Private After the End and Start

A year has ended, another has begun... But between the last week before Christmas and a few days ago, Bastet had been absent, back at her mother's home, and when she came back she has been spending a lot of time napping at random places. It was not just her brumation kicking in, but also her body has been changed, cursed with a foul legendary essence.

It was exhausting, but not as bad as it was at first. Here, at a bench, she had laid down sometime after lunch and been peacefully sleeping there, three layers of winter clothes to keep her comfortably warm, unaware of any who could approach... Not that she needed, from the shadows under the bench a pair of red eyes watched anyone's movement.

@Saber

There was a hissing, and then something came out of the shadows, circling Aaron and menacingly rising its head to meet eye to eye. "You better think twice, dark fiend, else I may tear your face and wear it as a mask!", the massive serpent that compares to an anaconda threatens without fear in its red eyes, meanwhile Bastet mumbled "lemme just nap a few more minutes", followed by incomprehensible words.

"Girlfriend... ...?", a thoughtfully frowning snake was a rare sight, but did happen, "Hang on a moment.". Withdrawing its eyes from Aaron, the ground serpent turned over to Bastet, his tail coiling closer and close to Aaron, but only enough so the very tip could come up and poke the sleeping girl on the nose. "Wakey wakey sleepyhead. Your girlfriend is here...", he spoke, wanting to draw Bastet's to the waking world.

"Okay okay... I'm getting up, Oroichi...", Bastet groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Long story short: She is cursed but you could say it's an awesome curse. After all, me and my brothers can be brought to life by her. And she is recovering of a small shock from having impure darkness forcibly absorbed into her body.", the serpent explained, not showing a single smug.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Still not used to having Yami in me.", Bastet explained, her grip having not weakened a day despite supposedly being cursed, "It's basically as Oroichi explained: I absorbed Yami, the impure darkness, and that allows me to summon him and his seven brothers. Consequence of absorbing Orochi's Legendary Essence without knowing."

"Told you so. It's not like she'll have a shorter life or anything, there's no knowing what the legendary essences will do to her, except mine is apparently the only to do anything to her body.", the serpent explained, but either missed the chance to be a smug snake or chose to be serious as to avoid hostility, "I give you this: We tempted her to give in, to become our vessel, but she is truly headstrong, enough to earn our admiration."

"Take your time.", the earth serpent waved its tail, letting Aaron and Bastet talk. Bastet gave a low laugh, but not a weak one at that, at Aaron's concern. "Absorbing Amaterasu was my greatest shock. Then Tsukuyomi a not so great. While suddenly getting a cursed essence in me was a shock... I'm surprised that I overcame it. Plus, you've seen, Oroichi is protective, and he was quick to understand your concern.", Bastet explained, livelier by the second.

"But I won't deny, I'm SURE something else happened to me and I'll get that checked out. Got an appointment at the hospital instead, need a more in-depth analysis.", she sounded slightly concerned. Meanwhile Oroichi swayed to the rythim of a branch to the wind, periscoping to match Bastet's height.