2022-05-03: Umbral Revelation

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  • Log: Umbral Revelation
  • Cast: Magilou, Kaguya
  • Where: Honeysday - Beach
  • Date: 2022-04-03
  • Summary: Magilou washes up on the shores of Honeysday after an unsuccessful evil plan. Kaguya has something a little more successful in mind, but not even she is immune to being angered by Magilou.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


Having gone back to Goddodin to confirm a few suspicions, it's time for Magilou to make herself scarce before Ruby can pin Bienfu down and bully the story out of him.

(Didn't she just go BACK to Lunar to escape from an awkward conversation? Well, listen... shut up.)

Anyway, Magilou wasn't lying about one thing:

"Yarrrrr!"

... 'pirate' IS, in fact, one of the many occupations Magilou holds.

A bandana wrapped around her gathered-up hair prominently displays skull and crossbones, cloth tied about her chest and sleeves all detached along her arms. Her jaunty red and black stockings lead up to dual pistols, held on an oversized belt. She has OUTRAGEOUS boots.

She is, in fact, very much a pirate. And her pirate ship -- she just kind of integrated herself into one, easy as water permeates -- is currently raiding one of the merchant ships carrying fine crops away from the shores of Honeysday.

"Have a nice trip!" Magilou crows, swooping in on one of the ship's bodyguards as she moves from one deck to another. (She doesn't have to swing across; she has her shikigami for that.) She hops down, and calls those shikigami up from below, under another man's feet. "Look what I found!"

Flashing a V-for-victory, she grasps her shikigami between her fingers again, and gestures to the woman at the helm: "Blammo!" She announces, as those spirits, fire and water, twin together to careen into her.

Really, having a max-level mage just randomly attack a merchant ship like this is entirely unfair. Except, Magilou is having so much fun messing about with her Hidden Artes, that...

*THONK*

... she gets completely blindsided by a thrown barrel.

Magilou tumbles off into the sea, never to be seen again.

...

...

...

Anyway, there's a very soggy pirate washing up on the shore. She's probably dead. Who wants to poke her with a stick and find out?

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


As it turns out, Kaguya spends a lot of time on the beach for someone who is personally disliked by the Guardian of the Sea. She got into the habit in Spira, and now here she is, using it as a place to think after splitting off from the hideout where she met Ambrosius before. It's fine. Super fine. And besides... the people of Honeysday rather avoid her, considering that they know full well what she is. At least they suspect. So it's not like hanging out in town is worthwhile.

But this is where Kaguya has found herself: on a rock on the beach, looking out to nothing in particular. She is dressed in Filgaian style clothes, long slacks and a dress shirt with suspenders. It's classic butch style, except for the fact that her hair has been getting longer again, which is less classic but works all right for her.

Weird that her hair would grow faster than it used to, though, considering.

She looks out over the water... and then--sees movement. A soggy pirate..

Kaguya peers over.

Then she throws a rock.

"You're not dead, Magilou. Stop milking it."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


*CLONK*

A rock merrily impacts with Magilou's thick skull, and a hand erupts from shallow water, with all the grasping menace of the drowning dead. "YOOOOU...!"

-- only to rub at her head, freeing a few more locks of hair from where they've been trapped by that bandana. "You JERK! I could have DROWNED! Then you'd be sorry!!" Splish-splash, she wades out of the shallows.

"Keh! Pfeh!" She coughs, and spits out a fish.

Magilou reaches up, to wring out her hair, which is just as soggy as the rest of her. Let's all be happy she's at least not casting Crown Fire to fix this situation.

"Hey, wait a sec," Magilou stops, and leans, shading her eyes against the sun to peer at Kaguya. "What are you doing sulking out here all alone, anyway? Your latest evil scheme a wash?" No, that's you, Magilou. Your latest evil scheme was a wash. That's why you're damp now.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


"Would I, though? Would I?"

Kaguya grins at Magilou as she wades out of the shallows, making absolutely no move to help. It's fine. Besides, she could still use fire magic to 'help'. That would be inconvenient!

"I HAPPEN to be in big-deal Veruni Control Zone territory, you know." She waves her hand, "Not that they notice what happens out here where they leave the humans, usually." Pause.

"And actually," she says, "My latest evil scheme is on track to be a wild success. Just for your information."

She doesn't sound thrilled about that for some reason, though.

"Anyway it gets annoying when the people intown are all 'yes madam Veruni' and 'please don't destroy us madam Veruni' and blah blah blah."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


"We could drain the sea and be secure in the knowledge that your weeping would fill the basins anew!" Magilou accuses Kaguya of caring, in the most ridiculous possible fashion.

But Kaguya's in Big Deal Veruni Territory, so she'd rather hide out... huh.

Magilou raises a brow, as Kaguya declares her evil scheme is going just fine. As for how she hates the supplication -- "What, you not into subjugation of the common man? Crushing a few spirits is great for morale!" This may explain a thing or two about Bienfu.

Maybe even more than she's saying out loud. She did tell Kaguya something of the Malakhim, last time she got her alone.

She shrugs, broadly, palms to the sky. "Well, I suppose I should just be happy you're not robbing me this time, huh? Oh -- your potions work a treat, by the way," she asides, which solves the mystery of how Magilou had an elixir on hand to deal with chlorine gas back there. "But you're still wrong about Apple Gels. They're delicious."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


"Ahahahahah. I'm pretty sure 'the sea' would spit it back if I tried to cry into it. ...Is that what happened with you? You went for a dip and it didn't like you? The ridiculous outfit is a nice touch..."

Kaguya gets a sour look at Magilou's take on the subjugation of the common man. Even joking about it apparently doesn't do much for her mood. "It works, I guess. These people wouldn't dream of fighting back. That's something like 'morale'. Even the Drifters I know who were raised in the control zones get all freaky about Veruni. Which I mean, I guess is fair, since we're stronger and smarter and etc. etc. etc," she actually pronounces it with the puncutation somehow, "But whatever."

"You should be," Kaguya agrees with Magilou. "And yeah? Of course they do. I wouldn't stock anything that didn't." Pause. "Your apple gels are only delicious for an old lady whose taste buds have gone bad. They were stale, and the variety of apple they're made of is so..." She wrinkles her nose. "I mean your apple gels are probably made out of Red Delicious. Who eats those?"

Kaguya shakes her head. "Anyway, whatever, it's just annoying. Seeing people react like... Man, what was the animal you guys use for this?"

"A whipped cat? No, that's not it. Hm." Pause. "...Whatever. It's not like you would get it anyway."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


"Let's just say the piracy went a liiiittle bit south," Magilou waves a hand, horizontal in the air. "I'm sure whatever hit me was huge, though. Like a cannon. Or some kind of cannon that shoots smaller cannons! Do they make those?!" No, Magilou, it was a barrel full of rosemary, don't get so excited.

Her hand comes to rest on her hip, all askance, as she learns more about Kaguya's perspective on her subjects. "Like superiority matters, right? Even if someone's worse than you in every way, the amount of times some half-cocked hero has pulled a victory out from under me is positively statistically significant!"

She flips her sad, loose, damp hair over her shoulder. "So, you know, I actually do get it. What, you think you're not talking to the Wicked Witch of Lunar? I'll have you know I was serving the Lord of Calamity before it was cool! Really, it's not my fault the last few haven't measured up to my standards. They should be better at sucking the marrow out of innocent bones." Magilou tosses a hand up, teetering back a step before her arms swing up to lace behind her head.

"After a certain point, it gets hard to move around, when you're heralded as the coming storm of darkness whence no light escapes. And the next thing you know, everyone's blaming every little problem on you and yours. Firewood won't light up? It's got to be those villains! Your girl left you? It's all thanks to the horrific sin visited upon you. Town set ablaze..?" Magilou pauses, in her reflective tones, to shrug, eyes closing briefly with a vicious grin. "Okay, yeah, maybe that one was on me."

She opens an eye a crack to glance lengthwise at Kaguya, with a pout. "And I happen to like Red Delicious, thank-you-very-much."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


"I mean," Kaguya says, "I've made one of those. I don't know if 'they' make them but I've definitely made one of those."

They aren't even Kaguya's subjects!! That's the part that sucks--well no. It's not actually the part that bothers her. But it is a true statement. "Yeah!" Kaguya says. "That's a whole-ass thing, too. And I bet it's happened to you loads of times!"

Sad, loose, damp hair. Kaguya's, however, is--well, not damp. It's fine.

"Hmmm." Pause. "...Yeah," Kaguya says, "I guess you do get that part. It's part of why I don't like spending much time in the Control Zones. But I mean, it's not like they're scared of me anyway. They're scared of Hypothetical Noble Veruni who will wreck their entire shit if they say the wrong thing. I'm just sort of added in as a bonus."

She glances back at Magilou, and rolls her eyes. "Plebian."

"...But," she says, "I mean..." She shakes her head. "Anyway I have set some towns ablaze. But they don't really care about all the shit I did in Lunar. It's always what have you done for the empire lately?"

"...Anyway like I said, my next evil scheme is working out fine. So it's fine."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


"Oooh! You should make me one!" Magilou says, immediately.

This is a great plan.

"Suuure has," Magilou confirms, when Kaguya supposes nervous townfolk are a problem she deals with -- which is even more-or-less true, even if she's deliberately presenting her entire existence in one particular light here. This wouldn't be the first time she's pretended to be all one way or the other in pursuit of a certain goal.

She blows a raspberry at Kaguya when she accuses her of being a plebian, because Magilou is exactly that mature. (She's how many hundreds of years old at this point? Maybe it's a stack overflow.)

Magilou swings a foot forward, heel catching on the sand; her foot ticks, first one way, then the other, like she's keeping some unseen beat.

"Sooo," she says, after a moment, "you're cooking up a new scheme to make the boss happy, huh? Sounds like you're really just punching the clock about it." Magilou wags her elbows, in a broad shrug. "But who could blame you? If you're not appreciated, how can you really put your heart into it, huh? Maybe if they celebrated those blazing towns a little more they'd get the good stuff."

Magilou swings her arms out around her, in a biiig stretch, before her fingers come up to tap her temple with a sly grin. "Sounds like my first real job," she says, eyelids lowering over that purple intruding on her green eyes. "Sure, I was at the top, but I never did get any respect. It's all about how much more you can give to the company!"

Her hand cups her chin, as her head merrily tilts. "Of course, my response was to destroy the entire business, so I doubt the advice is terribly transferrable. But hey, good luck! I'm sure this will be just the thing to make you stand out!"

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


"Sure, why not?" Kaguya says. Notable other outcomes of 'sure, why not?' from Kaguya: Seraph Harmaus's terrifying tomato body.

But Magilou? Pretend? Couldn't be!

She laughs a little at the raspberry, but then Magilou is... dancing? is she dancing??? That's a little weird. Kaguya lifts an eyebrow. and then she hears what Magilou is going for, she's pretty sure, and shrugs, shaking her head. "Yeah, yeah," she says. "It'd be nice if they appreciated me more, that's true." Pause. "Your first real job, huh...?"

Kaguya pauses. She looks at Magilou for a moment. Then a longer moment.

"Your business probably had humans running it. They're a lot squishier than this new generation of Veruni. All soldier up and 'for the cause'." She shakes her head. "Anyway you're not entirely wrong... But it's not me they're shooting in the foot by refusing my advice. I happen to be one of their greatest minds, but do i get the recognition? No, because I'm only noble by human standards."

"But no, I don't expect anybody to thank me for saving everything, as it happens. I just care that it gets done."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


Magilou isn't the sort of person who would be terrified by a tomato body, conveniently enough.

"Oh, absolutely," she agrees, easily. "Human through and through! But that whole 'For The Cause' business is a tale as old as time, I'll tell you that."

Or at least a thousand years old. One or the other.

But Magilou pauses her motion, looking to Kaguya, thoughtfully. For some reason, for a moment, she almost looks -- nostalgic. How many times did she try to advise the inner circle, only to be flatly dismissed..?

Her eyelids lower, over a sly grin. "Work, work, work~" she lilts, chipper. "You should be congratulated for having a realistic assessment of your impact! It may be the only accolades you get, after all. But hey -- so long as it works, it doesn't matter who gets the credit, right? I'm sure one of those big soldiers will have a great day when you win."

Magilou shrugs, shaking her head. "After all, no matter how brilliant any one person is, we're all restrained by our roles, wouldn't you agree?" She begins strolling away, as if she's dismissed Kaguya as easily as the entire world.

Except -- she pauses, and glances behind her.

"... maybe one day I'll tell you about the time the Lord of Calamity saved Lunar through her base brutality and vengeance."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


"See? Humans are a lot easier to kill," Kaguya points out. "So far we've had this entire planet's set of gods try it and they haven't managed more than picking off the weak ones." Which, naturally, includes herself. She's always been small, by Veruni standards. "...I guess I believe you that it's not new. If it's not 'the salvation of our species' it's always something."

Nostalgic? Kaguya doesn't get it. She definitely doesn't know why she has that look. But she's pretty sure she doesn't like it. "Ha, ha. You get realistic about things when you get a terminal disease before you're two hundred." She rolls her eyes, kind of... irritated. "...I mean, probably. If he's coming along they'll probably give him the credit. He makes for a better soundbite." And of course it'll be on TV. Obviously.

Restrained by... Hm.

"...Eh?" Kaguya says at that last part. Then, she rolls her eyes. "Yeah, sure she did. I bet she was all righteous about it, too. Taking revenge on the 'right people'. Well, I don't get to have vengeance, just brutality. Because 'vengeance' against the Guardians has gotten me one broken statue and a ton of headaches. And you don't get to have vengeance when you 'understand your enemy' or some stupid shit like that. No, I have to think about fixing the WORLD because NOBODY ELSE CAN DO IT."

At some point, Kaguya stood up.

"So yeah, tell me all about how your Lord of Calamity got to get revenge on whoever put her in this mess in the first place instead of CLEANING UP THE MESS OF A BUNCH OF OLD DEAD FUCKS and a bunch of LOSER NATURE SPIRITS who don't even realize they're CAUSING the thing they're AFRAID of!"

"Tell me all about it, Magilou! Share with me your BOUNDLESS FUCKING WISDOM! Because you have an answer for that too, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.


"Terminal, huh? Sucks." Magilou doesn't say, well, maybe it's not really terminal, maybe they can fix it -- or even that life is what she makes of it and she can live each day to her fullest or whatever other soundbyte sounds great today.

Magilou's not that kind of bullshitter.

But as for taking revenge on the 'right people'...

"Oh, I'd never follow someone so self-righteous," Magilou answers, smooth and unruffled in the face of Kaguya's anger. "In the end, the person she got revenge on was just another victim... of a man she killed to get there."

Magilou smiles, all lopsided, a shade rueful.

"I could have left her then, but I guess I wanted to see things to the very end. Perhaps I felt a little responsible... since I was all set to replace that man, once upon a time." There's something in her reflective words which might speak to why Magilou looks so nostalgic, looking at Kaguya.

She shrugs, turning back around. "You're right about one thing, though," Magilou says, tone dropping like a stone, as she looks ahead. "The loser nature spirits weren't causing anything, back then..."

Magilou starts walking off, waving a hand, vaguely, in Kaguya's direction.

"... they couldn't even beg us not to destroy them."

This time, she doesn't stop walking.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.


Sucks. That's all there is. Magilou doesn't say any of those things that would really get Kaguya angrier than she already is. In fact... Is she really angry right now?

She finds she is... but not at Magilou. Magilou just gets her to express it. And it seems so much clearer now than it did before. because Magilou...

"...Huh." To replace... It does start to make sense. Layers of victimhood and vengeance. Does Magilou get it, then? Does she get it more than Kaguya thought she might?

"..."

Kaguya watches Magilou go, for a while. She looks down at her hand, and opens it, noticing that she's drawn blood from her palm with her fingernails, without having realized it before. "...Ha ha ha..."

"HA HA HA!"

Whatever she finds so funny, it makes her sit down again, instead of following Magilou, blood trickling down her hands. "A replacement, huh...?"

"..."

Kaguya stares into the ocean. "...Just another victim..."

She looks up into the sky. "...It's not sides, it's..."

She never saw it before. But it all seems so clear. And it all starts with...

"...Heheheh. Let them put him on TV. It's fine."

It's probably not important that the driftwood near where she was sitting rots away, nor that the shrubs beyond start to wilt. It's fine.

DC: Kaguya switches forms to Calamity Umbra Kaguya!