[center][h3][color=a187be]Neeza[/color][/h3]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/gMPba7Z.png[/img][/center][hr]

[color=a187be]"I didn't mean as a punishment,"[/color] Neeza clarified, [color=a187be]"But as the body needs food, water, and exercise, the mind needs education and regular discipline. It's not about being penalized, it's about experiencing pain for pain's sake. How else can we prepare ourselves for entry into the Abyss? How can the Abyss accept us when all we've known is ignorance and comfort?"[/color]

When Leader made the spanking motion, Neeza's normally stoic face faltered for a moment as a light blush started to develop. Back at the monastery, she had been subjected to various forms of physical stress and torment, but the monks always seemed to have avoided the act of spanking. Perhaps they considered it too 'sexual' in nature and so refrained from it as it went against their asceticism and celibacy. Neeza was surprised that this was Leader's go-to when it came to physical punishment. Still, she acquiesced, [color=a187be]"I-I wouldn't mind being s-spanked if it prepared me for the rigors of the Abyss..."[/color]

When he asked her about sleep, she was relieved to change the subject, [color=a187be]"How can I sleep knowing that the greatest unknown lies at my feet? How can I sleep, knowing that I dawdle up here, while my mission is down there? I am...impatient to be tested by the Abyss, to have it push me to my limits, or else break me. To have it teach me in its mysterious and subtle ways. To be changed, to be elevated. When I first heard of the Abyss, across the great sea, my mind's eye saw whispers of divinity, but here, right next to it, I hear nothing, yet it calls to me. But perhaps this too is a lesson in patience, in endurance. I am being tested by comfort. I will overcome this test, I will not allow this comfort to make me soft. I will wait until the Abyss has signaled to me when I am allowed to enter."[/color] Neeza reached for the offered cup of tea, hoping to taste acrid bitterness, but finding it mild, and lightly sweetened, to her dismay. Still, she allowed herself to enjoy it, at least a little bit, to take in the mixture of tastes and fragrances, to let the warmth rush through her body and calm her nerves.