2018-04-05: A Meeting With a Beast

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<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Not too long ago, the Caravan Kinship braved the slopes of Mount Zulan, hoping to do something about the menace plaguing the village. In this, they were aided by the Beast of Lohgrin, and together they were able to recover some of the Snowsprout Grass necessary for the village to prepare its medicine, successfully buying them some time.

However, it was not an easy process by any means, and so they return to their vehicle, the Carakin, to rest and recuperate after the long fight. Cyre had invited the Beast, as well - they would not leave her to fend for herself after she had been damaged on their behalf.

And so now they find themselves in the vehicle. To the Beast, it must be quite the a marvel - on the outside it's a large, brightly-colored steel contraption with wheels, but on the inside it is very much like someone had shoved a house inside. There's a living area with comfortable sofas to rest on, a noteboard, a working kitchen, and even individual rooms for the members.

It also has a door begin enough for her metal form to fit through, which is impressive in and of itself.

At the moment, Jacqueline is busy sorting out some of those warming potions she had employed throughout their journey. They all probably needed some, after everything they went through...fortunately, the vehicle also had its own internal heating but a little extra help couldn't hurt.

"I hope this is comfortable for you...if you need anything, be sure to let me know, alright?" She asks, looking back toward their guest.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

When last we saw Catenna, she had a nasty cold, having never experienced winter before.

And then there's now, in which Catenna is taking Jacqueline's warming potion and curling up deep in her big fur cloak, chugging the potion for dear life. She wraps the cloak around herself but even that doesn't stop her from shivering persistently. Sniffling, she takes another drag from the potion in the hopes that it will dispel the cold.

It isn't yet. It's sticking. It's a wet cold.

It's safe to say the last time Catenna was this miserable was the time Celesdue abandoned her for months in the space of five seconds. At least that was a divine test of will. This is just Lunar being mean.

Bobbing over from a nearby shelf, a fluffy grey owlet hops down and lands on Catenna's head like she's just a piece of furniture. The owlet cocks its head almost 90 degrees to the left and peers at Jacqueline.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin, for the moment, is in her room, studying the manual of swordsmanship she got back on Filgaia. She's adding annotations. Seems like this isn't one she intends to return.

Spirit raises his head at the group coming in, though, and quietly pads out the slightly open door to go explore and get pets. The puppies are probably following him around, too.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius separated from the Caravan Kinship before he could be privy to the plans and arrangements being made. He returns to town independent of them, as if to stand vigil over... something or another? Someone overhears him murmur aloud that the climate makes something... likely. Whatever the 'something likely' was, he either had the sense not to say that out loud or there was a freak gust of wind drowning him out.
     He is not present inside the CaraKin, as he braves the bone-chilling cold for some time longer.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre is also here! Cyre is presently busy doing exactly what it is that Cyre should be doing right now, which appears to be 'curled up around Catenna with a great big blanket thrown over both of their shoulders. "Maybe you should take a hot shower or something? Or a bath. Change your clothes. Or, you know."

"Cuddling is fine too," Cyre does that.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    The Beast of Lohgrin is... unused to the particular ingenuity of Man. She had expected a caravan, when they reached the foot of the mountain - a thing of carts and those to drag them, wide wooden wheels which clatter-clack and get unstuck in the most inconvenient and out-of-the-way places.

    She didn't expect... this.

    "Marvellous," the Beast wonders, out loud, when she lays empty eyes on the vehicle. "This... contraption," she chooses the words carefully, "this is your caravan?" It's as strange as the rest of them, but the Beast is beginning to suspect she should just expect that, from these people.

    She compresses herself down, metal scraping against metal, so that she doesn't cause too much trouble as she enters the vehicle-building-caravan. "Comfort is irrelevant to one such as I," she reassures Jacqueline, "but thank you all the same." Speaking of comfort, she hopes that strange man will be all right. She hasn't seen him come inside, after all.

    The dogs will find her a strange and scentless creature, but a patient one, who stays still for them to examine or bark at or clamber over. Her headplates tilt, towards Catenna. "... are you ill? Do you need assistance?"

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

      "This Caravan is pretty facinating to observe, it's even more interesting when you are actually travelling inside of it while it is in transit." Arlpeh says. The Symbologist have followed the rest of the group from their excursion into the mountain and after their in-extremist victory against the Yeti. "I am a Symbological expert, and I am still finding out some interesting tibits about this wonderous vehicle."
 
      He steps inside, adjusting his hat and taking it off, leaving it on a stand by the entrance. "Excuse me for a moment, I shall be right back. I'll settle this down into a stasis." He says, lifting up a small ball of the weed, just a small sample.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia has been frustrated lately. She has been banging about all night and day in her cabin. It's dubious that all of this noise is due to work but this seems to be how she's choosing to handle her frustrations. Of course, since she's in another wagon, she doesn't immediately realize Beast is present but eventually Lydia's arms get tiredand she moves to the common carakin car.

"Hey I--woah!! It's Beast! Beeeeeeeeast!!" Lydia grins. "Beeeassst!!" She throws her hands into the air. "Wooo Wooo!! Guardian Seraph of the Beastmen! Honorary!!"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"It is! We use it to travel from place to place. It allows us to ply our trade from relative safety...we're merchants, primarily." Jacqueline explains with a bright smile, glancing back to "...Except when something like this happens."

'This' presumably referring to the trouble that had befallen Zulan Village. She wasn't entirely certain what Ethius was doing there in the village but...Ethius was Ethius, and tended to act on his own. She was certain he could keep himself warm, at least...and internally, she decides that it may be for the best he isn't around.

The Beast assures her that comfort is irrelevant to her, and Jacqueline nods. She's only a little reluctant about it.

"Well...if you're certain. You're welcome." She replies with a nod and a smile, then moves to go take a seat. She glances over to Catenna before she gets too settled in, however.

"Yes, if you need medicine or anything, be sure to let me know..." She adds with a nod.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"I would absolutely love to get out of this outfit," Catenna admits, curling into Cyre a little. She sniffles softly, wrapping an arm around him. "The snow melted. It is--" Sniffle. "Not pleasant at all. At all."

But shucking her dancer's outfit will have to wait. It wouldn't be polite to run away from a visitor, even one as unusual as a Seraph in a bestial statue.

She catches herself. The Seraph is really not so unusual in her mannerisms. Catenna can't help but see something maternal in the stranger who helped them out at the massif. She sniffs again as Beast questions her, inclining her head with a soft blush. "I think I will be alright," she murmurs respectfully. "I am... I am simply not used to experiencing weather that cold. It is very... new, I suppose."

From atop Catenna's head, the fluffy grey Owlet peers at Seraph Beast. The baby bird hops down onto Catenna's shoulder and leans forward as if to try and get a closer look at the Seraph. There's something intent about the way it looks at her - as if it's somehow looking into Beast and not her exterior plating.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"I would absolutely love to get you out of that outfit too," Cyre teases. Embarassment raises the body temperature, doesn't it? He chuckles, wrapping the voluminous blanket just a little bit more snugly around her shoulders. "But for now, the both of us will just have to settle for you wearing me as an overcoat, I suppose."

But then!

A Beast!

"Don't be so modest; we're the ones who asked you here after all. Welcome!" the wind shaman calls over to the giant metal statue and the squishy and headpattable core within it. "This is our humble home, as provided through the generous assistance and sponsorship of the Emma Electric Company."

Lydia does her thing. Cyre tilts his head. "Guardian Seraph of the Beastmen, huh? Hmmmm... I wonder."

"Well, for now, just make yourself at home. Get warmed up a bit. Maybe have some cocoa. Are you able to drink hot cocoa through that thing?"

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    "I cannot fathom how it moves," the Beast admits, to Arleph. "Surely there is some magic about it, and yet I see nothing..." It's just made of gears and steel. Like the Beast of Lohgrin's vessel, but so much more complicated. "It is beautiful."

    Her headplates tilt as she takes in the room. So strange, rooms. Humans gather all their possessions in little manmade caves, and stake out fierce ownership. There are rituals to observe which the Beast of Lohgrin is entirely ignorant of. Luckily, she's too big to sit in a chair and accidentally choose the wrong one.

    She does flub Jacqueline's hospitality, but she doesn't seem to do so in any malicious manner. "Merchants, I see. I have seen them, now and again, travelling the roads. It is a noble enough profession." Better than banditry or base adventuring, for certain. "Though I must admit, this ritual of exchanging 'money' for goods and services is... unusual, to me. Is this truly the manner of the world?" However do they tell all the coins apart? They're all such small things!

    That's about when Lydia comes crashing in, all noise and a flurry of activity. The Beast curls a claw upwards, lifting it uncertainly, like a cat trying to figure out where next to step. (She's sure to keep the puppies in mind, of course.) "Ah... Lydia, greetings! It is good to see you well and energetic." So energetic. Guardian of the Beastmen...? She'd never thought of it like that, but if Lydia's having fun... "Worry not," it occurs to her to mention, after a moment of being stunned by the excitement. "These brave mortals were able to push back the monster of the mountain, this day." She helped, but she doesn't seem too intent on claiming any credit.

    Catenna insists she's all right, and the Beast bows her headplates in a nod. "Of course. In truth, it is new to me, as well. I feel warmth will do far better for you than magic, in this moment - your clothes are soaked. Ought you not change?" She is completely and utterly direct, but in a much different way to Cyre. She doesn't even seem to realise how rude it is.

    Cyre, who wonders the same thing she does. "I have never thought of myself in this way," she admits, on the idea of her being a Guardian Seraph of the Beastmen specifically. "But neither am I resistant to it. The Beastmen are, after all, an essential part of the world of Man." She's never been to Filgaia - she hasn't seen how bad it can get.

    The next question earns a beat of silence. "What is this... 'cocoa' you speak of?"

    OH NO.

    "Regardless, I cannot consume it."

    OH NO.

    The owlet earns her attention, as it peers at her. The Beast looks back, and tiiilts her headplates to the side, in a blatantly owlish fashion. Truly, this is owl kinship. "... what a lovely bird."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna blushes fiercely as Cyre does his Cyre thing and takes things flirty. With a little huff, she bats him on the shoulder with one hand, then curls into him, nestling her head into the comfortable space beneath his chin.

"You do make a good overcoat," she finally concedes, before sniffling again and wiping her nose with a quick dab of a soft white cloth.

Then Seraph Beast adds to the parade of blush-inducement. Catenna's cheeks glow rosily as she ducks her head into her cloak a little ways, only her nose and eyes showing over the fluffy edge of it. "...decency to consider," she murmurs, some of the sentence lost.

It's all the more embarrassing because Beast isn't wrong - but Catenna doesn't want to be rude by skipping out on their guest, even while she's cold. Fortunately, the Owlet saves her the rudeness. The baby bird settles into place on Catenna's shoulder, tilting its head the other way to peer through Beast.

It's as if the bird is somehow reading something more to the Seraph than her plated outer layer - as if that's just a shell to the bird.

Catenna bows her head. "I cannot truly say she is my owl," she murmurs. "She is an infant creature of Celesdue... the Guardian I follow, she who embodies the Moon. I am sworn to care for her, in my role as a Priestess."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"I'm sorry, Catenna...please, take it easy." Jacqueline says with a nod toward her, before glancing toward Cyre. 'Emma Electric Company'...well, she did provide the Motor, so that wasn't too far off.

"You're not too far off the mark...I provide it with power through my Sorcery, which allows the vehicle to move once I begin directing it." She explains. It's an incredibly simplified version of the process, but it's probably for the best - she didn't want to overwhelm the Beast with all of the details. Besides, she probably wouldn't understand them - Jacqueline herself had a hard time wrapping her head around some of the principles, and she's the one who designed the vehicle.

"There's a lot of nuance to it...some people are just in it for the money, but my friends and I are primarily interested in helping people out. We make money along the way, but it mostly goes toward allowing ourselves to continue our work and keeping us fed and comfortable while we do it." She explains.

...She can't help but chuckle slightly at the way the owlet and the Beast meet eyes. There was something adorable about it.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia says, "Yeah I know. I'm on their team. And I heard about it." She wiggles a finger in her ear before flicking away some earwax in a random direction (she is, at least, not aiming at a person here). "It was pretty cool for you to give us a ride back when we went with the Guard though. Even if it didn't amount to much. Except maybe tell us that bad juice was involved."

She frowns a little bit when Beast says she can't consume cocoa.

She frowns deeply.

"The universe is a cruel, uncaring place." Lydia says.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin emerges from her room at last. "What was all the cheering--oh, hello." She looks curious, but not aggressively so, and sort of hangs back when she notices a stranger.

Spirit has been satisfied by a single sniff inspection and then sat down, tail wagging in a friendly fashion. The puppies...probably more rambunctious, most likely.

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

      "Cocoa is, technically, a poison." Arleph comments, as he comes back out of a room, dusting his gloved hands together as he looks back at Beast's fatefull statement. "Sentients often love consuming mild intoxicant like that. Humans, in particular, rather have a hardy system for it. Peppers are very much the same. It's a damn delicious one, at that."
 
      He shoves his hands back into his pockets, looking up at the ceiling. "Cocoa is a rich bean that is crushed into a paste that have a bitter, sugary taste, filled with caffine among other things. I like it mixed with some milk, myself."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre's face falls. He and Lydia are briefly of one mind. Truly, they agree, this universe shows that it is fundamentally bereft of warmth and love. There is only a cruel void out there, one which denies another basic knowledge of sweet, chocolatey treats. This is why people must make up for the universe's basic shortcomings; this... Is the meaning of life...!

(Probably not tho~)

"Just showing a little skin doesn't make something indecent, Catenna. If you need me to, I'll hold up a curtain or something." THAT PROBABLY WON'T HELP. Cyre settles in regardless. "I feel like I could make a joke about animal skin coats, but it'd probably be a bit too tasteless for right now." Cyre!? Showing tact!?! Is the sky falling?? "Besides, I wouldn't want to offend the owlet." Who still needs a name! Birbs must have names, especially smart birbs.

"Celesdue is uh," Cyre scrunches his nose a bit. "Guardian of the Moon, actually. Kind of funny, that."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    The Beast of Lohgrin tilts her head as Catenna pulls off her stupendous disappearing act, with marvellous magical assistant Mistoff- er- Cyre. Has the cold afflicted her so much...? How very concerning. Cyre explains, to an extent. She's embarrassed. Why, does she mean to change here? Is that... normal? She doesn't quite know.

    But there's an owl! It is small and good and the Beast fondly regards it. Her, as Catenna explains. "A creature of Celesdue, Guardian of the Moon...? Well, I am pleased to meet you, little creature. I am a creature of Althena, and so we are not so different." She sees nothing strange in talking to an owl. She turns back to Catenna, empty-eyed but with an interested tone. "A priestess, you say? How is it a priestess has come to travel with merchants?" They are not the most godly of creatures, in the Beast's experience. Though, perhaps their strange heathen Filgain religion is different...?

    She nods, to Jacqueline. "Sorcery, I see. A logical explanation." She's used to keeping moving parts together with magic, so it's entirely reasonable to her. She pauses, at her description of merchantry. "So, you are... heroic merchants, then?" Her tone is quizzical. "Perhaps I simply do not have much experience with merchants, for I find that quite a strange combination."

    Lydia informs her she's on their team, and the Beast doesn't know enough about human customs to realise that she's being uncouth. "I am pleased to offer my assistance," she says. "It is important to me that you are not hurt." You, here, meaning 'humans in general', probably.

    On the matter of cocoa, she shakes her headplates. "The universe is not unkind. It has provided me this vessel, which protects me from this, ah..." Tone rising slightly, "'bad juice', as you say. This is more important to me than food or drink." And then Arleph explains what it is, and the Beast turns her head to look at him, tail twitching to the side. (It carefully avoids one of the more cautious puppies.) "A... poison, you say? And you put this inside of your body - willingly?" She sounds entirely skeptical. A bean crushed into a paste, mixed with milk. "No, no, this simply will not do. Mankind should not poison itself for the sake of flavour! What if you are hurt?!"

    So worked up is she, that she doesn't notice Kourin emerging, at first. It's a moment later that her empty eyes snap to her, headplates moving in vaguely synchronous fashion to take her in. "-- ah..." The plates of the Beast's body shift, slightly, as if she's embarrassed. (But she keeps her clawplates very still, because she wouldn't want to trap little puppy paws or little puppy noses between two wedges of iron.) "Greetings," she collects herself, a moment later. "I do not mean to intrude."

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin bows her head. "You are not intruding. I...I am called K--Icehand," she corrects herself. "I am pleased to meet you." She bows formally.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Your face is a poison. Cocoa is the best." Lydia says.

And then she stalls for a moment before adding, "No but seriously, everything's a poison if you take enough of it. That's why they say 'the dose makes the poison'. You can get poisoned by drinking too much water, not that that's a problem us Badlands Brats have ever had to worry about."

Lydia says, "Sorry, girl, I was jokin'." She reaches up to pat a headplate with her metal arm, blinking a few times. "Uh." Pause. "I didn't realize... you thought that way." She lets her hand drop. "Well, I wasn't hurt, so uh--good work! I guess! I'm glad you're not hurt either. You seem nice."

She strokes a chin. "Maybe...too nice."

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

      Arleph waves general in Lydia's direction. "As she said. Many things in nature are poison of some kind to some organism or another. Cocoa is lethal to dogs, for example, in great quantities, is a prime example."
 
      The Symbologist takes a seat on one of the chairs, crossing a leg over a knee, drumming against a table. "In the end, it's all relative. Admittedly, process reduce the toxicity of the cacao. I wouldn't suggest to eat a bean raw, much like coffee. And to die from such poison, you'd need to eat several more time your own mass to even feel the noxious effect of it. And if you did that, you'd have other problems already." He smiles. "So, have no fear, sentients are adventurous when it comes to food. Tomatoes are another example of that, after all."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Smiling wanly, Catenna shakes her head at Jacqueline. "It is alright... I came with you of my own accord. Do not worry about me."

Not that she expects Jay to be able to keep to not worrying. It's part of Jay's charm that she worries, after all.

It's part of Cyre's charm, meanwhile, to suggest she show skin in front of a Seraph. Catenna sniffles before giving the catman a brief nudge with her elbow. "If you move the curtain while I am changing, I will kill you," she remarks with a dip of her lashes.

Back to Beast, Catenna brushes back a few locks of still-damp hair. "In truth," she admits quietly, "I was a wanderer, far from my people... my ways were different from most of those of my tribe. Most of the people I met in the new land I went to did not care much for me. But Jacqueline reached out to me, and I chose to follow her. Her heart is good, as are the hearts of those around her."

The Owlet bounds down Catenna's shoulder and slides to the floor. It hops towards Beast, bobbing its head a couple of times.

It lets out a little squeaky sound that's probably translateable as 'hello.'

For just a moment, Catenna finds herself nonplussed that the Owlet seems to relate to a seraph from an alien world better than it does to herself.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline of course continues to worry about Catenna, because that's just who she is. But, Catenna insisted she was alright, so Jacqueline nods, and leaves it at that for now.

"'Heroic merchants' may be putting it a bit too grandly...but something of the sort." Jacqueline replies with a sheepish chuckle. She didn't think of herself as all that heroic, really...she was just doing what she felt people should do, after all!

And then the Beast gets worked up about cocoa. Jacqueline winces slightly, but thankfully the others clarify the situation quickly.

"Yes...I wouldn't really call it a poison. Humanity does do some...unusual things, I will admit, but that's not quite the worst." She comments with a smile. "We are in general quite creative - I prefer to think of it instead that we have a tendency to make the best of things that are presented to us."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    "Icehand," the metal creature repeats the name, committing it to memory. "It is good to meet you. I am a Seraph known to Man as the Beast of Lohgrin." And it's audible, the way she capitalises the 'm'. How strange.

    "But, my face is clearly not a poison," the Beast explains to Lydia, baffled. "It is metal, with no poison upon it of... which I am aware..." Wait, maybe there's something on her face. She dips her neckplates down and scratches at her headplates with metal claws, but she can't see any residue on them. Luckily, Lydia explains the situation! Everything is poison, according to her - and according to Arleph, too, who explains how poisons work differently for different mortal species. "I see... so it is in the preparation that the poison is neutralised. That is good to know."

    Jacqueline calls humanity creative. "In this you are correct," the Beast replies. "The depth of mankind's," depravity? "Curiosities is deep and vast. Being here is a constant surprise." Probably 'here' specifically as well as 'here' generally, considering the Caravan.

    That metal plate is cool to the touch, but no longer freezing, like it would be outside. She's warming up in here! The Beast considers Lydia, concerned, only for her to explain it was a joke. "Ah, so you jest. I must admit, I fail to see the humour in the situation." Well, if there are no bones in her body, none of them can be humerus, can they?

    Lydia proceeds to declare that the Beast is too nice, to which she tilts her head. "... would you prefer I were unkind? I dwell now in your world, as strange visitor, and it seems inappropriate for me to be so harsh... but it is not beyond me."

    Cyre helps Catenna out, and the Beast carefully avoids looking in her direction, considering how embarrassed she's sounding. She still replies, of course. "I have found, in my years, that many mortals despise solitude to a frankly surprising degree. So I suppose it is not so strange, that you would find companionship with those who are kind to you. It is important for you to have friends you may rely on."

    Friends like... an owl?! The Beast lowers her headplates down, down, down to owl-level. "Greetings," she replies, to its squeaky squeak. "Can you not fly, little creature?"

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin blinks. "You are a Seraph? I have not...met many Seraphs. Even in my time with...my time in Pentagulia..." She trails off, glancing to Jay and the others to determine if it is safe to trust the Beast with the secrets she's so far kept to herself about her identity. "The name...comes from a magical injury I sustained. My left hand...is cold as ice to the touch." Indeed, Kourin wears a thick glove to cover that hand.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia bites into her faintly, though she does raise both her eyebrows at capital M. She lowers her hand afterwards and explains patiently to Beast. "I was saying Arleph's face was poison. As a joke. I mean, I guess if you ingest a lot of faces, you'll probably get sick though. Especially if it's ... metal. So I mean... I guess it's poison? But I wasn't really trying to be mean about your face." She shrugs her shoulders awkwardly.

She blinks a few times at Seraph Beast. "Huh? No, we're on your world." She pauses afterwards and then adds, "Dang it...!" She places her hand to her forehead. "Ugh, it's a lot harder than I thought...!" W..what is? Lydia doesn't explain that one.

"Anyway no, I mean, like, I'm worried someone will take advantage is all. I guess. Though I mean I guess there is such a thing as being too nice anyway, like if you're too busy thinking about others and never think about yourself and you end up snapping 'cause nobody hugged you cause they thought you had it all together or something."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Presumably some nyancat somewhere holds up a curtain. Behind it, there's the sound of fabric rustling and hitting the ground. "I am comfortable with solitude, in many ways," Catenna says from behind the privacy screen. "Celesdue is, in many ways, a lonely Guardian." She does not particularly care if Beast thinks she's a heretic; Catenna won't deny her faith for any reason. "But even the Moon dances elegantly with the stars and flirts with the tides--"

She cuts off with a loud sneeze - then a pause.

"Cyre," she says tartly, "my eyes are up here."

Eventually she grabs the curtain and wraps it around herself. Beneath it, Catenna's changed into a huge fluffy pink robe and a pair of slippers that preserve her modesty.

The Owlet, for its part, hops right up to Beast and peers at the Seraph, chirping once more in a rather less translateable answer. It flaps its tiny wings a couple of times.

Then it hops up onto Beast's noseplate. It looks around, as if daring someone to take issue with it.

Catenna sighs a little, though it's with a faint smile. "She does not fly, no... she is just an infant. I am doing my best to try and raise her to her full potential. Unfortunately her mother is...." She pauses. "...no longer with us."

Her eyebrows come up. "Oh, you are a Seraph? It is good to meet you... I am Catenna."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

'Icehand'...Jacqueline glances in Kourin's direction. She doesn't say anything, but she's certainly become curious. She hasn't heard this particular alias before. She does, however, smile and nod to her in greeting before listening as she explains the origin of her name.

As for whether or not they can trust her with secrets...Jacqueline frowns slightly. She trusted the Beast...but at the same time, as Lydia said, she may be a little too nice...it was a hard call to make.

At the Beast's comment on creativity, Jacqueline chuckles slightly.

"That's good! The world is always changing, after all. If there were never any surprises, the world would be dull and stagnant - but instead, it always grows." She replies. "Th-though, we're probably a bit more...surprising, than most..."

Lydia comments on the Beast being too nice, and, well, Jacqueline couldn't imagine her not being nice. Or, perhaps more accurately, she didn't want to. That would be quite the frightening image...

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    "In truth, The Beast of Lohgrin says, "I have not met many Seraphs, either." Though she's up to three whole other Seraphs now! And two are even... alive. Let's not think about that too hard. As Icehand goes on, she regards the gauntlet-clad woman with empty eyes. "... a magical injury. I see." There's compassion in her voice, not reflected in her iron mask. She's honestly regretful as she goes on. "Were it in my power, I would help you with this, and yet... I fear my healing is... inadequate." That's odd. Doesn't Althena's blessing only work for attack or healing? Beast's clearly used wind to attack before.

    Lydia explains the joke, and how it wasn't even directed to her. "Ah. I see. I am sure you did not mean to be unkind; you seem an affable girl." But something the Beast says seems to cause her distress, and her claw curls up again. She looks to the owl, instead of Lydia. "I speak of the world of Man," she explains, uncertain. "As opposed to the world of which I am accustomed." You know. Where the world for world is 'swamp.'

    She explains that people might take advantage of her, and the Beast shifts her backplates and tail (careful of that pup!) as she considers it. The words remind her of older ones, even coming from a mortal girl. "... you are not wrong," she says, finally, and doesn't dwell on it. An unkind Beast is truly a terrible thing to contemplate, isn't it?

    The Beast is not sure why Catenna needs to say something obvious like where her eyes are located. It's probably some kind of... mortal... social ritual...? Instead of focusing on it, the Beast talks about what she's said of solitude, instead. "It is a noble thing, to exist alone. But it would not do for mortals to go without company. Your lives end. There must be laughter within them." Okay, yes, she says this, but has the Beast ever laughed, merciful Althena.

    As for the Guardians, well, they're clearly just ancient Seraphs, so there's no discrepancy. At least, none she comments on.

    The Beast's noseplate suddenly has an owl on it, and the Beast c a r e f u l l y rises her up about a foot into the air. A little breeze ruffles her feathers! Where did it come from, isn't the door shut? "I am sure you are doing a fine job. You seem a careful attendant, Catenna. I am sorry, to hear of her mother."

    "Yes, I am a Seraph," she explains. "One of Althena's spirits of the wind." Oh. That's where the breeze came from. She considers Jacqueline, as she says it. "It is for this reason that your world surprises me so often. It seems every swift decade, things have shifted irrevocably. And it is true, that your people," Jacqueline's people, "are most surprising. Am I correct, to assume you are unusual in this..?"

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin sighs. "By the time I was able to treat the immediate wound, the magical damage had been done. It causes me no pain, at least. I have...I will become accustomed to it."

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

      "So, in other words." Arleph says, leaning back against his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "You are not too familiar with much of other Seraphs. That's facinating." His eyebrows raises at the comments, tilting his head to one side with his dark brown hair kind of swaying to one side. "That is how most societies work. A new generation is born from the back and accumulated knowledge from the previous one. Their cultures, their songs, their books, their oral history. This, in turn, get interpreted in a new way by the new minds. That's why it changes so, often. People diverge, or sometimes people become more of the same. It's rather amazing."
 
      He snaps a finger, looking over a small spark he created, frowns thoughtfully before adding. "What I am more curious about is on your own being. I do not think I have met spirits of your kind before, and I have been talking with several etherial or other sorts of intelligence in my life. Is your current shape what you are, or what you project yourself as being by choice?"

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia gives up. There's only so many times she's gonna put her foot in her mouth before she ceases communication. She justs sits herself down in a corner and makes poutyfaces like the bastion of maturity she is.

There must be laughter, Lydia reflects, but looks away for a bit rather than comment audibly on much or...anything? Or anything. Instead she ends up looking at Kourin, cheeks in hands.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin notices Lydia watching her, and her face turns a little pink.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Someday, the Beast will find out how flirty guys work.

Catenna at least looks cozy in a fluffy pink robe. She still sniffles, but at least she's not shivering anymore. Wrapping her arms around herself, she pulls the furry sheet closed, warming herself all the more. "You speak wisdom," she concedes with a slow incline of her head. "Jay and her companions have taught me much about the virtues of things beyond being solitary."

The Owlet, meanwhile, wiggles its tailfeathers ever so slightly. It leans forward and looks into the Beast's 'eyes,' wherever they might be, however they might be configured. The bird seems to be content with the breeze, hopping a couple more times to orient itself.

"I do my best with her," Catenna assures with a patient smile, kneeling in front of the Beast and cupping her hands. She lets out a faint, soft sound, like a hoot.

The Owlet rotates its head to look up at Catenna. With a last, reluctant flit of its winglets, the baby bird hops into Catenna's hands, and the Shaman draws it close, bowing her head over it to murmur faintly to the little avian.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

That response causes Jacqueline to chuckle nervously. She...didn't want to tip her hand too much just yet. She wasn't sure the Beast was ready to hear that they came from another world entirely.

"I-In some ways, yes! But most humans are just a little bit unusual, in their own ways." She replies, answering the question by diverting it somewhat. She does smile and nod as Arleph comments on how societies progress...though she feels his questions might be getting a little personal.

...Well, it isn't a problem if she's okay with it, Jacqueline supposes.

She nods toward Catenna, then.

"I'm glad to hear that...the world becomes a much better place when everyone works together." She says brightly.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    "Unfortunate," the Beast of Lohgrin says, of Icehand's injury. "But I am sure you will prevail. It is in your nature, after all." Presumably 'human nature,' but perhaps also Icehand's specific nature.

    Meanwhile, Arleph is drawing conclusions. "Ah... yes," she confirms his suspicions, uncertain again. "I was... isolated, in my youth." A hundred years is youth, right? That seems about right. Which is why the idea of generations is so alien, to her. "Yes, I have seen this, over long years. Children become elders, and advise the village on its matters. Still... it seems impossibly quick."

    For some reason, Lydia is sitting in the corner now. Why has this happened?! The Beast cannot fathom a reason. Under the assumption that perhaps she's just done being social, she doesn't pay her any attention. This might make things even worse.

    "This iron is my vessel," she replies to Arleph, instead. "I inhabit it so that the Malevolence of the world does not scar me so terribly." Is that really the only reason?

    The Beast is completely ignorant to the ways of flirty individuals, and Althena willing no one will try to flirt with a statue, but then... Cyre did say she had a cute voice when they first met, so anything is posisble with humanity. But for now, she is innocent.

    "I fear I still have much to learn about mortal companionship," the Beast admits. "It is a topic of such breadth that I scarcely know where to begin. I am happy for you, to hear you have had such apt tutoring, Catenna."

    On the Beast's upper headplate, the owlet is about level with the hollow impressions which form the Beast's eyesockets - though surely the divine little creature can see the green energy swirling within. The Beast raises her a little higher, careful to keep her nose steady. Don't worry, she's ready to catch the little owl in a floating spell if it gets to be too much!

    Does the Beast know about Filgaia? It is a mystery. (Yes, she definitely does, and that dustbowl needs Althena.) She nods to Jacqueline. "You are correct. All mankind is unique, in their various manners. I have never met one person quite like the next." Even the ones who are just running away from her because she's a big spooky mountain monster! "That is why you are precious, and worth protecting."

    But the Beast of Lohgrin might give the impression that her idea of 'protection' is a little stifling, with how badly she reacted to cocoa described as a poison.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"Malevolence," Catenna murmurs, a touch of sadness creeping into her voice. She hasn't forgotten what happened to Wehaca Village - and to Leon Lorentz.

The Shaman folds her hands a little more cozily, cradling the Owlet. The little bird nestles in, blinks its big yellow eyes a couple of times, then settles in for a nap, apparently done staring at the Beast's soul for the evening. Catenna just smiles faintly, lifting her eyes to the bestial Seraph once more.

"Humans have many foibles," she admits with a slow shrug. "And some of them make unfortunate decisions. Most of us do, at one time or another. But at heart, I believe that most humans have the capacity for goodness within them, and that the same is true of others - even if their circumstances cause that goodness to fade with time, sometimes."

Then she sneezes, loudly. The Owlet wakes up and gives her a look.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

As Seraph Beast's metacommentary suggested, it totally makes things worse. Lydia's foot starts tapping rapidly in the corner like tatap tatap tatap tatap tatap. Her smile is now showing teeth. She keeps looking at Kourin even more intently now and not saying a word even though she's not upset at Kourin at all.

Though Beast's comment about Catenna having 'apt tutoring' breaks it and she just falls over laughing.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna gives Lydia an odd look.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin begins to fidget, staring at her hands and blushing.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Yeah!" Lydia says between giggles. "Cyre gives her a lesson on companionship every evening!"

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

      Arleph's gaz is pretty even, more facinated rather than insulted at the notion of generations or 'short' lives. Being a space faring person, it put you rather into different perspectives when you live among other species. Also, when lifespans are radically different than around here.
 
      "Malevolence." Arleph muses, frowning. "That's a word I keep hearing. That's a word I keep fighting. I can see the strange malingnancy in people, some purple haze, but I have no idea what it is still."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna's cheeks darken, and she hunkers down into her sheet as a genuine wave of shame hits her. She shoots Lydia an honestly angry look before glancing away, unable to formulate a response.

More than anything she wants to crawl under a table and die.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin's head snaps up. "Lydia!" she says, tone admonishing, blushing even more deeply. "S-such things aren't spoken of here on Lunar!" She has no idea if such things are spoken of on Filgaia, but she's still super-super hyper embarrassed by the whole thing.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Eh?" Lydia says, straightening back up. "It's not?" She glances to Catenna. She seems angry. Lydia looks confused. She looks back to Kourin, then back to Catenna, then back to Kourin.

"But it's beautiful." Lydia says simply, genuinely confused and bewildered.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline...doesn't quite get what's going on, herself! She mostly just tries to keep things level.

"Well, we'd be glad to help you in that regard. You're free to come to us anytime." Jacqueline says with a polite nod, when the Beast mentions that she still has much to learn.

They're worth protecthing, she says. Jacqueline smiles, though she doesn't have a response - though she does have one for Arleph.

"Malevolence...admittedly, I think even the experts might still be a little unclear on it. But it tends to arise from the negative emotions and dark deeds of people...and of course its effects only cause more of it to arise..." She explains...and then Lydia makes a comment. Jacqueline...just kind of looks away. She doesn't have anything to say to that.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "It is beautiful," she agrees slowly, "but it is also personal and private. I...I think so, anyway."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna lapses into Baskar, her voice taking on an acidic note. "<Be that as it may, I would genuinely appreciate it if you wouldn't imply I'm a slut in front of our guest. And I would hope that you would have more respect for me than to make me into a punchline for jokes about my sex life.>"

She has a fairly heavy accent because it's something like her third language.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.

    The owlet is retrieved! On the one claw, disappointing. On the other, the Beast of Lohgrin is glad she has warm hands to rest in now. Metal can't be very comfortable.

    "It matters not if there is mischief in their hearts," she says. "Even bandits and rogues are the Goddess's children, and I will protect them. I just... may have to correct them, first." 'Correct', in this case, probably meaning 'injure'. She's never been adverse to wounding Man; it's their death that bothers her.

    Lydia... collapses over laughing, after a long series of ta-ta-taps, and the Beast has to look back at her, then. She.. seems to find it funny, how Catenna has learned to make friends. But she's not wrong. "Cyre does seem an apt teacher, when it comes to companionship." But when she looks back to Catenna, Catenna appears to be - dying of embarrassment. "Er..."

    She's missing something here, she just knows it. It's obvious, in the way Icehand snaps at Lydia about how those things aren't spoken of. At least Lydia doesn't seem to know why it's so bad, either. In that moment she feels Lydia kinship.

    So she talks about Malevolence instead of acknowledging the awkward situation brewing. She has no idea how to handle all of these emotions, okay? "It is the darkness in the hearts of Man. It dwells here, eternally, thickest in places of uncertainty and fear. It is poison, to me, and unlike your strange customs I cannot partake. But Althena will deliver us."

    "I thank you for your offer," the Beast says, to Jacqueline, genuinely regretful, "but... I cannot. I have come from my mountain for one purpose alone. The Lord of Calamity has risen again, and the Goddess has bid her death. I must ensure she does not plunge the world into destruction. But if you have seen Lucia the Destroyer - I would be most grateful to know."

    She pauses. She remembers what Ragnell said. She just asks already. "... and why is companionship such a personal and private thing? I do not understand. You do not seem private in your affection for each other."