The Mood is Write

Mom-de-Plume
Original poster
DONATING MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Looking for partners
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. Multiple posts per week
Online Availability
It varies wildly.
Writing Levels
  1. Advanced
  2. Prestige
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Nonbinary
  3. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
I'm open to a wide range of genres. Obscenely wide. It's harder for me to list all I do like than all I don't like.

My favorite settings are fantasy combined with something else, multiverse, post-apoc, historical (mixed with something else), and futuristic. I'm not limited to those, but it's a good start.

My favorite genres include mystery, adventure, action, drama, tragedy (must be mixed with something else and kept balanced), romance (again must be mixed, and more.

I'm happy to include elements of slice-of-life and romance, but doing them on their own doesn't hold my interest indefinitely.


Jade sat up, one hand at her mouth, and darted to the bathroom on scrambling, half-slipping bare feet. Behind her, a man propped himself up on the creaky bed and watched her go. She flung the toilet's seat and lid up, then let loose.

Violent hacking and a torrent of bile-infused liquid leapt from Jade's mouth to the toilet before she wiped her mouth on her hand.

"Everything alright in there, Lady Jade?" The man asked slowly from the bathroom doorway.

"Yes. I am sorry, Hunter Willem. I may have a stomach flu." She lied, unable to look any higher than his feet. She felt filthy all over, but the poor man didn't deserve to hear that after he went to so much trouble to make sure she reached multiple orgasms... "I shall clean up."

"No, no, I got it. You go see Al. I can handle a bathroom and a bed. You're sick." He walked toward her, and rubbed her small, bare back.

"I-" She cut off as she felt his large, warm hand on her back, then glanced toward the toilet as she felt her skin crawl. "Yes, probably." Her eyes felt hot as she rose slowly, then approached the sink so she could wash her hands again before she used them to sip at some water to get the taste and smell of vomit out of her mouth before she grabbed a tissue to dry off, and then wipe her face. A brief glance at the mirror showed what she had not wished to see—red rims around her eyes, pale skin, and flushed cheeks.

Hunter Willem let his hand fall back to his side. "Do you need help getting to the infirmary, at least?"

"No. Thank you." She smiled at him, only a little forced. "I am sorry to put so much cleaning on you, and for ruining our afterglow."

"No, no. You're fine. If you're sick, we shouldn't have even." He trailed off, then glanced to the side.

Her cue to go before it got any more awkward.

Jade rose to her toes to kiss the giant of a man. "Thank you for a wonderful night." With that, she pulled on her card-printed underwear and her worn jeans, then gathered her steel toed-boots, her socks, her jacket, and her favorite shirt—the one that only had one shoulder, and had the cutest green die on the chest. Once she had everything, she exited the Hunter's room.

Once the door was shut behind her, she walked a time, up and down the halls until she was sure even his enhanced Hunter senses wouldn't pick up on anything amiss.

With a deep breath and a heavy sigh, she opened a portal. Without looking, she stepped through. Her foot slipped on something wet, and she toppled forward into a trash can and a brick wall, then crouched and waved one hand behind herself to close the portal as she looked around.

Seeing nobody initially, she hugged her knees and buried her face, then began to sniffle into her shirt as she buried her face in her bundle, uncaring if anyone saw the sides of her breasts. The sniffles became sobs and hiccups, and then hoarse gasping cries as she struggled with exhaustion from a week of little sleep, a wild romp, and then fleeing through a portal. With her face buried in the soft white cotton, she let loose.

Tears flowed, drool pooled, and snot clogged.
 
Jade had clearly not been paying attention to her surroundings, at least not enough to notice the significant change in lighting and the air around her. Whereas she might have been inside a house just a few moments prior, she had been transported into the middle of a suburb filled with buildings that were familiar at first glance. Had she looked at them closely, she would have found that they were constructs alien to her, their materials only vaguely resembling the well-known brick and concrete combination of the modern era. The walls were clearly too strong for that, supporting hundreds-of-metres-tall skyscrapers with expansive balconies filled with various plants, all of this joined together with masterfully engineered suspension bridges to ease access.

The light was not coming from the Sun either. It was clearly natural light, yes, but there were thin optical tubes lined along the bellies of balconies, illuminating the entire area. If Jade looked around carefully, she could see that she was in a relatively remote, but well-lit area of a ground-level garden, something like a small indenture between two buildings where trash was temporarily stored for convenience until it was moved to be incinerated or recycled. No wonder she saw no one nearby, as people definitely preferred to enjoyed nature better than a dumpster... And by the looks of it, nearly everyone was at work too. It seemed that the woman had definitely picked a bad time to enter this world, or a good time depending on how one looked at it.

Regardless, she would not remained unnoticed for long. Her sobbing and bawling had attracted the attention of a small robot. No larger than Jade's head, the spherical thing had detected the signs of distress nearby, which was quite unusual in this area, so its algorithms had decided that it better seek out the source of these noises, finding the woman only under the course of a few seconds. If she looked at it, she could see that it was particularly smooth, black with no visible seams on its surface and it bore a strange insignia: Four, white arrows, each one starting from the same point and pointing towards one of the cardinal directions. Around this was a circle made out of unknown, but fancy-looking letters, suggesting that this was some sort of an insignia.

But before Jade could have pondered the purpose of this robot, a holographic screen appearead before it, displaying another bunch of letters that were clearly intended to be read, accompanied by a smooth, soothing voice... Except that it was likely that Jade understood neither of them. The language that the thing spoke in seemed to not be English or even a close relative of it; it was a tongue made out of sounds that were perhaps a little strange to hear, but were nonetheless arranged pleasantly. And the letters were not a large help either: though they have been inspired by latin characters, there were several key differences and the order in which they came in did not match any tongue from Earth.

Either way, if Jade could understand the robot, it had stated that the authorities were on there way and asked if she consented to being scanned for injuries, then it told her that because she was still conscious, not answering would be interpreted as her not giving consent before informing her that she would be in safe hands as soon as help arrived.
 
Jade jerked to awareness, and turned to face the small robot, her face a mess of tears, drool, and snot. She stared, uncomprehending. "I do... do not understand." She stared at the thing, then slowly lifted her shoulders in what usually translated to confusion, unknowing, and similar emotions. Could the thing read body language? She reached out slowly with one finger, but withdrew rather than actually touching the unknown wonder in front of her.

She began to laugh, however, as she saw the hologram in front of the thing. "I do not understand." Never before had she found a world she could not communicate with. Typically, and strangely, many spoke English, or some variant thereof. Some spoke a dialect of elven, or even something akin to an Eastern language from Earth. This one... this one stumped her, and through dark circles under red-rimmed eyes, she could only laugh at the absurd reality that the odds finally caught up—she found a world that greeted strangers without English!

The young-looking woman covered her mouth as she laughed, and tears began to flow again, and breathing became difficult. Her mirth was punctuated by sobs as her body refused to settle on just one display of emotion.
 
Though the robot was not created to understand the intricacies of human body language, there was one thing that it did comprehend very well: the woman had replied to it in a language that it did not understand at all, something that it was not equipped for. This was completely unprecedented as far as the machine was concerned, because it simply did not happen in this age. A few thousand years prior, certainly, but civilization had come far since then, too far to be restrained by the boundaries of languages. Therefore, it did not know what to do, which meant that human involvement was needed. As per standard protocol, the moment had been documented in the robot's files and when the response team arrived, the first thing it would do was to sho them the clip that it thought was importance.

There was also another imperative burning away at it from the inside, namely, to comfort this woman in some form, but unknown situations took precedence. So it just continued waiting for its masters, leaving Jade alone to deal with her emotions. It was a cruel thing to do, but security robots were not equipped with the proper programming to take care of situations like this in a humane manner.

It took only a few minutes for two men to arrive. Clad in some sort of a strange armour that protected every part of their bodies, the metallic plates did not seem to impede their movement at all, instead, it bent with their joints as they moved. Whatever they were wearing, it was a little too thick at their hips, suggesting that their weapons were inside a concealed hatch or perhaps integrated into the suit itself. One of them was also wearing a small backpack and when the small robot left Jade to greet them, they exchanged confused glances while the situation was relayed to them. How was this possible? The woman in front of them was clearly a distressed human, yet she was speaking some other language that they did not understand. It was one of the most befuddling cases they have encountered, but after exchanging some brief words, the one with the backpack stepped into the alley, then he kneeled in front of Jade.

Not caring about the sorry state of the woman, the police offer got his backpack off, then he slowly opened it before tapping the strange woman on the shoulder to jolt her out of the state she was in. He always hated to see victims like this, because whenever he saw something similar, it meant that something horrible had happened. Now he hated the situation doubly so as he could not even ask about what happened here, which, given the lack of security cameras in this particular place was going to make his and his partner's job quite difficult. Regardless, he slowly opened the backpack revealing a powder blue blanket, two sealed glasses of what seemed to be water and something that vaguely resembled food from a bakery, smelling quite fresh an heavenly.

With a hopefully encouraging smile on his face, the police officer offered the two sealed glasses and the pastry to Jade. It was likely that she would notice the insignia on his chest piece as he did so: a larger version of the symbols she had seen on the robot.
 
Jade stopped shortly after the pair returned, and the robot darted to them, presumably to relay information to its masters. She watched, then jerked her head to the one that knelt by her. Her eyes followed his hands as he pulled out a blanket, two drinks, and a... pastry? She almost wanted to laugh again, but instead smiled at the man as she wiped her eyes again with the heel of her hand. She didn't feel like he was a danger to her, not in this situation, at least. "Thank you." She shifted into her jacket, zipped it until it compressed her poor breasts to half their size, then stuffed her shirt roughly into her pocket before she accepted the blanket.

Modesty regained, she let her red eyes wander over the kneeling man as she accepted one of the drinks and the pastry. Luck, she felt half-starved!

Ferocity and manners battled as she devoured the pastry—careful to eat with her mouth closed and take small bites, she ate quickly and didn't seem like she was chewing much at all. It was gone all too soon.

His insignia cemented that he worked with the same people as the apparently friendly robot—apparently, because it could have been saying anything to her, but it also wasn't trying to murder her with tasers or anything like that. Were they emergency services? If so, they arrived awfully quick, and assumed immediately that she was some sort of victim.

These thoughts ran through her head. None of them spoke any language she understood—none of the dozens of languages she'd gone to the trouble of learning to avoid this sort of trouble.

Experimentally, she tried to mimic the first word the robot said to her. If it was a hello, which she hoped it was, it was only polite. Her mouth formed the sounds without much difficulty, though she sounded more like the robot than a human making the same word as the robot.
 
The man who kneeled down in front of Jade noted several things about her which had not been immediately evident. First of all, the clothes she was wearing reminded himself of something he had seen in a museum of past cultures some time ago and while the patterns along with the style were different, it was close enough to make him a little bit suspicious. Second of all, the woman did not seem to care about her body as she fitted a jacket on herself that seemed much too small to fit her figure comfortably. Third of all, she was very hungry as she devoured the food they had brought with themselves very quickly. Fourth and last of all, she was still being careful with what she did, or at least that was how it seemed to the police officer. Or at least that was his interpretation of the small, quick bites given the situation.

All in all, this seemed like a very strange occurence that made him scratch his head. There was no precedence, nor protocol for something like this, which given the long history of the state he served was very unlikely. Yet this strange woman was clearly before his eyes, she had clearly eaten the pastry he had offered her and she most definitely existed as far as his senses were aware... But he did not know what to do with her even if he was to be hanged. His partner had chosen to contact headquarters, however, given the chatter he was hearing in his ears, not even they were sure what to do with a case like this, especially given that it had seemed so routine at first.

So what were they supposed to do with someone who wore strange clothes, not to mention that she spoke a strange language?

The answer seemed to come from the woman in the form of a somewhat butchered, but clearly pronounced word that was lost on both of the men. They were too engaged in listening to the blabbing of the chief, then the eventual orders that came: Whoever this individual was, the army would be clearly better off with her than the police. Maybe those bastards could figure something out about her and even if they did not, they were well-equipped to deal with situations that smelled like first contact with something unknown, and this, according to the police chief, clearly seemed something like that. And who were his subordinates to doubt him?

Nevertheless, the man in front of Jade made sure that she was all right, then he stood up to walk beside his team-mate and exchanged a few words with him, speaking about how they would have to guard her until the relevant authorities arrived, preferably with a songweaver and a skyclearer just to be sure.
 
Her attempt ignored, Jade heaved a sigh through her nose as her mouth lifted into a half-pout, half frown. The man she had been trying to communicate with ignored her, his expression distant, and walked toward his teammate, and they spoke together on topics she could hardly fathom. She took the opportunity to look again at the little robot, and spoke in English. "Well, that was a wasted attempt." Her words were quiet, and she turned to watch the men again, uncertain what they were discussing. However, she did listen carefully.

As the two spoke, she repeated a few of the sounds they made quietly—even adapting her voice to a more masculine tone. She wanted to learn what they were saying. She waited until they were done speaking, and then spoke up with another mimicry of the first thing the robot said to her. She tilted her head as she watched the pair, waiting to see what sort of reaction they would have.

After a moment, she indicated herself, careful not to point a singular finger, since many cultures viewed it as rude, and spoke. "Jade." Hopefully they realized it was an introduction.

If they did, that would make her whole stay here much easier.
 
This was a very strange case. Both of the policemen could agree on that as they started talking, but beyond this declaration, there was not much common thought between the two of them as they discussed what the hell they were witnessing and if it really was a good idea to hand this case over to the military. There was some subdued debate between them, but only because they had absolutely no idea what to do with this situation so in the end, they just wound up listening to the police chief. He surely had a better idea what to do with this strange woman in this place and if he thought it the best to hand it over to the military, then they would do so. Even though she seemed completely harmless, those people were more experienced in handling matters like this.

When the two's train of thought finished, however, something unexpected happened. Jade said something and as they turned back towards her, they noticed that she was pointing towards herself. Was she trying to introduce herself? The policeman with the backpack frowned as he tried to make sense of what she could have meant with those combination of words and as such, another discussion was started. Fortunately for Jade, this went by really quickly as there was little question as to what she was trying to do. This, even they could understand despite the absolutely massive differences between the two. The real decision was if they should answer her or not; it would be at least a dozen minutes or so until the military arrived.

And there was no harm in trying to be friendly was there?

Reaching that decision, the policeman with the backpack chose to mimic the gesture. "Ínavák," he said, pointing at himself, then he pointed at his team-mate, who gave his okay with a curt nod. "Azoém." As it was to be expected, the names were completely alien to Jade, even in their pronunciation. But at least it seemed that first contact had been made even though whatever word she mimicked from the robot had been ignored in the favour of introducing themselves in a very simple manner.
 
She pointed to each in turn and mimicked their names, in the same tone as they did, and in as close an approximation she could to their own voices. They sounded foreign in a way that she rarely heard anymore—and exciting for just that reason. For a few moments, she continued her mimicry, then gave the two men a smile. She pointed to the water. "Water." It was a similar vein to introductions, except now she wanted them to introduce her to important words—water being one of them.

She waited a few moments to give them a chance to introduce her to their word for water, then pointed to the robot. "Robot." and waited, red eyes watching for how they moved their mouths.
 
What the sort of devilish language was this woman speaking and why were there barely any vowels in it? As Jade pronounced the words for water and robot, the two policemen just glanced each other in confusion. Clearly, they had been way over their heads in presuming that they could mimic a foreign language like that, one that was just so closed, so alien to them, but apparently the woman had no problem repeating their tongue. Needless to say, this rather baffled the two as they assumed that the same would be the case for Jade despite her earlier demonstration of mimicking a word. How could she do it when they could not?

Ínavák exchanged a few words with Azoém, which mostly sounded like asking for help, but neither of them knew what they would have to do in order to replicate those horribly mangled things that Jade's people called words. It was like trying to decode interstellar transmissions coming from alien civilizations, only much worse.

But in the end, Jade's vocabulary grew with two words as Azoém decided that they should keep trying.
"Ák," he said, pointing towards the water, thinking that the woman had meant the substance inside. "Íláminír Món," he then added, which specifically meant 'Patrol robot responsible for personal safety', which was not at all what Jade had meant. But such was the way of languages and traditions.
 
Jade smiled as he pointed out each and gave her a word. She never expected them to mimic her, but didn't know if there was a questioning word in their language, or how to ask what it was. She nodded, then pointed again to the water and once more performed her mimicry, to make certain she was correct.

A lifetime of learning other languages made it much simpler to mimic them.

However, it didn't escape her that neither man was very comfortable with the process. She thought a few moments, pondering how to make hear learning easier on them. All she could think of was flashcards, but...

Of course, hers were back at home, and the two men hardly looked like they would handle seeing her stick her arm through a hole in the air. Instead, she simply thanked them with a brief bow of her head. "Thank you."

If they didn't understand, that was fine. She assumed they would take some time to figure out what to do with her, anyway. For a time, she fiddled with the seal on the water, trying to get it open. Her first attempt was lifting, like a tupperware lid.
 
Needless to say, Jade's actions baffled the two policemen completely as they did not recognise the bow as a gesture of thanks, nor the words that she said. Was she trying to get them to mimic the words again? But that was simply impossible! Neither of them knew how she mimicked their sounds because of just how different they sounded even when she said them, so maybe she was some sort of superhuman created to make all those different sounds? Or perhaps she was a songweaver, except that conclusion raised more questions than it answered. Either way, the response of the two men was more discussion on what the hell just happened.

Meanwhile, the lid lifted rather quickly in response to Jade's ministrations. It seemed that despite this being a completely different world, lids stayed mostly the same as there was no need to overcomplicate the sealing of water or various soft drinks, especially for an emergency response team like this one. The water inside was rather clean too; it sparkled without a hint of bubbles. If Jade tasted the water, she would find it to be particularly fresh despite its bottled state. It seemed that these people were paying very close attention to what they did, especially with people whom they thought were victims of crime.

Speaking of which, Ínavák waved the little security robot over to themselves to take a closer look at it and hopefully find some clues in the scene as to what happened here while the military arrived. They were probably not terribly far away now, but it would most likely help them if the police had at least a rudimentary idea about what happened here that caused this woman to cry so badly. If it was anything that they could help at all, given that she seemed to be from a place that did not speak their language, yet she was still human.
 
So much for universal. Oh well. Jade watched them as they spoke, and then they took away the robot. There wasn't much she could do. The two didn't seem too keen on teaching her more words, and every attempt she made only led them to more confusion. So, she sat back and waited, trying to be subtle in adjusting her breasts under her coat as she sipped the water, thankful this much was at least universal—that humans needed water.

It was getting painful, being so constrained. She let out a heavy sigh as she watched and listened, but eventually, even the wonderment and distraction of a new language to overcome was worn away by a week of exhaustion, her previous physical strain, and the food in her stomach.

Their words began to haze into a background buzz as the sounds of the multiverse filled Jade's mind as it drifted into unconsciousness, red eyes closed as she slowly let her arm fall, until the water glass was on its side on the ground, thankfully empty, but still held in her small hands.

Occasionally as she slept, a few words escaped in tiny murmurs—in more languages Ínavák and Azoém were unfamiliar with. Her face occasionally twitched, but otherwise she remained still.
 
The military could not arrive soon enough, or at least that was the conclusion that Ínavák and Azoém came to as they tried to make sense of their situation, hoping against all hope that this strange woman was not able to detect their emotions somehow, because even that came up as they started discussing her alien nature. They just wanted to go back to their jobs where they would deal with more mundane cases that did not require them to learn an entire language from scratch. Such a thing was for the songweavers, not ordinary people who spoke only one tongue! Therefore, it was no surprise that they felt a little relieved when they found that Jade was asleep when they turned back to her, so they would only have to watch over her for the time being.

Their salvation finally arrived in the form of an armoured vehicle showing on the horizon shortly before it skidded to a halt before the little alleyway and it was remarkably quiet for something of its size. Still, if Jade awakened, she would see a strange, aerodynamic, but nevertheless tough chassis before her with eight wheels and no visible windows or seams at all, as if its driver did not need their senses to see outside. There were no weapons or weapon ports on it either, which suggested that it was a tool of pure transportation with as much armour grafted around its framework as possible so as to protect whatever was inside. It was also quite utilitarian in its construction despite the soft, curved angles that a modern military mind would find strange, but it paled behind the woman who exited the vehicle after its back had opened.

The first thing to note about her was her long, green hair with several golden highlights in it, especially because the colour seemed to be completely natural. There was not even the faintest trace of dye present amongst those locks of hair. The eyes of the woman were just as strange, their irises displaying a heterochromatic combination of purple, blue, red and pink with each eye holding a different pattern to make the differences even more visible. But despite these rather provocative touches, her clothing was much more traditional. She was wearing a dark blue jacket that was trimmed with light blue lines that united at the middle of the cloth and ran up to her neck, dividing it into two parts. The right part had many small, golden circles on it while the left part bore a white, four-points star the ends of which looked like arrowheads. A matching set of dark blue trousers and gloves completed the outfit, clearly marking her as some sort of an officer or at least a person of importance.

This was made even clearer when the two policemen raised their hands in a quick gesture that was this world's version of a salute and the woman returned it before telling them something that resulted in them moving away with their little robot. Their job here was done, from here on, it was up to the military to do as they pleased with the strange woman and this soldier was ordered to bring her to a safehouse, where she was to guard her and teach her at least some of the language until the upper brass decided how to exactly deal with this bizzare situation.

A sigh escaped the military officer's lips as she saw that Jade had fallen asleep and she had to bite her lips so as not to break out in curses. What the hell was high command smoking when they assigned her along with her squad to this so-called mission? Sure, she was a songweaver, not to mention that she was newly appointed, but there were many candidates who were a lot more experienced than her. So why send a green-ear on what would no doubt turn into a diplomatic nightmare? She had almost torn her beautiful hair out when she heard the news.

But still, orders were orders, so the woman gently took Jade into her arms and then she carried her into the vehicle, hoping that their ride would be uneventful. She had been told that Jade looked absolutely exhausted and waking up in the middle of a completely foreign armoured car was not a fate that she wished on anyone. So she hoped that Jade would only awaken inside the safehouse, where she had left two of her men to prepare a small room with a traditional, soft bed for their new guest. It was nothing fancy of course, but maybe Jade would feel more welcome there.
 
Luckily, Jade not only slept the entire trip, but nearly a full day after before she woke to her stomach feeling like it was gnawing at her insides. Even despite this, her eyes remained closed as she grumbled quietly and rolled onto her other side, only to feel a dull and growing pain in her back and neck as the movement increased her bloodflow.

Her chest burned, and she reached up with fingers numb from being slept on to rub her chest, only to feel a zipper.

A zipper? She hadn't worn onesie pajamas since she was ten or so... She cracked her eyes open and stared at the wall. Rough stone or riveted sheet steel? Did she fall asleep at work again, or was she in her own room? Sleepy eyes blinked slowly as they slowly focused on the wall in front of her.

Her body hurt! Slowly, she forced herself upright, eyes closed as she turned to face away from the nearest wall, and at the rest of the room.

She expected either a room decorated in pale blues and greens with cherry and lemon decor, or a rough-walled office with her desk across from her.

Neither one appeared to be the case. A slow scowl wrinkled the skin on her forehead as her still-waking mind fought to figure out just where she fell asleep.

This wasn't even the bedroom of one of her Hunters, and she was too clothed to be there. Jade glanced downward as she continued to rub at her chest.

... Why was her jacket zipped, anyway?
 
Again, it seemed that high command particularly detested her, because not only did the strange human not wake up during the ride in the armoured car, but she kept on sleeping. And sleeping. And sleeping. And sleeping! For countless hours, that damned, strange woman continued to sleep in the room that had been prepared for her. Sure, it was a simple room with a plain, light grey tint, a traditional bed, a simple table and two chairs. But it was still a room that the army had to pay for from the money of taxpayers, which meant that not only was Jade wasting the time of the military, she was also wasting the money that could have been spent for better things. Like an actual mission that would actually help in the career of a certain officer or something that was worth the time of said individual.

Yet instead, she was forced to babysit. Absolutely great.

Luckily for Jade, this certain individual had more than enough time to calm down and as such, there was no loud cursing or calling out of the non-existent deities of this world, only rustling from outside, which was followed by a loud crash. Only then did words come from outside the room and despite their pleasant, long sounds, Jade would definitely be able to tell that someone was very unhappy with their luck. It was definitely a long string of insults directed at some force that had the gall to make someone their plaything. But the absolutely furious speech died off as soon as it started, only to be replaced by the door literally vanishing from its frame while making a sound.

The very same woman who had carried Jade into the armoured car was standing there, except this time, she was wearing a rather tight-fitting tank top that was complimented by really short shorts. In other words, she was basically wearing underwear that tried to disguise itself as clothes, not that she was particularly bothered judging by the fake smile on her face that was more for the situation than it was for Jade. More importantly, though, the woman with heterochromatic eyes was holding a plastic tray with two plates that held food completely alien to Jade. At least she would likely recognise some of the basic ingredients: There was definitely some meat, some pasta-like thing, a strangely discoloured thing that looked like an egg and small, round things of various colours that gave the impression of being berries. There was also a metallic thing beside each of the plates, but Jade would likely not figure out its puprose alone.

The barely-dressed woman put down the tray on the table, then she pointed to Jade.
"Jade," she said as she gritted her teeth and forced back a sigh. Though her pronounciation was a little off, she was definitely more successful than the policemen who had tried earlier, but found themselves lacking the faculties to properly mimic unknown sounds. This gesture was then followed by the barely-clothed woman pointing at herself.
"Ríváné." Her name. The name of the songweaver who had been screwed over by the military just because she was a green-ear.
 
Jade stared, hand on the zipper of her jacket as the woman entered the room. Red eyes curiously took in the strangely-colored woman, and then the offered food.

Neither the room nor the woman disturbed her as much as the food. Most worlds, it was a bit more recognizable than this. She stared at the tray for a few moments, then looked back up at the partly-undressed stranger.

And then the woman said her name. Jade's eyes widened for an instant, and she paid close attention. She mimicked the woman's word, likely a name, in a mimicry of the woman's own voice. "Host Ríváné." She inclined her head briefly in greeting as her mind churned, unaware of the title she'd unthinkingly given the stranger.

When an how did she get here? Why was the woman talking like that, using point-and-say?

It hurt her head, trying to remember.

"Where am I?" She touched her temple as her head throbbed. Was she getting enough air? Jade slid the zipper down, just below her breasts, and she nearly burst from the jacket, forcing the zipper down further as she gasped, a sharp intake of relief that made her temples tingle. She glanced up. "I am sorry. I could not breathe."

Her vision swam for a few moments as she caught her breath, and the headache faded. She remained seated despite her back's discomfort, for fear of collapsing. Her jacket was incredibly tight. Ríváné could likely see every stitch mark embedded in her pale flesh.
 
'Host'? Was that how Jade's people called other humans? At first, Ríváné thought that was the case, but after a moment's pause, some more words followed that and they sounded vaguely like a question. Though the emphasis was all messed up, not to mention that it was lacking the familiar sign's, the military officer's sharp ears could easily detect small differences that could give her hints on the nature of certain sentences. It was a skill that came with the territory she served in, however, that did not mean she could tell what she had been asked until Jade opened her strange clothes to reveal a sight that made Ríváné gasp.

How the hell had this alien woman been wearing that thing? It had completely pressed itself into her! That must have been really painful, furthermore, it was probably very dangerous. Ríváné would not have been surprised if Jade had somehow broken her ribs, so she muttered an apology, then she slowly reached out for her guest to check the indentures in her flesh. Fortunately, it seemed that they were not particularly deep, which was a relief to the songweaver as she was sure that High Command would inevitably punish her if she somehow got this strange human injured or intentionally harmed Jade in any way. Even if she was not a citizen of Civitatem Lucis, she still belonged to their species.

"Íjvé, Jade," said Ríváné as she grabbed the strange thing besides the plate, which promptly shifted itself into a fork for her to scoop up a few of the strange-coloured berries, then when she moved it above the meat-like thing, it transformed into a knife. It was clearly some sort of universal utensil that would leave at least one of her hands free so she could use it for gestures. That was particularly important in a case like this, because it was the only way she could draw things for Jade or point out objects. So after Ríváné had scooped up another order of berries into her mouth, she smiled at her guest to show that it was there for her to eat.

It was a fake, forced smile. But hopefully, it would work and then majbe, Ríváné could get to actually figuring stuff out.
 
The small, endowed woman blushed as Ríváné inspected the marks left from her jacket, then watched as her name was called. 'Íjvé' seemed to be a verb-based order, based on her actions. Either 'look' or eat. She nodded slowly, then repeated the word and mimed eating, "Eat?", then repeated it again and drew a line from her eye, "Look?"—the best she could do to mime 'eat' or 'look'.

Meanwhile, she took one of the utensils and hovered it over various foods to see for herself. When it shifted, her eyes lit, and she looked up to see a very forced smile from Ríváné.

Absently, she wondered if her host was not pleased to see her.

Had she done something? She frowned slightly, then looked down, to notice the lines on her chest from her jacket.

Ríváné seemed concerned about that, though. Absently, she wondered what kind of situation she was in, but decided against asking.

The language barrier was too strong, still.
 
So far, so good, even if Ríváné was not very pleased by the situation. But when Jade mimed eating, her expression turned just a little bit more genuine as she memorised the sounds she made, knowing that it would be one of the most basic things she would need to know in order to keep things civil between them. After all one could not operate on an empty stomach properly, not to mention that deliberate malnutrition was one of the most inhumane things that she could think of. And she Ríváné was instructed to keep this strange human healthy, clean and above all, learning their language so that they may find out more about where she came from.

"Eat!" said Ríváné as she took another forkful of the strange berries. Apparently, she really liked them because she favoured them over the rest of her dish and if Jade would get a taste of them, she would find them surprisingly juicy, not to mention the mixture of flavours they contained. Ranging from sour through bitter to sweet, they harmonised surprisingly well, especially if she followed what Ríváné was doing to take a bite of the pasta. Though very plain in itself, it served to emphasize the strange, but alluring mixture of the berries.

Come to think of it, Ríváné had not brought them a drink, but unless Jade was really thirsty, she would not need it. The little berries were juicy enough to wash her throat down while she ate. And if she found the courage to try the rest of the dish, she would find that even if the food looked completely alien, it tasted just as good as food at home, if it was a little bit exotic because of the strange mix of different flavours they had, a constant theme that would occur with every different food save for the pasta. It seemd that this place had a tradition of spicing most things so that it mixed at least two tastes in a way that it was easy to tell them apart.