[Shieba]

The Lok-Simanai wanted to say something to the small Drakelph still, but she teleported away before the Fellox could. Curiously, the medium watched the green smoke - this was far different from the way her master teleported. This world was full of surprises to her. She hoped the Drakelph would indeed find them again; the Lok-Simanai really wanted to ask the little creature about her way to teleport.

She continued to float slightly above Julian and Valdemar, not liking it to stay too close to the ground because it was odd to her to have it right under her paws without being able to walk on it. Julian's question was no surprise to her; she had tried to figure out an answer to it herself. As such, Valdemar's idea didn't only surprise Julian, but also her because it was quite logical.

She nodded when Julian addressed her. "I see no reason why I should have problems. As I said before, in the world I hail from, being a mage focused on illusions actually means seeing them better, not worse. It is quite interesting how both worlds seem to handle such an ability differently, yet they both make sense. I have not been confronted with an illusion in this world, though, so I cannot be fully sure if I am not suddenly forced into your system of magic. Would you mind creating a small illusion for me to test this out?"

Valdemar's next comment puzzled her a bit. There was no reason why she shouldn't be able to see Julian to her - unless he was an illusion himself? Was that what Valdemar was implying? Maybe Julian was a magical creature, just like his little companion? However, it would be rude to just pry. "If I return to my world, I need at least a few hours of sleep. Five should be enough, though my master would chide me for sleeping too little. I have enough food here that will stop me from having to take trips to gather more, so I should be able to return to this world in around six hours after I have to rest." She looked from Valdemar to Julian. "How about you? I have never seen a being like Mr. Valdemar before and also know little about the humans in this world. How long do you need to rest? If we could time this right, it would be even easier to find each other again, because even if I can see where you are, I still have to travel the distance."

Besides the practical use of discussing that, she was interested in the answer. If Julian was a magical being, he maybe needed less sleep. It was normally not her way to get information out of others in such a sneaky way, but if Julian wasn't human, he was obviously trying to keep up a human appearance - maybe with the help of an illusion? - and she didn't want to insult his magical skills or appear rude.

[Kodai]

"Ah… Yes, I will do that," Julian replied to her question of creating a test illusion, but he appeared to be a bit lost in thought. What should he create? Should he even make something separate? Valdemar had brought up a good point; if he didn't keep track of the time, he might end up in a spot of trouble later. Just because the Lok-Simanai could see illusions (potentially) didn't mean the Drakelph could…

Since his companion was lost in his own thoughts, Valdemar took it upon himself to answer the mirage Fellox's second question. "Oh, you do not need to worry for us. Although Julian is poor at planning for such things, I can feed myself." He turned back into a cat, grinning to show off his fangs. "Forest, jungle… They are not so different. But! You must remember to bring something next time." This last was directed at Julian, Valdemar turning his head to look disdainfully at the man.

"You were supposed to remain at the shop, Valdemar," he responded simply.

"Ah, but you did expect me, ja?"

"…I was trying not to," he sighed finally, defeated. "Though when I left, I was under the distinct impression that you would stay."

"That is a foolish thing," Valdemar remarked, grinning again. Focusing back on the Lok-Simanai, he returned to their conversation. "So, we are good there. As for rest, I can do that as I please." Obviously, if he was planning on riding on Julian's shoulders the entire time, he could sleep whenever he wanted. "And Julian does not need it, so. We are good here, too."

The man stopped walking again, pinching the bridge of his nose. Apparently Valdemar knew why, as he asked, "What, you think you will hide this always? Or you would like me to lie?" He drew the word out mockingly, making Julian quickly shake his head.

"No, no, that's quite unnecessary." Exhaling slowly, he appeared to mutter something under his breath. Depending on whether the Lok-Simanai continued to follow the rules of her own world or not, she would either notice no difference in his appearance… or be unable to see him at all except for perhaps a faint outline. "Am I still visible?" he asked, looking up at what he could still only see as a Fellox-shaped haze.

[Shieba]

The Lok-Simanai watched the pair banted back and forth. They were both rather amusing and quite a pair and almost seemed like an old, married couple to her, though she refrained from remarking that. While it was a common and light-toned remark in her world, that hardly meant it would be taken as such in this world, too.

She also was a bit concerned when Valdemar seemed so very confident in his ability to find food for himself. He was, after all, a (albeit magical) cat and not a large predator and while she could easily believe him that he could fend for himself in a forest, a jungle seemed to be a rather huge step up from that. Then again, since Valdemar was hardly a normal being, it wasn't her place to doubt his abilities, either.

However, upon hearing that Julian needed no sleep at all - obviously something he hadn't planned to reveal - she couldn't really just accept that fact without asking further. "You need no rest at all? That is, in my world, an ability reserved for only the gods and demons. This world is full of surprises..." First a teleporting Drakelph and now this. "You are not a normal human, then? Forgive me if I seem prying, but I cannot help but wonder."

The Lok-Simanai waited when Julian then seemed to speak his spell. However, what she was supposed to see, she didn't know until Julian actually asked her if he was still visible. "I can still see you clearly, without any problems at all." She closed her eyes to concentrate better. The ether had shifted around Julian, she could feel it and it wasn't just something covering a space so small that she would easily overlook it. Yet there was nothing odd visible - or not anymore visible - to her. "I can tell you did something, though I do not know what", she admitted. "And so, I also do not know what this means..." The sheer amount of things thrown at her that she would have never expected troubled her quite a bit, even though they were not of a dangerous kind.

[Kodai]

Urk. Well, now he was stuck in telling, though he knew that he'd have been forced to explain himself sooner or later (even though he always hoped that 'never' was an option). " Er… To be blunt… No, I am not a normal human," he sighed up at the Lok-Simanai. "I was once, but–"

"But now he is Geist, spirit, without his body!" Valdemar interrupted, sounding rather pleased for doing so. "And what he does this moment, well! He cannot be seen all day, so he must cast Illusion on himself. Then, normal Menschen, they may see him!" He considered the white Fellox for a moment. "Hm, I wonder. Maybe for you, it does not matter so much?"

"It will matter for our other companion later on," Julian pointed out, "and we ought to get moving before she finds us not far from where we left us. We do have quite some distance to travel, after all, and the Lok-Simanai's time is limited. At least we now know that she has the ability to see my illusions, and thus we may use them later on as a marker when she needs to rejoin us." Although he wasn't quite certain, Julian supposed that the most likely reason why she was able to see them was that the Fellox somehow experienced illusions in a different way from those of this world (being both a magical and extraplanar creature). Whatever the real reason, he was glad that she could witness them, as that made the situation easier for everyone.

"Well! Move, then!" urged the cat, shifting himself to sit (more or less) on the man's left shoulder. "You may speak and walk, ja? …Well. You do not walk so much. Heheheh!"

[Shieba]

"A...spirit?" The Lok-Simanai tried to make sense of this. "But you are not like me, correct? While I am without my body here, I am still, in a way, attached to it - I just sent my mind away. Yet you from this world and still are without a body and that permanently? Is this a normal occurance here? The Master of Death from my world would never allow a soul to be stuck in the material plane, unable to get judged for the way they took in life. I assume that 'ghost' refers to you being dead and stuck?" It seemed so impossible and wrong to the Lok-Simanai. Since her master was a god, she knew a bit about the afterlife, though she was far from an expert. "The companion of the Master of Death of my world lives in Evelon right now with his family. I could introduce you to him. He might be able to send you to the afterlife", she offered.

She considered Valdemar's words. "I indeed do not think it matters for me. I see the ethereal plane, mainly, and can see his signature there just fine. Even if Julian should become invisible to human eyes, I should be able to locate him in the ether without problems. So as long as the little Drakelph does not join us again, there should be no reason to waste magical energy just for my sake."

It was rather hard for the Lok-Simanai to not chuckle at the antics of her two new companions and especially those of Valdemar. "We should indeed move. I will just follow you, having no idea where to go myself. Please tell me if you need me to fly up and look around." She decided to stay near the ground for now so that she could continue to talk to the others with ease.

(Feel free to decide for yourself if this takes place before or after Valdemar and Julian met Gemas and Rosy.)

[Kodai]

"No, I am not a spirit in the same way that you are," Julian affirmed, doing his best to keep moving while continuing the conversation. "To my understanding, your current form is more of an astral projection – a separation of your spirit and body to be sure, but still connected. I no longer have a physical form to be connected to." He considered her question of whether it was a normal occurrence. Well… "I couldn't tell you how common it is for spirits to become trapped on the material plane, but I can say that it isn't unheard of. In fact, I do know of at least one other individual like… like this." Although he'd never met Riktch personally, Julian did keep written correspondence with Baron, and the rabbit was rather fond of informing him of the various goings-on of the House. "I must admit, however, that the circumstances surrounding his existence are quite different from mine, and are steeped in the rumor that he has been cursed by the God of Death of the Triumvirate religion." …Actually, come to think of it, it sounded a good deal similar to his own situation, but… "There are also those individuals that die and are resurrected, but I suppose that's the beginning of going off on a tangent…"

"So do not go off on it!" replied Valdemar. "And be sure you are not making a new path here, also." The cat stared suspiciously at the lush green vegetation spread out before the three of them. Almost a bit too quickly, Julian pulled the compass from his coat pocket and checked the direction.

"We're on course, Valdemar," he assured his companion before returning to his conversation with the Lok-Simanai. Meeting someone related to the Death God of another world… "Meeting this Master of Death's companion could be… interesting, to say the least," he replied quietly. "I don't know about being sent to the afterlife… but it would be an experience."

"He does it for the little one, and not for you, so much, I think," the cat responded to the Fellox's words, ignoring the man that seemed to have gone into his own thoughts for the moment. "We do not know when she returns, so! Sicher ist sicher! And it is almost nothing for him, to keep it on, so you do not worry for that." He grinned up at the Lok-Simanai, looking for all the world like the Cheshire Cat from Carroll's tale.

[Shieba]

"You have no physical form you are connected to, yet your body is solid and you can interact with the material plane freely?" The Lok-Simanai tried to assemble a picture out of all the puzzle pieces Julian was tossing her. "And there is another being like you that was actually cursed into such an existence by the God of Death of this world...?" She slowly shook her head. "This world and its gods must differ a lot from the world I am from, then, and also from the world of my master, though they resemble each other since they were made by the same goddess anyway. In these worlds, a god responsible for death would go to great lengths to make sure that souls stay in the afterlife and punish anyone violating the boundary of life and death. The Master of Death, no matter from which world, would never curse a being like that. And resurrection is impossible in my world, for those with souls forced back into their bodies would suffer from an illness so horrible that it can hardly be described. That these things are so different here is...frightening. I am not sure if I like this system, though it might just be the fact that it is so very different that disturbs me so."

She waited patiently when Julian checked the course. The Lok-Simanai considered asking about how long Julian guessed it would take to reach their destination, but then again, this was a jungle and danger was everywhere here. "I will gladly send the companion of the Master of Death of my world to you, then. I am very sure he will be able to sense you, being stuck like you are. He is very perceptive."

When Valdemar addressed her, she nodded at him. "That is good, then. I hardly know anything of this world and even the forest we are in here, so my insticts are to conserve as much magic as possible for emergencies. But I shall fully trust your judgement and indeed, I also do not wish that the little Drakelph gets lost because she cannot find us." Maybe this forest was safer than she thought it was? The Lok-Simanai looked around, but there was nothing but a sea of trees and shorter plants around her and she didn't even recognize anything that looked remotely like a plant from her world. She was glad that she had found companions who knew more about this place than she did.