<div class="floatleft">(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/7f/36/ab/7f36ab980d4c3cee5e4de335571c10b5.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Name:</strong> Elena Charlie Vandel (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=250173.msg12381845#msg12381845) - Clone #2, aka, Nicole.<br/><strong>City | Date | Time:</strong> Lulekani Township near Phalaborwa, South Africa | March 17 2015 | 6:30 PM<br/><strong>Tagging | Mentioning:</strong> Julie, Closed.<br/><strong>Content:</strong> Shower -&gt; Julie's Quarters</span><br/><hr/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: times new roman;"><br/><br/>Nicole would have felt lucky, and loved, had she not known that she was cheating to earn this animal's affection - as well as obedience. Never before had this young thing probably experienced something as unique as being understood across species, and not only that, but to have such a supernaturally strong bond out of the blue. It was likely a band-aid for the loss of the young thing's mother, and as Nicole fed the animal, that's what it felt like. Though Elena didn't <em>feed</em> her duplicates, persay, she could relate to that motherly feeling a lot. She felt it with humans, animals, her duplicates, and even the flowers that seemed to sing her name in their off - time. Neither Elena nor Nicole could allow any <em>Wows</em> or compliments to go their head, because without their gifts, there likely would have been no closer example to <em>normal</em> than normal, plain ole' Elena. Fortunately for her, things had gotten spiced up, and left her in an interesting, complicated position. <br/><br/>It was all enough to almost make her feel guilty keeping it a secret. Almost. Which was saying a lot, considering they'd just met, and they hardly knew one another. But Nicole and Elena both believed inexplicable things happened at the most wonderful of times. Even meeting Jason had been a miraculous, instantly recognizable twist of good fate. There'd been no doubt, or fear, and Nicole was feeling it for the first time on her own. Suddenly, dim light case a low dome, and Julie was reinforcing her belief this was <em>all a good fit.</em> Nicole giggled, the sound melding in with the feeding rhino's sounds, and the joyous string of sound ended in a happy sounding little sigh. "I had a feeling I'd like it here, too," came her response, though she expected no response back. <br/><br/>The funny part, too, was that she wasn't entirely sure it was because of the animals, or even just the experience of it all, which was her normal excuse for extreme wanderlust. Then came some rather wonderful silence, and while Nicole had absolutely no idea how Julie was feeling, it was evident Nicole was happy. Her hands full, eyes resting on Khara though never afraid to slide sideways to steal a glance at Julie, who was quite close but not oh-so-close. Nicole didn't even know what to say; didn't know if she should talk, as it could ruin the moment, even though she wanted to. <br/><br/>Julie solved the conundrum with one teasing sentence, and it honestly made Nicole laugh heartily. The inside, added hilariousness due to aforementioned powers and how they didn't much at all work on humans outside of Nicole's normal attempts at charm, with, or whatever. After laughing a fair amount, eyes on Julie when they were open - she finally calmed and cleared her throat, head shaking. "God no, I've no idea why children love me," she laughed a bit more. "Animals.. I guess I just have a certain charm that works on them and not much else." That explanation made her grin lopsidedly, because it was just ridiculous. It made no sense, but did, especially when Nicole turned Khara into the perfect example of affection and obedience when they were saying their good-byes, including lots of snuggles and kissies for Julie as well as Nicole, and no fighting to get the baby back in its' home, either.<br/><br/>The cries tore Nicole up on the walk away, though. She knew the intensified pain of loneliness was her fault, and she suddenly felt rather responsible. So much so that, even if she'd hated it here, she would have stayed to make the impact of her absence less awful on the creature. "Hardly," Nicole had replied to Julie's sentiment of being replaced. Sincere or not, the idle comment added to her slowly growing pile of guilt over her secrecy. Then they'd began to head back through the pitch blackness, which was difficult for Nicole without following directly behind Julie and her torch. That turned out to be as easy as it'd been on the way out, and before long they were back over near the huts, and Julie was motioning to a particular one. It was <em>hers</em>, and she was invited. That made Nicole smile sweetly even as Julie looked a little apprehensive or shy about offering. "I would prefer that too," she answered in a hilariously nonchalant sort of way, like <em>duh, I'd much rather sleep with you than alone over somewhere else.</em><br/><br/>Julie wouldn't know that just yet, but it was true. <br/><br/>Then came more silence as Julie led her over to what appeared to be a shower area, some small conversation offered once they'd arrived. "I'm quite flexible," she teased in response to Julie's question, and as Julie inadvertently called her <em>stinky</em>, Nicole found herself bringing a hand to her mouth in mock - gasp, eyes narrowing as Julie explained it all away and fled. As soon as her friend had disappeared, Nicole chuckled, shaking her head and following none too far behind her. It took all of like six seconds for Nicole to settle in to the stall across from Julie, and with her back turned to the woman, she began to strip as she spoke. "I don't think you stink," came her admittance, a soft snicker following it, "but si, we both could use a shower."<br/><br/>By the time Julie came to talk about lavender soap, Nicole had stripped completely too, and neatly piled her clothes none too far from her stall. This meant that - yes - she did leave the stall naked for just the briefest of moments to gather her things, and, on the way, Julie's things found themselves gathered with hers, as well. Panties and all. Now that they were both beneath the water, Nicole found herself enjoying the shower despite its' inadequacies, and she was more than happy to indulge in conversation. "I love lavender, but jasmine is maybe my favorite." She let out a little sigh, and grinned. "I love those giant bath tubs. You know, the ones that make you feel kind of guilty about filling them up." And then she laughed, shrugging. "I also like lots of bubbles, and no mosquitoes, definitely. I could do without those."<br/><br/>In all truth, Elena didn't much mind. The bugs didn't affect her too much with the whole quickly-recovering thing. They mostly itched until she went to bed, and then most would fade only for more to be given. It was a vicious cycle that she imagined would be worse if the little bites stayed longer than they did. Instead, she found herself privileged in about a million ways Julie had no idea of, and that was mostly all she could focus on in the shower as they spoke of things of this nature. That, and what was going to happen once they got back to Julie's hut. "How long have you been here in Africa?" She finally asked, about the time she'd turned around, her head tilted back and eyes closed as she allowed the lukewarm water to run over her face, hair, and back. She was nearing being done by the time Julie had answered, so she found herself turning the water off and moving to get dried off. Which wasn't too much a hassle - of course Julie helped her - which made Nicole laugh. "Leave it to me to be to get so excited that I just forget all the necessities in my bag," she commented humorously, as she dried off her hair and really didn't make too much of a fuss about being naked around Julie. She was embarrassed a little, sure, but this wasn't ideal conditions and the light pink that clung to her cheeks without relent was plenty sign of her smidgen of shyness without it being commented on.<br/><br/>But, because Nicole had to mentally comment on it, Julie was quite attractive, from the glances she'd stolen like some silly curious schoolgirl. Mostly she'd been good, though, and not looked too much or lingered long at all. Just glimpses, she'd swear, if required to do so.<br/><br/>Nicole fell quiet as she got dressed, her body still just a touch damp, her full intentions being to change into pajamas just as soon as they'd arrived back to Julie's. That brought about an interesting question for her, though, and so once the pair were dressed - and on their way to the hut - she asked: "Do you think my bags made it to your place?" Of course, in all truth, Nicole would've found out soon. But.. it felt nice talking to Julie, so she'd asked, and..<br/><br/>If not, it wasn't a big deal. Nicole would manage. Only about a third of the way there, Nicole found herself thankful the hut wasn't too far. Not so much for Nicole's sake - truly, she felt pretty full of energy, but that was normal - but because she was excited to plop down with Julie and do more talking like they had all day. That made her feel weird, like... <em>am I talking too much?</em> but she also noticed Julie was often the one to start a conversation, so it relieved some worries of being a chatterbox. That wasn't the only thing on her mind as they crossed the threshold into Julie's quarters, either. As soon as she saw two beds - with the bare minimums - she inwardly sort of groaned. She'd slept alone the entire time in the village, and it'd not been the greatest. Nicole was very much so a cuddler, so going even longer without some of <em>that</em> was annoying, and she cursed herself for not bringing a stuffed animal or a pillow or something extra. Inside, Nicole instantly made herself at home as Julie spoke of which bed was which, and she also walked about the space, familiarizing herself with it once the lights were on. She didn't want to stumble too much in the night, so she felt it necessary! During a lull in speech, Nicole plopped her butt on a bed - specifically <em>Julie's</em> bed, and leaned back on her palms, which rested on the bed as well. From that position, she sort of just gazed at up - and over - at Julie, looking as if she were in thought but also happy to be looking where she was. Then came a very important question, as her toes pulled the socks off her feet and nimbly tossed them back over to the... <em>other</em> bed. "How early do we have to get up?" came her inquiry, and then she grinned. "I have to know so I don't keep you up too late. Don't want to tire you out on the first day."<br/><br/>That grin turned into a teasing, devious smile, and Nicole found herself wanting to strip down so she could crawl under the covers and not move for a considerable amount of time. It was hard to resist, but also necessary.</span></span>