Nymph interlude (Afina)

[Anastasia]

27 follows along, smiling as much as he can. Ahead is a long hall, and on the far end is another door.

> roll 1d2
<Rei-chan> Sunshine_Ko rolled : 1d2 --> [ 1d2=1 ]{1}

"Ah, ah, ah," A female voice chides, light and energetic, like a child's. "C'mon, put some effort into it!"

[Ebiris]

That sounds occupied by more than just the usual inscrutable elemental so Afina exercises a bit more decorum this time and knocks on the door!

[Anastasia]

"Oh!" The feminine voice gasps, "Someone knocked! They really knocked! One of them listened! Yes, you can come in!"

[Ebiris]

Is this Bwimb II? Did they get that lucky so soon? Bracing herself to be hugged, Afina opens the door!

[Anastasia]

Right on the other side of the door is a huge blob of purple ooze. It quivers all over, "Ooooh, a pixie! A rainbow pixie! It's Afina like Dad talked about! Afinaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The purple ooze is leaping right at you, as if to envelop you.

[Ebiris]

Afina's trained reflexes scream at her to lash out, to disrupt the grab and give her a chance to avoid being ensnared, which as a tiny pixie often confronted by far larger creatures is often a death sentence.

She resists the urge, smiling and spreading her arms. "Hello!" she greets brightly, prepared to endure the slimy embrace. Hopefully Bubbles' magic will hold out.

[Anastasia]

"Hiiii!" Bwimb II engulfs you, knocking you down as you're surrounded by acidic slime. It gets all over you and soaks you, yet you do not burn. "Hi hi hi hi hi!" It's sort of like being hugged and she's warm to the touch. "I'm Bwimb II! Oh, we never get visitors, this is lovely!"

[Ebiris]

For someone who exults in motion, this sort of smothering hug is deeply unpleasant no matter how well intentioned. Still, Afina does her best to endure it, not really able to hug back or do much of anything when so engulfed. "It's nice to meet you, Bwimb II!" she gets out when her head is momentarily clear of slime.

[Anastasia]

For what it's worth, you picked the shortest possible path to either Bwimb by a long shot. Clearly you have a luck bonus going and no one knows about it.

"Hi!" Bwimb II oozes off you, in front of you and wobbling all over, constantly in motion. You're covered in purple slime head to toe. "You have all the elements in you, that's amazing! Plus you're alive, so the only thing you're missing is negative energy."

[Ebiris]

Would it be rude to clean herself with prestidigitation? Probably. Still, she better do it eventually before Bubbles' spell wears off.

"Perhaps one day I'll study the Quasi-Elemental planes and make some progress on even that, though maybe not." Negative energy is inextricably linked with undeath, a state she has no interest in approaching. "Still, I thank you for the compliment," she smiles, fluttering her wings to take off and hover, slime flicking off them with the motion. "I do enjoy having all the elements in me, but there's still so much I have to learn. That's why I'm here, I want to know more about how Earth and Water fit together; what Ooze is."

[Anastasia]

"Ooooh!" Bwimb II shakes and oozes all about, undulating waves of motion. "If you stay awhile, I'll be happy to teach you!" She slithers into the room a little more, a ruined sitting room. Here four large ooze para-elementals hold rusty old flutes, trying to play them to no avail.

"Alright, that's enough! You four can go, keep practicing!"

[Ebiris]

Getting it straight from the archomental sounds a lot more direct than going around places of power and listening to laconic elementals. "That would be really nice of you, thanks!" she says brightly, fluttering into the room after Bwimb II. "Oh, let me introduce my friends first. This is Bubbles, that's Canderella, and that's 27. They mostly came just to support me but I'm sure they're all very interested in learning more about Ooze as well."

[Anastasia]

The elementals ooze off, leaving you alone.

"Charmed," Bubbles says, "My goodness, that color's in this year. Purple suits you."

"Canderella Stormfury of Talos," Canderella introduces herself and curtsies.

27 just nods.

"Ooooh, you brought friends!" Bwimb II shakes all over, constantly in motion. It's almost hypnotic. "You should study from 27, he understands all about entropy. But okay, what do you want to know about Ooze?"

[Ebiris]

"So is entropy what Ooze represents?" Afina seizes on that, finding a clear spot to land on facing Bwimb II. "What I'm trying to do for all the para-elemental planes is to find out what their essence is, what their element represent and how it relates to their components - and then how it relates to me. How do Water and Earth combine to form entropy?"

Her mind goes to the old example of the waves wearing down a cliff over time, is it as simple as that?

[Anastasia]

"It's more complicated that that," Bwimb II says. "Water erodes stone, but creates sedimentary rocks at the bottom of a stream. Rains wash away topsoil but rivers bring fertile lands." She starts to bounce up and down, bouncing off the ceiling and floor. "Everything breaks down at some point and gets recycled, it's the way of nature! People hate it since they can often only see the negative parts of it!"