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THE THIRSTY MINNOW - NINELL'S ROOM - MORNING
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Ninell yawns a bit as he wakes up, his free arm stretching into the air from beneath the blanket covering himself and Phoebe. He smiles a bit as he looks to the side, wanting to see the wolf sleeping cutely beside him as she usually does.
Aelia is, unfortunately, not the wolf which Ninell has awoken besides before. The deer may be sleeping cutely regardless, though. She shifts slightly in her sleep as Ninell wakes up besides her.
Ninell blinks in surprise upon seeing Aelia sleeping beside him, but simply smiles again after a few moments and lets Aelia sleep. He'd get up and get dressed, but he doesn't want to disturb her on accident.
Aelia sleeps a little longer, but eventually shifts again, starting to wake up. As she starts to become aware of her surroundings, her lazy yawn quickly turns to a spike of panic at the unfamiliar presence besides her, and the sharp intake of breath signals when she's fully awake.
Ninell clears his throat when he hears Aelia waking up. "Good morning, Aelia. Don't worry, it just me, Ninell. Phoebe had a long day yesterday, and decided to spend the night with me."
Aelia tenses at the voice, but slowly relaxes. At least the voice is familiar? It's still weird, waking up like this. "Ninell... right. I guess it's more than a one-night thing for Phoebe then... good for her." She doesn't quite sound bitter, but there's a hint of resignation there. She definitely doesn't know how to feel about it.
Ninell hums quietly, nodding a bit. "We have been meeting and spending time together rather regularly for the last while she's been up and about. Though, she did anticipate a change yesterday evening." He slowly withdraws his arm from around Aelia's shoulders, then sits up to grab the letter Phoebe wrote, which he passes to Aelia, "She was able to write something for you. Here, Aelia..."
Aelia sits up slightly in the bed, "She anticipated it? And..." She takes the letter, and begins to read it quietly, her expression shifting as she does so, "O-oh... this one is different..."
Ninell shifts a little, just getting comfortable on the bed as he watches Aelia reading the letter. He'd helped Phoebe get some thoughts out that she was having some minor troubles articulating, but otherwise just let her put her thoughts to words.
Aelia reads, then slowly folds the letter back up and glances at Ninell, "What changed? What changed with her? Her tone is totally different this time... it's not... just instructions, or details, nothing else. Dates, names. This is... she's apologizing?"
Aelia looks at Ninell curiously, but one detail stands out, her eyes match Phoebe's, mismatched colors, one still resembling her old eye color, the other is the same mismatched heterochromia as Phoebe, although, the colors are switched, the left and right eye colors flipped from Phoebe's eye colors.
Ninell shrugs a little, but smiles at Aelia all the same. "I cannot speak for her, but I would say that it has been a while coming. She knows your life has been beyond difficult ever since you two ended up... linked, I suppose, but she just never knew how to say things while also dealing with everything else she was thrown into." He pauses, then tilts his head curiously upon seeing Aelia's eyes. He doesn't comment on it just yet, though he gazes at her, examining her facial features a bit more closely.
Aelia otherwise looks the same, her snout and face very deerlike, as expected of the rather lithe deer. She seems unsure, "She's been running my life since she showed up, either because of the changes, or the things she's done... I've just done my best, but..." She pauses, looking closely at Ninell, "What? What's wrong?"
Ninell blinks again and gives his head a little shake. "Oh, uh, my apologies, Aelia. Nothing is wrong, but I was just, er... well, I was looking at your eyes, and I only just realized something..."
Aelia blinks, shifting away slightly to reach a hand up to her face, "My eyes?"
Ninell nods a bit, curiosity on his face. "Phoebe has two differently colored eyes. I only just realized it, but one of the eyes is the same as yours."
Aelia pauses, color draining from her face, "What... do you mean, Ninell? My eyes are both blue... they've always been blue." And yet one of her eyes is a decidedly orange in color. The implications are clearly worrying her as she shakes her head, "You... you're joking, right?"
Ninell shakes his head. "No, I mean to say that Phoebe has one orange eye and one blue eye. The blue eye is the same as yours." He pauses, then sighs a bit, figuring he might as well break it to her since she seems to have guessed it anyway, "...But no. When we last spoke, you had two blue eyes. Now, though, one of your eyes looks like Phoebe's orange eye, just..." He gestures a couple of fingers up at his own eyes, then twists his hand around indicating a reversal, "Switched, if that makes sense."
Aelia puts her hand to her chest, taking a few deep breaths, "I... I'm trying really hard not to panic... what does that even mean? One of... Phoebe's eyes? Is she... trying to take over? But... the letter." She lifts the folded letter back up and opens it, rereading it. "If anything, her words here make it sound like she wants to work together, to find a way to co-exist together..."
Ninell nods. "She wants to work with you, from all the talks I've had with her as of late. I doubt she expected this sort change at all, much less intended it to happen." He reaches out a hand and gently rests it on Aelia's shoulder, "She wants to keep existing, and I think she has come to terms with the fact that you two are, at least for now, inseparable."
Aelia is silent for a moment after Ninell finishes talking, taking a few deep breaths to gather herself and her thoughts. Eventually she sighs, "I wish I knew what I'd done to cause this... I don't want to hurt Phoebe either, but things can't keep going the way they were." She tilts her head at Ninell, "And... you two are...?" She indicates the bed. "Or is this just... it's more than just a 'thing'?"
Ninell smiles a little. "When Phoebe and I were talking before, she was rather clearly hoping we might be something together. Of course, she also did not want to rush into something like that if you're against it, since her actions do also involve you, in a way. Last night, we had shared this bed since she was exhausted from a long day, but we did not get up to any particular mischief once she finished her evening bath."
Aelia blushes lightly, but nods. "This is all very difficult for you, I'm sure. I'm sorry you can't just be with her."
Ninell shakes his head a bit. "There is nothing to apologize about, Aelia. We are deferring to your feelings on the matter, since... well... anything Phoebe and I do would also involve you."
Aelia shifts to slide out of bed, sitting on the edge with her legs dangling off the side, she seems to only just notice that she's naked, lifting her arms up to cover herself. "I appreciate that. You two... I don't want to get between you."
Ninell goes to slip out of bed as well, taking but a moment to slip into at least the bottom part of his usual "at home" outfit before he picks up Phoebe's clothing, and offers them to Aelia. "That is why Phoebe and I are content to wait. Neither of us want to cause you any distress." He opens his mouth after a moment to continue, but comes up short. Instead, he just smiles softly.
Aelia takes the clothes and starts to put it on to cover herself. Since arriving in Respite, the two have actually started to develop personal wardrobes, and their slightly different sizes do make the clothes a little ill-fitting. She watches Ninell a moment longer, waiting for him to finish his thought before prompting, "Hmm? I appreciate that, really, but feel free to tell me if there's something more. I... I'm ready. It can't be weirder than the eye thing..."
Ninell pauses for a few moments, giving Aelia some privacy by averting his eyes while she slips into Phoebe's outfit. He waits until she's done before looking back at her and answering. "Well... I mentioned before, when you and I first met, that I would do what I could to help you, as well as Phoebe. While I get the sense Phoebe is serious about us being "a thing", as you say, and I would like to be the same with her, you would be getting dragged into things, and neither of us want to do that to you."
Aelia: "I... understand. I'm just saying I don't want to stand in the way. You two should spend the time you do have together, if that's what you both want."
Ninell hums a bit as he goes to take a seat at the side of the bed, keeping a respectful distance between him and Aelia. "Mmh, perhaps, but it still would involve you, hence our reluctance in committing, since you two do not know when you will switch places."
Aelia hums, "That's... the hard part, yeah. Again, I'm real sorry it has to be like that, but I want it to work out for you! Gosh, it sounds so corny, but I want at least one of us to be happy."
Ninell chuckles a little and dips his head in acknowledgement. "It means a lot, Aelia, truly. But... well, I had a thought that only occurred to me not too long ago." He pauses, then tilts his head curiously as he poses his question to Aelia, "Thinking on the situation, what if you were also involved with us?"
Aelia blinks, trying to work out what Ninell means. "Involved... how? More than...? You mean what if you and I were...? I mean, you seem nice and all, but I don't even know you otherwise. We've only really run into each other... well, like this."
Ninell shrugs, having expected an answer like that. "We have only really met in some odd circumstances, yes. But that was just a thought, as ridiculous as it might have sounded. It was only something I thought of as a means to not cause you undue stress simply for myself and Phoebe to be together."
Aelia chuckles awkwardly, "Seems like it would just end up causing undue stress for you... I don't know..."
Ninell chuckles. "I am not unaccustomed to stress. It was but a thought, of course. Regardless, Phoebe and I can wait while the three of us continue to figure out your... shared condition."
Aelia 's laugh fades into a sigh, "Yeah... it... it should probably come first. If you and Phoebe are really working so hard on that, then I imagine we'll be spending time together anyways."
Ninell nods a bit. "I've only just returned to town not too long ago, but I am doing what I can to assist, though it has not amounted to much yet, I'm afraid." He glances out of the room's window to judge the time of day, then looks back at Aelia, "Though, we can speak some more on these matters over some breakfast, perhaps."
Aelia frowns, "Only just returned... how long was I gone...?" She shakes her head, "Right. Breakfast does sound good."
Ninell slowly stands up and offers Aelia a hand up. "A few weeks, at least, if you and Phoebe switched not long after I left. She mentioned this was the longest she's been 'awake', yesterday, but didn't know why."
Aelia reaches up to take Ninell's hand, her grip less firm then Phoebe's. "That's worrying... especially with the change to my eye?" She shudders a bit, but leaves it at that. "Let's... let's do breakfast. You can fill me in on anything else I missed."
Ninell is quite courteous as he helps Aelia up, his fingers held open just so she has a spot to grab hold of while standing up. "I'll do what I can to get you caught up on events since I've returned to town. Let's get some food."
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OUTSIDE THE WESTERN GATE - EARLY MORNING
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Ashform seems uncomfortable as the gates pass by. Having seen them only a handful of times, and always from the inside, the elemental is becoming keenly aware of how far away from the smithy Melia seems to be leading it. "When you said your Tarbin lives to the west, near the wall..." The guard seemed to just ignore them, perhaps because their shift ends as the sun rises, and the vague twilight over the East mountains only hints that that time is 'soon'. The not-quite-darkness lets hot coals making up curled ibex horns shimmer rather brightly, seeming to thrum with life every time the two elementals are hit by a breeze.
Melia giggles softly, walking with a bit of a bounce in her step, feeling like a great weight has been lifted from her: "He's near! Or should be, he kinda wanders around though not as much as I do. He did mention I'm hard to find at times."
Ashform chuckles a puff of smoke, nodding. "I believe you... I just was not expecting to leave the town." Looking back over a shoulder, the elemental hums. "I feel strange about it."
Melia smiles, nod-nodding: "Yup, it sorta does. Was when I first did it outside of Tarbin too, and it's like," she waves a hand vaguely: "all this greenery is an extension of me of sorts, or can be, or it's hard to really explain."
Ashform looks about at the environment, nodding slightly. "I see. It has a lot of life, like you do. Very different from inside the town, with all the stone and dead wood." As the pair walk, the ashform leaves a trail of ashy hoof prints, the grass under them curled as if from heat, but not dead. "I find your whole path hard to understand, though. Tied to a place, and then to a person?"
Melia blinks, then grins sheepishly: "Eh uh yeah... I'm not sure how all that really worked. I think I was borne out of the tree in Erika's garden, as well as Erika, as well as-" She shudders a bit: "That skunk's magic. But it's hard to tell cause I thought I was Erika at the time..."
Ashform chuckles again, looking to Melia. "I know what that is like."
Melia smiles: "Suppose we are the only ones who really do."
Ashform nods, cracking a smile to Melia. "Perhaps we'll meet others some day?"
Tarbin yawns widely after swinging his legs over the side of his bed, standing into a groaning stretch. Lighting a small lantern for a bit of light and setting it on a small table in the middle of the hut, his tails flick the stiffness of sleep away as he takes a few steps over. After lifting his long coat from its branchy hook and donning only that, the lizard takes to leaning against the doorway to the hut to watch for sunrise.
Melia steps into the small clearing where Tarbin's hut is, calling out: "Tarbiiiiiin! We're here! Though I suppose I coulda told you before hand, now that I think about it, but sort of bit too late right now but I can say it now if it helps?"
Tarbin perks up at the familiar voice, grinning when he spots Melia. He raises and arm to wave to her. "Good morning Melia! Who've you picked up in your wandering?" He can vaguely make out the shape of the figure next to Melia.
Ashform looks forward to where Melia is looking, taking in the small clearing and the hut. "This is quite remote. Peaceful, too. Quiet." The Elemental seems neutral on these descriptions.
Melia grins brightly: "The other elemental I mentioned sensing! He was in the forge like all this time, thought he was Cavro like I thought I was Erika." She blinks: "Honestly that's kinda messed up, but we solved to problem and became the solution instead." She smiles at Ashform: "So he's sorta my brother now."
Tarbin tilts his head a little, still smiling. "Oh! Well how interesting! How did you manage to break his bonds?"
Ashform nods a short greeting to Tarbin, before glancing between the two. "Well, Melia did most of the work, it seems. I recall working, then fighting, and now I am here."
Melia looks at Tarbin, then at the other elemental with a smile: "Hush, you did more than that. You're on the journey of discovery, like me!" She pauses: "Well, not exactly like me I guess. If you start communing with trees, I've misunderstood what your elemental attachment thing is."
Ashform shrugs, glancing back toward the town. "I... Don't know what I would be attached to. I love the forge, but it is not a living thing like a tree... It's all stone."
Tarbin hums, looking to Melia. "I don't know enough to say if that could be an anchor. Melia, when he says there was fighting... What happened? Were you in danger?"
Melia pauses, blinking: "Oh, yeah. Possibly kinda? That skunk lady came waltzing in and wanted to drain him like she tried me, but luckily I was there and Phoebe was there and we subdued her after..." She gestures vaguely towards Ashform: "...we really need to figure out a name for you, by the way- after he fought her magic with the help of my Flow into him." As she talks her arms and headfrills move as though helping to explain though likely not actually helping in anyway: "So anyway yeah that skunk is now in like Guard custody and I heard they're probably just gonna exile her out of town, that sort of thing so all good?"
Ashform watches Melia talking animatedly, nodding along with her explanation, though it only lets out a slight hum on being told it needs a name again. "A name... I don't kn-"
Tarbin pushes off the doorway, crossing his arms as he listens to Melia explaining everything and following along as best he can. He interrupts the new elemental, "They're going to exile Elizabeth? That is for the best, but also surprising in a way. I'm glad they favor a sentient being over allowing her to take her power back."
Melia nods: "I mean, it's not ideal, she did seem like there was nice in her too but if she gonna be doing that when free, can't have her running around, yeah?" She gives a soft sigh: "Didn't have to go this way, but did."
Tarbin nods, giving a reassuring smile. "It is better. She will likely find her way elsewhere, she didn't seem weak after all." He looks to the ashform, humming. "I am still curious as to how she managed to accidentally create you two, but it can be a mystery for now." He squints a little, noticing the Flow around the ashform seems to be drawn towards it, the emerald lines drawn to vanish into the elemental despite the lizard not seeing any of the same life giving force within it.
Ashform: "As long as we're safe and free, right?"
Melia smiles brightly: "Yup, free is goodness. And well, now I guess we don't have that hanging over us, gotta figure out what to do... Respite is kinda our home, yea?"
Ashform smiles and nods, "Yes, by default. It does seem like a nice enough place, though."
Tarbin hums, looking to Melia, who is more or less the opposite of the ashform, shimmering green in his vision as she exudes the magic he's familiar with. "It is. Much better than Yuretti, for beings like yourselves."
Melia shimmers and poofs and manifests to hug Tarbin from the side: "Respite has also been good to you, yea? I know I want to keep you around, you're like the bestest."
Tarbin hugs Melia back, chuckling. "It has been, yes. Not that I don't miss home sometimes, but life here is peaceful... Usually."
Ashform blinks at Melia teleporting, wondering aloud. "We can do that?"
Melia squeezes Tarbin once more, before turning to Ashform: "I er... well I can, it's like this thing I just started doing and only realized later most beings can't? You can try?"
Ashform tilts it's head, thinking for a few seconds. "How?" The elemental tries to piece together how Melia could do it.
Tarbin hums, glancing at Melia. "She travels through the Flow from one place to another. She's basically entirely tuned with Nature. I... Don't know how though."
Melia blinks, starting to explain, then stopping as she realizes she has no idea how to explain it. "Uh..." She looks at Tarbin: "...y-yeah, probably that. I just feel myself elsewhere and then I'm there?"
Tarbin shrugs, laughing. "That is the best you'll get from us on teleporting, I think, mister elemental."
Ashform looks about, nodding with the sparse explanation as it starts to concentrate on being elsewhere. Eyes narrow as curved horns begin to glow brighter. As the elemental concentrates, the rate at which the green Flow is drawn into it increases as well, slowly draining the grass beneath it of life. "I think... I can't do-" It explodes. A billowing ash cloud starts settling in place where the ashform stood.
Tarbin watches curiously, flinching to cover Melia from any debris, though there are no hard bits sent forth, just sooty ashes.
Melia blinks repeatedly: "A-ack! That's not how..." She pauses, closing her eyes and feeling around with her Flow. Is the other elemental actually gone?
Tarbin turns away from Melia, looking around the clearing. "I... Melia, are you alright? Where did he go?"
Melia pauses, frowning as she opens her eyes: "I don't... know."
Tarbin sighs, giving her a slight squeeze before letting her go to step away from the hut. He looks down to the patch of ash-covered dead grass where the ashform had been, laying his tails on the spot and starting to heal the Flow there while turning to look around the clearing more. "Do you know wht that one is an elemental of? I couldn't see his magic, but then I can only see the Flow."
Melia steps next to Tarbin, sighing softly: "Fire. Forge. Metal... ash. Something along those lines." She gets a resolute expression on her face: "He's not gone, I know it."
Tarbin nods, finishing with the grass as the blades come back healthier than before. "I had guessed, something that consumes. Nature was feeding into-"
Ashform cries out as a fallen log ignites at the edge of the clearing, blazing for a few seconds as it burns away. The ashform lifts itself from the charred remains, seeming to soak the flames into itself rather than allowing them to spread. It takes a few strides, laughing a bit as if a child proud of doing a new trick for family. Rather than a stoic ibex, the elemental's shifted to a rather bouncy rabbit, three quarters it's previous height and far curvier than the male ibex it had been. "I did it! It... hurt a lot. Is it supposed to hurt? But i did it!"
Melia blinks several times at this: "It's... not supposed to hurt? Also uh, maybe watch where you um... fire yourself. But neat!" She brightens up: "I knew you could do it!"
Ashform giggles, stopping short of the other two. The elemental spins on the spot in it's happiness, showing that the coals seem to have taken up residence on it's backside, in the form of a glowing hot bunny tail. "I don't think I'll do it much then, if it hurts and burns things."
Tarbin looks from the nude bunny to the nude lizard, sighing. "Can I ask, why do you two not create clothes? I know you know what they look like by now, Melia."
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WILDERNESS - MIDDAY
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Erika walks down the non-path down from Mean Peak, sighing softly as she continues forward. Bags full of herbs and the weather being nigh-on perfect, the okapi should be in a cheery mood returning home. If only it wasn't for the little pesky problem of being quadropedal, almost-feral okapi once more. She glances over her shoulder: "Still hanging in there?" Gosh, even talking is so hard again, but at least she has prior practice.
Nesseth clings to Erika's back, nestled securely between a pair of saddlebags the two fashioned in the hours they had after realizing where they'd decided to spend the evening messing around. He's smaller than before, only about three feet long, and (more concerningly) also a bog-standard feral frilled-neck lizard. He tries to respond, but his entire mouth refuses to work the way he normally talks, and he doesn't have Erika's experience with making words with a recalcitrant jaw. "Mm... m'n fin."
Erika nods and focuses her gaze forward, although at least being on all fours makes for more stable walking in an uneven terrain. "Sorry about this. I should have seen the flowers earlier." She has been saying similar things all morning, long after the two changed feral and got their faculties together for heading home.
Nesseth settles against Erika's back, though he keeps his head lifted a bit so he can keep trying to talk. He's pretty well capable of staying in place on Erika's back, thanks to his new form's flexible claws, though he does his best to not scratch or cut Erika while hanging on. "I s-sh'ld... should... h've been... paa'ing 'tention." He trails off, then makes a frustrated noise at having so much trouble talking, his annoyance focused purely on himself.
Erika lets out a fairly feral snort: "I should have." Her anger at herself abates almost instantly though: "...or something." She cranes her long neck to gauge a good route around a set of thick bushes, pushing through: "Hang on."
Nesseth ducks his head so he won't get caught on any branches as Erika pushes through the underbrush. He reflexively tilts his head a bit as well to guard against any potential stray twigs that might hit him as the branches swing back into place. "S'rry, Erika..."
Erika sighs as she clears the bushes: "Mmmrf. M'sorry too." Truth be told, she is mildly scaring herself at how comfortable she is walking on all fours again, but that one is harder to admit out loud. And the lack of hands makes things super-awkward. T'was a process and a half to get their improvised saddlebags actually on Erika.
Nesseth has, if anything, just resigned himself to the situation once it became clear what was going to happen. He did his best to hurry and get things in order before they'd have been forced to leave stuff behind, but the gradual changes still made things far more inconvenient than he'd have liked. He's stuck in a body he's unfamiliar with, but he can't do anything about it right now. "L've y'u all th' same."
Erika turns to glance at Nesseth, and while she is unable to really form much of a smile, her eyes make her feelings obvious: "L-love you too. We'll get through this." She turns to again look forward, navigating the dry rocky terrain as she is best able. "Long way to home, still."
Nesseth shrugs a little, though it really comes off more as just him shifting his front half around a bit, like he's getting comfortable. "No... rrr-real h'rry. Be caref'l. Bett'r than h'rt.""
Erika nods, rolling her shoulders in response: "I know. Just wanna fix this."
Nesseth hums quietly. "We will. J'st... need to get home."
Erika hums as well: "N'deed. Home good... Plume has cure. Or we make more."
Nesseth nods again. "Easy fix in town."
Narrator: The pair continues their trek forward in relative quiet, only broken down by the occasional affirmation of love or hindsight wisdom about what happened.