EliteCommander

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

We really need to finish our collab soon, Leon. I'll be up for about 2 more hours, probably.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I...don't know if that is true. About the magic, I mean." Ahnasha responded. She pulled back from him just enough so that she could look into his eyes. "I suppose it could go wrong, but...it could go right too. I remember reading about this one Dunmer wizard, Div...Divayth Fyr, I think, who has been alive since the First Era. Copies of his books used to pass through my parents' shop from time to time. He has been alive for thousands of years and is perfectly fine. I doubt I could go that far, but...a few hundred could be possible. I don't know what's involved, and I'm sure I would have to spend a lot of time learning, researching, but maybe it could work?" Ahnasha said, her tone carrying with it a hint of desperation.She wanted to find something, anything that could solve this problem. No matter how unlikely it seemed, she was willing to try anything that could keep her alive for anywhere close to Fendros' life expectancy.

---

While Ariel and Sabine had been preparing the resistance potions, Meesei had been slowly sipping away at the regeneration potion she had been given. She was mostly finished with it by this point, and its effects were quite obvious. "Well, you were not lying about the soreness." She commented as she stood up and began to stretch her muscles. She began to walk around the cave to test and see how it felt to move. Unlike before, her stomach did not pain her when she tried to move. With a short magical examination of herself, she determined the potion was indeed helping. She wasn't completely healed yet, not enough for a fight, but she had mobility now. "I may not feel great, but I believe I am well enough to move, at least for a scouting run. Is this coven close enough to Vos that I will need my full city disguise, or can I use less restrictive clothing?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei and Lorag had been resting while they awaited the return of the others. Meesei had healed herself somewhat while they were away, but Ariel's potions would certainly still be welcome. Meesei thanked Ariel, then gladly took the potion and began to drink it slowly, as she instructed. Lorag was a bit more reluctant in accepting his potion, but Meesei had made it abundantly clear to him that he wasn't to deny her help over his pride. If for no other reason than to follow the instruction of his alpha, he took the bottle and started to apply the liquid to his kneecap. He absolutely despised the smell, but at least that meant there was something he could act like didn't bother him.

When Ariel asked about Ahnasha and Fendros, Lorag was the first to answer. "Catdog and lover boy went up to the surface for some 'shooting practice.' Personally, I think they just wanted to get away for some alone time, but who knows? You can go up to check on them if you really need to."

---

While it was comforting for her to know how much Fendros cared for her, his solution hardly seemed like a solution at all to her. The thought of what he was implying caused even more tears to form in her eyes until she suddenly hugged him around the neck and began sobbing on his shoulder. "No...there's no way I could ask that. That's...that's no solution. I mean...there has to be a better way. There is some magic, some necromancy that can do it, but..." She said, her words trailing off at the end. She gripped him even tighter, as if by holding him close, their souls would somehow never have to separate. "Why couldn't I have just been an elf? Everything would be so much easier. We could live our lives together, we wouldn't have to hide it...I would look beautiful to you. Right now, I'm nothing but trouble for you." Ahnasha commented, her despair turning inwards toward herself.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha sighed. "You know me too well. I won't try to hide it. I'm afraid about, well, a lot of things. Everything that seems to pop into my mind recently has me nervous for one reason or another." She said, letting out a sigh of resignation. She dispelled her bound bow and leaned herself against a nearby mushroom tree. Running her hands over her face, she let out a deep breath. "I haven't been able to see danger the same recently. I've never been afraid like this before. Death has always been something I've tried to avoid, but I wouldn't say I was afraid of it. After all, an eternity in Hircine's hunting grounds sounds like a paradise. Now, though...now I have a lot more to worry about. I'm a lycan, I can handle injury. I've been stabbed in the stomach before, but if that happened now, then I don't think our child would make it. Maybe...maybe I should start avoiding danger sooner than I planned? Maybe that would be for the best."

Sitting herself down next to the tree, Ahnasha looked up at Fendros as another of her worries popped into her mind. "And...there is another thing, one not so easily solved. It relates to you, or, well, and me too I suppose. It's just that...you're an Elf, and I'm not. You could reasonably expect to his a thousand years of age, while I would be incredibly lucky if I hit a hundred years. You're going to outlive me. You'll outlive me, our child, our child's children. I won't be a part of your life for hundreds of years. I...I can't even imagine that length of time. I knew about this before, but now that we're together, I've started to think about it more and more. I love you Fendros, and I don't want to lose you. I want our spirits to roam the Hunting Grounds side by side, but how could I even begin to ask that you be alone for so long?" With the emotion in her voice, it was easy to tell that this was something she had been thinking about deeply. As much as she wanted to maintain her composure, tears began to form in her eyes.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha grinned as Fendros put his arms around her. She rested her head lightly on his when he placed his head on her shoulder. "Even if she is, I'm sure Janius and Sabine will be enough to keep her honest during this little venture. And yes, I think I could stand to teach you a thing or two. Come on, let's get up to the surface and get some fresh air."

The pair walked hand-in-hand through the cave up to the surface, only separating to crawl through the collapsed wall of rocks. Ahnasha could see why the hunters chose the cave to be their base of operations. Aside from the obvious discomforts of being a cave, it was the perfect base. It had plenty of space, a natural source of water flowing through it, and its entrance was obscured in the mountainside by foliage. Once outside, Ahnasha led them a short distance away from the cave entrance, stopping underneath a mushroom tree next to a small clearing. Overall, it was a rather nice day outside. Ashstorms could pop up at any moment in Vvardenfell, but for the moment, the sky was perfectly clear. The sounds of birds and other creatures filled the air, making the area seem vibrant and alive, though the temperature was a bit hot.

"Alright, let's find a target for you to practice on. Soon enough, I'm not going to be fit enough for any sort of hunting or fighting, so you'll be the only archer available. I aim to get you ready for that responsibility." Ahnasha commented. Her tone did not betray it, but her words actually came with a good deal of fear. It wasn't that she did not believe Fendros could learn in time, it was that danger had been weighing much differently on her mind recently, among other issues she could not help but to worry about.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It is really late and I need to get to bed, so I put up a short response.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Nah, Runt's never seemed to mind the name." Lorag commented. "It took forever for Alpha to get even a name out of her, and we needed something. Runt was a joke, made by yours truly. It stuck. It's like a term of ender...end...enda."

"Endearment." Ahnasha interrupted.

"Yeah, right, that." Lorag said. He moved back over to his bedroll and sat down. As much as he hated it, he really couldn't be moving around unless he wanted his leg to get worse. "Oh, if you got anything for a broken kneecap in that shop of yours, I wouldn't deny it."

Once the others had finished their explanation, Meesei answered Ariel's question. "Beyond just healing potions, something for magicka, or perhaps invisibility would be helpful. I will be using my magicka heavily on healing for most of today, so I may be magically exhausted by tonight." She recommended.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei had laid back down on her bedroll to allow Ariel to examine her, which caused Sabine to take interest. It was comforting to know that her wounds could be mostly healed potentially by the end of the day, as she did not like being so weak. If Ariel needed to return to Vos, then Meesei had no issue allowing her to leave. "If you need something from your shop, then I have no problem with you going to get it. I would make sure to grab whatever else you think will be helpful as well, if only to reduce the number of trips you have to make." Meesei advised.

When Ariel asked about the nausea cures Ahnasha scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "Those would, uh, be for me. Werewolves are immune to diseases, so we do not really get sick, but...pregnancy can cause all the same symptoms." She explained. The circumstances were a bit awkward to explain, but she wasn't going to hide it. There was no reason to be ashamed of her cub. Besides, with how proficient of an alchemist Ariel seemed to be, Ahnasha was not about to pass up an opportunity to see if she had any remedies that could be helpful for her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I've been trying to convince him to resume the Fallen.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was not long before Meesei had washed away the blood that had coated her scales. She had picked her portions for her breakfast well, as she was able to finish everything she had taken. It was tempting to stay in the pool, but she really needed to work on healing her injuries, and Ariel could perhaps be of assistance with that. Meesei slowly and carefully climbed her way out of the water. Since her old bandages were bloodstained and worn, she left them behind and approached the campfire. Specifically, she walked up behind Ariel and lightly tapped her shoulder to grab her attention.

"Your alchemical skills do seem impressive, and I think I would like to take you up on your offer of assistance. I want to be able to scout this coven personally as soon as possible. Can you make something with the ingredients we have available to speed my recovery? I would like to be well enough to head out by tonight, if possible." Meesei asked.