[World's End Grotto] Loss of Love (Leeta)

[Talya]

Talya kept her eyes trained on her hands. She felt that she needed to, at least predominately, so that she wouldn't ruin their ministrations- either by pressing too firmly, or at an odd angle, or too softly. She wasn't particularly gifted in the field of massage, she knew, and would have to be careful, as she pushed her fingers inward, directing Leeta's skin toward her spine. Making it rise up over her nails as though it were some sort of tidal wave, before it flattened out against the slight protrusions of rounded bone, at which point she began the process all over again, until her hands began to grow tired and ache, as she was forced to return to a more general flat-palmed circle rubbing motion. She would move at a speed the woman seemed to agree with until she spoke again, and Talya's brow furrowed. "Hired?" she asked, "Leeta?" more than a little confused by what the woman had been saying. To the point where she became so distracted, that the pressure she applied lessened greatly. Yet, her hand never ceased, and her ears never stopped straining to listen. To catch every word this strange, likely deranged, depressed woman uttered. Of course, there were no words for quite awhile, merely tears, and the sniffly, altered short breathy sounds that came with it. Sharp intakes of breath, to suck snot that was escaping back up the nose, and little whimpery noises. Whines, annoyingly endless whines. It made Talya wonder where she had gone wrong with her magic, as tears betrayed sorrow, but she had urged the woman to numb out. Clearly, the person she saw before her was sad and distraught, not numb. It made the Ethaefal uneasy, it became apparent if only you were to look at her face. Stop, Talya urged silently. Please stop! she hoped, as the sobs seemed to deepen, and the woman's chest seemed to rise and fall a little more hurriedly, as though she were struggling to draw in breath through a presumably now clogged nose. She could see blood mat to her cheeks; intermingling with the clear beads. She looked like one of her people, with seriously messed up war paint adorning her cheeks. A woman who had been out in the sun way to long. Talya wasn't quite sure what to do now, but she began by patting the woman lightly on the back a few times. "There, there," she said, as though she were a grandmother, "please don't cry," she said, in as comforting a voice as she could muster, as a metallic taste filled her mouth. "It's unlikely that you carry a curse," she continued, scrambling for words. Talya watched as Leeta wiped away a few tears and a little blood. She tried to look concerned, but wasn't sure how she did. She thought perhaps, her eyes looked a little blank, but hopefully, Leeta would be to distracted to notice. Although that is pretty unlucky, Tal thought to herself, as the girl rambled on, and she finally came to the conclusion that the girl's sister had died recently. Last of all of her family, leaving Leeta entirely alone in the world, seemingly without a friend, hence the depression. Now that the mystery was solved, as far as she was concerned, she could begin looking for an opening to leave; she had never taken much to compassion, or crying folk. "It never helps to cry- it just winds up deepening one's sorrow," she explained. So you can stop now, Talya thought silently, as she rubbed Leeta's back a tad more forcefully than before.

[Leeta Snow]

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As Talya began to pat her back and said calming words, Leeta seemed to calm down. She shook her head no in disagreement and continued to stare down at her lap. Though she was feeling numb, it was something that the woman had asked. She naturally told her as if she was herself, something people do under hypnosis. She clearly was distraught, and now that she had confessed that which was held inside she returned to an almost calm state of numbness.

Through it all, Leeta could hear the woman’s words. It never helped to cry, she knew this. “I’m sorry Talya”, she seemed to say, breaking the weak hold the woman had on her. “I’m not a crying baby I promise. I just got a little overwhelmed there I guess...I don’t even remember starting to cry.”

The woman was rubbing her back harder now and yet still she resisted, looking up to the sky to clean her nasal passages. She wiped the blood from her face and looked over to Talya, yet more like at her feet.

“Do I look horrible?” She kept wiping her face, hoping that she could clear away the blood and grime that had been there since last night with her already dirty hands. "Because I feel like it."


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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Talya]

Talya smiled but said nothing for a short while. "I know," she lied, "it happens to all of us sometimes," she added, although she wasn't quite sure she felt that were entirely true. "And it's healthy to do so- it means we are still in touch with our emotions, and that we care enough to shed tears over pain; the loss of something, or disappointment, in the first place." She fell silent a moment as her eyes glimmered, and she kept on rubbing Leeta's back. Her palm growing increasingly warm, as did the fabric of the woman's dress, and whatever bare skin the Ethaefal made contact with now and again. Talya said nothing further for a moment, as she continued her ministrations, and considered Leeta's final question. "Well," she began tentatively after a few moments, "you have a few spots here and there," she finished, with half a laugh. "Places you've missed," she explained, as she pointed a few such places out, for Leeta to wipe away if she felt like doing so. "Do you want to go inside and freshen up? Maybe get into a new dress?" she paused, "or we could take a dip in the bay or something? It can be nice and refreshing this time of year, I'm told." Talya quieted down for another minute, before pulling her hand away from Leeta, and getting herself up. She then held out her hand to the human, as her eyes settled on Leeta's own. "Come," she instructed, not at all sure where she was going with this, now that she had what she wanted.

[Leeta Snow]

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It was funny. She didn’t feel in touch with her emotions. She felt as if the wicked little things betrayed her, though that was not uncommon with her, it felt strange in this moment to her. A little ‘hrm’ sound escaped her mouth at the woman’s words. The warmth of Talya’s hand spread through her cool body and heated her a little. It was nice to feel toasty warm on the inside of your muscles when sitting in the sun. It actually made her kind of sleepy to a point, but Leeta had too much on her mind.

“Oh thank you,” she said as she fixed the various spots of blood on her face. As she cleaned off the blood Talya offered her to go inside to freshen up or to take a dip in the bay. She did not feel like taking off the dress so readily yet so she said, “I think a dip in the bay would be nice.”

With that Leeta shook her hair a bit to rest further back into the middle of her spine. Upon doing so she looked Talya over with studious eyes. The woman had strange eyes, strange features, Chaktawe, but they were never seen by Leeta’s eyes before. She looked to the clothing the lady wore and figured she looked okay to trust to come with. Her hand seemed strangely tempting to take, and regardless of the feeling, it was what she wanted to do.

Leeta brushed her hand upon her dress, wiping the blood that was on it, off. She then took ahold of Talya’s hand and the woman would find that Leeta was very light. The lanky armed Leeta finally stood up, revealing that she was a couple inches shorter than Talya, although she looked a bit shorter even than that because she was hunched over. “It’ll be nice to be a bit cleaner and the water will feel nice.” She shot the woman a glance as she began to move to her side. “You aren’t from around here are you?”

As Leeta approached the intended target of her rations she saw them still lying on the cobblestone and reached down to pick them up. The half eaten crisp was fairly clean, nothing a bit of dusting off wouldn’t hurt. She held it close to her chest instead though as she walked. She restrained herself from cursing at the man who mocked her as they moved past him. "Stupid snob", she did however think to herself.

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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Talya]

Talya nodded as Leeta's slender fingers slipped through her own. They felt dry to her; a little cold. As though whatever dirt remained were enough to give it an unpleasant, textured feel. Grainy; rough. She drew her nail over the edge of the woman's palm, before pushing it away so that her own could flatten against Leeta's. Her fingers inching upward, weaving together so that they were all the more firmly clasped. "No," she replied. "Not from around here. We don't have anywhere to go swimming back there," she explained, which wasn't entirely true. There was the lake, you could go swimming in said lake, but you probably didn't want to go swimming in Lake Ravok if you could avoid it. (Which 99.9% of the time you could think of an excuse where you could). "I want to do as much as I can, now that I'm here," she explained with a smile. "Come," Talya insisted, as she tugged on Leeta's hand, and urged her toward the water. Dropping the hand only if the woman didn't seem as though she wished to be engaged. Didn't wish to be touched. If not, she'd begin to pull a little harder, urging her more fervently toward the bay, as her pace moved from a steady walk, to a fast one. Then a slow jog, into a trot, and then a dead run. Where arms moved with one's step, and one's chest rose and fell swiftly as their breath caught in their throat and sweat began to bead their brow and pour down the side of their cheeks. Sunlight streaming down from the sky to warm the skin as Talya hurried through the port city to the water, not truly caring after awhile as to whether or not Leeta was following, as going for a swim seemed like the best possible thing to do. To the point, where everything else scarcely seemed to matter. Talya would reach the shoreline within a quarter hour or so, (a third, depending on whom you asked), and she would giggle with laughter. A wave crashing into the sand, leaving a bubbling froth to darken its shade. She'd listen to the bubbles burst as they rolled away, and another wave came crashing in. Gulls cawing overhead as they circled and looked for easy prey- mussels, clams, some sort of crustacean or small semi oceanic worm. Talya would ignore them as she darted into the water. Propelling it ahead of her with her feet, with short, assured splashes. Droplets of cool water plummeting into the bay all around her, as she egged herself deeper and deeper, until it came up to her knees, and she was forced to drag her legs through. Sloshing through the moisture as though she were caught in quick sand, as she finally turned to see if her companion was still around, and where she might be. When she spotted Leeta, Talya would skip over to her, and then push her hands into the water, before lifting them back up in an attempt to splash her. Begin a little fun. OOCSorry for the awkward wording of the post. Didn't want to assume anything. :/

[Leeta Snow]

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The thought of swimming made Leeta nervous. There were a few bad memories attached to the beaches here, but she really wanted to be clean. Talya took Leeta’s hand and when Leeta thought it normal to let go she loosened her hand, but Talya held on, so her fingers curled back to hold hers. It didn’t seem so bad not having a place to swim, she never did. Not if you count the creek you could sit in when the waters really tore down from the mountains and if you laid perfectly flat it might carry you about ten feet downstream.

The woman really seemed to like swimming and so Leeta let out in a hoarse crackly voice, “I’ve not really swam before. The girls used to call me fat when I would go to the beach when my father was in town. They said my clothes were a ugly and would make me cry. So I never really wanted to go into the water with them.” she shrugged a bit. Obviously things had changed because now she was far too skinny. Leeta took a bite of her ration and munched on it as they went. As they got closer Talya tugged her hand and beckoned her to come.

A sneer came over her face, but she felt drawn all the more toward the water as if something inside of her wanted to join the waves. The increased pull on Leeta’s hand made her groan, roll her eyes, and then tromp down the road begrudgingly after her with a dramatic sigh. As they went faster and faster a slight smile began to grow on Leeta’s face. Running she could do, and though her heart hurt emotionally and beckoned her not to go, she went anyways. Eventually the girl was at a full out run, which looked much like a giraffe running and was awkward to see, but at least now a smile was across her face.

As they tore through town with little regard for what others thought, she elicited a snorting laugh as they zipped past people on the street. Leeta would hold onto Talya’s hand and use it as a method to jump over people’s heads with their arms connected, making the person go underneath them. As the sand came into view and eventually the rolling waves of the ocean, she hesitated. Her eyes scanned the beach and eventually she let go of the girl’s hand and watched as she tore into the water.

She couldn’t go in even if she wanted, wearing her boots like that. Yes, that was why she couldn’t go in she thought. Talya seemed to be having so much fun though swimming. Leeta sadly looked down to her dress and the blood splotches that were hidden amongst the dark dress. It was all she had left of her family and it was a bigger moment than Talya realized.

A chimed passed and suddenly a shower of water snapped her from her thoughts and she screamed a girly scream with a smile. Now she had to get her boots off so she could run freely after her. Quickly she undid her boots and hopped on one foot trying to get it off. Once she did, she could feel the warm sand under her foot crunch down under her weight. She now slipped the other boot of a bit quicker and took off into the sand towards Tayla. The warm sand turned to a cool, wet, fine-grained sand and it made her squirm her toes into it as she ran. As she got her feet into the water, she reached down as the waves came in and grabbed some hands of water to splash it at her; washing some blood from her hands.

At the sight of them, her smile began to fade and she looked down to her dress which closely began to be close to the water. She knew why she was here, but she seemed to need help getting over that step.


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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Talya]

"Oh petch them and what they used to say!" Talya cried as she thrust her hands into the cool water, and tossed more of it in Leeta's general direction. Scooping it up by the hand full. She watched as the beads and droplets glistened within the sun's light before crashing back into the waves; the still water. She giggled as she drew her legs through it as she edged closer to the human, making the bay swish around her as she dragged portions forward, while leaving others behind. Come on!]/i] the Ethaefal called. [i]Lets have some fun! And forget all of this misery, she added to herself as she tried to splash Leeta again before darting forward. Hopping through the bay toward her melancholy, and perhaps slightly trepidatious companion. Talya swung her arms in tune with her step, doing her best to hurry her pace. Water whisking around her body; plummeting into her limbs as much as the bay as she darted toward Leeta. Laughing merrily, a sparkle in her eye as she stretched out her arms to her side, and a little over her head, as though she were stretching, and then, when once she had closed the majority of the distance that had once rested between them, and she was about two feet away, Talya sprang. She pushed off the sand with her feet despite the poor purchase, and leapt into air. Her ankles coming out of the water as she pushed her arms out a little farther, and waved them around a little. Her muscles tensing as her lip remained poised; still, largely open. She must have appeared a crazed cat falling through the air; somewhat gracefully, as it continued the course of its attempted pounce. For that was what the Ethaefal was attempting to do- pounce on Leeta, wrap her arms around her, and knock her into the sand so that the water would lap over them. Assuming she made contact with Leeta, Talya would do her best to press her own body against the woman's side, locking some level of warmth between them as they tumbled downward and into the sand not far from the shore. Water folding over them; flowing against their bodies. Waves breaking upon their heads; dousing them in salt, that added a strange texture to their skin, when viewed within the sun's bright light. Perhaps they'd roll around in the sand, perhaps Leeta would push her off and a series of splash attacks would ensure, perhaps they'd simply lie there an Talya would turn her into a pancake, whatever the case, the Ethaefal supposed she would be happy with the outcome. If Talya missed Leeta, she would fall face first into the sand. She'd turn over quickly, so as to minimize the amount that would get caught in her nose, and caked to her face. As soon as she had, a wave would break against her body; and water would sloosh over her, before cascading over her side. It would get in her nose, and make her eyes sting and redden a little. Some would make its way into her mouth, and she'd spit it out before the sense of salt overcame her. Talya would laugh. "Isn't this fun?" she would say either way, before getting herself out of the water. (Assuming he had missed Leeta), at which point, she would resume her stomping through it, and try to splash her some more, chasing after the woman if she had too. OOCSorry for the weird language again. :/

[Leeta Snow]

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The behavior of Talya made her want to ignore her pain and grief. She was getting drenched to say the least and sputtered the water out of her mouth. The salty liquid spluttered from her mouth and she twitched a slight bit as if almost being convinced to play with the woman. Eventually Talya had enough of her nonsense and drew close. She sprang at poor Leeta and got a full body of lithe woman wrapped in her arms.

Down she went, flopping onto the compact sandy dirt that slowed her fall a slight bit. She let out a girly scream and flopped her feet at the coolness of the sand and as she could see the small yet fast approaching wave approaching them she screamed all the more. “No no no no!” She was pinned quite well however and the water that washed over her and Talya drowned out her screams. Leeta could feel gritty sand wash over her and just get everywhere. With a sputter as the small wave receded she wriggled.

“Blast you, you’re evil!” she laughed a light bit and stopped struggling. The evil deed was done and she tried to sit up as another wave came in. If the tackler was not going to let her up, she was going to squirm and crawl away from her, but she kind of wanted give the girl a taste of her own medicine so as she tried to sit up, she tried to flip Talya backwards into the sand and into the oncoming wave that was creeping up the shore toward them. She was going to have sand in her face and in her hair if she had anything to say about it.

“I’ll show ya fun!” She giggled as she did, regardless of whatever Tayla tried to do. She was then going to decide to stop being mopey about it. She would play in the waters of the ocean with this crazed woman, who at the moment seemed even more crazy than her!


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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Talya]

"If you say so," Talya chuckled as she kept Leeta pinned down. Her eyes wandering over to the slender woman's lips, as water shot upward like a fountain. Like she were some sort of whale trying to push water out of her lungs. The last trickled down the side of the woman's face. Glistening in the sunlight. To the Ethaefal, it looked like drool, and as Leeta wiggled and the water lapped against their sides, sucking at her heels, she began to lose her concentration. Within a matter of seconds, Leeta began to squirm and twist in such a way that the dampened sand shifted; sinking beneath her until she had enough room to wiggle away. Crawl a few paces back, (if that), before giving Talya a taste of her own medicine as it were. Knocking her back into the sand, so that her body was pressed firmly against it, the earthen material molding against her form; sticking to her dark colored dress. She could feel the cotton being dragged down into the water; tugged out toward the sea. It made her feel as though her body were flowing with it, although it was largely resistant to the water's undulations as its mass was to great to be budged. As a wave crashed into her; she felt little bits of sand plummet into her side, along with something that felt as though it could be seaweed. But she wasn't sure as it was washed away to quickly. Talya laughed as water poured from the side of her eyes and she spit some liquid out. Letting it drizzle down the front of her chest as she chuckled. "And here I thought you were the one learning your lesson!" she chimed in, "silly me!" she added, as she fought to push herself up and out of the water, as the waves sought to press her back down, into the depths of the moist sand. Eventually, she managed, and lunged at Leeta again. But she made some minor miscalculations, and wound up plummeting into the bay. Her belly splashing wildly as it hit; her head cutting through the water as though it were soft as melting butter. Nostrils filling with water as she forced herself to shut her eyes and set her hands out. Stopping herself as though she were breaking any other natural fall. Hands slipping into the sand; the grains running over her knuckles as she waited for the wave to ebb away. Within a heartbeat it did and she straightened herself out. Pulled her hands out of the water, and wiped moisture from her eyes, before turning and looking around- trying to find Leeta. As soon as Talya had spotted Leeta, she would get up as soon as she could, stretch out her back by tilting to one side and then the other, (but only a little), and then begin to chase after her. (Or simply amble on over if the woman wasn't in the mood to be chased). When she was within striking distance, Talya would lean to the right, dipping her hand into the water. Cupping it as she held her fingers together, before scooping water up to flick at the other woman. It would fall short of Leeta. Frustrated, she'd try to find a way to give herself an edge in the little game they played, and she'd realize that there was a chance if only she used magic. So, she'd take a deep breath as she giggled and flicked more water at the woman, before taking another deep breath and concentrating on her djed, forcing it to seep from the tips of her left fingers; the area beneath the nail as well, until it pooled over her palm in the form of undirected res. She would then fill everything but the outer layer with air. She'd flick more water at Leeta as she took a step closer to her, and then direct the gaseous mass of air-filled res at the droplets of water as they separated from one another. The last she would fill with air at the final moment, as she imagined the air striking the water. Imagined it pushing the water forward; propelling it closer to her opponent. But it didn't work. At least, she didn't think it did. Talya didn't suppose it looked like it had done anything... but such was the nature of air, and all she could do was continue to enjoy herself and try the spell out all over again.

[Leeta Snow]

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“Ho ho!” Leeta said as she managed to tackle her Chaktawe companion. She held her crazy butt under the oncoming wave and tasted the sweet impact of victory as her opponent was forced to experience the very same treatment she had been given. Quickly, Leeta stood up after the woman started to try to get back up, giving her a push downward so that the next wave would likely hit her and she’d get away. The woman struggled to get up and Leeta began running around in a victory circle around Talya, splashing what little water the waves would give her; even throwing seaweed at her. Once the girl got up, however it was a different story. She gave chase, and Leeta began her girly screaming again, her lanky legs proving to be quite hydrodynamic in the water as she ran. As Talya dove at her, Leeta used a method that her little sister used to do, called the “Spinning defense”, and she spun in a quick circle; making the woman’s grasp fail her and letting her fall face first into the water.

Leeta then moved a few steps away, just far enough to splash Talya when she came up. As the waves moved away, they seemed to have caught the best of her and it seemed she needed to gather herself. The moment she wiped her face to see where she was, Leeta splashed her and took off again. Looking back, she could see Talya stretching a bit as if she was really going to kick her butt. Then the chase was on!

Somehow the Chaktawe woman had a crazy burst of speed, or it was that Leeta wasn’t watching how much effort she was actually putting into the chase, but as she finally saw her get close, Leeta tried to put a bit more speed into her running. As a result Talya’s attempts to splash her failed once more and she let out a fit of giggles. If only she knew what Talya was doing behind her back now that she focused on putting some distance between them. As the girl’s magic solidified to propel the water forward, it did so in a decent gust, and flung droplets of water all over Leeta. That caused Leeta to look back and yell, “What are you, some freakish splasher?!”

That made Leeta stop her running, if not just because she managed to splash her from so far away, but because she was not wanting to get too far away from her boots. For this reason, she decided to go on the attack. She began to run at Talya like a crazed giraffe in water. Her lanky long legs seemed just right for the shallow couple feet deep water. Her intent, to tackle the girl once more.

Consequentially, most of the blood had washed from her dress, and now had a simple number of bloody splotches that were fairly well hidden in the dark fabrics. Leeta’s hair still seemed a bit dirty and greasy as it flopped around, something that if she failed to tackle Talya, would likely get more cleaned in a moment; if you considered a salty, sandy wash with no soap a cleaning.



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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts