Oh! We know a guy like that in Zadash! He's got like four of him. He's really powerful, though. You didn't pick up some magic of your own while I was gone, did you?
[ She claps the tome shut and heads for the door; a minute or so later, Max will hear the patter of feet as she rounds the corner. And when she spots him -- all the thorny awkward stuff she wants to tell him goes to the back of her mind, and she closes the distance at a scamper to throw her arms around his waist. ]
The moment he hears her, he starts bracing. And he knows he's right to do so as she comes around the corner and scampers for him with her arms open. She catches him around the waist and he folds down to wrap her in his arms moments later.
"Holy shit you smell good, I forgot that you smell really good," she says, muffled against his shirt, before pulling back to look up at him. "It's good to see you, Max."
Max laughs at the compliment. He probably smells like coffee and bread considering where he spends most his days. That, and the spiced cologne he wears.
"It's good to see you, too." He has a sudden urge to just hoist her right up into his arms. He resist. Barely.
"Hey. Are you okay?" Not that he minds the exuberant hugs but... it does make him wonder if there's more to it.
"I'm fine, I'm okay!" Though as soon as she says it, her ears kind of droop back.
"I mean I'm not hurt or anything, no need to worry. We, mm, I do have some stuff I ... Do you have time to talk?" She winces, hearing herself. "Gods, sorry, I didn't mean to spring a big conversation on you right out the gate."
Max would be tempted to point out that not injured didn't always mean the same as being okay, but she already sounds like she wants to talk so that doesn't really need to be said.
"Hey, it's okay. I told you, any time at all I'm here to listen. I have all day. But, we should probably head back to your room first, huh?"
Nott reaches up to squeeze his hand once, briefly, before leading the way to her room. The room has that newbie bareness to it, no personal touches to make it homey yet. Nott scrambles up onto the bed and gestures in invitation.
"You probably wanna sit down? I want to -- there's a lot, I'm not sure where to start, but it'll probably take a minute."
Max frowns slightly as he looks around. Shit. Does this mean she lost everything she had before? Maybe he needs to offer to get a few things back for her. But later. They could talk about that later.
For now, he lays himself out on the bed, making a show of getting comfortable as a way to try and convince her that, really, he doesn't mind being here for however long she wants or needs him.
"Take it slow. Collect your thoughts. I'll be just fine, I promise."
She gives him a crooked smile as she settles in cross-legged, then looks down at her lap, smoothing her hands over her trousers while she thinks it through.
"I guess ... the place to start is ... I've kept a lot of secrets. For a long time. From everyone. But things back home changed, a lot of stuff, so."
Deep breath.
"So, I'm Nott. I'm a goblin. But I wasn't always. Once upon a time I was a halfling girl named Veth. --Wait." Derailed! "Do you know what a halfling is?"
She had another identity too? He's still registering surprise on his face at the first revelation when she hits him with that question.
"O-oh, uh. No. I can make an educated guess, but I could be wrong." He wouldn't want to mistakenly assume her world's version is the same as, say, a hobbit.
"Okay, well, we're like humans, but shorter and better at stuff." She sighs. "I wish I could show you, but I don't have my spells back yet. The real point is that -- it's not just that I don't feel like a goblin. I wasn't one."
"Okay." He nods, accepting the explanation easily. He should probably ask more about that later but it seems less important at the moment.
"That puts some of the things you've told me in a different context, for sure. It makes a lot of sense. But... did you know this the whole time?" Because it never sounded like it before.
She's always made it sound more like it was a struggle with something undefinable. Unless that was part of a cover? Part of the secrets she said she's been keeping?
Nott looks, and sounds, embarrassed; her ears are down and back like a guilty dog's.
"I don't really have -- a good reason for not telling people," she continues. "Except that it's just so, it's so messy. And here, in some ways, I guess, it's easier to just be Nott than think about being Veth. Because Veth is -- I'm -- well," she says, wincing like she's preparing to look into a bright light with a terrible hangover, "I'm married."
Max listening to her explanation is readying to tell her it's okay and that he understands, given how he's hidden his previous identity to plenty of people too. But that flies right out the window when she drops that final bombshell.
"W-what?" The question drops out of his mouth before he can think twice about it.
She's married. To... presumably someone in her own world. Which would make the things they've done together pretty awkward if that person showed up. But, okay, maybe he's getting ahead of himself. Was it a bad marriage? Did she become Nott to get away from it?
He lets out a slow breath and calmly looks at her. "I'll uh... go ahead and let you explain before I launch into the about one-hundred or so questions I have."
Yyyyeah that was kind of the reaction Nott was bracing for. It's good of him to calm himself down, though.
"Okay, um, well, stop me if I lose you." Deep breaths, girlfriend.
"So. His name's Yeza." There's an unmistakable softness to the way she says his name: whatever other emotions are at play here, she loves this person. "We grew up in Felderwin, small town, and -- well, the short version is, we were both a little weird. I was this strange girl everyone made fun of, but he never minded. And he's very very smart! An alchemist. Little bit nerdy.
"And we got close, and, you know, we got married. Opened up his apothecary. Had a baby. Luc, he's about -- four, now, I think?"
THE HITS KEEP COMING. She hurries on rather than linger too much on the second bombshell of also I have a kid.
"But this all happened a couple years ago, when he was still very small. We had a hard winter that year. Everyone in town was struggling, making it work. But there was this goblin clan that lived outside town, and with how bad it had gotten, they started to raid us. They hit the town again and again and -- one day, they took us. The three of us."
She pauses for a moment here, glancing up at Max, chewing on her lip. Still with her?
Max is doing his best to sit and listen. Though his fingers are fidgeting in his lap, he's otherwise doing a pretty good job--until she drops that second bomb.
A BABY?
His eyes are once again about as wide as they can go. He's making a sound in the back of his throat that sounds like an attempt at saying something but also he might just be choking on his own spit.
It's for the best as she speeds on to the next bombshell after that. Goblin raids. And they... "They kidnapped you?"
"Y-yeah. Sorry." He shakes his head at the same time so... jury is out on this one.
"It's a lot to take in. I mean, you have a baby? That's... that huge. And, I just... I think I've doubled the amount of questions I have for you now, but I'm trying to hold it in until you finish."
"Yeah, it -- yeah." She sighs ruefully. "I know it's a lot. So--
"They held us for a while. I don't know how long, exactly, but long enough that Luc wasn't doing well. None of us were. So one night, we ran. Uh, I'm pretty fast, so I went one direction to distract the goblins, and Yeza took Luc and went the other way. And it worked, they got away. But I didn't."
She hesitates a moment, sorting her thoughts, bracing herself for the next part.
"So. They caught me. I fought back, I had some acid on me and I threw it in their leader's face, but they caught me, and they didn't -- like that. And the leader's, uh, wife, I guess, she took me to this woman, this magic-user, and they -- drowned me. In the river. And I blacked out, and I woke up." She stretches her hands out in front of her, green and clawed. "I woke up like this."
His eyes are beginning to shine with the first hint of tears by the time she gets to "But I didn't" and as she keeps going, right to the bitter end of her story, one urge overwhelms all others.
He flings himself at her, arms wide, to pull her into a hug.
"I don't know if you want to hear this but... I'm so sorry. You made such a huge sacrifice. And you've been dealing with this alone? All this time?"
The hug catches her off guard, and she goes stiff for half a second before relaxing into it.
"Yyyyes? It's -- it's weird because Caleb and Beau, when I got here, they already knew. But I hadn't told them, so it was like, I don't know, like they knew a different person. Two different people, the Nott who told them and Veth, and neither of them was me? Gods, that sounds stupid."
"No. It's not stupid. It's confusing and complicated. And, if you think about it... you didn't really get to reveal this to them on your own terms. Not the you that you are right now."
He's not letting her go for at least another half a minute. So, his next question will be slightly muffled in her shoulder.
"What does this mean for you here? Do you still want to be called Nott? Or, should I use Veth?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2021-06-01 02:04 am (UTC)Wow. That long?
[He laughs.]
Actually... kind of? He's a magical construct made by the fae, but he looks like me and acts a lot like me too. I needed more help running the cafe.
it's okay <3
Date: 2021-07-12 02:08 am (UTC)Okay, I'm in Spring now but I might not completely remember which room it is. Help me out here?
action - prose okay?
Date: 2021-07-12 10:58 pm (UTC)"It's so good to see you. I really missed you."
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-19 07:17 pm (UTC)"It's good to see you, too." He has a sudden urge to just hoist her right up into his arms. He resist. Barely.
"Hey. Are you okay?" Not that he minds the exuberant hugs but... it does make him wonder if there's more to it.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-22 06:55 pm (UTC)"Hey, it's okay. I told you, any time at all I'm here to listen. I have all day. But, we should probably head back to your room first, huh?"
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-23 02:17 am (UTC)For now, he lays himself out on the bed, making a show of getting comfortable as a way to try and convince her that, really, he doesn't mind being here for however long she wants or needs him.
"Take it slow. Collect your thoughts. I'll be just fine, I promise."
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-23 05:58 pm (UTC)"O-oh, uh. No. I can make an educated guess, but I could be wrong." He wouldn't want to mistakenly assume her world's version is the same as, say, a hobbit.
"What is a halfling?"
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-23 08:36 pm (UTC)"That puts some of the things you've told me in a different context, for sure. It makes a lot of sense. But... did you know this the whole time?" Because it never sounded like it before.
She's always made it sound more like it was a struggle with something undefinable. Unless that was part of a cover? Part of the secrets she said she's been keeping?
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-25 08:18 pm (UTC)"W-what?" The question drops out of his mouth before he can think twice about it.
She's married. To... presumably someone in her own world. Which would make the things they've done together pretty awkward if that person showed up. But, okay, maybe he's getting ahead of himself. Was it a bad marriage? Did she become Nott to get away from it?
He lets out a slow breath and calmly looks at her. "I'll uh... go ahead and let you explain before I launch into the about one-hundred or so questions I have."
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-28 05:29 pm (UTC)A BABY?
His eyes are once again about as wide as they can go. He's making a sound in the back of his throat that sounds like an attempt at saying something but also he might just be choking on his own spit.
It's for the best as she speeds on to the next bombshell after that. Goblin raids. And they... "They kidnapped you?"
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-28 06:24 pm (UTC)"It's a lot to take in. I mean, you have a baby? That's... that huge. And, I just... I think I've doubled the amount of questions I have for you now, but I'm trying to hold it in until you finish."
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-28 08:35 pm (UTC)He flings himself at her, arms wide, to pull her into a hug.
"I don't know if you want to hear this but... I'm so sorry. You made such a huge sacrifice. And you've been dealing with this alone? All this time?"
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-28 08:50 pm (UTC)He's not letting her go for at least another half a minute. So, his next question will be slightly muffled in her shoulder.
"What does this mean for you here? Do you still want to be called Nott? Or, should I use Veth?"
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