Nyara (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
changechild) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nightlogs2023-09-02 05:19 pm
changechild) wrote in nightlogs2023-09-02 05:19 pm
Entry tags:
oh mother things ain't going so well
Who: Nyara and OPEN
What: you know how when you adopt a cat you gotta accept that it will probably want to hide for a few weeks?
Where: Pole generally
When: ambiguously throughout the month
Warnings/Notes: she Struggling. oblique reference to coming from a bad home situation.
Nyara is not taking this in stride.
Is the Pole different from her father's fortress in winter? Yes, absolutely and in many ways, but feeling the tropical heat and knowing it's cold outside, seeing the bright colors and lights and luxury, and smelling reeking stomach-turning things like peppermint... it's filled her with dread and had her looking over her shoulder and flinching at shadows. She wants badly to run away to somewhere plain and peaceful, to return to quiet and hunting for her meals, but is also afraid of consequences should she act out. She doesn't understand what's out there, what could get her, so she hasn't made a break for it. Yet.
catnap: Instead of the appointed quarters, Nyara's made a few nests for herself lower down, where it's cooler and darker and the smell is less powerful. You can most easily find her in the sleigh room bundled against the cold, maybe moving an armful of straw, probably looking at you with feline alarm. She sleeps lightly and doesn't want anyone seeing her in that vulnerable state, but it can't always be helped especially if Need is doing work on her - then the girl buries herself in straw and blankets and twitches, like she's dreaming.
catfight: She can also be found in the training room, firing arrows into dummies or fighting them with Need in hand. Usually for hours at a stretch as she tries to exhaust herself. She's alert and nervous and stops what she's doing if she notices an observer, but if she's been at it for long enough that she's glazed over, panting, pushing through the pain of exertion and moving more slowly, she won't notice.
catnetworking: If Need knows you, you may be interrupted in your non-urgent business at some point by a Mind-voice both concerned and deeply irritated, asking, :Could you please tell my girl that she should eat?: Need is perfectly capable of making Nyara feel okay with the dramatic change in circumstances, and with just making her take care of herself, but she hates to do that sort of thing.
What: you know how when you adopt a cat you gotta accept that it will probably want to hide for a few weeks?
Where: Pole generally
When: ambiguously throughout the month
Warnings/Notes: she Struggling. oblique reference to coming from a bad home situation.
Nyara is not taking this in stride.
Is the Pole different from her father's fortress in winter? Yes, absolutely and in many ways, but feeling the tropical heat and knowing it's cold outside, seeing the bright colors and lights and luxury, and smelling reeking stomach-turning things like peppermint... it's filled her with dread and had her looking over her shoulder and flinching at shadows. She wants badly to run away to somewhere plain and peaceful, to return to quiet and hunting for her meals, but is also afraid of consequences should she act out. She doesn't understand what's out there, what could get her, so she hasn't made a break for it. Yet.
catnap: Instead of the appointed quarters, Nyara's made a few nests for herself lower down, where it's cooler and darker and the smell is less powerful. You can most easily find her in the sleigh room bundled against the cold, maybe moving an armful of straw, probably looking at you with feline alarm. She sleeps lightly and doesn't want anyone seeing her in that vulnerable state, but it can't always be helped especially if Need is doing work on her - then the girl buries herself in straw and blankets and twitches, like she's dreaming.
catfight: She can also be found in the training room, firing arrows into dummies or fighting them with Need in hand. Usually for hours at a stretch as she tries to exhaust herself. She's alert and nervous and stops what she's doing if she notices an observer, but if she's been at it for long enough that she's glazed over, panting, pushing through the pain of exertion and moving more slowly, she won't notice.
catnetworking: If Need knows you, you may be interrupted in your non-urgent business at some point by a Mind-voice both concerned and deeply irritated, asking, :Could you please tell my girl that she should eat?: Need is perfectly capable of making Nyara feel okay with the dramatic change in circumstances, and with just making her take care of herself, but she hates to do that sort of thing.
no subject
When he does, his eyes widen a little. His own ears had started scanning around for the source of the noise. He sees she's doing the same, as if also listening for threats.
She's much bigger, and cat-like, two things working against her in how nervous he is around her, but...
She looks a little lost.
"I thought I heard someone telling me to try to get you to eat? Do you have a friend hanging around or something?"
He looks around confused.
no subject
And he could be a threat, she's not ruling that out. Mostly her father likes large, obviously dangerous creations but he has such a range of monsters and traps, particularly in the winter when he is bored and confined to his fortress, that she's learned to avoid. Her father is not here but she is still convinced that whimsy is dangerous.
"You..." hmm, 'you talk?' is probably not the correct response. "I heard nothing. I have a magic sword, but... besides that, I am alone."
Need, being highly secretive, didn't loop her in on that message.
no subject
He knows he didn't hear things. You get used to figuring out if you're hearing things when you live alone for as long as he once had. Your mind can play tricks on you so you need to learn how to not fall for them.
One thing is clear, though, she seems a little cafey.
His confusion softens to an expression of empathetic concern. He's not always the most sensitive but he's far from heartless.
"Are you okay? You seem kind of on edge and I - I get that. I kinda...maybe freaked out? A little? When I first woke up here?" He holds his tiny fingers a very tiny distance apart. "Tiny bit."
no subject
"Oh. Yes, you... the pain dust. I see." She'd never encountered chili powder before and has no tolerance built up for it. After finding out, which fortunately only Need had been a witness to, Nyara had retreated further and became much more reluctant to explore or reach out. This place is already confusing and overwhelming and frankly often unpleasant for her overtuned senses, and that didn't help it feel any less so.
She always feels she should make nice, not rock the boat, appease people who have or might hurt her. They won't care about her feelings, except to enjoy it if she's struggling, so those should not factor into how she responds. So she says, "That must have been frightening."
no subject
Tim remains not the only person he has to answer for.
"Yeah, it was...it was pretty bad."
His eyes cast at the floor, expression tight with guilt and he awkwardly twiddles his hands together.
"If I got you with some...pain dust, sorry. I didn't...I didn't really want to actually hurt everyone else, but I thought the only way I could leverage a way out was if I caused enough trouble."
He shakes his head.
"Still, I hate that I took it out on people that were probably freaked out, too."
no subject
She had been one of many sisters and playmates once. Even after it was only her, he had often told her how easily she could be replaced.
- but she's making this about her and she really shouldn't do that. The tiny creature feels bad, she needs to take this chance to smooth it over. "No, no, I am sorry, I do not mean to question you. Truly it was nothing. I can take far worse." She manages a small smile. The surprise and incomprehension had been worse than the burning. "But you are less afraid now?"