epidemiology | closed.

CHARACTERS: Kida (

adlantisag) and Sieglinde (

grunehexe)
DATE: Sieglinde's belated birthday.
WARNINGS: schmoopiness
SUMMARY: Sisters bonding.

[ She asks Sieglinde to join her at the castle gates, the sun setting in the distance. She watches it fall absently, unable to suppress the gentle fear it won't rise again. Ninat sits by her side, long tail curled gently around her haunches, massive head leaning gently against Kida's shoulder.

Ninat's the first to percieve Isengrim's approach, but the sharp swivel of her head makes Kida turn with it. She smiles at the click-click of the dog's nails and the swish of lace that follows Sieglinde. ]

Good evening, little one--ah, forgive me, you are no longer 'little one', are you?

[ Her expression is the vaguely condescending type adopted by adults who think they know better, but in her defense, it's been a very long time Kida was Sieglinde's age. What does twelve--three thousand or so, by Atlantean reckoning--feel like, again? ]

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[Sieglinde has had... a very interesting day. She can't make the comparison to something she's never seen or heard of, but a rollercoaster would likely have taken less upside down mood hurtling turns than she had since this morning, so it was likely a good thing that the day of one's birth only came once a year.

She also doesn't usually lean that heavily on Isengrim, half on the skull-faced canine, really, but her steps are more wincing than normal, feet freshly cleaned and rebound after the festering mess that had been "Oska" when they first arrived. But she's at least somewhat gussied up, in her cleanest gown, face freshly scrubbed, with new scarlet and gold ribbons (with lions upon them, no less) entwined in a long braid swaying behind her.

Rollercoaster though it had been, this was currently an "up", and Sieglinde smiled innocently upon spotting Kida and Ninat- couldn't miss Ninat, really, glossing over the older woman's tone simply because... she was far too used to doing so since joining ALASTAIR and being considered a child for the first time in... years.]

That has been the case for some time, yes!

[Once she's close enough, she reaches out to pat Ninat before she looked up at Kida. The peculiar creature had been quite helpful when she'd been looking for riddles across Oska's lake, after all.

Good shark cat.]

[ Ninat welcomes Sieglinde's petting, even as Kida bends to deliver Isengrim some of her own. Greetings exchanged, she turns her attention to the dog's master, taking in the lion hair ribbons (red and gold, hmm, what a mystery) and the freshly-bound feet. Gently, she bends to pick Sieglinde up and, instead of depositing her on Ninat's back, she keeps her in her arms in a purely selfish desire. Sieglinde doesn't weigh much to begin with, even in her nicest dress. ]

Good evening, Sieglinde. Does the lake sound appealing to you?

[ They'll have a good view of the moon, there. ]

[She doesn't want to, or have to put it in to words, she supposes- the gratefulness she feels when Kida took her in her arms and got her weight off her feet. They were raw from a debriding, throbbing from the ache of re-positioned bones and tighter bandages... But she couldn't take Masamune up on his offer to assist her in undoing it. Not yet, when they'd leave soon enough for the next world and there was no telling what they'd be exposed to.

It's better here, with the woman who was something she didn't know how to explain, something like a sister- here without thinking of that sort of thing.]

Yes- the lake here is so large! Let us go there, I shall show you where your clue led me before.

[... Yeah, she thinks that lake is large, Kida.]

[ Ugh, she's so cute. ]

Yes! Was Ninat very helpful?

[ She lets Sieglinde's weight fall against her collar and shoulders as they head out beyond the castle grounds, Ninat and Isengrim roving ahead. In truth, the air smells good, and Sieglinde isn't the only one who's had an emotionally draining day. The more she holds the girl the more it weighs on Kida how delicate she is, how small, and how ephemeral this moment. ]

Quite so! I could not have spotted what I did were it not from my position upon Ninat.

[Who she absently reaches out to pat before the cat shark gets out of range, roaming ahead with Isengrim. Not knowing precisely of the recent worries Kida has been through regarding certain mortality realizations, she still presents the best she can, wanting this to be a day that ended well. Besides, it's comfortable here, one arm around Kida's neck, her ribboned braid swinging merrily behind them.]

Without her it would likely be impossible, even!

[After all, it was actually the biggest lake she'd ever seen. Not to mention that she couldn't swim.]

[ Kida has no intention to weigh Sieglinde's happy day down with her own realizations; but it has cast things into perspective that wasn't so sharp, before. ]

I am not so sure it would have been impossible, for how keen you are--difficult, perhaps.

[ She's smiling as she says it, peering ahead to where the moon is reflected like a dish upon the lake's glassy surface. ]

Do you feel any different, being twelve now? [ Mm, maybe she should expand on that question. ] What have you taken away from this last year? What do you wish for, going forward?

[ It's a bit of a heavy question, but Sieglinde's lived a heavy life. No one can have all the answers, but certainly they can learn from mistakes and grow from experience, Atlantean and surface-dweller alike. ]

[Now that is a question Sieglinde has never been asked upon a birth day. It catches her off guard, and it's plain to see, brow furrowing as she had to give it thought.

... She didn't really feel all that different. There was nothing she could do now she could not a week past. It wasn't a milestone age. But what had she taken away?

Sieglinde turned her head out and away, as if she was just looking at the sky, but it was instead to keep the pained expression on her face hidden. The last year had seen her entire world proved a lie, proved her an unwitting maker of murder. She had been recruited by ALASTAIR.]

I have yet to do enough.

[To make even a dent in the number of people she would have to save in order to make up for those she had potentially doomed. To research and find a cure for the weapon she had birthed.]

I must try even harder.

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