Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Building bridges

            False was taken out of the flashback by the arrival of Jimena and the beeswax. The tinkerer winced; she had been so close! To what, she wasn't entirely sure. But she knew that the other lady that she'd seen signified something significant, and that she needed to see what she did. Now that False thought about it, she'd seen her in her dreams too.

           But for some reason, her memories were playing tricks on her; she couldn't pinpoint what she looked like or who she was, or even most of what she was doing in the flashback. All False could remember was that there was fire, and a strange lady that was very important. But Jimena had come back from Dawn, seen the mechanic staring at the flames again, and had shaken her shoulders and made her come to. 

           "False? What are you doing?" Jimena asked. False shook her hands off of her shoulders. They felt very uncomfortable there. "Nothing," False said, stamping out the bonfire with her boot. Jimena narrowed her eyes in skepticism. "False, you're lying to me. You know I can tell you're lying, can't you?" False stepped backward, annoyed.

           "Well, what I do with fire is none of your business," She snapped. She needed to get back to those memories. Jimena's just like me. Doesn't she get how much I want to remember?! Then False caught herself. She hadn't told Jimena why she was staring at the flames, so she couldn't expect the girl to understand. 

           "Sorry," False said. She looked down at the ashes where the bonfire had been. "You know what happened at the bridge? The sight of the fire... it triggered a memory. One I lost when I woke up here." Jimena looked at her oddly. "So I tried looking at fire again, and I got another memory. Sorry if I got mad at you for taking me out of it. You kind of interrupted me in the worst possible moment, I think." "Oh," Jimena said softly. She looked like she wasn't mad at False anymore. "I get it. Okay, I won't disturb you the next time you try that, unless you're about to get singed." 

           She paused, and then asked, "Why did you lie?" False opened her mouth and then shut it again. She wasn't sure why she'd done that. That's strange... "I... don't know?" False tried. A flicker of something odd flashed in Jimena's eyes for a second. "I really don't know!" False started. She didn't want Jimena to get mad at her again.

           "I'm not mad," Jimena said quickly, noting the conflicting expressions on False's face. "I've got se-" And then, the girl seemed to realize that she'd said too much. Jimena immediately clammed up, looking extremely uncomfortable, like she wanted to say more but couldn't. 

           Was she about to say, 'I've got secrets too'? False wondered. And why can't she tell that to me? "Jimena? Are you okay?" "Yes," Jimena replied forcibly. False was startled. It was Jimena's voice, but it didn't... sound like her. But that's silly, False told herself. She sounds normal. What do you mean, she sounds different? But False couldn't shake the feeling that there was something very, very wrong going on here. 

           The two of them just looked at each other in tense silence for a few minutes; neither of them knowing what to say to the other. Then Jimena broke the ice. "Do you think I'll remember things if I look into fire too?" She asked. False thought for a second. She didn't really think so; with the fact that looking at fire triggered memories of fire, the empress assumed that it had just happened for her because she had important memories about fire. So she doubted that Jimena would see anything because of the flames, unless she had important memories about fire too. But the girl was just standing there with such a sad, hopeful expression that False couldn't say 'no'. 

           "Maybe," She said instead. She took her flint and steel out, grabbed some fresh sticks, and relit the bonfire. Then False stepped back and looked away. If both of them zoned out, engrossed in the flames, there wouldn't be anyone to warn them when the fire creeped too close to them. So False looked at Jimena, instead of the bonfire.