2018-11-02: About The Red Giant
- Log: About The Red Giant
- Cast: Lunata Croze, Shalune Amira, Loren Voss
- Where: Adelyn Ranchlands
- Date: November 2nd 2018
- Summary: Lunata and Shalune seek out 'Thomas' to have a chat with him about an apparent Ifrit sighting; as fate would happen the 'doctor' is in. Both parties learn a little something (on 'Lunar summoning', Guardians, and otherwise).
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata's been doing a lot of preparation lately, between the drowned Sanctum and Jacqueline's new crest gloves giving her an idea. She's been scrounging from her father's ARMs shop, the Yggdrasil and everything for an additional companion piece to the ARM Josephine made for her...
Though that's neither here nor there, since she's currently tracking down-- (Shalune: "Talking to! It sounds a lot friendlier!") --Thomas Blackwell, albeit with a new sword strapped to her back on her Yggdrasil coat. She heard he was around town sooner or later, and there was something she wanted to ask him that he mentioned back in the Ruins of Altered Memory...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune has been doing her best to prepare as well, but it isn't as if she needs combat ARMs when she has her strange mixture of technology to see her through. By now, her shotstaff is an unholy abomination that combines Veruni technology with her own take on Metal Demon design principles, and before long she'll probably mix some Elw styles in there as well.
So rather than stress out too much on what she's taking to Elru she's instead decided to accompany Lunata as-- well-- as a balancing force, really, doing her best to temper the other girl's new-found aggressive style with her laid-back manner. "Ummn... someone said they'd seem him, but... you'd think you could normally tell just from the Aura of Grump. You seem pretty fired-up, though..."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
With the end of his leave likely soon approaching -- to judge from what Leah had said, that is -- Loren's keen to make the most of it. It won't be long now before they leave behind the hellhole of Ignas for the unknown of Elru, and perhaps then he'll...
For now, though, he's not thinking about such things.
If they're looking for an average-ish blond young man, blue-eyed and notable for the freckles and the sour expression and demeanor... well, yes, a person or two has seen him. In fact, one of the street vendors had even sold him something.
Not all that long ago either.
It's not hard to catch up. ...Apparently what he's 'keen on making the most of' at the moment is 'eating a churro'. To be fair it does look pretty good.
Akin to a man in a movie who has just realized the monster is behind him, he stops in his tracks and slowly turns around.
"Uh," he starts once he's finished chewing and swallowed. He then raises an eyebrow. "...Did you want something?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata blinks a few times as she gets a lead from, of all places, the street vendors. Adlehyde has some pretty nice ones, and she's hawked with the best of them at times; she hands a gella coin over and gets her own churro, as she waves and looks towards Thomas when he turns towards them.
She looks towards Shalune for a moment, and then says, "Hey Thomas. Wanted to ask you about that thing you mentioned last time -- you know, when we went to the Ruin. You said you'd seen the big red fire guy... with the horns?"
She raises an eyebrow further. "Where'd you see him?"
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Of course, this line of inquiry means that by the time they find Thomas, Shalune has a paper tray with a collection of little meat skewers lined up on it, another stuck out the corner of her mouth as she chews and lets it wiggle. "Oh, Mister-- Mister!" she greets with a cheery wave of the stick once she's done, only faltering as she realizes she's not a hundred-percent sure of his surname.
"Ah, Lunie was lookin' for you, and I thought I'd come along just to sorta say hi, get some food, that sorta stuff. She wanted to know-- um-- something?" she hits another of those roadblocks, and then blinks in surprise at the question that comes out in the end. "E-ehh--? On Filgaia? Baaaw, it figures..."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Not just one of them, but two of them. Both potentially problematic surface-dwellers, if for different reasons. What's this all about? That look in Lunata's eyes is strange, he considers, staring down the both of them as he takes another bite and chews.
Great, this is going to be his problem to deal with. ...Whatever it is.
"Blackwell," he answers Shalune at length. Which might be a slight problem, given certain posters on Lunar that called him 'Voss' or, well, the fact that Lily called him 'Voss', but...
"So I see," he says, pitch-perfect for his normal demeanor of sour-and-slightly-better-than-you. If he'd had his hands free it's a fair bet he'd be crossing his arms over his chest. "That thing? Wouldn't you be better off interrogating a Lunarian--"
His sentence never fully attains the pitch of a question.
Instead he settles in silence for a moment, trying to think really damn fast.
"Traveling... out west. Near November," he says at last, and it's not technically a lie. Mostly. "Why?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Honestly, if Lunata should be picking up on those details... she doesn't seem to. People having multiple names don't seem to bother her too much, for one reason or another -- and whatever it is he has between Leon and Lily's not much of a reason for her to pry that deeply either.
"Oh, I'll give you part of the churro for a skewer..." she comments to Shalune as she deposits one of them.
She raises an eyebrow further. "I fought it before. Nearly killed us all, and took me out of commission for a few months. Wanted to know if it was back, and who was messing with it, since... well, we killed the guy who summoned him."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Eh, well-- the last Lunarian we found who knew about it was the summoner themselves, an'-- well, he wasn't in much of a state to tell us anything. By which I mean he was super freaky and scary, living out like a hermit in the middle of a charnel pit." Even Shalune can't keep up her cheer through that tale; she furrows her brow by the time she's done, looking down at her tray uncertainly.
At least she shakes it away a moment later, offering her collection of meats across for Lunata to pick from as if she didn't just recall a traumatic memory that involved Lunata losing most of herself for a while. "... if it's back... wait, wouldn't that be weird?" she realizes as she breaks off. "I mean, it wasn't a Guardian or anything, an' I'm pretty sure it wasn't Granas or Valmar or anythin' like that. They don't do fire or anything."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's perhaps much to Loren's eternal relief in the end -- it may be inevitable given how much his cover is compromised, but if he can at least move on to his next assignment in Elru before a discovery is made, so much the better.
"You fought that?"
Now it's his turn to sound incredulous. "That thing must have been enormous. Surely you're joking."
Though he's seen the reports -- and witnessed her skill, the impossibility of her body -- Lunata is no normal surface-dweller girl.
He glances over at Shalune, perhaps to try and seek after the truth from her--
"...And you're sure that was the same thing? It was enormous." He doesn't so much as gape when they mention they killed the summoner.
Isn't killing one another normal for their kind?
"It seems similar to Guardians at a glance, but it doesn't match any descriptions I've heard of them." Not to mention, Lan had said it didn't sound like any she knew, and she should know, being a Shaman. "Unfortunately, I didn't see who was summoning it. If it's a Lunarian, you're best looking among Lunarians."
Shalune meanwhile tries to turn over the matter of how it could be back, earning a glance and, in the manner of someone throwing his dog a bone, Loren suggests, "Perhaps it's like the Guardians. It isn't as if only a single Shaman can summon a given Guardian. I had heard of no similar tradition on Lunar, but given the nature of the Church, a hidden tradition is not impossible."
It is, after all, his presumption at the moment, with little better to go on.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata is kind of quiet for a moment as she mulls over that for a moment. Would it be weird if it came back?
"No... I agree, it seems similar to the Guardians," Lunata responds to Shalune as she plucks one of the meat skewers -- beef offal, her favourite -- and starts munching on it. Maybe being a waitress and staff's given her a taste for the bits the customers don't like. Chef's treat, as it were.
"I had to use everything at my disposal. And I lost an arm--" she pats her right arm where there's still visible scarring where it was rejoined, "--and it took a while before I could recover..."
A pause, towards her and looks to Loren again. "Ifrit, it was called. And if you saw it elsewhere, yeah... it'd be like-- when Lydia summons Rigdobrite and then Ethius elsewhere does so too. Right?"
That, at the very least, makes enough sense for her. "... what're you gonna do next, Mister Thomas? We're off to Elru to go murder a goddess, it seems."
... so casual...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"We fought that," Shalune confirms with a solemn frown, "An' yeah, it was enormous. Maybe you're kinda underestimatin' what it means for Lunie to lose an arm? I mean, I'd get it if you did, I have to bear it in mind myself every so often," she huffs with an uncharacteristic pout, especially when Loren looks shocked at the idea of humans killing one another. The mechanic doesn't look terribly proud, but does at least stand her ground: "Look, he had butcher's hooks. An' a big nasty cauldron. I'm pretty sure he wanted to eat us."
She hesitates for a moment, grimacing to herself, and certainly can't find it in herself to complain when Lunata steals the best skewer. Offal suddenly seems a little less tempting; with a breath, she goes for the lump of churro instead, feeling herself soothed by it.
"... anyway, I mean - I get it, I'm sure you must be right that we only killed that one summoning, but..." She pauses to scratch at her hair, marshalling her words. "I mean more that I've never heard anything like it. I'm not exactly the most religious sort around, I guess, but at least I listened to the lectures. The Guardians don't stick around for long when you summon them. They don't 'go travelling around November City' like it's a tourist trap, either. It's just weird."
A pause, and she squints at Lunata. "'Protect Jay'," she lectures again, like she's teaching decorum.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He nods, as if he were a full-fledged scholar wearily instructing his students. "And since it was possible to summon a Guardian on Lunar, it must be possible to summon one of... those here. I recommend looking among the Lunarians. Perhaps one of them might know who the summoner is, or be the summoner themself."
And if not, at least it might put in a wedge between the various groups, he supposes. Particularly since she seems less-than-keen about the 'red giant'.
She says she had to use her all to fight it. He sort of halfheartedly shrugs. At least until she uses a certain turn of phrase. 'Lose an arm'?" Loren echoes, forehead wrinkling in consternation as Shalune chimes in. "I hope you mean a weapon." A glance back at Lunata suggests... it was literal.
"...Well, my compliments to the surgeon," he says dryly, after a moment's pause.
Interesting. She's on edge about killing the man? "It's none of my concern what you might have done," he says, waving his free hand in the air as if to dismiss the matter outright. "Hmm. Cannibalism... I wonder if that is typical among the 'Lunar Shamans'."
He's honestly surprised more surface-dwellers aren't outright eating each other. It's more abberation on Lunar, certainly, but on Filgaia... perhaps the pressures haven't reached that state yet.
"'Ifrit'," he echoes, mulling over the name. "I'll keep that in mind. It isn't the name of a Guardian, that's certain." His gaze again turns Shalune's way. "Perhaps it's different on a healthier world. I understand the Guardians are tied to the planet..."
He's pretty much convinced his theory is correct.
"And I have met one Guardian capable of remaining in this world, perhaps indefinitely."
They're off to Elru to murder a goddess.
So am I, I suppose.
But to the both of them he says, with a shrug, "Who knows? Perhaps if there's a ship headed east, I might also go. It would be better than sitting around and waiting to die."
Better to go actively in search of one's destruction, maybe...
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"No, you're right... it's not the name of any Guardian. I might not have been educated all that much, but I know my Guardian names, at least," Lunata rubs at the back of her neck for a moment after she finishes her skewer. Mmm, that was delicious.
"... you mean that wolf Guardian? We ran into her up on that Pleasing Garden, then some. Seemed to have it out real bad for us."
A pause, and longer, as she laughs faintly at Shalune.
"... protect Jay," she acquiesces for a moment. "If you want to come with us, I'm sure we can work... something out. Otherwise, well, maybe we'll run into each other again."
A longer pause. "... yeah. Better than sitting around and waiting to die."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune looks rather uncertain at some of Loren's suggestions; her expression wavers as she plants a skewer in her mouth and tucks her fingers under her hat, scratching again at her hair. She doesn't feel all that convinced that the rules are so different on Filgaia compared to Lunar, but she doesn't really have anything to gainsay the man with either, outside of a faint and uncertain suggestion:
"... um. To be honest, just goin' because you've nothing better to do kind of sounds like a real bad reason. There's lots of things to do, still, I'm pretty sure. Doesn't even matter what you're used to doing. Could just lug bricks around Adlehyde, or something like that."
She puffs up as Lunata chuckles in her direction, sulking a little before she shakes her head and puts a smile back on her face. "Honestly, I know there's a lot of boats goin' in that direction. All you need to do is take a look around Hilton and you'll see a ton of them getting ready. Some of them are tryin' to compete for 'most cannons on a boat'."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Unless there's some secret, hidden Guardian out there in the world, in any case. But I doubt that's the case. Most of the Guardians at least put up pretense of friendliness."
Don't forget, the thought runs beneath the surface. Don't forget. They tried to use you, as if you were just another of their little worshippers. Don't forget, they think they're above you.
He'll show them.
"That's the one. Luceid, the 'lost' Guardian of Desire."
Luceid at least had granted him a sort of clarity. Revealed the Guardians as they really were, just for him.
He waves a hand when Lunata suggests he could come along with them. It would be useful under most circumstances, but more than likely he'll need to make his approach by a different direction. "No need. I'll figure it out, if I decide to travel along."
Shalune's had something on her mind throughout this. Is something off? Did she notice something...?
Or perhaps she just doesn't think his professed reason is good enough, on the surface of things.
His response is to shrug. "I suppose. I would rather go all the same, if the opportunity presents itself. At least if things go wrong it should be quick. I wonder how long it would take to learn the world was doomed...?"
Well, that's morbid.
At least when she brings up the topic of boats and 'who can mount the most cannons', he exhales a small huff of what might a low chuckle, for him. "Sounds about right. In any case, I'll decide if I want to spend my last days treating scraped knees or paying the end of the world a personal visit."