Awakened

Vessel of Echoes

Blue sighed, staring at the group that decided to come along. Ink, he expected, but Dust was a bit of a surprise. Killer a little less so. Fresh? Also unexpected.
He was still a little bit disappointed that Horror wasn't coming, though it was perfectly understandable given yesterday's incident.

Now the real surprise was the startling change in Ink from yesterday. Somehow most of the random tendrils had disappeared, as did the black spots. And the ones on either side of his head had somehow frozen in those curled up positions, ends now a slightly luminous cyan. The sculk tail no longer looked freakishly indented and the pustules weren't sticking out at all from the now velvety skin.
Most of all he was somehow blazing with light.

At this point, Blue wasn't sure he even wanted to ask. Ink was just a strange individual.
So he pinched between his sockets from atop Spookum the undead horse. “You're all certain you want to come along? This is a fairly long trip. We may be gone awhile.” He nodded to the donkey carrying packs behind him.

“Isn't it just half a day to get there?” Killer asked.
“Yes, but that's how long it takes to reach it. We don't know how long we'll be there for, and we must consider the fact that it's also half a day to come back.” He pointed out.
“Huh. Neat.” The creeper remarked.

“It's a completely unknown part of the Nether, I can't just not check it out.” Dust shrugged.
“Totally fair, Brah.” Fresh agreed. “I gotta see it too. Sounds awesome.”
Blue couldn't argue with that.

“Well, if that's what you-” He cut off, staring at the cat comfortably curled up in the donkey's saddle.
“It's a bit dangerous for a cat.” Blue pointed out.
Killer scowled at the sight. “Not that cat.”
“Who, da talkin’ cat?” Fresh asked.
“Carrot doesn't talk.” Blue reminded him.
“Not to you.” Killer shot back.
“That was mean.” Fresh remarked at that.
“Am I wrong?”
“Well..” Fresh considered it as Blue just silently shook his skull. “We should get going. Cross and Epic are waiting.”

“Well in that case!” The wither beamed as Ink started.. tap-dancing?
“Which portal are we goin’?”
“I was thinking we'd use theirs, as the animals might have a hard time with the smell and stairs on ours.” He patted Spookum’s skull, the horse huffing from the attention. The good boy didn't take well to most armor, but Blue had worked out padding- who better than another skeleton to understand the struggle?
The horse was quite handsome in the iron and diamond now.

Decision made, the group started migrating to the back of the village, Killer still eyeing the cat and Ink as they walked.
“Tell us what you know about these caverns, Ink.” Blue suggested, getting used to how bright the other was. It was still almost the same as Dream, just.. condensed.

The sculky piglin lit up, and he was treated to the sight of something moving in his shoulders again. It seemed like Dust saw it too, the enderman staring in abject horror before Blue could grab his wrist and shake his skull slightly. He was not going to bring that up. He did not want to know.

“Okay, okay, this is really neat, but it's kinda like an Overworld marsh. A bit.” Ink started, opening the gate for the others and walking backwards.
“At least the parts around the lava are. The rest of it is more like other Nether forests! It's actually turned the quartz into a kind of sand mixed with nylium. It also makes a really clear glass that mixes really well with glowstone! Which, uh, means glowing glass, by the way.”

He was cocking his head at Dust's still unnerved expression, but seemed to decide against commenting, diving backwards into the portal.
Blue immediately turned. “Just don't bring up the shoulder thing. If he doesn't want to talk about it, then he won't talk about it. That is one thing I'm quite happy knowing less about.”