In The Works...

Hitomi seemed fairly confused at Tala's actions as she tried to snuggle up under her shirt. She was just getting comfortable when Tala began to struggle. She felt hands grasp at her, prompting Hitomi to curl up and try to slip out of the woman's grasp. She was warm! She didn't want to leave yet!

Unfortunately, she couldn't fight off Tala for long. The woman eventually got a hold of her shoulders and pulled her back. She would notice Hitomi letting out a soft whining noise right up until she began to speak. Hitomi's eyes widened at Tala's tone. She seemed to mistake her curiosity with anger. After a moment, her ears hung low and her cheeks puffed out. She crossed her arms, her lips beginning to be pulled down. Tala would see tears begin to well up in Hitomi's eyes. It seemed that Hitomi was ATTEMPTING to be angry instead of sad, but she was failing once more.

She pointed towards the falling snow for a moment and forced a small shiver. Then she pointed at Tala and hugged herself, rubbing the sides of her arms with her hands. throughout all of this, Hitomi began to sniffle and tears began to drip down her face. Her ears began to droop low and finally, she couldn't feign anger anymore. She began to sob silently, both of her hands coming up to cover her eyes.

Throughout all of this, Hitomi's mind was a swirl of emotions and confusion. There was almost a fog covering her mind. She couldn't seem to think rationally, her body instead reacting mostly on instinct. Every fiber of her being just wanted to be warm and safe. She was upset that Tala seemed angry with her, and she truly didn't understand what she had done wrong. She couldn't hold back anything anymore. Perhaps it was the illusion, perhaps it was nerves or exhaustion. Hirtomi wasn't sure anymore...

Tala's earlier panic from being tickled on the inside instantly subsided when Hitomi started to cry and gesture at how cold she was. For the second time, Tala found herself racked with guilt and she scooped Hitomi up in the her cloak and held her close.

"O-oh, Hitomi, no, no, I'm sorrryyyyy!" she said as she tried to cradle the girl close. "I didn't mean to yell! I--"

Tala let out small exhale and cradled Hitomi closer much like she had earlier.

"Shh...shhh..it's okay. I'll find a place to get you warmer, hm? We can't do having you stay out here," she murmured.

Tala's mind wasn't even worrying or bothered by the fact Hitomi was now acting completely the way a small child would, all she wanted to do was make her feel better. Tala's only hope at getting Hitomi warm right now was actually getting a roof over their heads. The fire wouldn't hold up now that the wind was picking up and the snow was falling. Once again, Tala stood up, using one arm to lay Hitomi over her shoulder while the cloak covered her like a blanket. She picked up their things, and looked around.

"There's gotta be something nearby..." she murmured to herself. She'd keep rubbing Hitomi's back soothingly as they walked, her scythe on her back, and Hitomi's things wrapped with her satchel. She paid attention to whether or not Hitomi was crying or breathing or saying anything, but kept her eyes on the road.

Fortunately for her, a wood shack was in the distance. She quickly hurried to it and tried the door. It wouldn't budge.

She stepped back and pet Hitomi on the head.

"Hold tight, okay?" she said.

She then promptly leaned back and kicked the door at full force until it burst open. It was what she expected, a lodge for wood with a stacks of logs. There was no bed, but there was a table and a bunch of tools, a chair, and, thankfully, a place for a fire.

She'd place Hitomi gingerly on the table, and looked at her worryingly.

"I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm just going to close the door and start up a fire," she said. She didn't know why she had to say this, but she worried that in Hitomi's state, just up and leaving her alone would be enough to upset the poor girl.

Tala closed the door, taking a few stray pieces of wood to block the creases of in the door at the bottom. She checked the windows to make sure they were shut tight and she quickly started a fire. Once she did, she picked Hitomi up again and dragged the chair close to the fireplace so that Hitomi could get warmer. Gingerly, she'd take both of Hitomi's hands which were paler than ever and brought them closer to the fire's heat.

"Is that better?" she asked softly.

Hitomi frowned at Tala as she began to apologize, she couldn't keep her tears back, but she began to settle down quickly as she was picked up and held. "Mm..." She whined, burying her face one again into Tala's neck. As Tala moved around, she would, again, feel a small pressure as Hitomi cried. At the very least, Hitomi wasn't nipping hard. It was clear she was upset and just acting on her impulses.

By the time they'd gotten to the shack, Hitomi had calmed down for the most part. She sniffled lightly, her face still buried. Again, Hitomi's mind reeled, she didn't understand why she was being like this. It frustrated her, but every time she focused on that frustration, she'd just tear up again. She didn't want to cry! She sighed, closing her eyes and just letting her mind drift off. She'd just let Tala deal with things. There wasn't much she could do anyways.

Her eyes briefly opened as Tala kicked the door open. Hitomi shifted, looking around the place as she was set on the table. Hitomi pouted, but didn't complain. Instead she bundled herself in the cloak around her and silently watched Tala. Finally, a fire was made and Tala moved her towards it, holding out her hands and helping Hitomi warm hers.

Briefly Hitomi's eyes widened in wonder. Tala would notice Hitomi's fingers twitch every now and then, almost as if she wasn't quite used to them. Hitomi felt the warmth, the heat. She felt Tala's hands on hers. Now that she had time to take all this in, she realized how overwhelming it was. She'd look up, wide eyed at Tala for a moment, before quietly nuzzling against her once again. She...didn't understand things anymore. It was all too much. Her arms felt so real. An illusionist couldn't do this right? What if some weird magic thing had happened? What if she was stuck like this? She had her arms back though...She didn't realize how badly she wanted such a thing. Her mind reeled, the fog came back and Hitomi seemed to relax again. Did it matter in the end? She sighed, leaning heavily against Tala as she was warmed up. She could think about this later...

When Hitomi started nipping her again, Tala winced, but managed to resist the urge to push Hitomi away again (and thank goodness too, the fireplace was right there!). The nipping in itself wasn't necessarily painful, it just really caught Tala off by surprise and it would need getting used to if it was going to happen often. She could tell at the very least the nipping was something that this was something Hitomi was doing as a means of attention, so she couldn't necessarily scold her for it. Tala had her own horrid habits as a child and they were torture for those who had to take care of her.

She also noted that Hitomi was becoming very affectionate, but this was something Tala wasn't entirely against. The poor thing seemed so upset and Tala just wanted to make everything better for the little dear. Hitomi thankfully calmed down enough when she was warming her hands and the observation of Hitomi looking at her hands in wonder did not go unseen.

"That's right, your arms seem to be working, huh?" Tala said quietly. "That must be strange after so long."

As Hitomi leaned back against Tala's chest again, the woman would take Hitomi's arms and rub them gingerly in order to generate warmth.

"You just focus on resting," Tala said as she stroked the girl's head and ears.

As Hitomi was being cradled, the Enkidu would start hearing Tala humming.

It started off softly at first, barely audible until it started getting louder and Tala was singing the notes. There were no lyrics, but there melody in itself evoked a calm...and also a melancholy as Tala rocked Hitomi back and forth.

"Mm..." Hitomi let out a meloncholy sigh at Tala's observations. She was right. It was strange to say the least. She..didn't want to focus on them right now though, the thought of getting used to this and them being taken away was a bit too much for her to bear right now. Instead, she did as Tala asked and relax, just enjoying the feeling of being cared for, for once.

Every now and then, Hitomi would raise her head, pushing it against Tala's hand. Slowly, those actions stopped as her eyes began to droop. The fire, the warmth, and the song were a dangerous combination for Hitomi. She had to stay awake, she needed to. If there were other visions and Tala got pulled away...A small amount of panic awoke in the girl's heart once again. Her eyes fluttered open and she groggily reached out. She'd grab Tala's arm and almost cling to it. With her eyes fluttering, she pressed her finger against Tala's arm and began to trace a message, humming short stops with each letter.

'Don't...L....' Tala would notice Hitomi briefly relax before suddenly jerking awake and continuing her message. 'Le...ave m.....' And again she'd feel Hitomi grow heavy on her arm. Her body went limp as her eyes fluttered closed. She let out one final sigh before her mind finally drifted off.

Tala was humming peacefully as Hitomi started to nod off. She supposed it only sufficed that Hitomi was exhausted as she was, especially in this current body. What she hadn't expected was feeling Hitomi writing on her arm. She could feel letters and piecing them together, her eyes widened.

She looked at Hitomi, the small girl's eyes closed and the girl drifting into a slumber. Tala's eyes softened and she'd hold Hitomi even closer.

"Okay...I won't," she whispered to her. "I promise."

She'd press her forehead against Hitomi's and then resume to just cradling her as she slept.

A bit of time would pass and based on Hitomi's weight pressing more and more against her, she could tell that Hitomi was asleep. She decided it was probably better to make Hitomi as comfortable as possible. Tala took Hitomi's clothes, which had dried, and laid them out like a sheet against the floor near the fireplace before laying Hitomi down and using the satchel as a makeshift pillow for the girl. She then used her cloak as Hitomi's blanket and tucked her in.

Tala stared at her softly and smiled as she brushed back Hitomi's hair and let the girl rest. She then took a small flask from the satchel and moved back against the wall in the corner, allowing her to keep an eye on Hitomi as well as the door if anything tried to go through. Opening the flask, she drank its contents, which was water, though she really wished it was whiskey (gotta stay sober, Tala!).

Tala sighed and decided that since Hitomi was asleep, the best she could do was rest for now.

Her eyes closed for a second and when she opened them, she could see a figure out in the window. The person's back was turned but the spiky dark hair, the tanned skin, and the bustling red cloak in the wind caused her eyes to widen.

...

Tala instantly covered her eyes.

"No...no..." Tala whispered to herself. "It's just illusions. It's just illusions...it's just..."

She kept repeating the mantra as she tried to focus on her palms. If she stared at her palms, she couldn't look at anything else. No weird hallucinations, nothing.

However, as she looked at her palms, the light seemed to grow brighter in the room. The floor became a paler brown until it was golden. The ground was no longer hard and flat, but soft and grainy--sand. All of a sudden, Tala wasn't in the cabin. She was out in the desert in the hot bright sun.

"Tala! Wait! Stop!" a voice called out.

"No!"

The voices came from the distance and Tala would see a small girl with long dark curly hair, dark blue eyes, and tanned skin running towards what looked like an oasis of water in the distance. The girl wore a simple white tunic and a small red caplet. She continued to run until she tripped, the sand rising around her.

"Oi! You okay!?"

The next figure that appeared was the same lean young man wearing a cape rushing after her. He'd kneel down and pick her up, brushing off the sand.

"Gah, you're such a pain. I told you the ground was uneven."

The girl would close her eyes as he brushed the sand off her face, but once he was done, she merely beamed.

"I beat you to the oasis!" she said grinning widely. "I told you I got faster!"

The young man let out a chuckle and tousled the hair on her head.

"Yeah, you're fast. But it's no point if you act like an idiot, eh?"

"Buuu..."

Tala's hands slowly limped towards her sides as the image continued. The two were laughing and started setting up camp. The girl would do mischievous things like hide under the boy's cape, set a tree on fire, and even fall into the oasis head first. Each time though, the young man swept in to fix the mistakes and while he pretended to be mad, it always ended with him smiling at her.

The wind picked up and as the two were eating by a fire and the night came, the boy straightened up.

"Tala. We need to go."

"Go?"

The wind grew stronger and wisps of sand started to blow at them.

"Tala. Come on."

The boy would pick the girl up and scoop him into his arms while he shielded her with a cloak. The two started to walk into the distance.

Tala's eyes widened and she tried to stretch an arm out.

"No...wait!" she said, though her voice sounded raspy and small.

The figures began to grow smaller and smaller.

"Sal, no! Wait for me!" she yelled. She tried to get up, but the sand beneath her started to turn liquid and wrapped around her waist. She began to sink.

"No! NO! Sal! Please!" she said as she swam forward and the sand continued to blow.

The sand began to fly in waves and as the figures disappeared, so did Tala's body into the quicksand.



Tala's eyes clapped open and she gasped. She could hear fire crackling. The ground beneath her was solid. Looking frantically, she saw Hitomi still asleep.

She sighed in relief, lying back against the wood as she rubbed her eyes which were now wet.

She then checked to see how Hitomi was doing and if she was still asleep.

Hitomi seemed to sleep rather soundlessly, at least at the start. Much like Tala, she eventually began to see things she'd rather not see. Hitomi, though, experienced this quite often, at least when she was stupid enough to think on her past before she slept. As usual she found herself back in her village. She was young. The scene played out from memory, every detail being burned into her.

Flashes came of her hiding. Of her watching the violence that erupted in the streets. People fell left and right. She saw her father. She saw a man. A sword raised, her father fell. She ran towards her father, only to be blocked by the man. Her hands gripped a sword and the-

Her eyes suddenly shot open. A sound reached her ears, pulling her out of the familiar nightmare. It was Tala's voice, nothing clear. It sounded like loud mumbling. Hitomi let out a small groan herself, she felt so exhausted. Oddly enough, she just wanted to sleep more. She was so used to the stupid nightmare, the lack of sleep...but yet she was so tired. Wait...wait no! Hitomi forced her eyes open once more. Tala seemed distressed, she needed to get up! Hitomi let out a small huff, and...and...

Oh Gods.

She couldn't move. She looked down wide eyed and saw that she was AGAIN stuck inside her OWN. ROBE. Her nostrils flared a moment, her cheeks puffing out. Okay..okay she's got this. She didn't even notice Tala approaching her as she began to thrash in her bindings. After a couple seconds she settled, taking heavy breaths as she formulated a plan. She needed to help Tala. She needed to get over there somehow...

!!!

Next, Tala would see Hitomi roll onto her stomach and begin to almost, inchworm her way forward. Hitomi was SO FOCUSED on trying to move, she completely missed Tala being pretty much right in front of her.

Tala felt a soft thud against her knees and noticed Hitomi had rolled her way out of the makeshift bed and towards her. Tala let out a rather large sigh of relief, even if nothing had happened. Without warning, Hitomi in her bundled state was scooped up again held tightly, even tighter than usual. She'd feel that the woman was shaking and was clutching tightly on the fabric. It was almost as if hugging Hitomi was an attempt to comfort herself rather than the other way around.

After a moment, she let go and looked at her apologetically.

"Sorry, I got you stuck in your own clothes again," she said before pulling Hitomi out of the cloak. She'd pet the girl on the head before asking, "Did I wake you?"

AHHH-oh...Hitomi briefly struggled as she was picked up. She had no idea what was happening for a moment, honestly it scared the hell out of her. She shook slightly, but upon seeing Tala she was quick to pull herself together. It seemed Tala needed her more than she thought. She was hugged tightly, Tala shaking the whole time. Hitomi frowned, pushing her head forward and nuzzling against the woman's cheek. She wished she could do more right now...

The moment Tala pulled her back and untangled her, Hitomi would reach up, clearly wanting to be picked up again. The moment she was, she'd throw her arms around Tala once again. This time though, she began to trace out another message. Hitomi didn't care about her own nightmare anymore, she needed to make sure Tala was alright.

'I'm here for you too.' She paused a moment before continuing. 'You've been seeing upsetting things.' It was a fact, rather than a question. 'If you want to talk, I'm here...I want to help.' She'd pull back, trying to stare Tala in the eyes. Then, she'd press her forehead against her's, moving her head back and forth and closing her eyes.

When Tala picked up Hitomi again, she hadn't expected to frel writing on her back. She paid attention, however, and made a point to take in the words.

Once Hitomi finished, Tala smiled at her sadly.

"I feel bad you're the one looking out for me rather than the other way around," she said sheepishly.

Tala leaned against the wall again and sighed.

"I didn't see anything upsetting,", Tala said quietly. "Everything I saw were things that...made me so happy."

The pain in her voice on the last line was palpable.

"I saw someone I...miss very much," she confessed. "This entire trip everything's just reminded me of him. It's not just the illusions either."

Tala's eyes would drift to her scythe and she'd place it against her arms examining the details with a small smile.

"It's odd because it's been so long. So very long and I just..."

Tala's hand wrapped gently against the scythe's handle before releasing.

"All the hurt right now feels as bad as it did more than twenty years ago."

Her voice was steady as she spoke. She had no tears in her eyes and she wasn't trembling anymore. But the quiet look in her eyes and the way she talked spoke volumes of the mourning she was in.

She looked at Hitomi and ruefully giggled.

"You know, it's been forever since I've had a partner too. I'm happy it was someone like you who I got to be partners with. I don't think I'd make it otherwise."

It was hard to interpret what she meant with the last line, but she hoped Hitomi understood it