Her head felt like it might split open, as if something had suddenly crammed itself into a space far too small for it and was spilling out her ears and slicing through her forehead in an attempt to escape. Never before had she felt pain like this, an agony undulled by the roots threaded through her body. Letters, symbols, voices, concepts — all wound into a single essence known as a menu, and she buckled beneath its weight as she tried in vain to comprehend.

It remained before her even as her eyes squeezed shut, lingering there in her mind, and curling in on herself, Sláine groaned and pressed her palms against her forehead as if that would somehow keep it from bursting.

She hadn’t accounted for what it truly meant to view something — to behold, whether she was ready for it or not.

“Wha — Sláine!”

She felt a weight press against her shoulders, leather-clad fingers settling over her skin and an arm supporting her back. The bit of her that could still think clearly noticed that Red couldn’t have crossed the distance between them in that amount of time just by running, and no noise had marked the woman’s movement.

Beyond that feeble thought, all she could process were fragments of sensation. The way the hand tightened on her, the brush of cotton against skin that felt too hot. A voice cutting through the pain, tone smoothed into soothing worry before it snapped in tightly wound agitation.

"Easy now, easy, you’ll be okay, just tell me what happen— wait, Aria, you did what? Are you nuts?!"

The sound pierced her eardrums, and Sláine bit down on her lip to restrain a pathetically miserable whine.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Red soothed, softening out the edges of her voice into something less biting. Sláine wanted to snap that yes, everything was okay, and Red should just mind her own business for a few minutes while she tried to handle it, but her current predicament left her without the wherewithal to protest. This break in her stoicism… she hated this shame, but even more, she hated being seen as someone who couldn’t do something. Someone who was weak.

But the greater shame would be refusing instruction due to her own arrogance, so she forced herself to grate out, “What should I do?”

Silence settled between them, and after considering her words, Red attempted to guide her through the experience. “Before, I told you to think about it like they’re drawers. Try that now; put everything that isn’t familiar away into a drawer. You don’t need it right now. Let it fade into the background.”

Nausea flooded through her, and she couldn't tell if Red's continuous stream of advice and the hands squeezing her shoulder helped ground her or just sent her hurtling farther into awful whirlwind of vertigo.

She did, however, manage to corral the thrumming influx of information, sorting through it gradually and filing it away in her mental cabinet. Or, perhaps it was more like groping around in the dark for the edges of the drawers she needed to close? Because certain concepts were... associated with each other, groupings she could pull forth or push away but couldn't simply separate out, because they were too intrinsically linked.

"Dammit," Sláine heard Red murmur as she watched her slowly work through it all. "Should have brought a [ Mind ] potion. Idiot."

She didn't really have the focus to figure out who that sharply spat insult was directed towards.

Gradually the throbbing subsided, the buzzing ache heating up her temple and burning in her teeth settling into a more even rhythm. As she let out a shuddering breath, Sláine found that she could make better sense of the menu filling up her head.

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[ SP — 12 ]

[ Berserker ] [ 6 ]

■ [ Reckless Spin LV1 ] [ A ] [ 25AP ] [ Damage all enemies in a circular radius around you by throwing caution to the wind and spinning very fast. It really works, trust us! Chance to inflict Bleed status effect. ] [ LV2 — 2SP ] [ Increases damage, bleed chance, and bleed duration. ]

[ Athletics ] [ 3 ]

[ Axe ] [ 5 ]

[ Poison Resist ] [ 4 ]

[ System Use ] [ 5 ]

[ Dodge ] [ 3 ]

[ Perceive Threat ] [ 3 ]

"I can..." Sláine croaked, having to trail off before she could properly find her voice. "See the list of skills I've acquired, I think. There's so much more beyond that though, I — agh."

Sláine dug her nails into her skin, trying to replace this otherworldly, roiling thunder with the concrete familiarity of physical pain. She heard a small shift, and the hands on her shoulders instead moved to clasp her wrists. "Deep breaths," Red murmured as she pulled Sláine's fingers away from her face. "You're doing great. Just hold that there until you're ready."

"I don't need to be treated like a mewling child!" Sláine snapped, trying to wrench her arms away and stand but finding herself swept away by a horrifyingly lightheaded dizziness. Red caught her before she fell -- well, of a sort. It was more like Red surged up to support her just enough that she didn't completely topple over, but rather than gently easing her to the ground, they fwumped down together in an inelegant tangle of limbs.

Sláine knew she had to push herself up, but it was like all the strength had abandoned her, and left unchecked the drawers she'd closed had once more begun to open. If she let that happen, she didn't know if she could keep conscious, so she simply lay there, her face pressed against Red's body and her arms draped haphazardly over her.

Dully, Sláine realized she could hear the woman breathe. No, feel her breathe, the rise and fall of her chest supporting her cheek. It was warm too, strangely so, even through Red’s clothes she felt an all-encompassing heat. It was different then the overwhelming, buzzing fever of earlier; it was cozy. Serene. Like being wrapped up in a warm cocoon or hiding beneath a heavy blanket.

Not that she'd thought about it, but she'd just sort of assumed Red would be all sharp angles and jutting bones, but she was actually quite soft...

[https://i.imgur.com/sF6Tg3V.jpg]

It was strange, though. Why had she gone so very still? The passage of time resounded in the thumping of Red’s heart; Sláine could tell that much. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t been pushed off yet, and again, the knowledge that she must push herself up scratched at the back of her mind.

…But she was so tired.

The pain didn’t feel as bad like this.

And oddly enough, a sensation tingled against the back of her head, a hand resting there that lightly stroked her hair. How long had it been since anyone had done that, she wondered? By the end, even Ailís didn’t touch her anymore —

No, Sláine told herself, muscles freezing and breath stopping as she slammed an iron gate between herself and those thoughts. That’s not something you think about anymore.

“…Sláine?” She heard above her, something faltering in Red’s tone like the unsteady tread of a fawn. “Are, uh, are you going to get off me, or — “

That snapped her back to reality, and the intrusive memory leaving her cold and sharp, she forced steel into her limbs and iron into her heart.

“Yes,” Sláine grumbled, pressing her palms against the concrete floor and raising herself with arms that she forced not to tremble. Trying to collect herself, she experimentally creaked open her eyes.

She found herself staring at Red’s chest. Had her face just been there? And hey, wait a second —

“Were you just stroking my — “

“So,” Red interrupted, her voice going taut as a wire. “If you're done acting like some dark-be-damned drider about all this, how about you stop being pissy and let me help you out so we can both move on with our lives, yeah?"

“Er, uh. Um. Yes. Ah, certainly.”

"Up you go," Red derailed any possible trains of thought with the force of a battering ram, helping Sláine back into a seated position and holding her there with a grip that was, perhaps, much firmer than necessary. " Let’s try that again. Close your eyes and keep your breathing even. Tell me what you see."

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