2017-03-20: Hot-Blooded Demon and Moe Nun
- Log: Hot-Blooded Demon and Moe Nun
- Cast: Rosaline Calice, Zed
- Where: Adlehyde - Fairgrounds
- Date: 2017-03-20
- Summary: An encounter between a Metal Demon infiltrator and a gentle nun leaves both shaken to the core.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
At last! The Ancient Culture Exhibition!
As the self-proclaimed authority on everything ARMs-related, of course the Ethos would have some space at the fairground. It has set up an island of several booths that serve as a miniature version of a fantasy gun show.
A few Etones have space to show off some exciting gun'stricks in exchange for charity Gella. There's a booth where ARM-handling safety tips are dispensed with religious teachings in equal measure-- Not that they let people HANDLE them but, you know. Just in case. There is, of course, a recruitment booth for those who wish to hear the Good Word by daylight and fight evil by moonlight.
Display cases are set up to show various ARMs the local branch of the organization has collected over the years. This would be an absolute treasure trove, or more accurately a prime target for bandits looking to ARM themselves, if it weren't also likely the actual most well-defended corner of the fair.
In a less flashy corner of the corner, just out of obvious sight, is a single nun with her own booth. She's ringing a bell, next to a cauldron meant for collecting donations. "Please help rebuild the Calice orphanage!" the nun, who is also a catwoman, shouts out, unable to make herself heard very well over the hustle and bustle of the crowd and the nearby sounds of ARMs fire. "Pleeeease..." she breathes out, slumping over forward. Next to her is also a small table with a pair of nearly identical ARMs are laid out, polished to a mirror sheen. It's unclear whether they're actually part of the exhibition.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Fighting evil by moonlight!? Is there a better way in all this world to summon THE DARK HERO!?
Uh. Yeah, probably. You could probably make him appear by just loitering around with a sign that reads 'free churros here.' Zed's attention is not the hardest thing in the world to try to capture, is what we're saying here. The fact that he's technically been assigned to the specific task of snooping around human civilization is probably the only reason he hasn't been slapped with charges of insubordination or dereliction of duty at this point.
More importantly, Zed has an AWESOME RUIN GUN to get appraised. While Zed's BEST BUDDY Kalve has all the expertise in the world, he's not the best at determining monetary value. Zed, being a Zed, fights only with the power of friendship, swordsmaship and chutzpah, and has no real need for an ARM.
Hence, why there's a great yellow scarf fluttering around amidst the Etones.
I mean, if anyone can give a decent value for this thing, it's the guys who... pay people to... find these things.
Hm.
Zed meanders through the exhibits, peering curiously at such things like 'safeties' and 'gun discipline manuals.' The need for such things is rare among Metal Demons; after all, they don't typically need things like that to tell their ARMs when and when not to shoot. But then... Then he finds...!
A half-unconscious nun?
"...Hmmmmm, you know!" Zed says, squatting down to meet this strange nun's eyes. "I have a friend who is a very good busker, and this is not very good busking. Have you tried singing?"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Unfortunately, Rosaline has no churros. Free churros would probably be a great way to get people's attention. She has to make do with being kind of cute and having trouble asserting herself.
Hmmm... There might be a word for that. Perhaps Zed, for whom anime is real, can figure that one out.
"W-What?" the catwoman says, her ears and tail perking up before the rest of her does, and just in time for someone to INSULT HER BUSKING. Her lip quivers. She's not having a good day at all!
But he makes a suggestion, which distracts her from how taken aback she is. "Oh... I'm not a very good singer, I don't think. About average, I would say..." She looks apologetic about this terrible revelation.
But she remembers she has a job to do. "Good sir, would you be interested in giving to the Calice orphanage rebuilding fund? Every Gella helps."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed... Zed senses something amiss. A strange vibration in the social fabric that he's only felt a scant few handful of times before. He knows what this is. His eyes dart from the catwoman's face to the catwoman's ears to her very obvious habit and craaaanes his neck to verify that, yes, that is indeed a tail.
...
Yes, he has seen this before.
Zed, what do your animes say about this situation?
'Iyaaan, oniisama no bakaaaa~'
N... No. That's too silly, even for here.
"Hmmm..." Zed leans back, eyes narrowing slightly. He taps his fangs together in mild, passing contemplation. But then... Then. "No singing. What about... Dancing? Hrm."
There's a beat as he taps a paper-wrapped package against his shoulder. It... Looks like an ARM? But he's got a sword there at his back, too. Is this... A digger!? "Well. Orphans, huh? What... Does it need rebuilding from, exactly? Monster attack? Horrible natural disaster? The foul gaze of Filgaia's scorn? And... How much do you still need, exactly?"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Thankfully, Rosaline does not have an oniisama.
"I've never actually tried dancing before," Rosaline answers, putting her gloved hands to her cheeks. "I-I--... That wouldn't be very modest, would it?"
She sees the weapons. She contemplates them a moment, pondering the implications, before the young man speaks up again, snapping her out of it. "Yes! It was..."
Her face grows somber. "Arson. We don't know who did it, or why. I'm trying to collect clues but I don't have much much to go on. If you have any possible leads I would be interested in hearing them."
Well, does he?
"As for how much..." She scuffs her foot. "I'm sorry. I haven't actually counted a specific number yet. I know it'll be a few hundred thousand, at least." She's still got a ways to go!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
oh god is she blushing
NO, THIS IS THE PERFECT TRIFECTA!
Zed feels it. That terrible, awful sensation that makes the heart burn with an awesome power. This... Is this truly... What the progenitor humans of the distant past called...
'Moe?'
No! Compose yourself, Zed. Zed, being Zed, finds this incredibly difficult. He needs to move, to explode, to do... SOMETHING. And so he... Poses.
His scarf billows triumphantly in a passing breeze. His arms cross heroically over his chest. He puffs himself up, throws back his shoulders, GRINS! And then frowns. "Arson? Ar...son...?"
...
So someone burnt it down? "Uh. I do not, actually. This is the first time I've heard of this place! But if it was set ablaze, then the one responsible must surely still be out there! Out there... To be found, and punished!" Zed shakes a fist into the sky. Dramatics, they always soothe the nerves. "Where was this orphanage, adorable kitty-nun? Maybe... I might have seen something, if it's a place I've been."
And if it's a place he's not, well! All the more reason to travel there!
"Oh, but you need... You need money, yes? Gella? Hm." Zed scrubs at his chin... And then reaches over his shoulders for a pretty sizable backpack. "Hmmmmmmm...!"
He seems to be considering a donation.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline is unaware that she possesses such terrible, ancient power. There might be something similar sleeping in the depths of the Great Sea, but that one won't come up until at least Chapter 2.
The scarfed man's antics might amuse other people, but they mostly seem to worry her. Is this man all right? Why is he posing like this? The outside world is a confusing, often scary place.
"The village of Hope Springs. It was less than a day's walk from Dazil, to the west." So this nun has already traveled quite far, it seems. "Few people have been there, it was already a ghost town when the orphanage was destroyed." Presumably it would be reopened in a place that ISN'T the actual middle of nowhere.
She's called an 'adorable kitty-nun', and doesn't know how to react to this besides blush and look vaguely uneasy. But then he reaches for his backpack. Her fists clench, her tail straightens. She leans forward, hope in her eyes...!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Dazil...?" Zed cants his head, slowly dropping out of his AMAZING POSE. He can hold them for a while, but not... Forever. Also, holding a pose forever is UNCOOL. You have to change it up! "Hmm. Hmmmmm, yes I see." No, he does not. Zed, being from a horrible, futuristic, snow-bound spaceship out in the middle of the frigid north, is not particularly well-versed in things like 'geography.' "Well. Perhaps I'll have to travel there," AND SOMEHOW GET PAST THE BLOCKADE, "And see for myself!"
Zed hefts his backpack up and over and pulls it open. He begins rummaging inside. There are his spare notebooks, his OCCUPIED notebooks, his sack of trail rations (read: all kinds of pastries), and... There! A pile of...
Oh.
It's a full sack of gella. Just... All of his gella.
He holds it over the bucket... And lets go.
And then he drops what looks like a weird, gilded saddle on top of it. Uh.
W-well.
"There! You can sell that too. I don't ride on anything, so it's useless to me!"
Zed beams proudly at all this he has done.
Zed... does not really understand how money works.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline doesn't mention the blockade. She's already confused enough by this COOL DU-- odd man! He might be full of hot air.
OR IS HE.
Rosaline's appeal to the better parts of humanity may have had mixed success in attracting people's attention, but the loud clink of a great many coins gets some heads to turn. There's a moment's silence, and a few people applaud politely. Such generosity! Might need to work on his modesty, but let's face it, only the most devout (like the catwoman) particularly care about that.
"Thank you! T-Thank you so much! I don't know what to say!" Rosaline is smiling for the first time today. "That's so generous of you, praise be to--"
Then comes the saddle. She falls silent, eyes wide. The people still applauding look at each other, confused, and quickly resume their business.
"Thank you," the nun says, reassembling something like composure. She can probably find a buyer for this... thing, she hopes. But something has her curious.
"You don't ride anything? I thought-- and I apologize if that was presumptuous of me, but I thought you were a Drifter." It would explain the weapons, and so far she's coming to think 'Drifter' is a synonym for 'Strange misfit'.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed is not full of hot air, he is full of HOT BLOOD. There is a vital and important distinction there!! He's also full of liquid metal, but the fewer people that realize that part of things, the better.
"Nahahahaha, don't worry about it!" Zed's fangy grin is radiant. If you turned out the lights, it might actually glow in the dark! "I know the pain that comes with losing a parent, so it is only right to for me to do this!" Also the applause! That helps a lot too! Yes, cheer more for your inevitable destroyer, foolish humans!
Though, Zed's not exactly much of a destroyer. 'Strange Misfit' is... pretty accurate, where he's concerned.
"...Oh, no. I don't! Ride anything, that is. I don't need to!" His hands go to his hips with literally ALL the pride. "You see, I, the great Zed... HAVE NEVER ONCE MISSED LEG DAY!"
"So I run everywhere. Or jump. You see? I don't need a saddle. Some might, but I certainly don't! Quicker than the wind and as still as the forest! Hotter than flames and MORE MAGNIFICENT THAN A MOUNTAIN! That..." Zed smirks and thumbs at his chest, "Is what I am."
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
There's a flash of sympathy in the nun's eyes when Zed mentions losing a parent. He doesn't exactly seem like he wants to go into detail right here and now, however, and to be quite honest neither does she.
He explain why he doesn't need to ride anything. At his bold proclamation, the nun widens her eyes, mouth agape. "Wooooow..." She pauses, puzzled. Then mutters, "Is this... is this even a thing?" It's probably not even loud enough for Zed to hear. She doesn't worry that much about the legs day. Should she?
Deep lore spoiler: She really shouldn't.
"I... I see!" she squeaks out, charmed but also mildly terrified. "Well... Thank you, Zed." She did notice that he didn't rule out the Drifter thing, which means... "If you ever happen to be in need of a healer for your adventures, consider looking me up. I should still be in town while the Exhibition in going on... I think..."
This should be fine. Right?
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The reason Zed would rather not go into detail is probably not one that Rosa would be able to guess in a few hundred years. It's not like you run into Actual Honest To God Metal Demons very often, after all. And usually when you do, you die! Quickly! And very, very few in Filgaia today even know what The Mother is, so.
Yeah!
"It most certainly is a thing!" Zed boasts. With the kind of confidence he's radiating though... It's hard to refute him! Also he appears to have the DEVIL'S OWN EARS. "I can prove it to you if you like. We can make it a show! The people can cast their bets. Will I be able to leap seven trees in a single bound? Hm."
Well.
Actually that's a pretty nice offer.
"I... Might just take you up on that, adorable kitty-nun!" Zed hasn't actually got her name, after all. "Uh. I can't just keep calling you that, right? Do you have... Something else I can call you? I mean, unless you enjoy being called adorable kitty-nun." It's a statement of fact, after all. "Maybe we can find something you can sell to help fund your reconstruction!"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline ran into a Metal Demon last week and didn't die!
But she doesn't know that either. It just keeps happening! It's like nuns attract demons.
"P-Please don't," Rosaline says, in what she intends to be a soothing tone. It's not that the prospect of seeing a man leap seven trees isn't interesting, but she really doesn't want to make a scene. And besides, he could get himself hurt!
She has a nervous laugh upon being called 'adorable kitty-nun' again, then ANOTHER, each time briefly turning a shade redder. "Oh no, I'm so sorry! I forgot to tell you, my name is Rosaline. Rosaline Calice." Zed can likely guess where that last name came from, if he hadn't already.
She balls up her fists and nods when he speaks of finding things to sell. "Hm-hmm. It's a large part of why I... do what I do." Drift, she means. She's still not really used to speaking of it that way.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"N-no?" Zed looks... Crestfallen? He seemed really keen on helping out! Also really keen on showing off. Somewhere in between those two extremes, that's where Zed is. "But... But I was really looking forward to--"
Zed's eyes fall upon the adorable kitty-nun.
The adorable, blushing, embarrassed kitty-nun. Zed feels... Something. It's an unfamiliar feeling, right in the very pit of his chest. Is it... Gas? No. It's hotter than that. Heartburn?
No.
No, it's another kind of burn.
A burning heart is involved, yes, but not in the kind of way that he is used to. It's a different heat. The kind of heat that sets a soul ablaze, the kind that drives men to buy entire stacks of CDs, the kind that gives innocent onlookers the vague sensation of a heart attack--
This... This is...!
ADVANCED MOE.
"Nnng," Zed grits his teeth and clutches at his chest, but he's fine! Really, he's fine. It's just... Her story touched him, is all. "So... You do all this for your home. Yes, I see. Well... You know my name now, and I know yours. But... As a reward, for your valiant efforts so far...!"
"Don't blink," Zed warns, as he bends at the knee.
This is as much for him as it is for her.
Zed uncoils like a spring, he roars as he leaps into the air, transforming into a veritable rocketman as he BOLDLY SCALES A NEARBY WALL in a single bound. But he just... keeps going, arcing away from the Etones and their guns, his initial quest forgotten in a haze of feel-good feelings. "Ahahahaha! Farewell for now!" Zed calls from mid-leap. "I will find you if I hear of treasuuuuuuurrre~"
Well.
That was a thing.