Ruby Nakamura [RP]

It had been a formative experience, her thoughts on what was done to her body mattering even when she had no power to stop it from happening.

She thought back to how Shadow had done similar for her... Making sure she was okay with what he did before he helped when he'd just found her, though she'd been powerless to stop him it still *mattered* to him that she agreed to the care.

"It may hurt a little - there are bone shards in the wound - but it's important to stop the bleeding, first. May I continue?"

After instinctively reaching out with her mind and invading this being's privacy, dream or not the least she could do was get consent to care.

She made her way to it and looked at the wound, examining it closely... The bone shards could pose a problem to healing, she decided. But the bleeding was a bigger issue. She looked up to her strange companion and spoke.

"I'm going to place my bandanna on the wound to stop the bleeding.

She chased away that thought - if it had meaning, then it could be discerned later. For now, she looked up at the being that towered over her even while on the ground and hoped, prayed even that it would allow her to help... And when it nodded, she relaxed.

For her part, while she could not retreat fully, she tried to 'look away' from its feelings, catching things only as if out of the corner of her mind's eye. She wasn't insulted by what little got through... Though, she remarked internally, she couldn't recall this sort of experience in a dream past.

((I mean if you had anything major it might not have happened by now. I know of several people who had month-plus migraines who had serious stuff happen near the end. But, if the migraine goes away and isn't literally constant then that should be fine. I'll still be hoping it stays away soon!))

What Is Status Migrainosus? Does your migraine seem to never end? It could be a type of migraine known as status migrainosus. Learn about why this happens.

((Hey, I like, don't want to be Nosy, but, you may want to read this to see if it holds with things? my.clevelandclinic.org/health/disea...

Migraines that last over 3 days are super not a joke.))

((I'll be rooting you both on! It's a terrible shock no doubt, but I'm glad to hear she's strong. That can help the process a lot! Or so I believe.))

((Oh my god. I'm so sorry. That's always so hard. My mom had it twice, and it eventually took her. I will be hoping things go different for your step mom, and that she has as healthy and quick a recovery as possible! Please remember to take care of yourself in the coming time, too.))

No phone, no first aid kit, but a bandanna on her head not unlike the one that Ariel had given her while they worked on tending the skiddo at her farm. It was a more muted red, but it was clean, and she took it from its place.

"May I come closer?"

Oh, how anxious this makes her. "I'm sorry, if I've hurt you. I'll try not to do it again... But, please, let me stop your bleeding. You could die otherwise. It's always terrible when someone dies needlessly."

Dream logic told her she had something on her to help...

It's not perfect, but at least it's more like being vaguely aware another person is in the next room over than it is blistering and bright.

She stutters forward. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that would be a problem. I-I'm trying to close the link, but I've never needed to before. So..."

But you don't need to understand something to respect it, to respect that this stranger does not appreciate her presence in its mind, so she tries to keep herself as distant as she can, as the link doesn't completely close - she needs more practice, more skill.

This was not something she was used to. She'd had surprise, sometimes even outright shock, but nothing so... Vehement. At first she's herself startled, but once she's recovered herself, she tries to pull back, to close the link...

She's never had to do that before.

She doesn't understand.

((Thank you! Admittedly, it's mostly the physical health holding me back! But spending some time with one of my besties does help the mental health, too :3 For me they're a safe person, so I can experience the social interaction my brain needs with minimal anxiety about messing up.))

((Thank you! It's slowly getting there over time!))

As for what the vessel would sense coming from her... Well, it would at least be capable of recognising that these feelings came from outside itself - for they would feel wholly *like* someone else, as if coming from the *direction* of this small bug.

"Please, let me try to help you."

Sure, it was a dream... But it being a dream meant that she could afford whatever it took to help. The limits of reality did not hold her back, the need to run from that which might threaten her.

She sent out the desire to help, a gentle concern full of the sense of how young this girl was. She sent out a calming haze, she could do it no real harm, but she was used to helping those who were injured. She sent out a small plea in emotion and voice alike:

She wanted to help, she realised, even before registering it had come crashing down. She didn't run because she wanted to *help*.

So, once it fell, she finally sent out her own feelings, not content to simply observe, to simply not contribute to this dialogue.

Surprise and no real way out of the situation kept her in one place as it got closer... But even as it became clear it felt it must take her life, she didn't move to run (it was a dream, after all). She instead took a step forward, hands held up... Just in time for it to collapse before her.

She senses how it feels as though this is the only reasonable option... How it needs to continue on.

And she senses how this mind, though stunted in some ways, is far, far to complex to be a normal animal, to be like the very clearly not sapient beings she'd connected with while here...

And upon seeing it at first, she sent the connection - as she always did when seeing a living thing that is not human, when becoming vaguely aware of another mind that she could interact with...

She senses how as it approaches it doesn't *desire* to harm her, but it feels it must.

((Sticking to just a thread with one of my besties for now. I've got a BUNCH of stuff to write to be up to date with Ruby's everything, so I'm not ready to post properly on her just yet. Sorry for anyone waiting! I'm doing what I can to juggle health stuff.))

A Hollow-Knight universe compliant design for ruby. A bug with a soft red and dull pink and tan design, with a soft red bandanna to match the back of her shell, and soft fluffy antennae to match the soft ruff of fluff around her neck. She has no mask, and big, glittery grey eyes.

So, with far less care than she'd have taken had she realised this dream was *quite* a bit more real than most, the little for-now-bug girl made her way along the path of blood, wondering what would be waiting on the other side of the path...

The splatters suggested to her it was probably some sort of bodily fluid - though, if she were to be honest, she wouldn't have come to that conclusion had there not been a ginormous creature laying there, clearly killed, with its own fluids and the signs of struggle.

She decided that her goal for this little exploratory sleep phase would be to find what had felled the large (no, *giant*) creature, and it didn't take her long to find signs of something else passing through.

A path of some sort of slick, black liquid, which, oddly, seemed tinged with orange.

So with that she climbed her way down, sliding a little the last bit, and made her way inward.

What she'd at first mistaken for a large bush seemed to be some sort of large creature, still warm, but very much dead. The first sign of *real* danger here... But, it was a dream, so it would be fine.

And then she saw it. In an open area, what seemed like an important place, with stone structures suggesting it was once a building, or perhaps something similar with no roof despite the lovely walls surrounding it. She couldn't help herself, she needed to see more.