2022-05-17: Cast The Bones And Cackle
- Log: Cast The Bones and Cackle
- Cast: Magilou, Rani Vela
- Where: Holst
- Date: 2022-05-17
- Summary: Magilou and Rani clear monsters out of an abandoned mine, and get to know each other in the process.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
When Rani stepped out of the Lost Woods finally, able to see the Silver Star up in the sky, she had a few decisions to make. How to go about familiarizing herself with this area, 'Aquvy'? Where to go first? And so on. She decided... Small towns before big cities. And see the moderate amount of devastation before going straight for the Celesti ruins.
This area is much, much deader than she's used to. ...But she's not quite satisfied with just seeing a paucity of plant and animal life. That's strange, but doesn't match the whole picture.
So, a bunny-eared woman in blue walks down into the mines where fewer and fewer people seem to go these days. She is in a long dress with chainmail over, a shield strapped to her back and a mace at her side... as well, for the moment, as a mining pick. She is thoughtful, as she steps from easy roads down. Someone calls, "You sure you want to go in there? There's not much left."
"Yes."
It's not much of an answer, but it's apparently good enough.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"-- MISS MAGILOOOOOUUUUUU...!"
"... crybaby! ..."
Two voices, echoing down in the mines, one less loud and shrill than the other -- though that one word can still be made out, in what sounds like a woman's indistinct conversation. (The other voice belongs to a ... boy? It's a male voice, but it's deeply pipsqueakish.)
Deeper in the forgotten Holst Mine, Bienfu latches up on a cross-beam, little bat wings flapping in distress as his eyes cross together and his little devil tail lashes. "No way no way no way! There were scary SCARY noises down there, Miss Magilou! I'm not going down there!!"
Magilou -- who has a glowing dove sitting on her hat, providing her with light in the dark passageway -- leans down, and scoops up a rock, tossing it back and forth in her hand. "You suuure?" She asks, all ripshorn grin.
"NEVER EVER EVER EVER--"
The witch -- she's dressed like a jester but is assuredly a witch -- promptly pitches the rock right at him. The void normin flails and screams, jumping out of his skin, falling off of his perch to the cold, unfeeling ground.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Bienfu wails, as he picks himself up and runs. "It's the monster it's the monster it's the monster!!!"
Magilou snickers, as she ambles calmly after him.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Two voices. One, a 'Miss Magilou' and one. a... pipsqueak. Talking about scary noises. Now, talk of scary noises and monsters would usually get her attention, and it does. But she is not going to rush in all shield at the ready and call out for a monster on the say-so of a... pipsqueak. And his familiar... friend? Friend??? One hopes they're friends talking that way, but it's possible they're not.
Rani's left ear twitches. She continues down, not wearing any particular symbols or sigils, until she turns the corner and sees the others--as Bienfu runs straight into her.
She peers down at him. "...I don't think it's the monster," she declares, deadpan.
Pause.
"...Is there a reason you're down here tormenting a... rodent?" Pause. "Or is this a normal day for you two?"
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Biiieee-e-eeee-eeeennnn!!" Bienfu biens, as he latches around Rani's ankle. "Save meeeeeeeeee!"
Magilou ambles up, hands laced loosely behind her head, grinning like a shark scenting blood in the water. "Oh..?" She asks, the question rising to a razor point.
"Don't tell me the Bishop's second coming has never seen a Normin before. Or are you saying he's just that funny-looking?" Magilou asks, head cantig loosely to one side. Her bangs tumble, over her face. "How cruel! He's not that different."
Bienfu sobs, still quite latched onto Rani: "I'm a GREATER SERAPH!"
"You sure are," Magilou tells him, entirely too soothing. This may, in fact, be a normal day for these two, particularly as Magilou looks back up (up! up! Magilou's much shorter than her presence implies!) to Rani, the toes of a foot drifting back to tap against the stone of the mines. "So, what's your story? You Unsent, or are you some spitting-image niece or something? Or, wait -- did she have a family? I can never keep track of these things."
Somewhere far away, the adventurer, Mayvin, sneezes.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Rani's ankle is in a sturdy boot. It's very good to grab onto and hide behind. Not that Rani thinks she has much to protect him in the moment... but after that grin, she's willing the question the matter. Just for a moment.
"The Bishop's...?" Rani lifts an eyebrow. Now that she looks down at him, that feeling does make more sense--but even the priests in Althena's service don't always see Seraphim, 'spiritual power' or not.
"...Hm," Rani declares about Bienfu, at that too-soothing statement. It is probably normal. Rani, of course, looks down. Way down. Because she's very tall.
And Bienfu is tiny, not to mention Magilou being kind of short.
"...If you mean the Bishop of Lastonbell," Rani says carefully, "She was my mother." Pause. "She did have a family, actually. So you've met?"
"...Hm. I think I remember your face from the posters, now."
"...Well, I guess it's not my problem. Unless the Lord Seraph would rather leave with me?" She is probably kidding.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Even if I ran away, Miss Magilou would find me agaai-haaii-aaaaiiiin," Bienfu sobs.
"Oh, stop milking it for the newbie," Magilou rolls her eyes, stretching her arms up over her head. One hand grasps her opposite elbow for a moment as she rises up on her tippy-toes, before they sink back down.
The Light Dove on her head resettles alongside Magilou. Coo, coo. It's made of magic! It isn't bothered. It does make the dingy darkness of the mines much brighter.
"But right, right, she had a brat, I remember," the jester-witch says, tapping her fingers to her temple. "So you didn't die back then! How about that. That would make yoooou..." Magilou leans forward -- forward and up, really, rocking forward on her feet -- as she examines Rani's face by the light of the dove. "Oh, yeah!" Magilou snaps her fingers, as she settles back on her heels. "You're the sculptor!"
Hand to her hip, her other comes to rest on her chest. "Your first mistake was in not raising a statue of the great Magilou. Clearly you've heard of me! I'm far more deserving of graven images!"
Behind Rani, Bienfu plants his stupid little paw-hands against his face.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"Hmm." Rani's bullshit detector is pretty strong, which is why she hasn't fallen for Bienfu's cute act entirely so far. But it's a very good cute act all the same, enough that she doesn't join in on the teasing him for now. Instead she peers for the moment at the dove. It's... Well, it's convenient. Rani hadn't made a light source yet, since there was one already here and torches along the walls.
"I wasn't in the area," Rani says flatly. Being called a brat isn't nice, of course. But it's fine. Right up until--
"Ah." So she does recognize her too. And that crack... Rani sort of freezes out of any emotional reaction for a moment, going rather stone-faced in the wake of that crack about graven images.
"Maybe," she says. "But I bet you haven't even declared a war before. What recommends you as a figure of worship? If I want gambling I can get that back in town."
Her joke aside--is it a joke? she delivered it pretty plainly--she starts to turn, and kneel down, to... look at Bienfu.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Maybe Magilou was planning on going deeper down into the mines. They were in that direction. But now they're in this direction, with Rani.
"Haven't I?" The sorceress wonders, voice dropping down, a strange light to her eyes and her smile. "Could you tell? If you're going that far back, into deepest fathoms..."
And it shatters, an instant later, as Magilou throws her head back and laughs, a hand to her forehead. (The Light Dove flutters up into the air for a moment, before landing back down.) "HA! Just kidding! As if I'd care enough to start a war!"
Bienfu gives Rani a Very Serious Expression of Doomed Portent, which is ruined a little by how wibbly his eyes are. "See? See? Miss Magilou is a bad-bad lady! Oh, the troubles I've seen...! I can barely restrain her from dooming everyone in the whole wide world!!"
Magilou seems to think this is hilarious, judging by the way she snickers behind her hands, all held up like a squirrel with a nut.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
This direction!
Rani couldn't say. When Magilou says it that way, after all--who knows? How old is this woman who knew her mother apparently?
...Not half as old as she should be, probably. Rani lifts an eyebrow at the broken tension of the laughter. "Right." She frowns, though, "Not that 'care' is the highest thing on the list for causing wars..."
Wibbly, wibbly eyes. It's very adorable, and indeed, Rani lifts a gauntleted hand to pat the Normin right on his head. "And yet here you stand," she says, rising up again to regard the both of them this time, instead of being surrounded. "...I think if you were going to doom this place, though, someone beat you to it." She stops, and regards the stone. "...I was down here to check the stones," she explains. "I suppose at least someone in this town is having a good time. That's nice."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"You're right, at that!" Magilou agrees, cheerfully, to Rani's insight about how doomed Holst is. "Oh, I can confidently tell you that these rocks are terrible. Three out of ten, at best, and that's just because some of them are small enough to toss."
"MEAN!" Bienfu huffs, adjusting his hat.
"Oh, please, your physical body is an uneasy consensus between reality and light." She waves Bienfu off, casually, spinning in a loose circle on a heel before she comes to look up at Rani again. Far too silly to be ancient!
"Anyway, some old bat was going on about monsters in the mines before her son put her back inside, so I figured I'd drop down here and see what all the fuss was about. It's not like there's anything else to do in this dead-end town. But, hey!" Magilou shrugs, palms to the ceiling, and shakes her head. "That describes most of Filgaia, so I really don't know what I expected out here!"
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"Hm." She could take Magilou's word for it. Digging out the rock in the walls just to do magical analysis on it would definitely be a pain. But she could stand to4 figure how the rocks are bad, in any case. So...
"Right." She peers down at Bienfu again. Very, very silly. It's fine. Super fine.
But Rani's ear twitches again as she hears the talk of the monster more earnestly this time. "...Is that so?" she asks, and she is not talking about most of Filgaia being boring and dead-ended.
"All right, then. Tell me about these 'monsters' that are troubling these people." She pats the mace grip at her side.
Maybe she had the wrong idea about Magilou!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
It is entirely possible that both Bienfu and Magilou are poking fun at Rani's expense. But... they wouldn't both be that cruel, would they? Would they???
Bienfu is such a cute little guy. He'd never!
(This narrative aside has been sponsored by Bienfu.)
Apparently, Magilou wouldn't be that cruel, either -- though when Rani perks up at the talk of monsters, Magilou grins, folding her arms. "Oh, the usual -- tortured groans from the down-below, inhuman rattling. I can't just let lesser evils go by without offering me the proper tribute!"
On her head, a dove made of light says coo, coo, and fluffs up its feathers.
"Shut up, you," Magilou says, looking up at the dove perched in the hollow of her hat.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Rani, sadly, is much too square to notice. She's Very Serious. She has humor, but in that sort of stoic hero sort of way, instead of like.... well. Bienfu. Bienfu is Bienfu.
"Hmm. So nothing terribly specific, but still a possible undead infestation. ...Unless it's just trapped mine gas," she admits, and that possibility is not very exciting.
Coo, coo.
"Hm. Who knew heretics could be fun after all?" she wonders aloud, and starts forward, deeper into the mines. "...Since only one of us is especially dressed for this activity, I'll take the lead."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
It's worth pointing out that Magilou's doves are not spirits, unlike so much else she does. They're just magic she conjured. Which means that, in essence, Magilou is arguing with Magilou!
This makes it much, much funnier, at least to Bienfu, who has the proper context to appreciate it. He rolls his eyes, down there, but he's way too short to pay attention to.
"Blasphemy is lots of fun! We get to drink and be merry, and anyone who matters doesn't mind!" This is, perhaps, a much deeper theological comment than it looks on its face. Or maybe it's just an alliterative joke. With Magilou, who can tell? "But sure, sure, I'm never going to tell an idiot not to get between me and something with teeth."
Magilou, who has reached max level several times over the centuries only to zero out her stats to keep things interesting, quite happily wheels behind Rani and lets her take the lead deeper into the mines, where things grow darker and far, far less pleasant.
Maybe that's what the dove was for!
"Oooh, if it is mine gas, we'll be trapped forever wandering in a hell of our own creation until we slowly perish! I'm eating you first," Magilou says, cheerfully, to Bienfu. Bienfu wails, and jumps into Magilou as a ball of light, with a fading cry of:
"Bieeeeennnn...!"
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
It's funny enough without the context. But indeed Rani doesn't look at Bienfu to see his adorable expression. Instead, she listens to Magilou talk about fun and drinking and merrymaking, and she is exactly the kind of person who does wonder if it's a deeper theological comment than it looks on its face, whether Magilou meant it that way or not. 5050. She might've.
"Ha. I'm used to getting in front of the things with teeth, so at least it's a practiced idiocy." Rani does not take herself so seriously that she can't appreciate the joke in this case. ...Just seriously enough that she actually means it. She doesn't know how powerful Magilou is of course, but, "You look like a mage, and you talk like a mage. Is that what you do, Miss Witch? I'm a healer, myself. Well, and I can hit things with a stick."
A metal stick!
A laugh then. "I thought his body was an 'uneasy consensus between reality and light'? Maybe we should eat you first."
She is much less dour and more cheerful now that they're hunting monsters, even as she pulls her shield from her back and starts letting it lead the way in front of her.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"'Is that what I do', she says!" Magilou exclaims, a hand to her chest in shock. "And here I thought you'd seen my press! You stand in the presence of one of the most staggering magical forces Lunar has ever known -- a sorceress without peer, unpared, perilous to all fools who would oppose me!" Her arms spread, wide, in the confines of the mineshaft. "I am Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou! Volcano my cauldron, roiling sea my scrying pool, all veins of the earth's beating heart open to the force of my might!"
Her hands clap together, in a resounding impact which echoes down the stone.
"And I do not," Magilou adds, pointedly, "hit things with a stick."
Introduction enacted, she ambles along, behind Rani. "Oh, and by the way," she adds, "you absolutely don't want to eat me! I'm all bones." Bienfu is not here to dispute the notion. Magilou does look pretty slight. "But if you're volunteering, great!"
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"Sure, I've seen it. But do I believe half of it?" The most staggering... etcetera etcetera.
The impact resounds. "Well, at least they'll know we're here," she says. "And if you're half as powerful as you say you are, then all it'll take is me keeping its attention for a bit for you to handle things, then."
She doesn't hit things with a stick. "Are they real books?" she wonders next, because she's getting to be kind of fun here. "Bone marrow's where the flavor is," Rani opines. "...But I don't think it's going to come to that."
She doesnt' pull her weapon yet, but she keeps the shield before her as she goes down into the depths, walking a step at a time. And as they turn... There are more noises! More beastly howling!
And they see: shambling skeletons!! There might be others, but this is where they are right now.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Gah! You're already chopping me up in your mind!" Magilou yelps, all lifting up on one foot as she curls her arms up against her chest. The Light Dove resettles, on her hat. "I knew the Guards were rotten, but this really takes the cake!!"
But -- but Magilou started it..!
And she is, indeed, flagrantly loud, which means that anything down here will certainly know they're not alone. The implication, of course, is that Magilou is certainly confident she can deal with any local monsters.
... or a cave-in. They are underground, and this bracing is pretty old, since the iron's all dried up.
Is that really what she meant by the veins of the earth, though..?
Magilou is quite happy to keep Rani between herself and the inhuman screams, though, all escaping through gaps which shouldn't be there. Turning a corner, and...
"There!" Magilou points, over Rani's shoulder. "Eat their bones, you monster!!"
She hops back -- it's a Quick Step, technically speaking -- and spins on a heel, pulling a paper doll out of her sleeve. It hovers by her hand, as she remarks: "Look! A shooting star!"
The interesting thing about Althena's Blessing is that it tends to be isolating: people have talent in one area, generally speaking. That's why it might be so interesting that the icy meteor which hurtles down to crash into the nearest skeleton before it can lunge is carried by the wind, the elements married into one Arte.
Of course, beaning one skeleton just clears the path for the next one.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"With a nice wine sauce..." Rani might've skipped lunch before this mission. It's just possible. But she is not actually planning to eat a--whatever Magilou is, no no. Nor is she planning to get trapped in a cave-in, though she has some of her own confidence with that; she is an Earth mage, after all, even if her version of the Blessing is not so explosive as that which some use. But the veins of the earth.... Hm.
"They don't look very fresh," she comments, pulling her mace and moving forward as Magilou hops back. It would be a great time to stab her in the back, even! But instead of doing that, Magilou casts her spell, nad.... Yes, actually. yes that's very interesting. "Ice... and wind. In one Arte."
Hm.
For her part, Rani takes a more direct approach; a shimmering diamond light encases her shield and she lunges forward, battering the next skeleton backward only to crush its skull with a swing of her mace.
"I'll gather them up together!"
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"How could you?! I've never done anything wrong, ever, in my life!" Magilou met Rani after abusing her Seraph for fun. That hasn't stopped being a thing or anything.
But despite that sort of introduction, Magilou doesn't stab her in the back and leave her for the skeletons, even though bringing a gift would go a long way towards getting that tribute she was apparently looking for. "Yes, yes, I'm terribly impressive, aren't I?" Magilou asks, once she's cast her Arte, with whatever the opposite of humility is.
The skeleton, conveniently, lunges for Rani just the same, horrible claws lashing out -- only to slam into that shimmering light. Its head gains an extra hole, courtesy Rani's mace, to match its eyes and nose and gaping mouth -- well, more like nose and gaping mouth, the eye-holes were kind of collapsed into one very LARGE hole, now. For some reason, this renders it sightless and stumbling as it falls back into its fellows following the blow.
"Wait," Magilou says, shading her eyes with a hand holding a shikigami as she leans forward, "did you literally just crush that thing's skull? What kind of healer are you?!"
Rani did say she practiced, Magilou, come on, listen when other people speak.
"Well, fine, I'll leave herding them up to you," she agrees, easily, hopping back another step. Thankfully, these are skeletons, so they don't really have much in the way of ranged attacks, compared to physical tenacity and bloodlust. It means Magilou can relax back here, so long as there's a practiced idiot between her and the monsters!
But as promised, once they're clustered together, Magilou brings her shikigami up in a gesture -- "All right, watch this!" -- and a windy-green Seraphic glyph alights under her feet. "Is it hot, or is it just me? Crown Fire!"
That's a strange incantation for a wind spell -- and the reason is quickly revealed as a FIERY tornado engulfs the skeletons, all coiling up to the stony ceiling of the mine shaft. Wind and fire married together, this time. How bizarre!
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
He seems to like it, at least. It's not Rani's business if their relationship is just like that. ...Maybe her time with Althena's Chosen made her a little less awe-struck by Seraphim than some might be though. Or maybe it's his cutesy little wings!!
"Volcano as your cauldron, right?" Rani replies to Magilou being impressive, because big egos don't especially rub her the wrong way when presented like this. It's a fight; and, indeed, suddenly the sksleton lunges--and she swings her mace to loose the fragments of bone on it, raising it behind her shield once again.
"It's not like I can make it any less dead," she points out at the question.
C'mon, Magilou. It's fine.
So Rani does her best to herd them together, with a shield bash here and a bit of footwork there. She keeps between Magilou and the monsters, not bothering to focus on any ending strikes herself with Magilou's powerful magic at bay. Instead, when Magilou says watch this--
Rani steps back, and an Arte flares under her feet as well, her shield coming up and making sure that neither of them feels so much as a hot beeze from the sudden fiery tornado. ...Which is altogether smokier than she would've expected it to be.
"...Hm," she says, when the fire clears, and her shield lowers. "That's pretty unusual. ...But I think that was the bulk of them. I'll check around to see if there's any more." She sounds, if distant, kind of impressed. But she has already seen enough of Magilou's ego not to feed it too hard.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"I don't think you have quite the type of heart for me to throw in there," Magilou remarks, lightly, on the topic of cauldrons which are volcanos.
But she's right, the skeletons are already dead. They've even rotted away!
Once the fire fades, Magilou steps forward, folding her shikigami back into her sleeve. "What's this? Are we done already?" She asks, with complete confidence, as their combo and time scores flash up alongside the experience they've earned. The damage score is, of course, distressingly high, because she is Magilou.
(Okay, Rani helped. Even if she didn't kill any of them, crowd control is a vital part of a battle!)
When Rani checks around, notably, Magilou kind of shadows after her -- which she may not even notice unless she looks back, because Magilou can be way too quiet when she wants to be. It's only once they establish the room's clear of monsters that Magilou yawww-wwwwnnnns, stretching her arms up over her head again. (The Light Dove has remained in its perch this whole time. Good, faithful Light Dove. Who needs a flashlight?)
"Well, that about does it!" She declares, out of nowhere. "It's too bad you can never reason with a skeleton." Did she want to talk instead of fi-- oh no, no, tribute, right, she wanted to blackmail them. That makes so much more sense.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"Probably not!" What kind of heart qualifies? Well, there's lots of reasons, and Rani can think of at least three or four. It's fine.
"...Wasn't so bad," she says as their combo and time scores flash, with a cool pose of her mace's haft on her shoulder and her shield held at about chest level. It's very cool. Her long ears even have a radical tilt.
Rani does notice... but she doesn't notice that she shouldn't notice, like someone more paranoid would. She's just good at situational awareness, not certain that every shadow might hold a dagger, like SOME people. Indeed, she turns to Magilou when she starts stretching and finally stows her weapon.
"...Heh." Rani looks distant again for a moment. "See, after the week I've had, if they'd tried to talk instead of just slashing at us I might've even listened." But she does not feel particularly guilty for Smashing the Undead, either. It's fine.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
That's more impressive than she might realise, even when Magilou is being casual about her lurking, but she's not going to call attention to Rani's situational awareness.
"Oooh?" Magilou asks, turning in a lazy circle and leaning against the stone wall of the mineshaft, arms folding loosely over her chest. One hand lifts up, to gesture, in a loose circle. "And what sort of week have you had, then?"
Talk to Auntie Magilou! Nothing can go wrong.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Rani has no reason not to chat a little; she's not going to name names to a relative stranger, but they did just do a fight against monsters together. That counts for something. "Hm, well. You're from Lunar," she says, because of course she is, "And you know where we are. A week ago, I didn't know that anything living was here except by rumors. Then I find out that under the ruins of Azado there's a portal to another world..."
"And then..." She considers what she can say.
"Something I thought could only be a monster, turned out to be someone who wanted to help people. If I sound vague it's because I don't know you that well yet. But the level of surprising is about as much as if one of those skeletons had invited us to tea instead of fighting."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Yeah, those portals are a real pain, aren't they?" Magilou asks, vaguely. She stumbled on one herself, one day. Perhaps one day she'll even tell people about it!
Maybe not.
Magilou did introduce herself as one of the greatest magical forces of Lunar, though -- she can't call herself the greatest, if only because of the man who came before her and helped her through her own quest in life. That was a long time ago, though, so he probably won't come up. She just nods, with vague encouragement, as Rani notes where she is and what she knows. (Magilou knows a lot more than that, of course. She's in the business of knowing things, and business is good.)
And then she finishes her statement, and Magilou grins, sinking back against the stone as her chin jerks up. "Ah, you've met the benevolent Hellion of Filgaia, then!" Magilou, who is in the business of knowing things, assumes immediately. "Or perhaps you ran into the world's most sympathetic serial killers -- or the metallic fiend who is in fact just an extremely enthusiastic historian -- or the alien who can't communicate in anything aside from threatening behaviours -- or the golem who is in a personal race with himself to see whether he learns the truth or destroys the world first. Or did you meet any number of Seraphs who've turned on their heels to start imperilling people, instead? Those are ours, of course, but they do love vacationing here."
How... how did she rattle all those off so casually..?
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"This one might turn out to be a good thing," Rani says of the portal. She doesn't elaborate for now though. She is obviously on at least a general awareness basis with a certain Ghaleon, so there is that. Magilou does seem to know a lot of things. And... apparently she does know this one thing.
"You've met," she concludes, having planned to keep the details a secret but less inclined if she doesn't think Magilou's going to go Hellion hunting on her. Or, maybe... or maybe... or maybe...
"The Seraphim I've heard about," she says. "Or at least, I've heard about through the Church, for whatever that word is worth. But most of those no, just the Hellion. She's been very... helpful."
"But it sounds like you didn't fall onto the Blue Star just this last week."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Hmm? Oh no, we'd be thinking of different spirits," Magilou says, waving a hand. "I've met the supposed Fallen Seraph -- he's Bienfu's drinking buddy. The only place he's falling is into a bottle of beer."
Which would, technically, be a crime, according to Althena. But then, so is assaulting the Red Priestess! Or whatever it is he did. Are they keeping a list?
"But gracious, no, I've been meddling for some time now. Let's just say there are... a few factors making this point in history particularly at issue." There's an implication there which Magilou doesn't expand, as she tilts her head. (The Light Dove fluffs up. Coo, coo. It will not be unseated.) "All that besides, did you really think all Hellions were bloodthirsty monsters? My! If only I had such an ironclad reputation."
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
"Oh." Pause. "...'Spirits', huh." Was that meant to be a pun? Rani thinks that was meant to be a pun. "I see."
They are in fact keeping lists! That's a thing they're doing! But not Rani, anymore, since she left. Now she gets to be on a list, when they realize what happened. Which they may not have yet.
Magilou must've been meddling for a long time to be talking about 'this point in history', and Rani can't discount the possibility herself. Coo, coo. She appreciates the light dove at least.
"In practice? I've never met one before that wasn't a mindless beast. You hear stories that it's possible they can be more than that, but I always counted myself lucky not meeting those, because I'm sure no Shepherd."
"...I'm a monster hunter by trade. Or I train people to hunt them themselves, when there's a local militia. Bandits, beasts, Hellions... Less so Hellions, since, as I said, I'm no Shepherd. But sometimes."
"But then, the Goddess said a lot of things that don't hold up these days, so if I hadn't seen how bad Malevolence can get for myself I might have to question that more too. 'A Hellion's capable of helping' is already enough of a revelation though, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
It might be a pun. It's also a straight description! Those are the best types of jokes.
Magilou's leg streetches out, before it rocks back against the stone, heel to wall. "Oh, neither am I," she chirps, on the topic of Shepherds, which -- might raise a few questions about how there was a Seraphic glyph under her feet, because Seraphic Artes are for the Seraphim. But -- a monster hunter, is she...?
Tap, tap, go her toes against the rocks. They're terrible rocks, really. Magilou will be leaving a bad review in 'It' Rocks Monthly. Finally her leg swings out, to cross over her other, just like the way her arms cross over her chest.
"Malevolence is nothing more and nothing less than an expression of the capacity of man," Magilou explains, her eyelids lowering in a mysterious expression. "When someone hits their limit -- when they find a question their worldview can't possibly answer, when they're torn between two loyalties so fiercely they're ripped apart, when hatred or fear or horror overwhelms them totally and utterly... at the point the mortal spirit can no longer endure, this is where you will find Malevolence."
It's precisely the answer to that question, but not, perhaps, packaged in an easy fashion.
She shrugs, a loose grin returning to her face. "Well, something like that is pretty unbalancing, for a lot of people. And these days, it's not so much of a taboo subject, so a lot more people know that Hellions are bad news. One coupled with the other means you get a cacophony of erratic individuals given the ultimate freedom -- to be unforgivable. Is there any wonder so many of the Hellions you meet on the road would like nothing more than to tear out your throat...? Since they were human, once upon a time." Or elven, or beastpeople -- humanity can be something of a broad category. Just ask Magilou, who considered herself human for some time, when she was younger.
"But it's not a forgone conclusion," she finishes her lecture, lightly. "Sometimes you'll find Hellions consumed by guilt, who wanted only to make life better. Sometimes you'll find Hellions who are perfectly cheerful idiots who just happen to be obsessed with fighting. If you can find an equilibrium, very little in life is a death sentence." She tilts her head, looking up to the uneven ceiling, with a vague smile. "Why, you could even survive without a heart..."
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Rani is not the biggest fan of puns.
It does raise a few questions--but then, Rani hardly expected Magilou of all people to be a Shepherd. The simple truth is that not all of Althena's Chosen get to hang with the Seraphim that much, so it doesn't all add up yet. Still, notable. ...Rani isn't checking the rocks. She might remember to in a bit, but the monster hunting has been more fruitful so far.
The capacity of man... As packages go. For her part, Rani has not reached such a limit, despite the difficulty of her own experiences; is this 'strength', or is it something different? To simply say that she is 'stronger' than all those who have become Hellions would not sit with her.
But it is a thought. It is dangerous... but not external? Hmm. Rani isn't sure this woman is some kind of sage, but she at least seems to have a lot of thoughts on these things.
"...So, because we expect Hellions to be terrible, most people who become Hellions assume that they should be terrible, and that's how they act. Or they just want to act on their frustrations because now they're 'allowed'."
Hm.
"Sounds like you've met a lot of them." Pause. "Without a heart..."
"Well, if anyone's done that, I suppose it's the Red Priestess," Rani sighs. "Still, thank you for the help. ...And while I don't know how you know any of this, you've given me a lot to think about."
She does at this point pull her pick, and start walking towards one of the walls. "Mind if I dig out some stone here?"
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
It would be convenient if it were a plague, wouldn't it?
"Oh, I've met all sorts of people!" Magilou agrees, cheerfully -- and snickers, when Rani makes that comment about Mauri. Perhaps so!, she thinks, brightly.
There was a time Magilou was pretty insufferable, too.
Her arms uncross, to tap on one of the books at her waist. "They're real," she answers a question Rani asked a while back. "I'm something of a historian, you see." She is one of the foremost historians, actually, in no small part because she has lived through all that history -- but her work has not always been popular with the ruling bodies, and she hardly releases it under the names she's given here, in any case.
But that would explain how Magilou knows all this, wouldn't it?
"Go ahead," she gestures to the opposite wall, "be my guest." She's not going to get up, though.
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Rani makes a sort of : face at the matter of Mauri, because that's about how she feels on any given day about the matter. It's more complicated than that, but it's a good place to start. But she doesn't suspect Magilou of being heartless. Not even the way Ruth talks about heartlessness! She's just... not particularly emotional-seeming. It's not that weird. Rani doesn't act that emotionally to the outside observer.
"Huh," she says. "Quite a place to keep them," she says, lifting her eyebrow. But a historin... yes. "I see, though. I guess it makes them easy to remember."
It would be an explanation. But not for all the old wanted posters, or her looking this young and knowing her mother, or...
"Thanks," she says, rather than voicing this wonder, and spends a brief time knocking rock out of the stone wall. Until she can get to a piece deep within the wall, at which point she picks it up and--well, channels Earth magic through it thoughtfully.
"Mmm.."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou has her own thoughts, on the Three Heroes Plus One Corpse Which Is Definitely Not A Problem Any More. Maybe she'll share them, one day.
"Oh, these aren't all of them," the witch says, and it's even true. "Besides that, one of these is a cookbook. And one is a pop-up book! I'm still working on the layer cake." Oh, right. Magilou is ridiculous. It might have been easy to forget while she was sounding cool and mysterious back there.
Clang! Goes Rani's tool against the wall, as she dislodges a three-out-of-ten rock from deep within the wall. "Gyah!" Magilou yelps, as the vibrations travel through to her leaning post -- untangling in a hurry, she bounces forward, in such a way that just so happens to carry her next to Rani when she claims the rock she's looking for.
Expression cooling from her brief offense, Magilou watches Rani, as she channels her magic through the rock -- observing how she operates her sorcery, with academic interest.
"And what is it you see, mm..?"
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Maybe Rani will even think to ask! One day.
"A cookbook's practical to keep around," Rani thinks. "Pop-up... And..." Pause. There might actually be a layer cake. Rani is not going to go into that, because she doesn't feel like being the tsukkomi at the moment. Just not this instant.
CLANG! It's very, very loud. It's a little messy. And Magilou happens to be right next to the much taller Rani as she examines. Which gives her plenty of time to examine Rani's style. Now, it's only a little blip of energy; there's not time to learn much. But, all the same...
There is a definite influence from the Pentagulia style of White Magic, practiced recently since the formation of Althena's Guard and the Holy City. But there's underneath that the solid fundamentals of the Rolancian style. She obviously knows her Litanies!
...And is absolutely using priestly magic.
"The rock's just... dead, compared to Lunarian rock. Like its fundamental essence has slowly leached out. It adds up with what everyone's been saying. This world is dying."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
That much adds up; her mother was the Bishop, after all. Magilou takes note of these energies, and draws a line of best fit between them to infer that Rani was taught magic long before she went off to join the Guard herself.
It's either that, or the Guard is enjoying a resurgence of Rolancian sorcery recently. One or the other. It doesn't really matter!
(Interestingly enough, Rani is exactly one foot taller than Magilou.)
"Sure is!" Magilou agrees, chipper, arms reaching up to fold behind her head. The Light Dove illuminates her detached sleeves, hot pink and midnight blue. "Filgaia's a miserable place, compared to ours truly. Everyone's falling over their feet to do whatever it takes to fix it -- except the ones who'd rather get it over and done with, that is! If you want my advice, you'll take the next boat back to the portal and zap yourself back home."
But if that's what she thinks, why is Magilou here?
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Rani might even have told Magilou as much if she'd asked! Maybe.
Rani is used to being taller than most women. ...And men, for that matter. Not even counting the ears!
"Hmm..." Whatever it takes? That sounds like another story. Rani looks thoughtful, before she turns to look at Magilou, and actually smiles. "Thank you," she says. "I appreciate the advice. I probably will, to be honest. ...After I get to look into one thing."
"...Exploring a new world is nice and all, but there's a lot I have to worry about on Lunar still. But the thing I have to look into here is... this boy--another person wanted by the Guard, actually--told me that at Azado, the people there--some of them escaped to this world, during Sin's attack. ...I was there; I didn't. So I want to see if there are survivors for myself."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou tilts her head towards Rani, with a rising tone of prompting, when she says she's here to look into one thing. "...?"
She steps back, and swings her arms out around herself, back-forth-back-forth. "Azado's escapees, huh..? You may well find your best luck getting into trouble -- since an awful lot of them will be Drifters, proportionally speaking. Though, people like that tend to jump between Filgaia and Lunar with no regard for the outrageousness of planetary travel whatsoever!" People like Magilou, that is..?
"But if you're looking for people, there's two places in this wreck I'd go -- the Thames, in the sea, and Guild Galad, on Zoara, the next island over. One of them has a high concentration of salvagers who get into all sorts of trouble, and the other has its fingers in most of Zoara's pie. If that doesn't work for you, try Kattelox Island -- Drifters love that place." Magilou spins in a loose circle, and taps a finger to her forehead, cheerfully. "Of course, my favourite place is Guara Bobelo. It's a total dump!"
That's not exactly a glowing recommendation.
"Either way, you're not going to find your shut folk ail hanging around in a dead-end town like Holst," Magilou says, hand coming to rest on her hip. She sounds perfectly cheerful, as she says: "These are just people waiting to die. There's no point to messing around in this place at all!"
<Pose Tracker> Rani Vela has posed.
Back-forth back-forth. "Hm. I guess a lot of them would've had to take up new lives," she admits, considering. People drifting around planets without any regard... It's definitely a thing. But not all of them would've been able to be Drifters; Magilou supplies another alternative to looking into. "The Thames... and Guild Galad," Rani repeats, to remember it properly. "And Kattlelox. All right."
She will remember Guara Bobelo too but MYSTERIOUSLY isn't as hype to go there when all she knows about it is it's a dump!! But she might end up there eventually through fate one way or another, because it would be quite the place to go...
"That's true," Rani says of finding her people here. "I thought I'd start small, get to the bigger cities after I did some poking around on the outskirts. But this is even out-skirtier than I thought it would be!" A beat, "...Especially since I'd heard that they don't take well to people like me on Filgaia, in a lot of places." She gestures to her ears to indicate what kind of people that is.
"But it wasn't a wasted trip. I confirmed my suspicions, helped some people out, and met you. That's not terrible. ...I do think I'm headed out once I get out of here, though. How about you?"
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Oh, yes, you'll probably get some great comments on the ears," Magilou says, with a particular vocal emphasis which suggests they will not, in fact, be great. "But people offer a lot more latitude to Drifters than their neighbours -- so long as you've got the cash. Hardly a glowing recommendation of tolerance and hospitality, but trust me, if you can avoid sleeping outside in any land described with adjectives like 'Bad' or 'Waste', it's worth taking the other option." She shrugs, broadly, in lieu of saying just how she knows how much it sucks to be woken up by the restless dead.
A beat, and she adds, a hand curling at her chin: "Not that I'm disparaging your monster hunting prowess, of course... but I'm sure you appreciate the danger inherent in getting caught out alone, particularly with an unknown set of horrors."
The Celesti Wastelands can even challenge Magilou if she lets her guard down, after all. She might be confident enough to prance through the hellscape alone, but she is, as she'll always happily say, something of a big deal. She finds she likes Rani enough that she'd like her not be eaten before Magilou can properly torment her.
Not that she really cares, of course.
"Still, you're quite right -- any trip where you meet the great Magilou in the flesh is hardly wasted!" Magilou extends a hand out towards the ceiling, and sparkles. (Thanks, Light Dove. This is the best ridiculous accessory Magilou's ever worn for an entire serious cutscene! Well, no, tied for best, there was that one time she went through a good chunk of plot with an actual cat sleeping on her head the whole time.)
"As for me," she says, gesturing with a wagging finger, "I go where I want, and do what I like! Who could possibly stop me? Maybe I'll head back to Lunar... or maaaybe I'll let the misunderstood antihero vent his frustrations against the wicked witch who destroyed his hopes of salvation!" She grins, hand clasping to a fist. "All paths are open to me!"
At this point, obviously, she cackles. Was anyone really expecting Magilou not to be able to do that?