Chapter 1285 1285 Stone Faced
--- Kat ---
Kat watched as Asteodia seemed to just deflate like a balloon letting all the air out once she was done talking. Nixilei quickly bundled the elf into her lap but Asteodia didn't really… do anything. She wasn't crying, wasn't angry, she just… let herself be pulled into Nixilei's embrace and then did her best impression of a plank of wood. Perhaps it was an elf thing, but she just seemed to still. Kat could hardly see the woman breathing. Lily frowned at this and transformed into her Memphis form and then focused on her horns and wings. It was a hard change to force, but she managed to pull them away by focusing on her human form, which lacked them. Kat was rather surprised by the technique, even as Lily jumped over and settled into Asteodia's lap and started purring. It was clearly a bit forced, but Kat knew purring supposedly helped calm people down, hopefully it worked on elves like it did humans. [Do you think we went a bit far?]
*I'm not sure… I don't regret anything before the moment Asteodia started talking about her parents, and I don't regret letting her talk about it all either… but I do agree that perhaps we went too far. I just can't figure out where we would have stopped. Even if I don't like it, this seems like it was necessary. Not nice, but necessary. Like lancing a boil.* [You know you're not actually supposed to do that right? It can potentially cause all sorts of problems.]
*Ah, but you are meant to lance them if they're likely to be popped anyway from regular activity. I had to learn that because of all the little kids that came to me with blisters. The trick is that you pop it with a sterile needle, and then keep it covered with either a bandage, or a wrap if it was a particularly nasty one. Popping them with unsterilised needles or leaving them upon to the elements can be bad, but yeah, letting them pop from rubbing and risking a bunch of stuff getting into them that way can be worse. Which works for this analogy. I think? Asteodia probably needed to talk about this. We might have forced this conversation early, but now Nixilei can be there to soothe her.* [I feel like you're stretching the metaphor but I'll admit I didn't know that fact about blisters, so it's still interesting. Now… should we leave them to it?]
*I say we ask. I wouldn't want Nixilei to think we riled up her girlfriend until she cried and then just left. Plus, you're playing the part of a real cat right now. Do you expect me to just leave you here?*
[Oh. Woops, I wasn't thinking about that for some reason. It's pretty hard to keep my horns and wings hidden too, especially without transforming all the way so I really should've thought that through. Aw well.]
"Hey Nixilei, would you like us to stick around? I'd ask Asteodia but well…" Kat trailed off not entirely sure what to say. "No, no I'd like you both to stay. I'm not sure what I'd do if you just left me here," said Nixilei. "What do you mean? Got some seduction skills to bust out from your spy training?" asked Kat jokingly. So when Nixilei gave a serious nod, Kat was very confused. "Let me explain. I did have seduction training… but I was very bad at it. I found it hard to fake romantic interest in someone, and I had almost the same problems with trying to distract them with seduction so that the fake targets wouldn't notice I had no interest in them… but I still remember most of the lessons. "If I really wanted to, I could take full advantage of that training and Asteodia's state right now… but I really don't want to. However… I also really want to go and strangle someone," said Nixilei, her voice surprisingly soft and calm as she stroked Asteodia's hair. "The problem is that I'm leaning heavily into my training right now so that I stay calm and collected. It's not quite my 'spy persona' but you can think of it that way if you want. "I need to keep leaning on that training to avoid leaving, or screaming myself hoarse. Asteodia doesn't need that right now. But she also doesn't need me to start seducing her like my training is pushing me to do. Right now she needs comfort and understanding but I'm fighting myself to remain as calm as possible. So I need you here, you both here, so that I can stay distracted and comforting like I want to be," "Is… is that something you normally have trouble with?" asked Kat. Nixilei's eyes shone with malicious light for a split second, and then it vanished as she answered, "No Kat, I don't normally hear heart wrenching stories from a perspective love interest and then have to deal with the aftermath where she seems to have just shut down. I can only tell she's breathing because I feel it on my arms while I'm holding her. I can't see her chest moving, and it's so very quiet," Kat winced at the rebuke but didn't complain it was deserved. "Right. Sorry. Um… is this like an elf thing?" Kat asked as she awkwardly gestures towards Asteodia. "Not really," said Asteodia. Nixilei flinched at the sound but quickly went back to petting Asteodia and hope it was helping. Asteodia hadn't complained… but she hadn't exactly done much of anything the last few minutes so that didn't mean much. "Right…" said Kat slowly as she looked between Nixilei and Asteodia. "Gotta be honest I don't really know what to do now," Nixilei shrugged and looked to Asteodia who just sighed and said, "I have no energy, nor will to do anything else at the moment. I might've even used my fire magic to keep me going with that rant. I feel so… empty at the moment. Like a burnt-out campfire. Please continue holding me and pretending I can't hear you," "Strange request but ok," said Kat. Lily rubbed her face into Asteodia's hand and the elf seemed to regain a bit of life as she started to rub her hand across Lily's fur. It wasn't much but it was something. "Nixilei… you got anything we can talk about that will make this less then massively awkward?" asked Kat hopefully. Nixilei shrugged and said, "Not really. I don't really have anything in mind that can salvage the situation. I mean, time will allow us to return to normal… probably. I don't really know what else to say about it though. So many topics seem like potential minefields. Asteodia did say to pretend she couldn't hear us… but I still feel like I shouldn't touch certain topics," "Indeed. Filling space with empty words is working for the moment but I don't know where to go from here," said Kat following on. "If we pick something completely random, it would feel too… flippant, as if we were just trying to move on from the previous… conversation. That being said, if we pick something relevant well… we don't want to do that," "We could backtrack perhaps? Talk about potential ways for Asteodia and I to train our magic? It might not be the best of topics, and still running away from the problem but I wouldn't feel… too bad about it," said Nixilei. Kat thought it over for a few moments before shaking her head. "I suppose we could but I don't know how to help you with that sort of training and I don't really want to give Asteodia suggestions while she's like this. It would feel wrong as well," "Then what can we do?" hissed Nixilei before flinching back slightly and slowing the pace of her hands. "Sorry Asteodia." The elf shrugged lightly and made a small noise that nobody could really interpret. *Right. Guess I'll just talk to you then Lily. This is much less awkward.* [I'm afraid to say Kat, that you tacitly agreed to be Nixilei's distraction so you can't.]
*Bother.*
Kat thought over all the things she could say. A lot of them were terrible ideas, and the rest were worse. So Kat picked on that was terrible, and hopefully funny. "So Nixilei, how many laws would we be breaking if we murdered Asteodia's parents? And if the answer is too many, what about maiming?" Asteodia snorted at Kat's question but quickly regained her dead eyed look afterwards. Of course, there seemed to be a lot more light in them after the laugh. So Nixilei smiled and said, "It depends on how we did it. Theoretically, if we challenge them to a formal duel to the death we could do it without breaking any laws… but it would be a pain to fill out all the paperwork for it properly, and they'd have to agree," "Wait you can duel to the death if you have the right paperwork?" asked Kat surprise. "Yes. It's pretty strict, requiring both parties to agree to a whole bunch of stipulations, and most people don't bother… but we could. Theoretically," "Yes… theoretically," acknowledged Kat.
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