36 | In Which the Wizard Returns [Dictated]

[strangewonders]

[There's a muffled groan over the journal, then a rustling noise before a groggy-sounding voice can be heard]

I must have hit my head...

[But no, that's not quite right. There's a sudden flurry of flipping pages, and suddenly he sounds far less groggy and far more alarmed.]

Oh, dear.

Comments

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

Eloquent as always, Howl.

[Don't mind him, he's just grouchy and a little mentally unstable because the floor is made of water.]

dictated;

[strangewonders]

Oh, yes. So very sorry. Give me a moment and I'm sure I'll manage to express myself in terms better fitting with your standards.

[Sorry, Felix, he's got his own rising panic levels to deal with at the moment.]

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

[Well then, that was a surprising amount of venom from Howl. Which he woul take a moment to examine more closely if he were in a better mood.]

I'd be happy to wait.

dictated;

[strangewonders]

You may be waiting awhile, then.

[Yes, yes, he's contradicting himself, but he's not particularly focused enough to care]

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

Are you otherwise engaged?

[Which, it dawns on him, might be the case. But he's not immediately going to admit he might be wrong]

dictated;

[strangewonders]

I might be shortly.

[But if that becomes the case, it won't be the sort of engagement anyone would enjoy]

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

Which what? [Considering pro-activeness isn't one of Howl's stronger traits]

dictated;

[strangewonders]

I'd rather not explain. It's probably nothing.

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

You're a terrible liar. [There's probably a nicer way to ask what's really wrong, but he's not able to get at it at the moment]

dictated;

[strangewonders]

Wonderful. List in on my obituary.

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

[He's already annoyed, but honestly Howl...]

It's a little late for that, don't you think?

[Which is the first he's even remotely acknowledged what happened last week]

[wishmadeinfire]

Are you all right, Howl? You sound as if something is wrong.

_{[ Funny, how he was more attune to that - the sound and pitches of the voice - since his eyesight had gone. ]}

[strangewonders]

Other than the fact that I seem to have been very dead for a week, you mean?

[Okay, so he's not doing so well at that 'calm' thing, at the moment.]

I'm... not sure.

[wishmadeinfire]

Ah, you were one of the ones that passed too.

I can sympathize.

Other than acclimating to be alive once more, is there anything else amiss?

[strangewonders]

Knowing I had company is not very reassuring. [It's more alarming, if anything] Whatever that thing was is gone now, right?

[Yes, good. Focus on something other than the creeping suspicion that something is still very wrong]

I'm... having some trouble accessing any of my magic.

[But he's still breathing so maybe it'll be... okay.]

[wishmadeinfire]

As far as I know? Yes. Whatever it was, it seems to have been driven off at the least.

I am sure it will come back. I can only hope the same for my eyes. Prices, perhaps, for returning from the dead?

[strangewonders]

Those are usually rather permanent, aren't they?

[Nooot helping his anxiety levels, really]

Wait, your eyes?

[That bit has just caught up to him, and he sincerely hopes Ashura is not being literal]

[wishmadeinfire]

I rather hope not. This is not something I wish to adjust to, thank you very much.

And yes, my eyes - It seems I am blind for the time being.

[strangewonders]

[Oh, well. That's... not really better, but at least it's probably less terrible than the more literal interpretation would be]

Let's hope for both our sakes that it's not, then...

[He rather likes living, for one...]

[wishmadeinfire]

I appreciate any good will you could send my way towards that end.

Dare I ask what price it is making you pay?

[strangewonders]

I'll see what I have to spare.

[He's a little lacking at the moment]

It just... took my magic, I think. I can't seem to do anything.

[Which wouldn't be so distressing--he'd gone the better part of his life without any at all--but he needed it now, and he didn't for a moment trust the castle with the tenuous thread of a spell that kept him tied to his own world]

[wishmadeinfire]

So it is as if you are in the Dead Zone?

_{[ He understood the uncomfortableness and panic of that. He never licked it when the Castle stole their magic, left him without his fire. He had come to rely on it in battle more than he realized at times, and at the same time it felt like a part of his being had been... hidden from himself. Yes, very unsettling. ]}

[strangewonders]

I'm not sure. I've never gone out there...

[With very good reason]

I just can't use any of it.

[wishmadeinfire]

It sounds like the Dead Zone then. Out there, I cannot access any of my fire magic - I have to rely on my weapons. I understand how you feel. It is not comfortable.

[strangewonders]

That would be putting it lightly.

[wishmadeinfire]

I am sure it is only temporary. I do not think you would rely on it to much here, in the Castle?