2020-04-08: Light Against Light
- Log: Light Against Light
- Cast: Seraph Harmaus, Seraph Clarine
- Where: Meria City - Central Commercial District
- Date: April 08, 2020
- Summary: Harmaus has something of which he wishes to speak with Clarine regarding.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Akin to a cat come slinking back around after spending weeks away from home, so returns a certain Seraph.
It has been a while since he last came through Meria -- before, even, his reunion/first meeting with others of his kind on these shores so far from home.
It has been months. Nearly as long ago as he first claimed this body for his use.
But he is back now, back and in the search of a certain other.
His search brings him first by the Irington bakery, which he leaves only with the sustenance this body requires.
A sorry thing, that -- it requires him to attend to matters not relating to his quest simply to fill its belly. It requires him to rest, and to bath, and concern himself with a great many bothersome things.
But better all of it than to lose it.
Not when he needs it still.
And so, makeshift meal in hand, Harmaus walks through the streets and past the shops, an eye out for one which few here can likely see.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
For those with the capacity to see her, the Seraph Clarine isn't too difficult to find when she's not actively trying to hide herself - particularly so for one of her own kind. There's always a faint shine about her, and she tends to gravitate toward places with plenty of sunlight to take in.
Today is no different. Today finds Clarine perched atop the sign hanging outside the door of one of Meria City's many establishments, balanced perfectly despite the precarious perch. This place, she deems, is the perfect place to catch the sunlight in this part of town.
Unseen by most, she watches the people go by, going about their daily business... until, among them, she spots a familiar face.
"Ah!" She gasps in recognition and eases herself off the sign, floating gently toward the ground. That should make her easy enough to spot, if anyone looking for her hadn't noticed her already.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
In the end, the problem is this -- Harmaus is not looking up. Perhaps it's some effect resulting from living in a body for nearly a year. Perhaps the form has a way of forcing itself upon its occupant, in several subtle ways. But in a sense, Harmaus here and now behaves very much like a human, with the same limitations and constaints...
And then he turns and there she is. His mouth twitches in a shallow smile.
"Aha," utters the Seraph in flesh, "It is there. We searches for it here," he continues, gesturing at Clarine. "And, here it is! We would speak with it. Will it speaks with us?"
He simply gazes at her for a long steady moment.
"We have questions," the other light Seraph says. "Questions and answers. But it has place to speak in private?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"Oh! You were looking for me?" Clarine repeats questioningly. At first, she thought it had simply been simply a chance encounter - but he was looking for her, with questions... and answers, too. Clarine blinks, her head tilted to the side curiously for a moment before, eventually, nodding.
"Yes, of course... If I can assist, I would be glad to." She replies. "Private? Hm... I know of a place."
It isn't far - down a couple of alleyways there's a dead end where some old, empty crates lie abandoned. While it is largely in shadow from the surrounding structures, some sunlight still peeks in from above. It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a while - at least, not anyone mortal.
Clarine takes a seat on one of the crates, letting Harmaus choose to sit or stand as he pleases.
"What was it you wished to ask...?" She asks.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Then," Harmaus says, after regarding her a moment, "We follows."
It's perhaps not as secure as Kaguya's warehouse had been. Harmaus pauses a moment as if he were testing the wind itself, his head slightly cocked to one side. Then he turns this way and that, glancing first upwards then about himself.
And then he nods.
"Will suffice," he reports, settling heavily on another crate; it creaks in protest but does not crack.
Planting his hands on his knees, the embodied Seraph gazes at Clarine intently. "We wishes to ask it of Malevolence. Long we searched the Blue Star, but we finds none. Is problem of the land or problem of the looking? This, we asks it. It has been here long, yes?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"Malevolence...?" Clarine repeats, with a slight. It's not the most pleasant of subjects for their kind - she preferred not to think of the spiritual poison when possible. She considers him for a moment, then thinks back.
"I have been here... a little while, yes." She confirms with a nod, folding her hands in her lap.
"Malevolence... it is not native to this world. From my understanding... it first appeared only a few years ago, on the continent known as Ignas. But... at the time, I was still trapped within the Shadow Vault - the ruin we visited together before. So... I was not there for the event. I know only from second-hand accounts... And... I am unsure how far it has spread since then..." She explains. She looks to the ground for a moment before looking back up at Harmaus, her expression curious. "Why...were you looking for it...?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Her reaction might be more typical for their kind.
He, on the other hand...
...seems keenly interested in it.
"Yes. Malevolence," he repeats, dipping his head in a nod. "Been on the Blue Star not even a year, yet. Not even!"
She explains after a fashion. More slowly this time, Harmaus nods.
"So it sees it not."
He straightens, rolling his shoulders. His hands slip off his knees.
He gazes over at her still.
"In Ignas. Here, there. Pockets only!" he points out, lifting a hand and raising a finger as if to underscore the sentiment. "Not true 'Malevolence'. Not like Lunar. Not everywhere."
He gestures outwards, about himself in the backend of this alley. "Not here."
His gaze returns to her.
"Has it wonders why? None on the Blue Star. Yet on Lunar."
He waits, as if to hear her answer.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine nods, as he explains that he hasn't been on Filgaia for even a year yet. That explains a lot, certainly - though his next words get a confused tilt of the head from her. She listens quietly as he explains, and then asks - has she wondered why?
"...Now and again, but... usually, it is something I prefer not to dwell upon, unless prompted..." She admits. "Is that why you were looking for it...?"
To actively seek it out... that's not something she could imagine doing without a reason.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
His response is a simple one.
"Yes. We seeks the truth. Why Malevolence is on the Blue Star not."
Slowly, he rises to his feet.
"Why it is on Lunar, so heavily, heavily."
And begins to pace the length of this little forgotten dead-end in the alley.
"What it is."
There is a pause.
"What it really is."
He glances back at her, over a shoulder.
"Does it understand it? The desire to know? It is of light, and we are of light." He pauses, then corrects himself: "I am of light. It is of flesh, bone, and dust! But it," and he turns now to face her, suggesting the unclear pronoun in this case refers to her, "and I are kin. Lightborne children. As motes in the air."
He regards her a moment.
"As kin as kin can!" He laughs, perhaps at his own wordplay.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
He seeks the truth. Once more, Clarine finds herself considering his words. It might not be something prefers to dwell upon... but she can't deny that it's quite the mystery. Why? And what is it?
She thinks for a moment... and then nods, a bit hesitantly.
"...Yes. I think I can. When I find myself in a place I have never been, I feel the urge to explore every inch of it. So, too, can I understand the desire to peer into a mystery such as this, with such wide-reaching effects..." She replies. If they knew more about Malevolence... perhaps they would be able to combat it more effectively.
They're kin, he says. She nods, and manages a slight smile when he laughs.
"Indeed..." She agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
His mouth widens in a grin. For the moment, his pacing has ceased.
"So, it does understand?" he asks, regardingly her carefully. "Yes, yes. It wonders well! Curiosity, yearning. The desire to prise truth free from lies. This is needed much. Time is long, but ah, we are longer yet!" The grin only broadens.
"So into the light goes truth, yes? Away from lies' shadows."
He points to her.
"Then we says this to it. We tells our kin our dearest truth:"
He watches her closely, now, perhaps to see what she might do.
"Malevolence is the enemy not."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine nods. Indeed, they're a long-lived bunch. They have a lot of time with which to delve into the mysteries of the world. He hasn't said anything she disagrees with so far... but then, he imparts on her his dearest truth - that Malevolence isn't the enemy.
At that, Clarine's head tilts, an uncertain expression crossing her face.
"...I apologize, but I am... unsure I understand." She admits. "Malevolence is...dangerous. To us, and the mortals as well..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
He stops when she says that. He physically stops dead, as if he had been transfigured into a statue somehow, rather than the flesh and blood form he now occupies.
"That is what it leads to believe," he says finally, closing his eyes as if aggrieved. "The lie passed to us. Lies that 'mother' taught us."
He opens his eyes.
"Truth is hidden in it. Our truth. Why is it not here. Why is it there. To understand, we seek, we embrace the thing itself!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
He calls it a lie. A slight frown crosses over Clarine's face. She hesitates for a bit, as if trying to figure out how to word her thoughts.
"I... do not think it is a bad idea, wishing to know more, but... I have seen personally what it is capable of. What it does to the mortals. What it does to us... and what we become. What it can do to a world. I... cannot say that its dangers are a lie." She replies, shaking her head. 'Mother'... does he mean the Goddess? "Her behavior has been... questionable, of late... but that, I think, is no lie..."
She hesitates a little.
"Embracing it... I would, ah... advise against that." She suggests.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"As have we," Harmaus answers her simply.
"We seen much. Fought Hellions for hundreds of years," he continues, his voice somehow calm, controlled, as if he were lecturing to a class rather than speaking to her in an alleyway. "Destroyed. Cleansed. Pushed back. Restored."
When he raises his voice, it comes suddenly. "But we makes no difference! World as it was, always, always!"
From that peak, his volume dials back significantly. "We finds an answer. More and more yet, we learn. We understands. And we seeks even more yet. Malevolence is truth. Our truth."
He jabs a finger at her.
"Light-kin of ours. It will understand. It is its nature to seek and understand."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
His voice is calm... until it isn't. The sudden, unexpected raised tone causes Clarine to jump a bit, and shrink back slightly.
She clasps her hands in front of her nervously, fidgeting slightly and looking away as he points at her. She can understand the frustration - to see no difference, after all this time, after everything that's been done.
But, at the same time... she's not certain he's going about it the right.
"...I... I will. H-however... we... may arrive at different truths..." She replies, her tone a bit subdued.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
He gazes at her for a long moment. Then, he just sighs.
"It is mistaken," he says slowly, "to think there multiple truths."
Harmaus shakes his head. "But it will learn. It will understand. It is in its nature. Seeking what is hidden. Bringing light to dark places!"
He is to all externals calm. But his eyes, now. He is a man -- a Seraph -- obsessed.
He regards her for a moment more than shakes his head. "We speaks again later. For now, it considers it. Considers the truth." And he begins to walk on past her, as if heading now for the alley's exit.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I... I will consider it." She replies hesitantly, looking away. It's the eyes that frighten her the most, perhaps. She doesn't move to stop him as he begins to walk past her - she simply sits there, her hands together and her head held down.
It's...a very concerning thought. She's not sure where it will take him - or herself, either.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Harmaus lingers a moment, on that limnal spot between the end of the alleyway and its junkpile and the path that will take him back to Meria proper.
"It," he says, his voice quiet, "does well to understand Anitia."
...Who?
He does not provide any further word. He walks on, regardless of what she may say or do, receding into the distance of Meria's bustle of life.