Glorious Home

[Nephrite]

He rubs at his throat first of all as he moves to sit up.

He clears his throat -- still there? Good. Still making noise?

He blinks his eyes open... where in the world did he end up?

[Anastasia]

You can talk, it feels like. You're on the beach of Celestia, Lunia. A lantern archon is nearby, floating as a sea shell is picked up, floated into a floating basket. "Oh! Moore!" Grias floats over, "What are you doing here? You're all sandy and wet! Come home, you need a bath. Xandra's waiting for you, she was worried but wouldn't say why, just that you were in danger."

[Nephrite]

Moore smiles.

"Of course, let's go home, Grias. I have a lot to think about." He says.

[Anastasia]

You fly home - and find your golems joined by Xandra. She is there, expression relieved. "Moore," she says, "What did you do? What happened?" She stands befor eyou, in her adult form as a trumpet archon.

[Nephrite]

"I went on an adventure." He says. "I learned a lot from it and shared my experiences with someone who I hope will be a better person because of it."

He offers a smile, a sincere one. "I'm sorry to have worried you."

[Anastasia]

"Alone?" Xandra challenges, "Cresiel told me about Smoke. What if you didn't come back because the devils abducted you? They've done it before and they can do it again."

"Not Lixer for awhile, apparently," Grias chimes in.

"Not now," Xandra gives him a look, firm, that makes the lantern archon quickly scurry away, sea shells clinking in his basket. "Moore, please don't go out where you could be ambushed or worse alone."

"Yes, I'd have to make a huge celebration feast when Cresiel and Xandra brought you back, too," Grias chimes in as he flees rather swiftly.

Ignoring that, "Take me or take Cresiel, or take us both. That's better odds of surviving or getting away if it does happen. He also told me what happened to Lief and Muirfinn. It's a very real threat."

Incidentally, I'm mildly breaking my Hell embargo here again, but it's 100% a legit concern for Cresiel to have. Hell does shit like this and did so repeatedly in B3.

[Nephrite]

Moore holds a hand up. "I'm aware of what happened on Smoke. This wasn't the same sort of situation."

Well, it was, in a way, but it wasn't, too. This wasn't overconfidence or being pulled into a trap.

"Where I went was perfectly safe for me to be." He says, then takes a breath. "I was never really in any danger, I promise."

His pride may be another thing, but even so...

"I promise, though, it's the last time I need to go where I went and it's the last time I need to go anywhere alone unless expressly asked for by some power. You have my word on that." He offers a smile afterwards. "

[Anastasia]

Xandra exhales after that, "Good. The paths I see are difficult enough, the songs complex. Without you they become more complex yet. Please, value your life and safety. There is glory in martyrdom, but please, do not embrace it."

Then an exhale, "Grias has prepared a meal for us. Let's go eat and talk about what happened. Where were you?"

[Nephrite]

He smiles at that. "I'm not much of a martyr if I survive the encounter. I understand what you mean, though. I accept the chastisement."

There's a pause to her question before he smiles again.

"I can't say." Moore answers. "Not out of fear or compulsion. I simply made a promise not to discuss it."

[Anastasia]

"I see. Why?" Xandra asks, pointedly. "The signs around you were not good. The songs were distressed. That was not a pleasure trip."

[Nephrite]

He takes in a breath and lets it out. "It's hard to say without breaking my promise. I'll admit, it didn't exactly go like I planned it would, but I promise you, I was never in danger of dying. I know you're worried something happened to me or what-have-you, but I can assure you, nothing like that happened. My soul wasn't secretly poisoned or anything."

He shrugs with a lackadaisical smile. "I know that's probably not a sufficient enough answer for you. I can only give you my word that everything is fine, now."

[Anastasia]

Inside the dining room a meal is laid out. It is a rich soup, steak and mushrooms. Thick, meaty, hearty. Fresh bread joins it, as well as glazed carrots, pure water and fruit juices. Xandra sits and inhales slowly, "Our chef is skilled."

[Nephrite]

"I'll admit, I have even more questions about how you do it." He says with a laugh.

"I'm surprised recipes like this even make it up here, I always had a mental image that no one ever ate because they never had to." A shrug as he has a seat.

"Where does this stuff even come from? Venya?" He asks in Grias' direction.

[Anastasia]

"Many archons and angels eat for pleasure at least occasionally, there is farming and food produced - or simply produced by the land's bounty, no farming needed, when Celestia wills it." Xandra eats, the food rich, hearty. "There is no sin in food, so long as it is in moderation and not to gluttony."

"Oh, there's a little farm a ways on a terrace that way," Grias bobs to the west, "Lovely people there, they give away the food to any who need it."

[Nephrite]

"I suppose that makes sense." He nods. "So who taught you how to cook, Grias?"

What was her name... Iris? Iria...? ... Iris!

"It wasn't someone named Iris by any chance, was it?" He asks.

There's surely no Incarnation of Food, right...?