's Sora then maybe Sora is...

[Action, 2238 Stevens]

[Cut to 'Sora Himoto' running awkwardly down the street to the neighboring door like she's, you know, used to having way shorter legs, and hammering at the door with surprising intensity for the usually-reserved Naal... though in Sora's body it probably doesn't look strange at all.]

Hello!?? [Yeah she's yelling too. Sora's voice sounds weird in her skull but... no time to worry about that. There are bigger problems if she's right and they've been switched.]

Comments

Action: 2238

[bravabarber]

[The door swings open almost immediately after 'Sora' starts banging on it. It's Sarah Jane, but an uncharacteristic horrified Sarah Jane.

Or is she...?]

Mother Mary protect me, I'm a woman!!

[mayitlastforeve]

...Figaro?

I am happy for your good fortune but I need to know - is my body here?

[bravabarber]

Your body...?

...Nina!?

W-well, yes, I checked and you, or whoever it is, is still asleep there. What's going on Nina, are you hurt?

2238 Stevens

[afterthesky]

[WEll, that got her attention]

What is it? ♪

[She frowns. So that comes with the body.]

Oh, that is peculiar. ♪

[mayitlastforeve]

...Sarah Jane? [When she asked Figaro that question she was hesitant because she was unsure if it was actually him. With Sarah Jane it's more out of horrified empathy for that involuntary singing.]

So we are being switched...

[afterthesky]

That seems to be the case. Is that Naal then? I've never seen anything quite like this. ♪

[She's taking it fairly calmly, but it's clear the lyrical speech is... very foreign.]

[mayitlastforeve]

Nor have I. But I must find my body. It is not safe for another to possess my aura.

[afterthesky]

It should still be here, I haven't seen her come downstairs. ♪

2238 Stevens

[appleknighted]

[Sora's still up in Naal's room. She'd made a small effort to get out of bed and attempt to get the morning started buuuut now she's just sitting on the floor with the bed's blanket wrapped like some kind of hooded cloak. She's look way more upset than Naal ever would. Why does she feel so awful?!

Or is it even 'awful' awful? It just feels like nothing and that's more difficult to cope with than suddenly being a little drow girl!]

[mayitlastforeve]

[Sarah Jane had told her as much on her way in and it isn't long before Naal opens the door to the - her - room and peers in, then hurries over when she spots the huddled pile of blankets. She's too busy being relieved that she didn't find the Glutton and concerned for Sora to wonder much at it, but it is strange staring down at her own body like this...]

Sora? It's you, isn't it?

[appleknighted]

[The head under the blanket perks up and Sora peeks out from under the hood she's made of it.]

...h-hey, you're me. [She just can't find the energy to freak out like she may have as herself, so all she does is sit there and look confused.] But why?

I never iconed that because it's kind of ooc but gah too cute >_<

[mayitlastforeve]

[Naal kneels down, looking grave.]

I don't know. I'm sorry. I never meant for anyone else to have to bear that thing...

isn't it from an omake page? X3

[appleknighted]

You don't have to be sorry. [She doesn't get why Naal would be.] Ah... What thing? Do you mean the other thing in the room?

yup

[mayitlastforeve]

No... my seed. Can you not feel it? It dwells in my aura. In that body...

[appleknighted]

A seed? I don't... what? You're a plant? I mean, I kind of feel something. Like something else is watching me b-but I can't figure out where it's coming from.

[mayitlastforeve]

No. It's inside you. It is... [She stops, considering how best to put it. She does not want to panic Sora unnecessarily. Panic should not come easily, if she reacts to the seed the same way Naal had, but she wasn't Naal, or even fae... who knew what would happen?]

...difficult to explain. To a non-fae. But you must keep your distance from it. It is very important, Sora. Even though it is inside you, you have to always know what is you and what is it and keep it separate from yourself.

[appleknighted]

[She's fae now, though. In any other body, she would have alerted the household by yelling and crashing down the stairs to demand answers. Like this, though, she feels too heavy to do anything like that. Weighed down, maybe only emotionally, but that's more than enough for someone as emotional as Sora.

She hugs the blankets around her tighter.]

T-there's something inside you? Oh, Naal... umm... but how do I do that? I've just been thinking that I don't want whatever it is getting near me and...

[Well, she's not sure. She finishes that with a shrug.]

[mayitlastforeve]

[Naal looks unusually panicky, though she's trying to contain it. She doesn't really know how one keeps it at bay, not in any way she can put into better words than she already has. She doesn't have the training of a Kyorl or the sealing armor of a Sharen or the forbidden knowledge of a Vloz'ress... she has only ever endured by faith and will. Hard things to lend to another.]

I... I've have always imagined that my body is my home, and the place my mind is in my room, and I can lock and bar the doors between myself and it, so that it can wander but not find me. Or that it is in my gut, like my sense of hunger, and it must live in that place and cannot spread through my blood, that all the dullness of my senses is a wall it can't pass. Those kinds of things.

[She pauses for a second, but... she cannot justify keeping personal secrets at a time like this.] I wear belts too. Or anything that constricts. To hold it in...

[appleknighted]

[It's strange to see herself look like that. Not because it isn't a common emotion for Sora, but because it's different to view it from a different set of eyes.]

So I should imagine that it's trapped somewhere it can't get into? [She wants to ask about the dull senses, too, now that Naal mentions them, but dealing with this is a bit more important for now. She squints up at Naal, looking uncharacteristically confused with her face.] Belts make you feel better? Sort of like a safety blanket?

[mayitlastforeve]

Yes. Whatever helps.

A what?

[appleknighted]

A safety blanket. Or maybe it was security blanket? Well, it's just something you have that makes you feel better to hold onto.

[mayitlastforeve]

Oh. [She's from before she picked up that Velcahal doll, so...] I guess so. I don't think it actually restrains it. It just helps me...

Do you have anything like that?

[appleknighted]

Sometimes thinking about good stuff can restrain bad stuff, so I bet it does. [But does she have something like a security blanket, she has to think back on what she has from home-- wait! Sora points at Naal's-- er, Sora's-- no wait, well, her own body's hair, there we go.] That! The ribbon in my hair!

[Look Naal, your face is grinning.]

[mayitlastforeve]

[That is kind of weird. She kind of smiles sometimes but... not really like that. Even before she was tainted she had that traditional Beldrobbaen reserve...

And she's confused for a moment by the pronoun issues too, looking blankly at Sora's/her body's head for a few seconds before remembering the bow on her current head and reaching back for it.]

This? [She unties it and hands it to Sora.]

[appleknighted]

Yes! That! [Hope Naal doesn't mind a lot of unruly hair, because once that bow is out, there sure is a lot of it. Sora keeps on smiling when she takes the ribbon.] Thank you...

[And immediately sets to putting her hair-- well, the hair of Naal's body, that is, up in a similar ponytail. Dum de dum.]

Tsuki gave it to me as proof that I'm her knight. It's not the first since I keep getting them torn up in fights and stuff, but they've always been from her.

[mayitlastforeve]

[She has pretty long hair too! But hers is extremely ruly! This mess is more like Kiel's. Though not nearly as bad...

Still, she starts kind of compulsively fingercombing it.]

Her knight? Is she your house's head? Or more like a patron?

[appleknighted]

We don't have a house. [Unless she means, like, ones you live in. Sora figures that isn't it, though.] So I guess patron is a better word, but she's kind of my best friend, too...

[mayitlastforeve]

Oh. So... you are her champion? Or more like a companion?

[appleknighted]

Can I only be one? Because I think I'm both.

[mayitlastforeve]

I don't see why not...

Are you lovers? [CURIOUS NAAL IS CURIOUS.]

[appleknighted]

W-what?! Um. Uh. [Wow, Naal, wow. This question. This one gets an interesting reaction.] I... I don't know?! It's... it's complicated! Like, really complicated! Like algebra complicated! I mean, I really like Tsuki! Only she's not, um, really the person I thought... and... well...

She's my best friend! Back home, anyway. Kind of. Sort of... I hope?

[mayitlastforeve]

So... you aren't sure where you stand with her, now? Were you before? [If that vague answer was meant to end this line of questioning it failed. Naal is still curious about what exactly lies behind such a confused response!]

[appleknighted]

Yeah. That's kind of it... I really did think I knew before! She's still my closest friend, but I think she's done some bad things, so I need to talk to her about those. If I ever get to. I need to save everyone before I can do that, though, when I get back home.