nachetanya | Recollé Overflow Post

[oh.

In her surprise, she looks into Natalia's eyes. Her eyes... That's right, they were a different color, weren't they? They became red... Like Minako's. Cleo's suddenly more aware of her own eye, the yellow cat's eye and the blind blue eye...

She squeezes Natalia's hand a bit.]

... Thank you. I... You've been quite amazing to me yourself, you know. Even now...

[ Should she let the moment linger? This moment was soft and tender, delicate feeling despite the fact she was - no, she actually knew that the smaller woman could actually literally life her up. And so Natalia pauses for a moment, weighing her options before she makes the obvious choice.

It's the squeeze which does it.

She was content to feel it a little more, brush out the palm of the smaller woman, but instead her lips quirk up into a smirk as she asks, ]

I made your heart skip a beat just now, didn't I?

[ Breaking Cleo's ability to compliment her back (ah, she ... meant that, didn't she?) with a teasing remark. ]

[It worked, and now she's red and flustered, to the point she's practically sputtering.

(And yet, though her grip is relaxed, she hasn't quite let go yet.)]

D- Don't be ridiculous!

[ Smirk

And she sticks out her tongue a little, cutely! She opens her eyes finally. ]

Edited 2018-01-22 09:23 (UTC)

[god why is she cute? it's unfair?? WHO LET HER BE CUTE AND ALSO RUIN HER LIKE THIS.

Her ears fold forward, like she's trying to cover up her face in her embarrassment with them.]

You have an overactive imagination.

[ and yet, Cleo's still holding her hand. She's painfully aware of it in this moment, but she's glad. Breaking the intimacy in favor of this makes this feel much more natural. The former princess's grin widens, impish and amused. She considers dancing her fingers in a provocative manner but thinks better of it, she just sort of keeps them here and laughs lightly.

... The memory's probably over on the TV, but the wheels on the train are still going. ]

Mmm, I've been told that before too!

[The train is still moving, but the TV's silence, and the silence of the reactions to the TV, have her much more noticeably relaxed, letting her shoulders slump a small bit.]

By others you tease like this?

You think there are others?

[ Her eyes widen and she looks... hurt? Offended that Cleo might think she wasn't special?

... Of course, it's an act, because she giggles after only letting Cleo possibly be tricked a moment. If she was tricked at all ]

[This time, she isn't fooled, and she laughs.]

Well, now I'm certain of it.

Really? I've lost my touch already?

[ Her finger sort of open and close on Cleo's hands, giving the impression of her fingers tapping there one by one.

.. But she laughs too. It's good to see the other woman laugh for how melancholy she looked for a moment there. ]

[Natalia is, somehow, quite good at distracting her. Which is nice, because god knows she could use the distraction.]

If you lay it on too thick, even someone as dense as me can figure it out.

If I'm too subtle, I do worry you might actually fall for me.

[ Because she's dead certain that she did make Cleo a little smitten there.

... Ah, her eye. She sees the girl's catlike eye up close now, and she ends up leaning in a little towards her face, getting lost in it. It's a shame that the train cart here is bright enough that she can't see the reflective glow. And it's a shame she's not holding those catlike hands.

... She shouldn't think that.

But the TV, meanwhile, is buzzing with static, as if finding a new channel. ]

[close. oh god close. her heart is pounding, but a cute girl in that close proximity, that's only understandable, right?

She completely fails to notice the TV, as distracted as she is.]

Th- That's not possible, I- I already have feelings for someone...

[ Natalia's eyes go half-lidded, and she scoots just a little bit closer still. Her voice drops a little - it's a soft baby bird thing usually, but now she takes on a somewhat sultry tone, a practiced movement that someone who needs to impress people for customer service and casino work. She's probably playing a little too hard here, isn't she? But it's fun, and... ]

So? That just means I need to try a little harder.

[oh

oh okay.

so this is it. this is how she dies.

her face turns red, and her ears stand up tall in surprise, as she tries very hard to regain her composure. she's certain natalia's teasing her, just joking, but she was caught off-guard enough that it still worked.]

Th- That- That's- I- Um-

[you've reduced her to a stuttering mess. good job.]

[ She could kiss her right now and Cleo wouldn't even be able to stop her. Hell, she might even enjoy it. That feeling of power over the other excites Natalia, her red eyes going wide as she inches another centimeter down. Her hand grips the other's a little harder, pushing her back down a little. She shifts from looking sultry to subtly different - perhaps a little bit excited.

She's caught up in her own moment.

However, it's at that moment something comes on the screen. She hears a strange growl* and she stops there, her eyes going a little wide. ... Ah, of course, turnabout would be fair.

*- the scene in question would be from about 11:40 and then go through to about 13:25. However, every instance of her real name (Nashetania in those subs) is censored, sort of the sound cutting off/dipping in and out. Because Natalia doesn't know it yet as such it can't be in the memory being shown on the screen. ]

[Cleo is, in a lot of ways, contrary to her first impressions. For her rough nature, her love of working out and her enjoyment of sparring, when it comes to something like romance, she's actually more of a pure maiden type. She's rather innocent, and is much more suited to being on this end of things.

Which is to say, as Natalia closes in, Cleo looks up, eyes wide... and then closes her eyes, trying to keep her heart from pounding out her chest. It's like permission for Natalia to do whatever she's going to do...

And then her eyes snap open again at the growl.

She turns to watch. Monsters, Natalia fighting them- Ears? Rabbit ears? Natalia's comrade with the flute...]

... So your visions are a hero's after all.

[She's a bit distracted now.]

[ If the country girl has regrets about the fact that her moment was ruined, it barely shows. She's turned to see the memories, interested to see it from a new angle, to not have it purely be her own eyes.

She winces every time the blades fly. When those creatures - ah, she said "fiends," didn't she? - are beheaded. It's odd, to see how she's moving, what she's saying. She remembers all that, of course, but really, she remembers more the emotions that she felt then when she remembers it. And it certainly, certainly was not the fear that she's seeing her her body movements. It seems she's always been an actress.

A hero. A Brave? Wasn't that a term that's come up once or twice in those memories? Natalia's hand releases itself from Cleo's, and she brings it up over her chest, resting there a little bit off from her heart, where that new tattoo is on her chest. She showed it off to that man, Adlet. It clearly as important.

But... ]

This was the memory I told you about. [ When she called her in at midnight, terrified about being a killer. ] ... I don't know if it's so heroic.

[When she'd called Cleo, Cleo had been worried about what memory she'd gotten. It had sounded like she was killing people, but those monsters... fiends? were the ones attacking people. So, didn't Natalia save them?]

... Why not?

I killed those creatures. The fiends, I mean.

[ She beheaded them without hesitation. She watches as the blades soar up, moving fast enough it's hard to see as the head of that kangaroo looking thing goes flying. And in her mind's eye, she can see another one cradling her gently in a different memory, as Dozzu welcomes her to the continent. She remembers her devotion and dedication as she declared she was going to kill ... ]

[Cleo reaches up after her, to take her hand back, and give it a comforting squeeze.]

Those fiends were trying to kill the people, weren't they?

Probably...? Looking through it again, it does look like that.

[ That doesn't make her a hero. Her motivations...

Ah, but a TV screen can't show motivations, can it? ]

[No it can't. And Cleo's naive, she's fallen for the other Natalia's act, one hundred percent.]

Fighting to protect people like that... That's incredibly brave.

[ Natalia's mouth feels a little dry but...

No, she doesn't have the heart to argue against it, to get into some sort of discussion about if she was wrong to say that the other Cleo looked amazing while Cleo is wrong to say she was a hero. Maybe she was a hero. Certainly, at least in that moment... those people were probably saved. That's enough.

She squeezes the hand back. ]

Adlet was more impressive, I think. Or maybe it's that my powers make it look effortless for me.

Perhaps. But it was your first real battle, wasn't it? And you fought to protect those people.

Adlet may have fought better, but he seemed used to the danger. I think you were braver.

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