241.1 Seira

[Corwin]

[23:02] <Kotono> -------
[23:04] <Kotono> That evening, everything is said and done. In Seira's room, Amaryl comes up. She wears a soft green nightgown, going to sit next to Seira. She puts her head on Seira's shoulder, closing her eyes. "This day. Has there every been another day like this, at least for me?"
01[23:05] <Seira> "It's something most people never experience," Seira responds quietly. "Something you never should have gone through."
[23:08] <Kotono> Amaryl's body breathes in and out, a soft sigh that is felt from contact. "It wasn't so bad. I mean...everyone's afraid to die, aren't they? But it was like waking up from a bad dream, nothing worse. I've seen the Heavens now and I've died and...I'm not afraid of it. I...I almost want to go back, just to be there. It's so right there, Seira."
01[23:12] <Seira> "For most people, the order is reversed," Seira responds with a snort. "Yeah. I don't really fear death, either. But you know, strange as it might sound, I think it's more about who you leave behind. People who depend on you, those who love you. They're the ones who'll suffer if you die, and that's why...." She trails off with a helpless shrug.
[23:13] <Kotono> "I know. That's why I came back," Amaryl whispers into Seira's ear. "For you, for Donald, for everyone. But," She curls up against Seira, "I can see why few come back from beyond the grave. The happiness there is superior to the greatest joy I've felt while alive. It was transcendant."
01[23:15] <Seira> "But more for me than for Donald, right?" Seira teases.
02[23:15] * Mystia (~Melanchth@pool-96-231-68-153.washdc.east.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout)
[23:17] <Kotono> "Of course. With the choices I had...Heaven or Seira. Hmmm." Giggling to that, "I mean, Heaven or Seira and three angels running around naked," With a tint of red to her cheeks, her giggles increasing, "I'm lucky to have you...though it seems everyone in the Guard is very beautiful."
01[23:20] <Seira> "They are," Seira agrees, admiring Amaryl.
[23:21] <Kotono> Amaryl blushes, her green gown cascading down her body, clinging around her hips and body. "Is it true that good is beautiful and evil is ugly?"
01[23:23] <Seira> "I think it speaks of spirit, really," Seira muses in response to the question. "There are certainly plenty of breathtaking fiends out there, but I wouldn't consider even for a moment to spend my life with them."
[23:24] <Kotono> "Hm. Of course." Amaryl's blush lingers, "...but Seira, can I ask you something?"
01[23:26] <Seira> "Anything," Seira responds, even as her hand draws to Amaryl's side, trailing up lazily.
[23:27] <Kotono> "Am I...pretty enough. Alicia, Antenora, Latha...you...all of you were like watching Goddesses. I...I'm smaller and..." she murmurs, looking down. "Am I pretty enough for you?"
01[23:35] <Seira> "I worried quite a bit, myself," Seira says in a seeming nonsequitur, drawing Amaryl closer. "About our social positions, or if I would be seen by you as most elves do, even when they're trying to be kind. I also worried for a time that there were people you liked more. Then, there was the added worry of having you right there beside me as we face things that no one should ever have to face.
01[23:36] <Seira> But if there's anything I learned from all that, is that I shouldn't think about it like that, because that's my doubt talking, trying to mask itself as some sort of analysis. You're beautiful, Amaryl. There is no need to compare yourself to anyone, but if you'd like to, then yes; you're wrong to list yourself as being in a different league from the resident celestial team.
01[23:36] <Seira> And, as an added bonus, the Guard's only getting prettier with time, so us vain people are certainly in the right place for a makeover or two!"
[23:36] <Kotono> With a warming red glow to her face, "Oh...thank you," Amaryl hugs Seira tightly, squeezing her.
01[23:38] <Seira> "Don't you draw your share of lovestruck stares when you walk through Balmuria's streets?" Seira asks Amaryl in a light tone of voice. "I find that hard to believe."
[23:41] <Kotono> "Well..." Amaryl merely blushes even hotter. "Still..." Fiddling with her dress, "Seira, do you have the energy for..." Pressing her fingers together, "There was a lot of visual...ah, appeal to the day."
01[23:43] <Seira> "I'm weak for beautiful people seducing me," Seira affirms, although she ends up blushing herself at the end. "In fact, if they happen to be my girlfriend, I don't think I could possibly resist."
[23:45] <Kotono> "Good," Amaryl's own heat turns her entire face red, "Then..." Amaryl reaches up and...OOC: Good to cut there, Seira?

[Corwin]

[19:45] <Kotono> ---
[19:47] <Kotono> There's many a way to wake up. Seira has had the good and the bad ways...and this is a good one. Having Amaryl's warm, soft body curled against your side is a lovely thing to wake up to. Doubly so is the smell of eggs, porridge and bacon, a bowl on a table moved right besides the bed. "Morning," Amaryl murmurs into your ear.
03[19:48] * Yomi is now known as Seira
01[19:49] <Seira> "Morning," Seira returns with a smile, just lounging for now. "Sleep well?"
[19:51] <Kotono> "Well." Whispering and rubbing against Seira, warmth spreading all over, "Donald said that Elle wants to see you when you wake up and have breakfast. Mmm." She closes her eyes, holding ot Seira as she smiles in contentment.
01[19:52] <Seira> "In an hour, then," Seira announces lazily. "If it were urgent, they wouldn't wait for me to wake up on my own."
[19:54] <Kotono> "Mm-hmm," Amaryl curls into you, "We're going to the Abyss today?"
01[19:56] <Seira> "So it seems. I never thought we would get a chance to do something about that problem so soon, but maybe if we can help in solving it, the issues we're dealing with here, on our world, would feel more manageable."
[19:59] <Kotono> "Mmmm." Amaryl murmurs something, lost between the sheets and body heat. "Before we go, Seira..."
06[20:00] * Seira shifts until she's facing her. "Before we go?"
[20:03] <Kotono> "Let me rest against you a while longer," she replies, doing just that. "We may not have a chance for a time if we spend it in the Abyss."
01[20:04] <Seira> It's exactly why she is in no hurry to pay Elle a visit that morning. Seira hardly objects, using this chance to relax.
[20:06] <Kotono> All good things do eventually pass in the mortal realms. Seira gets dressed and begins her day. She finds Elle in her shop, still clad in mourning black. "Good morning," she says to Seira, face drawn, tired. She leans against the wall of her shop, back slumping.
01[20:08] <Seira> "Morning," Seira responds, nodding in greeting, before she takes another look at Elle's devastated appearance and asks spontaneously, "You'd tell me if you needed anything? If there was anything I could do for you?"
[20:12] <Kotono> "I feel...a little better today. It was just sobbing my eyes out half the night." Wearily straightening up and going to a chair, "I'm going to go back to sleep after this. I know I can't mope around forever, and wandering like a sleepless zombie won't do anyone any good."
01[20:14] <Seira> "I think... it's normal to break down when you lose someone," Seira finds herself saying. "Even if you know you shouldn't, you can't help it."
[20:18] <Kotono> "Yeah." Looking away, "I wanted to ask you - are you prepared and equipped adequately for the coming battles?"
01[20:19] <Seira> "To fight demon queens at their home ground, or even undead godspawn?" Seira asks rhetorically.
[20:20] <Kotono> "Who ever is? Are you equipped as well as you can be, then?"
[20:20] <Kotono> Elle runs a hand over her face, "Are you going to face Pale Night herself?"
01[20:23] <Seira> "Hard to say, isn't it? I like to think not, but her level of involvement would depend on how interested and invested she is in her scheme. If entertainment is truly key to her, perhaps not. If there are far more practical reasons at play, well...."
06[20:23] * Seira shrugs. "I don't know about facing her, but to face her higher tier servants adequately, I was going to wonder if you had any rods of metamagic available. It would be a bit of a gamble, to see if I can use that as an invesment and make good on it."
[20:24] <Kotono> "I do." Elle goes back behind the counter, "What do you need?"
01[20:25] <Seira> "Vanilla flavored, pretty much. Empower and maximize. You can't go wrong with the classics, can you?"
[20:26] <Kotono> "I do," With a weak, watery smile, "You're welcome to borrow them under the circumstances."
01[20:28] <Seira> "I'm hoping to outright buy them, when we've secured our future and our currency is stable," Seira admits. "On my own, I'm not really a match for any of the things that threaten us, so this is the way I came up with of keeping up."
[20:32] <Kotono> "Then it's a loan until then," Elle gets a pair of staves out, one carved of smooth blackwood and the other made of iron with lines of silver plated in. "Take them."
01[20:39] <Seira> There is so much she wants to say. That Alice's last words were to Elle, and that she always kept on thinking about her. That Seira herself understand what she is going through all too well. But she just takes the staves and nods. "I'll return. I'll definitely return," Seira promises.
[20:40] <Kotono> Elle's smile is tired, worn, drawn. It's the smile of a woman exhausted, but it's one that matches the eyes that meet Seira's. "You will. You're too stubborn to die, even if it's Pale Night herself. I'm absolutely sure of it."
01[20:42] <Seira> "I still have a mark to leave on the world, don't I?" Seira muses with a small smile of her own. "A Mythal to build, one to protect Balmuria and its residents for all time? You're right. I can't die before I accomplish at least that."
[20:43] <Kotono> "By the Gods, yes." Elle reaches out, patting Seira's shoulder, "Go show them that you hvae a lot to live for. We aren't going to go under to a horde of undead tyrants."
[20:58] <Kotono> roll 1d100
06[20:58] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d100 and gets 18." [1d100=18]
[21:02] <Kotono> That morning, as Seira prepares, Donald knocks and peeks into Seira's room. "Hey Seira," he calls, "Got a visitor. Some guy, looks nad smells like a traveler. Want do you want me to do withhim?"
01[21:04] <Seira> "I'll see him in my library," Seira responds, tapping her lips thoughtfully before glancing at Donald askance. "Unless he smells really badly? Then please use prestidigitation, first."
[21:06] <Kotono> "Eh, just like the road. He's not going to burn your delicate nostrils off," Donald makes a flippant gesture, going out. Soon Seira is in her library, Donald leading the man in. He has short blonde hair, cut slightly unevenly but very short. He's perhaps twenty, wearing a brown cloak andtravel stained clothes. He offers a small bow to Seira, "Thank you for taking the time to meet me."
01[21:07] <Seira> "I generally try to see those who come to meet me, if I happen to be home," she responds, gesturing at a comfortable armchair opposite her. "Would you like something to drink?"
[21:08] <Kotono> "Water." He sits down, resting his legs and sinking deep into the chair. "I'd heard the stories from all the way down in Malmuth, about an elf-dragon archmage."
01[21:09] <Seira> "A few of them good, I hope?"
[21:10] <Kotono> "Heh, heh. They got better once I got into the Barony of Valandia," Donald gets him a glass of water, sipped down in a few sipping gulps. "How true is that? Are you truly dragon blooded?"
06[21:12] * Seira studies the man a moment longer, before replying, "I have draconic blood, if that is the question, even though it might seem improbable."
[21:13] <Kotono> "I do admit, I thought dragons were bigger." He answers back, a slight stubble on his cheeks. His features are well defined and sharp, his body showing hinted muscle beneath his clothes. "Then again, the Bard's more bawdy tales insist that dragons are, ah, adaptable."
06[21:14] * Seira shrugs. "Dragons and mages can shapeshift, whenever it suits them, which is adaptable enough."
[21:17] <Kotono> Rubbing his chin and grinning, "Ah yes, that's how the stories go. So, what sort of dragon are you? Red? Gold?"
01[21:18] <Seira> "A sane red dragon. Gold ones are nice enough, but they tend to have a horribly uptight manner, from observation."
[21:20] <Kotono> "Really?" He considers that, "Well, there's that old bard's tale about the red and gold dragon that fell in love."
01[21:21] <Seira> "I'm hoping I get to meet them, one day," Seira says, sounding happy at the topic being discussed. "They sound like a very nice couple!"
[21:23] <Kotono> "They're still alive...then again, I hear dragons live forever. If you can find one." Finishing off his water, "I've never actually seen a giant flying dragon. I hear there was one here years back, but the Crimson Guard slew him."
01[21:25] <Seira> Has it really been years? Seira almost shakes her head, before leaving it be. "There's been a few of them, but we only managed to deal with the reds and golds. It seems every other dragon is either a nasty piece of work or just happened to be driven insane by the passage of time."
[21:27] <Kotono> "Curious." Thinking on that, "Are any other dragons known of and sane?"
01[21:31] <Seira> "There's plenty across the planes, for one," Seira muses, thinking of several examples that would qualify. "But if you had such magic available, you wouldn't need me to tell you that. There is Ajan, the father of the red dragon in the legend you brought up. Aside from those two, he's very nice and quite mentally stable."
[21:32] <Kotono> "Could I meet him, perhaps?" The man's eyes narrow a little, "If he'd be willing to, of course."
01[21:33] <Seira> "Not for a year, at least, I'm afraid," Seira says regretfully. "He intends to settle on a new home before even considering such matters as visitors, and it should take that long."
[21:35] <Kotono> "Ah. A pity."  The man cocks his head at an angle, "Do you know of any others more receptive to visitors?"
01[21:36] <Seira> "Dragons tend to be secretive and reclusive, but if I knew, perhaps, why you wished to have this audience with them, it could be arranged," Seira responds, hedging her words.
[21:37] <Kotono> "Who doesn't want to see a dragon!" With widenening eyes, "They're creatures of legend. Anyone can go find a goblin or a troll in the Barbarian Lands, but a dragon?"
01[21:39] <Seira> "Oh, I'm sorry." Seira raises a hand to stop him. "What I really meant was, is there a good enough reason for an ancient dragon to see a human? They might not take kindly to being exhibits or curios for mortals."
[21:41] <Kotono> "Oh." He stops there. "...well, I'll need to think about that, won't I?"
01[21:44] <Seira> "Yes. Because to a dragon, you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."