Dawn of the Third Age/IC Logs/Nomoe Hideaki and Bright Snow
Nomoe_Hideaki: "Yes, thank you." He gives the mortal courier a small nod, before returning to the explanation. "... so the ones marked red-white-red should be in the front where possible." Then he stops, a strange expression passing over his face.
Noldarr: "Something the matter?"
Courier: While facing Nomoe, for a fraction of a second it appears the courier's eyes widen with what could be shock and recognition before returning to the emotionless gaze she favours.
Nomoe_Hideaki: His eyes return to the mortal, this time meeting her eyes as his perception shifts to seeing her as a person rather than a just another servant with a function to perform. "Excuse me, officer ...," he addresses her before she disappears into the crowd again. "Have we met before?"
Nomoe_Hideaki: A moment, please, Nomoe Hideaki indicates to Noldarr in a polite gesture.
Noldarr a knowing smile on his face, Noldarr nods accommodatingly.
Courier: "Not that I am aware of Deliberator Nomoe, but I'm sure that as an officer with such responsabilities as mine it was only a matter of time." The last part of that phrase seems to hang in the air a little longer than it should
Nomoe_Hideaki: **/I could have sworn.../ unaccountable familiarity and confusion** "What is your name, officer?" **/Perhaps a family resemblance .../**
Nomoe_Hideaki tilts his head slightly as he asks the question, his language carefully polite
Courier: **/He can't know.../her own wave of discomfort feeds back** "My name? Bright, Deliberator, Young and Maiden Bright."
- Courier is now known as Young_And_Maiden_Bright
Nomoe_Hideaki: "I can't know? Can't know what?" Now Nomoe Hideaki is truly confused. Did she speak to herself under her breath?
Nomoe_Hideaki: And since "when in doubt use the Sorcerer's Eye" has proven a useful maxim in the past he activates his essence sight.
Young_And_Maiden_Bright: "I didn't speak Deliberator." **/At least I think I didn't/Nervousness fills the bond**
Nomoe_Hideaki: **/That shimmering silver essence ... one of Luna's Chosen!/ he should be suspicious, but somehow isn't** Nomoe Hideaki's eyes narrow, then he smiles as if understanding something. "Deliberator Noldarr, would you excuse me?"
Noldarr: "Naturally."
Nomoe_Hideaki: And he gestures his attendants to give him some space.
Nomoe_Hideaki: "A pleasure to meet you, Young And Maiden Bright," He bows in greeting. **/Have to bow as to a peer ... can't blow her cover though .../** "You are one of Luna's Chosen, are you not?" This spoken quietly so that none of the others around can understand.
Young_And_Maiden_Bright: **Panic fills the bond, as the attendants move away.** She gives the barest hint of a nod, her entire body visibly tensing underneath the scrutiny.
Nomoe_Hideaki: "My apologies if I have upset your cover, Deliberator." He smiles apologetically and then flinches as panic impacts him from nowhere. **/Stupid of me/ ... /this feeling, where? .../**
Nomoe_Hideaki: "Emptiness, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ..." Under the assault his trademark cool cracks. **/What have I done ... is this? ... how do I know what she .../**
Young_And_Maiden_Bright: Her eyes flash towards the dais where seat the Grand Circle. **As various eyes swing this way the panic through the bond intensifies.**
Nomoe_Hideaki closes his eyes for a moment and breathes deeply. **/clarity ... think clearly/**
Nomoe_Hideaki: Then he gestures to his attendants. Banners and flags are unrolled in a small forest around them.
Bright: She breaths a sigh of relief, as the banners unfurl hiding them from view. Her eyes return to Hideaki and study him more intently.**Curiousity replaces the now receeding panic. Her thoughts are a jumble, many jumbled together./He is the... No I will not...At least...No repetition./**
Nomoe_Hideaki: **with panic receeding on Bright's side its reflection in Hideaki fades as well, but the well-ordered calm that is the impression of his mind has not yet returned. /Spy, infiltrator? ... No, can't be ... how can I know this?/**
Nomoe_Hideaki: Behind the screen of banners the almost supersaturated colors of Hideaki's clothes, the aura of sheer undeniable presence fades, drawing less attention now. "You ... want to keep your cover as a mortal, right? Are you not a member of the Deliberative then?" **/questions, analysis, focus on that ... in the end it will make sense ... perhaps/**
Bright: The girl, stands a little straighter. "I was." Her voice is quiet. /There is the impression of disagreements, anger and flight/
Nomoe_Hideaki nods slowly. "I see." **/that's not speaking and not me reading her modes of expression either ... what?/**
Bright: "Calm yourself and I will explain. Much as it was explained to me." **Her calm has returned. Though a quick flash of old pain fills the bond.**
Nomoe_Hideaki bows to the Chosen of Luna and listens as she speaks.
Bright: "The Sun and the Moon are paired. So too were their chosen." **/And you'd best not try to cage me, I will not be anyone's plaything./ The though is clear and accompanied by a flash of fury.**
Bright: "We are paired you and I. The bond offers some benefits, shared silent communication of thought and feeling." **The fury fades back to the cold /And other less pleasant things/**
Nomoe_Hideaki: "Paired ..." Nomoe Hideaki considers this, his outward calm restored. **he is less calm on the inside, his emotions a mixture of uncertainty and unanticipated elation as he understands /...have read about that .../**
Nomoe_Hideaki: **/So this ... thought communication? .../** Then, driven home by fury like a hammer blow, a thought hits him through the bond. "What? Cage you?" **indignant outrage, pain at the hurtful suggestion /why would I ... why would YOU even suggest .../**
Bright_Snow: **Sadly.../Others have tried. There are flashes of a few of the lunars sitting on the Grand Circle Podium./**
Nomoe_Hideaki: After a moment he composes himself, enough to attempt a controlled use of the bond communication. **/I will not./ A sense of adamant certainty. If Nomoe Hideaki gives his word the stars will rain from the sky before he breaks it. /Unless it should turn out that you are or will become an enemy of Creation, imprisonment would be necessary in that case./ He doesn't believe that could happen, but he has to say it.**
Nomoe_Hideaki nods as Bright continues her explanation. "I think I understand how it works ... to a point." And as if to prove it: **/Less pleasant things?/ A sense of curiosity, mingled with imperfectly controlled echoes of his previous indignation**
Bright_Snow: "My interests lay in forming a better stronger Creation. Not destroying it nor handing it to its enemies." Again she is soft spoken, Hideaki realises this is less because she is worried of being overheard and more because it is her more natural volume level.
Nomoe_Hideaki: "I did not believe they did. Though I don't really know you." **Brief wondering why he would be so sure** "But the provision is necessary if I give my word."
Bright_Snow: "Better than most and less well than others." She smiles but it does not reach her eyes, Hideaki is coming to realize little does. **Stubbornness and Reluctance fill the bond at the mention of less pleasant things. /He catches a flicker of a Lunar? woman he does not recognize before the thought slams firmly shut, like a door he had been spying at/**
Nomoe_Hideaki nods quietly, trying to control how much he feels or sees through the bond, though the books hadn't spoken of actual mind reading being possible. Still, it's polite and he gets the sense that the Chosen rather likes **/needs?/** her privacy.
Bright_Snow wets her lips with her tongue slightly, a nervous reflex certainly as the bond swiftly confirms, "So what now?"
Nomoe_Hideaki: "This ... I will need some time to learn to control **/get used to/** this."
Nomoe_Hideaki: "This means of communication, it's ... difficult."
Bright_Snow: "Of course it is." /Suddenly I know what he was feeling... **Irritation fills the bond for a moment** ...doesn't mean he was any less of a fool though./
Bright_Snow: A moment goes by and as she notices the reaction on Hideaki's face she blushes slightly, "I didn't mean you. Just someone I knew /or thought I did/ once long ago."
Nomoe_Hideaki looks momentarily confused - and more deeply cut by being thought a fool than he'd have anticipated - then breathes deeply and nods as Bright explains. Or doesn't explain, as the case may be.
Nomoe_Hideaki: He doesn't inquire further. */would have told me if she wanted me to know/ ... /won't ask/**
Bright_Snow: "Perhaps you aren't the only one to require practice at this." She says with a wary sigh. /There is always something.../
Nomoe_Hideaki smiles, actually smiles, which is something he is rarely afforded the opportunity to do. "I will learn. It is perhaps not the worst thing, to be shown that despite all the power one is not infallible."
Bright_Snow shrugs. "Life will do that whether we like it or not."
Nomoe_Hideaki: "Ah, but few will *say* it. Except for other Deliberators, but they will criticize and belittle and insult anything, so that doesn't really help."
Nomoe_Hideaki: "So, 'what now?', you asked. Well, I'll have to join the parade soon - duty calls - and if you want to keep away from the Deliberative you probably won't want to join in. But we can speak again afterward. See what to make of this."
Nomoe_Hideaki: "Or ... if you want to **/if you fear/hate me/** ... we can just go our separate ways. Forget this meeting." **he wouldn't like it but he'd accept it**
Bright_Snow: **/talk or flee?/ ** a few moments pass as you feel her weighing up the decision. "Talk."
Bright_Snow nods to confirm it to herself, her gaze on the ground at her feet. Raising her head slightly, a more genuine smile playing across her lips as she feels his thoughts. **Amusement ripples through her. / I have smiled twice more than I have in the last few years in your company. I assure you I do not hate or fear you**
Bright_Snow: Her smile fades slightly, a flash of recollection **Stifled as if she is trying to prevent it from getting through/...at least not yet.../**
Nomoe_Hideaki inclines his head, smiling **somewhat embarrassed**. "It is good to know that you don't hate me."
Nomoe_Hideaki: His own smiles fades a little as well, when that thought gets through, but he does not comment and manages to control his side of the bond as well.
Bright_Snow nods as she turns and starts walking purposefully to the edge of the banners. At the edge she stops and turns "I think I will ride with the cavalry. I guess then that I shall locate you afterward the ceremony." She starts moving through the banners, **/It has certainly been interesting./ There is trepidation over the bond.**
Nomoe_Hideaki: "Then I'll see you after the parade." He bows. "Until then, Young And Maiden Bright, Chosen of Luna. **/Shouldn't be hard to find me, not with all this/ a brief flash of his over-the-top enhanced apparel and surrounding banners**
Bright_Snow: **a surge of guilt fills the bond as he says the name /An alias./**
Nomoe_Hideaki: **Brief surprise, then realization. /There is no need/ (to feel guilty) He himself has, by necessity, used covers before /Until then, oh Chosen of the Lady of Mysteries/ a bit of amusement**
