2022-06-17: Flow Between Motions
- Log: Flow Between Motions
- Cast: Magilou, Pearl
- Where: Vane - Library
- Date: 2022-06-18
- Summary: Magilou congratulates Pearl on her newfound fame, and teaches her a dancing secret.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Treachery, huh?
It would be nice if Magilou had immediately gone to see to Pearl, but first she had to go iron her dog. On Filgaia. For a week! It's a big dog. Stop asking questions.
(Or maybe the reason why Magilou, a criminal wanted so long that half her crimes are no longer criminal, would disappear...)
Anyway, with no warning or prior notice, she's here now. Here in one of Vane's most ramshackle libraries, flipping through a tome that's half mildew, the corner of her mouth all scrunched up from discontent.
"Another one gone... oh, well."
Water damage has obscured whose Accounts it is. Magilou's gaze, cast down to her book, obscures who she's looking for just the same.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Treachery. Pearl would not disagree with treachery. She would also say it was completely deserved, and completely necessary, and probably end the conversation there. She has made steps in the darkness shrine, and since. They may be small, but they're the steps she wants to make to the future.
But today was about something so much simpler. The act of returning the books she borrowed last time, and finding new ones. There's the clink as coins fall into a box in the stacks, as Pearl chooses two from Lemina's premium section, before roaming around more, the poik poik poik of a bulb bouncing beside her. "What do you think, Leo Jr?" She asks, a surprising calm in her voice. "We have not looked in fiction for a while..."
There is a whispered 'pukyu!' in response. Pearl turns to move forward before seeing Magilou, hunched over a book. She doesn't know the woman particularly well, but she does know she's A) dangerous and B) well and truly enmeshed in the Shrines. And incredibly learned.
"Good afternoon." Pearl greets, in that casual way one might greet an acquaintance. Even one who may be an embodiment of chaos. It also puts the onus of engaging with the conversation on Magilou- and if she's not interested in talking, it makes it easy to leave.
Still calculating, this one.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Pukyu-pukyu... Magilou's brow raises, just so, and she turns a page. Well, two pages. Well, four pages. Water damage is like that, you know.
The ink is still legible in places. Give her some credit; she writes with a proper pen. It at least means she can /pretend/ to read, as those footsteps approach.
Until Pearl greets /her/ -- and that diary snaps shut, with a sharp THUD, and Magilou lifts her hand over her shoulder to deposit it back on the book-stack without even looking. "Salutations and congratulations!" She says, voice chipper and bright. "I hear /you've/ won public relations. I have great news: there's no statute of limitations!"
Magilou's hands come to rest behind her head, with a loose grin, gaze lidded. One of her toes taps the floor, behind her. "Sooo," she drawls, smile all teeth, "does it meet all your expectations?"
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Magilou's speech in rhyme causes Pearl pause. Whimsy, obfuscating or otherwise, is still something she's getting used to, so it takes her a moment to process the question. "I do not know what you mean." Pearl responds, matter of factly. It's not some coy ploy to avoid answering the question, for she does not know what the question is.
"...And I could intimate what you refer to, but I would rather know what expectations you speak of." Pearl has a way of working through problems presented to her. She shifts her books to under her arm. "So, would you please clarify?"
It's no secret to the people of Vane who Pearl is with, and with the latest announcement, well, they know what she's accused of. But none are in a hurry to turn her in. And Pearl seems comfortable enough to just speak of things here, openly.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou is plenty comfortable in Vane, despite her wanted status. She's taught many classes here over the centuries, you know, and students have long memories. Even now they've fallen on hard times!
"Woooow, are you going to tell me you don't know what jokes are, next? Now that's just sad!" Magilou pouts, as if Pearl has done her some /grievous personal offence/ not being able to follow her rhyming schemes. (Are those the way in which she associates words, or schemes hidden by meter? Shhh.)
Her hands drop, so that one of them can clasp in front of her, instead. "Your expectations over being named villain of the year, of course!" She explains, eyes glinting, smile shark-wide. "Everyone's a-titter about the dastardly crimes of the horrible martial artist, Pearl! That fiiiendish murderer who stole their Hero from them!" Why does Magilou sound so excited about that..?
"And of course," she adds, fingers folding by her cheek as her head cants cheerfully, "when you're /that/ popular, you can start having a lllooot~ of prrroblems~!" She lilts the words, evidently having a great day.
Every day is great when you're Magilou! Fun fact.
Her hand drops, to her hip; she cocks herself askew, half one way, half the other, as her other hand lifts to gesture. "This kind of popularity can be rough on someone who prefers to work backstage, huh?"
A beat, and Magilou points to Pearl, index finger outstretched, palm up, her fingers curled in.
"That's you, by the way," she adds, a shade dry. "You're the backstage crony who hates being seen. Just so we're clear." A...at least she's explaining her turns of phrase..?
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
"It was my understanding that jokes required a boomerang pun," she says with a flat inflection and unemotional face that gives no indication as to whether that is truthful or not. But there is a little hint of humour in her eyes.
That said Hiro has been her main exposure to jokes, so maybe it is the truth.
"Oh. I see." She pauses. "...truthfully, I had expected this reaction much sooner. And I had expected to be standing on my own. So, I would say it has failed to meet expectations, in an amenable way. There are for people for whom I am concerned about the fallout, however. They are too focused on honor to see a knife in the dark." She has to hope Kaguya's interest still lie with Leo's.
"...Yes. I am aware. I was an enemy of the Church of Yevon as well, both when I was in the guard and in my own right. Even after the bloodshed in the War, Althena's Guard are still strong." She pauses. "Fortunately, next to the Destroyer and her Consort, at least I am with others who she has already pledged to destroy. And I am learning I am better to stand with others than on my own." She decides to take a seat, since she'll be talking, and puts her books on the table next to her.
Pearl pauses, and nods, as Magilou explains it. "That's true, perhaps. But I have been learning to dance. I may not be ready for the stage, but I may not have a choice." Pearl has read a very eclectic array of books. It's hard to tell when she's knowledgable or not.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Oh, is /that/ what you heard? It might come back to bite you," Magilou answers Pearl's stoicism, immediately, and far too casually.
She's smiling as she says it, but she's /always/ smiling, so that hardly counts for anything.
(Well, all right, not /always.../)
There's something a shade nostalgic to her grin, as Pearl relates her experience. Focused on honour... yes, she should check on the White Knight again sometime, shouldn't she?
Put a pin in that; she'll come back to it later.
"Heh," Magilou chuffs out a chuckle, when Pearl says that Althena's Guard is still going strong despite the war. Her arms fold, loosely, across her chest; her weight falls from one leg to the other, smoothly shifting her centre of gravity back to the left.
Her fingers drum, on her shoulderless sleeves; her grin widens, lazy gaze all focused on Pearl. "Learning to dance, huh? Maybe you ought to perform with /me./" Is that a threat? Is it an invitation? It has all the horrible gravitas of a terrible idea, but Magilou /is/ dressed as a jester. (As a WITCH!)
"Anyway," she says, shutting her eyes and lifting her shoulders in a shrug, "it's probably heartwarming how you've found some other miscreants to follow about. I don't really know, and I have no opinion! But if you ask me, the announcement came through this late because they've noticed what we're up to, and /you're/ the easiest target they haven't painted a bullseye on just yet."
Magilou lifts a hand, gesturing, loosely. "Who knows what Liath talks about at home? Well, one way or another..." She trails off, with a rueful grin.
(Privately, she wonders: do they still possess the methods to impose a geas..?)
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Magilou is spectacularly hard to read, even for Pearl who is *good* at this. It's like she's wearing multiple masks at once, and shifts and removes them before you can notice. Or maybe Pearl just thinks the masks are there, even if they aren't. Maybe trying to analyse is the trap, or the trap is thinking she can't analyse.
"I could try, if you so wish. But as I said, I'm still learning. I know only what Jean has taught me, and some Spiran forms derived from summoning." It's new to her, and mainly she knows their combat applications. But Jean thought learning could help her. Maybe it has. She's seemingly handling so easily.
"...So Althena stokes the fires in her faithful, while dissuading people from associating with us. Or trying to intimidate us, perhaps. And so they use what I have done as a weapon of morale." That makes sense to Pearl. It's rational. And so many of the guard have been present at the shrines. They too know who she is now, and who she would associate with.
"...Then we shall have to fight taking this into account. Even had I a way of taking back what I have done, to do so would be a worse crime than the one I have committed." She doesn't deny it, remotely. "He was a worse monster than the one he made me into. And had I not I may have become something worse still. I do not doubt that one day someone would put an end to him- but he had spread his rot long enough." She's preempting what Magilou would ask next. Or what she thinks she would. "My choice is to act against the situation that is."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou's grin splits her cheeks. It is a vicious and bloodthirsty thing. "Relax!" She says, entirely counter to the danger of her eyes. "You're not the first student to kill her master, in the scope of history."
The words roll off her tongue naturally, with no flinch or hesitation; perhaps it's no wonder that a sorceress would be familiar with studying under a master of the art. Perhaps it's as innocuous as that.
... Magilou's not telling.
Instead, with lidded gaze: "As I said... congratulations."
And widening smile: "Welcome to the rest of your life."
She streeetches her arms out, over her head, fingers to her elbow, up to her tippy-toes; down she comes, all in a huff, settling back on her heels. Limbered up, she stretches her hand, out, palm-up in offering.
"Come on, then!" Magilou says, with expectation. She has the way of the master about her, after so many centuries, though her manner is so much different to his. Chaos replaces order, but oh!, there is no cure for age.
"You'll never learn how to dance by reading. You've got to move."
Given half a chance, Magilou will lead Pearl through the movements of dance -- right here in the aisle.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl watches Magilou, that dangerous grin, her dangerous eyes. Pearl nods. What Magilou says is unarguably true. That's still a very menacing 'congratulations'. But... Others have said the same. "Thank you." That seems genuine enough.
And then the hand is extended to her. Pearl blinks. All the dances she's learned have been solo dances. And yet... Now that she has decided to live, she wants to learn. There's a reason she's devouring Vane's knowledge. And it may get her kicked out of the library, but... "...True."
Leo Jr takes one big bounce onto a seat to watch out of the way and Pearl, with an uncertainty she hasn't displayed so far, a hesitance to touch, pushes through to take Magilou's hand.
She may regret this, and it's clear she doesn't know how to take a hand for any sort of partner's dance. But there's a different feeling in choosing to follow someone's lead, than having that lead forced on you.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Oh, it's not that Magilou /has/ to be this sharp, to Pearl. Modern-day miscreants are so much more accepting; so more capable of acceptance. With Hiro as her model, Magilou can be entirely sure he's filling her head with air.
But she's stood on that side of the room; she has some sense for the logical analysis Pearl might still be cycling through, this soon after her break-away. Not everyone becomes an empty shell. Not everyone goes wild with desire.
Perhaps it's the solace she can offer her, not to leave her questioning herself seeing the sharp edges to Magilou's kindness. She is a cruel woman, too careless and too casual; she can offer Pearl enough charity to assume she would have some sense of it, even if Magilou came at her with hollow love and understanding.
That Magilou offers herself little charity in the calculation is a topic for another day; pencil it in for 'never'.
"Here," she organises Pearl's fingers with hers, and her even-tempered guidance runs counter to the bite of her words. She pulls Pearl up into a spin, and turns, loose, around her; her movements, right now, are well-telegraphed, well-controlled. She can move slowly, when she needs to. Deliberate movement is a more demanding skill than it appears to be -- she doesn't struggle.
"You won't always have a dance floor," Magilou explains, as she pulls Pearl in, and sends her arcing out along the aisle. "Particularly in this day and age -- you may find the world makes no room for your dance. If you can adapt your movement to your environment, you'll confound any effort to box you in."
Effortlessly, she grasps a book from the shelf, and places it upon her head. It demonstrates the stability of her core, as the rest of her moves. "You need no one's permission or clearance. All you need is flow between motions." It's a surprisingly gentle explanation which unveils the way Magilou is always repositioning herself, always moving, always speaking with her body as much as with her words.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The arrangement is odd, but Pearl adapts to the hand placement. The movements she understands, following those deliberate movements with ease. There is a certain logic that the difference between dancing and fighting is whether you deliberately hurt anyone. Spins she can do, even if they're a little tricky to do slow.
The pull is trickier. This sort of proximity triggers something in her brain, even as she tries to conquer it. Taking in the lesson as she is pushed away. "And to force it to make space for us is not always a palatable option, correct?"
Flow between motions. Pearl is watching her movements, analyzing, taking brief note of the book but not focusing on it. Instead she focuses on Magilou's body and words. "...This is not the same flow as the flow of the current, is it?" That's the flow she had been trying to copy with her style. But the flow of the current is powerful and overwhelming, whereas this flow seems gentler, subtler.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Closeness is confronting, but so is Magilou.
"Correct," she agrees, easily, as Pearl goes outwards again -- after she goes outwards again; she notes the language Pearl uses, force, palatable...
The book stays balanced, as Magilou moves, but it is indeed just a tool to demonstrate a point. She steps to one side -- moves Pearl to the other. One hand flares off behind her, while the other grasps hers, firmly but not /tightly./
"When water comes together, it forms a current," Magilou explains, even-toned. "The collection of much water, working in harmony, is a cascade which will crush any opposition. But consider water passed through the fingers, dripping from an upturned skein, tumbling from the sky," and as she says it her opposite hand raises, above her hand, fingers splayed. It sweeps down, synchronised with the half-spin she commits, into Pearl's space and away.
"It does not force the stone away. It moves past it, sneaking through cracks and crannies. It isn't occupied with force -- it is accommodating," Magilou sweeps her leg about the floor, "and impossible to disinvite."
Magilou looks to Pearl, not to her motions, with those green-and-purple eyes. "Sometimes you will have the strength to use force," Magilou says, "and sometimes you will need to move around your obstacles. One scarcely precludes the other."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl is a quick study- now, at least. She follows the moves with relative ease, and by walking through them she understands them. By understanding, she can replicate, so that over time it becomes simple muscle memory. Ultimately, she is still easy to lead- at least if she chooses to follow. But she's not trying to embellish, or put her own spin on things. She needs to know more of the basics to start messing with them. Or she's simply not the adventurous sort, though that seems unlikely.
"I think I understand," She says. The instruction is straightforward, it is how to implement, as she makes space for Magilou's sweep. For some reason, though, she struggles to articulate that understanding. "It is... to not commit myself to one method." She sounds unsure.
Is that all it is? "...But simply having the strength is not reason enough to use it." That's the doubt that she couldn't put word to. "And will there not be times when one must stand knowing they lack the strength to force their way past?" It's very much baby's first philosophy right now. But at least she is considering it.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Situations aren't static," Magilou says, her tone a confirmation. "And the sly eagle hides its claws, besides. Of course, at this point we're getting into acting," she winks, and send Pearl into another twirl, "but I'm sure you have plenty of talents in performance!"
Apparently she can still mess with Pearl a /little./ As a treat.
"How would I put this in a way you can understand..." Magilou muses, as she steps in with one foot, out with the other. "Not every problem is a Hydrostorm problem. Some problems only demand Aqua Split." Magilou's strongest water arte -- and her most basic. How /does/ she pronounce the power of those things? Perhaps that's the true secret of the Millennium Witch. "When you have no power, every problem looks like a problem to pour the full force of the waterfall against. Don't you think it follows that understanding how to modulate your approach is the first step to claiming power?"
Magilou tugs Pearl in with deliberate motions, and, terrifyingly, moves to /dip her in the empty space of the aisle./ Assuming she doesn't bolt, she'll find herself being righted safe and sound a moment later -- and either way, once it's done, Magilou steps away.
"Going with the flow can mean being flexible, too," is the culmination of her thesis. "It isn't always a matter of force." A beat, and she gestures to her, with a loose grin. "Do keep practicing. You've got a lot to learn before you can hope to come on stage alongside me."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
This twirl is something she can manage. She's not going en pointe or anything, but given the twirl is essential to summoning Leviathan she should be good at it. The wink, less so, and she blushes a little with no other change to her expression. "Which means that I can not be, either."
But it's also interesting how easily Magilou shows the distinction between force and power, and from there, plants the seeds for the difference between those and strength. A problem Pearl has been trying to unknot on her own. But the seeds will take time to grow, and Pearl will have to be the one to cultivate them. "I need to learn when to..." She pauses again. "No, how much is appropriate to use."
The dip comes, and it IS terrifying. It's the second time she's been dipped. The first time was with Ragnell and it was the first time she'd panicked in a decade or me. Thankfully Ragnell ended it with a kick to the head.
This time, Pearl fights her instinct to get away, but it's obvious in the way her muscles tense she's making an effort to endure it. Sometimes learning involves discomfort. This is simply a different discomfort. She withstands until Magilou sets her back upright and steps away.
Flexibility and force. She'll have to learn the balance. "...I can tell. From your movements and words both." She pauses. "Thank you for the lesson. I think I am starting to understand the distance between us." And perhaps the distance between her and others. But it's too early to say for sure.
Leo Jr, bounces up and down, unable to clap due to his lack of hands. "Pukyu, pukyu!"
Pearl looks down on him, with a small smile, before looking to Magilou again. "...Perhaps soon I might at least be able to hear the music you dance to, even if I do not yet know the steps."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"That's right," Magilou encourages Pearl, as measured as her movements.
She has some sense for how terrifying the moment of intimacy is, for her dance partner -- which might be why the elder witch adjourns the dance-slash-lesson, once it's done. Magilou is the sort of person who pushes people to the edge of their personal cliffs by habit, but she is disinclined to shove them off into the abyss.
Magilou nods, as she listens to Pearl's evaluation. "Sure thing." She's gracious enough, but then -- "... I charge by the hour. Feel free to send the check to Bienfu!" There it is, complete with a rakish wink and finger-guns aimed right for her heart.
A grin crosses her face again, as she taps a finger to her temple. "But you're still waiting on the music, huh? Wow, I never realised you kids couldn't even hear it!" She spins on a heel, hands lacing behind her head, with a cheerful whistle. "La, la, la~ o/` Time to sing~ o/`"
And unless Pearl stops her, Magilou is going to wander out of the library, just as easily as she entered.
... but just what horrible knowledge has Pearl equipped her with..?