(Flashback) Slicing the Palm (Solo)

[Aello]

Spring 2, 503 AV Aello was sitting in her family's attic. A small bowl with a wooden spoon was resting on the ground before her. Her brother's dagger rested in her lap. A slimy-looking egg could be seen floating at the bottom of the bowl. "Do you add the flour before or after you add the soft cheese?" Aello asked Fred, as she peered over her shoulder at her work. The sack of flour and a plate containing a hunk of semi-melted white cheese was sitting behind the bowl. "It doesn't matter as long as they are added into the mixture at some point," Fred replied. The soulmist tendrils that lingered around his feet were curling into the girl's back as she hunched over the wooden bowl. Aello shivered, as she lifted the sack flour, and poured a little into the wooden bowl, before placing the sack back down on the dust-stained wooden boards that lined her family's attic. Slowly, Aello extended her right hand to the wooden spoon, while the left hand inched closer and closer to the bowl. The pale fingertips of her left hand wrapped around the side of the bowl, while those of the right curled around the wooden spoon. Gently, Aello pressed into the golden egg yoke with the bottom of the spoon. The yoke exploded, staining the white, powdery flour with its sticky-looking yellow substance. "Well doesn't that look icky?" Aello asked as she began to stir the contents of the bowl slowly, in a clockwise fashion. Fred made no reply as Aello pulled her left hand off the side of the bowl, and reached for the plate of foul-smelling cheese. When Aello grabbed it, she proceeded to bring it closer, scrunching up her nose as the scent of the cheese continued to tickle her nostrils, in a rather unpleasant manner. When the plate could be seen hovering over the bowl, the girl tilted it to the side. The cheese slid off the plate, and into the bowl. Splat. Aello put the plate back down, as she continued to stir the mixture for a few more minutes. "Well, that should do it," Aello said, as she looked up at Fred. The ghost was staring down at her. "Now you have to add your own blood, and chew." Aello gulped. She still didn't like the part where she had to cut herself, in order to make herself bleed enough to add the last ingredient. But you have no choice. There is no other way... Aello sighed, she had promised Fred that she would try again, and he had agreed to help her learn while her parents were away. But that didn't make the fact that Aello was supposed to cut herself now any easier. Aello let go of the bowl. She turned away from the ghost, and looked out in front of her, at the door that led into the attic. She took a moment to breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. "Well, here goes," she whispered as her right hand curled around the dagger's hilt. Aello lifted her left hand, so that it hovered over the bowl, slowly, Aello drew the blade across her palm. Aello winced as the cold, silver, smooth edge of the blade parted her pale skin down the center. Her hand curled into the blade as she brought the dagger back out of her flesh. Her skin felt so much warmer than before, it smelled almost metallic. Blood. Well the worst part is over right? Aello thought to herself as she placed the bloody blade on the ground, and turned her bleeding palm over. Aello uncurled her fingertips, and watched as several droplets of crimson colored blood poured out of a small slit in the center of her hand. "The last ingredient," she whispered, as about twenty drops poured into the bowl with a soft plop that reminded Aello of rain dripping into a puddle. The blood had dyed the surface a deep red, and Aello couldn't help but stare as her blood stopped flowing. Aello returned her head to her side, as she thought am I really doing this? "Is she really doing this?" Fred whispered, as the edges of his body began to flicker. OOCMod note: Once again, for the time being, (Spring 511 AV), this is a repressed memory.

[Aello]

Aello continued to chew for several more minutes. She ignored the scent of blood and cheese that lingered in the air. She ignored the taste of the various ingredients in her mouth- something that when put together was so very vile that she wished she had the strength to spit it out, and then puke. But with Fred being behind her, and the weight of her promise on her shoulders, the girl could not bring herself to do it, so she simply, chewed. Aello continued the process for several minutes- the soulmist mixture rolling around her mouth unpleasantly as she did so. Her mind constantly asking, is it done yet? Aello would shake her head. How about now? Aello shook her head again. Now? Aello shook her head. There was a few minute's silence. Now? The edges of Aello's face grew red, as she turned her head from left to right. It still wasn't ready. Fred must have thought that the girl was crazy, constantly chewing and shaking her head like that. Or perhaps he thought that she had simply invented some sort of game to help her pass the time. Either way, Aello could never be absolutely certain. Unless of course, Fred bothered to tell her, which he did not. After a few more minutes, Aello's mouth began to grow cold. Does that mean it is ready? As if to answer her mind's question, Aello spit out the contents of her mouth into the wooden bowl in front of her. An off-white gel lingered on top of the soulmist supplies the girl hadn't managed to consume, and transform into soulmist. "Well, that looks like what we were after, doesn't it?" Aello asked, as Fred continued to look over her shoulder. He simply nodded, as Aello brought the bowl up to his lips, she asked, "you could drink it off the top, like soup, right?" He nodded again, before sniffing the bowl. "It's not very good stuff is it?" Aello inquired. Fred shook his head as his body continued to flicker. "But it shall do," he said, as he leaned forward, and towards the bowl. He seemed to pucker up his ghostly lips, as though he were about to blow out a candle, before he drank the top most layer of the soulmist, before fading away. "Now where did he go?" Aello whispered, as she tilted her head to the side. The bowl and its contents, trembling in her tiny hands.

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Aello XP Award: Spiritism +3; Cooking +2; Dagger +1 Lore: Recipe: Soulmist; Ghostly Behavior (basic) Additional Notes: You were on a roll, but I was hoping to see it continue. I guess you just can’t count on ghosts for anything. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!