trans_9 | I need you to get back up. [open]

She really wished Stacy would have given her more of a warning, before filling her head full of memories she wasn't sure she was prepared for. She had to excuse herself from a council meeting, apologizing profusely in half-panicked signing.

Kinase was dead. She remembered that now. He wouldn't be waiting in the pods for her when this was all over, he wouldn't kiss her cheek or remind her that she was overreacting (even when she was sure she wasn't). She wouldn't hear his laugh, or roll her eyes when he wore some gaudy, bright-pink shirt, claiming to be the height of Draenic fashion. He had been an idiot who had, somehow, agreed to marry her - first as a joke, then seriously, as someone who loved her. It figured that a man who'd survived the Cataclysm of Azeroth, and the Exodus from Draenor would somehow be unable to survive the Ohm's rampant destruction of everything.

But now he was gone, and she remained. If she'd been able to, Nehaalista would've screamed her frustrations. Her hooves found her pointed to the sensoriums, and she conjured up the home on Azuremyst they'd built and then subsequently hid in when Vaals was born.

Vaals, her little, little Vaals. Vaals was safe. He had to be. He was little and sweet, and she refused to believe that his big eyes, soft hair, and even, gentle voice was taken from her, too. Nehaalista's hooves tore up the half-finished pathway to the house and she threw the door open. Her little boy played on a blanket before several lighting crystals, safe and sound thanks to the illusion of the sensoriums, and somewhere floating in a pile of mucus down in the pod caverns if she were lucky.

Nehaalista picked the little boy up, who protested slightly, and sank into Kinase's chair. She buried her face into Vaals' light-colored hair and breathed shallowly. Why couldn't anything have simple and clean resolutions?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jamie feels like his old self again, which is a relief. However, now that he's no longer a kid again, he's finding it's harder to get back into the swing of doing things than he thought, like training. So when he finds himself free for the afternoon, he figures now is as good a time as any to get some training in.

His luck with finding an unoccupied spot in the Sensoriums is as good as ever, however, as he wanders in and realizes it's once again occupied. Spotting the Vindicator, he smiles for a moment. He's not seen her in some time, and a glad-sounding "Nehaalista!" escapes his lips before what she's actually doing sinks in.

"Oh, I'd not realized ye were busy," he says, apologetically. He's about to go, but something about her posture stops him, and he gives her a rather concerned look. "Are ye all right?"

Vaals squirmed out of his mother's grasp as she was surprised by Jamie. Unused to humans, the little draenei boy scuttled away from the living room, watching Jamie with wide, bright eyes. Nehaalista turned and straightened up in the admittedly large chair. She turned her head back once, to make sure there were no tell-tale traces of wet on her cheeks and looked back at him.

[Hello, Jamie, I'm...] she hesitated, for just a moment, [just fine. Just reliving some memories, I guess. How are you?]

"Better than I was," he admits, although he's flicking a glance back and forth between Nehaalista and where the little draenei boy has run off to.

"I'm sorry, I'd not meant to startle him." Jamie hopes it's a him, anyway. He isn't sure what the different between a little girl and a little boy would be for Nehaalista's race. "Is he someone from your world?"

[That's alright; Kinase and I don't know many humans, so they're something new to our child.] They really should've remedied that, she knows now, but they didn't.

Maybe if Azeroth was restored, she would.

"Kinase?" Must be her husband, Jamie thinks, given the 'our child' statement. Which, come to think about it, also explains who the lad is as well.

"I'd not realized ye were married, Nehasslista," he comments, not really thinking much of that statment until he happens to remember the half-finished pathway to the house, and the fact that she only thought of her and her son here. Not to mention that bowed head when he came in...maybe he's wrong, but there could be more to it than he previously realized.

"Did...did something happen to him?"

Nehaalista looked over at her son, still peeking shyly around the door frame, and back to Jamie. [He died, when the Ohm came. But Stacy chose to keep that from me until today, and made me believe I wasn't from... then.] She rubbed her hands together nervously, the way some other person might lick their lips as they thought of something unpleasant before them.

[I am not sure if Vaals - the true Vaals - is in the pod caverns or not. I can only hope he is.] She smiled at the little Draenei boy who disappeared further into the little house. [Just as I hope that Kinase is with the Light, watching over me.]

A faint look of dismay crosses Jamie's features at that, and he takes a step forward, starting to reach out as if to comfort her. But he's not sure how she would feel about being touched, so he turns the gesture into one where he rubs at his elbow.

"I'm sorry," he says instead, softly. He can't imagine what that would be like, to find out so suddenly that someone you care for so deeply isn't there after all. Even with the belief that they're still watching over you from up above...it's not the same, and he feels terribly that he's intruded on her grief.

He chews on his lip for a moment. "Look, if it helps any, I'd say there's a good chance your son is down there in the pods." If there was any way to save Vaals, he thinks, they would have. "Someday you'll be able to see him again."

[Someday,] Nehaalista agreed and looked down at her lap. [I want to believe I was given these memories now because Stacy felt I was ready for them. Surprisingly, I do not feel anger at her for keeping them from me.] Nehaalista motioned to a smaller chair, upholstered in a pale blue, and at odds with the rest of the matching furniture. [Please, sit.]

She wanted the company. And though Jamie was a near stranger, he was here now. [I feel guilty for feeling relieved that he might never come out of the pod caverns, Jamie. That he is safer there, even with all the dangers that occur down there in intervals.] She'd read the briefings about the zombies, then with that Lang girl and the bombs.

"Thank ye," Jamie says politely, sitting down in the indicated chair. It may not match with the other decor - not that he really would have minded that anyway - but it's comfortable. He's certainly willing enough to settle into it, since she's asked.

For all he doesn't really know Nehaalista that well, he finds her admission doesn't actually surprise him. Well, okay, that's not strictly true. There is a moment when she first starts to speak about it where he blinks, startled. But the reason for it isn't that relief - it's hearing something from her that follows along rather closely with his own thoughts.

He scratches at the back of his head for a moment before admitting, "I...I don't think ye should feel guilty about that, Nehaalista. Not right now, anyway. There's too much that goes wrong here."

Jamie's lived through the zombies, and stood by helpless when Cassie was injured. It's not a pleasant thing to remember, and there's something troubled in his eyes when he does.

"There's someone who I feel the same way about when it comes to that, actually. A lass. We traveled together some time ago, before I woke up here. I'd much rather she stay safe in the pods than have to go through what we're going through right now."

I need you to get back up. [open]

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