2017-03-26: Cloudy With Chance of Witch
- Log: Cloudy With Chance of Witch
- Cast: Talise Gianfair, Sephilia Lampbright
- Where: Starfall Saloon
- Date: March 26, 2017
- Summary: After their encounter with the Pyre Witch, Talise warns Sephilia what they're up against.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise has been wearing a green 'do-rag lately and parting her hair in a way that mostly hides her ears. She can't do much for the cheekstripes but hopefully the new style makes her look less like the posters.
After an afternoon spent playing her lute for gella, she's once more migrated to a spot behind the saloon, sitting atop a crate with one leg propped up on an ale barrel. The lute itself has been fixed up, newly polished and with some new wood incorproated into it. Long fingers dancing over it, she plays a few notes experimentally; it sounds about as good as it did before.
The tall woman smiles to herself, quietly pleased, then plays a couple of slow strums. One could easily track her by the sound. Either way, she's a happy lady right about now - the trouble with the Guard being well past, she can finally resume her life.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy is excited. Talise has finally fixed the lute fully, and that means Sephy got to start singing lessons! She's been humming to herself all afternoon, though with Talise starting another song, she's quieting down. The girl has a fair voice. She's not perfect but at least she can carry a tune.
Chauncey, for his part, has been quite thoroughly repaired and restored over the past week, almost to better condition than he's been in since Sephy first arrived.
The girl's not had many chances to go out exploring, after all, and she's worried enough about what might happen that she's acceded without comment to instructions from Ida and Talise that she always be accompanied by an adult. As if she were a kid.
Right now, Sephy feels like it might be okay to be a kid, if it means she doesn't have to be alone.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
One of the reasons Talise had taken Sephilia with her had been to teach her to sing. She'd walked her through some of the basics already and given her some tisp and encouragement. Don't shout. Focus on your breathing.
She stops after a few strums, though, trailing off as a few thoughts bubble to the surface. Tilting her head to the side, she watches Sephilia for a moment, her teeth closing around her lower lip; sharp incisors dent it somewhat as she worries over whatever thought has cropped to mind. Finally she shifts her lute in her grip, resting the neck of it over her shoulder in a resting stance.
"Sephy," she says, her tone growing more serious, "there's something I need to talk to you about."
She pats the crate beside her, scooting over to make room for the younger girl and her fluffy vulpine comrade.
"Ida and I ran into Agatha the other day," she begins.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy hops up onto the crate and scoots up next to Talise, before freezing at the older woman's words.
"Y-you did?" she asks, hugging Chauncey tightly. She knows that things must have turned out okay because she's spent time with both Ida and Talise in the past day or so, but the way Talise is talking means that something happened, something bad, and that worries her.
That worries her a lot.
So she hugs Chauncey even tighter, and carefully, quietly, asks, "What happened?"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Bringing her hand up, Talise rests it on Sephilia's shoulder and squeezes. The way the girl tenses up isn't lost on her; the grip she shares with her is steady, hopefully a little bit comforting.
"We learned a few things about her," she explains, her voice tightening as she leans back and looks up towards the clear blue sky. It's a comforting place to put her eyes. "She tried to charm us into listening to her. Then she revealed herself." Her eyes narrow.
Here she looks down, and her eyes find Sephilia's, holding there. "You're from Lunar just like I am. Did you ever hear the ghost story that goes around... the story about the Pyre Witch?"
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy nods wordlessly, swallowing hard. After a moment, she says, in a very small voice, "Is Agatha...?"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Yeah," Talise answers grimly. "Yeah, that's what she is."
Her grip tightens a little. "The old story about the witch who goes after people who need something and offers them everything they want. Except the price is more than just the burnt offering she asks for. It's always things. Things you have, or your friends have. And then it's blood. Yours, or your friends, or the blood of people you don't even know. And by the time she makes good on the bargain, she's darkened your soul forever. Because that's the kind of monster she is."
She lets out a slow rush of breath. "...Stay close to me, Ida and Lyn for the next little while. She's still out there, and she's dangerous."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Be brave, Sephilia Lampbright, she tells herself. Be brave.
She used to love hearing her father tell those creepy spooky stories around the campfire, delighting in the thrill of fear that would run down her back, knowing that she, at least, was safe from the Pyre Witch, that she had Chauncey and her Dad and could be sure that she would never have to worry.
Even now she knows she has Chauncey, and Talise and Ida and Lynnai besides, but there's a difference between hearing about the Pyre Witch in a story and being the witch's clueless, foolish and blind victim, unaware until it was too late that they were making a terrible bargain.
"I'm going to lose my soul, aren't I?" she asks. "It's too late for me already..."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Immediately, Talise sets her lute aside, then reaches for Sephilia, pulling her in for a hard, tight hug. She practically buries the girl in her shoulder. Patting her back firmly, she closes her eyes. This close, Sephilia can feel the tension in Talise's muscles.
"You're not going to lose your soul and it's not too late," she assures with a shake of her head. "Me, Ida and Lyn have your back. Riese has your back too. A lot of people have your back. And now that you know who she is, you don't have to do anything she says. Don't let her demand anything out of you. Don't give her anything."
Narrowing her eyes, she squeezes the smaller girl into her again. "And if she so much as touches you," she states, "I'll make her regret it."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia hangs on tight to Talise. "You must know a song about...about someone outsmarting the Pyre Witch. Right?" Her tone is hopeful. "All the stories I know are not so good for the people she meets...but you might know more stories than I do. Right?"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"There aren't too many songs about her," Talise admits, voice quieting a little. Moving her right hand up, she strokes Sephilia's hair slowly, fingers raking through it. "Most of 'em are bad."
She lowers her head with a smile and gives the girl's back a slow pat. "But that doesn't matter. Songs are just songs. And the songs don't tell you everything. Besides... if she was as bad as she is in the songs, she'd have gotten someone already. So long as she's here, and so long as she's a person like the rest of us, she can be beaten."
Leaning back, she moves her hand to take Sephilia's shoulders, squeezing. "I know one story," she says. "And it happened here. She tried to trick Ida and Riese into fighting each other. But she made a mistake in the letters she sent them, and Riese caught it. Her and Ida figured it out. That means the Witch can make mistakes. And so long as that's true, we can beat her."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia manages a wicked smile. "Good," she says, though her tone isn't quite as steady as she'd like. "Then we can be the first ones who get a song about us beating her."
Chauncey's button eyes show his shared determination, glinting in the firelight.
"Dad will be sooooo proud of me when--when we do that."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Part of Talise had been expecting more crying. Sephilia continues to surprise her. Her eyebrows come up.
Leaning back a bit, she flashes the girl a wide, toothy grin, just the slightest bit fierce. "That's the spirit! She's pretty tough, though. That's why you've gotta stick with me, Ida or Lyn. And if she tries to come after you, let us know."
She squeezes Sephilia's shoulders again. "We'll kick her butt together if that's what it takes."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia nods. "I will stay close, I promise. My Dad didn't raise me to be dumb enough to wander off alone when the Pyre Witch is hunting me."
She shudders slightly, but her determined expression doesn't waver as she sets her jaw. "And we'll make sure she can't hurt anyone else, too!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"We can definitely keep your safe. Your dad was a smart guy and I want to make sure you get home to him safe. But the Witch can't do that. Even if she did know how to get home, she'd take more from you than you'd ever want to give up." Talise gives Sephilia's shoulder a brisk pat before smiling widely at her. "We'll show her she messed with the wrong people."
Her gaze dips for a moment, and she quiets slightly, tone more serious. "I know you like to talk about how much you miss home. But make sure that you trust the people you talk about that to. There are people in this world like the Pyre Witch, who'll use your desires to try and hurt you. Don't stop being who you are. Just be safe. Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia nods. "I...I didn't think I did miss home so much at first until she said that she could send me back," she admits. "I was trying really hard not to think about it but I guess it was pretty obvious to someone like her..."
Sephilia's eyes widen. "Imagine if she had tried to offer me being more grown up," she giggles.
Sephilia Lampbright
Sephilia Lampbright is a girl of about fifteen, with reddish-golden hair hanging to her shoulders in loose curls and bright, inquisitive green eyes. Her appearance often causes people to assume she is younger, however, as she is small for her age, and the way she dresses conceals her figure enough that it's easy to miss. (It's easy to miss her figure anyway, but don't tell her that!) She is usually found wearing sturdy, practical clothes in bright colors, with a large cloak draped over them resembling nothing so much as a poncho.
The other aspect of Sephilia's appearance that belies her age is Chauncey, properly Lord Chauncey of Foxington, a battered and much-loved stuffed animal that she is never seen without. Chauncey's plush body is much stitched and repaired, hinting at a well-worn past, and he is barely recognizable as a fox doll beneath all the patches. Most of the time he's dangling from Sephy's arms, though occasionally--when danger rears its ugly head--Sephy can be seen riding piggy-back on the doll in its giant form.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Eyes hardening, Talise nods slowly. "She tried to hint to me that she'd leave us alone if I sacrificed myself to her instead. Then she tried to lure me in by talking about the things Althena's done lately. She goes after exactly the things that bother you most - right for the jugular, so to speak. That's why she's so dangerous."
The last suggestion evokes a chuckle from her, and she pats Sephy's shoulder again. "You'll be more grown up soon anyway," she assures. "You're fifteen."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia sighs. "Maybe, but I'm small for my age and..." Here, she gestures. "You know.
Her cheeks, always a little rosy, turn a bit pinker.
"An--well you saw how Rudy thought I was a kid until he saw Chauncey big, right? It's like that for almost everyone." She sighs again. "It's not like I want boys to be looking at me the way Hiro looks at Lucia or anything, just...not like I'm not even here."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Aw." Talise can't help it. Smiling sympathetically, she lowers her hands to her lap, leaning back a little to let Sephy mope for a moment.
"Not everyone grows up at the same pace," she explains. "I've known people who didn't start to fill out until they were a ways older than you. Maybe Althena's just taking her time to give you her blessing. But eventually she'll bless you, and your body will change. You'll get taller and your boobs will fill out and your body will catch up to everything you've been through so far in your life."
Her eyelids lower slightly. "How Hiro looks at Lucia is a little excessive and you shouldn't take that as standard. He's just a horndog."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"I don't know if Hiro knows that's how he's looking at her, you know." Sephy's cheeks are even rosier at Talise's blunt assessment of what will happen to her body. "She definitely doesn't know he is." Gossip is apparently an acceptable alternative topic. "Do you think Zed has anyone he feels like that about?" she asks, cocking her head to one side. "Or does he feel that way about his own legend?"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Hiro's a nice guy, but he seems like the kind of guy who really likes girls who are a little clueless and in need of help," Talise says with a crooked smile. "From what I've seen of Lucia, she's dedicated and can be curt, but sometimes she needs a hand. I can see an earnest guy like Hiro finding that irresistable. Some guys are big heroes like that. It's cute, but he's not really my type. I like guys who trust me to handle myself."
Her eyelids lower, her smile taking on a wicked note. "And to handle them."
The smile passes; she blinks, scratching at her cheek. "Zed?" she echoes. "Uhm. I don't see Zed as a very sexual person, honestly. I think he's one of those guys who has way too much energy and goes after anything that looks like it's exciting. I don't think he'd know what to do with himself if he got interested in a girl."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Oh," Sephy says. "I guess that makes sense."
The girl is still holding on to Chauncey pretty tightly, but it seems her immediate terror and worry have passed.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise Gianfair lifts a hand to fluff Sephilia's hair again, smiling at her warmly. "Don't worry too much about guys. You've got your whole life ahead of you for that. And I'm sure you'll hit your growth spurt soon." She winks and assures, "When that happens, we'll get you some nice outfits."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia frowns. "But with sensible boots, right? I always want to have sensible boots on." She extends a leg to show off her almost comically oversized clompers. "You can't go exploring without sensible boots," she adds.
The thought that she might want fancy outfits for reasons other than exploring appears to be lost on the girl.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Swinging a leg up onto the crate, Talise plants her boot heel there, showing off her own footwear - big black combat-style boots with steel plates affixed to them. "Definitely sensible boots," she assures.
She grimaces. "I don't know how people can explore in high heels, but I keep seeing it. I never liked them very much."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy has a moment of pause. "Do you think I could get special boots to make me look taller?"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Probably," Talise says with a waggle of one hand. "But that's one of two things: Either high heels, which hurt your feet, or platforms, which are clunky and awkward."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy sighs. "So much for that idea then," she mopes.