@deceitanon 146
Rasa pauses for a while longer, holding the bottle of alcohol close simply because she wants to hold something in general.
"Um..."
...
"Yeah... I..."
It takes her a lot to say her next words, and her body relaxes fully when she does.
"I trust you... Just um... I'm..."
She shakes her head and stops saying whatever she was going to say.
"Is Amber still in the same room?"
She trusts Amber decently too, but she doesn't fully trust anyone yet.
āOh- uh sure I think so- she doesnāt come out of there oftenā
{Remy frowns, he grows tense.. he wasnāt able to get Rasa to like him enough.. he doesnāt want to manipulate her in any wayā¦ but if she somehow ends up hating him..}
{heās fucked in so many ways}
{he.. doesnāt want to go back.. to how things were with Tyme}
"Thank you..."
She notices him tense up.
...
She considers saying anything or not...
"Are you okay...?"
She's just wary of trusting anyone... Sure she trust physical contact with Amber, that's why she asked in the first place, but she does trust Remy being protective...
Trust isn't linear for her.
She doesn't understand why Remy is tense though.
āYouā¦. Literally have my fucking life in the palm of your hands. You tell my heart to stop beating it will!ā
āIām scared!ā {his voice wavers}
āPleaseā¦ I need you to trust meā¦ so I know I can trust youā
āI-I donāt want to dieā¦ā
{he tears up, his tears are all black.. oil, his vision gets spotty because of it}
{he backs up against the wall}
Rasa freezes as she thinks...
"I..."
Her mind feels louder.
"I-I wouldn't... I-I don't want to hurt anyone..."
Saying don't want instead of just won't...
"S-sorry I-I'm sorry!"
She can't think straight.
"I don't want this! I-I... Fuck! I..."
She can't just...
She backs up.
"I-I don't distrust you... I... I just struggle to trust, i-it's not you..."
Why does she want to run...
...
"I... I trust some things with you?... I-I trust you being protective, but I trust Amber with touch... Trust isn't... I... It isn't linear for me... I wanted Amber so I could be held..."
That's all...
āIā¦Iā
āFuck can we talk about this later- just forget it happened until we get some fucking sleep and itās not 3 am in the god forsaken morningā
{Remy is shakingā¦ such a powerful man, broken}
āJustā¦ donāt touch the strings until we talkā¦ā
Rasa nods and takes a deep breath.
"O-Okay... I... Talk later then, Remy..."
She silently walks over to the room Amber had been in... She doesn't look at Remy again.
...
"Amber?" Rasa knocks on the door as she asks.
{Remy shakily teleports to Eddieās room} āEddie?ā
āā
{Amber is sleeping with the cats, her tail curled up as a bed for them}
āHmā¦ Ra?ā
{she murmurs sleepily}
Eddie is quick to sit up in his bed when hears Remy.
"Remy?... What's wrong?"
He shifts over in his bed to make room for Remy. He's half asleep, but he'll wake up for Remy no matter what.
----
Rasa hums and sits on the edge of the bed.
"Hi... Can I sleep with you tonight?"
She takes off the braces while she talks and leans them up against a nearby wall... She sounds sad and tired.
"Don't want to talk about it."
She just wants to stop thinking.
She also places the alcohol next to the braces, saving that for later.
āStringsā¦ Bad.ā
{Remy shakes his head as he slips into the spot Eddie made}
ārasaā¦ can control me..ā
ā-
āMmm, mhm, cāmere itās sleep timeā
{Amber makes room for here}
āI like those braces you got.. *yawns*ā
Eddie holds Remy gently and wraps a tail around him.
"Hmm..."
It takes a second for what Remy said to register, and by that point he's properly awake.
"Wait what?... H-how?"
He barely knows Rasa.
----
Rasa gets into the bed and actually curls up into Amber unprompted.
"Thank you..."
She falls asleep almost immediately... She doesn't know how long she's been awake.
āMana Weavingā
āShe literally-ā
āShe literally weaves things from my core..ā
{Remy curls up into the bed}
āShe doesnāt even trust me!ā
āShe can do anything to me!ā
āā-
{Amber purrs softly and holds Rada, falling asleep with her}
Eddie gently runs his hand through Remy's hair to try and calm both of them.
He has to think.
"Has she given any indication she would do anything to hurt you?"
Knowing Eddie's protective nature this question is important to him.
"I'm here... I wouldn't let anything happen, okay?"
āO-okay.. and not- really? But she doesnāt know how to use it correctly.. she came up with Mana weaving on her own!ā
āShe doesnāt want to control me it looks like- which is good.. but damnit I need her on my side, so I can relax in againā
{Remy nuzzles into Eddie}
āShe can also see everything I do apparently- even which it comes to rewinding timeā¦ā
āItās so weird- Iām so curious about what she can do but at the same time holy shitā
āHow do I go at this my dreamer? How do I not make it so Iām not being pushy about this..?ā
Eddie nuzzles Remy back and takes a deep breath.
"Shit... Um... You can teach her how to use it, which could build trust too... But also you could try talking?... I mean earning someone's trust is different for each person."
He runs his hand through Remy's hair.
"It'll be okay, my seeker... I can't really explain how to earn someone's trust because it can vary so much, so just talk to her and ask you know?... Sorry if it isn't very helpful... Want me to stay by you?"
{Remy nods and sighs softly, and shakily}
āMaybeā¦ I should talk to her in her dreams.. that way she can feel safer? I canāt hurt her in her dreamscapeā
āand yes please.. i want you to stay with me, thank youā
{Remy leans into Eddieās hand}
āI love youā
Eddie purrs softly and and kisses Remy's forehead.
"I love you too, my seeker... I'll be right here."
...
--
Rasa is back in the valley from her last dreamscape. The large flower field surround by mountains with the river that flows through it. She's sat at the river, feet in the water, wings laid out, and humming softly as she stares at the water.
A gentle breeze cools the air around them.
She wouldn't notice Remy at first.
{Remy watches her in the background, completely invisible to her- unfortunately, he canāt appear until Rasa looks for him}
{He looks around in dreamscape, he fidgets with his string on his wrist with a sigh}
Rasa kicks her feet in the river and sighs.
She pauses though. She's more aware of the strings in general, so she can sense that.
"... Remy?"
She looks towards him, just to see he'e there, and then turns back to the river.
{Remy immediately tenses and nods}
āSorry- I donāt.. mean to interrupt your space..but I thought this would be the best place, since none of us can hurt each other in hereā
{Remy slowly sits down in a distance but next to her, giving her space but he knows they need to talk}
Rasa nods slowly and stays silent for a while.
"I don't like having power over others... Not like this."
She sighs.
"I don't want to hurt you... But I also don't feel ready to really trust anyone yet. It's scary..."
She kicks her feet in the water more.
"... I trust Amber with touch, but... Not really more. Still feel on edge... So it's not... It's not anything to do with you when it comes to trust."
āā¦ā
āI guess thatās fair- I.. believe you, when you say that you donāt like having power over people.. but we are here nowā
āI canāt.. do much about it but the best way to go about thisā¦ i teach you how to fully master and understand Mana weaving..ā
{Remy says with a shaky sigh}
āIt wonāt be all in one day, but- it would be best if we at least talked about startingā
Rasa nods slowly and fidgets with her hands.
"I would like to learn then... Maybe I'll feel ready to trust people eventually, but... Past isn't always easy to let go of. I'm at least eating now, even if I still really hate needing blood."
There's progress, but she's not quick to it.
"How would you teach me?..."
She looks over at Remy finally. Her golden and red eyes, she almost always covers her red eye with her hair. Not in her dreamscape though.
āWell, you should show me what you know, then I can help expand on itā
{Remy turns to her and tilts his head}
āAny progress is still good yknow?ā
Rasa smiles softly and relaxes.
"Yeah... Sure I don't know how much I do know in perspective to how much can be done."
She chuckles a little and then focuses on the mana threads again.
She weaves them like incredibly fine lace into one of her dolls. Indistinguishable from a real person when she flows the mana into it in order to animate it.
Then she weaves together a wine glass like before. She mainly just knows how to weave it together to make a type of illusion.
It's just mana, but the way she does is like making an illusion out of something physical instead of a mirage.
"Kind of just know how to weave it together to make things, not sure how to do anything else right now."
Still she weaved those threads together impossibly fast.
"Does that help?"
āThat does help a lot, you are very skilled at this ability, is there a limit for you that you are aware of? Like when you weave too much?ā
{Remy asks with a head tilt, he stares at the wine glass in a slight awe, he can see the glass is made out of only mana but she made it look like a solid wine glass}
Rasa thinks for a moment at Remy's questions.
"I have not found a limit, no, but I also only really made my dolls with it before Virgil asked if I could make other objects... While I can the structures of things it's still more like an illusion than a real object."
She unweaves the glass and weaves together what looks and smells like coffee.
"I can make things smell, look, and feel like the real thing... But it isn't so this would basically just be like drinking mana."
She unweaves it as well.
"And I'm not using internal mana to do this either so it only tires me out from the movement. I do have a small amount of internal mana, but I use that when controlling the dolls."
She fidgets with threads she has wrapped around her fingers as she talks.
"I suppose the main limit from weaving too much would be from mental exhaustion since it takes focus? It does take focus, but the type that is more like muscle memory?"
Background focus can still be tiring.
āHoly shit.. Iām very impressed, can you show me how you weave exactly? I can see that you do it in a fast fashion, but I could help you make your weaves last without much concentration, Mana holds memory, kinda like memory foamā
āYou just need to learn how to weave the ends properly so it stays in form until you unweave itā
{Remy says with a head tilt}ļæ¼
Rasa nods and thinks for a moment.
"Hmmm..."
She grabs the threads and weaves them together slower this time. She weaves similar to how people would handmake lace. She weaves together in such a fine way, but at a closer look she does very specific patterns as she does.
For the glass it has a repeating simpler pattern that causes the mana to reflect within the threads... Resulting in the glass illusion.
When she does her dolls though the patterns vary and repeat in patterns, also looking like more complex patterns... it causes the mana to reflect through the threads in a different way.
She's not just threading it together, she's creating patterns to reflect the mana in the threads. She doesn't seem to really realize that though.
The stress ball at simple repeating patterns, different segments of the dolls require different patterns, the wine glass is folded patterns.
"Does that help...?"
The fact she does that all fast enough to look like regular magic is... It would seem impossible.
āIt does help- but damn youāre honestly already a pro at this.. youāre not just threading it together you are creating patterns to reflect the mana in the threads-ā
{Remy blinks slowly}
āIām honestly really impressed by you, is- hm is there something you think youād struggle with? Because if you are just as good in other aspects then I donāt think I can teach you muchā
{he chuckles slightly}
Rasa pauses and stares at the threads in thought.
"Oh... Uh..."
She wasn't expecting this.
"I don't think I struggle with anything else? But I only create the items so I'm unsure if there's anything else I should know."
"Had at least 900 years of nothing else to do... So suppose I'd figure stuff out?"
She shrugs and fidgets with the strings.
āDamn- okay that makes sense, 900 is definitely a lot of time to perfect your abilitiesā¦ā
āWhen it comes to Mana Weaving, looks like you know it all- but it kinda confuses me how you manage to tug my stringsā
{Remy doesnāt seem upset or bothered by this fact anymore- more confused than anything}
"Well I don't particularly think about what threads I'm grabbing, not until now at least... Unless you mean it shouldn't be possible at all?"
She looks over with a similarly confused look... And she does decide to sit closer now.
"If I'm not supposed to be able to regardless then I'm lost too."
āIt definitely is possible, which is why I tried to get rid of mana weaving- maybe since you are used to your dolls that you subconsciously tugged on my strings?ā
{Remy murmurs noticing that she moved closer, he doesnāt tense up, or look scared}
{he lets her move closer}
āDo you.. remember what it felt like?ā
Rasa thinks for a moment.
"Maybe... That would seem like the most reasonable guess."
She takes a moment to think about to question of feeling it... It felt odd, but how so?
...
"It felt weird. Like I was tugging on a string that wasn't anything like any others I used before... The string also felt more dense mana wise if that makes sense? Stiffer maybe... Also felt warmer."
She takes a deep breath and sighs.
"I really did not like how it felt pulling on it. I'm used to free floating threads, and the ones on my dolls, they're light and smooth."
āā¦ā
āSoā¦ā
āYou wouldnāt want to try it again?ā
{Remy looks away as he murmurs quietly, he doesnāt know why he asked- why he suddenly wants her to try again.. maybe itās curiosity? Eddie canāt really mana weave like Rasa}
{this is his greatest fear.. maybe if he can learn a way to stop himself from being puppeted or learn how to resist, he could finally live in peace?}
{maybe thatās too much to ask from Rasa right now}
āā¦ā {Itās obvious that Remy is thinking loudly despite going quiet}
Rasa did have an immediate answer, but she pauses when she notices how Remy falls silent in thought.
...
"I... I would not..."
...
"Would you want me to...? You're stuck in thought a bit there."
She sounds a little worried as she moves closer. Not close enough to touch, but she wants to see Remy more clearly.
