A puppet among researchers

Nahida

Wanderer didn't come home.

She was hoping he would.

She would never say it, but she missed him when he was doing the project.

He's barely at the sanctuary anymore.

But she understands that this is good for him. Making friends and hopefully moving on was all she cou hope for. Even though it would take him away from her.

She waited all night for him intel she figured he wasn't coming back.

It wasn't until the next day that he showed up.

She didn't even recognize him at first.

She hadn't realized how much an outfit could change what a person looked like.

It also didn't help that he walked through the front door. Where he usually would enter from a window.

It wasn't until he said, "Not. One. Word." That she had released it was him.

She looked him up and down.

He was wearing the thing he swore he would never wear. An Akademiya issued uniform.

It was the right size, except she could tell it wasn't his. It looked older. Like it hadn't been used in years.

"I didn't say anything." Nahida said.

Wanderer glared at her.

Clearly something happened. But Nahida knew he wouldn't answer.

So instead of asking questions that will not get answered, she decided that she's gonna mess with him until he gives her the answers.

"I told you that you would look great in an akademik uniform." She said,

Wanderer rolled his eyes, "if you must know, my shirt is torn. I'm only borrowing this for the day."

Well apparently he knows her better than she thought.

"How did it tear?" She asked.

Wanderer just crossed his arms.

Nahida sighed and tried reading his mind.

Unfortunately he knew she would do that. So all she got was a 'nice try buer!'

"Can you just talk to me?" She asked.

"No! How about you ask Irminsul!" Wanderer said spitefully.

Whatever happened must have been bad.

"Maybe I will." Nahida said.

"Fine by me!" Wanderer said as he went to his bed.

Nahida knew he would need space.

So she saw if Irminsul had answers.

~

she found nothing! More than likely because she doesn't know exactly what she was looking for.

Technically if she knew, she wouldn't be searching in Irminsul at all.

When she was done, she checked in with Wanderer.

Knowing he wouldn't talk to her she checked his mind first.

Surprisingly he wasn't awake.

In his dream,

He was being ripped apart.

'For science' as that monster would say.

The screams were so loud it was unbearable.

So she removed the demon from the dream.

And completely reworked the dream.

After that was done she said, "You know you should be able to do this yourself."

"Or you could just remove them," he said.

Here we go again

"We've talked about this." Nahida stated.

"No, you've talked about this. Why is it that you were able to remove the dreams of all your people for 500 years, yet you are unable to now?" Wanderer asked.

Nahida flitched.

"I did that for a good cause." She said, as calmly as possible.

"And ending some of my suffering isn't?" Wanderer asked.

"I've already said No! It's not worth it! Besides, you need to face your past sooner or later." Nahida said, putting her foot down.

"Fine!" Wanderer said clearly madder than he was earlier.

Wanderer woke

So she got kicked out of his dream.

She tried to talk to him but he just took the uniform that he borrowed, made sure his stitches on his actual clothes were not visible, then left without a word.

He will probably not visit her again for a while.