032.5 Jaela

[Corwin]

[02:13] <Kotono> You stand in darkness. Walls of slightly less-dark matter rise up and around, no solid walls but instead just interlocking curves. A single, high backed and deeply plush chair sits in the middle of this space. Sitting on one of the armrests is a bowl, filled with what looks to be red berries. Sitting deeply in the chair is Annalise, face a calm, neutral mask. She exhales quietly, "Is this
[02:13] <Kotono> your choice?" she asks, saying nothing else.
[02:17] <Jaela> "You're supposed to chase after the one you love," Jaela admits, shuffling nervously in place. "Is that the only way? After all that I lost, what's left has to go too for us to be together?"
[02:19] <Kotono> "It is." Annalise says, "Jaela...come to me. Rest on my lap, close your eyes, and accept your fate. It's time." She smiles gently now, reaching her eyes. They shimmer wetly, "It's time to make your choice. I'm not going to take anything from you, but instead bestow something grander than you could imagine."

[Corwin]

[18:11] <Jaela> "I'm wavering," Jaela admits, shuffling her feet again. "Sorry. I just knew I had to see you. You paused before you left, didn't you? You wanted me to stop you back there, didn't you? I'm so sorry, Annalise. I should've done that. Can we talk? Please? I won't try to convince you or trick you, but I there are things I really need to tell you."
[18:15] <Ko-Laggyisblonde> "Yes, I paused." Annalise closes her eyes a moment, "Come here," she beckons, "What pains you so, even now?"
[18:23] <Jaela> "I made mistakes," Jaela forces herself to say, lowering her head. "Before you're my girlfriend, you're your own person. If you need blood and you don't turn anyone or force them into it, it's alright. It should be alright. I'm sorry for being a fucking hypocrite over it. I was just being jealous. I've always been that way, since you're so much... you. And you kept on being around everyone, and I just couldn't deal with it better. So, uh, you don't have to...." Jaela trails off, grasping for the right words. "Your friends are back at the Aurora," she finally settles on. "They really like you. They'll welcome you back any time, and I really need you to know that. Geez, this is hard."
[18:26] <Ko-Laggyisblonde> "Go on," Annalise smiles a tiny little smile, but otherwise awaits Jaela.
[18:31] <Jaela> "I love you, Annalise," Jaela says, looking at her again. "It's not just words for me. And yeah, I wish I could show you how better life would be if you could live it along with me. When I was looking for power, it wasn't just to fight devils. I figured if I had enough, I could do something for you myself if you ever changed your mind and no deity felt like helping out. But I was fine with you staying the way you are, too, because I always trusted in you. I always did. You know how bad I am at lying, so..." Jaela runs her hand through her hair, "so you know I mean it. Did you ever wonder about it? If I was bad about showing it, I'm sorry for that too."
[18:35] <Ko-Laggyisblonde> "Mmmm-hmmm." Smiling as she listens to that, "You never needed that power, Jaela. Not for that." Crooking a finger forward now, beckoning her closer, "I know. You needed to be forced to admit all that. Shhh. Now that you have, you don't need any more words. Come here."
[18:50] <Jaela> "I-- I do." Jaela shakes her head. She pauses for a moment, before blurting out, "I would've left the Aurora with you. Or given up on my vengeance. Chosen you over my mother. Any number of things." She wants nothing more than to step closer to Annalise and wipe her tears away, but then what is there of her resolve won't survive intact. "You said you were fond of me, and I'm not so arrogant to think it was my looks. And you mocked my lack of knowledge enough, so... so it's got to be my stupid convictions and optimism, doesn't it? I'm this idiot that can tell Helm to go fuck himself because I'm doing what I believe in. And I want to stay with you. But if I do, I'm abandoning that. I'm betraying people who've been nothing but supportive of every bullshit idea I had because they trusted in those convictions. I'll become a person who would've seen you there in that church and left you trapped, or forced you into some sorta payment in response to freeing you. When I think about it like that, I just can't do it. I'm sorry again. I don't know if you can understand, but I wanted you to know why." It's strange, a part of Jaela thinks. Annalise is the one smiling, while she can't stop her tears any longer. "I wish things were different."
[18:56] <Kotono> That smiles fades from Annalise's face, studying Jaela with a cold, expressionless gaze. Slowly she rises, "It seems," she begins, "That I must disabuse you of this foolishness." A sharp, predatory smile comes onto her face at this, "I said that you should come only if you never wish to breathe again. I intend to make you live up to this, by choice or not." A jolt of power plays across
[18:56] <Kotono> Annalise's body, "Even in this woefully inadequate state, I am ten times sufficient to make you bow." Cracking her knuckles, "You've chosen to side with your wasted faith. Let me show you why they cover in fear before my kind, Jaela!" OOC: Init, she's going hostile.

[18:56] <Jaela> roll 1d20+11
[18:56] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20+11 and gets 14." [1d20=3]
[18:58] <Kotono> roll 1d20+16 Annalise
[18:58] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20+16 Annalise and gets 21." [1d20=5]
[18:58] * Kotono changes topic to 'Annalise(21)>Jaela(14)'
[19:01] <Jaela> "Please, Annalise," Jaela says, stepping back. "Don't do this."
[19:02] <Kotono> "What, do you think I'll let you walk away now? You made your choice to come here. Time to reap what you sowed, Jaela." Annalise smiles - a smile far too wide for her face. A smile that shows her long, pristine white fangs. Chanting several bloody red words, Annalise opens her mouth! Three ghostly fangs come forth from it, darting at Jaela! OOC: Any spell resistance?
[19:02] <Jaela> OOC: Yes
[19:02] <Kotono> roll 1d20+17 SR?
[19:02] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20+17 SR? and gets 36." [1d20=19]
[19:02] <Jaela> OOC: Not that
[19:02] <Kotono> roll 3#1d20+18 touch AC
[19:02] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 3#1d20+18 touch AC and gets 84." [3#1d20+18 = 21, 36, 27]
[19:03] <Jaela> OOC: hits flat footed
[19:05] <Kotono> roll 2d4+2d4+2d4 con drain what's this put your con at?
[19:05] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 2d4+2d4+2d4 con drain what's this put your con at? and gets 16." [2d4=3, 4][2d4=1, 4][2d4=1, 3]
[19:06] <Jaela> OOC: 12
[19:08] <Kotono> The fangs rip into Jaela all over! Great torrents of blood gush out of her body, flowing into Annalise like water! None of the blood stains her, only vanishing on touching her. This draining brings no pleasure, only a deep, soul crushing pain. Annalise saunters forward, ending up 10ft away from Jaela. In a sweet, honeyed voice, "I'd stop resisting if I were you, Jaela. Time to grow up, even
[19:08] <Kotono> if I drag you screaming through it." OOC: Go Jaela.
[19:14] <Jaela> Wide-eyed, Jaela stumbles back and tries to plane shift back to the Aurora's gates.
[19:14] <Kotono> OOC: Will save.
[19:14] <Jaela> roll 1d20+34
[19:14] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20+34 and gets 45." [1d20=11]

[19:15] <Kotono> For a terrible moment, you feel Annalise. Her presence is all about you, boiling in your clammy, thinned bloodstream! That moment is nearly enough to shatter your will from the inside out ,but Jaela gasps the magic phrases! The last thing she sees is a look of shock and anger on Annalise's face, before she finds herself before Aurora once more.
[19:16] * Jaela stumbles back past the gates in disbelief.
[19:20] <Kotono> You stumble in - oh, you feel terribly numb. Your ears rush with a roar as you feel something wet trickle from them. Jaela feels her vision dimming, spinning, twirling. Huh? When did she lie down? Aurora...Aurora's so beautiful to look up at like this.  Huh? Why's Elena here now? Jaela can barely feel her body at all. Elena's saying something, she thinks, but it's so far away.
[19:22] <Jaela> Her blood... it's always like this after a feeding. Annalise. She always keeps ground down diamond dust on her person for that reason, if Annalise needs her help. To use it while defending herself from Annalise feels like a sick joke, but Jaela is well practiced in casting that particular spell on the brink of death.
[19:24] <Kotono> The pain fades from her body...pain? Wasn't she numb? Her senses only slowly regain feeling. She's lying in the Courtyard. Dozens of people are gathering around her - the Master and Misalea are there amid others, and Elena's kneeling next to you. "Jaela!" she shouts, voice still a bit dim and muffled, slowly resolving as she speaks, "Are you alright?! What happened?!"
[19:26] <Jaela> Her vision is swimming, and the lack of proper depth perception isn't helping. "Infirmary," she struggles to say, for that one word should convey everything.
[19:31] <Kotono> The infirmary trip is something Jaela will never remember. It's a strangely discordant sense of being carried, far longer than it should be. A timeless daze attaches to it, only parting when she lies on a bed. From far away, words of Celestial again cut the haze, this time firmer. Reality returns for an encore, this time without so much swimming or misery. Hanna's nearby, as are several
[19:31] <Kotono> firre eladrin, "Any better?" she asks, looking down at Jaela with a critical eye.
[19:33] <Jaela> "How bad?"
[19:35] <Kotono> "It took sanctification and a lot of healing," Hanna says, gently. "We had to drain about three quarters of your blood out. The only reason you're alive is because of magic. You'll live. Whatever got into you had already poisoned and converted most of your bloodstream, and wasn't stopping."
[19:37] * Jaela sags in the bed. "The one thing I really want to know is how she feels. I'm an idiot after all."
[19:40] <Kotono> Hanna sighs, closing her eyes. "Leave us," she says, the firre quickly heading out. Once gone she takes Jaela's hand in her own. "What happened?"
[19:45] <Jaela> After all that's happened, Jaela finds it easy enough to recite a summary of the events. "Annalise wanted to drink other people to gain more power. I got jealous. She told me to let her turn me or she walks. She walked. I got depressed. People wouldn't leave me alone and told me love could conquer everything. They got me a scroll of Sending, and...." Jaela sighs, pausing. "She told me to come only if I were going to take her up on it. I didn't know if I would. It was all so confusing. But in the end I couldn't, and I apologized and told her she'd be welcome back. But she didn't want me to leave after all that. I guess I'm stronger than she thought? And here we are."
[19:48] <Kotono> "Oh Jaela," Hanna sighs again, "I'm sorry."
[19:48] <Jaela> "I don't know," Jaela insists. "Does she want to possess me? Or was it all a show? I still don't know."
[19:50] <Kotono> "I don't think anyone but she does." Hanna admits, "Maybe she loved you, and the only way she could express it is by making you her spawn. Maybe she was manipulating you for her own gain. Maybe she was merely bored and entertaining herself." Biting down on her lip as she looks at her recovering daughter, "She's always been good at hiding her motivations or obscuring them with other things."
[19:53] <Jaela> "Will I recover?" Jaela asks, uncomfortable discussing that with her mother. "Or will there be any hideous scars?"
[19:57] <Kotono> "You'll recover. You'll be weak for a few days, but you'll recover fully. No scars." With a small smile at that, "Jaela..." Hesitating just a moment as she looks into her eyes, "I'm proud of you. As much as it hurt, you made the right choices to resist her."
[20:01] <Jaela> "What I believe in, it can't be wrong. I can't accept that." She returns her mother's gaze evenly. "And that's why I'll be going over to the dungeons to talk to that group of erinyes the moment I can. Gonna be there with me?"
[20:03] <Kotono> "Yes." Hanna agrees, smiling now. She reaches out and caresses Jaela's cheek with her hand, "Well done, my child. Rest here a little longer yet, and we'll go."
[20:04] * Jaela closes her eye and rests her head properly on the pillow. "Sure. S'long as I don't wake up and see some creep staring at me."
[20:05] <Kotono> Laughing at that, "We had to remind 27 to leave a few times. He seems to want to see you, but it can wait."
[20:06] <Jaela> "Kick it once for me if it starts humping my leg," Jaela says tiredly.
[20:13] <Kotono> Hanna's laugh is rich and throaty, as sleep claims Jaela. She doesn't even notice it coming, cascading into her like a torrent. When she awakens, the lights are dimmed. Hanna sits at her bedside, "Morning," she whispers, in Celestial this time.
[20:13] <Jaela> "If you say so." Jaela yawns. "Is it a good one?"
[20:19] <Kotono> "I've seen worse," Hanna takes out a small vial. "Breakfast. It's a healing draught mixed with ambrosia and sanctified, purified water. It should help."
[20:20] * Jaela slowly reaches out for the vial and drinks its contents without protest.
[20:27] <Kotono> It tastes sweet and clings to her tongue, like syrup. It does make her feel a little better, a little less tired. She can still feel fatigue deep in her bones, like a heavy weight. "How do you feel?"
[20:27] * Jaela considers, before trying to slowly move to a sitting position. "I might be able to walk, if I go slowly."
[20:32] <Kotono> "If that's the case," Shaking her head and gently pushing Jaela back, "Back to bed for you. You're not overdoing it this time. If yo uwant some company or anything, I'll have it brought to you."
[20:32] <Jaela> "Uh. 27, I guess? Better see it on my terms than... you know."
[20:35] <Kotono> "I'll go get him. Don't try and sneak out while I'm gone." With a mock glare laced with a smile, "Don't think I can't carry you back and paddle your rear end."
[20:35] * Jaela snorts. "S'the only way you could get a drop on me, when I'm sick and frail."
[20:39] <Kotono> Hanna laughs, going off. She's gone only a moment, her sigh audible as she returns. In her arms is 27, who already stares at Jaela. "He was waiting right out there, like a lonely dog. Uuuf!" She comes over, putting 27 near Jaela's bed.
[20:40] <Jaela> "I wanted to chat with you too," Jaela says, propping herself back into a reclined position. She refuses to have a conversation with a strange badger while lying feebly on her back. "But you can go first. What's up, 27?"
[20:46] <Kotono> 27 hops up onto her bed, right besides her as it stares up into her eyes. It stares and stares and stares and stares! Finally...he stares some more, before curling up against Jaela's side and going to sleep.
[20:47] <Jaela> "Fuck no!" Jaela reaches out and shakes the badger awake.
[20:54] <Kotono> 27 looks up, with piercing, pleading eyes, "Please." he says in a single word, "You smell good."
[20:55] * Jaela pales beyond mere sickness. "I'll pretend you didn't say that," she forces herself to say. "And, uh, let you sleep here a bit. If you tell me how to not die and, uh, stuff."
[20:59] <Kotono> "Annalise would have worked. It would have not compromised chaos. Good and Evil are irrelevant." 27 stares up at Jaela, "Far more power than you could have dreamed of. Find the Spawning Stone. Become a slaad. Great power that way." If 27 was going to say anything else, it's interrupted by him being lifted by the scruff of his neck by Hanna. "Okay, Ygorl or whomever is on the other end of
[20:59] <Kotono> this twisted line, will you people stop trying to turn my daughter into a vampire or a frog or whatever other horror show appeals this week? She is an ANGEL. She is NOT a slaad, a vampire, or anything like that!" With a deft flick of her wrist 27 is sent hurtling out, through the portal and away.
[21:01] * Jaela stares at the portal, before dropping her head back down on her pillow. "Guess I'll die after all. Anyone else out there wanted to see me and make me feel like shit?"
[21:02] <Kotono> "You're not going to die," Hanna says, crossing her arms. "Have some faith in yourself. You have plenty in the Triune, and I'm sure she has faith in you."
[21:03] <Jaela> "Universe's governed by bullshit treaties and prophecies, anyway. If some epic archdevil and crazy slaad both agree on this, just my faith ain't gonna be enough."
[21:04] <Kotono> "Then give up," Hanna says, "Go get drained, or submit to the nearest devil, or bash your head in and die." With a long sigh, "You lose the hope that you can triumph, you've lost the most important thing. I'm going to go find you some visitors, rather than having you sitting here and wallowing in that."
[21:06] * Jaela snorts. "There's fatalistic and there's retarded. Just as long as it's not another person telling how much better I'd be right now as a vampire?"
[21:08] <Kotono> "I'll find some people. Stay there, they'll come as I find them." With that Hanna goes out...