text;

[necromanswers]

Hey folks. PSA for you. Name's Lup, I own Affurgato. Congrats to those who've already met my fabulous self.

As a heads up: I'm a lich. Other terms include: undead, corpse-walker, monster, abomination. Someone screamed "The Raven's Misfortune" at me once and I thought that was delightfully poetic.

If you have a problem with this, you can eat my entire ass. If you want to BRING your problem to me, I'll be happy to set YOUR ass on fire.

Now, are there any deeply personal details I ought to know about you in order for us to be friends? Apparently I have trust issues and aren't accustomed to mortal cultural norms.

that's all, have a great day or whatever

Comments

[necromanswers]

It's fine. Anything I don't want to answer, I won't.

[She swirls her wine idly, fingers stroking through the fur of one of the cats. If not for her somewhat muted expression, she might look the part of a supervillain, which is apt as hell.]

I'm not the only one, but it's definitely not normal. It's called taboo for good reason- most liches lose their minds and end up as evil monstrosities that bands of adventuring heroes love to put down.

[scourgingstars]

Logical enough. Apparently that's what I'm to end up doing myself, though the details as I know them are a touch complicated.

[Funny enough, the supervillain look only really set Ardyn more at ease. It was hard to seem like anything terrible when covered in cats.]

...I'm the only one. There are other daemons, to be sure, uncountable numbers. But none of them quite like I am. To be a little blunt myself, 'Raven's Misfortune' is a good bit more preferable to what I'm called back home.

[necromanswers]

'Raven's Misfortune' is only good out of context. It just means there's a goddess out there who wants my soul in her Eternal Stockade.

[Which is about as fun as it sounds, but also probably a little familiar, eyyy.]

I know of one other like me, and that's because we ended up like this together. Care to explain what exactly it is you are, other than unique?

[scourgingstars]

I certainly wouldn't dare call it a compliment by any means.

[cool that sure sounded Fun]

...There was--is a plague upon our world, one that turns afflicted mortals into monsters. I was the only one with the power to cure them of it, so that was what I did. Except...'curing' it meant taking the ailment upon my own shoulders. I was resistant enough that it did not affect me the same as it did most; while hardly immune to it, I kept my sense of self and didn't turn as others would.

A fair few things happened between then and now, but I'll spare you the unfortunate details right away. Eventually I was killed--or the attempt was certainly made, though you can see it didn't exactly take. I'm neither dead nor am I quite alive, not fully human or mindless daemon. So I couldn't tell you 'what' exactly.

[necromanswers]

Oof, buddy. Big oof, there.

[That's Not How Healing Works. What a shitty power. It does explain a lot of the... darkness vibe he's carrying at all times. And the cold hands, and the scars, and- a lot, basically.]

The in-between is pretty familiar, though. Rather than human and daemon, I'm elf and lich- if you want to be technical, this body is dead, and it only pretends to be alive because I'm possessing it. Not exactly sure what you would call that, either.

[Hence why 'abomination' is the commonality, probably.]

[scourgingstars]

[sucks, is what it is]

I don't even know if this body is real, if that makes you feel any better. Tangible, certainly--most of the time. Whatever it is, it isn't a living human.

[necromanswers]

Kind of you to say, but I don't really need anything to make myself feel better. Not about what I am, at least.

[She lifts her glass as a small salute towards him.]

Monsters, daemons, whatever else- we are who we are. That's how I like it. Anyone who thinks otherwise... well, I meant what I said.

[Her ass, there to be eaten.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn smiled a little shakily, the expression half-hidden behind his own glass.]

...I admit I envy that confidence.

[necromanswers]

That's fair. It's an enviable thing to have.

[She leans back, glancing sidelong at him.]

How long have you been like this?

[scourgingstars]

...

[Ardyn didn't meet Lup's look, unnaturally gold eyes finding a spot of some apparent fascination on the furthest wall.]

...Two thousand years.

[necromanswers]

[She whistles, falling silent for a long moment. Long time.]

And how many good experiences have you had with being what you are?

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn didn't answer that, setting his glass down and loosely folding his arms as if he was trying to hide both hands from view. Even if he thought of an answer, anything he could come up with just sounded pathetic. How long had he been here, less than a year? Any good experiences he'd had being some wretched thing had all been in such a short timespan.]

[necromanswers]

[No answer to a question like that is definitely an answer in and of itself. She waits, in case he needs time to consider, before she speaks again when nothing comes.]

...Okay. New question: what can you do? Are there powers that come with what you are?

[Besides the undying bit, because there's limited fun in someone trying to kill you and not dying from it. Kind of requires the right circumstances and a really theatrical reveal.]

[scourgingstars]

...I already had powers as a mortal, and I've kept those. But apart from that...a few things? I am not sure I know the full range of it, and I would rather not find out if there's more I haven't realized yet.

[The last thing he wanted was to just start having daemons fall out of his pockets everywhere he went, one tonberry was enough.]

[necromanswers]

C'mon, dude, throw me a bone and roll with this. Useful skills, specifics. "A few things" doesn't help, it's too vague.

[There has to be a perk here, and she's gonna dig until she finds one.]

[scourgingstars]

As I said, I don't quite know how real this body is. So I can...turn intangible and travel from one point to another? But I could already do that, essentially.

[get a big shovel.]

...There's nothing 'useful' to any of it. Anything else I could do is...dangerous.

[necromanswers]

[...that

that is really useful though]

Intangible travel? Is it different from the warping thing you all do?

[Because that sounds cool as heck. Details please.]

And dangerous doesn't mean something isn't useful, either.

[scourgingstars]

Not different enough to matter, save that it doesn't need to be done in only a straight line. It feels more instinctive than anything, warping is...easier.

[And it didn't remind him he was an abomination himself.]

I can change my appearance, as well--I'm not all that certain how, I just tend to call it magic to simplify the explanation.

[necromanswers]

[Sure sounds like avoidance to her!]

Sorry if this is prying too hard, but... I think it's important. Can you show me?

[scourgingstars]

[He looked uneasily to the door; no, she'd said they were closed. The last thing he'd want was for anyone who already knew what he'd no doubt eventually use that power for to walk in now.]

[There was a faint distortion of something supernatural in the air around him, and Lup sat across from herself, looking very uneasy. Ardyn's voice had changed to mimic hers as well, though the cadence and inflection was entirely his own hesitant and quiet wording.]



It just sort of...works, on the same level as turning to shadow. I don't know how to explain it any more than I would be able to explain breathing.

[necromanswers]

[Her eyes widen, shocked quiet for a long moment.]

Holy shit.

[And when the moment passes she beams, eyes bright and delighted, and claps her hands.]

It's perfect! I can't even tell! And the voice changes, too!

[scourgingstars]

What? [Stunned, Ardyn leaned back slightly as if he almost wanted a quick emergency exit from this situation.] But it's...wrong. Something like this...c-could be misused any number of horrible ways and probably will be someday in the future, how can you...be so impressed by it?

[necromanswers]

I can think of a handful of reasons. Good reasons.

[She gestures with a hand, and with a glimmer of arcane energy, her own form shifts-]



This for example...

[Her voice is not the same as his, but she's doing a surprisingly solid impression of his tone, albeit with a little more confidence than is normal. She could have done a proper Polymorph and had an exact voice, but she'd prefer to confirm his reaction to the visual first. No sense in blowing a 4th level spell when level 1 does the trick.]

[scourgingstars]

How did you--

[error 404 please reboot]

...This is getting a bit too strange even for me. Are you satisfied enough that I can change back now?

[necromanswers]

Awww. So soon?

[Hey, Ardyn, have you ever seen yourself pouting? Because Lup is pouting a little. But okay, fine- she gestures for him to go ahead if he wants, and she'll even drop her illusion when he does.]

It's not such a terrible skill to have, in a pinch. Any power can be used well if it's used smart.