Askan let out a frustrated sigh as he sunk into the water, shoulders deep and barely feeling a thing. He knew it wouldn't be the same, not like it was before but...he'd sort of hoped to feel something. He missed the warmth, the way the gently sloshing waters were able to chase away the aches and pains that settled into his bones. But now he just felt...floaty, even more so than usual with only a tiny hint of heat. Like he was simply too far removed to even get close to the real thing.

Huffing, his ears flattening to the sides as a scowl settled across the line of his muzzle. He knew things could never be the same any more, he was dead for fucks sake, so why was he so disappointed? He'd liked this place once, more than the castle they'd settled into after, maybe it was nostalgia making him feel all broody. The past too close for comfort, reminding him of what used to be and what he'd never have again.

"speech"

"We're back, but nothing is the same, is it." It wasn't even a question. The dead woman had felt the draw of a soul in need and had ended up here, in her old stomping grounds, with none other than the equally dead form of Askan awaiting her. The hulking fae fixed the small man with her singular sulfur eye, metallic gold dripping from it and into the stones surrounding the springs. He looked much the same, that sour expression still on his face. There was always a snarky complaint hidden just behind his teeth and Resin wondered which he would come out with first. "Did you choose to come back or were you forced?" She hadn't chosen, but was glad that she'd been granted these brief moments to reconnect with her family. So much had been left unsaid while the madness had eaten her mind. She'd gotten the chance to share her pride in them. She'd been able to say her goodbyes. The woman had a feeling that they weren't long for this world. The night would end and her mind could feel the warmth of the oncoming dawn. "Resin"

Askan didn't know how she'd gotten here, whether she'd poofed in  just floated over but... Well, he was sorta sad to say he wasn't surprised to see Resin was here too. Just as dead and gone as he was. The last he'd seen her alive and in the flesh she'd seemed well enough, except the days leading to his death were hazy at best, making it hard to tell whether he'd just made up shit to fill in the gaps or what. It really was that hard to say. With a sigh he turned, making a point of ignoring how the water barely rippled in response to his movements. Getting a good look at Resin...the fuck was up with her eye? Was that how she'd died? Askan had his throat ripped out and he wasn't leaking his body juices all over the place.

Weird.

"Nice to see you too, Old Crone." He greeted, a tinge of sadness lingering in his tone. Like this was the proper last time they'd speak, the instance before not counting in the grand scheme of things. "It ain't...and I can't say it's for the better either." Amongst other shit, he knew the sky wasn't supposed to look like that. Nor were people meant to be riddled with disease, keeling over like there wasn't enough air in their lungs any more.

"Nah. I was fine where I was, just sorta...stumbled back this way." He paused then for a moment, realising-and in part not caring-there was no tactful way to ask this. "The hell happened to you?"

He greeted her in his normal manner and the only reaction from the big fae was a twitch of scarred brow. Some wolves had returned to the living whole and young but she was still as mangled and broken as she had been in life. Perhaps it was such a great part of the woman that even her dead subconscious couldn't see herself as any different. Either way, she knew that she was a crone and hearing it didn't matter much. Not when you were already dead. Ego meant little. Askan hadn't chosen to return either and it was no surprise. Who asked the dead what they wanted? Resin's haunches folded and she seated herself at the edge of the pool where the earthen man was submerged. He asked what happened to her and she raised a paw to the golden dribble continually leaking from her eye. "I don't rightly know. The same that's happening to the living, somehow. You've seek how they leak and the things that grow from them." How could he not? It was the new way of the world. Wolves were dropping over dead from fungi and crystals. Choking on their own fluids. The world was a dark place now. "Have you learned anything about it?" Dark ears shifted forward as she looked to the brute for information. "Resin"

Askan eyed her for a moment longer and hoped it wasn't catching. "'Suppose. Stay where you are just in case, I don't want what you got."

As for her next question, he had to think about it for a moment. He hadn't really mingled with the living much since he'd returned and though he probably ought to have taken full advantage of this chance...he just didn't feel like it. He'd made that fox looking girl feel a bit better about herself, which was nice and all but he wasn't here to make amends or see loved ones again. Askan was simply here cause he had nothing better to do, the afterlife wasn't awful but it wasn't much to write home about either.

"Not really. It's catching, indiscriminate. Like pretty much any illness out there, but not." He raised a paw, gesturing to the whole otherworldliness of it all.  "Maybe they're all gonna die and join us." Which...was kind of rude to say, to someone who had loved ones and family out there, struggling to survive. But Askan was as tactless as ever, Resin had to know that.

His comment about keeping her distance meant nothing, but his comment about the wolves of the world dying and joining them brought a grimace to the woman's features. Her lip curled back in distaste, flashing the edge of serrated fangs. "As with all disease, the weak will die and the strong will thrive," she rumbled in her gruff tones. "My family is strong as are all relatively whole." Those that she was able to locate, anyway. "I think it's coming to an end. Perhaps it's run its course all on its own. Nothing lasts forever. Just like us." She shot a dead glance at her equally dead companion. Being back in the world of the living hadn't done anything for his sour attitude. It hadn't done anything for her stoic attitude either. Little bothered her then and little bothered her now. "The world is getting thin again." It was the only way that she knew how to describe the feeling of being pulled away through the ether. One moment she was tethered to solid ground and the next she would be ripped away into nothingness with the blowing of the wind. She couldn't remember having seen Askan in the afterlife. In reality, she remembered little of it as though she'd been shut up in the dark, just waiting for someone to open the door to shed some light on her. "If this is the last time we meet, take care of yourself as best as you can," she ordered in firm tones. The tones of his former Aegis. "Resin"

Resin

You have the sudden urge to pee. When was the last time you peed???