2017-10-19: Endlessly Forward

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  • Log: Endlessly Forward
  • Cast: Riesenlied, Seraph Ragnell, K.K.
  • Where: Wayside
  • Date: 19th October 2017
  • Summary: The Trial Knight and Ragnell pay Wayside a visit.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The village of Wayside!

Ever since the events at the Guardian Temple, Riesenlied and Noeline both have been busy -- busy building a new village with the rest of the Tainted, who've braved the Aveh Desert and crossed the warfront to find a new place to call their own... a place called Wayside, nestled in a valley between two cliffs.

Wayside has definitely become more lively than when it started -- it largely is a large campfire surrounded by a ring of caravans, around which several buildings have cropped up. At the 3 o' clock is the inn and tavern, aptly named 'V4L-H4LLA' after its owner Val, and at the 10' o clock is the other equally large building, Riese's home, a two-storey homely place with a nice porch called 'Wayside Orphanage'.

And in the midst of this... well, Riesenlied is making pretty good on her promise of more than murder -- she's seated on a rocking chair on said porch as she gently goes, "Aah..." and spoons a little bit of porridge to Mikaia, who's a bit sniffly and under the weather at present.

Another girl -- a bit older at eight -- is apparently playing Digger right now just nearby; she's got a cloak that's probably a pillowcase tied around her neck as she exclaims, "Y'won't get the best of me, Calamitest Janey! Take a blast from my Arc Smasher ARM! Pew pew, pew pew! Critical Hit!"

The 'Arc Smasher' is, sadly, just a finger-gun. They don't have money to buy real toys.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

And where there are those keeping promises, are also those invested in seeing those promises kept for one reason or another. Ragnell, invisible to most of the denizens of Wayside, strolls in unobstructed like she does most places (even Bledavik Palace, as long as Ellys and Seraphitas aren't around), come to check in on the place. After giving herself a small tour, she meanders on over to the orphanage, where the founder of the town is feeding a small child porriedge--and something noisier is going on nearby.

Ragnell grins as she watches Janey play make-believe with a finger-gun, gunning down invisible foes left and right. "The future's bright with kiddos like her blazin' a path forward," she remarks to Riesenlied once she walks close enough to be in conversational distance. Then she looks at Mikaia as Riesenlied spoon-feeds her. "What's this now? Someone catch a creepy-crawly?" A cold, ergo a bug, ergo... yes. "Or're you just havin' fun playin' mom, Riese?"

<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.

Time neither moves backwards, nor stays still. All it can do, is march forward. Endlessly forward.

A fact that could not be any more true than in the stretch of land now known as the Wayside. It scarcely feels like a blip since the events within the Guardian Temple, and already, this place has begun to flourish in its own way. Like a sprout pushing its defiant way past grains of earth to first meet the warmth of the sun, so have the first fledgling signs of civilization begin to spring forth around what may have at one point simply been a passing campside. Children play. And the caretaker of this place, takes care of those who need it.

A picture of serenity marred by the sudden stretch of a shadow casting itself across the ground and the enthusiastic Calamitest Janey like a scar of blotted light.

They stand there, on the fringes, with no announcement to their arrival other than their presence. And for someone who had most recently been seen letting themselves be consumed by a tidal wave, the white-armored form of K.K. looks as pristine and unharmed as ever, as if they had never even been so much as touched by a drop of water, let alone a manufactured force of nature of it. As shining and unchanged as the day they first encountered Riesenlied...

...save for the large, wrapped object currently slung over their back by a heavy iron chain. For Riesenlied, she may very well sense what it is before she sees it; the unmistakable presence of a dragon fossil.

And though they don't look down at the child playing around before them, their first words are undoubtedly for Janey.

"Your aim was off by several inches. In true confrontation, your enemy would already be supping upon the manna that is your blood with greatest fervor."

How they can sound so absolutely certain about their critique of what was some imaginary child's play is probably as flabbergasting as the simple fact that they were critiquing it to begin with.

Or that they don't offer any actual advice or help afterwards.

Just marches forward, for Riesenlied. Endlessly forward.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied pauses, before lending Ragnell a gentle smile as she says, "There's a cold bug going around Wayside... we're doing our best to contain it." One would wonder how exactly the Metal Demons catch colds, but Riese certainly can, and the other Tainted probably aren't gifted with the impeccable immune-systems of a regular Metal Demon, exactly...

Mikaia gasps just a bit as she looks up to Ragnell -- she's a bit snotty and has a big scarf balled up around her as she says, "Miss Ragnell...!"

Janey doesn't hear Ragnell's comment, huffing towards the two as she goes, "Huh? Oh, is your ghost here again??" She still doesn't believe 'Miss Ragnell' is a real person, despite being teased or pranked lightly by Ragnell in the past. A real Scully, this one is.

She pauses, though, and gawks at the white-armored form of the Trial Knight, completely unaware of who they might be, or how dangerous they may be...

"Whoa! That armor looks really cool!" Janey exclaims, staring up at a real, true-white figure draped in platemail. She looks at her own self, then adjusts her pillowcase so that the cape looks a little more like how K.K. wears theirs.

"W-wait, darn, did I miss? Uwahh--!" she mocks getting shot, but then says, "But the Lord of Calamity can't be defeated by this alone...!! I'll use... a Gimel Coin!"

... Janey, are you mock-playing being a hero or a villain here?

Riesenlied does peer with a quietly surprised look at K.K. being here, though, and-- though there is a bit of hesitation, she holds Mikaia a bit tighter as she sets the bowl of porridge aside and stands up gently. She bows her head.

"Good afternoon, K.K..."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

"Hehh... Is that so? Does feel like it's gettin' to be that season," Ragnell remarks, looking up at the skies for some reason. It's still hot... But she's a Lightning Seraph, so maybe she has a greater sensitivity to atmospheric changes? "Would be a bother if your li'l sprout here started spreadin' the plaaaaaague." She grins down at Mikaia when she gasps, a twinkle in her eye, and asks, "So how's about it, Mickey? You feel like you're catchin' the plaaaaaague? Hey, I can see some of it oozin' outta yer nose right now!"

Janey meanwhile asks about 'Mikaia's' ghost, and Ragnell snorts, looking over at her. "Hey, I'm my *own* ghost. I don't belong to anybody," she declares, faux-affronted. She winks at Mikaia. "What d'you think, Mickey? Should I flip her cape over her head? It'll be funny!" Mikaia may or may not share her sense of humor. Actually, Janey and Ragnell would probably get along famously if only the former could see the latter.

But then a new shadow appears, this one cast by a figure clad in white armor. Ragnell looks up to see them, expression gentling as her smile turns soft for just a moment. Then she snickers and turns to lean on one of the porch supports. "You don't hold back, even against kids, do ya, K'?" she drawls, winking their way. "'Least she's got big dreams. Future Lord o' Calamity, mm mm mm. They sure start young, huh?" She snickers again when Janey adjusts her pillowcase to look more like K.K.'s cape. "Though she's got some questionable fashion taste," she adds, winking.

Her gaze turns then towards the parcel K.K. has brought along with them. She utters a silent 'oh!' and stomps a fist in one palm. "Dang, I keep forgettin' about that," she mutters, then looks over at Riesenlied. "Riese, there's been somethin' I've been meanin' t' give ya." She doesn't bring anything out just yet, though.

<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.

There is a moment, there, when the Trial Knight looks down at Janey, redoubling her efforts despite her 'failing.' It's a moment made more inscrutable than it typically would be by the simple, ambiguously still nature of their body language. Fingers of their free hand twitch, so subtle as to be missed within a single eyeblink.

And then they are moving forward anew.

"Riesenlied."

The knight's footfalls ring out against the dusty earth as they approach Riesenlied, Ragnell, and Mikaia. That parcel unslung from their shoulder, they seem to have no particular horse in the race of poor Janey's plight with her mysterious bully of a ghost, nor even her aspirations towards Lord of Calamity-ness. No, the absolute first thing they say, as if it is the most important thing worth addressing, is:

"There is naught in question here but for your own judgment. Her cape is now positioned truly commendably, most unlike the vagabond stylings of some."

One can practically hear the unuttered 'so there.'

With that, however, that parcel lifts; despite the size of it, the knight carries it like it weighed little more than a pillow might. "Your sanctuary is doing well for itself," it is not a question. Spoken like one who has been keeping a careful eye on it. Spoken like someone wordlessly reminding of the fact that they are being watched, and judged. "And so, a gift for you and your get."

And, as they utter those last words, K.K. slowly kneels. They lay that parcel at Riesenlied's feet, and there, she can see it, beneath the loosened wrapping of cloth that contained it. The circuitry-like veins running through metal alien to most yet no doubt intimately familiar to those made of it.

The fang of a Metal Dragon long since past. The fossil of another era.

It would be a straightforward enough gift, if there were not a heavy undercurrent of tension in the air afterwards as the Trial Knight lifts to their feet again.

The unspoken 'but.'

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"I--I don't want to catch the plague!" Mikaia whimpers, even as she sniffles and rubs at her nose, much to Riesenlied's consternation. She takes a handkerchief and softly wipes her nose, then lets her hold it. "I'll make medicine that can beat the plague...!"

A pause, as she tilts her head and looks to Janey. "T-that wouldn't be funny! Don't do that!" such a stickler, even from a young age! She really takes after Riese. Janey, on the other hand, looks confused. "Huh? Is she gonna put the cookie jar in a high place again? You'd best not do that, Miss Ghost!"

Janey is still gawking at K.K. and going 'so cool...' under her breath.

Riesenlied can sense the parcel, the way she twigs at it is not particularly subtle. The Metal Demon looks about as wan and diminished as she did last Ragnell saw her; for K.K., she's certainly looked a bit stronger, healthier at the time of the Temple. The meeting with Equites had exposed her to... something, something within her that reacts oddly to the Guardians, something she doesn't understand yet.

It's not without merit, however.

"... thank you," she nods with a gentle bow. There's a clipped breath as K.K. reveals it, and she can't help but kneel gently, Mikaia still gently held at her side. But... she pauses.

"... I-- do not mean to question your gift, but I must ask, however..." she hesitates. "Was this part of the Fossil shipment that should have been at Jolly Roger?" The Trial Knight was there for it. She is curious whether or not they had a hand in its disappearance.

Still, she can't help her senses. There's a rather free flow of errant photons through the air, the light that K.K. and Ragnell both once saw as a budding power, so fragile and in need of sustenance--

--and it has certainly grown since, as she closes her eyes and immerses herself for a moment in the memory contained within the fang. What she has traded in physical strength and endurance, she has grown in empathic power beyond the five senses, it seems.

Riesenlied trembles. "... a horrible death--" she hesitaets. "... you won't be forgotten."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

When the Trial Knight peers facelessly down at Janey, Ragnell in turn watches the Trial Knight. Because of that, she catches that twitch of their free hand; it helps that she, generally speaking, knows what to look for. Then they approach and speak, and Ragnell snorts in laughter. "Vagabond stylin's! Sounds pretty sweet to me. What d'you think, Mickey?"

Mickey, meanwhile, cries that she doesn't want to catch the plague, and then chides Ragnell not to tease Janey. "Too bad, hun. You don't catch the plague--the plague catches YOU!!" She snatches her hands forward and viciously tickles Mikaia for a second or two at that last syllable. Fortunately, it doesn't last, but Ragnell sweeps in and around Riesenlied and the child with capricious laughter. "Better be careful, or you'll get stick-in-the-mud sickness!" Her expression falls then, grin vanishing into a sudden and complete sobriety. "Oh." A beat. "Too late," she concludes grimly.

Then she totally reaches out and smacks Janey's pillow-cape up so the tip of it flies up over her head. It's a harmless prank, especially for Ragnell, and easily fixed, but if Mikaia's the type to get easily worked up, she might still get upset--especially since she already just told Ragnell not to do it.

All the same, though, Ragnell glances at Janey as she gawks at K.K. and whispers 'so cool...'. Ragnell hunkers down next to her and whispers, just for her ears--if Janey could hear her, anyway-- "Ain't they just?"

K.K. presents that gift, and Riesenlied thanks them--but questions where it was from. Ragnell rests her elbows on her knees, gazing over at the two; then she gets up to her feet and reaches into her poncho. It's astounding, how she might be able to produce something as big and heavy as K.K. just brought, but she does it. (The secret is that she's got an item bag on the inside of her poncho, and item bags have nigh-infinite holding capacity. Truly convenient!) This, too, she brings over and lays at Riesenlied's feet, then leans back to sit down, legs crossed. She waits until Riesenlied has done her light show, and listens quietly to her words as she extends her empathic senses, before she speaks:

"Nope.

"These Fossils came from the Ruins o' Memory. I know because we found 'em at the same time." She glances over at K.K.. "This one mighta been holdin' out for just the right time, but me..." She shrugs, one arm extended. "I just kept forgettin' to give it to ya. Sorry."

So reliable!!

<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.

Weaker, frailer. At least in body. In things beyond the flesh, well...

That is something that K.K. is here to see for themself.

With the fang laid out in all its circuital glory, K.K.'s hands find their place clasping behind the knight's back as they stand once more. If they notice Janey's obvious, wide-eyed wonder, they don't seem to see fit to comment on it. Or even Ragnell's devious pranking. Maybe they're not really a children-friendly person.

"Stick-in-the-mud sickness is far from a real plague, no matter the strength of your insistence nor the frequency at which you insist it." Or maybe they are--

"There are far more worse, far more real, illnesses that she could well contract." ... Or no. No, probably not. It certainly would be far from the strangest thing about the Trial Knight.

Was this part of the Fossil shipment that should have been at the Jolly Roger? wonders Riesenlied.

"Ragnell is correct," comes K.K.'s answer, immediate and unflinching. "Had I desired the Jolly Roger's Fossils, there would have been no need to be so roundabout for such a matter.

"They would simply be taken."

And there is not a single ounce of doubt in their voice as they say that, either. At the very least -- it doesn't seem too likely that they were involved.

Their head tilts, though; motes of lingering light reflect dimly against the white surface of their polished helm as they regard the dying photon bands with a cocked head of interest. Stronger yet still. Like she was trading the physical for the spiritual.

"And how, then, do you plan to remember them?"

The question cuts in sharply but not accusingly after those hesitating words from the Tainted; K.K.'s left hand lifts, touching upon a dwindling pulse of light. "These fossils are now yours to do with what you will. But I would bid ask of you -- what are your plans for them?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"H-hmm... just because I want people to play nice doesn't mean I'm a stick in the mud," Mikaia doesn't sound too convinced, and gasps a little to go, "J-Janey!" as she tries to warn her childhood companion, though Ragnell's too quick as Ragnell flips her pillow-cape over her head! "Bweh! She got me!"

Janey flails as she exclaims, "Oh no, I'm Blinded! I can't possibly shoot at things now! Mikaia, give me some Eye Drops!" despite the fact that it's her cape blinding her and nothing to do with gunk in her eye.

Janey's gonna grow up to be an incredibly savvy Drifter, isn't she?

"... I see. Yes, I had not thought so either -- but the question had come up. Thank you, for answering so," Riesenlied answers. If there's one thing about K.K. that she's become intimately aware of, it's how forthright they are -- subterfuge and mindgames aren't part of their profile, and she'd expressed to Ida that it wasn't likely either.

"... to engrave their dying thoughts and sentiments into me. To remember the pains and struggles that they have endured." A pause. "To take this truth and not let ignorance rule."

She looks to the Fossil, and... actually steps aside so that she can set Mikaia down on the chair, with a smile. "Just a moment," she whispers to the girl, as she turns to face the Trial Knight and the Fossil again. "Don't look, dear."

"... right now, all I can do is store them at a place of rest." She concentrates, and those motes of light begin to redouble--

--several Pinions rip from her back, extending outwards from her rather leathery and tattered wings with a wince. Mikaia whimpers as she covers her eyes, as blood drips gently from the arch of the wingspan. They surround the Fossil, creating a circular, disc-like portal of opaque light which it passes through...

...and then it's gone, as if spirited away elsewhere.

There's a difficult and exerted breath as Riesenlied finishes with her ritual, shaking her head. It's clearly heavily taxing on her. The Pinions return in short order, clasping back with a click-like sound.

"But one day, I'd like to spread the word. To increase awareness, of what they are, of what they mean to us, to my brethren. To hope that there can be alternatives to modern life, that does not require the bones of my ancestors to be besmirched so."

Janey pipes up as she peeks from behind Riese, to go, "My ARM's totally green and 100% organic, by the way, no Dragons in it! So don't worry about it!"

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

Either incredibly savvy or *blinded* by tropes, heh heh.

"This is plenty nice!" Ragnell claims to Mikaia, faux-affronted. "Does Janey look like she's not havin' fun? Ask her while you give 'er some Eye Drops!" To K.K., she snorts. "If she were gonna contract stick-in-the-mud sickness, it'd definitely be from you," she says dryly, but with a certain twinkle in her red eyes and an upward lift to the corners of her mouth.

It's true, though. K.K.'s far too direct to put on some convoluted plot to steal Dragon Fossils. Ragnell nods when K.K. agrees with her--but when they go on to ask Riesenlied what she intends to *do* with these Fossils... she falls silent, gaze now turning to the Tainted. She frowns when she sees her wings tear themselves apart for the sake of that light. Somehow, she's starting to get an idea of how those wings ended up in that state in the first place... She murmurs a "hmmm" to herself at the actual response, then chuckles when Janey pipes up to say her ARM is dragon-free. "That's right, your ARM is made o' people," she cracks. "It's as organic as you are!" ...someone might need to translate.

Then, finally, when the ritual is complete, Ragnell looks to Riesenlied and asks, "What d'you mean, 'the question came up'?"

<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.

If she were gonna contract stick-in-the-mud sickness, it'd definitely be from you.

To which K.K. gives little more than a tinny scoff, as if the entire idea was ludicrous. A scoff weighted with past experience of scoffing.

But if they have a rebuttal -- which, of course, doubtless they do -- they do not come about to leveling it before Riesenlied answers them. With words... but more importantly, with action. Pinions jettison from the ragged expanse of Riesenlied's wings; it is an act that reflects like a dimmed and warped reflection off the polished plate of K.K.'s faceless helm as they bear witness -- as that Fossil is whisked away through a disk of light sliced open like a hole in the fabric of things. "..." Riesenlied draws that exhausted breath. The Tainted provides her answer. And, first and foremost --

"The wise Seraph Ragnell makes claim that you have forged your ARM from the plundered flesh of man."

-- the Trial Knight sees the need to play translator for their (technically) invisible companion. Truly, they have a way with words.

"Perchance until the day these hopes come to pass, it is best you let only their memories remain."

The words are, perhaps, vague; but it isn't long until the Trial Knight sheds light on their meaning, gesturing once towards where those fossils lingered. "Man seeks power. 'Tis within the very bones of them. For themselves. For their survival. Your get are little different in such regards, are they not? You hide these remains away, and thereby create a trove of treasure to one day be plundered, by them or the children of man. What weapons might be wrought from such wealth?"

That horned helm tilts to the left. The weight of their attention settles squarely upon Riesenlied. "You build yourself a cage of bones, Riesenlied. You clip your wings with the snip of dead fangs. You have but two recourses: guard these bones until your dying breath lest you invite calamity when they fall inevitably into the grasp of wrong hands... or destroy them outright."

They sound no less sincere as they ever do when they speak those warped, metallic words. But that tone carries an undercurrent to it now that was not there in their other conversations. The undercurrent of someone leveling a test weighted upon unseen and unknown criteria. After all...

... they are sworn to oath.

"You need not answer me now. Nor are you beholden to any advice I would offer. But do not answer lightly, Riesenlied. Think of what you hold. What you are willing to risk for your future... what you are willing to sacrifice." The knight takes a single, simple step back then, gauntleted hands wrapping against one another once more behind their back as their head dips, like one offering a gesture of parting.

"I would but advise you simply this: think well upon your ancestors, and how they would wish you to honor them in a world such as this."


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Sadly, Janey can't hear Ragnell, otherwise she'd have a big poo-eating grin in where she goes, "Right??" and cackle at her own joke. ... well, that's happening anyway, because she /is/ amused at her own joke, but she's not quite as riffing it on time as well as she'd like to.

A pause, as Janey gawks and says, "Oh no, Ragnell is right! My ARM is made out of... human!!" she gasps and mocks a look of existential surprise, looking at Mikaia. "Wait, no, that's just my arm, hehe."

Mikaia huffs to say, "Human Fossils would be no less scary!"

Riesenlied is a bit more silent as K.K. posits how dangerous it is to keep the fossils around, and... ...she certainly can't disagree. It was risky and dangerous on multiple levels, whether from Drifters plundering them, or the Metal Demons finding them...

But to think of destroying her ancestors' remains was...

"... my ancestors' wishes..." What would they think? They didn't have a deep culture of burial -- recycling may well have been what they wished... would her very act of collecting Fossils be going against their wishes? "I will think on the matter with deep importance," she answers gently, as the Tear at her neck starts to shimmer ever so gently. There's a small ebb of -- concern, of anxiety there.

She should build a great fire -- and cremate them. That would be one way to do it. Yet Riesenlied knows that she's a creature of deep sentimentality, at times...

"... I also-- wished to express my gratitude. For your help at the Temple. Noeline and I would not have survived that trial if it weren't for you," she speaks much more contritely, much more gently. "I would not have... been able to take the first few precious steps to flight, as the young bird must, no matter how fraught and perilous."

Janey pauses, then looks up towards empty air. "Oh, is this the bird comparisons Noeline complains a lot about...?" she whispers, as if to Ragnell.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

"Technically it's not plundered if it's her own flesh," Ragnell points out to K.K.--since, after all, Janey's "ARM" is actually her own hand, pointed into a finger-gun. Janey acknowledges that too, gasping as if in mortal horror before laughing at her own joke. Ragnell grins and laughs with her, reaching up to tousle her hair--which she might actually feel a bit, like static electricity running soothingly across her scalp.

Then she rests her arms in her lap as she looks over to K.K. and Riesenlied's conversation, such as it is. K.K. asks hard-hitting, difficult question, lays out the paths before her; Riesenlied replies that she will think seriously on the matter.

Then she starts talking in bird metaphors, and Ragnell heaves a theatrical sigh. "Yup, Janey," she replies, patting her on the head. "I'm afraid so."

<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.

"But it would be incredibly inefficient to forge one of her own flesh. Unless she somehow managed to..."

This thought trails for a long, revelatory moment.

"... ah. A play on words."

And they will forever be left to wonder just what method K.K. devised to make a 'self-flesh ARM' somehow less woefully inefficient.

That this bizarre tangent somehow does not deter from the gravity of their next words of warning and advice is likely just a testament to how utterly committed the white-armored knight truly is. That curious musings and almost faint disappointment is all stripped away until only the simple, almost inevitable weight of their words remain. When Riesenlied provides her answer, there is little more than a single, silent nod before they begin to pivot upon their heel. Dust kicks upwards as they turn to begin to leave... only to pause, when that gratitude drifts through the air.

"..." The Trial Knight tilts their head Riesenlied's way for a quiet, almost introspective moment. And then: "... You are welcome, but the act requires not your gratitude. But should you truly wish to offer me your thanks, there is but one thing you need do." They do not say it. After all, it has been the crux of so many of their conversations. Even now, as they stand as Riesenlied's -- as this village's -- arbiter. Especially now.

"Continue to spread your wings, Riesenlied. Now is not the time to be caged."

They walk. Janey and Ragnell speak. The knight stops, just next to Ragnell, one finger tapping methodically against the back of their metal-wrapped hand.

"She regrets to inform you it is," the Trial Knight translates, as they begin to walk onward once more.

"In a tone fraught with needlessly shrill melodrama."

They think it was a very thorough translation.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

It's probably best that Janey never makes a self-flesh ARM come to life, lest she become Necronomicon Janey. ... though once she actually looked up what 'Necronomicon' means, she might decide that's a cooler word than Calamity.

"Hehe, they get it!" Janey beams happily.

"I don't think quips are a part of the Drifter toolset..." Mikaia has to rain on the parade, to which Janey has to stick her tongue out to go, "Is so! Your enemies deserve a cool one-liner when you gun them down!"

Riesenlied tilts her head as she whispers, "... I shall. ... though Equites has asked it of me, no-- made me to swear it..."

She turns as she smiles, picking Mikaia up as she bobbles towards her, scooping up into her arms again. "These are the skies I wish to be in, the air I wish to feel. We do this, every one of us, because we wish to be here, unbowed by the desires or impositions of others."

"Riesemama..." Mikaia beams softly.

Janey blinks a few times, and then, "I still don't get the whole bird thing, is it because Riese has wings?"

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

Ragnell has to say, Janey is *way* more her speed than Mikaia is, from her play style to her attitude towards quips. Too bad Mikaia's the one who can see her. That's honestly for the best, though. It's better not to get attached to humans. No matter how young they are, they always die too soon.

"You're a terrible translator," she then remarks to K.K., tone rife with amusement. "You'll never get the nuance right if you can't even notice plays on words on your own! *How* many years've we known each other now, K'?" She rolls up to her feet to join them, resting a hand on her hip as she looks back over towards Riesenlied. She chuckles as the two continue to share bird metaphors, spreading wings and escaping cages and whatnot.

And then K.K. has to dunk on Ragnell.

"My melodrama is not *shrill*," she protests as she follows after them, apparently having decided to leave with them even if they came in separately. "It's cool and husky, an' I protest this gross misrepresentation of my sexy voice." All said in a needlessly gruff, deeper-than-usual voice.

Poor Janey will have to live with never getting an answer. That said, Ragnell will glance over her shoulder at Riese, then nod and give her a half-smile as she raises a hand in farewell. Then she looks back to the infamously feared Trial Knight. "An' *another thing*--"

She'll probably leave town just like that, arguing over nothing, just for the fun of it.