Ember and Sky

Skyla Moonwall leans heavily on the railing. These last few days have been...not so good. Even for an ostensibly emotionless super-soldier, or whatever it was Sky was insinuating for that day. She watches the waves roll in silence, thinking of her....friend. Yeah, her friend. Not neutral or whatever crap she usually pulls. What was that fight even about? She didn't fully understand...but matters of the heart were not exactly her strong suit, and she supposed it had to do with that L word again. Different with Em than with Dero sure...but still hard to deal with.

 

Emberen Twine swipes hastily at the few tears that dare to fall, her face hardening with determination. "Not crying," she whispers to herself. She shakes her head, deciding that this was a bad idea. The trip across the city had never seemed so long, and yet, now, all she wanted to do was leave. She sighs heavily and stands, eyes darting to the roof line, marking her landing spot for her jump.

 

Skyla Moonwall looks down at the bag of cotton candy held in her bandaged hands, then out to the protean waves once more, debating chucking the whole thing in. What had she told him? Like a block of C4 set off in her belly. She huffed a little and turned to the person nearby on the railing, lifting the bag of pink fluff. "You want some cotton candy?" she asked in her affectless tone, jiggling the bag for emphasis. That must seem...incredibly strange, at best.

 

Emberen Twine halts, ears perking to the sound of Skyla's voice. She glances over her shoulder, body quickly following her gaze. She gasps...was that....cotton candy? She inhales sharply, releasing a series of wimpering sobs as she watches Skyla offer the bag of fluff to the man. "Nuuu," she whispers, not wanting to be seen, but not wanting her candy to be taken either.

 

Skyla Moonwall could not have heard that whisper. She couldn't have...but she holds the bag up without turning around and gives it the slightest shake. Her powers of observation and her senses were honed well, but she also seemed to have some sort of connection to the cat...inexplicable, undefinable.

 

Emberen Twine's eyes widen as the bag is displayed and she knows it is for her benefit. She starts forward, but halts, body tilting as she loses her balance only regaining it with some serious effort. Her heart breaks a little as she ponders that bag of fluff, not becasue she wanted it so badly, but because it meant that Skyla had thought of her, and that meant more than anything. Her bottom lip quivers as more tears flow from stinging eyes and she hops down to the ledge below, landing hard dropping to her knees with a characteristic lack of grace. She lets out a mrowl, checking to see if Sky was really aware of her like she hoped.

 

Skyla Moonwall brought the bag back down in her hands, draped over the railing, swinging precariously over the sands full of needles and used condoms and all sorts of things that would render cotton candy inedible. She swings it back and forth like a pendulum, and can only imagine the cat's eyes following its every motion. Ember's presence nearly radiates from her, the heat striking against Sky's back like a summer day. Maybe that was in her head... She heard the other expel a soft noise and slipped her grip on the bag, letting it slide a bit closer to the sands.

 

Emberen Twine's eyes widen as she watches that bag swinging and she lets out another gasp as she recovers from her rough landing. She scrambles off the awning, a sloppy mess of skinned knees and tear-stained cheeks, and bolts toward Skyla, the pounding of her feet quickening as they near the woman's back and skittering to a stop just behind her. She brethes in heaving, soggy gasps as she waits to be acknowledged.

 

Skyla Moonwall tightens her grip on the bag, saving it from the abyss. She turns on her heel slowly when she hear the patter of Em's feet--graceful despite the cotton candy induced panic. Her cool gaze fixes on the other's, her mask disappearing in a sea of concern as she notes the vestiges of the horror that was last night still marring the cat's face. She says nothing for a time, simply watching as she is prone to do. Wordlessly, her arms open and spread wide in what might seem an uncharacterstic beckoning.

 

Emberen Twine watches Skyla intently, eyes darting to the bag as she saves it from its impending doom, then darting once more to Sky questioningly. Her brows knit with sorrow as Sky watches her, and she heaves in a breath as arms open to her, releasing a shuttering volley of sobs, and throwing her arms around the woman, momentarily forgetting about the fluffy bribe. "I'm so sorry," she whimpers pathetically.

 

Skyla Moonwall folds her arms around her friend, warm, protective, loving even. She was pretty sure she could throw that in there now. "Don't be sorry...I'm pretty sure it was my fault." She releases the cat from her ninja hug of doom and steps back, hands still placed lightly on her shoulders. "Probably was a full moon or something crazy last night." She offers a small smile. She holds out the bag of cotton candy. Who knows where the hell she got it from? "Let's not make a habit of this, yeah?"

 

Emberen Twine wipes her eyes on the back of her arm once she is released from the hug and nods, lips still caught in full pout. She continues to sniffle as she takes the bag gingerly in both hands and holds it up, examining it with the tiniest of smiles. "I cried all night and most of today." She shakes her head, as she shifts her gaze to Skyla. "I ran out of tears until I saw you. I lo...." She almost says it again, but stops herself, pauses briefly, and recovers..."I lost my mind with worry over everything."

 

Skyla Moonwall folds her hands before her, pressing her lips together. She had Em's letter in her pocket, of course, but she had no intent of leaving now and decided perhaps it was best to keep that to herself. It would just make the cat cry more. "I hate to see you cry," she murmurs, her fingers tracing her tattoo. "I guess I'm not very good at these things, but my intent was only to protect you. I don't know how things got so....twisty."

 

Emberen Twine: Em knew EXACTLY how things got twisty, but she wasn't going to bring THAT up now. That would only make Skyla angry again. "I hate crying," she responds soggily. "I just...I just...I'm not very good at this stuff either," she lies. Her respect for Skyla was, actually, imeasurable, and she didn't want to do anything that would upset her. She inhales deeply, and releases the breath slowly, hands rubbing at her eyes in an effort to rid them of the last of her tears. If Skyla didn't want her to cry, she was going to do her best not to!

 

Skyla Moonwall watches her with a softened look in her normally knife-edged eyes. She had never had...this. Maybe once, when she was young. Before she was recruited and trained and changed. She thought she might have had a friend back then. A guy with brown hair, she thought. Even before, Sky was never really good with her own gender. Too rough and tumble. Even before. She lowers her voice, "You can hardly imagine the pain of hurting someone you care about by not being able to convince them that you do indeed care."

 

Emberen Twine had an idea of how it felt. She had told Sky she loved her and felt it was denied. She keeps quiet though, simply nodding in response. Finally, after a moment which felt like forever, she says,"I know you care." Her eyes drop to her bag of cotton candy awkwardly, now unsure of her perameters where Miss Skyla is concerned.

 

Skyla Moonwall nods absently. "I try to, but I'm not sure I'm doing it right." She brushes her hair from her eye and lets out a breath. "I keep fucking stuff up. Just when I thought I was healing." She gestures to the bag. "Go ahead. It's yours. I don't really like the stuff." A light smile.

 

Emberen Twine smiles in kind, ears perking attentively to her words. She remains silent, thankful to have something to busy herself with, some reason to be quiet. But something tugs at her, something that she can't keep in. "Maybe...maybe you are stuck on what you ~think~ things should be instead of seeing what they are," she mews softly, barely above a whisper. She shoves a piece of cotton candy in her mouth, cursing it for melting so quickly, and waiting to be told she is wrong.

 

Skyla Moonwall feels a keen flash of anger, lighting up in her eyes, but she offers a grace that no one else would receive and douses the fire before she can expel it. She would not do that to Em. She lets out a long breath and says quietly, "No, Ember. I know what things should be, and I know what they are. And I know I had no choice, and I know I can't go back." She glances up at Ember, eyes clear now. "Very little in this world gives me pause, but I am awestruck by how much you and Dero show me love, despite my shortcomings in returning it."

 

Emberen Twine shrugs, her stomach briefly knotting as she senses Skyla's turn of emotion, or, perhaps it is merely in her head. "Love is like that. You can't expect others to love the same way you do. They show it differently. And, if you can gain an understanding of them, then you can see a return on what you offer." She grimaces, shoving another piece of fluff in her mouth, the whispy edges sticking out of closed lips as she munches. "Anyway...you don't have to worry about me saying it any more. I don't want to make you angry." Though she felt sure she would, eventually.

 

Skyla Moonwall rolls her shoulders. "I overreacted." The understatement of the year! She starts to remind Ember that she doesn't love, but recalls that was partially the start of the whole mess. But it was incredibly difficult here, with constant reminders of her differences, her limitations. Being tested in ways she was not meant to be. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a photocard of a young man with dark hair and searing blue eyes. "My brother. How I feel about him is my baseline for what I consider 'love.' I don't really feel it...I just compare it to my thoughts of Ben to know if it is true or not."

 

Emberen Twine chews her lip briefly, eyes scanning over the picture before returning back to Skyla. She is hit with an instant sadness, not truly understanding about base-lines and comparisons. Ember is do or do not. "What happened to him," she asks softly, unsure if she can really handle the answer.

 

Skyla Moonwall tucks the picture back in her pocket. "He died," she says flatly. "Just recently. He was sick for a long time." Her jaw tightens. "Sometimes you can't help someone, no matter how hard you try." Though that never stoped her from trying, in any circumstance.

 

Emberen Twine murrs softly, a sound she often makes instinctually when she wants to offer comfort. "I'm sorry," she whispers. She has nothing to offer her friend. No way of comforting her without making her angry. Skyla was leading the dance now, and Em was content to hang as far back and give her as much space as Skyla needed. "So...what is it you feel when I see you look at Dero? It looks like...it looks genuine."

 

Skyla Moonwall nods, biting down on her lip hard. "It's all right. He was taken care of quite well." Offers a bitter smile strangely at odds with the statement. She shifts silently in the street a moment when Ember strikes out with her direct question. She nods. "It's easy for me to handle men as business. It's what I do. I was worried for a long while that I really was just working him over. But I look at him and...think of him nearly as much as I do Ben. More, sometimes." She nods. "I think that I must love him, to feel for him as much as I did my own brother," she says, knowing Ember will realize the difference in the feelings for her brother and that man.

 

Emberen Twine's face betray both understanding and a touch of hurt. It's selfish hurt, and she dismisses it quickly. "You focus on definitions a lot," she says quietly, shying away a little, still unsure if she should let her mouth move without the benefit of censor. She smiles, hoping to cover some of her trepidation, though, given her propensity for failing as a lier, it may not work.

 

Skyla Moonwall nods slowly. "I have to...I don't have the luxury of literally 'feeling' it. I have to set boundaries, clean lines that lay out what I am supposed to be feeling, how to react. It's a battle, everyday." She gives Em a small smile and reaches out for her hand. "I used to protect Ben a lot. People said I could be like a pitbull when he was in trouble." She offers a softer smile. "And you draw that out in me as well, so I know where to put you."

 

Emberen Twine vibrates, eyes filling with the tears which had only recently dried as Skyla picks up her jelousy and smacks it out of the city. Her body quivers as the tears pool threateningly in her lower lids, cresting defiantly, and plummeting down her cheeks. The words meant so much and she felt them in the deepest recesses of her heart. What she had offered, was returned, and it overwhelmed her. She lowers her head in a vain attempt to hide her face, fingers plucking some cotton candy and lingering as they feed her mouth.

 

Skyla Moonwall gives her a look of panic as the tears well up once more. "No!" she says, almost urgent. "Please don't cry." She knew it was like asking the sun not to come out though. And she couldn't blame Ember. She was actually a bit envious that the emotions locked off from Sky flowed so easily from the other. She squeezed her hand. "I fought with Ben, too. A -lot-. But we never stayed mad at each other for more than a day or so, regardless of how severe."

 

Emberen Twine releases the sobs, throwing her arms around Skyla once more. She had lost a sister, and now...she gained another. She promised she wouldn't say 'I love you' out loud, but that doesn't stop her from thinking it as she clings to the woman. "I'm trying not to cry,"s he mewls pitifully. "Honest."

 

Skyla Moonwall allows the cat to ninja hug her. Where her normal inclination would be to shy away from the touch, she leans in to return the hug. "I know you're trying," she says. "It just kills me to see." And it really did. Her sense of compassion was left well intact, and seeing Ember cry often left her vacillating between unease and anger at whatever was the source behind those tears.

 

Emberen Twine lingers in hold for several moments before pulling away. "You have to know that not all tears are the same. These aren't the same tears that fall when someone is hurting me. They are good tears. Relieved tears." Yes...they were hurting tears too, but that is something Ember has learned to appreciate over the years. Happy often hurt her as much as sad. She did not question why, nor did she ever bother to explain it to others, as observation had taught her it was specific to her. "I'm happy. It's good," she asserts with a nod.

 

Skyla Moonwall tilts her head, not quite understanding. In her mind, any tears were bad tears, betrayors of weakness. "Oh...ok." She gives a nod back. "As long as you're not hurt..." she said with a lift of her brows. She folded her arms over her chest when Em released her from the hug, standing slightly off again like a normal Sky

 

Emberen Twine nods and swipes at the tears. "I am. Very happy," she mews soggily. "I'm just happy you aren't angry with me anymore...and that...that you would want to protect me." She sighs heavily, still trying to quell the water works as she teears off some more cotton candy and flattens it between her lips. "I don't know how I ever lived without this before," she says referring to the candy as it melts in her mouth...and on her hands...and on her lips.

 

Skyla Moonwall suddenly wished she carried wetnaps in her considerable arsenal, having been privy once before to Em's cotton candy issues. She flips her a light smile. "Even if I am angry with you, I will always protect you," she says, reaching over to tear off some of the sweet fluff. She makes a face as it dissolves in her mouth. "Ember, that is so fucking sweet...how can you eat that?"

Done