princess Zena of Zendor

This is not the first time I have awakened staring at an unknown ceiling. It is not even the first time I have woken up with nails painted green, though it is the first time I have awoken with someone else's hands. Waving the hand around only confirms that it is attached to my body. Slowly as my mind grows clearer, I remember what transpired yesterday. Sitting up and brushing my green hair out of my face, has me looking around the quite nice room. Doesn’t look like the decorator has had an overly large budget, but they certainly put in the effort. Seeing the door with a pictogram of a toilet on it is both terrifying as it awakens my body and relieving as I don’t have to use a shared toilet. Hurrying into the toilet and sitting down has me both feeling relieved and pained as I feel the hangover from yesterday. Looking around for some toilet paper, I find a piece of cloth. Seriously, it’s even discolored from previous uses, though at least it looks like someone cleaned it. Don’t I have a spell to fix this? I would rather avoid touching that rag if possible. Thinking for a moment I remember the spell ‘cleanse’, the highest level single target anti-debuff spell. It removes all status effects at the cost of a chunk of mana, though with a name like that I am willing to bet that it also cleans the dirt from me. Quickly casting the spell, I feel a surge of mana moving around and leaves me feeling cleaner than I have ever felt. I guess ‘hangover’ is also a status effect, because it also disappeared. 

Walking back into the room, I take out the mirror that is rapidly becoming my favorite and have it hover in front of me. I have mixed feelings about staring at Zenas naked reflection, on one hand I am now a powerful and beautiful mage with a skillset that I am intimately familiar with and a huge wardrobe and equally big fortune. On the other hand, I am no longer the engineer George and have no way to speak to my family again. I mean, I did not speak to them all that often, but it was always great to do so, and our quarterly family gatherings were always a blast. For some this situation is probably a dream come true, but I was quite fond of the life I had made for myself. Sure I was a little overweight, but I was good looking and my wardrobe was nicely filled out back home. I even had a significant chunk of money and a solid income stream. I guess I am going to be dressing Zena instead of George now, and fiddling with magic instead of electronics. All of those small projects doomed to never be completed, though to be fair, most of them would not be completed anyways.

Shaking my head to clear away the thoughts, I set my mind on finally getting clothed. This definitely feels like a comfort day and not a beauty day, so I search through my inventory looking for something that matches that feeling. Trying out a few outfits, I settle on a green, slightly oversized hoodie with a black fir on the front and black pants. I also put on the black teardrop ear-rings since they are my most potent non-wand catalyst. Feeling comfortable I put my stuff back in my inventory and walk to the common room. Immediately I am greeted by the proprietress.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, quite well.” i say, stretching for emphasis.

“That’s good, anything I can get you?”

Before answering, I sit down at a table. “A jug of water and a glass would be nice. A light meal wouldn’t be amiss either.”

“Sure thing, though I don’t know if our water is quite up to your standard.”

Thinking a bit, remembering the spell I just used, I simply nod at her and say “That’s fine.”

Just sitting there, not thinking for a while until she returns with a jug and a cup, before promptly turning around again, presumably to fetch some food. Looking into the jug I see that the water is almost clear. Casting the cleanse spell at it turns it perfectly clear. Mages all over the world would probably scream that it is overkill to use such a high level spell to simply to clean some water. They are probably right, something like detox would probably be more appropriate, but the fact that I can simply do so without worry has me giggling. Drinking the now very clean water, tastes nothing, but feels quite refreshing, even though it is not cold.

Shortly thereafter she comes back with a bowl of what looks like a potato based salad. Not saying anything more, she just sits back down behind the counter. The salad tastes quite good, especially with the apple vinegar adding that extra intensity. Smiling at her as I slowly enjoy my breakfast.

As I am down to my last few bites, I hear someone shuffling down the stairs with heavy steps. Turning my head to the stairs, I see a disheveled Jools inelegantly walking down the stairs whilst holding his head. He looks at me with half open eyes, before heading toward my table and sitting down across from me. Not wanting to start the conversations, I just continue to slowly eat my food.

“How do you do it?” He says while laying on the table.

“Do what?” I ask, though I am pretty sure it’s related to what appears to be a severe hangover.

“How are you just fine after a night of drinking?”

“For starters, I did not get completely plastered like you probably did. Secondly, I went to sleep fairly early. And thirdly magic.” I say, counting on my fingers as I speak, my face slowly turning to a grin as I do so. This only elicits a groan from him, which only broadens my grin. I just slowly finish my food and take a few more sips of water, whilst he repeatedly and exaggeratedly sighs, probably hoping I magically solve his problem.

“The jug has clean water. That usually helps with a hangover.” I slowly say to him.

“Can’t you just magic it away?” He replies while looking longingly at the jug.

“I thought stamina builds were better than mana builds?” My words coming out in a mocking tone.

“You’re still hung up on that?!” He almost yells out, causing himself to flinch. Yes, we have had this discussion before, with him ultimately winning since in PvP scenarios stamina builds tended to dominate, though in PvE, mana builds tended to be better, but to a smaller degree.

I just continue to smile at him, waiting for him to yield. We most definitely are going to have this discussion again, but this time it’s my win.

“Fine, you win. Mana builds are better.” As soon as he finishes the sentence, I cast cleanse at him and can see the relief washing over him.