Nanna wasn’t sure why she was so eager to share her experience in the Fade, nor was she certain hers was an experience so different from any other mage who went through their Harrowing. Perhaps Daya would hardly be surprised at all. Mouse’s information was not something she could entirely rely on, after all. But perhaps she sought insight and understanding even at risk of telling, as too she knew that her encounters within the realm of dreams might very well get her into trouble should word reach the wrong ears.

    “I met spirits there.” She whispers in ernest, in partial fear and excitement both. “Spirits that helped me and spoke to me beyond the demon I faced. I recall seeing wisps and the like in my dreams, but nothing as they were.”

oh, she’s familiar with this sort of story. few mages are willing to discuss their own harrowing, but when they are, the matter of spirits almost invariably crops up some way or another. even daya must confess to meeting one in the fade during her harrowing. but she’s always been wary of anything in the fade, spirits included; she’s more likely to assume everyone a DEMON than to trust what’s in front of her. 

“a spirit, huh? she keeps her voice neutral, squelching down the urge to make some joke or sarcastic remark. “what kind of spirit? they usually embody things, yeah?”

“yeah, i can guess the rest,” she muses. there’s a pause, then she adds, “how old were you?” she’s met kids who’ve come to the circles as young as toddler age and as old as their twenties --- for some reason, the question of age is something she obsesses over. 

   ‘ lost ? not quite , doamna . however , these templars seem intent upon accusing me of apostasy , ‘ vlad supplemented , raising his emerald gaze to the taller kossith woman .

“uh huh.” she doesn’t quite look impressed. she folds her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes down at him, scrutinising every inch of him in silence; then, after a few moments, she finally says, “ARE you an apostate?”

    “I would assume they wish to know we would resist at our weakest, yet…”

    Nanna was uncertain it was truly fair. Irving seemed adamant even as he worried. The Harrowing had earned its name. Even so, her time in the Fade was a wonder, even amid its peril. Some things grander than others. She sends to the horned woman a considering look, glances about to assure no prying ears would hear them, and lowered her voice considerably.

    “… Can you keep a secret?”

daya blinks, intrigued, and rolls back over onto her stomach so that she can rest her elbows on the bed’s edge and cradle her chin in her hands. there are few things she likes better than SECRETS. in such a small, closed-off community as a circle of magi, they’re practically the only things that make life interesting. “cross my heart and hope to die, babe spill.”

“if you ask me,” daya says, rolling lazily onto her back and tossing her head so that she can look at nanna upside down, “i think it’s a little morbid to toss us into that sort of shit without any preparation. I MEAN, gotta learn how to resist demons, yadda yadda --- but you’d think they might at least give us some heads up about it. it’s a bit of a freaky thing to get throw into head-first.” FREAKY is a bit of an understatement. “you look like you did okay, though. your head’s not severed, at least. that’s a win.”

SENTENCE STARTERS. Flirty/Suggestive/NSFW Edition.