Diego’s Friday afternoon odd encounter(Diego)

June 28, 2025

Date: 2025-06-27 14:03

(Diego’s Friday afternoon odd encounter(Diego):Diego)

[Fri Jun 27 2025]

A Bedroom
The hospital room contains a single adjustable bed with metal rails,
positioned against the wall beneath a window that overlooks the downtown
streets below. White linoleum floors reflect the harsh fluorescent lighting
from the ceiling fixtures, while pale blue walls display a whiteboard for
medical notes and a wall-mounted television in the corner. A bedside table
holds a telephone and water pitcher, with an uncomfortable-looking vinyl
chair placed nearby for visitors. Medical equipment lines one wall – an IV
stand, blood pressure monitor, and oxygen port – their screens dark and
waiting. The narrow bathroom door stands partially open, revealing glimpses
of sterile white tile and chrome fixtures. A thin curtain on a curved track
can be pulled around the bed for privacy, though it does little to muffle the
constant sounds of footsteps in the hallway and the distant ping of elevator
bells. The air carries the sharp scent of disinfectant mixed with something
indefinably institutional, while the radiator beneath the window ticks
quietly as it cycles on and off./span>/spanIt is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Maple and Lake/span>/span(Your target is abuducted through the water to an undersea cave where an oceanic Fae is wanting a romantic or social encounter with them.
)

There’s a brief knock at the door, a moment’s pause, and then Diego pokes his ugly mug into the hospital room, scanning across until his eyes alight on Nemi. Recognition filters his eyes, and the young man steps in, toting an old-fashioned pail of water. “Nemi?” he asks, sounding almost regretful. “Nemi Ivorstead, right? That’s you?” He doesn’t wait for her to answer; it looks like he knows who he’s looking for.

“I’m very sorry about this, Miss Ivorstead,” he sighs, giving the woman a genuinely apologetic glance as he slides the door shut with the heel of his shoe. “I didn’t exactly have the opportunity to say ‘No, I won’t do this.’” The corners of his mouth turn down glumly. “You’re going to want to hold your breath, alright?” He tips over the bucket of water, and it begins to pour out a torrent of water, flooding the room in a display of such impossibly potent magic that it could not possibly have originated from the mortal man before Nemi. The water level begins to quickly rise, first soaking their shoes, then their trousers – or leggings, in Nemi’s case – and it climbs faster still. In seconds, the water level will completely swallow them both… and not a drip seems to be leaking out past the door.

This all happens over the course of a few seconds – now Nemi gets a chance to respond.

Nemi turns, tilting her head and nodding just once as she called for after she her self went towards the door to leave. But without a moments notice her face slowly turns to shock as she expects something worse. The water initially hitting the floor only stirred minor confusion before it did’nt stop in the split second she expected it too. The water filling the room only caused her to yell out in fear as the water just keeps going, backing up towards the wall as she looks towards the door and him rapidly.

“W-whats going on?! Say NO to what?!” She almost demands or asks in a panicked tone as she slowly moves and wads over to a chair to attempt to escape the rising fluids. That is until she turns her head and stares at him with a worried stare towards him with the clear expectation of an answer.

“You’ve been invited to visit the Fae Lady Ir-”

Diego’s words are quickly cut off as the water rises faster still, and he scrunches his eyes shut as the climbing tide swallows him up and hits the roof. It doesn’t stay like that for long, though: after a fleeting moment, a whirlpool forms, sending Nemi and Diego spiralling around each other as the room itself and its furniture seem completely unaffected. It’s a mercifully short experience – the pair are sucked down into the pail the great deluge had sprung down from, and once more the hospital room is dry and quiet, as if nothing had happened… except for the strange wooden bucket left lying on the floor.

Blindly, Diego reaches out for Nemi as they rush along some damp channel or another, and he wraps both arms around her as they bump off rocky terrain while they rush along the rip current. It’s a good thing he did, too – not long after he’s covered Nemi, he smacks the back of his head hard against some surface, knocking him out cold before the pair spill out from a waterfall’s fount into a subterranean cave, dimly lit by a series of luminescent crystals and colourful glowing lichens growing along the dark grey stone.

In the centre of the room is a massive, polished clamshell, polished to a rosy, nacreous hue; it seems to have been converted into an exceptionally opulent bed laden with the softest, most comfortable blankets Nemi has ever laid her poor eyes upon – and atop them, one of the most beautiful figures to have graced her memory. Pale blue skin and seawater green hair immediately mark Them as one of the Fae, and They open their too-large, too-perfect eyes to behold Nemi with a slow, pleasant smile on their plush, beautiful lips.

“Hello, Nemi,” says the Fae. Each word is siren-song. Never has Nemi heard her name spoken with such spine-tingling sweetness. “You do not know me, but I find myself… enchanted. I am Iryssel… And I have decided that we shall be spending some time together.”

Nemi yells, at the water overtakes her head, the sheer amount of air blinding her- anxiety slowly takes over as she starts to flail and swim outwards. Though when she’s grabbed she freezes. Huddling up close to the man she holds onto his arms for dear life as they go tunneling through what she would only ever be able to describe as intense rapids.

Though it takes some time for her to orientate herself, her hand slowly lets go of the mans arm, hair still wet and yet not quite soaking for long, Non the less her attention is caught, looking upon the bedding with a fond glance only one who’s ever attempted to sew might have as they marvel at the craftsmen ship that it must have took. Though it did not last for long as she looked up with her eyes unto the Fae, her body shuddering softly from with the cold and the imminent fear. That primal sense of nothing good coming out of her existence in this moment as she takes a careful, hesitant breath in as if she was afraid to offend the other woman in the room, but that smile does bring calm when she spots it and the yes open to look upon her.

She goes to point to herself but stops before her finger uncurls, stopping mid action to place her hand in her lap. A soft and hesitant nod in agreement at not knowing the fae until she’s told the name. She accepts it fast and pins it to mind until a soft flush over takes her face at the words that follows- Questions flood her mind in an instant, yet only one escapes her lips.

“W-Why-… M-Me?” Carefully chosen, simply words let out in a soft tone that might reminisce a scared kitten seeing a human hand for the first time offering them a treat or food. A scary force extending an offer of gentleness- it shook her with the amount of danger she had found herself in with little to no effort.

“I hope,” Iryssel whispers, Their voice husky and bewitching, “We are not beginning our visit by questioning My good taste, little Nemi.” The Fae sits upright, almost entirely naked but for body netting decorated with pearls. Even then, it’s difficult to place a fixed gender upon the higher being – Their hair falls in modesty-preserving tresses over their chest, but there’s a femininity in the curves of Their body, and certainly in Their voice. On the other hand, there’s masculinity present, too – firm muscles in the belly, a visible Adonis belt where shapely thighs fold over each other to conceal more intimate features between, a certain strength visible in the hands… and the glint of pointed sharks’ teeth with every word.

“In truth,” They sigh, indulging Nemi’s question, “I once had a mortal pet – a lover – named Nemi, long ago. Like you, she was tall and pale… And I quite liked my little pearl. Of course I had to inspect you, young lady… To honour my old lover’s memory, and perhaps to grant some meaning to another fleeting, mortal life…” They smile sadly, then lean forwards, extending a hand out towards Nemi in invitation. “Come closer,” They whisper – or perhaps She, as Her hair falls away with gravity’s yoke, revealing breasts after all; modest but impossibly shapely. Everything about Her is perfect and beautiful, really… But Nemi’s instincts are just as busy trying to warn her of the danger as they are in urging her to soak up that wonderful, rapturous attention.

Nemi takes a breath in, realizing their mistake as her eyes look over the features carefully, though less like a hungry shark and more as if a fox studying the situation of how to run. There both lies obvious panic and an attempt to stay calm and collected. Though her body loses tension when the question is answered, immediate signs of her body losing tension and relaxing follow, her breathing slowly calms and slows as she gives a soft nod.

She slowly rises her her feet, legs a bit shaky until they soon lose that touch of fear despite the danger. Her body knows what it is heading towards yet if she refused she may only get treated harsher than she had before as each step brings her closer and closer to the fae on the bed. Her breath has changed a lot. Much more calm and steady than before now, her hand extends to meet theirs only if that was the intention, for it to be taken that is.

If not she approaches the bed non the less, though she stops, moving to dry out her bed and hair as much as possible in an attempt to not get the bed dirty if she is guided onto it… it would be rude after all to dirty such a timeless piece of furniture.

“Very good,” the Fae exhales in approval, lifting Nemi up into the clamshell bed as if she were a weightless thing, and without an iota of strain placed upon her poor wrist for having been used as leverage. Boldly, She – no, He? With this shift, Their chest is fully revealed, and it is flat and toned, with darker blue, very male nipples capping His breasts. Was it a trick of the light earlier, or an actual change?… – reaches out to guide a damp, wavy lock out of Nemi’s face, tucking it behind an ear. “You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you..? A little pearl, waiting to be polished.” His lips curl into a knowing, confident grin. “Fit, perhaps, to be one of my treasures, sunken below the sea. Tell me, Nemi… are you beautiful on the inside, as well? Do you practice an art?”

Nemi nods, taking a deep breath in as she was looked over, inspected as if someone was choosing a new ring, or a new puppy to take home and keep. She knew this gaze from a similar situation all though she remained unsure of where she lay in this fae’s opinion as she took a breath in and let it out as she tenses softly before relaxing. She was’nt going to be broken. They would’nt break her just yet as she nods softly to the question.

And then, admittance. “I-I play the Piano… And A church organ quite well or so I’ve been told, Better than not at all…” She admits with a firm nod, her breath being careful and steady, trying to show confidence in her answer so she’s not casted aside and hurt like some doll. “Otherwise I am quite adept at mixing non alcoholic and alcoholic drinks even if I do not indulge myself…” Another soft admittance, whether out of guilt or sheer trust and truth she gives to the fae.

Iryssel purses His-Her-Their plush blue lips, releasing a musical little hum as they consider Nemi.

“My Nemi was a harpist,” the Fae muses, then offers the current Nemi a small smile. “I am pleased to know that music lies in your fingertips, as well. The only kind of fingertip suitable to be graced by Fae skin, really.”

It does appear that the Fae doesn’t intend to crush Nemi then and there, for whatever a Fae’s appearances count for. Still, Their large, dark eyes glitter as They focus attention upon the woman, and that alone is cause for concern.

“Play for me, Nemi,” whispers Iryssel, in more of an instruction than a request. They lift a hand and wave it towards a section of the cave wall, and the stone reshapes itself at the Fae’s command, stove-pipe sponges emerging from the nascent pipe organ which spins itself into being from its surroundings. The sponges serve as tubing, and the keys appear to be carved from solid pearl – this instrument would cost millions and millions up on the surface, undoubtedly, but it is a mere thought for the Fae.

“Play for me,” the Fae echoes, leaning in close enough to make Nemi’s heart freeze in her chest, “And win a kiss from me, Nemi. A Fae’s kiss brings very good luck indeed… But play for me and impress me, and I will show you pleasures you have never experienced, and never will again, little pearl.”

Nemi takes a soft nod of approval as she hears the information being told to her, whether that Nemi was actually related to her remains a mystery. Her mind freezes as she’s asked to play, body freezing as she almost asks ‘what with’ before the Organ that seems to be the prized instrument of the sea emerges from in front of her eyes as she takes a careful breath in.

It did not seem like a wager, or a bet or even a game. A deal, one to be one or forever lost to time if she failed to impress The power that made this for her. Everything about her freezes before she thinks of one piece. One composure- One suite in total that may save her from losing and facing anything untold and worse. She gives a nod, facial expressions shifting, not in confidence but as if she was ready, ready to give it the all that she had and could give in return.

Seemed clearly ready to make her way to the organ… one she was set down that is from the bed. “I will.” She does’nt state, but promises.

Nemi starts to play, the beginning of cornfield starting out as beautiful before she halts to a grinding stop as she clutches her head at a sudden invasion of the privacy of her own thoughts. “God No-No N-” She stops herself taking a breath in as she tries to regain her composure.

Alas, Nemi’s false start does little to win her the affections of the marine Fae. There’s a click of the tongue, and a quiet sigh – and then the Iryssel’s voice sounds out from behind her shoulder, though she’d not heard the Fae approach. “If you did not have a piece of your own perform, and had to resort to one of Hans’ pieces,” They murmur, Their voice decidedly cooler than it had been before, “You could at least have selected one of his aquatic compositions, rather than one dedicated to outer space, silly creature.” A blue-skinned hand comes to rest on Nemi’s shoulder, not so inviting as before. “More importantly… if you cannot keep control of yourself with Me as your audience, in what would have been the most important moment of your life…” There’s an exhale. “If you cannot play even one composition, then you are not as suitable as I had hoped. A shame.”

The Fae drifts away, remaining out of sight of Nemi’s undeserving eyes. “Take the boy,” the cold voice demands. “Drag him into the pool. Go with him. We will not meet again.”

The pool, of course, being a little opening in the ground, where Diego’s unconscious form still lies in a little puddle.

Nemi says nothing for a time right until they are about to leave as she stands up from the grand organ of the sea, hand shaking softly against her head. “I apologize…. I wish I had not been interrupted so suddenly in this moment…. I wish I was in a better state to where my body does not so violently react to what I am and what I can hear of others so disturbing and scary…” She states… turning to approach the man as she lifts his head, checking for why he had not awoken as she shows one thing she does have, compassion as she digs into her bag to wrap his head in the bandage with grace and care for the one injured in-front of her. “I will not beg for a second chance…. I am truly sorry I am yet to live up to someone who may possibly be an ancestor in my family old tree…” She states again before moving to slowly pick the man up, eyes closing as she wipes away memories of regret. “What was she like…?” She means Nemi… the older one, the one long lost to time.

Though Diego does have a little bump on his noggin, he doesn’t look like he’s in a coma – he’s just conveniently sleeping, where the Fae had wanted some privacy. Alas, Nemi’s questions are met only with icy silence, the sultry warmth of the seductive Iryssel spent and gone in a perfect example of the mercurial moods the Fae are so known for. The young man stirs as Nemi gently bandages his head, and he lets out a faint, embarrassed groan.

“Sorry, Nemi,” he sighs. “I have… a lot of debts with the Fae, so I can’t afford to say no when They ask things of me. It doesn’t look like you’re hurt, at least… Let’s get out of here.” He flashes Nemi an apologetic look, then steps into the pool, sinking rapidly as the waters woosh him away back home. All that’s left is for Nemi to follow… Or to really push her luck, here in the Fae’s abode. Maybe Iryssel enjoys boldness… but there many warning tales of those who overstay their welcome with the Fae.

Nemi looks around, taking a breath in as she writes something. It’s simple, not a request or, a want or a need, a gift maybe, A single address which if every went after would represent the two strikingly alike women, a garden full of beautifully starlight gray moon poppys, the natural purple coloration all gone without any tampering. After quickly leaving the note on the bed she heads over, plugging her nose as she steps into the pool and hangs her head low.

The waters rush by, cold and uncaring, though Nemi’s at least not slammed into any rocky walls along the channel before she finds herself spat back into the Windermere hospital, out of the bucket and into the air. Diego’s there to help steady her landing, at least, but the moment they’re both secure, the old wooden pail splits apart into a bunch of splinters and rusty rivets.

“Well,” Diego sighs. “I’d like to say that was a pleasure, but… I can’t remember any of it.” He did get knocked out, after all. “I hope it wasn’t too awful for you, Nemi… I hope this doesn’t become a regular thing.”

Nemi looks over, and then towards what remains of the bucket. “She’s sad… I think-… She Misses Her Nemi. The way she spoke of them was less of a play thing and more-” She thinks for words. “Someone… she never wanted to ever have to say goodbye too, that one final time.” She states with a nod. “I’ve been attracting the odd attention of curious beings lately… I’m quite afraid at the odds of encountering lady Nott….” She admits with a nod.

Diego says “I’ll see you around, Nemi…“