2024-01-01: What Evil Sorceresses Are Made Of
- Log: What Evil Sorceresses Are Made Of
- Cast: Hannah Curie, Magilou
- Where: Pallet Town
- Date: January 01, 2024
- Summary: Hannah is trying to work on her spellcasting in peace and quiet. Magilou has other ideas.
===============================<* Pallet Town *>================================ Pallet Town is the southernmost major city in the Emerald Cape region. It's a quaint, laid-back town with an enjoyable pastoral atmosphere suitable to the elderly Nedean population. Pallet Town embraced the individual house and suburbia more than other cities in Nede, and some of its detractors call it a forgettable stop on the way to Viridian City and the Indigo Plateau. However, the sleepy town has developed a culture of developing Champion-ranked trainers, many citing the famous Pokemon Lab headed by Professor Oak as an inspiration when they were youths. BGM: Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee & Pikachu! - Pallet Town - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTXevD9ephA
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
There is a lot of Energy Nede to explore, but Hannah is taking it slowly--she's actually been absorbed in studying and learning more about the new environment the Drifter community finds themselves in, a task greatly helped by the copious amounts of information and records that Nede has been able to preserve. But there is something else Nede's records cannot help her with directly: Namely, her magic.
It's kind of a problem.
Well, it's always a problem in general, but in particular, since leaving the terra firma of Filgaia, the various unpredictable circumstances she's found herself in--or more importantly, the unpredictability of the Ley in Marduk and on Nede--has left her magic far more unstable than normal.
After running an errand to Palette Town, Hannah found herself with some free time and nowhere to be, so decided to take up a side project. She found herself a spot on the outskirts of town, well away from people, pokemon, and most importantly, anything flammable.
She's found herself some new clothes since arriving: a long striped green t-shirt, a slightly longer pink vest, and a navy blue miniskirt. She has short, pink curly hair, and green eyes, though the latter are closed at the moment. She's sitting, cross legged, on a patch of bare ground with her back to a rock. Held carefully in front of her is a simple crest graph, though it is not so simple to look at it. It has two crests of Fray upon it, but the channels and workings surrounding them are far more detailed and condense than the typical example.
Zephyr, a red-tailed hawk (and not a pigeon), is perched nearby on an overcropping, keeping watch on the surroundings and on Hannah.
Hannah takes a deep breath, eyes closed, and lets it go as she slowly starts to pull Ley into the crest graph. There is a small torch-like flame that appears over it, though it swings repidly between sputtering wildly to becoming a barely-contained fireball. AFter a moment of struggling, it blows up her face and she drops the crest graph into her lap with a frustrated sigh. She looks unharmed.
"Well, that's still not it..." she mutters.
There's something distinctly off in Hannah's aura--it's most noticeable when she's spellcasting (and especially noticeable when it went haywire in the first fight against the Ten Wise Men), but right now it seems to be present in stronger concentrations than normal.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou, on the other hand, is looking for someone. Naturally, she hasn't dragged Velvet with her by the scruff to look; she'll find her again if she's in real trouble, surely.
Probably.
The various Trainers hanging about the Routes did see someone of Margaret's description heading this way -- but evidently, she's already missed her. (She does not miss the Pokemon battles they insist on having. Something about 'when two Trainers' eyes meet, they have to battle!' It's so quaint.) This is, obviously, deeply frustrating.
And none of these buildings are even particularly good for arson! Honestly.
Thus does Magilou stroll out of Pallet Town, hands laced loosely behind her head. "What a disappointment," she sighs, to the naughty green kitten padding along beside her.
"Sprigaaa," Tuxedo Mask sighs, in turn, using his native language: just saying Sprigatito in various mixtures.
And that disappointment might have been the end of it, except -- kaboom! Blam! Something blows up in someone's face, and, naturally...
"Heheheheh!" By the time the fire fades, there's a WITCH leaning on a tree at the edge of Hannah's clearing. Where did she come from? She just appeared. Like magic!
(It's not quite magic, but it's close enough.)
Magilou's skirt made of books looks plenty flammable, and so does the plant-cat draped between the twin peaks of her witch's hat (it is NOT a jester's hat), but she doesn't look particularly worried. "Looks like someone's having an off life!" Does she mean off day? She doesn't mean off day.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah and Zephyr both start when Magilou appears seemingly out of nowhere. Two pairs of eyes lock on Magilou (and by extension, Sprigatito). Zephyr makes a quiet squak and Hannah scowls in annoyance.
"I don't know," she mutters. "But I'm gettin' tired of it."
Who is she talking to? It can't be the hawk, right?
'Having an off life?' Hannah flinches back a bit. "I-" comes a cutoff protest, but it takes her far too long to recover to pretend that Magilou didn't just strike a nerve. Another frustrated grunt.
She finally settles on giving Magilou a flat stare while crossing her arms. "... You need somethin'?"
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Oh, you're taking orders? I'll have a strawberry souffley," did Magilou mispronounce that on purpose, "a parfait, and a nice creamy milkshake!" That is, technically, an answer to what she needs. It isn't an answer for why she pushes off of the tree and strolls into the clearing.
"Spriiii..." Tuxedo Mask yawns, reaching out to bat, lazily, in the air towards Zephyr.
"Slunk out to practice on your lonesome, have you?" Magilou smiles, all too wicked. "But you can't escape the grasp of Lunar's mightiest sorceress. The volcano is my cauldron, and the stars are my storage rack! No sea-gate may bind me, no poison undo me! Banish me to the Earthpulse, and I will walk free from its halls! It is I," she throws out her hands, "Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou!"
"Sprigatito!" Tuxedo Mask chimes in, cheerfully.
"Yes, yes," Magilou agrees, to the cat draped over her hat. "Magilou, for short. And you're Hannah, aren't you?"
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah just stares in disbelief when her not-so-subtly intoned 'please leave me alone' is met with... a food order.
"I..." she blinks, quite befuddled. "... what?" She looks to Zephyr, quite obviously this time, and shoots him a confused glance. Zephyr looks back to her and just gives her a questioning chirp.
Zephyr looks to Sprigatito reaching a paw towards him and squawks menacingly.
Hannah is so confused she can't even muster up a good lie or cover to sneaking out to practice on her own. "I--yeah? S-so what of it?" She can't escape...? "Were you lookin' for me...?" Magilou has quite an impressive (and slightly nonsensical) introduction, and Hannah is struggling to process each odd metaphor only to have another dumped on her before she can finish.
Hannah glances away as Magilou gives her name (twice), and harumphs softly. "I know who you are," she mutters. Not in great detail, but they've both been around each other for several fights and Drifter gatherings.
She sighs and nods to confirm her own name, but still can't bring herself to look back to Magilou for a long moment.
Finally she looks at the witch out of the corner of her eye and says, just a bit petulantly, "... I ain't evil, if that's what you're thinkin'."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Sprrrrriga!" Sprigatito hisses, when he's squawrked menacingly at. His little green ruff gets all poofy in the process.
(Naturally. Grass types are weak to Flying types.)
Magilou seems completely immune to his little needle paws, though. She doesn't even blink as he stands up on her head and arches his back. "I was looking for someone," she grins, oblique, "and I suppose you'll do."
Curling her hand at her chin, her gaze veils. (She has two tones to her eyes -- purple, above, leaking into green below. Her gaze looks much more green, when she's this sly.) "The lady doth protest too much," she muses, with all the pomp of theatrics behind her. "Do you introduce yourself to everyone by specifying that you're not evil? I wonder just what you're trying to excuse, with a preoccupation like that...?"
She glances to the side, and adds, in a stage whisper: "I don't have to wonder, of course. It's agonisingly obvious!" Who is she talking to? It's not actually the cat, who is still on her head.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
The hiss from the Sprigatito earns another angry squawk from Zephyr, and the poofing of ruff is answered with a wide spreading of wings.
"Zephyr," says Hannah quietly, and the hawk pauses in mid-threat, looking down to Hannah, who just so happens to be looking the opposite direction but still seems to know what he was up to.
"Don't," she finishes. "It ain't worth it."
The hawk looks from Hannah to Tuxedo Mask and slowly folds his wings down at his side. Though his stare remains very fixed on the cat.
So Magilou wasn't looking for her in particular. Wonderful. Magilou calls her out for protesting too much. Hannah snorts and looks at Magilou properly again. "Your words, Miss, if you'll recall. Not mine."
Hannah tries really hard to resist the urge to look, when Magilou turns her head and makes that loud stage whisper, but eventually curiosity gets the better of her and she also looks, only to see nothing there. Her eyes narrow a bit as she stews on that, but she looks back to Magilou without commenting on it.
Talking to thin air where there's supposedly nobody around is something she's familiar with doing, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou is, of course, talking to the camera.
Or Bienfu. He's basically the camera.
Sprigatito keeps growling, but when Zephyr settles down, he at least sits down too. And licks his face and starts grooming himself, as if he weren't bothered in the slightest. Strangely, despite sitting on Magilou's head, he isn't bothered: for all her little movements (and there are many), she never moves in such a way to unseat her cat hat.
"Hmm?" Magilou wonders, examining her nails. "Did I say that...?" Has she forgotten? "You must be very occupied about what people think of you." She definitely hasn't forgotten, and she remembers how long ago it was, too.
"For instance, what people would think seeing you sneak out into the middle of nowhere to practice magic you can scarcely control..."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah only makes it a habit to talk to herself or Zephyr.
Zephyr is keeping an eye on the Sprigatito. He's been told not to try attacking most pokemon, since they possess powers he doesn't, but even so... that doesn't keep him from being menacing or intimidating. He does notice, though, how the grass cat doesn't get dislodged. Which means Hannah notices, too.
Hannah scowls. "You called me an 'evil sorceress in the making'. You don't forget somethin' like that." She opens her mouth to try and continue her rebuttal, "I--" but the comment about being preoccupied about what others think strikes a nerve and she falters.
'Sneaking out' isn't... Hannah glances away, trying to harden her expression but not quite managing to hide an uncertainty that undermines that steely resolve. "... I could control it just fine if we were on Filgaia or Lunar."
That's not a complete lie. But Magilou has had plenty of opportunities to see it be unpredictable in a number of ways, and it might be more controlled in some circumstances, but it is never fully in control.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Sprigatito has many mysterious powers! So does Magilou. No wonder they get along. And by get along, of course that means that Tuxedo Mask is still washing his mask with a paw, lick lick rub rub. He's decided he doesn't like birds, ever since Kaguya's Hoothoot decided to peck his nose, and the spite fits right in with his new crowd.
"Oooh, sensitive, aren't we?" Magilou titters, fingers splaying across her lips as she snickers. She lets Hannah keep dig, dig, digging, watching her as she spins out an explanation.
And then she laughs, RIGHT in her face.
"Hahahaha! Man, that's a good one!" Magilou slaps her knee, and somehow, she STILL keeps her head steady enough that her cat doesn't go flying off. It all looks very natural. "'Control it just fine', she says! As if the world weren't screaming at the sight of it all! Hahaha... oh, pull the other one!" Is this all a joke to her?!
(Generally speaking, yes.)
"I'd hate to see what your idea of uncontrolled magic is. Except -- no, I'd love to see that! Go on," Magilou claps her hands together, "show us!"
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
"Sensitive?" Hannah's gaze finally snaps to meet Magilou's, upgrading from 'flat stare' to 'angry glare'. "Sensitive?! You don't know a damn thing about me, and--"
And then Magilou laughs right in her face, and Hannah stops, cheeks flushing in embarassment even though she's not quite sure why. (Or maybe it's anger. Or even both.)
"I-- you--" she sputters helplessly for a moment. She looks away again, sullen as Magilou proclaims the world is screaming at the sight of it. "O-okay, fine. So I have some problems controllin' it and maybe the Ley of Nede bein' off is makin' it worse and maybe I was just tryin' to practice with it some to make it more safe, and" her voice drops to a low mutter, "maybe there's somethin' wrong with it because it's not like it's some big secret anyhow." Look to Magilou. "Is that what you want to hear?"
She wants to see what 'uncontrolled' looks like. "No." she says firmly, looking Magilou right in the eye. "Seriously, what the hell do you want from me? And I don't mean dessert." A pause. "Or any other kinda food."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Oh, Magilou knows one thing about Hannah.
She's very easy to aggravate.
Some people might show mercy, knowing something like that; unfortunately, here's Magilou.
Embarrassment and anger are comfortable bedfellows, and one or the other brings a wicked grin to Magilou's lips. "'Something' is wrong? Are we having an understatement competition, now?"
"Spriii..." Sprigatito, at least, feels a little bad about this fight, and so Tux rubs his little pawsies together, on Magilou's head. It's a lovely scent, and it really ought to calm people down and make them stop fighting...
... except, of course, that Magilou isn't fighting.
She's just having an amicable conversation in the most aggressive possible footing.
"See? Even the cat is upset with the lying lies and dirty secrets of Miss Hannah Curie!" And here the beat drops, as she spreads her arms, towards Hannah. "I happen to be Lunar's foremost evil sorceress, and if you're having trouble with your evil magic, there's no one better to call."
Magilou sighs, arms drooping down with the rest of her. "Unless you don't WANT my help," she bemoans, beleagured. "But why would you bother me if you didn't!" Magilou came to her...
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Unfortunately Hannah kind of is. At least on this one particular subject.
(Hannah was different when she still had the cloak. It's probably metaphorical or something.)
"Understatement..." Hannah has been sitting, telling herself she was trying to ignore all of Magilou's baiting and absolutely falling for it anyway. Now she scrambles up to her feet, takinga much more agressive posture that might only be mildly hampered by the fact that Magilou still has a couple of inches of height on her. "This isn't some kind of competition or a game, or-- or--"
"Augh!" Hannah throws up her hands in frustration, turning and snatching up her satchel to slip it on. "Forget it. Zephyr, we're leaving." She begins storming off as Zephyr casts a wary eye towards Magilou before swooping down to perch on Hannah's shoulder.
(There is a very brief moment of coordination between the two, where Hannah tilts her head just enough to give Zephyr enough room to draw his wings in, that all seems to happen in perfect sync.)
The full drop of her name gets her to stop, her hands balled into fists at her sides before she slowly turns back. (She took the bait again.) Zephyr chirps, but Hannah just mutters, "I know what I'm doin'."
"I ain't evil." A brief beat as she reparses that in her head, and she glances aside. "... An' my magic... w-well, I hope it ain't."
And yet she can never really rule that out, can she? She knows a few things that it's not, but there's no generalized test for 'evil'.
Hannah crosses her arms again. "You're the one botherin' me. And if you wanted to offer to help me you got a funny way of showin' it."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"You're just saying that because I'm winning!" Magilou chirps, cheerfully. "And now you're running off to save yourself the embarrassment... tut, tut!"
"Tit, tit!" Tuxedo Mask does his best to tut, under his circumstances.
(She does notice how in-sync Hannah and her weird dove are, though.)
But Hannah looks back, and she'll find Magilou leaning back, fingers splayed across her cheek with that same sneaky, shit-eating grin. "If hopes and dreams were cantaloupes and creams, Tuxedo Mask and I would never live beyond our means! But by all means, make like the testudines." Turtles. She's saying that Hannah is retreating into her shell. She's saying it through rhymes, which is objectively the worst way to say anything.
"I guess nature spirits hating your vibe is just coincidence, huh?" Magilou shrugs, as a terrified pipsqueakish voice emanates from her: "DON'T BRING ME INTO THIS, MISS MAGILOU!"
"Case in point," she gestures, open-palmed.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
She's just trying to run off to save herself some embarrassment. Hannah just glares at her as if to say 'Well, duh, you keep trying to embarrass me.'
(Tuxedo Mask trying to tut is actually kind of cute but she's too mad to conceded that point right now.)
Those rhymes are infuriating to hear, and yet... there is a brief moment where Hannah looks off to the side, not to avoid Magilou's gaze (well, not just to avoid her gaze), but to try and parse through what Magilou means. And when she finally dredges up the meaning of 'testudine' drom her memory... she sags a little, and looks a little defeated.
Withdrawing. It's not good for her. She has no idea how the heck Magilou got such a quick read on her, but... there it is.
She crosses her arms again--no, she's more hugging herself--and looks down. "... not llike I like scarin' 'em..." She closes her eyes and draws in a deep breath, trying to find some semblance of calm. It's not really working.
But she lets it out again, slowly, and opens her eyes once more. She's calmer, at least, even if she can't really find her center. "... are you really offerin' to help?" A pause, and then she adds, "It ain't Malevolence, so your friend don't have to worry about it."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Why not? Embrace it, killer!" Magilou... encourages...? Hannah. "Slinking off on your own, getting so defensive -- come on! You're halfway there!"
Magilou claps her hands together, her grin growing sharper. "Of course, I'd know if it were Malevolence," she says, and something wicked comes the way of her words. "I work directly for the Lord of Calamity herself, you know." The one who just woke up, not the one they're familiar with. "And it wouldn't much put me off if it were! But no, you have your own unique brand of horrible, and it's such a shame you're not filling your own shoes!"
That pipsqueakish voice pipes up again to translate, helpfully: "That's Miss Magilou's way of offering to help."
"You wanted to stay out of this!" Magilou chastises -- herself? That voice doesn't sound like her, but there's no one else here. UNLESS -- IT'S A TALKING POKEMON?!
"Spri," Tuxedo Mask meows, as if to dismiss that thought.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah glances aside. "Why you so invested in me becomin' evil anyhow? I didn't... want my magic to be like this. It just sort of... happened, and all I wanna do is fix it." A pause. "Slinkin' off on my own didn't do me no good anyhow. Learned that lesson the hard way."
She studies Magilou as she grins and proclaims she's working for the Lord of Calamity, trying desperately to get any kind of read on her.
... It's not working in the least.
She looks a bit lost for words at that comment. She's got some idea of the happenings on Lunar, but she's not at all knowledgeable in all of the history. And Magilou's gleeful proclaimation of being an evil sorceress is something Hannah still can't quite wrap her head around.
"I don't want it to be horrible," she points out. "... I just... want to fix it."
The unidentified voice offers to help, and Hannah seems to quite willingly nod and accept that. "Thank you for speakin' plainly."
Of all of Magilou's eccentric mannerisms, that one seems to befuddle Hannah the least. She talks to Zephyr all the time, after all.
Granted, he doesn't really talk back in the same way... or to others.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Why, cultivating the next generation, of course!" Magilou preens, tapping a finger to her temple. "I'm an excellent evil mentor!"
(Half her great-nth-grandchildren never even realised she was still alive.)
She puts a hand on her hip, and points out: "How are you going to fix diddly-squat if you don't know what it is you're even dealing with?" Magilou points out, with an infuriating type of logic. "I'd love to know how you do these things blind. It must be a remarkable skillset."
Magilou lifts her palms to the sky, with a broad shrug. "But if you'd rather moan about how 'it's not evil!' and run away from anyone pointing out the obvious, why, don't let me stop you. Have a nice trip, and see you next fall!" Did she just curse Hannah to fall on her face?!
(No, but it's funny to introduce the concern.)
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah sighs, already feeling very tired and not quite sure why. "And what kinda evil do you want runnin' around? 'Cause the way I see it, you tried mighty hard to keep Innominat sealed up back on Marduk."
Ironically, the one time she seemed to have complete control over her magic was under the influence of that immense, suffocating Domain.
She might be accusing Magilou of doing something good. She is actually a bit morbidly curious what kind of a reaction she might get.
A shrug, as Magilou rightly points out she can't actually fix it if she doesn't know what it is. "Been tryin' to do research. See if I can track down a cause. Ruled a few things out, but... that don't really narrow it down much." She pauses as she considers. "... cept it's somethin' comin' from inside me, apparently."
How she does it blind? "... Lot of trial n' error. Had to modify all my crest graphs, but... well, it ain't perfect. And brin' off Filgaia or Lunar, the Ley isn't flowin' how I expect."
Magilou essentially challenges her to run off again, and Hannah shakes her head. "No, you're right. Withdrawin' ain't gonna help me out none. If you've got some insight you're willin' to share, I'm willin' to listen." She's already speaking much more candidly than she was when this conversation started.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Why," Magilou smiles, "I don't want another ancient evil on my turf."
"Tito!" Sprigatito mews, upon her head, as if to underline the territorality.
(It's a more complicated story than that, but -- sorry, Hannah, you have to be a level 9 friend to unlock Magilou's traumatic backstory.)
Magilou saunters forward, then, to poke Hannah in the chest. "So it's coming from here, huh?" Tuxedo Mask eyes off Zephyr, cautiously, now they're closer up. "Does that mean you were born with it, or did something happen?"
She leans back, and puts her hand on her hip again. "And you're really telling me that it's sensitive to the Earthpulse, but it works fine on both Filgaia and Lunar? No variation between them at all?"
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah has to admit that's a pretty good reason to keep a different ancient evil sealed up. Having your planet destroyed makes it hard to keep doing your own evil.
She's not expecting Magilou to just walk up and poke her in the chest. And the objecting "H-hey!" takes a moment to come out. The sorceress takes a few defensive steps back, while Zephyr glares at the pokemon. Hannah holds an arm up defensively across her chest. "Sheesh, what is with you? And... I don't know. I only noticed it when I started attendin' Sielje, but... there ain't any obvious causes. If it were environmental someone else would have it. So far I've ruled out Malevolence, Valmar, an' Ether, but... that ain't narrowin' it down much, I know."
"W-well... I did have to adjust to Lunar some, but it was easier... dunno if them bein' in such close proximity made that easier, but... I was havin' more trouble on Marduk, too."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
No one expects Magilou!
(End of sentence.)
"So you started noticing it when you started studying magic? Yaaawn," Magilou does, in fact, yawn, stretching both hands up over her head.
Above, on her head, Tuxedo Mask does his very own little kitten yawn. It's adorable.
"Come on, give me the good stuff! A black cat crossing your mother as you were born! An ill-fated star rising above you! Were your parents eaten by wolves, infusing you with their vengeance? Did you step in a puddle of muck as a kid and it never quite came off?" One of those isn't like the others, but she rattles them all off as if they're as bad as each other.
"And, let's be specific," she adds, tapping her finger to her temple. "Was it easier casting on Lunar than Filgaia? Because that paints rather a different picture!"
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
It is adorable. Not that Hannah will admit that to Magilou.
No need to give her even more ammuniation to use against her.
The mention of parents, however, makes her look down. "... I don't know anything about my parents," she admits quietly. "I was found as a baby and raised in an orphanage." She looks aside, then, to the hawk on her shoulder, who is looking back at her. They seem to share a thoughtful moment.
Hannah sighs and glances in the other direction, deliberately avoiding Magilou's gaze. "I can already tell I'm gonna regret this, but... if you want the 'good stuff'... turns out I was found in a mage's lab as a baby. The people who found me destroyed the research without examinin' it, but... my big sister is tryin' to find it again so we can go take another look."
A beat. "... Not that it'll help me much if I can't get back to Filgaia."
Specifics... There is a long sigh as Hannah tries to steel herself for this. "Fine, if you want specifics... Well, first of all, you happen to be familiar with Crest Sorcery at all?" Yes, it's not what they practice on Lunar, but Magilou was also apparently there when Innominat was originally sealed. Who knows what she might've picked up? Either way, she's reaching back into her satchel for a notebook.
"Nearest as I can figure, there's some sort of corruption or impurity in my magic. It... makes everythin' I cast more powerful, but also way more unpredictable. It means I have a harder time controllin' spells, or they hae effects they shouldn't. I try designin' all my crest graphs to eliminate it or to channel it, but some of it still comes through."
She's got a diagram open now, showing in intricate detail the design of one of her crest graphs. It seems designed to accept a second source of input other than the Ley.
"As for easier... I dunno. Castin' the magic ain't the hard part. Controllin' it is. It seems kind of sensitive to perturbations in the flow of Ley. I kind of think of it as like... if there ain't enough Ley, whatever's corruptin' my magic can get in easier."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Finally! Now we're cooking!" Magilou exclaims, clapping a fist into her palm with a savage grin. That's not the reaction typical to hearing such a tragedy, but Magilou is a little broken, so it's fine.
But Hannah is not, we've established, a Level 9 Friend, so Magilou doesn't remark on just why she's so amused by it.
"A little, a little," Magilou assures her, surprisingly modestly; of course she's learned all about the theory, but she hasn't been spending a thousand years studying Crests.
She taps her finger to her lip, and thinks...
"The Earthpulse is stronger on Lunar," Magilou says, finally, "or, perhaps, the word is fiercer. But it's interesting that you frame it as corruption -- impurity -- infiltration. If you've been magically engineered, it's hardly something like that, wouldn't you agree?" She grins like a knife, her fingers tap-tapping against her chin. "No... rather, it's the Earthpulse infiltrating you, corrupting what you hold inside yourself."
Her smile splits wider.
"Keeping you occupied."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah isn't sure she could handle being any level of Magilou's friend. (Please don't tell her her present standing counts as some level of friendship, she probably could not handle it.)
Instead that excited reaction just get her and Zephyr to exchange glances again.
She's not surprised Magilou's studied it a little--she studies other magic systems just out of general interest and in case there are ideas that are useful. The modesty is surprising, though.
"I--" Hannah winces, looking down. "I don't know if I was magically engineered, or what. They thought I seemed normal at the time, so..." That is a massive rationalization and the tone in her voice indicates that she knows it. IT's technically possible the two things aren't related, but... not very likely.
Hannah blinks as Magilou posits a theory. "Wh-what? What do you mean... keeping me occupied? Occupied with what? I... I still cast magic like a regular crest sorceress. There's just... somethin' more inside it... And besides..."
She clams up, suddenly, closing her notebook and hugging it to her chest.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Hannah doesn't know, but Magilou knows all sorts of things.
For instance: she knows how to close into someone's space when they suddenly shut down, close enough to shove her face right into Hannah's, cute little button-nose almost touching this girl who's somehow a little shorter than her.
"Look into my eyes," she says,
and this close, it's clear,
they're not green.
Not just green, in any case. Purple leaks in above them, bathing them in a strange type of heterochromia which isn't always obvious from a distance.
"You've never been a regular sorcercess," Magilou says, low and dangerous, "have you? Men don't hollow normal children out to make their dolls, Hannah. Perhaps you were born under a lucky star..."
She's all teeth. Call it a grin, if you like. Somehow, she keeps balancing her cat on her head, and Hannah might note that Tux's paws still smell amazing.
"The question on my mind is whether you're another failure, or a grand success."
And just like that, she turns out of Hannah's personal space, pivoting in something almost like a twirl as she begins sauntering off into the woods.
"Or maybe you're just deluding yourself. Seems we'll see!"
Is she... leaving??? Is it finally over?!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
"Th-there was one time I was able to control it..." she says quietly, weakly, almost as if not entirely daring enough to say it out loud lest it take on some kind of importance.
She draws back half a step as suddenly Magilou is oh so close in her personal space. "Wha--"
And Zephyr even lets out a surprised squawk.
This close, how could she avoid looking into Magilou's eyes, even as something in the back of her mind (it's either her own caution, or Zephyr's warning chirp, or both), tells her she shouldn't.
Her own eyes are a bright green. But today, they're not glowing, the way they were in Kattelox, when fighting the Ten Wise Men. (Or when fighting the Witchbuster in Damzen, but Magilou couldn't know about that one.)
She can see the heterochromia clearly now. Does it mean something? That's a background throught process but most of her mind is occupied with what Magilou is saying.
And then Magilou just says it outright.
She's never been a normal sorceress
"I-I..." Hannah sputters a bit, failing to find the words to finish that objection.
Hollowing children out. Dolls.
Hannah's eyes are a bright green... and something wet starts to glisten within them.
Success or failure?
Magilou turns to just leave after saying all of those entirely too accurate (in a way) things and is entirely willing to saunter off afterwards. Meanwhile, Hannah's leggs start to wobble and buckle, and then they give out entirely, dropping the girl to her knees. He gaze drops to the ground as she hugs the journal tighter, something wet and hot dripping onto the ground in front of her. Hannah reaches up to rub at her eyes with the back of a hand, while Zephyr leans over and starts to preen her hair with a consoling chirp.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
There was one time, was there?
But there's more to danger than a Crest blowing up in Hannah's face. Some things are more dangerous to hold, venom through the veins.
"Are you satisfied?" That pipsqueakish voice asks, once they're safely in the woods.
"No," the doll replies.