Journal #34: Her thoughts on life. [Text Roleplay]

“Although it was not technically you that asked this, I feel that it is only natural that I ask. I overheard the others briefly mention your wrist after we left the Ivory Maze. Are you okay with this, with that mark around your wrist Celuriel?”
 
"...I don't know?" She sounds very uncertain. "it is almost like being traded from one to another."
 
"At least that mark will be a certain level of protection from this places negative effects. I am not sure we are completely out of the wood just yet." Aniks taps the egg with a slight rhythm as if he was pondering something.
 
Though he can't see it, Celu looks around at the woods, pointedly. "...I can be certain that we are not. why did you take the egg? were strange upgrades, notes from another era, and another stray not enough?"
 
"The question is what else does Tenaerul want besides these odd quests, as for the egg I'm not really sure I placed you in that chair in the treasure room it was the closest thing to us. I'm slightly interested in to see what it is going to be. It's a rather odd color of pink and purple." Aniks stopped tapping on the egg.
"maybe the idiot rat can ask her friends about it. we can see how much debt she can place herself in." Celu boops his arm. "are you glad to be you again?"
 
Aniks inhales deeply at the thought of Pins accumulating fey debt, and now Ashlyn as well. Releasing the held breath which have contended his frustrations "Fey most likely will not say anything unless a bargain is struck." Aniks mutter a curse or two quitely so only she could hear about the group lack of listening skill "Wait, I am no longer a female? I guess I am so use to my body that I had not noticed the change."
 
Celu smirks at the cursing - then promptly frowns when she realises how odd that feels. "...maybe, but she's the type to make silly deals. and yes. see?" She grabs his hand, making it poke his own chest to point out the distinct lack of boobage.
 
" With all the drinks I would not be surprised at all" Aniks was then glad when Celu help confirm that he indeed was back in his original body. "Well as interesting as my chest was for you, I am rather glad that I was not stuck in that form." Then he paused "How... how are you feeling?"
 
She sighed, letting go of his hand. "...indescribable. I could see some of the colour in memories, but... there are so many feelings that were dull before. or not there at all. and breathing is annoying and noisy."
 
A tiny laugh came from the drow "Breathing is natural and eventually you forget your doing it, and even tone it out. I cannot even begin to think of all the feeling you must be experiencing currently. It must be overwhelming."
 
She made a face, content in the knowledge that he couldn't see it. "it's tiring. there's a lot more worry. and.. positive things, I suppose. oh, and my spells are different." A pause. "...more than just my spells, I think."
 
"I would hope that things are different for you now. You're not undead anymore so you can hurt quite easily." Aniks stop, unsure if he wanted to asked a certain question. Though it was a rather simple question, the answer might not be with Celu's new found emotions.
 
"I stabbed my finger to test what it felt like. even pain feels more real. and it didn't heal on its own, which was... weird." Another sigh as she glared at the dagger. "...and blood tastes very different."
 
"Metallic and salty, wait why would you taste it?" Aniks then decided to asked the question on his mind that he had been rolling around inside his head. "Are you okay, I mean you did take a rather painful hit from that Ivory Demon?"
 
She couldn't help the flinch. She probably could have stopped herself from stepping close to him and hugging tight, but... "it has been a long time since that has happened," she murmured, letting him feel her tension through the tight grasp. "and it was far less awful the time before. demonic taint is unpleasant. that empty void is worse. and I thought..." She trailed off, taking a breath. Whether it was a moment of forgetfulness or a hint of emotion wasn't clear. "...that I might be alone when I woke."
 
"Let's hope you never have to see something like that again" With the Elf's arms wrapped around him, he tried to make her at ease with "You do not have to be alone as long as I am here. I was not going to abandon you."
 
"it killed me in barely two swings, Aniks." Was that a hint of upset in her voice? Almost definitely. "my powers were necromantic. there was nothing I could have done if I'd woken up to find you dead other than to raise you as another abomination."
 
How was he meant to respond to that? Celu was clearly upset and he did not what to get her angry by telling her 'it would have been fine' or 'not to worry about it.' Aniks simply embraced her, or attempted to with her hiding behind him. Instead he rest his head on hers. "I know, when I saw you drop I felt rather anger." Anger wasn't technically right, it was probably a bit more alone the lines of hatred for that Ivory Demon. "I can only tell you that we have to look out for each other, otherwise we both might end up dead" He said that quietly.
 
"....technically only, I am dead if you look out for me right now," she said, bemused at his attempt at comfort. "I will need to be more careful when defending you now, won't I... that's annoying. my instincts are all wrong." She sounded slightly annoyed at that fact, though the annoyance seemed to have faded as she spoke up again, delicately moving away from emotional things for her own sake. "how did you end the battle?"
 
"Well as long as this blindfold is on we should be fine." Then Aniks begin retelling Celu how the battle went . He didn't go to much into detail on the succubus and the five cat boys. He hadn't paying it too much mind to begin with. "Then Artemis dealt the final blow to the Ivory Demon. After all was said and down I believe the Demon Lord of the Ivory Maze told us to collect our treasure since we provided a decent amount of entertainment for a moment. I picked you up and brought you to the treasure room grabbing the necklace and placed you in the chair. Minus the finding the egg I waited till you came back."
 
For a time, Celu simply listened to the story, raising both eyebrows at both the empowering and the.. succubus. When he finished, she frowned. "it feels concerning that a demon lord was talking and yet nothing worse happened," she observed. "and... thank you."
 
"We still haven't left this place, anything can happen. It's only a working assumption that it was the demon lord but it's the only logical creature I could think of." Aniks paused trying to remove the mental image of succubus and the cat boys from his mind, It seemed like a scene right of House Umbra and often hard to forget. This might show up in his dream he thought regrettably. Then a thought poked his at his mind. He's gonna dream again since her former vampire powers stopped him from having dream. He was never sure how that one worked but for months he's only had one dream. Wait former powers? With that thought in mind Aniks asked "Are you hungry or tired at all? It's a bit weird to ask you that since it's never really been in this context before."
 
"if it wasn't one, then it was still something more powerful than the rest there. it is still enough to be concerned with. let us hope we can leave soon." She had to think on his question, leaving Aniks in silence for a few moments before finally figuring out an answer. "Ashlyn took away the exhaustion. hunger, I am less sure about. my throat feels strange, but there is none of the weakness and need I felt when 'hungry' as a vetala."
 
"You could just need water if its your throat that feels strange, it could be dry dry. You haven't needed water in years." Aniks paused "If your stomach start rumbling please tell somebody, what Ashlyn did only cure physical exhaustion. Its only a matter of time before your hungry and need something to eat."
Celu made a noise of annoyance at the concept of thirst. "maybe. the lakewater can fix that, then. how long do you think I can avoid having to do... that?" she asked, referring to eating in a tone of displeasure.
 
Hearing the displeasure at the idea of eating, "Eating is not that bad, it probably taste better than memories. As for how long, its possible you won't need to eat for anywhere from a couple of hours to half a day."
 
"memories were interesting. they let me see true colour. your food seems boring and the three things I have tasted have left me concerned for what it will be like." She frowned. "...that is too often."
 
"Three? What have you eaten?" Then with a smirk "well then we'll have to find you something that you like to eat."
 
"Those of course are not going to taste good, they are not meant for drinking and eating. Now thinking about it I do not think we should eat or drink anything in Tenaerul. If your throat and stomach start hurting I believe the others have supplies, Ashlyn always has honey and apples on her. Cyne maybe?" The blinded dark elf paused thinking of some of the food he's tried over the past hundred or so years. "I've always enjoyed fruit, like apples and oranges. However I find myself enjoying omelets during breakfast a bit more, when I'm not cooking pancakes and waffles for everybody."
 
"the paladin is unobservant. it wouldn't be hard to take food from her," Celu mused. "you're making me all three of those breakfast foods when you can see. there must be a reason behind their obsession."
 
"You could just ask, she's rather friendly as you've seen." Aniks smile at the simple idea of cooking for her "There obsession with pancakes is borderline addictive in nature. Perhaps I'll pick up a cook book so I'm not cooking the same thing over and over for you."
 
Celu affixed him with a pointed stare, not that he could see it. "Asking for things is what the weak do," she said, pitching her voice lower - imitating someone else. "Those who matter simply take what they want." She dropped the tone, continuing on as if that had been normal. "there are books for that? then I can learn, too."
 
His brow furrowed for only a second at the tone at her voice, placing a mental pin in his mind. "Celu..." He dragged out her name, but half way through he started to laugh. The last statement caught him off guard so much. He smiled as he said "Of course there are books for cooking! Although I want to know why you want learn this?"
 
Secure in the knowledge that he couldn't see, she let herself smile at the laughter. It hadn't been expected, but... it felt nice? "I am not a child who will always need to be waited on. and--" She hesitated, far less sure of her next words. "...it's faint. most of those memories are-- lost. but I think I was the one who did that before. my sister would not have. and my mother wouldn't have been able to."
 
"I am not saying your a child, it just caught me off guard that's all." Aniks said then thought better to joke at this moment "You've lived a long life, I'm honestly surprised if you could remember everything."
 
"a long and very boring life," Celu corrected. "your group's arrival was the most entertaining thing in centuries. the mind-numbing dullness likely didn't help with retaining living memory. nor did the occasional visit from-- her." It was odd being so open about Ludrissiel for once. It felt strange to do. "is cooking... entertaining?"
 
"Cooking, depending on the day really. If I am cooking for them on occasion is it entertaining since I have somebody to speak to. I find a bit a peace while cooking alone though it's often for myself. My favorite part is the smells, its great and brings me a bit of pleasure." Aniks deeply sighed now wanting to something to eat. He wasn't hungry but he could eat something.
 
"...you like the smell of smoke?" Celu asked in slight disbelief, loosening her hug to step back and examine him for any signs of head injury. "nothing any of you made smelled vaguely appealing before."
 
"Depends on what I am cooking with, Smoke smells differently depending on what you burn. Charcoal and oak wood smell different when burned, and mostly no I do not like the smell of fire." Aniks pondered what she was doing, the blindfold kept him from looking. However since they were so close to each other he could easily feel when she moved. Mentally sighing he understood that he's probably going to bed with this on. "Maybe now that your alive, the smell might catch your attention."
 
She made a face, unimpressed with that particular notion. "that sounds like it's going to cause headaches-- oh. I have to deal with mortal versions of those now, don't I."
 
Mortal vision, that was a odd way of thinking about it. Then again the colors she could see dulled from what she had told him Aniks had to remind himself. "Every once in a while yes it does. As for the the answer, it comes without saying that you have to deal with all the senses now"
 
She huffed in annoyance. "everything is overwhelming already. if anything else happens, I am going to be like you in the light."
 
Aniks grumbled something about Lightspells and bright aasimars. "Let's hope not, my sensitivity to harsh light changes are annoying. It's only been a couple of hours, it will take time to get use to this new life of yours."
 
"this brings up the only two benefits of being in this place for much longer. it is dark enough that you should be fine, and will at least let some of this... adjusting... happen without her interrupting." Celu stated, glancing around at the group. "but you will have more issues with light now that the former elf has returned. nobody is in that much starlight without being able to make it brighter."
 
"I absolutely forgot we have two aasimars." Aniks dreaded the thought of going blind, even if it was only temporary. Especially since almost everybody in this group has blinded him. "As for your her, leaving the country as soon possible should at least gives us some time. Though that might be wishfull thinking."
 
"you can teleport. that should help. even if she scries, she will want to be careful. maybe we will be lucky and she will wait until we return. she's patient." Celu took a deep breath, having forgotten to properly do so whilst speaking. "...this is still annoying."
 
"Even if it's annoying, it becomes second nature after while." Aniks could tell by the deep breath that she was speaking about the act of breathing. "That begs the question, return from what though. Return from Tenaerul or from the East? Patient is a deadly weapon when use properly, especially when the person is nearly immortal... "
 
"though I cannot pretend to know her plans, it... would be when she feels it would hurt most," Celu said with a wince. Why did that now hurt to say? "so it will likely be further away. oh. you should warn the town."
 
"I think that would be the best course of action, the others seem rather fond of Ironfalls." Aniks brows furrowed once again at the thought of the lich and her timing " It just means for a while, till we can deal with Her properly. We'll have to be on guard, I would rather not have you taken away again."