Technological Revenge, and It's Effect... (Saph and Neshimo)

[SaphireTsuki]

((Works with me. I'll post about the morning.))


Saphire went to bed, slept, and woke with the dawn. She moved away from the fire, stretching and beginning her morning exercises, something within her feeling lighter than the night before. I knew there was a reason why I used to sing so much... Her movements silent, eyes watching the rising sun, expression blank as always. She knew there was never going to be a recovery for her, she'd never smile like that again, but... perhaps there would be a chance at peace, towards the end. Once they had destroyed him, that is.

 

[Neshimo]

Sitting by a tree, the fire has been put out and dimmed as he'd been reading until the smallest dim of light rose. "Awake I see, had a good rest." Still entranced in his book, that which looks like a book of children fairy tales and goose rhymes, his bow and arrow are off, but it seems he still listened too everything around her. "Contrary too when your awake, your breaths are a bit heavier while you rest, like you were having a slightly peculiar dream, though I wouldn't say a bad one, either ways, we have a bit until we have too intercept the convoy, so you can rest a bit more if needed."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

It was an odd sight for her, this tall, warrior like man reading what was a book for younger people. Still, he had watched her during her sleep, which was good. "May I borrow your bow? I can hunt in the surrounding area for some food, if you've need of rest." She needed to move a bit anyway, forget that dream. The stupid dream, her last happy day with Mangetsu.... and how it had had another form in it. "Besides, you seem... engrossed."

 

[Neshimo]

"...Hunting huh?" His eyes go too the corner his lids, looking over at the rations they have left. "We would wait too get supplies from the convoy coming in later, though if you feel the need too hunt I wont stop you." Going back too his book, turning the page, the only physical move noticeable besides is a small shift in the dirt. "I wish you luck."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"I just wanted to get something for breakfast." Was the shrugged reply, her sitting down, "Since these rations won't last long, even being kept on a strict diet." Sure, they'd need to cook the meat, but it would prevent them running down the packaged food they had on hand, in case something happened. "Ah well, Not much point if we're this close to a base anyway."

 

[Neshimo]

"Ah that's right, I haven't told you the mission for today yet." Giving a small sigh, his book closes, but not before a bookmark checks his page. As he puts the book down, a stray hand points towards the direction of a military road. "An enemy supply convoy is delivering supplies too the base we captured, thats why we were asked too take it quietly, so it would come today. It's going too be coming around here by about 1 in the afternoon, which is why we we're told too set up here." His book now closed, he takes out land mines from his sleeping bag, which was being used as another storage place at the time. "Setting these up, we stun the trucks and during the confusion take down the guards protecting it. Use lethal force if necessary, and let any stragglers run off. We take what we need if we need anything, and they'll probably have meat on them, and continue on our way"

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"So, set up the mines, take out whomever resists, take the supplies we can. Right." Another relatively simple job, but not an easy one. And now she was getting curious about the book again, which was both good and bad, and she had to wrestle with it to bury the questions. Except, she didn't succeed, and finally asked him "Is there something important about that book of yours?" After which she slapped one hand over her mouth, looking both apathetic and curious at the same time.

 

[Neshimo]

"...Ah. This book..." Picking up, a blow, a dust off with his hand, and a gaze into the cover that somewhat resembles the one from last night. A pause for what might see as forever, he look over at her with a fake smile, which screams sadness behind it's piercing wonders. How such a scruffy man could look less scary in just a few words from his partner, his mouth opens. "I...I used too...fix things in a...center" Another quick rubbing of the cover. 'The Tarot of Perfection' the title read, and he begins again after a short pause of reading it too himself. "If I had time...I'd read stories too the children there too distract them from..." Another pause, wanting too choose his words carefully as too not say anything that might bring up memories again, leaving him in a distance. "This...is one that was salvaged..."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"I... see." So, he had been a mechanic who loved children. Her hand began to reach for her hair, eyes both trying to glance at him and avoid his own at the same time. His reasons for being here were probably much more altruistic than hers, now that she realized that. "You must have been popular, then. And... I'm sorry for your loss." She couldn't understand.... not really, having always been engrossed in combat, but she could sympathize.

 

[Neshimo]

"Popular... no no." A slow shake of the head, he places the book back into it's rightful spot in his bag. "I think...it was rather, I owed them... and," So many pauses one might think, though this would be the last, his gaze goes from her too the mines in his sleeping bag. "Maybe I'll tell you more later, for now. Just know, before you kill him, let me make him apologize for every single one of them, so no one else has too ever again."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

She nodded, "I don't mind that, if we can get close enough." She'd have been willing to make him apologize for Mangetsu, but knew that'd never happen. Saphire stood up, stretched, and walked over to take his hand. Gently, once he had but the bag down, she pulled him up, "You look like you need to take your mind off of things. How about I start teaching you how to sense the Stealth Units now?" Work was always good for distracting yourself, and they had a few hours to practice anyway.

 

[Neshimo]

After she takes my hand too pull me back up, he cant help but give another chuckle under his breath. "Sure, thanks for the offer. Taking my mind off things, maybe this'll help me in more ways than one." Though his laugh wasn't for her kindness, at least not fully. "You always find a way too make me question whether you're caring or just trying too get through the mission." Truly, he's seen both sides too her in all but a few hours, things that make her seem more human than when they first met, and not as broken as she claimed too be. Though that'd probably be taken care of fairly easily later, he lavishes in the thought for now.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

She glared at him, both angry and touched. Yes, she knew she was confusing, but honestly... it was hard to be normal at the best of times. Most of her focus was on getting him to work as a partner, and... well, she needed little to know that he was not meant to end up like she had. "Trust me, if I were kind you would never have met me." If she were kind, she wouldn't have lived long enough to be betrayed. "Now, the first step to sensing the Stealth Units is to be able to trust your other senses, hearing and smell, even to an extent your sense of touch. I'm going to blindfold you." It was the simplest method to do it, after all.

 

[Neshimo]

"I see, understood then." That answer both too her response and her result of trying too get him on track with training. He lets her do as she wishes, feeling the soft cloth wrap around his eyes and the tight knot too make sure he doesn't try too pull anything. "Having too rely on only smell and sound? My senses are good from hunting and the training they gave me, but I'm not sure I learned how too smell humans." A light sarcastic joke too make the mood more comfortable for him, hopefully not offending her in anyway.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Your eyes can be fooled, Jamil. Your ears and nose cannot." It was a simple answer, but no less true. She moved her arm in front of his nose, waving her hand so it was just below him. "I'm going to put a lot of things underneath your nose, tell me what you think they smell like." It would help him to understand the difference between a human and the actual thing. At least humans didn't smell like nature, even given the fact that most products used were artificially made... Once more she waved her hand under his nose, careful not to touch him, and asked "Now, what does this smell like?"

 

[Neshimo]

"..." A now focused seeing as they've truly begun, he doesn't breathe it in, but rather just lets it enter his nostrils naturally. "...Thats an odd smell. Fleshy, but we don't have any meat on us...I'd say thats you then?" Not even on the smell, just thinking it out on past knowledge made me understand it was her. "That really is... odd without the hair most animals have."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Yup. This is the smell of untreated human flesh. Remember it." This time she removed her hand, covered it in mud, and held the hand up to him again. "All humans will smell like that underneath whatever is put on them. Even if they clean themselves using pine-soap, there will be a hint of human scent to it. Now, what's this?" Her hand, completely covered in mud, once more went under his nose... could he tell her scent even underneath the mud?

 

[Neshimo]

"...Thats just mud." Not even a hint gets past the smell of the mud masking her hand. The only thing that registers in his mind is mud, though by what she said, coming too another logical conclusion too her past words he lets out a sigh. "No. It's not just mud is it? If there's anything else there though... I cant even get a whiff of it." Know seeing what she meant by her training a long time, he can see with his mind developed more than a childs' that this will be harder for him.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"You see my point? I'm going to leave it her for a while, so you can try to get past the mud to find the true smell." She stood there, feeling awkward, while she gave him a chance. Yes, for her it had been easy, but she had also been raised while learning this. Softly she closed her eyes, practicing herself as the wind went past. The longer he would spend blinded, the more his senses would be opened to the world. Normally she would have had him stay like that for a day, but they didn't have time for that...

 

[Neshimo]

"Mhmmm..." Letting the time go by, he still doesn't try too sniff it out, but just lets it flow into his nose, as he always does. His sense of smell is very accurate too things he has smelled, though the foreign scent of her hand doesn't seem to register past the greedy mud which covers it. Though, even though he can't smell her, "I can still hear your breaths, even if I can't smell you if that's any consolation..." Probably not, seeing as she is still right in front of him, but during their travels, he's been able to hear her breathing often, even too the point where in his non-sentient state during the camp fire, he still heard her from over a couple yards away.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

A smile, only her mouth, but still there. Yes, he was a good hunter. There must have been previous training, for him to be able to hear her faint breaths, but it wasn't enough. No, not until he could hear the wind blowing her clothes, then she could say his hearing was open to the world around him... She decided to just barely hum the notes to a popular song among the soldiers.

 

[Neshimo]

"...You like humming don't you? A habit or just recently picked up too pass the time." The training still not over, he knows most likely the small whiffs he's getting are odd, most likely hers from her hand, though not until he's sure will he say anything about it lest looking cocky and her over estimating him. "I heard you humming last night as well, when I was walking back from my....thing"

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"I humm... and sing... because it reminds me of a better time." She looked over at him, surprised and pleased that he had heard her. "They say that music calms the savage beast, and I suppose that's true. WHen I'm worried or bored, or in another way feeling less than normal, I'll hum to change that. It rarely works, but..." Who said it had to work? It was just something she had done before... "My sisters used to love my voice, so I do it for others who seem to need it too."

 

[Neshimo]

"I see." Nothing else from him now, focusing on the training until he gets the scent fully, or until she deems it enough for today. "I can just barely smell you, but I can't hold that smell for long." Deciding too change the subject off family, seeing as that might be another conversation for another camp site, he finally tells her how he at least thinks he's doing with this.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"My hand. Well done." She removed said hand, wiping it off on her cloak and moving a few steps away. Now standing between him and the fire, or what remained of it, she took out a book she always kept with her, holding it up to his nose. "This?" She asked, now sounding as blank as she had when they first met. Saphire needed to keep her head out of the past, it would only confuse her further. Which wasn't a good thing, when the past hurt more than the betrayal.