[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wWd5i98.png[/img][/center]
[hr][sub][color=60cf11]Location[/color]: Communal Hotspring[/sub]

Céline relished this moment, this pure and simple bliss of steaming water upon aching legs and feet. Ever since her turning certain sensations had become muted and dulled, cold most of all. When the heat was concentrated like this, where it penetrated deep into her calves, she almost felt normal again. That word itself was funny though, normal had an odd way of changing definitions. As if it's normal that the land is blanketed in eternal night, how it’s normal for there to be feral, flesh eating, blood drinking creatures, how it’s normal that the sun may never rise again. In Céline’s case, it was having long ears and a constant craving for the emotional energies of those around her. It felt like a constant tug and pull of knowing it was wrong to hurt others, yes so desperately craving all the wicked screams she could muster out of them; it was torture.

So lost in her own mind that Céline barely registered the crunching snow some few feet to the left of her. Her entire body froze, her heart pounded against her chest, her breathing was shallow, quick, quiet. Everything in her body told her she needed to run, to flee, that she was going to be killed by whatever ‘thing’ was about to pounce upon her. Céline wrested control though, able to identify where the animal ended and her own personal intuition began. In the end, rational thinking won the day and she opted to remain perfectly still, unsure if whoever was there even noticed her sitting there or not. Perhaps if they didn’t, they would simply leave? No such luck as what sounded like articles of clothing were being removed before footsteps broke the water's surface, splashing subtly as the figure moved through it. Céline chanced this moment to turn her head just enough to get her eyes onto whoever was now here. A woman with thick auburn hair stood still in the water, seeming to take it all in like she had done only moments before.

Before Céline could consider her options for a moment longer the figure finally took notice of her presence. The woman apologized so quickly it startled Céline from the abruptness, causing her breath to catch and heart to stop for a moment. The hare eared woman already had a foot out of the water before she even realized it, but the intuitive side stopped herself, curious to see where this went. The woman who called out to her was already wading her way in the water, [color=60cf11][i]“Anathema..”[/i][/color] Céline whispered to herself, committing the name to memory. She seemed so candid, confidently approaching the blightborn in front of her.  Were her ears not that off-putting? Maybe she didn’t see them yet and would scream as soon as she did? Céline considered the possibility that Anathema might also be a resident of the town, and that would at least partially explain why she felt comfortable enough to approach. Taking in her surroundings though, Céline also had to wonder if the woman approaching her even knew that she was coming towards a blightborn? Even assuming that she didn’t know, there was no way to hide away her ‘physical extremities’ without it being painful. Regardless, what felt like an eternity passing, Céline replied to the woman’s greeting.

[color=60cf11]“Hello Anathema, my name is Dr. Moreau, but you may just call me Céline,”[/color] she smiled, shifting her weight on the rock and readjusting her pant legs, [color=60cf11]“actually it is probably I should be apologizing. I only just arrived in your town and found myself near these springs. The water seemed so inviting that my aching feet couldn’t help but to accept.”[/color] Standing up from her position, despite having heard a woman would find a more androgynously dressed individual with a slightly too big and loose fitting shirt, slightly oversized and baggy wool pants, rolled up just below the knees. Atop her head, the two ears twitched and rotated independently of each other, twisting with each new minutiae of sound, but keeping wholly focused on the conversation in front of her. [color=60cf11]“I assume that you reside here, yes? I was hoping to move and live here, but I’m hoping to speak with whoever is in charge first..”[/color] she paused after that, considering her options for a moment, a question eating her at the back of her mind and fear kept it there. Shaking her head she resumed asking, [color=60cf11]“Perhaps you’d be willing to introduce me?”[/color]
[hr][sub][color=60cf11]Interacting with[/color]: Anathema [@Lu][/sub]