2020-05-18: Not Exactly the Kumbaya Type
- Log: Not Exactly the Kumbaya Type
- Cast: Seraph Amaranth, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Kattelox
- Date: 18th May 2020
- Summary: Amaranth meets with Ragnell to share some dire developments with her.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Amaranth has been spending time with Talia and Ivan, amongst others, in Kattelox Island as of late -- when she wrote to Ragnell, her cited reason was to try to overcome her anxiety with machinery, which apparently involves a terrifying six inch-tall egg robot...
But that was then, and this is now -- and there's an urgent message that Ammy sends to Ragnell again. She needs to talk to her about something, and to catch up too.
She's back, in the guise Katherine would wear, in town -- the Festina Lente is nestled in an empty lot between houses in Downtown Kattelox; there aren't any visitors today, owing to the lesser amount of Resonance amongst the population.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
If Amaranth wants to face her fears and overcome her machinery anxiety, then that's all right by Ragnell. She supports her sister all the way. So when she went off with Talia and Ivan to Kattelox Isle, she was perfectly fine with letting that happen. Some things you need to work out yourself--if with a bit of support. And Ragnell trusts Talia and Ivan. Mostly. Inasmuch as she trusts any humans.
But then Amaranth sends her new correspondence saying she needs to talk about something and to catch up. Ragnell's just fine with that, too. Ragnell hasn't done anything all that bad lately, so it's probably not going to involve Amaranth being disappointed in her, so why worry?
Why indeed.
Ragnell strolls into the Festina Lente, dressed in her usual Filgaian attire. She looks around first for any other visitors, and when she confirms there aren't any, she cups her hands next to her mouth and calls, "HEY, SIS!!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
What first crawls out upon Ragnell's call is--
Not Amaranth, but rather, uh. Said six-inch tall egg shaped robot, coloured in an incredibly mundane teal, walking out in a very clockwork manner as it looks up and lifts its arms up and starts slowly pinwheeling around.
"J-just a moment!" There's a thump thump BOOF, and then stumbles into the living room with a wave with both hands. "Sis!"
She hurries over to cross the distance and give her a big hug. The robot mimes giving a hug to empty air. ...aww.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell peers down at the little egg-shaped robot. "So you're what's been givin' my sis a hard time, huh?" she drawls. "Terror o' the wasteland, you are."
But then Amaranth--or rather, Katherine--calls back, and stumbles out, and gives Ragnell a big ol' hug. Ragnell laughs and hugs her older sister back. "Nice to see you're in good spirits! Unless you're jus' so desperately out o' sorts that you needed a hug, any hug, stat?"
The robot *is* cute. But it better watch itself around Amaranth or Ragnell'll stomp it good. Unless Ammy tells her not to, then, well, /fine/.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
The egg robot gives a wordless one-handed 'salute', which is actually just a quarter of its pinwheeling arm routine. It can't manage any more complicated routines than that.
"W-well, there is... both kinds of news," Katherine answers with a bright smile, squeezing her sister warmly. Then she puts her hands behind her back to say, "But the good is Talia and I went on a nice date yesterday, and we've been revamping the house? We have, ehe, a bed together in the upstairs bedroom now." There's a bit of a rosy cheek as she answers that.
"How've you been, sis?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It really is a harmless little thing. Ragnell knows different people have different fears, and sometimes fear is not rational, but it's really beyond her how Amaranth could ever be scared of a little thing like this. Go figure.
Both kind, huh? Ragnell nods, ruffling her sister's hair before letting her go. "Oh yeah? That's good to hear," she says of that good news. She smirks in particular at the news of them sharing a bed now, but--perhaps to Amaranth's gratitude--she doesn't tease her about it. /This/ time.
"Been doin' all right. Explorin' the regions an' surroundin' areas. Haven't been up to *too* much trouble. Yet."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
It is, perhaps, the embodiment of the town at large and how they use more machinery here... at least, as Katherine relates it. Also, she took a ride on Talia and Ivan's Gear once and had to hide in her grimoire in terror!!
There's a quiet sniggering from Amaranth and says, "Hmm, I know you're plotting something cheeky just around the corner. I'm glad, though. Aquvy seems like your kind of place, if I had to guess? The people here are more free-spirited, with how they sail a lot from one island to another..."
A bob of her head, as Ragnell ruffles her hair. She fixes it up gently and says, a bit more quietly, "But, ah... something... worrying did happen too..."
A longer, hesitant pause. "Sis... have you heard of a Seraph called Harmaus?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"I neither confirm nor deny that statement," Ragnell drawls, winking, at Amaranth's good-natured accusation of /cheeky plotting/. But, let's be real, it's Ragnell. She doesn't need to. She saunters over to a nearby couch and drapes herself on it, looking back over at Amaranth whether she remains standing or joins her in comf. "Yeah, it's not a bad town, as towns go," she agrees. "Meria Boule's baked goods are t' die for, though."
Something worrying. Ragnell isn't surprised. Amaranth wouldn't need to confer with her about anything if there wasn't something going on; it'd be enough to just call her over to catch up and maybe make some chocolate rusks.
"Yeah, I know 'im," she replies. "Light Seraph. Cat-formed. I knew 'im back in the day--we weren't close or anything, but we got along all right. Met 'im again a couple times recently an' he seems to have changed." She frowns. "Can't quite put my finger on how--we hadn't seen each other for at least a couple hundred years--but there's somethin' weird about 'im now. An' I don't mean just how he's treatin' his vessel." I.e., his flesh puppet. "Why?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
On a better day, with less worries, Amaranth would love to beam and brightly talk about Meria Boule and its baked goods, since that was where they were last before heading to Kattelox.
Ragnell saying she does know him does surprise her, though.
"Well... I met him a few centuries ago," Katherine relates. "Back when I was still... hiding in Old Vane." A pause. "He seemed really curious about me. He kept digging and... I think he wound up learning a little of what happened with..." A pause. "On that day, when I nearly... fell."
There's a deeper frown, finding herself unable to speak clearly. "But the important part was that it made him obsessed about me, to the point where he's been stalking me. I had to leave Vane for a while, even, to hide from him."
A pause. "And... yesterday, he caught up with me here, in the lake in Kattelox. And he seems more dogged than ever about his pursuit. He tried to attack me and Talia, but we were able to escape."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Amaranth speaks lightly of That Time. No need to say anything directly. Ragnell remembers it well. She nods once. So Harmaus learned of it. Is it a big deal? Amaranth was purified, and she hasn't succumbed to Malevolence since. But then, it *is* a big deal to Amaranth--and apparently it's a big deal to Harmaus.
When Amaranth tells her that Harmaus has been *stalking* her since then, her eyebrows go up. "/Really/." Then her eyes narrow. So Harmaus even tried to attack Amaranth (and Talia).
That won't do.
"He didn't strike me as the avenging angel type, but like I said, we were only casual acquaintances at best," she comments, tapping two fingers on the couch. While she acts calm, there's a certain dangerous glint in her eyes and in the crook of her wrist that Amaranth might recognize. "Do you know /why/ he's so obsessed? Like, so you turned into a Hellion for a bit. That happens sometimes. You were purified, so big deal. An' it didn't last long, so it's not like you destroyed something he loved while on a rampage or whatever. What's it matter to him?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
"... no... it wasn't out of any sense that he thought I needed to be vanquished," Katherine relays to Ragnell. If it was simply just that, maybe she could understand it more. She still feels it wouldn't necessarily be wrong for other Seraphs to take offense of what she nearly became, after all.
She glances towards that glint in Ragnell's eyes, then looks down to the table gently. "... I can't be sure, but the way he's obsessed about the /details/..."
A longer pause. "I feel he wants to pursue that path for himself, sis. He wants to pry every single detail of what I experienced for himself. And... we both know how horrifying another Fell Dragon would be."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell stares. Her little tap-tap-tapping stills.
"He wants to /what/?" she utters. "What in Althena's name would he WANT to become a mindless force of absolute destruction for??"
She waves a hand dismissively the next second. "Rhetorical question. I know you wouldn't know that. Goddess! I just can't believe it. That's fuckin' crazy. It's /mind-boggling/. Just--" She raises her hands parallel to the ground, fingers clawing upwards. "*Why*??"
She huffs out a breath, frown deepening, and folds her arms. "Well. I guess it doesn't really matter *why*. If he wants oblivion that bad, I can give it to him, sure enough." She tilts her head and raises an eyebrow. "Unless you were anglin' for some other solution?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Amaranth rubs at her head quietly as well, because Ragnell poses good questions -- but they're questions she's dwelled with for centuries without good answers to. "I don't understand myself. I've been asking much the same, sis... why would anyone /want/ that? Maybe I have the wrong read from him, but he gets harder and harder to understand every time I meet him."
There's a quiet tilt of her head. "I do think he needs to be stopped. I just can't believe another Seraph would come to this kind of conclusion. I genuinely wonder what happened in the centuries we didn't run into each other."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Yeah. I guess that's what felt off about 'im the last couple times we met," Ragnell muses, shutting one eye in dark thought. She drums her fingers along her arm. "There's probably a reason. I know I just said it was fuckin' crazy, but most folks don't try to do shit like this for no reason. I guess it just depends on how much you or I *care* about that reason."
Stopped. Absolutely. Maybe Amaranth *does* have the wrong read--given that he's been stalking her and attacking her, it wouldn't be a surprise--but she's still being /stalked and attacked/, and Ragnell won't abide that. "I can try talkin' to him, if you want me to. An' if he doesn't listen, I can beat 'im up. What d'you say?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
"... mostly, I just feel paranoid if he's being manipulated by something /worse/," Amaranth admits to Ragnell. "But that's the kind of thought I have after being used to people like the Shadow Dragon Cult being a presence in my life."
There's a nod as Ragnell offers to talk -- and if he doesn't listen, beat him up. "I... really do think there isn't going to be another way. He's so dead-set on this, it doesn't feel like words would have much effect. But... maybe he'll listen to you where he won't with me."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Manipulated by something worse? "Oh yeah, that's possible too, huh," Ragnell murmurs, rubbing her chin. "Well, I'm not exactly the kumbaya type, but if someone or something is manipulatin' one of our kind, I can abide that even less."
She rises to her feet. "Yeah, he probably won't listen, manipulated or not," she concedes, nodding once. "But at least we can say we tried." Her eyes narrow again. "I won't let 'im hurt you."
Then she gives her sister an affectionate smile. "Now that that's settled--unless you got somethin' else to discuss, how 'bout you show me some o' those renovations o' yours?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Katherine nods quietly as Ragnell affirms that she won't let him hurt her -- and reaches to hold her sister's hand. "Thank you, sis."
Then, as she asks about renovations -- "Oh, yes! Kattelox is pretty warm, so I adjusted some of the terrace doors to make it breezier and sunnier... I thought, if anyone walked in through the front, they'd want an appealingly warm store to walk into. Then..."
She gestures up towards the second floor. "In our living area, we shifted the walls so that we had a bigger, master bedroom. Ivan still has his room, of course, and the guest room for you is still there too..."
Amaranth seems much happier to talk about this, even with the concerning note in the background.
The egg robot wipes an imaginary tear at this development.