Heeeeee.

(Back to the ship?)

Once she's got everything she wants packed up.

That doesn't take long - she does spend some time lazing around, of course, but she's pretty much done here.

(She's somewhat in the mood to set a course for an amusement park, actually...)

That can be arranged. There's a decent galactic-class one on this planet, actually...

They don't even have to go far, then! That's always nice.

Indeed. Does she want to start with the water park or the mag-coasters?

Tough choices, here...

(Water park.)

The water park it is.

A staff member politely requests they wear a sarong in addition to the bikinis. Park policy.

The fabric's pretty enough to mostly make up for Eliese being a bit more covered up...

Still, even with silly rules (which she is not above cheating at with illusions) it's a lot of fun.

Not for nothing is the Wet 'n' Wild Splashfancy Ultimate Powerventure Zone listed as a "must-see" destination in more than half of reputable vacation guidebooks.

Giggle. (She loves the names of things here.)

Sightseeing's a lot of fun - possibly even worth mixing less destructive vacations into their rotation of stuff they get up to while roaming about.

If her lady-love so desires, of course they can.

Kiss.

Perhaps just to spice things up every now and then.

Still - once they're done at the amusement park, Acererak keeps a focus on teaching Eliese magic even around all the having fun. (There's - a burning under her skin, to make Eliese properly immortal.)

Learning magic is fun of a different sort. And Eliese, durable as she already is, would rather not... face the possibility of Acererak having to live without her.

" - If you die and I still exist I'll resurrect you, even if I need to invent time travel to do it." She's not sure she's going to want to stay glued to Eliese's side for eternity, eternity is very long, but - the multiverse should contain Eliese, always.

Hug.

"I do appreciate that, sweetheart."

Nuzzle. "You're good and should always exist."

Kiss.

Nuzzle.

She guides Eliese through increasingly complex arcane concepts over the next two months leading up to Eliese's own birthday.

And -

She thinks, in her down time, whenever she's hanging out on her own or separately from Eliese. Pauses in the middle of reading to stare into space. Turns over the emotions Eliese kindles in her chest, Eliese's love confession, the terrifying idea of loving someone -

Eliese wouldn't demand anything change. She's good like that, wonderful, doesn't expect Acererak to be anything other than who she is -

But it'd change something in Acererak's head all the same, she thinks, if she loved Eliese. (She's not sure. She meant it, about never having loved anyone before. How should she even know what love feels like?)

Acererak spends a lot of her time on planning Eliese's birthday present, too - more than she needs to. Eliese is unlikely to be upset if Acererak gifts her an unwilling alt... And caring about other people's preferences and consents and - social stuff - is hard - and Eliese might like a masochist her more, which is a terrifying thought even though it shouldn't be, Acererak's never cared if her lovers drifted away from her before -

Finding alts with the same face as Acererak and no attached alts of Eliese or ability to beat them in a fight is pretty easy. Finding alts who'd consent to being Eliese's present (or at least be able to work with them after) is - harder. Acererak ends up spending an hour scrying most nights, paging through the multiverse.

She gets jittery as Eliese's birthday approaches and she still hasn't found anyone for sure, the time she spends scrying quickly eating into her private reading time. It's stupid. She should just settle for an unwilling her - there's so many alts of her out there anyways, several of them pretty close repeats of each other, it doesn't matter if they use up and discard one - but Eliese might be sad about that thought -

And then, two days before Eliese's birthday, her scrying stumbles on a tied up her presently being tortured - apparently for an audience.

Acererak watches, fascinated, renewing the scry when it would have run out on its own, tracking her alt through the entire session and then being untied after - the alt heals herself and smiles and laughs with her torturer, jokes about this exhibit being popular -

Apparently she has at least one alt with bizarre pastimes. Well, it works, and the alt even has the same face as her...

Acererak makes sure Eliese is otherwise occupied, leaves a note that she's stepped out for a bit and should be back within a few hours, and opens a gate to her alt's apartment.

Her alt is currently cooking dinner. She notices immediately when Acererak enters, spinning with a knife in her hand, examining her alt with narrowed eyes.

"Who are you?"

She bows a bit extravagantly. Mostly to hide her totally irrational nerves. "My name is Acererak."

"Ah huh. You're not an Art." She tilts her head, eyeing the space Acererak stepped through. "And your magic's too powerful for a Favored - and you have my face, but that doesn't really mean much... An explanation would be nice, if you're feeling like it."

"You're perceptive." She drapes herself over a nearby couch, glancing around the airy and bright apartment. "Have you heard of other universes?"

"In theory. Most of the Arts fled from an ugly one."

"Well, I'm from another - hopefully a pretty one - and people sometimes repeat across universes, and I had reason to find another of me."