[Jackie Bariole]

For all she reeked of cigarette smoke, cheap beer, and even cheaper whiskey... For all the night's travails had left her hair messy and unruly, her clothes rumbled and stained... For all the slight aching behind her eyes and the sour taste on her tongue, Heidi was feeling good as she climbed the stairs to her dorm room. There was something truly refreshing in cutting loose, getting drunk, getting laid, and getting into a fight, and she'd managed all four the night before. So what if it had left her with a bit of a hang over? A mouth that tasted like an ashtray and a head full of sand were small prices to pay for getting the relief she so desperately needed. Relief which had been found sorely wanting during her match at Vytal, the day before. Sure, she'd felt pretty good coming out of that match, ushered from the arena by the clamor and acclaim of the crowd, but it hadn't quite scratched the itch she'd been hoping for. Not the way descending into Haven had done the following evening, where everyone had recognized her. That had been the true salve to balm her restless spirit. Surrounded by the awe, the desire, and respect she so rightly deserved. To look across a smokey barroom, a deafening dance floor, or the dingy disarray of some random house party, and know she was the center of it all, that all eyes were on her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd smiled so often and fully. Probably not since Atlas. Her only regret was that it all ended so soon. Would that the celebrations could have continued, that she could have spent a year or more ensconced in booze and bodies and the adulation she had fought so hard for, but that was expecting too much of this glass world, with its brittle inhabitants. She could not expect those cardboard people to match her stamina, nor sustain her wants, and, spectacular though she was, even Heidi could not prevent the sun from rising and ushering in a new day. So the drinking and the smoking, the fighting and the love making, had all come to an end, and Heidi had found herself making her way back to her room. She had no real plan for the remainder of this new day, save for washing the smell of smoke and sweat from her hair, and perhaps changing her clothes. She'd never had trouble finding a place to be, and supposed she would eventually find her way back to the revelry she'd known the night before, once the rest of the city had a chance to recover. That moment couldn't come too soon. Even now, as Heidi opened her dorm room door, she felt that familiar restlessness, telling her she was sated, but not yet satisfied. She was unsure if she could ever be truly satisfied. She hoped so, but she knew better than to hope too much. Hope was poisonous. Hope could only ever hurt her, especially if it was hoping that anyone could ever truly keep up with her. She had no reason to believe anyone could, when everyone she'd ever known had been such a colossal disappointment. Heidi pressed open the door and stepped in side, blinking against the unexpected glare of the room beyond. Her bleary golden eyes took a moment to make out of the figure stood within. For a moment she wondered if she'd opened the wrong door, but that couldn't be right. Then she saw the pink hair and the blue eyes, and she realized the truth...

---

Words - 602
Total - 602

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

Nasrin tossed the key from hand to hand as she walked upstairs towards Jackie’s dorm room. She’d given Nasrin a key a little while ago as a gesture of good will, or at least that’s what Nasrin got out of it. Of course Nasrin had returned the gesture by giving Jackie the key to her own room, but really Jackie was not the kind of person to actually use it and Nasrin wasn’t even sure she’d have left it somewhere where Heidi could find it. But that was all besides the point. [Break]
Heidi had been avoiding her, avoiding her just enough for it to be subtle, but also slightly too much for Nasrin not to notice it. She liked spending time with the people that she liked, and Heidi happened to be one of those people for all her flaws and strangeness. So when they had gone from hanging out rather frequently, at least once every couple days, to almost never doing anything together Nasrin became somewhat worried about what was going on. The last straw had been their victory lunch after the first round at Vytal. They had all gone together, but by the time lunch was done Heidi split off to do her own thing without even telling Nasrin where she was going or offering for her to come along. Something was wrong, and it worried Nasrin a lot. [Break] [Break]

So when she reached her dorm room and unlocked it to step inside she had about a million different things running through her head. This would be an awkward, annoying, sad conversation and they were either going to walk out of it with Nasrin knowing the problem and how to fix it, or with the two of them splitting and Nasrin being once again alone in Haven apart from her very unusual friendship with Jackie of all people. The biggest concern was whether Heidi would get violent because of what Nasrin said, and if that happened… She didn’t want to think about what that would mean or how it turned out. Gotta stay positive! [Break] [Break]

She settled atop Jackie’s bed, sitting cross-legged with her skateboard in her lap and Jackie’s room key set infront of her on the sheets. She’d spent a while on Rascal before resolving to come here tonight, so she was far from the usual cleanliness level that she liked to present to people - especially Heidi. But this was important, and she wanted to get it done while she still had the resolve to do so. [Break]
She was sitting there for a while, waiting for Heidi to come back to her dorm and at a certain point began to think that Heidi might have just stayed with someone else for the evening. But… Eventually the door cracked open, and Nasrin saw - and smelled - that she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t taken a shower before the chat. At least Heidi could be forgiven, this was a surprise after all… But it did give a clue into what Heidi had been doing since ditching her, and it didn’t paint a very nice picture. [Break] [Break]

Nasrin stayed in place on the bed, spinning one of the many mechanical additions to the underside of Rascal that allowed it to hover as she waited for Heidi to close the door. When she did, Nasrin spoke up. ”Hey. Have a good night? Kinda ditched the rest of us there, yeah? Listen… What’s going on? I thought we were all good, we made up and shit after the night with Kishka. You said things were fine, yeah? But that’s bullshit. You’ve been avoiding me as much as you can since then. Are you bored of me? Am I not filling whatever niche you needed me to fill anymore? Please explain, cause I’m fucking confused and I wanna know where the fuck we actually stand, no more BS.”

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 643/643 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

It was through the exercise of her titanic will that Heidi, confronted with a conversation she knew she didn't want to have, resisted the urge to turn around and walk back out the way she'd come in. She was no fool, not needing to hear Nasrin's words nor see her expression, to know what the punkette was there to talk about. What else, if not a further impingement upon Heidi's sacrosanct freedom to do as she willed? How tiresome it was, to be proven right by the very first words out of the pink haired woman's mouth. Nasrin struck Heidi in the face with them the second she was through the door and it was through the Atlesian's magnanimity alone that she endured such undue castigation from so unworthy a source. It certainly wasn't due to a desire to finally have it out with Nasrin, after weeks of unspoken tensions between them, nor some unwarranted sense of guilt or responsibility for how she'd treated her erstwhile girlfriend since that fateful night. Truly, it could only be because Heidi was kind and benevolent where and when so ever she chose to be and she had merely chosen to be so now. So Heidi, having been verbally slapped in the face, and presented with a situation every part of her considered beneath her notice, defied expectations and quietly, carefully, closed the door behind her. Without looking at Nasrin, she crossed the room to Jackie's frustratingly organized desk and, plucked from its spot amid the stifling order, grabbed a bottle of painkillers her little sister always kept stocked but never actually seemed to use. She dry swallowed two pills and tossed the bottle, along with its lid, back onto the desk, scattering its contents in pleasing disarray across the previously immaculate workspace. It wouldn't do much for the hangover, she knew, but it would take the edge off the headache, and that might be enough to keep her temper in check. All the while, Heidi felt Nasrin's eyes on her as a prickling between her shoulder blades, unwanted in their watchfulness. Or perhaps it was merely her imagination, fueled by the alcohol still in her system. In either case, it annoyed the Atlesian. "I suppose Jackie gave you a key?" Heidi asked, flippantly casual. Nasrin thought she was in control and, while Heidi would ultimately condescend to answer her complaints, she would first make it clear she was only answering because she wanted to. "Never even considered she might have. You two must be getting close." Heidi didn't even bother to hide how she felt about that, sneering the last two words, as she tugged over Jackie's expensive, ergonomic office chair and slouched roughly into it. She faced Nasrin with golden eyes which barely bothered to hide their irritation, but there was a weariness to her gaze too, an indication that she'd been expecting this inquest for a while now. Scraping aside her hair, Heidi leaned back in her groaning seat and tucked both hands behind her head, making a show of just how at ease she was. Then she was silent. For as much as she'd been expecting and awaiting this confrontation, she'd never given much thought to what she might say when Nasrin finally demanded some kind of explanation. She'd never really been one for planning ahead, and there'd always been something more interesting to occupy her interest. It was yet more annoyance, piled upon the rest, that she now had to come up with an explanation on the spot. And with a hangover, her wit wasn't as quick as it might have been. The truth would hardly have done either of them much good, but she was at something of a loss when it came to constructing a plausible alternative. With a deep breath, and a deeper sigh, Heidi finally threw up her hands in mock defeat and genuine irritation. She couldn't think of anything. "If I was bored of you, I would hardly be putting up with this conversation, now would I?" She said, bored and aggravated, "I'd have just picked you up, taken back my key, and tossed you out. No, my feelings for you are a lot more complicated than simple boredom. That's the whole problem." It hardly sounded like that was even directed at Nasrin, but more like it was spoken for Heidi's benefit alone. She was actually wondering, as she had been every time this inevitability occurred to her, why she should go on tolerating such a situation. Heidi's bloodshot golden gaze grew unfocused as her attention turned inward, in search of some explanation. Her face creased with annoyance when, after a few moments, she was no closer to seeing an answer, and her eyes recentered themselves upon Nasrin. "Do you even realize how much of a hassle you are?" She asked. The words were blunt and without fire or venom, just a tired statement of fact, like Nasrin was some inconvenient but ultimately inescapable obstacle. "No, of course you don't," Heidi muttered, too quick for Nasrin to respond, "You people never do." Turning her eyes up to the ceiling, Heidi lounged back, chair creaking, and mused aloud, "Too hung up on your flimsy self-importance to see what an inconvenience you are... To recognize how much I put up with just to keep you happy." She blew out a sigh, "By Fortune, it's tiresome. And frustrating..." Heidi rubbed her eyes with finger and thumb, trying to massage down the ache behind that, recognizing it was making her short and tactless with Nasrin. Even now, she felt compelled to preserve her standing with the punkette. A soft chuckle broke out at that realization, and she shook her head in spite of herself. "Would have been so much easier if I had just broken things off with you a month ago; Would have saved me a lot of time, trouble, and effort. But you don't see it that way, do you?" She felt the barb in her tone again, that want to hurt Nasrin instead of just educate her, but the headache made it hard to reign herself in. "No, you think I've done you wrong. Rather than seeing how hard I've worked to placate you and keep you happy, you're instead convinced I'm not giving you enough of my time and attention." The Atlesian shrugged, "Maybe I could have tried harder, but I still tried. But that's not good enough for you. It's not enough to have some of my time, some of my effort, some of my attention..." From her tone, Heidi made it clear Nasrin was not the first person who had demanded too much from her, who'd been ungrateful for what they were given. "You know what you are?" Heidi asked, lifting her head to look at Nasrin, "You're just like everyone else." Then her tone, which had been frank, if a bit edged, until that point, turned scornful and harsh. "It's no wonder my sister likes you so much."

---

Words - 1,167
Total - 1,769

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

It was like the calm before the storm, watching Heidi enter the room in silence and shut the door just as quietly behind her. It wasn’t what Nasrin had been prepared for. She had been prepared for an angry outburst right away, and had hoped for an apology the moment Nasrin said what was troubling her. But instead she got an awful middle ground where Heidi seemed to basically be ignoring her even as she spoke directly about something that most partners would have been sad to hear from their lover. [Break]
Nasrin watched silently, hand going to clutch at her stump and hold it in that familiar display of unease or discomfort, as Heidi downed what looked to be a handful of pills from Nasrin’s angle and then tossed the bottle back onto Jackie’s - and it was Jackie’s desk, Heidi would not have kept it so organized - desk, scattering the pills across the surface and leaving another mark on Jackie’s life that she would see in the morning, or whenever she next got control. [Break] [Break]

And only after all of that did Heidi finally respond without bothering to look at Nasrin. She spoke over her shoulder like the punkette was something so lesser that she wasn’t even worthy of notice anymore. And of course Nasrin doing the exact thing she had told Heidi she would back when they first met in the forest was apparently a bad thing now, Heidi didn’t bother to hide how she felt about the room key or the fact that Nasrin and Jackie were getting closer. And Nasrin had been doing that just because she’d wanted to fucking be with Heidi. They’d discussed this! [Break]
Heidi finally sat down, tugging an office chair out and setting down in it like she didn’t give a single fuck about what Nasrin had said, or why she was here, or anything the two of them had done together. She just sat there, bringing her eyes up to look at Nasrin for the first time since she’d entered the room. Nasrin had gotten to know at least some of Heidi’s looks and glances, and the annoyance in those eyes, along with seemingly the expectation that this conversation would happen eventually, pissed Nasrin off more than it had any right to. [Break] [Break]

It hurt to watch Heidi sit there, lounging around and obviously annoyed at the prospect of explaining herself. Even as she held up her arms in surrender it was obvious to Nasrin that it was just more irritation that she’d dared to confront Heidi about something she’d done. How dare she try to keep both of them happy. What a mistake that was turning out to be. [Break]
Nasrin let Heidi talk, not interrupting or doing much of anything beyond clutching her stump and holding eye contact as hard as she could. If Heidi looked one way, Nasrin did too, keeping as much of those golden eyes in view at all times. She needed to know how Heidi felt, and she needed to see it first hand rather than listen to whatever she was saying. [Break] [Break]

But it would be obvious to Heidi if she had spent any time really getting to know Nasrin’s habits during conversation that she was upset, verging very close to outright anger that was being held in check only by the desire to hear the entirety of what Heidi had to say. Her grip on the stump of her arm was tighter than when it was simply for comfort, it was for control now too. Her gaze was harder than usual, and she was very obviously tense. Even though her muscles were quite a bit less visible than Heidi’s she still was rather strong and when she tensed it showed in the shape of her arms and legs - both visible thanks to the t-shirt and short shorts she’d chosen to wear for the team celebration after their Vytal win. [Break] [Break]

Listening to Heidi talk, taking each little barb no matter how intentional it seemed to be, Nasrin only got tenser as time went on. And the worst part of all of it, worse than all the little insults that Heidi seemed to be tossing out without thinking about them for more than a few moments, was that Heidi wasn’t even answering the fucking question. Talking about Nasrin’s self-importance when she was so far up her own ass that she didn’t even see that she was probably the worst person to ever badmouth someone for that exact thing. Heidi, the woman that seemed to believe the world owed her utter obedience and submission, was chastising NASRIN for HER self importance. [Break] [Break]

The last poke, about being like everyone else and being liked by Jackie hardly even registered to Nasrin. She had stopped listening when Heidi implied that Nasrin was the one in the wrong here. From that point on she had just been waiting for the droning of Heidi’s clearly half-drunk voice to finish so that she could speak up. [Break]
And speak up she did, when Heidi finally quieted. She cleared her throat and tilted her head slightly, staring hard at Heidi’s face. [Break]
”Right. Thanks for not answering the fucking question, real damn helpful there. I guess I’ll just go down the fucking list then, yeah? You aren’t interested in answering my shit so the least I can do is respond to yours. Here’s my thing though, yeah? I want this to fucking work. The highs with you are hella high, and then some random shit sets you off and you start acting like a fucking toddler with superpowers and making all that good shit feel like a lie or a waste.” Nasrin pulled her hand from her stump and briefly straightened out her hair, tucking it all properly on one side as it was meant to be before returning to the same position she had been in to continue. [Break] [Break]

”First. Yes Jackie gave me a key. And of course we’re getting close because when you and I spoke in the forest we fucking agreed that I should become friends with Jackie so that the two of us could work without worrying about her, yeah? So don’t go shooting that out at me like you think it's some kinda bullshit insult. I know how to make friends, I made one in Jackie. Second, no I guess you wouldn’t be. And yet you’re going to make this whole thing as painful and difficult as possible because that's what you like to do, isn’t it? Do you get off on being an asshole when someone isn’t fully submissive to you, is that how this works? At least if you’d fucking tossed me out you’d have answered my question, I’d know where we stand instead of this ring around the rosey shit.” Another pause from Nasrin as she settled herself down a little bit. She didn’t want to have a full on outburst, though it might have been a bit too late with how heated she was getting. All she wanted to know was if she should continue trying or not. And Heidi was giving her a good idea of the answer, even without actually saying as much directly. [Break] [Break]

”Third. And this one is just fucking rich. Has anyone ever told you no? Anyone that you actually gave a fuck about and didn’t just smash into paste on the pavement for daring to defy you? I’m the hassle. I’M the fucking hassle? You’re the woman who made me let her sleep around in order to even let me sort of be with her, that was a change I made just for you cause when you’re good you’re fucking great! You’re the woman who almost got herself fucking expelled because she couldn’t pull back when she’d already beaten Kishka, and I had to bail you out of that downward fucking spiral. You’re the person who, when confronted by a person that she claims to fucking give a shit about, or at least you did last time, seems like that’s changed too, goes straight to fucking belittling her and ignoring her concerns and claiming that she is the one in the wrong. You are quire fucking possibly the most self important person on the fortunes damned planet.” She was failing quite spectacularly at keeping her voice level now, she’d gotten loud though not loud enough to be yelling yet. It was just very, very clear that she was upset and pissed. [Break] [Break]

”And here’s the fucking thing. You /were/ doing enough. Right at the start, and for the first few months there you were doing great! That was enough time for me, and you still went around doing whatever shit you wanted to do every other night. All I want to know is what the fuck changed that made you stop doing that. You went from doing well, to avoiding me at every possible opportunity despite saying that we were on the fucking level. Was that just a lie to get me to shut up? Really hate me standing up to your garbage that much? Has every fucking person you’ve been with for more than an evening just rolled over and let you do what you want? They don’t complain? Either they do and you still haven’t fucking realized that maybe you’re the problem, or they don’t because they’re scared of what you’ll do if they mention it.” [Break]
Here Nasrin scooted herself to the edge of the bed, feet still not touching the floor since she was quite a bit shorter than even Jackie. She leaned forward slightly, getting as close to Heidi as she could. [Break] [Break]

”You seem to like strength. That’s your fucking thing, yeah? You like people who are strong, and attractive, and willing to bend to whatever you want them to do to keep /you/ happy. And then you twist their attempts at that into you expending oh so much fucking effort into placating them like you’re a fucking zookeeper handing out treats, but only if the animals perform tricks for you first. If I was just like everyone else I’d be cowering the corner of the bed, afraid to bring up any of this bullshit because you’d wipe the floor with me. Hell, I know you might do that right fucking now. You could, easily. But that /strength/ you like so much, here it is. I’m not going to just submit and let you pull your shit without complaining about it. I’m not going to let you treat me like a used condom and toss me aside when you’re done.” [Break] [Break]

Nasrin honestly had no clue if she was getting through to Heidi or if she was just wasting her time… Or if this was all just going to result in Heidi hurting her. But she was pissed, she’d said what she wanted to say and hopefully gotten across what she wanted to get across.

”Now answer my fucking question. Where. Do. We. Stand. I want this to work. I think we can make it work. You just have to make some changes. I’ve stretched as far as I can, you’ve gotta fucking reach to meet me half way here. Or I can just leave. Let you walk around sleeping with whoever the fuck you want because you think that’ll be enough. But it won’t. Having someone to fall back on is important, it’s how humans work, and you’ll get there one day. And if I leave, I don’t think you’ll find anyone else who's willing to bend as far as I have for you.”

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 1921/2564 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

This was tedious. Heidi had known it would be, these kinds of conversations always were, but she was growing more to regret even letting this one take place. The more Nasrin spoke, the more complaints she leveled against Heidi, the more irreconcilable it all became. In truth, Heidi had been sloppy, and she knew it. She'd not been as careful maintaining things as she might have been, and now she'd gone and been much too candid when a softer touch could have repaired the state of things between them. It was irritating, having her shortcomings paraded before her in this manner. Shortcomings she'd consciously assented to, in pursuit of her own self-interest, which she'd recognized even as she allowed them that they might result in this very exchange, but shortcomings none the less. Most of all, it was obvious she'd misjudged Nasrin, and how much she would tolerate. She shouldn't have cared. Nasrin was irrelevant, just like everyone and everything else. Her constrained view of the world had rendered small in Heidi's eyes, as fragile as everything else in this world of glass. Heidi should no longer care what she thought, and should not have to tolerate her rebukes. She wasn't lying when she said it would be easy to excise Nasrin from her life. To take back what was hers and then pretend like the punkette did not exist. It would be easy, physically speaking, to pick Nasrin up and remove her from Heidi's presence. It would be just as easy to ensure she stayed removed. So why didn't she do it? Why was she sitting there, enduring an assault of misguided and unwarranted reprimands from an inferior being? Heidi almost wanted to shut Nasrin up, just to spite whatever kept her locked in place, immobile, and suffering the punkette's unrelenting abuse. That too would have been easy. For all Nasrin recognized Heidi's strength and her capacity to end this tirade, for all her apparent bravery in the face of that immutable fact, Heidi had no doubt she'd make the punkette shut up in short order, should she have a mind to. She did have a mind to, didn't she? She didn't take shit from anyone, so why was she taking so much from a woman half her size? Heidi couldn't think of a reason why she should and, yet, there she sat, taking it all in. Hearing every word, every criticism, every perceived slight and overt condemnation. Nasrin bludgeoned her with them, again and again, and Heidi just sat there and let it all happen. At any point, she could have stood, could have grabbed Nasrin, could have made her be silent, could have gotten rid of her, could have ensured this never happened again. It was well within her power to do. So why didn't she? For that matter, why hadn't she done it before? Why had it even gotten this far? Why hadn't Heidi put a stop to it when Nasrin made it clear she wasn't the person Heidi had thought her to be? Why hadn't she put a stop to it the very first time the punkette had defied her? Why had she chosen, instead, to live with a ticking time bomb in the most personal part of her life, a bomb in the process of loudly exploding before her. Heidi didn't know. Had it really been Jackie who'd stopped her from putting Nasrin in her place, that night in the courtyard? Heidi had been certain of it at the time but, as time had blurred the incident into mere memory, she could no longer be so sure. One momentary lapse was one thing, after all, but a month of tolerance could hardly be accredited to her meek and weak willed little sister. Had the decision to continue this charade not been her own, after all? Golden eyes focused on Nasrin's face and, with the clarity of long practice, read the emotion there. The anger, the confusion, the resentment, those were familiar, Heidi had seen them all often enough, if not on Nasrin's fine featured face. But that wasn't all that was there. And it occurred to Heidi. As capable of ending this as she was herself, Nasrin could just as easily ended things between them. She could just as easily have stood up and left. Could just as easily excised Heidi from her life. With how angry she was, with how hard she thought herself done by, she had no reason to continue. Heidi could rationalize some of that incongruity. She was, after all, magnificent, the best thing to ever happen to Nasrin, and the rest of creation must look tawdry and meager by comparison. How could Nasrin ever compromise for anything else, having tasted the very best humanity had to offer? Then she remembered the Key. Unbidden, her thoughts went to Nasrin as seen through milder, muddier eyes. And she realized that Nasrin had no only compromised, not only settled for second best, but actively sought out the worst. Having been with Heidi, she still shared herself with one of Humanity's greatest failures. It made Heidi angry, thinking of that. Knowing it. Feeling it, through her little sister's skin. All without her big sister's influence. She was suddenly very angry, so angry that her headache felt like a knife sawing at the deepest part of her mind. She was furious. Furious, and confused. Heidi stared at Nasrin, glaring golden gaze blazing, unblinking, as the ergonomic armrests of her chair groaned beneath the crushing press of her arms. Then, gradually, the pressure relented and, with a relieved groan, Heidi was able to breathe again. Was that what this was? Was that why Nasrin was staying? The Real reason she was staying? Not for Heidi, but for her insignificant little sister? It couldn't be. Heidi couldn't believe it, couldn't bear the thought that it might be true. Heidi's eyes flicked to the door, then to Jackie's desk, where a single key lay amid the spilled pills. A key that would not fit the lock to their room. Heidi stared there for a long while in crushing silence. Then, she slowly rose from her seat and grabbed the key from the table. Jackie had never used it, Heidi well knew, had never found the courage to enter Nasrin's room without an overt invitation. Nasrin had still given it too her though. To Jackie. Friends might exchange keys, with the expectation of them being used. Friends close enough to welcome one another into their most unguarded moments, friends who trusted one another enough to leave themselves at each other's mercy. Heidi closed the key in her palm. She wanted to crush it, to squeeze it until and mold it into a ball, the way she'd done that night in the courtyard. Friends might exchange keys. Why had she let Nasrin hurt her this way? Why was she letting Nasrin hurt her? Why did it hurt so much? But Heidi knew why. She was the big sister, the better sister. She was everything Jackie wanted but could never hope to be. She was strong, beautiful, impervious to the glass world's sharp edges. And yet, here she was, being cut. Letting the world, letting Nasrin, cut her. Why? Was it because Jackie had Nasrin? Was it because, by losing Nasrin, Heidi would not? Was it because she could not bear for Jackie to have something she couldn't? Heidi didn't know. She didn't know why she was enduring this, why she was putting up with these confusing and painful emotions. She was the Atlesian, the pinnacle, the greatest human alive, living a squandered life in a world which hated everything not built to its petty scale. Nobody should be allowed to make her feel this way. Confused, conflicted, and hurt. Gradually, Heidi replaced the key where she'd found it, putting it down gently amid the scattered painkillers. Contrary to what the rest of the world thought, she wasn't an unfeeling, unthinking brute. Heidi's mind was as fit and strong as her body, as perfect a part of her as everything else. It was a mind so often free of doubt, of concern, of worry and fear. A mind as tough as she was. The only thing strong enough to hurt it, in fact, was itself. "Why am I doing this?" She asked out loud. No hint of anger or artifice, no hope that Nasrin would provide, or even know, the answer. "I'm letting you do this, and I don't know why. It would be so easy to make you stop. It would be so easy to make sure you never came near me, near us, ever again." Heidi reached up and rubbed her eyes between finger and thumb, then tried in vain to massage away the ache behind them. The last person who'd spoken to her the way Nasrin was, who'd betrayed her the way Nasrin had, she had grabbed, and she had held, and she had twisted, and she had made sure they stopped. Heidi remembered how it felt, the sudden wrenching give as bones had broken, right before all the fight went out of her. It was so easy to hurt people. So easy to stop them from hurting her. "You're wrong, you know? I don't need you. I don't need anyone to fall back on." Heidi looked at Nasrin and, without any sense of pride, but as a mere statement of fact, concluded, "I do not fall." She'd never fallen. She'd always been bigger, stronger, tougher, faster, than anything the glass world had thrown at her. Hadn't she? Heidi felt a lump in her throat, a tightness in her chest, and turned away from Nasrin again. She didn't want to look at that angry, confused, and frustrated expression anymore. Didn't want to think about how much it mirrored her own. She wanted to hit something. She wanted to hurt something. She wanted to grab, and hold, and twist, and break, until the pain went away. Nothing could hurt her, not so long as she hurt it first. "What are you, to me?" She asked, hoping that Nasrin knew the answer. She never stopped hoping, after all. "What are you, that I would let you do this to me?" Was Nasrin really like everyone else? Was she really? How much of it was rationalization? How much of it was justification? If she really was like everyone else, then why was Heidi letting her sit there? "You're hurting me." She said flatly, "You are hurting me, and I am letting you, even though I could make you stop. Why? What makes you so special?" Heidi remembered the last time someone had been special. Remembered what she had done to spite that singular exception to her universal rule. She'd vandalized that part of her life. She'd grabbed, and she'd held, and she'd broken it apart, and then she'd carried on. She'd proved she didn't need it. She was the Atlesian, the Pinnacle, she didn't need anything. Heidi's tensed shoulders gradually slumped, and the fists she'd been holding so tightly gradually unfurled. Would she have done the same to Nasrin, that night in the courtyard? Had she almost done it, to spite the idea that anyone could stop her, or would think to even try? To prove she didn't care what happened, just so long as she hurt the people trying to hurt her first? Had she almost done exactly that? Had she been doing it all along? Had she grabbed Nasrin, and held her, and twisted it all around until she finally broke? Was it breaking right now? All to prove how unimportant Nasrin was, how irrelevant she was. Turning, the Atlesian looked down on Nasrin. Really looked. She searched her pink hair and shaved scalp and her blue eyes and button nose. She searched her slim frame and the stump of her missing arm and the hand grabbing it in that nervous, defensive way Nasrin had. She felt her want, to grab, and hold, and twist, and break. Her need to hurt. To protect herself. "I don't know what you are. I don't know where we stand. I don't know what I want from you, or why I'm letting you do this." Heidi's golden eyes flicked again to the desk, without meaning to. "I've been pushing you away with one hand and holding onto you with the other, and I don't know why." When her gaze returned to Nasrin, it was guarded, almost accusatory, "I knew why I was doing it, thought I had reasons, but..." Heidi was silent for a few moments after that, golden eyes regarding Nasrin like cold, distant stars. "I don't need you." She said finally, "So why am I acting like I do?" She realized the sudden and unwelcome urge to be entirely honest with Nasrin. Much like before, except she wanted to include all the things she hadn't said. All the little things which Nasrin might pry open, all the little things which might leave Heidi exposed. It made her feel like Jackie, ever afraid and vulnerable, ever at the mercy of others. "The more I think about it, the more I see myself pushing you to this. Like I was trying to make this happen." Heidi narrowed her eyes, looking inward. Now that she was looking for it, she could see it clearly. For every bit Heidi had pushed Nasrin away, Jackie had drawn her in closer. In recognizing Nasrin as beneath her, she'd simultaneously knocked the punkette off the pedestal Jackie had placed her on. As Heidi had closed off, protecting herself, Jackie had opened up, leaving herself more and more vulnerable. Until Jackie had done something with Nasrin she'd never done with anyone else, the ultimate act of trust. And Heidi's regard for the punkette had vanished entirely, had twisted around into jealousy and spite. Heidi had to sit down. She clutched for the chair and was just about to sag into it when she recalled it was Jackie's. She shoved it away instead, so hard it bounced off the opposite wall. Her skin was prickling, her heart aching in her chest. It felt hard to breath, like a vice around her chest. Her head pounded in time with her racing heart, as her fingers became claws at her side. "Jackie did this." She whispered, as everything suddenly made horrible sense. Details and facts shifted, twisted, rearranged in her mind. It had been Jackie who'd stopped her from hurting Nasrin. Jackie who'd sought more of the Punkette's company in Heidi's absence. Jackie, who'd given Nasrin a key. Jackie had made her drive Nasrin away. "This... this is all her doing. All her fault. She's been..." Heidi searched her own thoughts, her own feelings, seeking out any sign of Jackie's weakness. Confusion, Doubt, Regret, Fear. Her mind was painted in the colors of her little sister's pathetic personality. "She wanted you to herself, of course she did. She couldn't bear us being together. She's always resented my having things she couldn't." It all made a twisted, surreal sort of sense, and Heidi could not think of any more plausible an explanation for the pain she had just endured. Could think of no better excuse than her conspiring little sister's malicious sabotage. "She saw her chance to finally take something away from me, and she took it." Heidi turned to face Nasrin, and the horrible revelation and intense violation she wore were all too genuine. "Her poison... It's all over my mind. Everything about you, all this doubt, this confusion, this fear. All of it's hers." Legs unsteady, Heidi leaned against the desk, as her shocked and despairing gaze slid off of Nasrin altogether. "I must have known. I must have realized. That's why I never got rid of you altogether. Why, even now, I'm..." She felt sick. It made perfect sense. All the contradictions, all the inconsistency, all the reasons and rationalizations that fell apart with only a modicum of scrutiny. Every thought she'd had about Nasrin since the night Jackie had stopped Heidi from hitting her. It wasn't Heidi being inconstant, hypocritical, fractious, or capricious. It was Jackie. It was Jackie, trying to steal Nasrin away. Trying to make Heidi hurt. "It almost worked." Heidi whispered, horrified. She'd never been scared in her life, but she was aghast at the thought that Jackie could covertly manipulate her, and that it had almost gone unnoticed. "I almost destroyed us. I..." Heidi's mouth opened and closed, but no more words came out. She was still processing it. How much of what had passed between herself and Nasrin was of Jackie's design? How much of what Heidi had said in this very conversation was her little sister's doing? Heidi's stomach roiled. Wordlessly, she turned for the adjoining bathroom, threw the door open, and stumbled through. A mere moment later, she was tightly grabbed onto the toilet seat and noisily heaving up the whole contents of her stomach.

---

Words - 2,819
Total - 4,588

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

An immediate, clear response was what Nasrin had hoped to get. She’d wanted to come into the room, find Heidi, ask her question, and then either leave or stay depending on the answer. It didn’t need to become this long, stressful thing and yet here they were. After Nasrin’s increasingly angry rant she was expecting some direct response from Heidi, something either outright angry on par with where Nasrin had been, perhaps even enough to get thrown out of the room or otherwise hurt. But instead all she got was a hard, long stare from the taller woman. [Break]
It wasn’t even close to a prompt response. It was like time had stopped and she was staring at the object of an affection that she was increasingly feeling was a mistake and begging for some sort of feedback beyond a stare. That came when the chair began to groan under the pressure Heidi was apparently putting on the arm rests, even as Heidi kept staring and hardly seemed to acknowledge what she was doing. Still no words. Still nothing that Nasrin could actually work with and figure out what she wanted to do. No, she simply got a stare. [Break][Break]

Heidi slowly released the pressure, and Nasrin tensed in place like she was afraid she was about to get hit. She was prepared for it, but that didn’t make the prospect any better. And to Heidi’s credit, she didn’t even raise a fist at Nasrin. So if she was angry, she was on the road to showing it in a way that might actually be useful for once. [Break]
The silence continued for a long time then, Heidi looking at various things around the room for no reason that Nasrin could tell. And all she could do during that silence was think about what she had said, how angry she had gotten, and how this all happened. [Break][Break]

Nasrin wanted things to work out, both for her sake and Jackies. Heidi was the reason any of this had happened, and she was someone that Nasrin wanted to be with… And here she was yelling at her. It was justified, Nasrin knew this, but that didn’t help the feeling that Nasrin often had when it came to expressing her more complicated feelings and ideas to other people. She didn’t know if what she did was the best way to get her feelings across. She didn’t know if there was some perfect way she could have said everything that would have fixed it on the spot. And she never would, so all she could do was dwell on it until Heidi finally did something. [Break] [Break]

Nasrin watched as Heidi walked across the room to the desk where she picked up Nasrin’s room key and squeezed it in one of her hands. Of all the things to fucking focus on, Heidi was obsessed with a key? Again before she even said ANYTHING to Nasrin she was staring at a key. No answers, no attempt to do what Nasrin did and address all the things she had said. Nothing. Just a silent examination of a key Nasrin had given Jackie weeks ago without thinking about it cause it seemed like a nice thing to do. [Break]
Heidi set down the key a few moments, or maybe minutes later. And then she started talking and none of it made any sense to Nasrin. Frankly it sounded like Heidi was talking to herself, at first. [Break] [Break]

She could stop Nasrin, she could have stopped her at any time. That was true at least, and it showed that Heidi realized there was something here that could work out if it was mended and cared for. But then she reversed, a complete 180 back to claiming that she didn’t need Nasrin, or anyone, because of course she didn’t ever mess up or need support. But even then her body seemed to betray her. Nasrin saw a look that she hadn’t seen before and then Heidi turned away from her again, avoiding eye contact because apparently the mighty Heidi couldn’t handle staring at a cripple. [Break]
More confusion at Nasrin from the other questions Heidi asked, all vague and unanswerable questions as far as Nasrin was concerned. She didn’t know what she was to Heidi, she didn’t know what made her special… But she also didn’t think she was hurting Heidi, not really. She was saying the truth and things that needed to be said in order for this to have any chance of being brought back from the pit it had fallen into. [Break] [Break]

The next bit happened quickly. Nasrin was huddled up as she had been the entire time as Heidi turned to examine her once again, closer and more intensely than last time. And finally an answer from the giant. Finally some sort of concrete response to the question that Nasrin had asked with the desperate hope that something good would come of it. What were they? Heidi didn’t know. She didn’t know any of it. And while that might have been a useless response to some, for Nasrin it meant that there was still a chance. She didn’t know what she’d done for Heidi to become more distant, but she did know that if Heidi wasn’t sure it meant there was hope. If she had been sure, then it either would have been fantastic or awful, this at least was a middle ground that Nasrin could work with. [Break] [Break]

Heidi seemed intent on ruining it though, as she said she didn’t need Nasrin. It hurt, a bit more than the previous time simply because of how quiet Heidi had been beforehand and how concrete and final it seemed this time. [Break][Break]

The chair flew across the room, hitting the wall and likely leaving a dent that Jackie would have to fix later. And Heidi was suddenly having what seemed to be a full on panic attack. Her expression was a near mirror of what Nasrin imagined her own to be, and Heidi slowly spiraled into panic over Jackie having some sort of influence over her, something that had never once showed itself before today so Nasrin found it hard to believe such a thing was the case. This had all been Heidi, and she was using Jackie as an escape - consciously or not - from that realization. [Break] [Break]

‘I almost destroyed us’ was the last thing Heidi said before running to the bathroom. And Nasrin had to wonder which us she meant… Did she mean Jackie and Heidi, or Heidi and Nasrin. Did she come to the conclusion Nasrin was hoping for at the last moment there, notice that it was her fault and not Jackies? Nasrin couldn’t tell, she wasn’t that in tune with Heidi yet, it was hard to learn a woman like her. [Break] [Break]

It wasn’t more than a couple seconds before Nasrin jumped up from the bed and headed into the washroom behind Heidi. She’d been this drunk before, and so had her friends, so it came almost on instinct to pull the matted, tangled hair out of Heidi’s face. It was a slower process, but with Nasrin’s trademark determination and her furrowed brow in concentration she picked each hair away one bundle at a time with her single hand until she had it all gathered in a makeshift ponytail that she lifted to hold behind Heidi’s head. Puke was one thing, having the shit in your hair was another that Nasrin didn’t think anyone deserved. She sat there behind Heidi, not really caring what the outcome would be, for as long as Heidi hovered over the toilet bowl. [Break] [Break]

Whenever she stopped and seemed to return to reality, Nasrin was still there. She didn’t let go of the hair until Heidi either forced her to or she became positive that no more puke was to follow. Either way she leaned back against the door of the bathroom, pulling one knee up to her chest and resting her stump on it as her eyes flitted over Heidi’s face, those golden eyes and near-perfect features matted with sweat and grime from her night out. It was similar, in its own way, to their first night in the forest. Fresh off a battle of sorts, though in this case that battle was with something far more internal. Something that neither of them could just punch to make it go away. [Break] [Break]

”How’re you feelin? I can go get some stomach pills or some shit if you want, they’re just in my room.” Any sense of the anger from before was gone. Nasrin just sounded, and looked, tired. That and compassionate, something Heidi was likely familiar with in terms of the expression Nasrin wore. Her emotions were on her sleeve, as they always were, and while the confusion and anger were still there they had taken a backseat to the present issue. [Break]
”If not ah… I mean fuck, that was a lot to unpack in not nearly as many words as I put out. I don’t think it was Jackie. She’s never poked into your head before, she’s not strong enough when you’re in control, yeah? Least that’s how I figured it worked. S’weird. I think this was you. And I think you realized that, and I think...” She cut herself off, pausing for a moment and then finding the right word. ”I /hope/ that you want to fix things, same as me, yeah? I hope you want this to work as much as I do, and I think we can figure out a way to do that if that last bit was you realizing what I think it was.” [Break] [Break]

From there Nasrin gave Heidi the run of things. If she was able to let go of Heidi’s hair she would use that hand to spray some air freshener in the bathroom, she had closed the door when she leaned on it and this conversation would finish in this room whether Heidi liked it or not. Small space meant less room for her to run away or hide her eyes from Nasrin.

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 1672/4236 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

The experience left her feeling unbearably weak, and that was likely the only thing that saved the flimsy porcelain of the bowl. She'd been sick before, of course. Even she wasn't immune to a hangover and, while that allowed her to get suitably intoxicated whenever she felt like it, it also meant paying the inevitable price of that intoxication. That her liver was not damaged by alcohol did not stop it from playing all sorts of havoc with her biochemistry. Even still, puking had never left her feeling so vulnerable, so empty, so weak. She wanted to stop. Knowing she'd left Nasrin at her back, that the punkette had a front row seat, from beginning to end, Heidi tried to make herself stop, to take control of herself once more. Her efforts were for naught, ending only in the whole laborious process taking far longer than it should have. She'd precious little in her stomach to expel, after all. She even flinched when she felt Nasrin move in behind her, some animal part of her brain, preparing to defend itself. That would have been just what she needed, a boot on the back of her head and a face full of bile. It had been a long time since she'd known such relief as when, instead of a boot, she felt the punkette's fingers combing her disheveled hair out sickness' path. A long time since she'd known such confusion. What possible reason could Nasrin have to help her when she was so weak and powerless? What possible incentive could there be for her to stand over Heidi at her lowest point, Heidi wondered, in between waves of nausea and spasms of heaving. When her body, satisfied there was nothing left for her to throw up, finally relented, Heidi sagged away from the vessel in disgust. Her eyes were burning, bloodshot, and her nose was clogged with unfallen tears. Her throat hurt, her stomach hurt more, and her head was still pounding like there was a tyrant raging inside of it. Not her proudest moment, and not the sort she wanted to have in the company of another. Her hand moved up, unclasping with some difficulty from the lip of the bowl, and numbly brushed away Nasrin's hold on her hair. She'd never had someone do that for her before, and she wanted it to stop while she figured out how she felt. She had a whole lot of figuring to do... Slouching around, Heidi braced against the wall opposite the door. She could have stood, though the violence of the episode had left her legs shaky, but convinced herself she'd rather sit a while and catch her breath. It certainly had nothing to do with Nasrin partially blocking the only exit. Her red-rimmed eyes found the punkette's and, for just a moment, dared her to say anything about what had just happened. They blazed gold, daring her to mock Heidi in her moment of weakness or look on the end result of her drinking with disgust. Daring Nasrin for any reproach she might bring to bear. Familiar as Heidi was with mocking stares, however, she saw no such expression on the punkette's tired face. Heidi, still glaring accusingly, quickly averted her gaze from the last thing she'd expected to see. If anything, Nasrin looked concerned, and not for herself. "How’re you feelin?" She asked, as Heidi forcibly dismantled the angry and defensive expression she'd been wearing, "I can go get some stomach pills or some shit if you want, they’re just in my room." The sympathy and compassion of the question and subsequent offer were worse than any mocking jibe or self-serious jab could have been. Heidi thought of how much she had openly resented Nasrin just a few minutes prior. Juxtaposing such disregard with compassion was a crueler twist than any plunging blade. Worse still, she'd considered Nasrin beneath her, an irrelevant porcelain insect, and now, here that insect was, thinking to offer aid. Heidi's jaw locked tightly, furious eyes staring at nothing in particular as her unsteady thoughts tried desperately to put this whole debacle into a more palatable context. She'd been the victim of an assault, she decided. A savage, vicious, underhanded attack against the very foundations of her being, one so insidious that she'd only just noticed, and while in a weakened state at that. A state which left her vulnerable and unsure and chemically unbalanced. Surely a lesser mind would still be reeling on such revelation. A lesser body, still dry heaving futilely on the taste if poison at her very core. No, she was strong, she was powerful, she was impervious, and here was the proof. "Better." She answered finally, to Nasrin's question, willing the muscles of her jaw to ease enough to let her speak. She carved away the anger, the fury, flensing each away with careful strokes, sharpening her mind back to a keen edge. There would be a time for anger later, when she determined some manner of repaying this affront to her personhood, but not now. Now was a time for careful thought and reconciliation. Now was a time for taking back that which had nearly been stolen from her. Perform Heidi was quite ready to attempt it however, Nasrin was speaking again. Heidi made herself look at the punkette, settling one a tired and drained but otherwise neutral expression. It was hard to maintain that neutrality, hearing what the punkette had to say, just as it was hard to quash the anger and alarm. In short, Nasrin couldn't believe Jackie had done what she'd done. Of course she couldn't. She was so captivated by Heidi's objective superiority that the idea of someone as weak willed as Jackie subverting Heidi's own was unconscionable. Which made perfect sense. Heidi had said it herself, had been convinced of it herself. That is, until Jackie had. Heidi remembered how clearly, how purely, she'd wanted to hit Nasrin. She remembered how much it had hurt, how much Nasrin had hurt her, with her refusal. Even now, months later, that refusal hurt. The anger she'd felt, the betrayal, it all made sense, as did her want to hurt Nasrin back. Heidi remembered too the icy immobility of her hand, remembered the brittle control exerted over her by an alien presence in the shadows of her mind. She remembered Jackie stopping her. And Heidi could not remember that presence entering her mind, just as she could not recall it ever fading away. There'd been no cage door opening in the depths of her psyche, and it had not slammed back closed after. Jackie had simply been there, stopping her. Heidi felt a sudden sinking certainty that, even now, Jackie was watching from the darkest recesses of her mind, that her little sister was laughing at her. She could not feel the good humor, could not sense any mirth, any alien consciousness, but how good must she be at hiding? How much longer had Jackie had to map the darkest corners of their shared cell? It must have been Jackie; The only other explanation was that Heidi had done all this, had dismantled the regard of someone she honestly felt for, who clearly felt for her, will callous and willful abandon. It had hurt, Nasrin trying to stop her, but she'd done out of some naive effort to protect Heidi. Was that really a good enough reason to throw her away? One would have to be capricious and self centered and utterly without perspective to think so, and Heidi was none of those things. So what other explanation was there for all the irrational, contradictory, cruel, and capricious things she'd done to Nasrin since that night? The more she thought about it, the more horribly certain she became. Her chest was drawing tight again, and her heart beginning to race once more. She doubted everything. She was Heidi, the Atlesian, the Pinnacle of creation; She'd never doubted anything in her life. Yet here she sat, unsure of even her own thoughts. Heidi looked at Nasrin pleadingly for a few moments. Nasrin, who she'd invested so much time and effort in. Would she have done that if Nasrin wasn't worth it? Would she throw away all that effort on a whim? Nasrin, who plainly cared about her, who she'd trusted. She wanted to tell her. Tell her she'd been wrong, that Jackie could stop her, had stopped her. She was... She was scared, and wanted the comfort of sharing that fear with the only person she trusted. But Heidi had also told Nasrin she wasn't going to hit her. She had, in fact, claimed the thought never even crossed her mind, acting affronted and hurt by the mere accusation that it had. To now admit she'd considered it, had desperately wanted to do it, and it had only been Jackie's timely intervention which prevented her... To admit that someone like Jackie, someone so weak and powerless and feeble, stopped her... To then contend that same person had so undermined Heidi's very thoughts... Had successfully manipulated her into destroying their relationship... To admit all that to this person who worshiped her so utterly as to continue trying to make it all work, despite how Heidi had treated her, despite all she had done. The thought of doing so made the words catch in Heidi's throat. Was that Jackie's goal? Had that always been her goal? Not to drive Nasrin away, but to get Heidi to admit to Nasrin that Jackie had beaten her? "You're right," Heidi said finally, "You're right, of course you are. It couldn't have been Jackie." Looking away, genuinely ashamed for what might be the first time in her fractured life, Heidi drew an uneven breath. She didn't need Nasrin's help anyway, she didn't need her concern. Much as she wanted it, frightening as it was to think her thoughts might not be entirely her own, she did not need the punkette's support. "This was all me, all of it." She chewed on the words, felt her chest tightening again, and ruthlessly quashed the unwanted feelings. "I... I felt threatened. With Kishka, I mean, when you didn't back me up. I don't like feeling threatened, and so I suppose I was... I don't know..." Nothing about what she'd been doing made much sense, now that she looked back on it. All of it seemed like empty, often contradictory, rationalizations rather than any conscious decision. "It made me realize how much I rely on you, how much I..." Heidi swallowed, the words catching again, "How much I need you, I guess. How much I trust you to have my back, and not hurt me." She felt very exposed, terrified that Nasrin might see through her lies like she'd never been before, that she might realize the truth. Heidi violently quashed the feeling, but it soon came slinking back, insinuating its way into her thoughts so slowly that it was only when her chest started tightening again that she noticed it. It was an unpleasant, unfamiliar feeling, being this scared. That, more than anything else, convinced Heidi it really was Jackie messing with her mind, because few people had such an abundance of fear as she did. "When you didn't back me up with Kishka... That really hurt. I was..." Heidi looked uncomfortable as she tried to find the right words, "I was worried you would do it again." She scraped her hair out of her face, then let her head back against the bathroom wall, gaze focused just to the side of Nasrin. "My whole life, people have been trying to stop me. Trying to tell me that the people who would hurt me and take what I care about about, that they don't deserve to be hurt and taken from first. That, because I am bigger, stronger, better than them, doesn't mean I should treat them exactly how they would treat me if the roles were reversed. Like that little idiot, they think I should stand up for the thieves and the parasites, not stand atop them. Because stepping on them 'isn't right'." Heidi grit her teeth scornfully on the last two words, expression turning vicious for just a moment, before once again melting into that almost worried look she'd been wearing before. "You were trying to help me. You were trying to protect me." She said, flatly, "But it only felt like you were trying to stop me from giving Kishka what we all know she deserved." Heidi kept staring at the wall, like she hoped the weight of her gaze might bring it down, but her expression was conflicted and concerned in equal measure. "I thought you were like everyone else. I thought it was just a matter of time before you hurt me again, that I would be better off without you." She shook her head, "But I didn't want you gone. So I held onto you as I pushed you away, far enough that I could still have you, far enough that you couldn't hurt me. Then... Then you and Jackie started getting closer..." Heidi felt the insecurity of the last few minutes anew as her thoughts turned to her horrible, manipulative little sister, and she felt an incredible, impotent anger which words could not express. She choked on it, face creasing up in something that could have been regret or helplessness. "I thought that confirmed it. If you'd be more satisfied with her than with me, that must mean I was right about you. Then..." Heidi's words trailed off. Her heart was pounding, her head throbbing, and her stomach had tied itself into a tight knot. How could she have been so blind to what was happening? "I know what you two did. I don't think she's ever done that with anyone else, but the last time she got that close was..." Her eyes closed. "Was with someone else who hurt me. Hurt me a lot." She remembered how it had felt, when the bone finally broke. It no longer felt half so satisfying. "I don't know what I was thinking. I was angry and... I kept pushing you further away without letting go. I didn't want to let go. I don't want to let go. I want this to work, I'm sure I do..." Heidi's expression became unreadable. "But so long as I do," Eyes closed, weakened and drained, and on the floor, Heidi was about as vulnerable as she was ever likely to get, "So long as I keep holding on, you can hurt me. And that scares me. It scares me a lot."

---

Words - 2,435
Total - 7,023

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

Heidi seemed angry, or at least looked it, when she finally pulled herself off of the rim of the toilet and leaned against the wall. Nasrin couldn’t tell what exactly Heidi was upset about or if she had done something to make her angry. Nasrin watched as Heidi stared into the opposite wall, avoiding direct eye contact with her but mostly failing to conceal the display of emotions at work. Nasrin was content to let her sort things out in whatever way worked for Heidi, and if that meant staring angrily at a wall then Nasrin could work with that. [Break] [Break]

Heidi said she was better. This was good, and it gave Nasrin a chance to relax a bit more as she leaned even more fully against the door behind her. No need to leave for now, after all. Silence followed Nasrin’s comments, something that seemed to be a trend with both Heidi and Jackie, or at least today Heidi was certainly following Jackie’s lead on the long stretches of silence before answering anything. Usually it was different. Usually Heidi was quicker and more confident with her words and that change, how odd it was, gave Nasrin even more reason to think that she’d gotten through to the larger woman. [Break] [Break]

Heidi kept up the trend of not looking at Nasrin too, same as Jackie always struggled with. Even as she started talking and agreed that Jackie couldn’t be at fault for this, and that it was Heidi who’d done the things that had caused this conversation to happen in the first place, she didn’t look at Nasrin. She looked anxious. Uncomfortable. Worried, which was not something that Nasrin usually associated with Heidi at all. She was quite obviously unsettled, more than Nasrin had ever seen before and all over something that to Nasrin seemed totally fixable, should they both agree to address and fix it. [Break] [Break]



And Heidi finally admitting that she did indeed want this to work, that she wanted to fix it, that was the start the two of them needed. [Break]
”I’m not one for hurting the people I care about, Heidi. Figured you would know that much by now, yeah? Didn’t mean to hurt you so much with the shit around Kishka. Like you said, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get yourself booted out of Haven. Would cut all of this real fucking short and I wasn’t into letting that happen, yeah?” Nasrin watched as Heidi slipped down the wall a bit further, eyes closed and expression stony enough that Nasrin couldn’t get anything useful out of it. [Break]
It took a few moments, but Nasrin scooted herself across the floor to set herself down beside Heidi, not quite touching but much closer than they had been in what she hoped would come across as something comforting, something to affirm that she wasn’t going to hurt Heidi. Not that she even could, physically. [Break] [Break]

”I like Jackie. I’ve gotten to know her a lot better, and like you said we got close. Doesn’t mean I can’t like you just the same. And I do. I liked you first, I wanted you first. None of that has changed, and it won’t change so long as we keep things between us positive, rather than all this negative bullshit that’s been happening lately, yeah?” She smirked slightly, looking at the side of Heidi’s face and not really expecting any eye contact or whatnot to be given back, she just watched. [Break]
”And here’s the thing. So long as you keep holding on, I can also help you. And I think that’s a fuckton more likely than my doing anything to hurt you on purpose. S’not like I could actually harm you even if I wanted to, its part of what makes you so fucking hot. Power difference, you know?” She shook her head, that was a sidetrack they didn’t need right now. ”But if you push me away, sure you get rid of any risk of things going poorly, of us not working out. Of being hurt. But you also lose all the good shit that comes along with being close to someone. And at least for me, the good stuff is so much better than the risk of the bad, most of the time, it’s not even really a question over whether it's worth it or not!” [Break] [Break]

Nasrin reached out with her one hand to rest it on one of Heidi’s. Just a soft touch, easily avoided if Heidi didn’t want to receive it, but something that Nasrin - as a person who communicated physically as much as verbally - needed and wanted to do. ”So far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing for you to be scared about. You want this to work, I want this to work. If we both keep doing things to help that goal, if we spend some fucking time together like we had been, then the two of us will do fine. Better than fine! Fucking fantastic, yeah?” [Break]
Seeing that Heidi wanted to fix things, and that she was as broken up about all of this as someone should be when they piss off their girlfriend as much as Heidi had, pretty much wiped the confusion from Nasrin. She was optimistic now, smiling slightly as she tried to cheer up Heidi and move the two of them forward. It was an expression of optimism and compassion that would meet Heidi, should she choose to open her eyes and look at Nasrin again.

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 914/5150 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

"I want this to work." Heidi agreed, turning her hand over to hold Nasrin's, long and graceful fingers surrounding the her girlfriend's more delicate digits. Her world had taken a new shape, the last pieces of which had but recently slipped into place, and she found herself unsure what to do. It was obvious that she must conceal Jackie's duplicity at all costs, but what else? Her golden eyes settled upon the punkette and she made herself see past the fragility inherent to her slender frame, the vulnerability of her average body, and made herself remember what she'd seen in Nasrin before. It wasn't hard to find. Nasrin was still the strong, forthright woman she'd first been attracted to. She was brave too, confronting Heidi like she had, especially with Heidi acting the way she had done. A strange feeling overcame Heidi then. She would have called it a tightness, somewhere in her chest, except it felt too hollow and empty for such a word. Like a hole had opened up and she had been drawn tight around it. She thought about how angry she'd been, how twisted up her opinion of Nasrin had gotten, realized just how brave the pink haired punkette had been to confront her, and felt another thing she could not easily identify. Whatever it was, it made it suddenly quite hard to breathe. Heidi made herself breathe. Through her nose, she drew in a deep breath, then tried to breathe the unfamiliar feelings out. She found she wanted to look away again, worried that Nasrin might read the feelings on her face. Heidi made herself look at the punkette instead. They weren't her feelings, she knew. They were poison. She would not let them control her. She would not let herself think about what she might have done to Nasrin, if she hadn't broken free when she had. That was what Jackie wanted, and Heidi was done playing her games. "I won't be scared," Heidi stared into Nasrin's eyes, crushing down the want to look away, "Not of you." She didn't quite trust herself to move, not yet. Her body wasn't her own, just then, and she wasn't sure what might happen if she went too quickly and fractured the tenuous equilibrium she'd found. Equilibrium, like balancing on a knife's edge. Slowly, Heidi's fingers squeezed Nasrin's. "I know you can't hurt me. I know you won't hurt me." She did not pull her hand away, feeling the fragile warmth of Nasrin's own, so hauntingly familiar. "But people try to hurt me all the time. Just because they can't doesn't stop them trying." The Heidi Nasrin knew had never been hurt by anything. She was indestructible. Incorruptible. Steadfast and Strong. Nothing could undermine her confidence, nothing could subvert her will. Heidi stared into Nasrin's eyes and saw herself reflected there, saw the woman Nasrin was seeing right now, saw just how small she was. Heidi moved closer, cupping Nasrin's cheek with her free hand. She wanted Nasrin to feel the strength in her hand. She was the Atlesian. The Pinnacle. She reminded herself of that fact, and felt the warmth of Nasrin's cheek against the coolness of her palm. She had grown bigger in Nasrin's eyes. "I know you won't try to hurt me," Heidi's voice lowered, as she touched her brow to Nasrin's, "I'll stop trying to hurt you." Despite how quietly she said it, there was an iron hard firmness to Heidi's words, which were as much a promise to Nasrin as they were an oath for herself. Her thoughts turned, almost without meaning to, towards that alien sense pervading her person, like a layer of oil over her mind. "And I won't let anyone else hurt you either."

---

Words - 616
Total - 7,639

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

And just like that things were okay again. Most other people, smarter people than Nasrin anyways, would have doubted Heidi’s sincerity after the last few times they had spoken and Heidi had promised something only to reveal it as having been a lie or just something only partially agreed to in order to satisfy Nasrin. But Nasrin wasn’t the kind of person to think that way, not about people she’d slept with at any rate. So as Heidi held her hand, Nasrin squeezed back. When Heidi leaned forward to touch their foreheads together, Nasrin smiled and pushed back lighty, but with just enough force for Heidi to know she was returning the gesture. [Break]
Heidi seemed to have come to terms with whatever had broken her up so much. She’d realized, it seemed anyways, that it was her and not Jackie who had been pushing Nasrin away and now she was fully committed to fixing that. And it really was like watching Heidi inflate again. She had been out of air, sunk against the wall of the bathroom and lost in her own thoughts for most of the conversation. But now the taller woman was back to her old self. Tall, confident, firm in all the right ways, and of course focused on keeping the two of them safe. [Break][Break]

It was somewhat strange for Nasrin to think about Heidi being scared of anything. She was so much tougher than almost anyone else in Haven, the chance that any one person could actually have a hope of hurting her was so low that Nasrin wouldn’t even worry about it. But Heidi was still afraid. She had been afraid of Nasrin of all people! It was a new aspect of Heidi that Nasrin would have to sort out and learn to manage like all the other parts. It was something Nasrin wanted to get rid of, or at least help Heidi work through and start to overcome. Who knows how impressive she would be if she wasn’t scared of anyone on top of everything else... [Break] [Break]

On second thought she might get a bit too reckless if that was the case. [Break] [Break]

Nasrin pulled her head back from Heidi’s after a minute or so to smile up at the other woman - her girlfriend, hopefully more securely now - and give a quick little wink. ”I’m not quite fragile enough that most people would even be able to hurt me, yeah? I might not be quite at your fucking level but I can take a few hits!” She chuckled softly, giving Heidi’s hand another squeeze and adjusting herself to scoot a little bit closer so that she could lean on Heidi’s shoulder, all while holding her girlfriends hand… The scooting was slow going as a result. She had to basically use her hold on Heidi to pull herself across the floor. But she managed, she always did. [Break]
”Still, that means a lot! Not many ways for a girl to feel safer than with a giant protecting them like some fortunedamn fairytale, yeah? I think-” She finally reached Heidi and leaned over to rest her head on Heidi’s shoulder, and with no hands to stop it her hair fell directly in front of her face which she simply let happen with a sigh. ”That we’re going to be alright. And after we win our next fucking match we’re going to go out for drinks together, yeah? None of this ditching me with Carmin and Slate BS! Not that I don’t like them, but I’ll be honest you’re a lot more fun than they are… Well maybe not Slate. She’s fuckin’ great once you get past that weird language thing she does.” [Break] [Break]

If there was any bit of Nasrin that was worried about Heidi telling the truth, she didn’t show it. As far as the punk was concerned this was the best way the conversation possibly could have gone and she had no doubts that Heidi was being honest about everything, and fully intended to do what she had said she would. So it was back to normal, at least on Nasrin’s end. Back to being partners, in every sense of the word that mattered to her.

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 698/5848 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

"No," Heidi agreed immediately, her tone gone soft and warm, "No ditching you. Not this time." Slipping an arm around Nasrin, the Atlesian drew her partner close. Worried as she was that the punkette might see past her deception, aware as she was of that oily film coloring her emotions, Heidi had seldom felt such a clarity of purpose. She thought about her own words a few moments prior, and Nasrin's almost flippant response to them. It was true; Nasrin wasn't fragile, at least not by the standards of the glass world she inhabited. Yet glass might still cut when broken and those cuts might still leave scars. Heidi, having always felt outsized, having always resented this world of glass, a world which demanded care and compliance lest it shatter around her, knew that better than most. No, Nasrin was neither delicate nor weak, not when compared to the porcelain people which populated Remnant, but that did not mean she was safe. Not when she put herself on the line for them, those undeserving cyphers, not if she made herself their shield. No matter what, Nasrin would be cut by those she tried to defend. Heidi hadn't have cared before, not when it was on her behalf that Nasrin was getting cut. She hadn't cared if Nasrin was tough enough to weather whatever storm of shards came flying off her shattered shields. Now it was all she could think about. No, Nasrin was not delicate, nor was she weak. Nasrin could be depended on to stand up for herself and for those she thought deserved it. Problem was, her list of those who deserved it was much longer than her list of those who didn't, and it included the same fragile, feckless, weak willed, habitual victims which Heidi had always hated most. People like Jackie, who didn't deserve the care of the strong but thought they could tell them how to live their lives. Heidi wanted to say something, but what was there to say? "You're the most important thing in my life." Heidi said quietly. If she'd needed any further proof of Jackie's interference, there it was. These feelings for Nasrin, freshly realized, were too powerful, too acute, to be as new as they seemed. Yet, still, she hadn't realized just how true her words were before they'd come out of her mouth. Feeling like she needed to justify those words, like she needed to prove their veracity, despite how true the felt, Heidi continued. "You've always made me feel like I'm here; I wasn't sure if it was real until now." A bathroom seemed a strange place for such a confession, but the pressure of all her recent revelations was too great for her not to give some vent to it all. "Nobody else has done that. Some have tried, or pretended, but they never really believed it; Push them hard enough and they all showed what they really thought." Despite how calm her tone was, how level her voice, Heidi felt hollow for saying those things out loud, for remembering how it had felt to be unmade in the minds of those she'd trusted. "I've pushed you as hard as I care to, and I'm still here for you." Heidi smiled, and it felt good. For as worried as she still was, for all the fear poisoning her mind, she had seen what Nasrin was made of, had learned what Nasrin really thought of her. Abruptly, she realized how worried her recent oath had made her. Having decided to protect Nasrin in earnest, she'd realized just how vulnerable, how delicate, the punkette truly was. Letting go of Nasrin's hand, Heidi wrapped her fully in her arms and sank back, almost pulling the smaller woman into her lap. She pressed a kiss onto the shaven side of Nasrin's scalp, and held Nasrin's head against her shoulder, and let the Nasrin rest across her, and found she did not want to let go. As though that, holding the punkette close, might help Heidi protect her. Heidi was still afraid. Whatever contaminant had seeped in, from her sister's poisoned mind, yet clung to the Atlesian's thoughts. Where before, she'd feared Nasrin might try to hurt her, she now saw how Nasrin might hurt her without trying to. That merely being hurt might be enough for her to hurt Heidi more than being unmade ever could. There were no words for that feeling, for that dread. There were no words that could protect Nasrin from herself. It was fortunate, then, that she had Heidi to watch over her. Perhaps her matchless prowess, toughness, and strength, and hers alone, could keep Nasrin safe in this world of glass. Perhaps being there for Nasrin would be enough. "I'm here for you, as long as you'll let me, as long as you want me to be."

---

Words - 811
Total - 8,450

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

Nasrin settled happily against Heidi as she spoke, relaxing even further at a promise - hopefully a real one - that there wouldn’t be any more ditching. Every affirmation made Nasrin feel better about this whole thing, more happy with her choice to have this conversation now rather than waiting until things got worse. This was good. They were going to be alright. [break]
And she was even more relaxed as Heidi wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in even closer. The strength of that arm and having it holding her in what she could only really feel like was a protective way, like Heidi wanted to keep the world away from her, made Nasrin even more relaxed. She felt safe. For the first time, honestly, since that evening with Kishka she was truly feeling safe around Heidi and it was nice to be back like this - back in the forest when they first met and Heidi was the best thing Nasrin could hope to have met at Haven. [Break] [break]

Now the punkette would have been perfectly happy to sit on that bathroom floor for a few hours just relaxing, getting all the stress out from the confrontation a few minutes prior. But then Heidi suddenly got… Real fucking emotional, for Heidi anyways. Nasrin had never had anyone call her the most important thing in their lives before. And the last person she would ever have expected that from was Heidi ‘I don’t have attachments’ Bariole. It was surprising, and Nasrin couldn’t help but show as much quite clearly on her face with wide eyes and a furrowed brow.[break]
That being said it was not unwelcome.[break]
Hearing that she had ‘proven’ herself to Heidi, done something nobody else had ever bothered to do with enough conviction to actually convince her to change her ways, was fantastic. Nasrin was on top of the world, smiling like an idiot and nuzzling her face into the crook of Heidi’s arm just for the contact of it.[break] [break]

She was caught off guard when Heidi moved to adjust the two of them and pull Nasrin into her lap. She didn’t resist, more physical contact was literally always in a win in Nasrin’s book, and the fact that it pinned her stump between the two of them meant she could at least momentarily forget about the limits she was under. Anyone in this position would only be able to use one hand, not just her… None of that was usually something she thought about, but other people touching that reminder of her past brought out the worst in her opinion of herself, not that she would let that ruin this moment but for a brief flicker of sadness across her otherwise very, very happy face. [Break] [Break]

And that kiss! That kiss from Heidi in the spot she knew Nasrin liked almost literally made her melt. She was a puddle of pink in Heidi’s arms, smiling sideways at the taller woman from her spot against her chest and giving a quick wink and a soft bite of her lip as she tucked her head under Heidi’s chin and returned the kiss with one of her own to the woman's collarbone. [Break]
”That’s gotta be the sappiest you’ve been since I met you, Heidi, it’s adorable in its own real fucking hot way, y’know? It’s real, this is real, and it’ll stay real for as long as you keep working to make it work! I want you to be here for… I mean, forever seems like a good amount of fucking time to me, yeah? Not a chance that I’m ever gonna go kicking you to the curb unless we get back to the spot we were in when you came into this room.” [Break] [Break]

She adjusted herself slightly, sitting a little bit taller and getting a bit more comfortable in Heidi’s lap. ”I’m gonna wanna clarify something first here though… I’m the most important thing in your life, yeah? You’re prolly the most important thing in mine! S’not like I have much else to my name beyond a real fucking good haircut and fashion sense, and I’m pretty damn sure you outrank those. But I wanna clarify what the rules are here. Back in the forest, when we first met, you said that for this to happen - for us to continue - I’d have to be fine with you sleepin’ around and all that shit. Going to bars with other girls n’ boys around the city and generally being who you are. And I am. I can live with that, I ain’t trying to put you in a cage here, freedom is my whole thing! But...” [Break]
Heidi would be able to feel Nasrin fidget slightly, her lone hand reaching over her stomach and burrowing between the two of them to clasp onto her stump as she briefly thought about how the fuck to phrase things. [break] [Break]

”S’that still the case? I’ve been damn honest from the start that I prefer being the only one for people, sharing gets tougher when you’re attached, yeah? And this… You didn’t say any of this before, not once so far as I can remember and it’s a pretty big fucking change. So I wanna know if other things have changed too. Lay..” There was another pause as she nibbled at her lower lip. [Break]
”Lay out the ground rules here. If they’re the same, I’m fine with that. Always will be. Can’t promise how well I’m gonna do with that whole thing but I’ll give it my motherfucking best, aight? But I wanna know where we are either way. If it’s the same tell me again anyways, now's your chance to get this to work the way you want it to…. And don’t worry about what I want just yet, we’ll go one at a time cause I think I’ll prolly be okay with what you think! Plus I really wanna stay here for a bit, you are real fucking comfy, y’know that?”

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 944/6792 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

Heidi shouldn't have been surprised by Nasrin's question. She'd bared her heart, she'd dropped all her defenses, when else should she expect to be sucker punched? The truth was that Nasrin didn't know what she was asking for, lacking the perspective to truly understand the weight of her request. That made it hurt slightly less. That made it feel less like catching a kick to the stomach. Because Heidi knew the answer Nasrin wanted, the one she expected, the one the Atlesian didn't want to give. She didn't know what she was asking Heidi to give up, couldn't know, because it wasn't the sort of thing Heidi would ever have discussed with her. She would never have discussed it with anyone. That didn't stop it from hurting though. Even knowing Nasrin couldn't be blamed for her ignorance, even knowing why she would ask the question, it still felt like a knowing attack. Pulling Nasrin closer, Heidi let out a quiet sigh. "Don't see why things would change" She said in a level tone, "but I understand why you think they should." She wasn't going to shy away from this part of herself. She wasn't going to sugar coat things for Nasrin, and pretend she agreed when she didn't. She also wasn't going to bully the punkette. She could have easily put her foot down and made it very clear the topic wasn't up for debate. She could have easily ensured the topic never came up again. Instead, she would talk about it. "When society has spent your whole life telling you relationships look a certain way, it's only natural you'd want yours to look the same." She loosened her hold, brushed her cheek against Nasrin's, and then leaned back to look the smaller woman in the eyes. "Since that's how everyone else does it, that's how it needs to be done. Otherwise, how can you be sure what you have? " Heidi paused purposefully, "How can you know your relationship is real?" Heidi touched her brow to Nasrin's, eyes dropping to the punkette's lips. "I tried to do it that way at first. I thought the same as you, that it wasn't real if I didn't commit myself to one person. Then I stopped to wonder why I should. Because that was the way people did it? Because that was how it was always done? And when I really thought about it, I realized I didn't want it, and couldn't find a single reason that I should. What do I care if that's how people did it, when I was nothing like those people? Why should I care that it had always been done that way, when there'd never before been anything like me?" The Atlesian shrugged, and the motion served to briefly squeeze Nasrin that tiny bit closer. "The only reason that remained was that someone might want me to do it that way. That they wouldn't be with me unless I did it the way everyone else did." Her golden gaze made it clear who that person was, eyes rising once more to meet with Nasrin's. "The only reason I would even consider it is because I know you'd like it better that way." Allowing that to sink in, Heidi eased up on her grip. When she thought Nasrin had been given enough time to properly internalize her words, she asked, "Why do you want it that way? Why is it so important to you that I only do these things with you?" Not condescending, but curious. "Are you jealous of my one-night stands? Are you worried I'll find someone better? Do you think I could?" Heidi searched Nasrin's eyes, as though she might find the answers there. "Does my unwillingness to commit to you, and only you, make you doubt my sincerity?" She didn't give Nasrin time to answer though. As much as she would like to know why this was so important to Nasrin, it was more important that she clarify something first. "What if I told you that they give me something you can't? As important to me as you are, the intimacy we share prevents you from ever satisfying one very specific need of mine." Heidi raised an eyebrow in question, "Would you believe me? If you did, would you still want me to stop?" Then Heidi sighed again, recognizing how nested her rhetorical questions had become. She felt like Jackie, arguing a point through logic and rhetoric, and she did not like it. "I suppose I would need to tell you what they give me that you cannot. Else you would assume I was trying to manipulate you." Not unfairly, Heidi had to admit. She had a talent for manipulation, there could be no doubt of that. She decided to change tactics. "Forget everything I just said." Heidi instructed, as though dismissing such things were a task easily accomplished. Her hands found Nasrin's shoulders and eased the smaller woman out of her lap. Now, holding her at arm's length, Heidi stared deep into her sapphire eyes. "Look at me," She said, "Tell me what you see. What am I? Who am I?"

---

Words - 870
Total - 9,320

[Nasrin Golbahar]

[nospaces]
[googlefont=Montserrat:700,700i|Open+Sans:400,400i,700]



[newclass=.angelonfire] --aofAccent:#ff5dae; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] animation-play-state:running!important;[/newclass]

[attr="class","angelonfire"]

[attr="class","aofSidebar"]

Nasrin Golbahar

[attr="class","aofBody"]

Nasrin was quite alright with letting herself get moved around as Heidi spoke, pulled closer, hugged, adjusted, none of it was anything Nasrin minded at all, really she enjoyed it probably as much as Heidi did. They were a good match that way, she thought. [Break]
The comments about society were… Confusing, for Nasrin. She made a very good effort most of the time and for nearly everything she did on a regular basis to avoid doing what Society told her was normal or okay. You weren’t supposed to dye your hair weird colors, or shave it the way she had, or curse as often as she did or… Anything that she enjoyed, really. Society was the thing she opposed most out of anything, and being told that she only wanted a thing because it was what society told her to do gave her pause. Was that the reason? She’d justified it to herself plenty of times, that she wanted to be the only person for someone because it gave them time to focus on eachother and it meant no worries about getting jealous or anything like that, and there was also a sense of security in belonging exclusively to a person and having them belong to you… [Break] [Break]

She shook her head softly, just to clear it, as Heidi continued talking. Nasrin looked at Heidi’s mouth as their foreheads touched, watching the words as much as listening to them and mulling them over as they came. For all the differenced Jackie and Heidi liked to believe about themselves, both of them had an excellent way of making Nasrin question shit that she’d believed her entire life, and both of them had a similar method of asking a whole lot of questions all at once one after the other without really giving any time for a meaningful response. It was hard to tell if that was intentional on their part. Ask enough and you get your point across without ever having to confront different perspectives or ideas. But Nasrin chose not to believe that was the only reason - maybe they just got excited and couldn’t stop their train of thought. That’d make just as much sense, after all. [break][break]

She did smile though, and not subtly at all, when Heidi said that the only reason she would even think of being exclusive with someone was because that someone wanted it, because Nasrin wanted it. That meant a lot, it was progress. Slowly unshelling the empathy Heidi liked to keep damn well hidden from most people. [Break]
Then more questions came, another barrage of them as Heidi stared into Nasrin’s eyes the same way Nasrin did to Jackie and Heidi when she wanted to figure out what they were feeling, why they were doing what they did. Nasrin wasn’t worried Heidi would find anyone better, of course she wasn’t. Nasrin may not have been as confident in her perfection as Heidi was, but she was damn sure that nobody else in the world was exactly like her. She was unique, and strong in her way, and nobody would top those things for Heidi while she was around, not a chance. She wasn’t jealous either. But the last point, Heidi being unwilling to commit, did register a small frown from Nasrin. She hadn’t really thought of it that way, but it could certainly be a reason that Heidi didn’t want to. And after the lies from before, when she said all was fine…. Nasrin wouldn’t put such a thing past her. She chose not to dwell on it though, now was a positive time and things were good - there was no reason for her to start seeing the worst possible reasons for Heidi to do things. All that’d do would be make them both unhappy. [Break] [Break]

What would someone else be able to provide that Nasrin couldn’t? Why would be intimate together be any different between Nasrin and Heidi than it would be between a stranger and Heidi? Answers Nasrin couldn’t figure out, but she didn’t need to because Heidi told her to ignore everything before one final statement. Of course she couldn’t exactly do that, couldn’t just pretend nothing else was said, but she could move past it and try to leave it behind for now while she answered Heidi’s question, apparently a question that would somehow answer what Nasrin had asked to kick this off. [Break] [Break]

Nasrin hadn’t stopped looking at Heidi, but she really focused on doing so now. Looking up into Heidi’s eyes as she spoke. ”I seeee… Heidi! Tall, hot as fuck, strong. Vulnerable right now, kinda, but you’re movin’ past that pretty damn quick I think so it won’t be that way for long. What are you? I guess you’re you? A Huntress in training with a bit of a fucking mean streak and a whole lot of self confidence. You’re an Atlesian, act like a lot of those people do I think with how you think about strength and such, yeah? Who are you? Heidi. You’re Heidi, you’re my girlfriend I’d like to think, and you’re unique in the world as all of those things, of course.” It was, so far as Nasrin was concerned, a pretty easy set of questions to answer. She didn’t really see where that would go, or how Heidi would spin that into an answer into what Nasrin had asked to start but she was content to trust the process, for now.

Aura: 100% [break][break]

Semblance D, Rascal Light F, Agility E, Durability C, Melee Accuracy E, Speed F, Graffiti F, Mechanics F[break][break]

Word Count: 906/7698 [break][break]

[attr="class","aofCredit"]SELKIE

[newclass=.angelonfire] width:575px; border-radius:5px; background-color:#eee; overflow:hidden; display:flex; flex-flow:row wrap; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar] width:200px; background-color:#000000; background-color:var(--aofAccent); display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; position:relative; overflow:hidden; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar img] width:100px; height:100px; position:absolute; z-index:1; padding:5px; background-color:#000000; border:10px solid #333; border-radius:100%; animation: aofpulse 5s infinite; animation-play-state:paused; } @keyframes aofpulse { 0% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0.25); } 50% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 50px rgba(0,0,0, 0); } 100% { -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0, 0); }[/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child] display:block; width:190px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-style:italic; text-align:left; position:absolute; bottom: 10px; left:5px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar div:last-child a] font:700 30px/25px montserrat; font-style:italic; color:#fafafa!important; text-shadow:-1px -1px 0 #333, 1px -1px 0 #333, -1px 1px 0 #333, 1px 1px 0 #333; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofSidebar:before] content:''; position:absolute; width:100%; height:500px; bottom:0px; left:0px; background:url(https://image.ibb.co/mZ7zmp/1_by_Cold_Love98_1_copy.png); opacity:.15; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody] width:300px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody b] font:700 10px montserrat; color:var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody i] color:#000000; border-bottom:1px solid var(--aofAccent); [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:first-child] width:272px; min-height:125px; margin:25px 25px 0px 25px; padding:0px 25px; border-left:1px solid #ff5dae; border-right:1px solid #ff5dae; font:400 10px open sans; text-align:justify; color:#6a6a6a; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofBody div:last-child] width:325px; text-align:justify; font:400 10px open sans; color:#aaa; padding: 25px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit] font:bold 7px roboto; margin-left:500px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.aofCredit a] font:bold 7px roboto!important; [/newclass]

[Jackie Bariole]

Heidi held Nasrin there, not quite at arms length, and awaited the punkette's answer. There was an intensity to her stare, a focused quality which not usually seen in Heidi's cavalier, almost careless, regard for the world around her. Focused, fixated, she listened to Nasrin's answer, and watched for any sign, even the barest hint, that what she said might not be true. Usually she wouldn't have cared over much about deception. As a habitual prevaricator herself, she understood how mutable the truth could be, and how irrelevant. She'd never asked for honesty from her past partners, nor had she expected it. When most of her flings were over the same night they began, when those she danced, and drink, and kissed, and slept with could be anyone and anything they claimed to be, getting and giving the truth didn't seem very important. It was different this time though. Heidi had asked Nasrin a question expecting, and almost dreading, an honest answer. An answer she needed to know was true before she could go any further down this extremely dangerous path she'd set for herself. Any other time, Nasrin's flattery would have sounded as affirmation, a welcome reminder of Heidi's inherent superiority over all others. Now though, it felt more like a film of grimy water, one she must need sluice away to get at the pertinent details submerged beneath. And what an answer it was, lying beneath that unnecessary affirmation... Remaining silent for several long moments after Nasrin was done speaking, Heidi searched her partner's face for any sign of doubt, for any hint she didn't believe each word she'd just said. Then, deciding that Nasrin was either telling the truth or an unparalleled liar, the Atlesian sank back, one hand falling to her knee while the other fell to the punkette's own hand, where it delivered a gentle squeeze. She could have left it there. She could have taken Nasrin at her word, and given no further hints as to why she might have asked such a question as that. Part of her even wanted to do that. A part, Heidi recognized with some disgust, which was thoroughly painted by Jackie's brush. She was Adelheid, the Atlesian, the Pinnacle. And she'd just admitted how she felt about Nasrin. Would she now undercut those feelings by being too scared to say what she meant? Heidi frowned. Was she going to let herself be scared? "So, when you look at me," Heidi said purposefully, not taking her eyes off of Nasrin for even a moment, "You don't ever see Jackie?" By asking it so matter of factly, Heidi hoped, apart from proving she wasn't scared of the answer, that Nasrin would honestly consider the question. It would be so easy for her to dismiss the thought outright, to be wholly uncritical of her own thoughts, to honestly believe she'd never conflated Heidi and her little sister. "You have never compared me to her in your mind, even if only to acknowledge what a better version of her I make?" Heidi leaned closer. "You say you see me, but is that all you see? You never see Jackie? When you're looking at Jackie, you never see me? You never wish I could be more like her, or she like me?" Heidi leaned closer still. "We're not just a semblance and a side effect to you. Even though we share the same body, the same semblance, the same voice. Even though we were born one person. So far as you're concerned, we're two different people? You honestly believe that?" Heidi searched Nasrin's eyes, her own gaze unfaltering, showing these were not new questions to the Atlesian, but questions she asked all the time. Questions she was always asking of anyone who knew about her sister and herself. "Maybe you do believe that," She conceded, "You probably do, most of the time at least. I'm here for you, I can feel it. I'm here for you, in a way I'm not for for most people, not even my own parents." Heidi had only ever had this conversation once before. The memory of it made her pause. She knew what it was to feel real and be unmade at a whim. She was giving Nasrin the power to unmake her right now, and it was a power she would forever have over Heidi. She wanted Nasrin to understand, needed her to. So she asked one final question. "So you believe all that. How much easier would it be to believe if you'd never met Jackie to begin with? If you never even knew she exists?"

---

Words - 757
Total - 10,077