"I'm finally done, thank the heavens above!" Zenesha cheered. It was the most expressive Laura has ever seen the woman.
The ice fox was finally able to complete the backlog of work she had left. With the help of Laura, who had extra free time after meeting with all the Condors a few days ago, they were able to get through everything quickly. However, Zenesha had to bribe the wolf by allowing them to sleep on her bed at night.
Laura, who was given their own spot off to the side of the room, was slumped over her desk. She has never done this type of work in her life and questioned why mortals would put themselves through something so mind numbingly boring. She looked at the cheering fox and smiled, getting joy from seeing her so happy.
"I love you like this." She muttered.
"What did you say?" Zenesha asked with a tilt of her head.
"Nothing, you just look so happy is all." Responded the void wolf.
"That I am my little Voidling." Zenesha responded
"Excuse me, but I'm not some inferior Voidling." Laura said, sounding offended. "I grew out of that, I'm a Forsaken, otherwise I wouldn't be able to walk around here without attaching myself to someone."
"Oh, sorry." Apologized the fox, taken aback by Laura's attitude.
"You're fine, not like I told you what kind of void creature I was." Laura said with a smile. "I can't stay mad at you anyway princess."
"So, what do you mean by attaching?"
"It's what the deals are for darling." She answered. "It's a better and much more stable force to anchor ourselves to the physical world than the way I do it."
"So why don't you do it?"
"I don't like it…. How old do you think I am Zenesha?"
"Fare older than me, right? Hundreds, maybe thousands of years old?"
"Not even close." Laura said. "I'm young, probably one of the youngest Forsaken alive today. I'm closer to your age than that of a typical void creature."
"That's…."
"Shocking? I know." Standing up, the wolf walked over to Zenesha's desk before leaning on it. "My point is that despite my age I was able to become a Forsaken early and leave the void just in time."
"I never had to go through the process that every single one of my kind must go through. I never had to make deals or rely on the negative emotions of mortals." She explained. "I was able to leave and experience reality by myself and I loved it."
"How did you manage to accomplish such a thing?" Zenesha asked with clear fascination on learning more about her species, despite the fact her expression still refused to change.
"... It wasn't easy…." Laura trailed off, a blank look crossing her face.
"So, if deals are much more efficient for staying within reality, is there an alternative?" Zenesha asked, avoiding Laura's past.
Hearing this the wolf woman seemed to come back to her senses and perked up. "Yes, there is. It still involves attaching oneself to something in reality, but it can't be any random thing."
"Explain."
"We have to find something created in reality that we love. Could be an object, an animal… or a person."
"Why don't more of your people do that then?" The fox asked, tilting her head to the side.
"We can't."
"What does that mean? You're all incapable of love?"
"We're capable, but the void…." Laura paused again. "Anyway, it's not impossible, but you won't find many of us loving anything from reality."
"What about you?" Zenesha asked.
In response Laura just smiled at the woman in front of her. She went off to the side and grabbed Zenesha's overcoat and handed it to her. Taking the coat from the wolf, the fox stood up with a confused look on her face.
"Well, it doesn't matter right now anyway." She said, "Let's get some lunch then. I'll cook."
"You didn't answer my question." Zenesha pointed out following Laura out of the room before changing the subject. "What are you planning to make today?"
"That's a surprise."
=======
Laura overlooked the military compound and the city from atop the Central Tower. There was something off in this place, she felt it while meeting the Condor's, but she can't remember how or when it happened. There were gaps in her memory, and she didn't like that.
'If I'm being affected then Zenesha might be in real danger.' She thought.
Next to her was two gallons of essence. She didn't think she'd need that much, but it never hurt to have extra. Taking a deep breath Laura let herself become less mortal, go beyond the bounds of reality just a little bit and reach out. Letting her senses touch every corner of the compound and the city beyond it.
She wouldn't be able to precisely pinpoint anything, but she could get a general idea of what's wrong. She didn't belong to reality, her very existence was an insult to creation itself, a child of the void. Which also meant there was little here that could truly affect her, for she was also the very counter to existence, allowing her to ignore the rules of the universe to an extent if given the power.
"Found it. There's a few here actually." Laura muttered, her eyes narrowing.
"Ather." She growled. "Remnants of when the Celestials still watched over this planet.… unless they left behind a gift so this world can counter my kind."
The question now on Laura's mind was how much of this Ather was already here, held by Zenesha's orders, and how much is being held by individuals with their own intent. If her guess was correct then someone was using Ather to mask themselves from, keeping them from being noticed somehow.
'Ather is one of the few things here that can affect my kind, so it isn't that surprising I'm being blocked.'
Laura sighed as she looked over the world below. She grabbed one of the gallon containers next to her and began to drink. The subtle pressure of the Voids call receding with every gulp. By the time she finished she felt bloated.
"That's not pleasant at all." She groaned. "I need Zenesha's presence to cheer me up."
Standing up Laura grabbed the remaining container and disappeared from view. The next moment she was in Zenesha's room, standing next to her bed. Looking around she didn't see the fox inside, nor did she hear the water running in the bathroom.
"Must be out. I'll just wait here."
Snapping her fingers the wolf changed from her regular clothing to her sleepwear. She plops herself down on Zenesha's bed and sat cross legged. She resembled a dog waiting for their master at the door, the type to get really excited when their owner came home.
'Somethings wrong with me.' She thought with a smile. 'I shouldn't be getting so attached.'
Like most of her species Laura preferred being in reality than in the void. Though unlike others she had just a little more compassion than usual, though not by much. She didn't like deals, it made her feel guilty, but outside of fulfilling her instincts of providing help, she didn't care for others.
Sure, she had fun exploring, but helping people always felt like a job; an obligation rather than something she truly wanted to do. That's how it always felt. She didn't care for people, not truly. She would feel bad if they died, but that was about as far as it went. She never went out of her way to befriend anyone.
Not until Zenesha. She didn't know what it was, there was nothing special about the woman. Nothing. She was just a random person in a random world in a random country. While it wasn't an instant attraction, at some point Laura started feeling… something for her.
"At this point I might just listen to anything she tells me to do." She paused and thought for a moment. "Almost anything, I refuse to go back to not sleeping on her bed."
"Are you seriously going to stay there?" Zenesha asked, hearing Laura's last statement as she entered.
"Of course, there's nowhere else I would like to be in the world."