028 ☣ public post

[fridgetothefire]

[When the view clicks on, Anya is obviously changed. She has the glowing blue eyes, and her skin looks almost grey. She isn't quite light-skinned enough for classic pallor, but the color is leached from her face. She sits still and straight, with a degree of composure that is, in fact, precisely normal for her. She missed breakfast today, and now it's quite clear why.]

I've allowed Arthas to make me into a zombie for a few days. It is entirely temporary, and I am in control of myself and my faculties. There is no need for anyone to be alarmed.

Comments

[deadly_ned]

I've actually...talked a lot to him about this exact thing. Not the Deathknight parts. The other bits.

[fridgetothefire]

Which bits, then?

[Less prickly now, actually curious.]

[deadly_ned]

Bits having to do with death. Mostly.

[fridgetothefire]

...oh fine, be that way.

[But she's a little amused, not angry. She's the last person who can fault someone for being cagey.]

Well, ask him about the Death Knight bits too, if you want.

[deadly_ned]

Sorry. It's best that it's kept between us. Arthas is very secretive.

I will. This is the first I've heard of it.

[fridgetothefire]

You don't have to apologize. Not for that, anyway.

[deadly_ned]

What do I have to apologize for?

[fridgetothefire]

I can handle the consequences of my own actions.

And if that's in dispute, I'll thank you to bring it to me, or at least to Lua, rather than to Arthas. I'm not a child, and he isn't responsible for me.

[deadly_ned]

I'm sorry. You're an adult. You can handle the consequences.

[fridgetothefire]

It's fine that you're concerned. That's nice. I appreciate it.

But I've told you I'm okay, so don't...use me to lecture him. It's pointless and kind of demeaning to all three of us.

[She's not really mad anymore, as much as she ever was. It flickers up easily now, but thinking though it beats it down. And Ned's alright.]

[deadly_ned]

I didn't mean to demean. I'll be more careful in the future.


How.

How does it feel?

[fridgetothefire]

Strange. It feels strange.

Like someone replaced my bones and tendons with tinkertoys. Everything still moves right, but it feels - off, disconnected. And there's this constant, diffuse sense of...you know how when you're boiling something, and you accidentally pass your arm through the steam, and it's not quite hot enough to scald you, but all the hair on your arm singes and curls, how your skin there feels a little raw and tingly and exposed? A little like that, but everywhere at once.

[deadly_ned]

That sounds uncomfortable.

[fridgetothefire]

Yes. But - manageably so.

[deadly_ned]

Can I ask why?

[fridgetothefire]

Why it's manageable?

[deadly_ned]

Why you wanted to do it.

[fridgetothefire]

There were things I wanted to know. About the process, about myself. It's going fairly well.

And I wanted to help him, too. His reasons for wanting to experiment - made sense to me.

[deadly_ned]

I know. He's...he's a lot less angry than he used to be.

[fridgetothefire]

I'm glad.

[deadly_ned]

Thank you for coaxing out that better side of him.

[fridgetothefire]

You know, I don't think I coaxed him into anything.

[It's not that she doesn't do that, sometimes. It's not that she wasn't angling to. But she thinks, within their arrangement, he would have behaved as fairly to her either way.]

[deadly_ned]

You're a good influence.

[fridgetothefire]

I haven't even talked to him very much, except for asking questions about how this would work.

I took a chance on him, that's all. It could have been anyone.

[deadly_ned]

Straight out of an ABBA song.