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It's just another typical, normal, day at a certain little cabin in the snowy backwoods of Winterspring. The young night elf assassin is reclining on his bed reading a human romance novel, while the short-haired gnome woman in the cage across the room tries to put together a jigsaw puzzle, starting, for some inexplicable reason, with a vast section of clear blue sky.
A knock at the door causes them both to look up.
"Oh, I'll get that," offers the night elf amiably, causing the caged gnome to make an extremely rude hand gesture at him. He rises with a smile and moves to open the door, letting in a gust of frigid wind.
Nish stands on the other side of the door wrapped so thoroughly in an enormous white and grey coat, trimmed with what appears to be some sort of wolf fur, and a bright pink scarf that she strongly resembles a very small yeti with a tuft of pink hair and green goggles.
"Oh my goooossshhhh," she says, walking into the cabin in any way she possibly can—around the Nelf or through his legs, she doesn't care, as long as she's no longer in the cold. Belatedly, once she manages to get in, she waves a white gloved hand and looks up at Raschal. "Hey there, c-c-cutie." Her teeth chatter a bit, and she looks over to the cage, her expression inscrutable behind the scarf and goggles.
Raschal blinks at her. "Thank you for noticing," he says with friendly sincerity. "I've been feeling a bit invisible the past few days." He casually kneels to even out their heights — something he seems very accustomed to doing — and takes her (presumably well-gloved) hand in an attempt to grace the tiny, bundled thing with a courtly kiss.
"That's because you keep shadowmelding!" snaps Tadget from the cage. She wrinkles her nose at the attempted hand-kiss. "Oh, hey, at least it isn't sadness making me want to throw up this time," she observes wryly.
Nish giggles, and allows the kiss, winking. "C-cognitia Fizzthingle. My friends c-call me Nish." She pauses and shivers a little. "My boyfriends call me whatever they want. You can call me Nish, for now." She smiles sweetly at Raschal. In the relative warmth, she unwinds the scarf and pushes back the hood of her coat, sliding her goggles off and putting them in her pocket.
Tilting her head, she moves a step or two away from Raschal, closer to Tadget, and holds up a hand in the air in a gesture most would recognize mages typically use for conjuring. "Want a bucket? I told you I'd bring you one if you needed it. I can probably manage a towel, too." There's some expression working around her brows, almost sadness or hurt, but not quite.
"Nah, I got a bucket in here. What the hell are you doing up here anyway? This is like, Bummer Central. Plus, cold." Tadget eyes Nish up and down. "Do you have a cage kink now, or something?"
Nish flicks her hair back a little, and pouts. "Puh-lease. This is like, a cute cabin with a hottie guard, hardly like, Bummerville 2.0. And, I'll have you know that I once spent two weeks in a crate. And I can think of, like, at least seven fun things to do in a cage this big."
She looks at the puzzle and her head tilts even further, resembling more and more a tiny, confused pink puppy. "Oh my gosh, do you have a cage kink now??" She grins like she's certainly hoping so.
Raschal visibly preens at the "hottie" comment.
Tadget frowns at Nish's question and looks down at the puzzle, shifting pieces around sullenly. "I was sort of planning on developing one… but that hasn't worked out the way I hoped…" Her sentence trails off into a disgruntled mutter, and then she clears her throat and looks back up at Nish. "So what's new with you? Or whatever. Sorry, I suck at small talk."
Nish giggles a little, and takes another step closer. "Well, let's see. I went to an awesome party with an adorable Ginger Cutie. Got a rare schematic for something I've been trying to snag for over a year. Oh, yeah, and been trying to figure out why someone I loved would just up and leave her entire life, leaving everyone behind again, and like, go have a mental breakdown in the caves of Kalimdor. So, you know." She pauses and blinks slowly at Tadget. "Not much, Taddy Bear."
"Oh right. That."
As Tadget collects her thoughts, Raschal goes to recline back on the bed and read, perhaps in a slightly sexier pose than before, and with the racy cover of the novel facing out.
THE TRUEST KNIGHT, by Elanor Steelbloom.
Tadget sighs. "Some trauma I wasn't handling well kind of… made an appearance back in my life. But I'm… handling it now. As best I can. Better than before, anyway. I haven't tried to murder an innocent in like… three whole days. But yeah. I sometimes… kinda lose my head and get murdery, so I've asked to be locked up until I get that under control. That's why I left, though. I didn't want to get murdery and then snap out of it only to find like, the corpses of all my friends lying around. Talk about a Major Bummer, right?"
Nish watches Raschal walk away with clear appreciation for the view, before turning back to Tadget. Her eyes go a little softer and a lot warmer, and she brushes a finger along her piercings, fiddling with one green stone in her left ear for a moment. "Yeah, I mean. I get it. Jo said you were doing better here, at least. And, well, I mean, I did say you could ask me for help, but I probably wouldn't have been able to do much to stop you on full murder-y rampage. Not unless you've gotten a lot worse getting out of the knots I can tie." A small corner of her mouth quirks up into a mischievous smile, and her voice drops into a purr. "Although, I do know some new ones."
At the flirt, she sighs, and rolls her head backwards. "Sorry. You know I'm no good at this stuff, Tad. I just want you to be happy, and I don't know how to make you that way. Never really did, I think. Just able to distract you for a bit." Her eyes drop to the ground and she scuffs a boot on the floor. "So, you need anything? A calendar to mark how many days you haven't tried to kill anyone? I'm pretty sure I could get one out of Ratchet."
"Honestly? You've already brought me the best thing I could possibly hope for in this situation… something new."
She smiles wryly, and then abandons the puzzle to roll over onto her side, leaning her head on the heel of her hand and studying Nish. Her manner is strangely open, in a way Nish probably isn't used to. She has a real nothing-left-to-lose vibe that seems to have replaced her usual guarded wariness and prickles.
"It gets really, really boring staring at the same face day and night," she says frankly. "Anytime someone comes by, it's nice to have someone to talk to, to tell me stuff I don't know that's going on… and seeing a new face, that's even better. And a surprise. I like surprises, and I was pretty sure that everyone who gave a damn had already been to see me at least twice."
Nish giggles and looks over at Raschal. "Hey, Hottie McGuardy, is she allowed to have a drink in there?" She looks back at Tadget. "I can conjure something without alcohol, if you're like, doing the whole Soberly Suffering Through The Day thing."
Nish conjures a bright orange drink for herself. It fizzes almost aggressively, and she pulls out a straw from…somewhere, sticking it in the drink and taking a long sip.
Raschal smiles at Nish. "If you can fit it through the bars, knock yourself out." He pauses. "I'm still not entirely sure I'm using that expression correctly, so I should clarify that I don't mean for you to drink yourself into unconsciousness."
"It's just gonna make me need to pee again," Tadget sighs, "but I guess I am thirsty. I just hate trekking out to the bath house. He never lets me wear a coat."
"If I do," he says in his calm, resonant voice, "you might hamstring me and then go tearing off into the wilderness. This way I can be certain you won't stray far from this lovely warm little cottage."
Nish pouts a little in thought for a moment, before smiling. "Oh my gosh. I don't think I've tried to do this in like, four years. Let me see if I can remember how it's done…" She pauses and appears to be truly concentrating, tracing a conjuring sigil very slowly in the air.
A very tall, very slim glass filled with water appears next to her. It looks ridiculous, but it can probably fit through the bars—how Tadget will actually drink from it is entirely unclear. It is nearly as tall as Nish herself. She giggles. "I made this on a bet once! Some troll bet I couldn't make a glass taller than I was. I mean, I lost, but still."
Tadget's eyes positively sparkle with joy at the sight of this absurdity.
"Oh yeah," she says. "Let's do this." She rises to her feet and bounces on the balls of them a bit, rubs her four-fingered hands together like she's preparing to Do a Sports of some kind. "Slide that baby in here. I'm'a drink the crap out of it."
Nish very carefully picks it up with both hands, and slides it between the bars of the cage, making sure to not grind the glass against them. The water inside it sparkles a little, like it's been mildly fizzed, and it tastes like it's straight from the taps of Gnomeregan. Nish giggles once it's within reach of Tadget.
Nish picks her own drink up from the ground and takes another long pull from it, burping loudly afterwards.
Tadget backs up and considers the glass as though it is a battle opponent. "Okay," she says gravely to it. "You're going down."
She is a bit shorter than Nish, so the glass is about her height. It is also close to full. She considers a moment before realizing she can't tip it to her mouth without pouring it on her forehead in the process. She paces back and forth, eyes narrowing, then finally grabs several books from the corner of her cage and stacks them, standing on them until she can manage to tip the glass slightly, straight over to her mouth.
Then she steps sloowwwwly down off the stack of books, slowwwly decreasing the angle of the glass as she guzzles.
Raschal's eyes have appeared from over the top of his book, one ridiculous teal eyebrow lifting as he observes the display.
Nish watches with visible amusement at Tadget's problem solving, and then giggles. She sets her drink back down on the ground to free up both hands to clap at the success.
She looks over her shoulder at Raschal with a sweet smile. "Anything for you, Hottie McGuardy?"
"Oh, I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble," Raschal says amiably. "But if it would please you to offer me anything, I'll let you decide what you think I deserve."
"A kick in the ear," Tadget suggests helpfully with the glass still carefully balanced in both hands, before replacing her mouth on the rim and beginning to back up slowly, step by step, lowering the glass's angle as she goes.
Gulp, gulp, gulp. Finally she sits down, the glass now light enough that she can upend it and drain the rest.
"Ahhhh!" she says when finished, and burps lightly. "I'm gonna pee for like an hour, later."
Nish considers for a moment, then waves her hand around in the air, conjuring the tiniest cup filled with what appears to be possibly the strongest coffee ever made. The cup is bright pink, and so small that Nish's fingers barely fit around it. She offers it to Raschal, with a wink. "Careful. I call this my Emergency Red Eye. You probably won't be able to sleep for like, ten hours, after this."
"Ah," he says pensively. "Under normal circumstances that would be nightmarish on this particular assignment, but I do have a book to finish, so thank you."
He inclines his head graciously and accepts the cup from her, tossing it back like a shot glass. He coughs.
"That was hot," he says in a (possibly literally) injured tone. "You might have warned me."
"You did tell her to decide what you deserved," Tadget observes cheerfully. "Seems like she did a great job. I hate him," she turns to Nish to explain, just as cheerfully.
Nish giggles and shrugs good naturedly. She blows Raschal a little kiss. "Poor sweetie. Let me know if you need a kiss to make the booboo all better." With that, she flicks her hair back and looks at Tadget, her eyes warm and affectionate. Making sure Raschal can't see her, she winks v e r y slowly at Tadget, and mouths, "Anything to see you smile, Taddy Bear."
Tadget obligingly smiles at her, showing dimples. "Do you know, Cobalt Company found him being digested in a giant bug pod? That's why he's here. He's kind of useless for anything else right now."
If Raschal is bothered by this assessment, it doesn't show; his nose is buried in THE TRUEST KNIGHT again.
"Oh my gosssh, that is soooo groossss," Nish says on a delighted giggle, scrunching up her face. After a moment, she snaps her fingers. "Hey, like, how hard is it to get a giant bug pod? Like, portable maybe?"
"I can show you where to get one," Raschal says amiably from behind his book.
"Don't you dare!" Tadget snaps at him. Then she frowns at Nish. "No, seriously, these bug things are bad news. Don't you go out there. Each of 'em's bigger than you are, and they have venom and all kinds of crap."
Nish flicks her hair back, and sighs a little. "I mean, that's kinda what I'm looking for, but like, not for me so. I guess I'll have to keep looking." Her eyes meet Tadget's and she makes a face like she's stepped in something absolutely disgusting and it is still somehow clinging to her. "Because guessss who I talked to while trying to figure out why you flipped the steamer lid and jumped the tram?"
She picks up the drink from the ground and finishes it off, deconjuring the glass, and unzipping her coat now that she's warmed up slightly. She folds it with care, and sets it down on the ground to sit on it like a pillow.
Tadget studies Nish's face for a moment, and then her faceted green eyes widen in understanding.
"Ohhh no," she says. "Only one person could put that look on someone's face just by talking to them. What on Azeroth possessed you to track down my little brother?"
Nish makes a sound of Great Suffering. "Oh my gosh, the little diaper stain ran into me. Like, I totally set your friend with the adorbs name, what's-her-face, Inkybloomie? Something like that, after him, but then theeeere he was, at Cobalt Company of all places, and it was like, well. I wanted to make sure you hadn't like, run from him just breathing the same air too close to you or something, which like, I mean, I would have understood." She shudders dramatically.
"But, like, it was pretty clear that he's just icky, not like, murdery or whatever. And oh my gosh, Tad," she pauses and giggles. "I can't believe you left him like a ghostly note. He spent like, I don't know, weeks waiting for something to happen after that, thinking your spirit ~~ was coming from the graaave ~." Nish wiggles her fingers to simulate the very spooky spirits of the afterlife.
Tadget's eyes almost literally turn into stars at this news. She may be on the verge of weeping from pure joy.
"Are you serious. Wow. I don't even know my own power sometimes. You take aim and you hope, but… you never really believe…" She sighs blissfully. Then seems to double-take to something at the beginning of Nish's little speech.
"Did you say Inkie?"
Nish nods, her pink hair bobbing. "Uh huh. They actually tracked me down, in Booty Bay. Apparently they heard you were missing, and came to find out why, in case it was something that was like, a real bummer that you needed help with." She taps a finger on her lips. "They sent someone to look at the caves out there, you know, the one where you left all your stuff in it."
She shifts a little uncomfortably. "That was when I knew you were kinda, like, serious about leaving, and not wanting people to follow you." One finger traces a little pattern on her thick white and gray pants. "You'd never have just left your weapons behind otherwise."
Tadget just stares at Nish. She's gone very small and big-eyed. "I didn't even think she — " She shakes her head quickly. "They, it's they now, right. I didn't think they even remembered me. I haven't seen them since she was — Ugh, this is hard. When I talk about them back then, is it 'she' or do I — anyway. We were like, best best best friends when I was a kid. She was my only friend in the whole world. Until she gave me a haircut and then mom said I couldn't see her anymore. I was like, maybe ten? … I still think they did a good job. Anyway."
Tadget looks like she's on the verge of being on the verge of crying.
"I sent Elo to them when I found out they were still alive, you know, and a they, and a lawyer???" The lawyer bit seems weirder to Tadget than the they bit. "You know, I gave Elo their name to try and throw them a little work, but I told him not to use my name or anything, so I have no idea how they even found out I'm alive???"
Tadget is definitely using multiple question marks. She also sounds like she may be channeling that ten year old who was told she couldn't see her bestie anymore.
Nish looks up at Tadget, and leans forward, putting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. "Taddy Bear, I know you can kinda get really, you know, wrapped up in that clever head of yours thinking that you're all alone, but like, people really do care about you. I don't know how they figured out it was you, or like, how they found out you were missing, but they did, and they pulled out all sorts of stops to figure out where you'd gone, just in case it was something bad. No one knew why you ran, sweetie."
She pauses and runs a hand along her piercings, fingering the green stone. "I mean, I couldn't figure it out either. But, like, Jo thought it was something to do with gnomes, and like, so I talked to everyone I could, and Inkie did the same thing. I even tracked down that Boopie Girl, in case she was like some sort of super sniper on your tail, but…" She shrugs.
"Sparkfly," Tadget says. Her brow furrows for a moment. "It's so weird, how long I went without being able to say that name." She shakes her head. "She was here, you know. Came to see me. Just as much a wreck as I was. I was pretty awful to her."
She laces her fingers together, thumbs tapping on the other six nervously.
"It's — you're right," she says to Nish. It's possible Nish has never heard Tadget say those two words to her before. She presses onward, stammering a little. "There were a lot of people who were… pretty upset when I left. Honestly that just— it just didn't enter into my calculations. Even if it had, I'd have figured it was better to hurt their feelings than kill them, but… it didn't even figure in." She shakes her head vehemently. "I don't understand how it is that all this time there have been… like… more than half a dozen people who all seem to… care about me or whatever, even love me and it just… I didn't know??"
She lifts her eyes to Nish; they are two peridot-colored question marks, basically. She is the very picture of bewilderment.
Nish smiles, a genuine warm smile, and she looks at Tadget for a long moment before her brows start to do that thing again, moving in towards each other like they're trying to make a sad expression, but the muscles are unsure exactly how it's done. She swallows hard. "I know," she says, in a low voice. "I know what that's like. When you just gotta walk away. Even knowing that you're leaving behind someone….someone who's really…really upset." Her voice gets strange, and she clears her throat, pausing to conjure some water in a pink flask. She takes a drink, and moves her mouth back and forth for a second.
"I always meant to…you know, pick things up again, like, at least as friends, with you. I just figured, you know, we had time. Because, like, youth and whatever. And then," she waves a hand to suggest Gnomeregan. "And then you were dead." She blinks rapidly and coughs again, her brows working overtime. "I wasn't going to let that happen again, Tad. I told you. I don't need to be your best friend or ever your girlfriend again, but I do care, Tad." Her voice goes breathy. "I do still love you, weirdo."
Tadget just shakes her head slowly, not in negation, but disbelief.
"I dunno what I did," she says, "to be worth all this. Seriously. But I — it changes things. You know? Most of what I planned to do with my life this past year, it was based on the idea that I was nobody and nothing. But it's different when what you do matters to people. I have to rethink everything. I've been thinking about it. A lot. Do you ever think about the future? I doubt it, somehow." She smiles wryly.
Nish tosses her head back, and makes an "mmph" sound, as though desperately trying to shake off the Feels. "I mean, I'm thinking about two days out right now, Tad. You know I can't stand to have everything all planned out and certain." Her fingers tap on the flask. "I'm going to take Jo out on the glider tomorrow. She could use the break, and maybe a smile." She meets Tadget's eyes, and smiles sweetly. "And you know how I love making my grumpy girls smile."
With that, she pushes up to a stand, and brushes her pants off perfunctorily—the material hasn't gotten anything on it, seeming to be made of the same unstainable material as Nish herself with Bummer and Dirt Resistance. "But, you were always the one with the big plans, Tad. I'm sure you're going to figure it out, and then go all in, one hundred percent."
Tadget considers, and then nods solemnly. "Yeah," she says quietly. I think I am. "I'm… starting to get some general ideas. And I'm going to do it right this time. So… you don't need to worry about me anymore. Okay? Go have some fun. I hope 'out on the glider' is a euphemism, and that I get details later. But either way, have a good time, okay? Because that's your talent." She smiles wryly.
Nish giggles and shrugs one shoulder suggestively. "Who knows. We'll start with the glider and maybe see what other things Jo likes to take out for a spin." She smiles, and holds out her hand, concentrating for a moment, conjuring a cookie with a smiley face with dimples on it. She holds it out to Tadget. "I'm still going to worry about you, but probably a little less now. You get too bored in there sweetie, you tell Hottie McGuardy to send word to that Finn guy and I'll show up and show you what I learned how to make in that crate to keep you entertained for days." She leans in closely and mouths, with a wink: "it's the upgrade to the bronze tube."
"Ugh, get out of here!" Tadget says, squinching her face up. "Weirdo."
Raschal, wearing his usual smile, just rises to get Nish's coat, holding it out to her.
Nish laughs, and collects her coat from Raschal, popping the cookie into her own mouth and biting down on it with another wink at Tadget. Once returned to her former state of weather-readiness, she wiggles her fingers at Tadget, then Raschal, and pops her hand in a pocket, activating her Hearthstone. "See ya, cuties," she says, just before she pops out of existence.