The mechanism inside the door clicked as Iris turned the key and pushed the door forward. A smile crept on her doom and gloom face as an unnatural cold draft swept her feet, sneaking through the small gap at the bottom of the door.
"Why are you here?" The risen asked the familiar outline of her favourite person as she raised her arm covering the sun shining through the window.
"I..." The girl tried to explain but her words ate each other as her mind outpaced her mouth.
The elf scowled as the girl's voice held guilt in it, as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Still waiting for her night-seeing eyes to adjust to the bright light Iris sat down beside Kia on the couch.
"You look like a sentenced criminal," The elf giggled slightly at the progressively redder undead. "You know that my clothes are too big for you?"
Colour and sharpness returned to her vision and what she saw was the petite undead sitting still like a marble statue wearing oddly familiar clothes which didn't fit her at all.
"Don't take it off," Iris put her hand on Kia who began to take off the linen shirt. "I want to look at you for a bit longer."
It would have been fair to say that the mage ignited something inside the elf as her amethyst eyes didn't leave her figure shrouded under the linen for even a moment. The subject of all this attention tried to hide from the risen's gaze resembling a river turtle as she disappeared into the oversized shirt. A shiver ran down the length of the necromancer's spine before she peeked her head from the defensive fortress.
"Coming out of your shell?" The elf watched as the shy turtle shuffled closer to her. When the undead was a finger's length away from Iris, she popped out her limbs from her shell and took a seat on the warm lap. "You're shy about me watching you yet you have no problem shamelessly rubbing yourself on me. Where did your survival instinct go?" She teased the ancient undead who rubbed her forehead against the grey jacket.
Iris might have wanted to continue to tease the small-framed noble but she too felt the empty void which had gnawing at her in the back of her mind, fill with each moment the girl stayed in her arms. Remaining in the room was going to fill that unnatural hunger eventually but that wouldn't do.
"I guess I inherited that from you." The elf added as she pampered the purring kitten ravenous for more of her touch.
The sound of a bell shook the city as the two undead felt that their hunger had been satisfied. A deep coo emerged from the older undead as she was scratched behind her ear. Kia closed her eyes making a cute face as blindly she attempted to replicate what her creation was doing to her. Kia's ghostly blue eyes opened as their cuddle session wind down.
"Looking for something?" Iris asked curiously why the devourer didn't make one of her signature noises when her pampering ended.
"Did you get me the resources I asked for? Please." Kia added the last word like an acolyte casting her first spell, full of unblunted enthusiasm and hope.
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"I did buy you the clay and iron you asked for," Iris said pointing at the basket next to the door. "And there was no need for that please although I like how enthusiastic you are trying." The girl's spoken Common was undeniably good although she still made mistakes.
Kia stood up and walked over to the door. The heavily laden basket appeared unliftable by the thin twigs the monster called arms. In her previous life, Iris would need to use her legs to even think about lifting it. She would have lifted it as much as she could before helping with her knee before trying to rest it on her shoulder.
While the elf was going over the various methods she recalled from her living days on how to lift heavy objects the petite monster stared at the contents of the basket before plunging her hand toward the iron ingot.
"What did I expect." The elf shook her head as in an instant the metal and clay wrapped in a thin towel to keep it moist disappeared.
"Where are you going with this?" The hoplite stood up as her kitten wasn't returning to her.
"I will use the big table in the bedroom." The necromancer stated.
The two entered the bedroom and the girl walked straight forward to the massive table positioned right next to the tall window. Iris's long arm grabbed the top of the cushioned chair bringing it closer to the desk.
"Iris, what are you doing?" The mage raised her eyebrow as her creation sat down on the chair.
"I want to watch what are you doing. Would there be a problem?"
"There wouldn't be any problems but where do I sit?" Kia began to turn around searching for a chair she might have not seen.
"Here of course." The risen slapped her lap.
The petite girl stared at the risen with a suspicious stare, watching her creation carefully for any tricks but eventually, she relented.
"You're going to watch me work?"
"I did say that I want to see what will you make with these things I bought.
Hearing the black-haired risen's response the entire body of the Great Awakener shuddered. Iris wondered if it was because of her present or because the girl feared being judged on her work.
It's good for her to get used to new stuff like this.
Kia's hand hovered over the surface of the desk for a moment before the basket appeared on it without any sound. She began to unload the expensive materials Iris had found in the industrial district. The elf might have been working hard but it felt like no matter how hard she worked the coins in their possession could only shrink.
After sorting the materials into mixed piles the girl began to pull out ever ever-increasing number of tools and instruments. The elf watching everything from over the ancient's shoulder felt utterly out of her depth as many of the tools in Kia's disposal resembled torture tools rather than anything else.
"Kia, you still haven't told me what are these for." The young undead with a flower in her hair asked while the ancient carved into the ingot of metal with unshakable precision.
"This will become a trio of constructs." Kia pointed at the bigger pile of materials which used all of the clay.
"What are they for?"
"I like having them around me but primarily I want them to listen to your orders." Kia answered not looking away from the iron ingot.
"And what would be the point of me being able to order them around?" Iris asked. The necromancer rarely raised the dead rather she preferred to surround herself with constructs so the idea of her wanting some golems didn't shock the elf even without her knowing Kia's bizarre endirment to constructs. What confused her was the fact that the mage was making them for her or at least it felt like that was the case.
"So you can spend more time improving yourself." Kia said coldly yet something told Iris that the girl was acting so altruistic.
"Or allow me to spend more time with you, am I right?" Iris whispered into the pale mage's ear.
"That would be selfish..." Kia muttered causing the elf to grin as she ruined the cat's attempt at keeping face.
"What about the thing you're working on now?"
"That's for Sandwich, it will become an enchanted mask with water breathing. Sofia came in today and was asking for it so that's why I'm beginning with this." The ancient explained, unable to view Iris's face.
"She came in here," The unware craftswoman nodded as she continued to work on the iron, shaping it into a mask. "And did she see you like this?"
Iris glanced down at Kia's soft tender legs sticking out of the oversize shirt. A feeling of the past repeating itself overcame the poor elf who couldn't bear the notion of some human desecrating Kia with their wolfish gaze. The elf's hand travelled downward pulling up the loose linen skirt around the ancient's waist, she had to know something.
"Iris!" The undead mage yelped as she froze feeling her creation's warm hand grazing her inner thigh.
A heavy stone dropped from the risen's non-existent heart as rather than a soft flesh her fingers were met with fabric covering Kia.
"MmmmMmm."
"Sorry, Kia I had to know if..." The risen began to explain herself before realising that the girl moaned while her face was filled with disoriented shock. "I will go take a bath." She said standing up, her head feeling hazy from her and Kia's thoughts bouncing inside her skull.