Solo Log: Proposal

**Mid-fall, 501 AOV**

To give credit where it is due, the mechanical body is truly a masterpiece. Xambria has never had much grasp of technology, has always struggled to understand the intricacies. But *this*...it's remarkable. Cleone and Tinker have made her something incredible, and though the fleeting thought had crossed her mind when she had the opportunity, she can't turn down such a gift.

Every detail is immaculate. The articulation of the joints of the fingers, the fine movement of the artificial musculature of the face, the wig hair woven meticulously into the scalp as realistic as her own, the coating over the metal that feels similar to skin--the two engineers remembered everything she and Hoya had mentioned, even throwaway ideas, up to the smallest details. Cleone had even jokingly pointed out the elastic-like material beneath the skin. "Squishy," she'd said with a laugh, pressing against the dermal covering to reveal a surprising amount of give, "as requested."

There now remains the small problem of moving. A problem which she can tell is beginning to drive her host mad, if the way she's pacing loops in the small apartment is any indication.

*I trust you.*

"Well, you *shouldn't!* What if something goes wrong?"

*Nothing is going to go wrong.*

"*So many things* could go wrong! I could-- what if--" Hoya stops briefly, long enough to hide her face in her hands, "I haven't even tried the spell once."

It's so hard to be comforting when she's affected by the same adrenaline driving Hoya's nerves. *You've studied that spell from every angle. You can't possibly learn any more about it because there's nothing else to learn. Now it's...just time to* try.

Hoya shakes her head, and she can feel the prickling of tears in her borrowed eyes. "I'm scared, Xi."

She waits, a long thirty seconds, before she answers. *I am, too.*

The gnome is about to argue when Xi presses on: *but you are the only person I'd trust with the task. I believe in you, Hoya.*

"But--"

And if you don't try soon, you're just going to make yourself crazy. And me, too.

The medium scrubs the tears from her eyes and looks back at the mechanical body across the room. It stands out in the mostly ramshackle apartment, surrounded by piles of loose papers and books. Hesitant, she crosses over to the body and settles on the floor in front of it, folding her legs beneath her. Xambria can feel the swell of magic as Hoya closes her eyes, speaking an incantation in Gnome that she doesn't understand, her tone almost lyrical as though she were singing. The movement of her hands, two fingers pinched together on her right hand and pulled up and away from the fist of her left--

...

*"Xambria!"*

She's shaking. She isn't sure why, and the movement is abrupt and dizzying and disorienting, and when she tries to push the hands grabbing her away she remains frozen in place, and she doesn't know why.

"Oh--oh, *no*--" Hoya isn't exactly loud, but something about her tone seems that way now, though most of the following nervous rambling isn't making any sense to her. Something about a web, and Alexander, and a focus, maybe? It's hard to keep track, and she's talking so fast.

When nothing happens, the shaking slows down and eventually stops. A few seconds after the anxious rambling gets quieter and trails off, and then abruptly becomes *sobbing*, and that is what snaps her finally alert. She can feel fingers, and ground beneath her feet, and the warm breeze from the window, and it all assaults her consciousness at once, demanding her attention when she wants to direct it elsewhere.

"Hoya, stop," she hasn't heard her voice--her *voice*--in so long that she doesn't immediately recognize it. Halting and quiet but unquestionably hers and Hoya is still crying and she doesn't understand *why*, so she tries again. "Hoya--"

The crying doesn't stop, and she struggles to find motion in her arms and hands, reaching for her gnome and teetering forward until she can cup both cheeks in her palms and guide her gaze to meet hers. Or maybe, she's leaning, tilting herself closer. It doesn't matter. The end result has her pulling Hoya's forehead to hers, eyes closed, enraptured by every sensation. Soft skin beneath her fingertips, pressure against her face, even the cool wetness of damp eyelashes as the other blinks owlishly at her.

Hoya's voice cracks, a squeak of a noise as she finally comes back to her senses, "it...worked?"

Leaning back just enough to look at her, Xambria smiles dumbly and nods. "It worked."

Hiccupping, the gnome lets out a manic little laugh, and soon the archaeologist joins in, and then they're two women choking on tears and giggles and such overwhelming relief that neither can form anything resembling coherent speech. Hoya scrubs at her eyes, hands trembling, and inches closer.

"Y-you--" she chokes on something that's half-sob and half-laugh, sagging where she sits, "it's b-been-- it t-took--"

Speaking is hard, and not just from the overwhelmed and slightly hysterical laughter. It takes conscious thought to find her words, to connect them to whatever mechanical marvel it is that allows her to speak them out loud. "Take your time."

The medium hesitates for another second, taking the time Xambria had suggested--

--and then all but t*hrows* herself at her, so sudden and with such enthusiasm that though Xambria's mechanical body is twice her size and sturdily built, Hoya still brings them both to the ground. She clings to her as if she might never see her again, her tiny arms wrapped as tightly as she can manage around her torso.

*And she should be soft. Squishy….People have to be squishy. Nobody really wants to hug pointy metal.*

"--you were j-just sitting there, f-for ages--"

*We--well, y-yeah. We share. But, um...well, I asked C-Cleone for help before too. It's--Xi--she's been really nice about everything, b-but sharing--*

She decides it's nice to be held, even if she's currently pinned between a hysterical gnome and the floor. Even if the hands gripping the fabric of her shirt are holding so tightly they may permanently damage the fabric.

*I think we have questions about how it works. We...work together, I guess? It's--well, usually we agree if Xi is going to t-take over.*

"It-- it was f-for so long I almost th-thought," a hiccuping sob interrupts her, so clearly distraught, shivering as she clings to her, "--m-maybe I did it w-wrong, and you w-were… maybe you w-were--"

I've lost almost everyone already. I can't lose you too.

Xi wraps her arms, finally, around the tiny body clinging to her. Gentle, she runs one hand through the messy curls that cascade off her gnome's shoulders, relishing the feel of soft hair against her fingertips. The warmth from the hug, and the comfortable intimacy, and she realizes she had never been more correct in the entirety of her life than she had been when she told Hoya that she could not lose her too.

"Marry me."

Against her chest, Hoya giggles, still borderline hysterical, and she twines her fingers tighter in her blouse. "D-don't make f-fun--"

Xambria guides herself upright, bracing her back against the wall to keep them both sitting and ensure she doesn’t teeter to the side; manipulating the mechanical marvel is taking far more conscious thought than she’d anticipated and much more than she’d like. Carefully, she pries Hoya’s fingers out of her blouse so she can actually look at her. She hopes that her expression is serious, even though she can’t tell.

“I’m serious.”

Wide blue eyes blink once, and then twice, and then a third time, before she nods enthusiastically and swallows a sob. Without warning, she wriggles free from the hug and kneels in her lap, gingerly wrapping her tiny hands on either side of her face so she can press a small kiss to her forehead. “Love you, Xi.”

It’s Xambria’s turn to laugh, a little bit awkward herself, and though she’s not capable of tears her voice is thick with them anyway when she answers. “Love you too.”