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SOMEWHERE ELSE - SOMETIME
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Nesseth jerks his head up, having dozed off against the stone wall of the hall he's in. He blinks, looking around for a few moments as his eyes adjust to the dark, with only a torch as his sole source of light. He's back to normal, with Plume's cure thankfully having worked wonders on him once it was ready, and it's with a certain air of ease that he stands back up and stretches before stooping over again to grab the torch.
Nesseth holds the torch high and in front of him, casting the warm illumination further down the hall as it slowly slopes deeper into the heart of the mountain. He sighs as he resumes his journey, still feeling like there's something... or someone further down he needs to find. "This place again... Hopefully I reach the end this time..."
Nesseth walks onward and downward, his steps muffled by the boots on his feet. The sound from his movements, of his scales sliding against the stone, echo up and down the passage, seemingly endless in length and barely changing no matter how far he walks... that is...
Nesseth flexes his frills, sensing a subtle change in the sounds bouncing back to him. Though a tickling feeling at the back of his mind starts to warn him of something sneaking up behind him, the interest of finding what's further on overpowers that feeling that he should look back. He quickens his pace a bit, hoping to maybe finally reach his destination...
Nesseth notes that the oddity in the sounds of his footsteps are growing more distinct. His years in the Explorers Guild click into gear and he quickly figures out that the hallway is opening up into a larger chamber not too much beyond the range of his torchlight. He slows his pace down a bit, but keeps his stride long as he makes his way further forward, still ignoring that tingling sensation of something behind him.
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A MOMENT PROLONGED
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Narrator: As Nesseth steps forward, the cavern opens up before him. He is standing upon a rocky outcropping, overlooking a great black sea. The sky above is pitch blackness, only a handful of stars remain in the moonless sky, their light waning even now. The water is eerily still, no wind upon its surface, no insects or fish, it is dead still, dead silent.
Nesseth steps out onto the outcropping of rock, his expression quickly shifting to confusion as he looks around, as well as up. "...The hell...? I'm outside...?" He turns around to look at the stone hall that was behind him, but it, as well as the presence he'd been sensing for some time before now is no longer there. He spends the next several seconds taking in his surroundings, then starts to pick a path down from the outcropping to the shoreline a little ways below. He came this far because there's something here... so he can't stop now.
Narrator: The rock is jagged, sharp and unwelcome. It seems to want to discourage any from proceeding downwards. It is almost a single solid monolith amidst the vast sea of darkness. The water laps at the rocks, seeking to swallow it down into the depths, yet still no noise reaches Nesseth's ears, save for a faint whisper that might be the wind, or it might be something else... just beneath the water...
Nesseth is undaunted as he carefully clambers his way down, climbing with one hand on his torch as often as he goes with it clamped in his teeth. Though he has some trouble finding footholds here and there, creative movement lets him make his way down to near the level of the water with only a minor scrape on his scales to show for it. Once he's on solid ground again, he raises his torch high and scans the water again, curious as to where he needs to go from here. "Where... where even is this place...?"
Narrator: The light of the torch seems to be swallowed up by the water, the flame gives no reflection, only swallowed up into the inky black. As if in answer to Nesseth's question, the whispers heighten, almost as if in response to Nesseth's question. It's a struggle, but some words come through, weak and hoarse. "Void... claims her... find her..."
Nesseth feels an odd shiver roll through him as the sounds resolve into a whisper, causing him to twist about in surprise as he searches for the source. "W-who--?" He doesn't see anything immediately, though, but sighs to loosen the tension a bit. He mutters to himself as he starts to make his way along the rocky shore while still gazing out over the water, "This place... feels weird..."
Narrator: The water licks at his feet as Nesseth walks the shore, whenever he steps close enough, the icy cold liquid seems to reach for him, and retreat as if struck. The voice hisses once more, sending a shiver down Nesseth's back. "Nesssseth. Seek the hunter, to find her... beware... the water..." The stars flicker above him, one star alit slightly brighter, closer, perhaps? It hangs in the sky like the hunter's star, the guiding star that any tracker knows. It hangs out over the water.
Nesseth frowns as he hears the voice again, that same shiver rolling through his body as he turns deliberately to try and figure out where the voice is coming from. Though, at the mention of the hunter, he instinctively looks up at the sky again, his eyes locking onto the star in certainty. Though... the final warning makes him glance down at the water directly in between him and the star... "Beware...? You're serious...? I can't even fashion a boat..."
Narrator: The whispers do not answer this time. The water seems to be waiting, and there's a sense of tension upon its surface. But nothing on Top of the water's surface...
Nesseth waits several seconds for a response that seems to not be coming... and he sighs once it becomes clear he won't get an answer. He looks down at the water's edge and experimentally steps the ball of his foot into it for a moment... then shrugs and takes his first few steps into the black sea once it's clear there's ground underneath the surface. "Hunter guide me..."
Narrator: The water is ice cold, and black as pitch, but as Nesseth wades in, it doesn't seem to be deeper than his shin, lapping up at his knees as he trudges forward. The bottom of the pool seems muddy, slimy and uneven as he steps, as if he is dredging something up that should have remained at the bottom... The water around him seems to gurgle, that surface tension increasing, but it is now clear that the pressure is coming from below. Skeletal forms slither and writhe just below, hands reach out, only to press against the surface of the water as if it were impenetrable, and empty eyes seems to stare up at Nesseth from the deeps, yet even as they reach, none seem able to touch him... yet.
Nesseth frowns a little as he trudges forward into the water, the silt below the water's surface proving to be more of a slog than he'd expected. He keeps his eyes glued to the star as he walks, some dim part of his mind aware that he's going to have to toss these boots once he's back home. It's not until he notices bony hands pressing against the water's surface from below that his eyes snap back down to where he's walking. A spike of fear sharpens his senses and he looks around, his torch now held low over the water as he curses aloud. "Gods--! What the hell is this?!" He stops, waiting for something to happen as he stares at those undead eyes gazing up at him, though, once nothing happens, he starts to carefully make his way further towards the star guiding him, though his gaze is held low and careful.
Narrator: The star hangs overhead, lighting the water up ahead. The closer Nesseth gets, the more the water boils around him, as more and more of the Things beneath the surface grow in agitation. Where the water breaks, bubbling up comes a wretched smell, rotting flesh and grating bone, all struggling to be freed. The sounds of misery and hate rise around Nesseth as well, and while his movement seems to be the catalyst that has woke this misery up, it does seem directed at something just ahead... something just below the light of the Hunter.
Nesseth gets more and more tense as he wades his way further and further on towards the star, until the shore is quite well out of range of the meager light his torch gives. He brings a sleeve up to his nose as the water grows more agitated, bringing with it the smell of death and decay, but his time on the battlefield against the Saurs has thankfully dulled any visceral reaction to the smell he may have one had. As he approaches the spot being illuminated by the Hunter, he mutters apologies to the dead stirring beneath the waves. "I'm sorry... I don't know you, and I don't know why I'm here, but I'm here for a reason... I'm sorry for disturbing your rest..."
Narrator: The water roils like a whirlpool, slithering and sliding violently before Nesseth, though the turbulence does not seem to affect him at all. Within the heart of it is a figure which in fact, Nesseth may know, a coatl, sickly and palid, her flesh ripped and torn by the skeletal hands that fight one another to strike at her, feathers ragged and plucked, drained of color and caked in blood. Her long tail has already be picked clean, little left but bone coiled around her. Her eyes are closed, arms pulled upwards over her head to protect it as she cries, though she has no tears left within her.
Nesseth comes to a halt as he sees the figure in the middle of the thrashing water. He takes a few moments just to look at the state Xochi is in, his eyes being drawn to the point where ragged scales, skin and feathers give way to bone. In those moments, he's certain that she's the reason he's been forging onward this whole time, and he drops the torch as he dives for the coatl, hoping to pull her up above the water's surface. "Xochi!"
Xochi 's eyes break open at the sound of her name. The dead around her seem to part away from her, hissing and spitting curses in a language only can understand, the ancestors she failed in her selfishness. As the pain seems to lessen, she dares to lower her hands, "N-Nesseth?! Stay back! T-the bodies! Don't recognize the bodies! Don't... don't see me..." she shrinks back upon herself, not wanting Nesseth to be trapped the way she was.
Nesseth doesn't have an issue of recognizing anyone, decayed and decrepit as they are. He begins a firm, if slightly out-of-practice breaststroke as he forges his way through to Xochi with intense focus, though he moves faster and smoother than one would think... "No, I'm not leaving you here! Come on, grab my hand, we'll get you back home!" He reaches out as he draws close, beckoning for Xochi to grab hold.
Xochi hesitates, lifting a hand towards Nesseth, just within reach, but hesistant to grab onto him. In her eyes there is yet the spark of life, faded, like the stars up above, but still present. "I... I do not want to drag you to the same fate, Nesseth."
Nesseth doesn't share that same hesitation as Xochi, and takes hold of her hand. He uses it as an anchor point to come to a stop, floating upright in front of her amidst the skeletons floating all around. "Don't worry, Xochi... we're getting out of this together, just like before." He smiles reassuringly as he gently pulls her close and wraps his free arm around her shoulders, then begins a rapid ascent to the water's surface, "I didn't leave you behind then, and I'm not doing so now."
Xochi lets Nesseth pull her upwards, upwards and upwards back to the water's surface. It seems so much further up now that Nesseth has dived down. As he reaches the surface, he breaches the water, but Xochi... does not. She strikes the surface of the water from below, jarred loose from Nesseth's grip, unable to return above the water, trapped below, like the rest of the dead. Her face betrays the hints of hope that quickly fade. "You... must. You must... I made a mistake, Nesseth." She looks up a the sky, placing her hands against the water's surface as if it were a window she cannot open. "The stars... so few... This is all my fault, Nesseth. It wasn't supposed to be like this... the ritual was supposed to lessen my regrets, ease my mind..."
Nesseth feels his hold on Xochi slipping away as he breaches the surface of the water again, now once more standing shin-deep on the surface. He turns and kneels again, his gaze locked on Xochi, and he reaches back through the surface to grab hold of her once more. "We all make mistakes, Xochi. Come on, we can still get you out." He braces as best as he can, then tries to help Xochi break the surface, "I'm not going to let you just give up!"
Xochi shakes her head, "They... they will drag me down. You've Recognized me, Nesseth. They will drag you down as well!" She braces herself, squeezing Nesseth's hand. "You cannot help me here. You... you have to find the other one, the other me... you have to wake her... M-maybe then... I can dare to hope again, that I might awaken from this nightmare."
Nesseth tries as best as he can to pull Xochi through that barrier keeping her below the water's surface, but even with all the leverage and power he can muster, it doesn't budge. He takes a moment to catch his breath, then slips back down below the surface so he can talk properly with his friend. "They've left me alone all this time, and I got you back up this far..." He tilts his head as he holds himself stable by grasping tight onto Xochi's hands, "The... other you?"
Xochi nods, "I let her free... I opened the window that should have remained closed. She was freed. I... thought... I thought it would change things. I did not know that it meant I had to remain instead, yet still... I chose this." She lowers her head, tears coming into her eyes once again, "I should have known what such selfishness would bring. I doubt she knows, wherever she has gone..."
Nesseth stares in confusion. "So... when you say the 'other you'... you mean actually another you? Another Xochi?" He lowers his gaze a bit, his eyes tracking towards the ragged edges of scales where it lingers for a few seconds before his eyes snap back up to Xochi's face, "...How much... how long do you have left?"
Xochi pulls her hand back, wrapping her arm around her chest to clutch her own shoulder, "I... don't know... I don't know if you can find her, or if she's even real, or... or... until the stars are gone, Nesseth. I can hold out... as... as long as there's light."
Narrator: The malice of the dead begins to boil around them once again. They come up from the depths, reaching for Xochi.
Nesseth looks around a bit as the undead seem to grow agitated once more, then floats forward to give Xochi a gentle hug. "Then... please, hold on as long as you can, Xochi. If she's real, I'll do what I can to find her. A coatl won't pass through an area unnoticed if she's not concealing her plumage..."
Xochi closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath. The hands grab at her tail, and slowly begin to pull her down. She manages to smile. "Pain is nothing, Nesseth. But loneliness... darkness... still, thank you. I shall... I shall hold onto this moment, for as long as I am able."
Otiax: "
Nesseth starts to respond, wanting to tell Xochi that everyone that knows her in Respite is hoping to see her again, but the words die in his throat as he hears the whispers of... something, in his ear. As Xochi descends, he sees the mask. "Fail? Like hell I'm going to fail this!" He twists about and starts trying to ascend back to the surface, "Xochi, we'll all get you back one way or another!"
Xochi sinks, beyond the reach of Nesseth's voice as the coils of the dead embrace her once again...
Otiax: "
Nesseth scoffs a bit as he continues his ascent, one arm held up above his head to ease his efforts a little by streamlining the water flowing about him. The light of the Hunter guides him, growing brighter as the surface of the sea draws closer. "Keep it up, I'm not above taking a swing at you if you keep mouthing off."
Otiax: "
Nesseth focuses on swimming to the surface, but he still responds in kind, knowing the... thing is still following him. "Shows what you know... I only choose violence when someone threatens the safety of my friends, and you fit that bill." He grits his teeth a bit, "If it's a balance that's needed, a balance will be kept, just not how you're hoping."
Otiax laughs again, like nails on a chalkboard, they weren't moving but still..through some sort of twisted dream logic they were still -there- "
Otiax: YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE BODIES THE WATER!
Nesseth starts to slow down when something, or perhaps more specifically someone, moves into view, their features shadowed by the starlight filtering down from above. He feels a strong grip grab his uplifted arm, along with an alarmingly loud voice ringing in his ears, but before he can process much of it, the world goes dark...
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NESSETH'S BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING
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Nesseth rests in bed with Erika and Vix, though all is not good at the moment as he shifts about, his expression discomfited as he wrestles with a nightmare... though not one of his own making. His stirrings have been slowly getting more and more fitful as his dream, whatever it might be, progresses...
Vix slowly comes to waking beside Nesseth as he squirms and struggles. She clings a little tighter to his arm, still sleepy
Erika sleeping with Nesseth as well, with his head halfway resting on her chest and neck. The okapi is back to herself again, and the three sort of 'celebrated' this fact the previous night. For the moment, she is out like a light.
Nesseth seems to settle down a little as Vix clings to his side, but he's still squirming... His heartrate is also up, and it's almost like he's in some kind of particularly stressful situation.
Erika sleepily holds closer to Nesseth as well, not waking up quite yet.
Vix leans up and kisses Nesseth's cheek, though she gets bonked on the nose when he moves. "Ack..."
Nesseth lets out a gasp as he wakes up, and the moment he does, his scales suddenly become *extremely* damp, like he just climbed out of a river. "Ahh! X-Xochi! W-where the...?"
Vix squeaks and bristles as her fur is suddenly dampened. "Ah! W-wait, when did you shower??"
Erika stirs awake at Nesseth yelling out: "Mmmrf..?" She feels very confused about the wetness of the lizard she's holding: "Mm? MNesseth...?" She blinks her eyes open at Vix's squeak: "Guh?!"
Nesseth 's breathing slows down a little as he realizes he's in bed and not in that nightmare realm he'd found Xochi in, and he lets out a slightly stressed groan as he takes a few seconds to wipe his face and flop his head against his pillow.
Vix flops next to Nesseth and hugs him as tight as she can manage (despite the dampness)
Erika raises her head enough to get a look at the lizard: "N-Nesseth, why are you wet? W-what happened?"
Nesseth shakes his head a little as he gets his focus more in order. "I... I don't know... Had a nightmare, I guess... Saw Xochi and... ugh..." He trails off, not wanting to immediately remember the details of what he was dealing with.
Erika shifts enough to hug Nesseth tightly, nuzzling his frills.
Nesseth finds his stress draining away really fast as he snuggles against both Vix and Erika, his heart rate slowing down much more readily as his dream fades further and further. "Sorry for waking you two up..."
Erika hums softly: "No problem, but uh... must have been one heck of a dream." She leans over to kiss him, smiling warmly.
Vix shivers a bit. "Do we have another towel? Can't use the one from last night..."
Nesseth leans into the kiss for a few seconds, then leans back again. "I, uh... found Xochi, I think... It was a dream, but... she's been missing for a bit, hasn't she?" He looks over at Vix and nods, "Yeah... there should be a few fresh ones in the cupboard. I'll have to change the sheets out anyway from all this... water?"
Erika gets up to sitting from on top of Nesseth, nodding uncertainly: "Xochi has been... around, though? But like, not herself."
Vix gets up and gracefully scampers to the cupboard to grab some fresh towels, muttering. "Talk about a wet dream~"
Nesseth lets his arm slip away from around Vix's shoulders as she slides out of bed to retrieve the towels. "She... has?" He pauses, then sits up a bit, propping himself up on his elbows, "Wait... she has?"
Erika shrugs: "I just helped her, or at least someone who is very very very similar to her, figure out the best plants for a garden." She pauses, frowning: "Again."
Vix reappears with a couple towels in her arms and one draped over her bare shoulders. "Yeah, she's like...a younger Xochi? Says she's a princess on the run or somethin'."
Nesseth digests that information from Erika and Vix. "A coatl... that had to be Xochi, then. There haven't been any since the Snake Royal Family died during the war a few decades ago." He tilts his head at Erika, "A Snake with really nice, multicolored feathers all over her wings?"
Erika nods: "Yup, that's her. Insists on being called Xochicoatl, too."
Nesseth looks between Erika and Vix. "Do you two know where she might be? There's something weird going on with her."
Nesseth pauses, then adds. "Well... not right now, of course, but in general."
Erika shrugs slightly: "She's come to my garden, and she's not at her usual house I think. Don't really know, sorry."
Vix nods. "I put her up in Louma's house. Uh...don't ask how..."
Erika blinks at Vix: "Oh."
Nesseth raises an eyebrow. "At... Louma's place? How long ago?"
Vix counts on her fingers. "Uh, Louma was taking care of her last time I went over...but I let her in while Louma was on vacation."
Erika hums: "Curious. I guess Louma's fine with it, then?"
Nesseth hums thoughtfully. "Well... guess I need to talk to Louma when I get a chance, then... Can't do much about things right now, anyway. Too early in the morning. At least..." He turns a bit and squints past Erika's neck at the window, "...I think it's early morning?"
Erika shrugs: "More or less." She gives Nesseth's chest a poke: "And I'm not letting you go out investigatin' before you rest without those nightmares. Right, Vix?"
Vix nods and lays a towel over Nesseth's face. "Why are ya worried about Xochi anyways? Sure she's weird right now, but how do you know about that?"
Nesseth mrrfs as the towel covers his face, and he reaches up to pull it off and wipe some of his scales dry. "I don't know... she went missing a bit after we all came back from the Prominence, and now she's back, but... younger, and acting different? It's just really strange."
Vix tilts her head. "Was she in your dream?" She gasps. "Oh, did my dream guardian help??"
Erika shrugs slightly as she helps Nesseth towel up: "Strange is a pretty relative term around these parts. I was on all fours just yesterday."
Nesseth shakes his head. "No... it's... hard to say. Not even sure it was a dream or what, but... there was water everywhere in that place. Xochi was trapped under the waves, and she asked me to find her "other self"."
Erika blinks a couple of times, pausing in her toweling as she looks at Nesseth: "...definitely qualifies as strange, that. Considering you're wet, too."
Vix licks Nesseth's shoulder to test something. "Hmmm...tastes like..."
Vix blinks. "Fresh water."
Nesseth hums a bit at that detail. "Mmh... I wasn't really sweating, I guess. But... where the hell did the water come from?" He sighs and shakes his head, "I guess it doesn't matter much at the moment."
Erika nods as she continues toweling: "What matters is we get you all dry and comfy with us."
Nesseth smiles at Vix and Erika. "If you two don't mind getting up for a little bit, we should change the sheets before we get comfy again..."
Erika sticks her tongue out: "Fine, let's do that first. Helps with the 'dry' part." She gets up from the bed, grinning.
Vix clambers off the bed. "Okay, but get ready for a slightly damp pounce hug, mister~"
Nesseth chuckles a bit as he gets up as well and starts to strip the sheets off in preparation for changing them for fresh ones. "You know I'm always ready for pounces, Vix." He grins as he bundles the sheets and goes to put them aside for cleaning, "Besides, fresh sheets means we can get even more cozy~"
Erika starts changing the sheets with a grin: "There is that. Clearly too early to be getting up, and we got to keep you all cozy."
Vix dives onto the bed as Nesseth adds the top sheet, giggling
Nesseth steps back as Vix lands on the sheets, then smirks as he goes to pounce on her in turn. He sneaks a kiss, then rolls off to the side and waves Erika to join them. "Besides, I need to make it up to you two for waking you both up."
Erika doesn't hesitate to join, making her way to snuggling the two: "Clearly you do. By relaxing~."
Nesseth hugs Erika and Vix both with a warm grin on his face, then gives the two a good kiss each. "Love you both so much~"
Erika smirks, kisses Nesseth back and then returns the favor to Vix as well. "Mmm, love you too."
Vix claims a place on top of Nesseth and purrs. "Love you, three~"