[superhell pcs] zelgadis

[voidshift]

Comments

[hardrocklife]

[He hurries past Rynlan, turns a corner and... nope, it's another mirror. He shuts his eyes.]

That can't be... It was right over here.

[He turns around -- another mirror behind him.]

... I need to get out of here.

[voidshift]

What about this way-

[...no, the mirror was just at an angle. his hair tentacles shift, the movement reflected all around him, and he squeezes his eyes shut.]

What's wrong with this place?!

[hardrocklife]

[Another corner turned, another mirror in his way. Zelgadis brings a hand over his face, stepping back.]

Everywhere I go...

Must this accursed face follow my every step!?

[voidshift]

[...ah. he winces, when he hears that, ears pinning back flat just for a second.]

Hell wants us to be tormented, remember. Don't-- don't give it the satisfaction.

[there's enough tension in his voice, though, to make it clear he's not doing great at that either. he gets turned around once more, muttering angrily under his breath-]

Damn it, do they think this is funny-- I got rid of that mirror for a reason!

[hardrocklife]

What...?

[He looks over his shoulder in surprise. For a moment, his attention's torn away from his own misery. In that moment, he realizes he can see something that looks different from the other mirrors -- a door?]

This way!

[He grabs a fistful of Rynlan's robe (or whatever he's wearing) and pulls him towards it.]

[voidshift]

[-damn. he quietly curses himself for that slipping out, but there are more important things to worry about. for example: suddenly finding himself pulled another direction, with a startled yelp of surprise.

he's definitely not expecting to be grabbed, and stumbles for a step or two as he's pulled; it takes him a moment longer than it probably should to stabilize himself and follow properly, but whatever complaints he might have are stifled. if it gets them out of here, he doesn't care.]

Oh, that had better be what it looks like-

[hardrocklife]

[It's the exit. Zelgadis bursts through the door, dragging Rynlan along. They're outside!

Then he lets go, falls to his hands and knees, and takes in several ragged breaths. Trying to calm himself down.]

[voidshift]

Finally.

[he breathes that out as he slumps back against the wall for support, spending a minute to settle himself as well; his ears eventually relax a little, and he sighs, though he doesn't move.]

Fuck that place. Are you all right...?

[hardrocklife]

[After a few moments, he slams his fist into the ground with a heavy thud. Then, he turns his body around and sits. He keeps a hand pressed over his face.]

I'll live. Damn it...

... You?

[voidshift]

About the same.

[when he sits, ryn follows suit, just sort of sliding right down the wall to the ground.]

Don't think we'd get away with trying to get rid of the place, or I'd be tempted...

[hardrocklife]

Could maybe put together some explosives... Might have the ingredients for it.

[is that a joke.]

... Didn't know this stuff bothered you, too.

[voidshift]

We're in hell, it wouldn't last.

[suffering torment etc]

...I'd rather avoid them. It isn't-- I'm not uncomfortable with myself. [that sounds a little too defensive.] But this is... not how I prefer to remember myself, exactly.

[hardrocklife]

... There's another way you'd rather be remembered?

[voidshift]

It isn't how I've always been, I'll put it that way.

[it can be-- difficult, to be visually confronted with it.]

[hardrocklife]

Wait... you too!?

[voidshift]

What do you mean, you too-

[-oh. he glances back to zelgadis, there, attention more properly focused.]

...that's what you meant, wasn't it? When you said you were seeking some sort of cure?

[hardrocklife]

... Yeah.

[His hand slowly lowers... then he pulls the scarf down from his face.]

This face you see is not mine by choice. My body was turned into this wretched form some years ago.

[voidshift]

...I'm sorry. It's- I know it's not easy, to feel like you're not living in your own body.

[he's been there-- he still is.]

[hardrocklife]

[... he nods. yeah.]

... How'd it happen, for you?

[voidshift]

...in degrees, over time. This- [a gesture to the tentacle hair, to himself in general, the blue situation,] was the most recent, but my people have always been susceptible to change influenced by magic. We became a separate species of elf entirely from our ancestors, over centuries without our original magic source. We were tainted by the demonic energy we were forced to turn to after the new source we found was corrupted.

[his fingers tap idly on his leg where his hand rests, a little jittery.]

I lost- more than I expected, in war, and I couldn't-- there was no returning to how things were before. That was when it started. Then we were corrupted by the Void while trying to study it, and you can see well enough the sort of change that resulted in.

[hardrocklife]

[Oh. He's an elf. Yeah, Zelgadis had no idea, and that... wasn't particularly high on his list of guesses.]

A gradual corruption...? I didn't know that sort of thing could happen... on a physical level, anyway.

... You've had it rough, huh.

[voidshift]

I've already lived twice as long as many humans, I think that just comes with it. You haven't had it easy either.

[more years, more time to Suffer... he just shrugs. it's the downside of the lifespan.]

No cure on my end, though. Most of the damage can't be healed, and the corruption changes us too deeply to simply reverse it.

[hardrocklife]

[Well, that's depressing.]

You really think it's hopeless?

[voidshift]

I was a healer long enough to know when something can't be fixed.

[it's the way of things, sometimes, much as he hates it. maybe he thought once that anything could be healed; he's been proven wrong, since.]

As for the corruption, suppose I could always suffuse myself with another form of magic, but that's just a different type of change.

...what does your condition encompass, if you don't mind my asking? I can make a guess or two [you know, rock stuff], but.

[hardrocklife]

[......]

... I'm human.

Weak and talentless, I yearned to be stronger. A certain man decided to grant my wish... by fusing my body with that of a rock golem and blow demon. He made me into a chimera -- a product of science and sorcery.