Sky Blue
The Irish Tree
Phase
PaulHaynek
Lucid Dreaming
AzureKnight
The Otter
Kronshi
JewelSerket
NoriWasHereATTN: @AzureKnight (Nadia) & @The Irish Tree (Morgan)
At the call for a formal introduction, the lanky Magus would place a hand over her heart, quickly addressing herself as: "Morgan Laplace, representative of Polymathis’ Celestial Mechanics division. An honor to meet such…distinguished colleagues," she said, looking over the assembled mass of Magi before her.
"Young fae man, male, age mid 20s. I can tell that if I were to peer into his mind, he’d peer right back into mine. Interesting. Might make an excellent case study of rigorous study versus experience in the field." Her thoughts on Leon, cautious to not peer at his intent. Perhaps she could learn from him.
"Age, Unknown, Race appears to be human, clear indentation of a third eyelid. Physiology abnormal, appears restless, as if waiting to run away the moment she’s acknowledged. Will follow up for further analysis." Her thoughts on Scarlett were purely analytical, viewing her as if she was a key research piece. Fascinating woman thus far, from appearance alone.
"A nobleman by bearing, yet has a certain disheveled air about him. Perhaps a bastard, or a runaway, but appears otherwise unimpressive. …Who uses a rifle built for long ranges with only one eye?" Morgan thought of Hector, perhaps the least interested in him out of anyone until something caught her attention. A slight narrowing of her eyes, a dismissal of her stance, and Morgan’s eyes would widen, feeling someone peer into her mind…or perhaps, they’d peered the whole time she was eyeing the nobleman?
"Beluan female, Ovis type, active espermancer. She’s read my thoughts on that nobleman, and is giving me ‘the look’. I see. Intimate lovers, or perhaps unrequited. A deep friendship is possible, but the killing intent is palpable. Eye contact seems necessary to read my mind…but I am not one to shy away from a staring contest," Morgan thought before immediately imagining Hector shirtless, forcing that to the forefront of her mind to distract Lupina. Perhaps unnecessary, but she would move on to look at Shavis.
"Another Beluan, this time a Felinid type. Physically speaking she could tear many hear to pieces without magic. Seems energetic and agreeable. I’ll have to make friends later." Short and simple, she could only assume so much from Shavis aside from her obvious physical strength.
"Another man of noble bearing, this time decidedly effeminate, likely not the first born son. Likely utilizes long range support magic. Hair looks wonderful, will inquire about shampoo usage later," Morgan thought to herself, a bit jealous of Einer’s har. …Perhaps her observations were growing too superficial, at this point? She had no idea.
"A face I recognize. A talented photographer, has given glimpses into bestiaries that make established scholars seem like children sketching monsters they imagine. …Strange. I can’t sense intent from him whatsoever, even before he performs minor actions. Abnormal," she thought, frustrated at being completely shut out. With Leon, it was a desire to not be peeped at, but Damian’s mind was, somehow, a fortress against her minor magic.
"Alexandra Vander. Another mentally well-defended person. No thoughts necessary, simply smile and nod at their religious ramblings and be on your way. The same goes for the Inquisitor." No comment.
"A-Ah. The Holy Seer. If you are reading, please forgive my heretical thoughts, I am, after all, a skeptical intellectual that simply desires to be of use~" Sometimes even a genius had to suck up to get by.
"Arteus..well, I suppose there isn’t much point in trying to peer at his thoughts. He may already have heard everything thus far anyways. If so, please forgive and forget, love and peace, all those sentiments. It is merely for my safety that I examine those who are to fight beside me."
After walking down the line and giving herself a brief summary of each Magus, she would put her hands behind her back and say: "If you have any questions about me or my capabilities, please do not hesitate to ask. I am however a free-spirited sort, so if I dissolve into ramblings beyond your understanding, do know that I’m simply focused."
"Young fae man, male, age mid 20s. I can tell that if I were to peer into his mind, he’d peer right back into mine. Interesting. Might make an excellent case study of rigorous study versus experience in the field." Her thoughts on Leon, cautious to not peer at his intent. Perhaps she could learn from him.
"Age, Unknown, Race appears to be human, clear indentation of a third eyelid. Physiology abnormal, appears restless, as if waiting to run away the moment she’s acknowledged. Will follow up for further analysis." Her thoughts on Scarlett were purely analytical, viewing her as if she was a key research piece. Fascinating woman thus far, from appearance alone.
"A nobleman by bearing, yet has a certain disheveled air about him. Perhaps a bastard, or a runaway, but appears otherwise unimpressive. …Who uses a rifle built for long ranges with only one eye?" Morgan thought of Hector, perhaps the least interested in him out of anyone until something caught her attention. A slight narrowing of her eyes, a dismissal of her stance, and Morgan’s eyes would widen, feeling someone peer into her mind…or perhaps, they’d peered the whole time she was eyeing the nobleman?
"Beluan female, Ovis type, active espermancer. She’s read my thoughts on that nobleman, and is giving me ‘the look’. I see. Intimate lovers, or perhaps unrequited. A deep friendship is possible, but the killing intent is palpable. Eye contact seems necessary to read my mind…but I am not one to shy away from a staring contest," Morgan thought before immediately imagining Hector shirtless, forcing that to the forefront of her mind to distract Lupina. Perhaps unnecessary, but she would move on to look at Shavis.
"Another Beluan, this time a Felinid type. Physically speaking she could tear many hear to pieces without magic. Seems energetic and agreeable. I’ll have to make friends later." Short and simple, she could only assume so much from Shavis aside from her obvious physical strength.
"Another man of noble bearing, this time decidedly effeminate, likely not the first born son. Likely utilizes long range support magic. Hair looks wonderful, will inquire about shampoo usage later," Morgan thought to herself, a bit jealous of Einer’s har. …Perhaps her observations were growing too superficial, at this point? She had no idea.
"A face I recognize. A talented photographer, has given glimpses into bestiaries that make established scholars seem like children sketching monsters they imagine. …Strange. I can’t sense intent from him whatsoever, even before he performs minor actions. Abnormal," she thought, frustrated at being completely shut out. With Leon, it was a desire to not be peeped at, but Damian’s mind was, somehow, a fortress against her minor magic.
"Alexandra Vander. Another mentally well-defended person. No thoughts necessary, simply smile and nod at their religious ramblings and be on your way. The same goes for the Inquisitor." No comment.
"A-Ah. The Holy Seer. If you are reading, please forgive my heretical thoughts, I am, after all, a skeptical intellectual that simply desires to be of use~" Sometimes even a genius had to suck up to get by.
"Arteus..well, I suppose there isn’t much point in trying to peer at his thoughts. He may already have heard everything thus far anyways. If so, please forgive and forget, love and peace, all those sentiments. It is merely for my safety that I examine those who are to fight beside me."
After walking down the line and giving herself a brief summary of each Magus, she would put her hands behind her back and say: "If you have any questions about me or my capabilities, please do not hesitate to ask. I am however a free-spirited sort, so if I dissolve into ramblings beyond your understanding, do know that I’m simply focused."
As the veil dropped, and the Overseer of Eon Tower dropped off his employees, Scarlett would drop to her hands, and raise onto her toes, as she dug her nails into the ground. Hissing, she fired off like a rocket, as metal filings surrounded her fingers and toes, and formed proper claws to increase her traction and vertical scaling. As she leapt onto the side of a building, she would claw onto an awning, and with the flick of a fluffy, iron shavings tail and matching ears poking through her hoodie, Scarlett was gone.
At some point after the initial greetings, the newly minted Magus would twirl her cane as she walked along, looking up at her new beastial coworker with a look of curiosity, eyes like an experienced predator watching the pseudo-woman clamber her way up. "Hrm…Void magic? Alchemy? Such drastic bodily changes done with mere whims…I barely felt intent from her, beyond base instincts. Fascinating," Morgan thought as she laid down upon the ground, feet touching the wall of the building Scarlett had found her perch upon. "A marquis dead, introductions to be had, and yet I don’t believe I caught your name."
"Hrm?" Scarlett looked over, before looking around, curious, but not so curious as to sit still. Perking up, she would shoot off across the banister of a roof, and leap from rooftop to rooftop, before settling down to catch her breath.
"Quite the agile thing," the wyrd-eyed Magus would say, leaning on her cane as she observed Scarlett from directly behind her, somehow having reached the rooftop at the same time. "You reacted to my question but didn’t answer. That only stokes my curiosity."
Scarlett peered into the air, before sniffing the wind, and testing her footing, as she put pressure on a plank of wood; her wariness was uncanny to a cat climbing down. Cautiously, she'd put her weight down, before clumsily lopping down, and falling halfways; splaying her arms and legs to break her velocity, as her cloak stiffened like a parachute to further break the wind, and landing on all fours.
It was textbook feline climbing: easy up, terrible down.
Regardless, she was slinking off, and if Morgan was mindful of the smell on the wind... she'd smell fish.
"More cat than a felinid Belua…fascinating," Morgan said before tapping her cane against the ground and launching forward with a single step, a dark streak trailing back to her initial position as Morgan raced to secure bait for her new research material to cooperate.
Scarlett crept behind a fishmonger's stall, and sniffed for the best catch.
Morgan would push a few coins out onto the counter to snatch it before Scarlett, legally, at that, before holding it up between two gloved fingers. "It's yours, if you take a moment to speak with me."
"I've been ignoring you," Scarlett says, as her tail shot forward like a telescoping rod that ended in a speartip; it was so fluffy as to disguise the fact it was her Eosinophil weapon-morph.
Eosinophil would slide along the length of the unsheathed cane that hadn’t left Morgan’s hands, her eyes maintaining their intrigued look as she smiled at Scarlett. "Hah! You’re a spirited one! I also just happen to-"
Bear droppings, also known as scat, can reveal a lot about bears, including their species, sex, health, and territory. The color, composition, and consistency of bear scat can vary depending on the season and what the bear has been eating:
In spring-
Thoughts invaded Scarlett’s mind, or rather, ramblings, maddened murmurs of facts, trivias, and…something about optimal meatloaf cooking temperatures. A stream of distracting nonsense that was hard to ignore.
"Nn! Nnnrrggh!! Ugghh!!!" Scarlett groaned, as the cacophonous thoughts invaded her mind, and her eyes squeezed, before she raised her tail and thrust the spear forward...
...punching through her own brain, and deadening the connection by the invasion of iron. Looking up, she glared at Morgan from bloodshot eyes. "You wanna die....?"
"How would you make me die? Just out of curiosity," Morgan asked.
Scarlett looked up, as her hair parted to reveal a third eye; the iris a color commonly associated with Espermancy. Suddenly, behind Morgan was a phantom of thought; another Scarlett with aims to slash off her head with claws of her blade weapon-morph, Neutrophil.
In spite of the danger present, Morgan couldn’t help but smile widely, the stream of nonsense stopping. "For someone so fascinating, I can’t help but be hurt that you’d go so far to avoid me. I’m just trying to…oh, what’s the phrase…Make Friends?" Morgan said, not lowering her cane from its blocked state.
Scarlett's Phantom would stop with her claws at Morgan's neck, as Scarlett retracted her spear from her skull, and snickering... before full-blown laughing from her belly, as she squatted and held her stomach with both hands.
"Make friends!? With you!? You wouldn't even make a satisfying appetizer!" cackled the cannibal half-breed, as tears leaked down her cheeks.
Laughing boisterously once the fight subsided, Morgan would lean on her cane, sheathing it once more. "I can’t help but stay in shape, you know! Far too many curious things escape you if you’re fat and slow."
Scarlett licked her lips, "There's some pleasing bits to you. Lean meat is not displeasing. Perhaps, put you with the other chicken bone annoyance in my life..."
"I am at LEAST a chicken breast," Morgan said indignantly, before offering the fish she’d purchased. "Besides, your adorable scampering has earned your rightful treat."
Scarlett smirked, before her tail swished across Morgan's breasts, "More than a chicken, I feel," she says, having transposed behind Morgan, as her clone dissolved, "Earning, a curious statement, as if, I was little more than an experiment..." she curled a sharp nail under Morgan's chin, and traced her tail down her belly, "How presumptive of you... still..."
Scarlett plucked the fish out of her gloves hands, as she held Morgan hostage, loosely, "I'm impressed by the temerity becoming someone of your affluence."
"Temerity is SUCH a rude way to describe simple scientific curiosity," Morgan said, tilting her head back to look Scarlett in the eyes, smiling at her as her neck grew more exposed. "Its as simple as a desire to know anything, everything, everyone, and everynone. And you, through whatever otherworldly construction that took place to make that body, have proven exceptionally interesting." Not once did Morgan believe herself on the backfoot or at a disadvantage, eyes still shining with that grim fascination.
It was as if a mouse could kill a snake while coiled in its clutches.
"A person with such a lack of self-preservation is equally as curious..." Scarlett says, "That little trick of the Void you use is sloppy, however," she unwound from Morgan, "Little pockets, connecting space, making rails, from Point A to B to C, but..." Scarlett saunted by, "200 feet, give or take, before you have to return to your anchor point, no?"
Morgan would clap twice, saying: "Full marks! My pace must have made it obvious. Fast enough to outpace, but I assume you definitely saw me in the brief moments between Star-Steps. But, I’m only passively interested in masting that spell. After all, a bridge that needs to be crossed once…does it really matter if it shatters to pieces afterwards? One good lunge and~" Morgan vanished before delicately booping Scarlett’s cheek with a finger. "Of course, I imagine you can survive without your head. So, I would need to rethink any approach to genuinely fight you."
"Bridges are avenues that are crossed as many times as needed. That's why your spell is so weak. You have no sense of what power your tapping into. But, what would I know..." Scarlett asks, as her body radiated Void Magic, the malfeasance just beneath the skin, "Though, I don't know how to survive a decapitation, beyond armoring against it."
Rather than growing fearful at the power before her, Morgan’s excitement only grew. "You would know quite a lot, it seems. I was right to pursue you. A tragedy about the decapitation weakness."
Scarlett rolled her eyes, "I, too, am Human, well, half-Human," she toss the fish bones away, every bit of meat and scale, organ and viscera, removed despite the fact she'd been yapping, "The other half is secret."
Morgan would notice Scarlett's tail standing on end.
Morgan would unsubtly produce a stalk of wheat from some bizarre breast pocket of her suit, the cattail-like germ of the wheat swishing as she moved it to and fro. "Oh, you’re 100% human, I’m sure of that. Your vestigial traits are merely that. Vestigial. Secondary. Immature half-things. You’re far too brilliant to convince me that you discarded 50% of your humanity."
While saying this incredibly serious delivered speech Morgan would be on her back, swishing the wheat at Scarlett. …She may well and truly be mad.
"Do what," Scarlett asks, before eyeing the swishing, and glaring at it as swished. "Hrm... I would seem you are but only so clever."
It seemed her Fae heritage didn't shine through at all...
Morgan kept it up, smiling with an incredibly smug aura about her as she kept the wheat still for a moment, and then using Star-Step to move it impossibly fast.
Scarlett pivoted, keeping it within sight, as she followed the Void Magic from Point A to Point B - exactly as she'd explained. Her tail stayed raised, as her pupils narrowed vertically, and her attention stayed on it. Her entire form was loose, but grounded; ready to spring in attack.
‘Not yet…’ Morgan would wait, wrist locking before she would toss the wheat high into the air without warning, breaking the pre-established motion while also placating feline instincts…
It was now a bird that was falling back to earth, in all its wheaty goodness.
Scarlett slashed as she pounded all in one.
Morgan watched, content that her experiment succeeded.
Scarlett purred, content, however, Morgan could feel a glare on her, as Scarlett's third eye was staring at her; twisted in its obscured socket. In her mind, she could hear chanting, various tongues, alive and dead, all changing at the same cadence. It would slowly become overbearing, louder and louder, steadily bearing down on her, as a visage of a woman stood on the horizon...
Morgan winced, holding a temple in her hand as she focused her eyes. As the chanting grew unbearable, she would slowly work her smug smile back onto her face, muttering: "Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là" while focusing on the figure on the horizon.
As she focused, the world would almost fade, as if she was losing depth of focus like her eyes were a camera that couldn't decide what belonged in the center, while the vignetting would encroach on pure darkness; slowly bringing the figure into a pinhole of blinding white and erasing the world, as the market looked at Morgan, pointing at her and chanting in different tongues...
...before Morgan would suddenly sneeze from Scarlett's tail tickling her nose, and resetting the world...
"Heavens," Morgan said, wiping her nose with a handkerchief. "I haven’t had such a vivid hallucination since sampling Ithican Shortweed," Morgan said before looking up at Morgan above her. "Where was I…? Oh, yes! Your humanity shines through, yet unnamed compatriot. You strike me as the type to have a color for a name…Magenta? No! Chartreuse!"
"Scarlett Ishval," came the annoyed answer.
"Morgan Laplace," came the eager reply as Morgan playfully swatted at the tail before her.
Scarlett purred softly. The attention wasn't... unwelcome...
Morgan would eventually sit up. "Well, I feel I’ve pestered you enough to form a friendship. Time to make myself scarce," Morgan said, dusting herself off as she rose to her feet, adjusting her suit’s collar.
"Eh," Scarlett asks.
...there was a part of her that wanted attention, now. It was placated, but not sated. Selfish, it was, wanting more like the mere, animalistic mindset it was.
Morgan would sense that selfish desire and smirk, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. "Of course, I am part of Eon’s tower now, and that makes us co-workers, and as such we can make ourselves scarce, together," Morgan elaborated, starting to walk along, tapping her cane along the ground.
"Not like I got better things to do," Scarlett says.
"Mhm~" Morgan smugly hummed, walking alongside Scarlett. They had a case to solve.
Scarlett didn't care. She actually hadn't been listening, and didn't know why she was here; assuming it would work itself out in due time.
Morgan was briefed of matters a bit ahead of time, and would contently pat Scarlett’s head as they walked along, just once, before acting as if she hadn’t done it at all.
Scarlett's tail swished, as she nuzzled the pet, and sought more in that aloof, feline fashion that cats did. Normally, Scarlett would shove anyone and everyone away with ruthless efficiency, either by action or words, and retreat from the situation at hand.
Disengagement was her specialty, after all.
However, she was drawn to Morgan; to her wavelength - her "aura" as nomenclature called it - at a baser level of desire.
The romantic called it "soulmates".
The philosopher called it "fate" of "destiny".
The cringe called it "downbad horrendous".
Whatever the way it was phrased, Scarlett was definitely experiencing new emotions as she walked with Morgan down whatever path the lunatic savant was on.
...but, aren't these emotions already allocated?
In the back of her mind, the other half of her breed niggled at her, for Scarlett's birth was the uncommon union of an Human and a Fae, creating a half-breed species colloquially known as Pherendal. Her blood beget attraction to her blood; the Fae sought Fae; the Human sought Human; both sides yearned for another of the kith and kin.
Nadia.
Another lunatic savant...
Another that vibed, as the kids called it, on her wavelength; too much to prove; too much to lose; confidently unconfident - vainglorious pride masking fear of failure to understand the unanswerable unknown of the Light and the Dark, of the Material and Ethereal, of Life and Death, and all in-betwixt.
Harsh words spoken. Cruel looks given. Indifference shared. Courtship of Fae, an emotionally compromised species of sound mind and threadbare feelings.
It wasn't love. No such silly thing. But... rivalry was the oppositional stance to romance, wasn't it? Like Man and Woman, they walked back-to-back, away, but on the Mobius Strip of Life, they were, therefore, destined or doomed, bound to cross paths, and whether or not they were on the same side of the street was merely chance.
A chance you are ignoring.
There it was again.
...twisting the screws against each other.
Like a fairy of eld, Scarlett could only hold one emotion stable at a time; Nadia, the rival, and Morgan, the romantic; each digging into the same hole from opposite sides, pushing upon each other to maintain root in her thoughts.
Scarlett was forced upon a forked road, her heart unprepared for the question it posed to her:
Her foot took a step, but backwards.
Disengagement was her specialty, after all.
Running away from things that she didn't want to deal with.
Above all else, Scarlett didn't want to deal with what the concept of love could afford her:
Morgan would, potentially, notice the overall breakdown of Scarlett's mental state, as the bratty kitty was consumed by the guilt-ridden monster, and she turned and ran away.
As the precarious alchemist dashed away from her new ‘friend', she would find herself bumping headfirst into Nadia, who responded with a shocked grunt as they both tumbled onto the ground. Nadia's glasses were lopsided, nearly falling off of her face as Scarlett laid on top of her.
"Oooww…" She groaned. "Get off of me, you crazed research thief!"
In any other circumstance, Scarlett would have tore Nadia asunder for her accusation, when she was 97% certain - with a 1% margin for error, and a 2% margin for commonality of scientific genius - that Nadia was working with stolen research from her Bioalchemical Fusion research, which had gotten lost upon her cannibalistic rampage several years ago.
However, in her current state of mental anguish and emotional confusion, Scarlett gave Nadia a look of a woman broken, tears rolling down her cheeks, before she pulled herself to all fours, and ran.
The Beast was her safe space, her escape from Humanity, from Faehood, and, most importantly, from Reality.
As she ran, her cloak would be discarded to reveal the nude, metal-clad body below before it disappeared into an alley...
Nadia's memory would be unable to shirk off the fear that Scarlett had shown.
Nadia recoiled at seeing Scarlett's face, marred with bewilderment, so much so she couldn't react to her fleeing the scene at first. Getting up and adjusting her glasses, she turned to Morgan who was just down the opposite way.
"Um…am I missing something here?"
With a chant, Nadia summoned the same spirit she had used to blast Scarlett out of her office days prior.
She had sent it after her naked teammate, who tried to escape to an alleyway. With a chime, the spirit flew off in Scarlett's direction; moving airborne allowed the phantom to catch up with her rather quickly.
Upon seeing her, it began using its powerful suction to take her back by force.
Unlike the last time, the Human was in control of Scarlett, seeking vengeance and petty revenge for Nadia ejecting her from her office.
This was not the case with the Beast. It wanted safety. It wanted peace. It wanted to be alone. As such, it responded with self-defense as spines peeled from it's back, dozens of Scarlett's spear weapon-morph, and they were allowed to tear free from her back.
By the score, spears would be vacuumed to the summon.
Beside herself as Nadia questioned if she was missing something, Morgan could only sigh before holding out a gloved hand as if to stop Nadia. "Heavens, a bookish thing like you, so lovely, so ignorant to her feelings? Its so cruel and ironic, I’d have believed if Shakespeare had cooked it up in his den of debauchery. But, no matter. A ditz is still an appealing heroine. Moreso than the aloof genius that complicates a romance. As such, I’ll make this plain…" Morgan said before tapping her cane’s point upon the ground, laughing boisterously.
"I, Morgan Laplace, shall only make things far more complicated from now on," the genius swore, before casting Cosmic-Force, drawing the spears to miss their target and instead shatter against the black sphere of magic she’d thrown with the expert precision of a professional "Six Base Sportsman", the famed Beluan pass time featuring balls, sticks, and rules. Many of them. Shall you hear them? No.
Free to move, Scarlett would flee - diving into the darkness of another alley, and out of sight once more.
Nadia stood with a wide-eyed and dumbfounded look on her face, blinking with two fast takes before turning to Morgan with ire. The black sphere that Morgan threw blocked the spikes that Nadia’s summon was about to be pelted with, but it also created an opening for Scarlett to run farther off.
"What’s your problem, lady?! " Nadia exclaimed. She stood face to face with Morgan, slightly slanted so that her face was in hers. "I was trying to capture that weirdo beast alchemist, who made a whole scene and just ran off! Are you in cahoots with her or something?!"
Nadia was so close to Morgan’s face, she could feel small droplets of spit getting on her cheeks. She was also poking Morgan’s collar bone with an accusing finger.
Morgan would regard her overly accusatory contemporary with an aloof look before snatching the finger poking her collar bone, curling her index finger around it with delicate precision. "I have no problems that I can’t solve, so please, do get to solving your’s. Lest it become apparent that you’re the problem. Scarlett should be heading to somewhere dark and hidden away, and currently your familiar is simply floating there with its jaw slack. Chop chop, tick tock," Morgan said before releasing the finger and utilizing her still-active Star-Step to vanish from sight, now comfortably back within a crowd to leave Nadia alone.
Smiling contently, Morgan would begin to walk away, while also going in the direction Scarlett was trying to run to. And, not once did she lose that smile even as she wiped Synergist spittle from her cheeks.
Before Nadia could snap at her again, Morgan vanished in a dark veil, seemingly also going after Scarlett. One of her eyes twitching in annoyance, she called her familiar to her side and began to follow her. Eventually she was able to catch up with her.
"Hey, mind explaining why you let her get away in the first place? She’s not the type you wanna leave alone for too long…"
Morgan frowned, sighing. "I exit stage left and you drag the entire play to my doorstep. And, I didn’t let her get away, your ineffectual familiar chose to stare into space while I kept it from becoming an organic pincushion."
Nadia continued to argue with her new supposed coworker as they walked in the direction of the feral Scarlett. "Your spell is what allowed her to get away in the first place! Now it’s thanks to you that we have to waste more time chasing her down, in a town we’ve never been to before I might add!" She said, not actually knowing if Morgan had ever been to Cambridge or not…
Tracing Scarlett’s mana was easy enough, she had a unique signature compared to most people and it wasn’t like a naked woman with metal covering parts of her body would be hard to find. However, what really bothered Nadia was the fact that Scarlett’s mana had a similar feel to hers. Does that mean that she too was…
Morgan grit her teeth and tugged on Nadia’s cheek. "I know my way around plenty well, fool! Why do you think I know where to go?"
As Morgan traced Scarlett's Mana, she would feel it split into multiple lines traveling on separate paths...
Morgan grimaced before saying: "Dammit all…she’s split her magical energy signatures."
"Ugh…" Nadia moaned, also sensing the same. "How would she even do that?! This is all your fault!" With a hand gesture, Nadia called her servant back to her side.
"We’ll have to split up and follow the trails. I’ll follow one, my spirit will follow the other, and you can follow the last. Why do I have to suffer through this…?"
Resisting the growing urge to slap a certain Synergist, Morgan would begin Star-Stepping after Scarlett, attempting to sus her out amongst the splitting signatures via her thoughts. Someone was getting a nasty scathing review on their publications…
The signatures would only divide further and furthermore, as they spread out in a fan that was doubling back on itself. After a moment, the two would spy multiple streaks of quicksilver darting across rooves and through alleys - rampant movement, yet patterned to cross paths, divide, merge, and return to whole.
Scarlett’s Mana flowing like a wave from one side to the other, back and forth...
Nadia grit her teeth and clenched her fists as the signatures began to multiply further. "This. Is. A. NIGHTMARE!!!" The Synergist was practically pulling her hair out at this point. "This calls for a different approach…" She said with a sigh.
Calling her summon to her side again, she jumped on its back and took to the skies. She felt that perhaps a bird’s eye view would be more effective in locating the problematic Eon alchemist.
It would help her gain an understanding that Scarlett was everywhere and anywhere she looked, but Nadia wasn’t familiar enough with her Mana to suss out who was an Alchemical Doll and which was actually Scarlett.
The only being that was so intimately familiar was Milli, and there was a low chance the Spirit would heed her calls a second time.
"She…she can make clones?!" Nadia whined. While she wouldn’t admit it, there had been times where Scarlett had proven she was an accomplished alchemist. The alchemist copies she made were near perfect, with the mana from each one imitating the other. That would make it nearly impossible to spot the correct one, the needle in the haystack if you would.
Nadia thought for a moment, she needed another plan. She can make perfect physical copies. Physical. Instead of relying on a principle they’re both familiar with, she’ll take advantage of one that Scarlett isn’t. She began to sense out Mili, hoping she’d be the key to solving this. Honestly, she had trouble remembering the name that Scarlett gave her, and the last time they interacted she wasn’t too fond of Nadia. She could feel Mili’s presence, and began to call out to her.
"Uh, hey! Um…Mili right? Can you hear me? I need some assistance in regards to your new master!"
Across the Spirit Realm, Nadia’s call would ring out, and true... only to be returned by a very not having it hiss.
Nadia jumped a bit at the sudden warning call, but wasn’t surprised by it.
"A fine ‘how do you do’ to you as well!" She said sarcastically. "Mili, I wish to find your master, but she is making the matter quite difficult. Can you perhaps point us in the right direction?"
"Milli has no Master! Milli last Master jerk! Make Milli into snake and sword! So proud to hurt Milli! Milli hates Master just as much as Mommy!" raged the serpent.
Nadia’s face twisted into a rather cute pout, complete with puffy cheeks. "You’ve only seemed to benefit from the Synergy, so why are you so angry about it? If anything, it’s only allowed you to assist your ‘mommy’ all the better!" Nadia was tapping her foot on her summoned servant, getting antsy at Milli’s attitude.
"Can you please be a good little snake and cooperate with us so we can find her?"
"NO!"
Nadia could feel the flames coming off, essentially, a toddler, and the genuine anger that carried behind it.
"Milli will NEVER help YOU!" the snake hissed. "Milli would rather DIE!"
Nadia began to truly understand that she was, in fact, dealing with a toddler. Stubborn, unreasonable, and unwilling to compromise.
"YOU’RE ALREADY DEAD, NUMBSKULL!!" She exclaimed to Mili in the Spectral Void. Sighing, she tried to calm herself a bit. "Look, please understand, we’re not going to hurt your mother or whatever. We just want to keep her out of harm’s way, for her sake and everyone else’s. Plus, I don’t want Arteus and Brun to yell at me. Things haven’t been going my way lately…"
There was an unnerving silence, before Nadia felt Milii open their connection, "No... you don't understand. Milli hates you. Just you. You hurt Milli, emotions and body. Forced Milli to be something Milli was not. Milli is not a toy to play with and break, but you don't care. You broke Milli. Forever. Why don't you care? Milli is beneath you, that's why. Milli doesn't want to help you. You break everything. This is your fault. Fix it, Selfish Master."
Nadia’s heart began to grow ever so slightly heavy at the severity of Mili’s words, along with a look of confused apprehension. "Mili, I…" She had trouble finding her words for a moment.
"Y-you say I break everything? So even you’re just like all the others. Why are you making me out like I’m some kind of monster?! Spirits are wondrous creatures! Why would I want to hurt them? I just want to be able to understand them in all facets, learn how to better connect with them, and find new avenues to make them stronger. Scarlett said the same thing, I thought that she simply didn’t understand because she was someone only concerned with the physical plane."
Nadia sank her head, swirling thoughts ran in her mind. Not just from Mili’s words, but seemingly from other moments within her life. "I love spirits. They’re not like us of the Material Realm, unbound by the frailty of mortal constraints. They can take any shape they want, there’s nothing wrong with that. I can’t be wrong in that, can I? If I could’ve made spirits stronger back then, then I could’ve saved…"
She trailed off again, intense emotions welling in her eyes. Clenching her fists, she looked back up.
"Mili, let me ask you this: What can I do to make this right?"
A trail of flame would ignite before Nadia, traveling into an alley, and down through a grate. Scarlett was underground, and the flame would lead her.
"Selfish Master is a monster to Milli. Tears do not move Milli. Apologies will not soothe Milli. Spirits are free to be. Selfish Master forced Milli to be what Selfish Master wanted. Milli will never forgive."
The flame trail was starting to move away from Nadia.
"Run, Selfish Master. Maybe, Mommy will care about what you cry about. Milli isn't listening anymore. Goodbye."
Forcibly, Milli would snap the connection.
"Mili…" Nadia reached out a hand, as if trying to establish one last bond with the little spirit that started its existence as a bat sprite. While Nadia may have made Mili stronger and given her more potential to grow, she did so without considering how Mili would actually feel about it. She chased after the flame, not regarding if Morgan was following or not, and had eventually been led to a small grate. It seemed Scarlett decided to hide in the underground waterways of Cambridge.
Nadia clenched her fist as Mili severed the connection, the flame extinguishing just as soon as it was lit. She then looked at her own summon, it simply floating over the grate as it awaited its master’s next command. As much as she claimed to love spirits, she never actually tried speaking to them before. They always seemed so…content with just providing a service to their summoner, then happily returning back to the other plane. She would have much to think about. Later. First, on to the task at hand.
"Let's go. Scarlett’s probably waiting." She said, allowing her spirit to guide her down the sewers.
As they chased the flame, Nadia would notice something floating in the tail of it; like a Will o' Wisp...
It should have been familiar, and maybe, it was. After all, she made it.
Milli had felt her reach out. For a moment. Just a moment. She didn't have any intention of speaking beyond that, but... even the twig of an olive branch was more than she deserved.
It was up to Nadia not to waste this chance.
As for Scarlett, she was sleeping in the center of an intersection; surrounded by gushing water, and unperturbed by the smells and sounds. Equally, she wasn't wrapped in metal, since Nadia wasn't being blinded by the sun shining upon her from the grate above.
Nadia could make out a faint crimson shine from within the flame she had chased, looking at it intently she was able to see it was the jewel she had made Mili’s new home after she was synergized. When the flame vanished, it revealed the jewel in its entirety, the crimson gemstone nestled in a golden necklace piece. She picked it up and looked at it, a gentler expression on her face. She reminisced on how she and Scarlett had interacted up to this point. Perhaps, they should…talk? Nadia clenched the jewel in her hand and held it to her chest.
"You don’t have to forgive me Mili, but I want you to know that I do care. If you don’t believe anything else, at least understand that."
Nadia floated on her summon and made her way through the sewer channels, trying her best to ignore the stench. She eventually was able to spot her, peacefully resting like a cat on the bark of a tree trunk surrounded by rivers.
"Umm, hey there." She said to the sleeping alchemist. "I finally found you. I don’t really understand the appeal of a place like this, maybe Roze would?"
"Mm...?"
Scarlett wasn’t answering her, or questioning her, but simply rousing awake. It was quiet, safe, the smell deterred people from wandering; sleeping was easy in such a place. However, Nadia’s voice was out of place, and threw her off, which woke her up.
"Well, this is a little…awkward." Nadia said sheepishly. "You just ran off from everyone, and I volunteered to go after you. Mainly because I had some choice words for you. Umm, but now…" She scratched her cheek and was looking off to the side.
"The main thing is that I've…hurt Mili. I never meant to and never would, but I’ve ignored her feelings. It’s put things into perspective for me, so I’ll just ask this - is there something you need to get off your chest? " Nadia did find it awkward talking to a naked woman in the middle of a sewer, but it’s honestly not the strangest thing she’s seen Scarlett do…
At first, Scarlett was fully prepared to ignore Nadia, as she opened with, ‘choice words,’, however, the statement of hurting Milli caught her full attention. Admittedly, Scarlett had attached to the Spirit out of spite and anger at Nadia’s careless manipulation of her, but she’d come to like, almost, in earnest, love, the childish being. So, the idea that Nadia had somehow hurt her...
"Explain yourself."
Like a blade, the words were cutting and direct.
"The original Synergy demonstration." Nadia said plainly, holding out the jewel to add emphasis. "I had summoned her in my office to showcase to you the fruits of my research, transforming her from a bat sprite to that of a snake. I did so because I felt that it was a groundbreaking way of making souls stronger. You must understand, I love spirits." She held the jewel to her chest again.
"I’ve always felt that unlike us, souls need not fret over physical frailty and the worry of image. They are ethereal and can often take any form they wish, and it made me want to learn more about them. But, I didn’t give much consideration to the autonomy of minor wisps, it seems." She said with guilt in her voice.
"I didn’t ask her if that’s what shewanted. Scions, I didn’t even give her a name, or the one I’m riding here." She looked down at the summon she rode to get here.
"Tell me, Scarlett, what do you think of spirits and the realm they inhabit?"
"Me? Huh... seems you’ve had some kind of event happen to you..." Scarlett says, sitting up. "I suppose, I see them as Living Beings, like you, like me, since I’ve been over there," she says, "I walked in the Spirit Realm for ten years - across a sea of metal, as I restored my body with the knowledge of the Spirit Realm. I bled. I hungered. I hurt. I grew weary and tired. I felt alive, and I understood... or, rather, I guess, I just felt... Spirits are alive, too, just dead to us, as we must be, maybe, to them."
Scarlett sighed. "My Mother, whenever she could be bothered to stand me, told me, Spirits were contractual beings; prone to wanting. Those that want nothing in return as Purelans from The Pure Lands, but those that want trickery in the form of contract are Narakk’ans from Narakk’a," she leaned from side-to-side. "Milli just wants to be loved, so I do; contractually and earnestly. That’s just how I how I see them, and the Realms they hail from."
"Ha. The Pure Lands, Narrak’a. You know, your mother sounds an awful lot like my father. " Nadia said. "As for how he felt about me, that’s a little hard to pinpoint. He was never one to express his emotions that much."
Nadia rubbed the cheek of her familiar, which it seemed to like rather much. "A soul given form, ethereal but able to interact with the physical all the same. But still operating on different rules from the material. Zephyria, I do believe that will be your name moving forward, good sir!" The summon responded to its new name with a cheerful hymn.
"Many thanks for the name you have given me, master." An unexpected voice came from the wind summon, which caused Nadia to jump.
"Y-you spoke?!" She stuttered out.
"Indeed." He responded.
Nadia couldn’t believe it at first, it was a summon that she had for quite some time. But never once did it speak the common tongue. She was honestly at a loss for words.
Scarlett hummed. "Curious..." she says, before standing. "Anything else? While I’m in a charitable mood for conversation..."
Snapped back to the matter at hand, Nadia quickly turned back to Scarlett.
"Yes, actually. To be honest, this is a subject I NEVER talk about with anyone else. Mostly because it’s a private matter. But, you…might actually be the same as me. So, with the risk of this forever changing the dynamic of our relationship forever, I want to ask you this: Are you a…Pherendal? Assuming you know what that is, of course."
9 outta 10 doctors couldn't agree if there were truly 47 muscles in the Human face, but all ten of said doctors could agree that Scarlett was employing over half of them to frown.
Pherendal.
The cursed half-breed. The reason Scarlett was down here, as said at the top. Blood sought Blood. Like sought Like. And, she... rejected it.
However, she didn't disengage.
Not just yet.
A small tug was keeping her rooted, as a metal creature wrapped around her ankle.
"...seems you've undergone an event yourself, Milli," Scarlett muttered, before crossing her arms, pronouncing her bare bust, "That's a dangerous game you're playing, Nadia. So what if I am?"
"Then you and I have something in common, Scarlett." Nadia said flatly. "That ghastly frown on your face tells me I was correct in my thoughts."
She looked at Mili, the fiery snake soul now covered in metal, as she slithered at her new partner's feet.
"Has it…been hard for you as well?"
"Racial prejudice has been the least of the things I've worried about," Scarlett says.
In the sun, like a spotlight, Nadia could truly appreciate the sheer length and depth of scar that decorated Scarlett - a testament to the sheer difference in lifestyle they lead. Her body was flawless, like well-kept satin bedding, while Scarlett was a roughly-made, patchwork quilt; each section telling a story of battle that she didn't have in return.
They might have shared an uncommon xenotype, but that was truly it.
Still...
"...in times of judgment, peer reviews, my Race was subject. I was claimed "unfair advantages" in Gladr, even if it's my worst subject. Told that my Bioalchemical Fusion project was only possible, because I had fairy blood," Scarlett admits, relating to Nadia.
Nadia gazed at Scarlett’s body on full display, this having been the first time she’s really gotten a good look. She adjusted her glasses, taking in the various incision wounds and scars that vitiated her flesh. Each of those marks likely have their own individual story, she thought to herself.
They certainly did not live similar lives. Nadia’s pain and problems had always been more emotional and societal, whilst Scarlett likely went through all that in addition to her physical abuse.
"Scarlett, you said that you’ve walked within the Spectral Realm, yes? As in, your consciousness kept its sense of self and you preserved through? Would…would you mind telling what it was like? I feel like that alone would give you a different understanding of souls and wisps that I just wouldn’t have…"
"Dark..." Scarlett says, "I knocked on a door, and what answered pulled me through into a vast, empty sea of iron..." she says, "...it tore off my arm, cost for entry, and made me walk, naked and alone, across a sunless landscape that torn my feet, scrapes me when I stumbled, and stabbed me when I fell..." Scarlett looked at her discolored hand, "Alone and afraid, I rebuilt myself with the material I had surrounding me, and the blood that contained it. In an act of cruel kindness, my theory was proven true."
Scarlett formed the metal cat ears and tail, flexing her claws, "It cost me blood and sanity, but I proved myself... unfortunate... I was lost for ten years, but only unconscious for ten minutes..."
"A fractured mind doesn’t understand ten years in the mind isn’t ten years for the body..." Scarlett says, as the darkness crept up around her; highlighting her metal and her glowing eyes. "A starving body accepts anything that is edible..."
After listening to Scarlett’s answer to her question, past words began to echo in Nadia’s mind.
Nadia. The soul, body, and mind are all connected. What effects one will affect the other, what one feels - the other does as well. When a person dies, their soul continues to carry the pain, sorrow, joy, and memories of their past life. Depending on the weight of their experiences, they will either go to the Pure Lands, remain trapped in Limbo, or descend into the Hellscape - many cultures refer to this as Narrak’a. The soul may not be bound by physical constraints, but there are still trials they must overcome. Do not forget this.
"Was that…the trial that your soul was put through. Having to bear the weight of your experiences?" She asked.
"My experiences... no... that was simply the cost of knowledge..." Scarlett says.
"I see." Nadia said, looking at Mili nestling at Scarlett’s feet.
"You know, at first, I truly couldn’t understand why you were so angry when I Synergized Mili. But, after hearing all this, perhaps I should take heed to better understand spirits as a whole." She then looked back at Zephyria, who could sense he was empathizing with his master. "In a way, by transmigrating their souls without consent, I’m essentially playing at being a Scion. Willingly invalidating the trials and sins they went through in their mortal lives and ascribing to them a new purpose they didn’t ask for. Perhaps…that was the real reason that some were so against my research… "
"My first rule: I never experiment on something that can reject me, be they humanoid or beast," Scarlett says, before raise her arm, "The only test subject that could never reject me..." she clenched her fist, "...is me."
"The price, I understand, is dear," Scarlett’s arm twisted, turning, bloody flesh and breaking bone, as metal grew from her muscle and skin; a mass formed, like cancer, before taking shape - a sharply tapered cone with a ridge that spiraled down form the top to bottom. "I understand the rush of being summoned, and the pain of being changed," she says, as she pointed the iron drill bit at Nadia, "I do this willingly, however."
Scarlett pointing her sharpen arm at her reminded Nadia of when they first met. She had done the exact same thing, albeit under different circumstances. "You perform experiments on your own body?!" Nadia thought that must’ve meant that many of those scars were self-inflicted if that were the case.
"Why…subject yourself to all that pain?"
"Science is a demanding taskmaster, and progress marches, ever-forward. If you fall behind, you'll stay behind," Scarlett says, "The evolution of the Human species has fallen behind, but I seek to change that. Master our Domain. A little pain is but a small price to pay, if I can cure cancers and diseases, heal skin and bone in a fraction of the time, and connect us closer to ultimate expression of our potential."
"Potential, huh?" Nadia said. It was funny, the way Scarlett spoke of evolution and potential in regards to humanity was rather similar to her viewpoints on spirits up until this point. By Scarlett’s words, what Nadia was doing was completely unethical. Did Arteus feel this way when he offered her to come to Eon, did he even care about the moral applications of her research in the first place?
Nadia was silent for a moment, thinking on how she's conducted her studies thus far. Should she adopt Scarlett’s methodology of magical experimentation, and conduct Synergy experiments on her own soul? Obviously not, unlike Scarlett’s body her soul likely wouldn’t regenerate from any mishaps. She looked at Zephyria, who now had his own voice. Perhaps that would be the first step - actually attempting communication with the wisps and souls she seemed to have an innate talent for summoning.
"I’d actually like to achieve the same thing, in regards to strengthening the bridge between the Material and the Spectral. I’m…not sure if I’m ready to experiment on myself yet, but I think taking a new avenue to understand spirits as a whole would be a good first step."
"I am happy for you, master. I will do my utmost to support you in your new endeavors. Zephyria added.
"It seems you’ve become something likable all of a sudden," Scarlett says, a slight breeze moving Nadia’s hair, as Scarlett was cutting past her like a proper assassin, nothing like a Magus, "Curious that..."
A series of claps would resound in the sewer chamber as a shadow lengthened in approach, the familiar visage of Morgan stepping out of the darkness. "An adequately heartfelt connection. Shakespeare would be snoring, but that’s for the best. Now, is there anything else that needs addressing? Aside from the murder?"
"A murder, you say," Scarlett asks, concerned by the former subject of her heart troubles - the emotional ones. Her heart disease were still undiagnosed to Nadia, and now, Morgan. If she had her way, so it would stay. "Well, have fun, then. I have other tasks I would rather attend."
She didn’t. But, in a big town, fun could be found, surely.
"A shame. Your intellect would be appreciated, along with your instincts," Morgan said before going over and offering Scarlett her hand. "I look forward to seeing more of you in the future, Ms. Ishval."
Scarlett eyed Morgan for a moment, before passing by, "Ta~"
It took Nadia a moment to realize that Scarlett had zipped past her. Those bodily augmentations were quite something! After she passed by the now present Morgan, she attempted to run up to her and get her attention.
"Scarlett, please wait!" She said. "Ok, look, I’m sure we’ll probably be staying here for a few days, maybe. While I have no personal grievance against the Church, I can certainly understand why someone in your position would. " Nadia put her hands together, making a prayer pose.
"Being a member of Eon will ensure that nothing will happen to you, aside from this place being a safe zone of sorts. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to just play along until the joint session is over, then Arteus will likely give us free roam until it’s time to leave. So, c’mon, pleeeease?"
Scarlett sighed, before cocking a smirk, "Fine. I have one condition, then, since it matters so much."
Nadia raised her head and looked at Scarlett with cautious, curious eyes. Perhaps she wasn’t as prepared for what she was getting herself into as she thought.
"Um… What condition would that be?"
"I'm hungry, after all that transformation. It's the one downside of hyper-production of iron from my blood and rapid cellular growth, controlling cancer and such," Scarlett says, "As such, I need meats and sweets. So, feed me. Take me on a date."
Nadia stared at Scarlett with a blank expression, blinking a few times. It seemed she didn’t really know how to respond to the body-morphing alchemist.
"Uh, sorry…" Nadia finally managed to say. "I thought I misheard you; Did you say ask me to take you out on a…date?"
"D-A-T-E, that spells 'date', which rhymes with 'sate,' which is what I want you to do with my belly, which is very empty, like my soul, but that's a lost cause, so let's focus on the food," Scarlett says, in a manner than was, shockingly, playful for the skyclad sociopath, as she made hand gestures and rather spirited expressions, "Chop chop, or stir stir, or fry fry, I'm not picky, so long as there's meats and sweets," and ended with a cheeky wink.
This lady goes from wanting to kill everything, to wanting to go on dinner dates with people… Nadia thought. Nervously squinting at her, Nadia sighed whilst adjusting her glasses once again.
"I mean, if that will get you to come back with me, then I suppose we could grab a bite to eat. With all this running around we've been doing I’m a little peckish myself. Oh, um, you do plan on actually putting on clothes for the outing, right?"
"Clothing is for the weak and noble. I am neither," Scarlett says, "I discarded my weakness and my nobility was taken from me," she says, "I am stronger than clothing and richer for it!"
Scarlett's hair billowed out, and knitted itself into her familiar, crimson cloak - however, it wasn't ratty and worn, so Nadia could actually see an emblem upon the back - and fastened it around her, slicing her hair to finish the only piece of clothing Scarlett wore.
"This cloak is all I need," Scarlett smirked.
"An interesting theory on clothing to be certain, but I am neither noble, nor weak, I simply think that I," Morgan would stamp a heel and turn sharply. "look," she would then toss her hair over her shoulder, then adjust the cuffs of her sleeves. "Flawless. At least in a two-piece."
One could practically see her nose getting longer as she somehow sparkled in a sewer.
"I would ask to join on your date, but the last of my personal funds went into that fish Scarlett ate. As such, this genius shall starve on the job," Morgan said.
"Consider it a free lesson in not being a dumbass that feast wild beasts," Scarlett says, "Little Miss 6.9 outta 10." Scarlett extended her right arm, "Milli, to me, don't bite the help. Even if her scent taste more appealing than most."
From a portal, the iron-scaled flame snake would twist around Scarlett's arm, before a small, lamia girl hung off it, "Okay~"
"Morgan, a word of warning. Don't test my mind. It's borrowed, and the woman borrowing it won't be bothered to borrow yours, as well," Scarlett says, "Consider that the last we'll speak on the subject. I won't be to blame if you end up on my dinner plate for being nosy.
"I’ve my own ways of prying outside of your mind, Scarlett. Anyone borrowing my mind without proper care might find themselves gibbering mad, or worse: thinking like I do. Also, I believe I am standing at a steady 7.8 at the minimum."
"Uh-huh. We should all have hopes and dreams," Scarlett says, "Let’s go, Glasses."
"H-Hey! My name’s Nadia, y’know!" Nadia quickly corrected her new date. "I’m all too happy to leave the Scions’ damned sewers!"
She quickly jogged to catch up to Scarlett, walking alongside her as they began to leave.
"When did Mili get that more humanoid form? Was that you using Synergy?"
"Milli do herself! Milli smarter than Glasses!" boasted the snake, as she crossed her arms.
Left with her ego bruised by miniature tappings, Morgan would smile as Nadia and Scarlett began to leave, taking her own way out of the dank darkness of the sewer. "At least the cat can prove herself honest once she stops flailing. They always land on their feet…an invaluable trait for a human to take for themselves," the Polymathis Alumni muttered as she walked away, hand sparking with the faintest hint of Galdr activating before stopping, fading into blackness.
"It seems spirits are the most difficult to imagine replicating. No matter. I imagine they’re content just where they are…not to mention the ire I’d draw, becoming a pet-napper."
With her footsteps fading away, Morgan’s research for the day was completed, a failed experiment…but a good experience nonetheless.
As Morgan left on her own six, Scarlett and Nadia would depart opposite, and continue their story elsewhere with a lost lamp and her shepherd...
At some point after the initial greetings, the newly minted Magus would twirl her cane as she walked along, looking up at her new beastial coworker with a look of curiosity, eyes like an experienced predator watching the pseudo-woman clamber her way up. "Hrm…Void magic? Alchemy? Such drastic bodily changes done with mere whims…I barely felt intent from her, beyond base instincts. Fascinating," Morgan thought as she laid down upon the ground, feet touching the wall of the building Scarlett had found her perch upon. "A marquis dead, introductions to be had, and yet I don’t believe I caught your name."
"Hrm?" Scarlett looked over, before looking around, curious, but not so curious as to sit still. Perking up, she would shoot off across the banister of a roof, and leap from rooftop to rooftop, before settling down to catch her breath.
"Quite the agile thing," the wyrd-eyed Magus would say, leaning on her cane as she observed Scarlett from directly behind her, somehow having reached the rooftop at the same time. "You reacted to my question but didn’t answer. That only stokes my curiosity."
Scarlett peered into the air, before sniffing the wind, and testing her footing, as she put pressure on a plank of wood; her wariness was uncanny to a cat climbing down. Cautiously, she'd put her weight down, before clumsily lopping down, and falling halfways; splaying her arms and legs to break her velocity, as her cloak stiffened like a parachute to further break the wind, and landing on all fours.
It was textbook feline climbing: easy up, terrible down.
Regardless, she was slinking off, and if Morgan was mindful of the smell on the wind... she'd smell fish.
"More cat than a felinid Belua…fascinating," Morgan said before tapping her cane against the ground and launching forward with a single step, a dark streak trailing back to her initial position as Morgan raced to secure bait for her new research material to cooperate.
Scarlett crept behind a fishmonger's stall, and sniffed for the best catch.
Morgan would push a few coins out onto the counter to snatch it before Scarlett, legally, at that, before holding it up between two gloved fingers. "It's yours, if you take a moment to speak with me."
"I've been ignoring you," Scarlett says, as her tail shot forward like a telescoping rod that ended in a speartip; it was so fluffy as to disguise the fact it was her Eosinophil weapon-morph.
Eosinophil would slide along the length of the unsheathed cane that hadn’t left Morgan’s hands, her eyes maintaining their intrigued look as she smiled at Scarlett. "Hah! You’re a spirited one! I also just happen to-"
Bear droppings, also known as scat, can reveal a lot about bears, including their species, sex, health, and territory. The color, composition, and consistency of bear scat can vary depending on the season and what the bear has been eating:
In spring-
Thoughts invaded Scarlett’s mind, or rather, ramblings, maddened murmurs of facts, trivias, and…something about optimal meatloaf cooking temperatures. A stream of distracting nonsense that was hard to ignore.
"Nn! Nnnrrggh!! Ugghh!!!" Scarlett groaned, as the cacophonous thoughts invaded her mind, and her eyes squeezed, before she raised her tail and thrust the spear forward...
...punching through her own brain, and deadening the connection by the invasion of iron. Looking up, she glared at Morgan from bloodshot eyes. "You wanna die....?"
"How would you make me die? Just out of curiosity," Morgan asked.
Scarlett looked up, as her hair parted to reveal a third eye; the iris a color commonly associated with Espermancy. Suddenly, behind Morgan was a phantom of thought; another Scarlett with aims to slash off her head with claws of her blade weapon-morph, Neutrophil.
In spite of the danger present, Morgan couldn’t help but smile widely, the stream of nonsense stopping. "For someone so fascinating, I can’t help but be hurt that you’d go so far to avoid me. I’m just trying to…oh, what’s the phrase…Make Friends?" Morgan said, not lowering her cane from its blocked state.
Scarlett's Phantom would stop with her claws at Morgan's neck, as Scarlett retracted her spear from her skull, and snickering... before full-blown laughing from her belly, as she squatted and held her stomach with both hands.
"Make friends!? With you!? You wouldn't even make a satisfying appetizer!" cackled the cannibal half-breed, as tears leaked down her cheeks.
Laughing boisterously once the fight subsided, Morgan would lean on her cane, sheathing it once more. "I can’t help but stay in shape, you know! Far too many curious things escape you if you’re fat and slow."
Scarlett licked her lips, "There's some pleasing bits to you. Lean meat is not displeasing. Perhaps, put you with the other chicken bone annoyance in my life..."
"I am at LEAST a chicken breast," Morgan said indignantly, before offering the fish she’d purchased. "Besides, your adorable scampering has earned your rightful treat."
Scarlett smirked, before her tail swished across Morgan's breasts, "More than a chicken, I feel," she says, having transposed behind Morgan, as her clone dissolved, "Earning, a curious statement, as if, I was little more than an experiment..." she curled a sharp nail under Morgan's chin, and traced her tail down her belly, "How presumptive of you... still..."
Scarlett plucked the fish out of her gloves hands, as she held Morgan hostage, loosely, "I'm impressed by the temerity becoming someone of your affluence."
"Temerity is SUCH a rude way to describe simple scientific curiosity," Morgan said, tilting her head back to look Scarlett in the eyes, smiling at her as her neck grew more exposed. "Its as simple as a desire to know anything, everything, everyone, and everynone. And you, through whatever otherworldly construction that took place to make that body, have proven exceptionally interesting." Not once did Morgan believe herself on the backfoot or at a disadvantage, eyes still shining with that grim fascination.
It was as if a mouse could kill a snake while coiled in its clutches.
"A person with such a lack of self-preservation is equally as curious..." Scarlett says, "That little trick of the Void you use is sloppy, however," she unwound from Morgan, "Little pockets, connecting space, making rails, from Point A to B to C, but..." Scarlett saunted by, "200 feet, give or take, before you have to return to your anchor point, no?"
Morgan would clap twice, saying: "Full marks! My pace must have made it obvious. Fast enough to outpace, but I assume you definitely saw me in the brief moments between Star-Steps. But, I’m only passively interested in masting that spell. After all, a bridge that needs to be crossed once…does it really matter if it shatters to pieces afterwards? One good lunge and~" Morgan vanished before delicately booping Scarlett’s cheek with a finger. "Of course, I imagine you can survive without your head. So, I would need to rethink any approach to genuinely fight you."
"Bridges are avenues that are crossed as many times as needed. That's why your spell is so weak. You have no sense of what power your tapping into. But, what would I know..." Scarlett asks, as her body radiated Void Magic, the malfeasance just beneath the skin, "Though, I don't know how to survive a decapitation, beyond armoring against it."
Rather than growing fearful at the power before her, Morgan’s excitement only grew. "You would know quite a lot, it seems. I was right to pursue you. A tragedy about the decapitation weakness."
Scarlett rolled her eyes, "I, too, am Human, well, half-Human," she toss the fish bones away, every bit of meat and scale, organ and viscera, removed despite the fact she'd been yapping, "The other half is secret."
Morgan would notice Scarlett's tail standing on end.
Morgan would unsubtly produce a stalk of wheat from some bizarre breast pocket of her suit, the cattail-like germ of the wheat swishing as she moved it to and fro. "Oh, you’re 100% human, I’m sure of that. Your vestigial traits are merely that. Vestigial. Secondary. Immature half-things. You’re far too brilliant to convince me that you discarded 50% of your humanity."
While saying this incredibly serious delivered speech Morgan would be on her back, swishing the wheat at Scarlett. …She may well and truly be mad.
"Do what," Scarlett asks, before eyeing the swishing, and glaring at it as swished. "Hrm... I would seem you are but only so clever."
It seemed her Fae heritage didn't shine through at all...
Morgan kept it up, smiling with an incredibly smug aura about her as she kept the wheat still for a moment, and then using Star-Step to move it impossibly fast.
Scarlett pivoted, keeping it within sight, as she followed the Void Magic from Point A to Point B - exactly as she'd explained. Her tail stayed raised, as her pupils narrowed vertically, and her attention stayed on it. Her entire form was loose, but grounded; ready to spring in attack.
‘Not yet…’ Morgan would wait, wrist locking before she would toss the wheat high into the air without warning, breaking the pre-established motion while also placating feline instincts…
It was now a bird that was falling back to earth, in all its wheaty goodness.
Scarlett slashed as she pounded all in one.
Morgan watched, content that her experiment succeeded.
Scarlett purred, content, however, Morgan could feel a glare on her, as Scarlett's third eye was staring at her; twisted in its obscured socket. In her mind, she could hear chanting, various tongues, alive and dead, all changing at the same cadence. It would slowly become overbearing, louder and louder, steadily bearing down on her, as a visage of a woman stood on the horizon...
Morgan winced, holding a temple in her hand as she focused her eyes. As the chanting grew unbearable, she would slowly work her smug smile back onto her face, muttering: "Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là" while focusing on the figure on the horizon.
As she focused, the world would almost fade, as if she was losing depth of focus like her eyes were a camera that couldn't decide what belonged in the center, while the vignetting would encroach on pure darkness; slowly bringing the figure into a pinhole of blinding white and erasing the world, as the market looked at Morgan, pointing at her and chanting in different tongues...
...before Morgan would suddenly sneeze from Scarlett's tail tickling her nose, and resetting the world...
"Heavens," Morgan said, wiping her nose with a handkerchief. "I haven’t had such a vivid hallucination since sampling Ithican Shortweed," Morgan said before looking up at Morgan above her. "Where was I…? Oh, yes! Your humanity shines through, yet unnamed compatriot. You strike me as the type to have a color for a name…Magenta? No! Chartreuse!"
"Scarlett Ishval," came the annoyed answer.
"Morgan Laplace," came the eager reply as Morgan playfully swatted at the tail before her.
Scarlett purred softly. The attention wasn't... unwelcome...
Morgan would eventually sit up. "Well, I feel I’ve pestered you enough to form a friendship. Time to make myself scarce," Morgan said, dusting herself off as she rose to her feet, adjusting her suit’s collar.
"Eh," Scarlett asks.
...there was a part of her that wanted attention, now. It was placated, but not sated. Selfish, it was, wanting more like the mere, animalistic mindset it was.
Morgan would sense that selfish desire and smirk, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. "Of course, I am part of Eon’s tower now, and that makes us co-workers, and as such we can make ourselves scarce, together," Morgan elaborated, starting to walk along, tapping her cane along the ground.
"Not like I got better things to do," Scarlett says.
"Mhm~" Morgan smugly hummed, walking alongside Scarlett. They had a case to solve.
Scarlett didn't care. She actually hadn't been listening, and didn't know why she was here; assuming it would work itself out in due time.
Morgan was briefed of matters a bit ahead of time, and would contently pat Scarlett’s head as they walked along, just once, before acting as if she hadn’t done it at all.
Scarlett's tail swished, as she nuzzled the pet, and sought more in that aloof, feline fashion that cats did. Normally, Scarlett would shove anyone and everyone away with ruthless efficiency, either by action or words, and retreat from the situation at hand.
Disengagement was her specialty, after all.
However, she was drawn to Morgan; to her wavelength - her "aura" as nomenclature called it - at a baser level of desire.
The romantic called it "soulmates".
The philosopher called it "fate" of "destiny".
The cringe called it "downbad horrendous".
Whatever the way it was phrased, Scarlett was definitely experiencing new emotions as she walked with Morgan down whatever path the lunatic savant was on.
...but, aren't these emotions already allocated?
In the back of her mind, the other half of her breed niggled at her, for Scarlett's birth was the uncommon union of an Human and a Fae, creating a half-breed species colloquially known as Pherendal. Her blood beget attraction to her blood; the Fae sought Fae; the Human sought Human; both sides yearned for another of the kith and kin.
Nadia.
Another lunatic savant...
Another that vibed, as the kids called it, on her wavelength; too much to prove; too much to lose; confidently unconfident - vainglorious pride masking fear of failure to understand the unanswerable unknown of the Light and the Dark, of the Material and Ethereal, of Life and Death, and all in-betwixt.
Harsh words spoken. Cruel looks given. Indifference shared. Courtship of Fae, an emotionally compromised species of sound mind and threadbare feelings.
It wasn't love. No such silly thing. But... rivalry was the oppositional stance to romance, wasn't it? Like Man and Woman, they walked back-to-back, away, but on the Mobius Strip of Life, they were, therefore, destined or doomed, bound to cross paths, and whether or not they were on the same side of the street was merely chance.
A chance you are ignoring.
There it was again.
...twisting the screws against each other.
Like a fairy of eld, Scarlett could only hold one emotion stable at a time; Nadia, the rival, and Morgan, the romantic; each digging into the same hole from opposite sides, pushing upon each other to maintain root in her thoughts.
Scarlett was forced upon a forked road, her heart unprepared for the question it posed to her:
Step to the left, and keep going with Morgan...
...or...
...pivot to the right, and continue on with Nadia?
Her foot took a step, but backwards.
Disengagement was her specialty, after all.
Running away from things that she didn't want to deal with.
Above all else, Scarlett didn't want to deal with what the concept of love could afford her:
Forgiveness.
Morgan would, potentially, notice the overall breakdown of Scarlett's mental state, as the bratty kitty was consumed by the guilt-ridden monster, and she turned and ran away.
As the precarious alchemist dashed away from her new ‘friend', she would find herself bumping headfirst into Nadia, who responded with a shocked grunt as they both tumbled onto the ground. Nadia's glasses were lopsided, nearly falling off of her face as Scarlett laid on top of her.
"Oooww…" She groaned. "Get off of me, you crazed research thief!"
In any other circumstance, Scarlett would have tore Nadia asunder for her accusation, when she was 97% certain - with a 1% margin for error, and a 2% margin for commonality of scientific genius - that Nadia was working with stolen research from her Bioalchemical Fusion research, which had gotten lost upon her cannibalistic rampage several years ago.
However, in her current state of mental anguish and emotional confusion, Scarlett gave Nadia a look of a woman broken, tears rolling down her cheeks, before she pulled herself to all fours, and ran.
The Beast was her safe space, her escape from Humanity, from Faehood, and, most importantly, from Reality.
As she ran, her cloak would be discarded to reveal the nude, metal-clad body below before it disappeared into an alley...
Nadia's memory would be unable to shirk off the fear that Scarlett had shown.
Nadia recoiled at seeing Scarlett's face, marred with bewilderment, so much so she couldn't react to her fleeing the scene at first. Getting up and adjusting her glasses, she turned to Morgan who was just down the opposite way.
"Um…am I missing something here?"
With a chant, Nadia summoned the same spirit she had used to blast Scarlett out of her office days prior.
She had sent it after her naked teammate, who tried to escape to an alleyway. With a chime, the spirit flew off in Scarlett's direction; moving airborne allowed the phantom to catch up with her rather quickly.
Upon seeing her, it began using its powerful suction to take her back by force.
Unlike the last time, the Human was in control of Scarlett, seeking vengeance and petty revenge for Nadia ejecting her from her office.
This was not the case with the Beast. It wanted safety. It wanted peace. It wanted to be alone. As such, it responded with self-defense as spines peeled from it's back, dozens of Scarlett's spear weapon-morph, and they were allowed to tear free from her back.
By the score, spears would be vacuumed to the summon.
Beside herself as Nadia questioned if she was missing something, Morgan could only sigh before holding out a gloved hand as if to stop Nadia. "Heavens, a bookish thing like you, so lovely, so ignorant to her feelings? Its so cruel and ironic, I’d have believed if Shakespeare had cooked it up in his den of debauchery. But, no matter. A ditz is still an appealing heroine. Moreso than the aloof genius that complicates a romance. As such, I’ll make this plain…" Morgan said before tapping her cane’s point upon the ground, laughing boisterously.
"I, Morgan Laplace, shall only make things far more complicated from now on," the genius swore, before casting Cosmic-Force, drawing the spears to miss their target and instead shatter against the black sphere of magic she’d thrown with the expert precision of a professional "Six Base Sportsman", the famed Beluan pass time featuring balls, sticks, and rules. Many of them. Shall you hear them? No.
Free to move, Scarlett would flee - diving into the darkness of another alley, and out of sight once more.
Nadia stood with a wide-eyed and dumbfounded look on her face, blinking with two fast takes before turning to Morgan with ire. The black sphere that Morgan threw blocked the spikes that Nadia’s summon was about to be pelted with, but it also created an opening for Scarlett to run farther off.
"What’s your problem, lady?! " Nadia exclaimed. She stood face to face with Morgan, slightly slanted so that her face was in hers. "I was trying to capture that weirdo beast alchemist, who made a whole scene and just ran off! Are you in cahoots with her or something?!"
Nadia was so close to Morgan’s face, she could feel small droplets of spit getting on her cheeks. She was also poking Morgan’s collar bone with an accusing finger.
Morgan would regard her overly accusatory contemporary with an aloof look before snatching the finger poking her collar bone, curling her index finger around it with delicate precision. "I have no problems that I can’t solve, so please, do get to solving your’s. Lest it become apparent that you’re the problem. Scarlett should be heading to somewhere dark and hidden away, and currently your familiar is simply floating there with its jaw slack. Chop chop, tick tock," Morgan said before releasing the finger and utilizing her still-active Star-Step to vanish from sight, now comfortably back within a crowd to leave Nadia alone.
Smiling contently, Morgan would begin to walk away, while also going in the direction Scarlett was trying to run to. And, not once did she lose that smile even as she wiped Synergist spittle from her cheeks.
Before Nadia could snap at her again, Morgan vanished in a dark veil, seemingly also going after Scarlett. One of her eyes twitching in annoyance, she called her familiar to her side and began to follow her. Eventually she was able to catch up with her.
"Hey, mind explaining why you let her get away in the first place? She’s not the type you wanna leave alone for too long…"
Morgan frowned, sighing. "I exit stage left and you drag the entire play to my doorstep. And, I didn’t let her get away, your ineffectual familiar chose to stare into space while I kept it from becoming an organic pincushion."
Nadia continued to argue with her new supposed coworker as they walked in the direction of the feral Scarlett. "Your spell is what allowed her to get away in the first place! Now it’s thanks to you that we have to waste more time chasing her down, in a town we’ve never been to before I might add!" She said, not actually knowing if Morgan had ever been to Cambridge or not…
Tracing Scarlett’s mana was easy enough, she had a unique signature compared to most people and it wasn’t like a naked woman with metal covering parts of her body would be hard to find. However, what really bothered Nadia was the fact that Scarlett’s mana had a similar feel to hers. Does that mean that she too was…
Morgan grit her teeth and tugged on Nadia’s cheek. "I know my way around plenty well, fool! Why do you think I know where to go?"
As Morgan traced Scarlett's Mana, she would feel it split into multiple lines traveling on separate paths...
Morgan grimaced before saying: "Dammit all…she’s split her magical energy signatures."
"Ugh…" Nadia moaned, also sensing the same. "How would she even do that?! This is all your fault!" With a hand gesture, Nadia called her servant back to her side.
"We’ll have to split up and follow the trails. I’ll follow one, my spirit will follow the other, and you can follow the last. Why do I have to suffer through this…?"
Resisting the growing urge to slap a certain Synergist, Morgan would begin Star-Stepping after Scarlett, attempting to sus her out amongst the splitting signatures via her thoughts. Someone was getting a nasty scathing review on their publications…
The signatures would only divide further and furthermore, as they spread out in a fan that was doubling back on itself. After a moment, the two would spy multiple streaks of quicksilver darting across rooves and through alleys - rampant movement, yet patterned to cross paths, divide, merge, and return to whole.
Scarlett’s Mana flowing like a wave from one side to the other, back and forth...
Nadia grit her teeth and clenched her fists as the signatures began to multiply further. "This. Is. A. NIGHTMARE!!!" The Synergist was practically pulling her hair out at this point. "This calls for a different approach…" She said with a sigh.
Calling her summon to her side again, she jumped on its back and took to the skies. She felt that perhaps a bird’s eye view would be more effective in locating the problematic Eon alchemist.
It would help her gain an understanding that Scarlett was everywhere and anywhere she looked, but Nadia wasn’t familiar enough with her Mana to suss out who was an Alchemical Doll and which was actually Scarlett.
The only being that was so intimately familiar was Milli, and there was a low chance the Spirit would heed her calls a second time.
"She…she can make clones?!" Nadia whined. While she wouldn’t admit it, there had been times where Scarlett had proven she was an accomplished alchemist. The alchemist copies she made were near perfect, with the mana from each one imitating the other. That would make it nearly impossible to spot the correct one, the needle in the haystack if you would.
Nadia thought for a moment, she needed another plan. She can make perfect physical copies. Physical. Instead of relying on a principle they’re both familiar with, she’ll take advantage of one that Scarlett isn’t. She began to sense out Mili, hoping she’d be the key to solving this. Honestly, she had trouble remembering the name that Scarlett gave her, and the last time they interacted she wasn’t too fond of Nadia. She could feel Mili’s presence, and began to call out to her.
"Uh, hey! Um…Mili right? Can you hear me? I need some assistance in regards to your new master!"
Across the Spirit Realm, Nadia’s call would ring out, and true... only to be returned by a very not having it hiss.
Nadia jumped a bit at the sudden warning call, but wasn’t surprised by it.
"A fine ‘how do you do’ to you as well!" She said sarcastically. "Mili, I wish to find your master, but she is making the matter quite difficult. Can you perhaps point us in the right direction?"
"Milli has no Master! Milli last Master jerk! Make Milli into snake and sword! So proud to hurt Milli! Milli hates Master just as much as Mommy!" raged the serpent.
Nadia’s face twisted into a rather cute pout, complete with puffy cheeks. "You’ve only seemed to benefit from the Synergy, so why are you so angry about it? If anything, it’s only allowed you to assist your ‘mommy’ all the better!" Nadia was tapping her foot on her summoned servant, getting antsy at Milli’s attitude.
"Can you please be a good little snake and cooperate with us so we can find her?"
"NO!"
Nadia could feel the flames coming off, essentially, a toddler, and the genuine anger that carried behind it.
"Milli will NEVER help YOU!" the snake hissed. "Milli would rather DIE!"
Nadia began to truly understand that she was, in fact, dealing with a toddler. Stubborn, unreasonable, and unwilling to compromise.
"YOU’RE ALREADY DEAD, NUMBSKULL!!" She exclaimed to Mili in the Spectral Void. Sighing, she tried to calm herself a bit. "Look, please understand, we’re not going to hurt your mother or whatever. We just want to keep her out of harm’s way, for her sake and everyone else’s. Plus, I don’t want Arteus and Brun to yell at me. Things haven’t been going my way lately…"
There was an unnerving silence, before Nadia felt Milii open their connection, "No... you don't understand. Milli hates you. Just you. You hurt Milli, emotions and body. Forced Milli to be something Milli was not. Milli is not a toy to play with and break, but you don't care. You broke Milli. Forever. Why don't you care? Milli is beneath you, that's why. Milli doesn't want to help you. You break everything. This is your fault. Fix it, Selfish Master."
Nadia’s heart began to grow ever so slightly heavy at the severity of Mili’s words, along with a look of confused apprehension. "Mili, I…" She had trouble finding her words for a moment.
"Y-you say I break everything? So even you’re just like all the others. Why are you making me out like I’m some kind of monster?! Spirits are wondrous creatures! Why would I want to hurt them? I just want to be able to understand them in all facets, learn how to better connect with them, and find new avenues to make them stronger. Scarlett said the same thing, I thought that she simply didn’t understand because she was someone only concerned with the physical plane."
Nadia sank her head, swirling thoughts ran in her mind. Not just from Mili’s words, but seemingly from other moments within her life. "I love spirits. They’re not like us of the Material Realm, unbound by the frailty of mortal constraints. They can take any shape they want, there’s nothing wrong with that. I can’t be wrong in that, can I? If I could’ve made spirits stronger back then, then I could’ve saved…"
She trailed off again, intense emotions welling in her eyes. Clenching her fists, she looked back up.
"Mili, let me ask you this: What can I do to make this right?"
"Nothing."
A trail of flame would ignite before Nadia, traveling into an alley, and down through a grate. Scarlett was underground, and the flame would lead her.
"Selfish Master is a monster to Milli. Tears do not move Milli. Apologies will not soothe Milli. Spirits are free to be. Selfish Master forced Milli to be what Selfish Master wanted. Milli will never forgive."
The flame trail was starting to move away from Nadia.
"Run, Selfish Master. Maybe, Mommy will care about what you cry about. Milli isn't listening anymore. Goodbye."
Forcibly, Milli would snap the connection.
"Mili…" Nadia reached out a hand, as if trying to establish one last bond with the little spirit that started its existence as a bat sprite. While Nadia may have made Mili stronger and given her more potential to grow, she did so without considering how Mili would actually feel about it. She chased after the flame, not regarding if Morgan was following or not, and had eventually been led to a small grate. It seemed Scarlett decided to hide in the underground waterways of Cambridge.
Nadia clenched her fist as Mili severed the connection, the flame extinguishing just as soon as it was lit. She then looked at her own summon, it simply floating over the grate as it awaited its master’s next command. As much as she claimed to love spirits, she never actually tried speaking to them before. They always seemed so…content with just providing a service to their summoner, then happily returning back to the other plane. She would have much to think about. Later. First, on to the task at hand.
"Let's go. Scarlett’s probably waiting." She said, allowing her spirit to guide her down the sewers.
As they chased the flame, Nadia would notice something floating in the tail of it; like a Will o' Wisp...
It should have been familiar, and maybe, it was. After all, she made it.
Milli had felt her reach out. For a moment. Just a moment. She didn't have any intention of speaking beyond that, but... even the twig of an olive branch was more than she deserved.
It was up to Nadia not to waste this chance.
As for Scarlett, she was sleeping in the center of an intersection; surrounded by gushing water, and unperturbed by the smells and sounds. Equally, she wasn't wrapped in metal, since Nadia wasn't being blinded by the sun shining upon her from the grate above.
Nadia could make out a faint crimson shine from within the flame she had chased, looking at it intently she was able to see it was the jewel she had made Mili’s new home after she was synergized. When the flame vanished, it revealed the jewel in its entirety, the crimson gemstone nestled in a golden necklace piece. She picked it up and looked at it, a gentler expression on her face. She reminisced on how she and Scarlett had interacted up to this point. Perhaps, they should…talk? Nadia clenched the jewel in her hand and held it to her chest.
"You don’t have to forgive me Mili, but I want you to know that I do care. If you don’t believe anything else, at least understand that."
Nadia floated on her summon and made her way through the sewer channels, trying her best to ignore the stench. She eventually was able to spot her, peacefully resting like a cat on the bark of a tree trunk surrounded by rivers.
"Umm, hey there." She said to the sleeping alchemist. "I finally found you. I don’t really understand the appeal of a place like this, maybe Roze would?"
"Mm...?"
Scarlett wasn’t answering her, or questioning her, but simply rousing awake. It was quiet, safe, the smell deterred people from wandering; sleeping was easy in such a place. However, Nadia’s voice was out of place, and threw her off, which woke her up.
"Well, this is a little…awkward." Nadia said sheepishly. "You just ran off from everyone, and I volunteered to go after you. Mainly because I had some choice words for you. Umm, but now…" She scratched her cheek and was looking off to the side.
"The main thing is that I've…hurt Mili. I never meant to and never would, but I’ve ignored her feelings. It’s put things into perspective for me, so I’ll just ask this - is there something you need to get off your chest? " Nadia did find it awkward talking to a naked woman in the middle of a sewer, but it’s honestly not the strangest thing she’s seen Scarlett do…
At first, Scarlett was fully prepared to ignore Nadia, as she opened with, ‘choice words,’, however, the statement of hurting Milli caught her full attention. Admittedly, Scarlett had attached to the Spirit out of spite and anger at Nadia’s careless manipulation of her, but she’d come to like, almost, in earnest, love, the childish being. So, the idea that Nadia had somehow hurt her...
"Explain yourself."
Like a blade, the words were cutting and direct.
"The original Synergy demonstration." Nadia said plainly, holding out the jewel to add emphasis. "I had summoned her in my office to showcase to you the fruits of my research, transforming her from a bat sprite to that of a snake. I did so because I felt that it was a groundbreaking way of making souls stronger. You must understand, I love spirits." She held the jewel to her chest again.
"I’ve always felt that unlike us, souls need not fret over physical frailty and the worry of image. They are ethereal and can often take any form they wish, and it made me want to learn more about them. But, I didn’t give much consideration to the autonomy of minor wisps, it seems." She said with guilt in her voice.
"I didn’t ask her if that’s what shewanted. Scions, I didn’t even give her a name, or the one I’m riding here." She looked down at the summon she rode to get here.
"Tell me, Scarlett, what do you think of spirits and the realm they inhabit?"
"Me? Huh... seems you’ve had some kind of event happen to you..." Scarlett says, sitting up. "I suppose, I see them as Living Beings, like you, like me, since I’ve been over there," she says, "I walked in the Spirit Realm for ten years - across a sea of metal, as I restored my body with the knowledge of the Spirit Realm. I bled. I hungered. I hurt. I grew weary and tired. I felt alive, and I understood... or, rather, I guess, I just felt... Spirits are alive, too, just dead to us, as we must be, maybe, to them."
Scarlett sighed. "My Mother, whenever she could be bothered to stand me, told me, Spirits were contractual beings; prone to wanting. Those that want nothing in return as Purelans from The Pure Lands, but those that want trickery in the form of contract are Narakk’ans from Narakk’a," she leaned from side-to-side. "Milli just wants to be loved, so I do; contractually and earnestly. That’s just how I how I see them, and the Realms they hail from."
"Ha. The Pure Lands, Narrak’a. You know, your mother sounds an awful lot like my father. " Nadia said. "As for how he felt about me, that’s a little hard to pinpoint. He was never one to express his emotions that much."
Nadia rubbed the cheek of her familiar, which it seemed to like rather much. "A soul given form, ethereal but able to interact with the physical all the same. But still operating on different rules from the material. Zephyria, I do believe that will be your name moving forward, good sir!" The summon responded to its new name with a cheerful hymn.
"Many thanks for the name you have given me, master." An unexpected voice came from the wind summon, which caused Nadia to jump.
"Y-you spoke?!" She stuttered out.
"Indeed." He responded.
Nadia couldn’t believe it at first, it was a summon that she had for quite some time. But never once did it speak the common tongue. She was honestly at a loss for words.
Scarlett hummed. "Curious..." she says, before standing. "Anything else? While I’m in a charitable mood for conversation..."
Snapped back to the matter at hand, Nadia quickly turned back to Scarlett.
"Yes, actually. To be honest, this is a subject I NEVER talk about with anyone else. Mostly because it’s a private matter. But, you…might actually be the same as me. So, with the risk of this forever changing the dynamic of our relationship forever, I want to ask you this: Are you a…Pherendal? Assuming you know what that is, of course."
9 outta 10 doctors couldn't agree if there were truly 47 muscles in the Human face, but all ten of said doctors could agree that Scarlett was employing over half of them to frown.
Pherendal.
The cursed half-breed. The reason Scarlett was down here, as said at the top. Blood sought Blood. Like sought Like. And, she... rejected it.
However, she didn't disengage.
Not just yet.
A small tug was keeping her rooted, as a metal creature wrapped around her ankle.
"...seems you've undergone an event yourself, Milli," Scarlett muttered, before crossing her arms, pronouncing her bare bust, "That's a dangerous game you're playing, Nadia. So what if I am?"
"Then you and I have something in common, Scarlett." Nadia said flatly. "That ghastly frown on your face tells me I was correct in my thoughts."
She looked at Mili, the fiery snake soul now covered in metal, as she slithered at her new partner's feet.
"Has it…been hard for you as well?"
"Racial prejudice has been the least of the things I've worried about," Scarlett says.
In the sun, like a spotlight, Nadia could truly appreciate the sheer length and depth of scar that decorated Scarlett - a testament to the sheer difference in lifestyle they lead. Her body was flawless, like well-kept satin bedding, while Scarlett was a roughly-made, patchwork quilt; each section telling a story of battle that she didn't have in return.
They might have shared an uncommon xenotype, but that was truly it.
Still...
"...in times of judgment, peer reviews, my Race was subject. I was claimed "unfair advantages" in Gladr, even if it's my worst subject. Told that my Bioalchemical Fusion project was only possible, because I had fairy blood," Scarlett admits, relating to Nadia.
Nadia gazed at Scarlett’s body on full display, this having been the first time she’s really gotten a good look. She adjusted her glasses, taking in the various incision wounds and scars that vitiated her flesh. Each of those marks likely have their own individual story, she thought to herself.
They certainly did not live similar lives. Nadia’s pain and problems had always been more emotional and societal, whilst Scarlett likely went through all that in addition to her physical abuse.
"Scarlett, you said that you’ve walked within the Spectral Realm, yes? As in, your consciousness kept its sense of self and you preserved through? Would…would you mind telling what it was like? I feel like that alone would give you a different understanding of souls and wisps that I just wouldn’t have…"
"Dark..." Scarlett says, "I knocked on a door, and what answered pulled me through into a vast, empty sea of iron..." she says, "...it tore off my arm, cost for entry, and made me walk, naked and alone, across a sunless landscape that torn my feet, scrapes me when I stumbled, and stabbed me when I fell..." Scarlett looked at her discolored hand, "Alone and afraid, I rebuilt myself with the material I had surrounding me, and the blood that contained it. In an act of cruel kindness, my theory was proven true."
Scarlett formed the metal cat ears and tail, flexing her claws, "It cost me blood and sanity, but I proved myself... unfortunate... I was lost for ten years, but only unconscious for ten minutes..."
"A fractured mind doesn’t understand ten years in the mind isn’t ten years for the body..." Scarlett says, as the darkness crept up around her; highlighting her metal and her glowing eyes. "A starving body accepts anything that is edible..."
"Anything. Even friends..."
After listening to Scarlett’s answer to her question, past words began to echo in Nadia’s mind.
Nadia. The soul, body, and mind are all connected. What effects one will affect the other, what one feels - the other does as well. When a person dies, their soul continues to carry the pain, sorrow, joy, and memories of their past life. Depending on the weight of their experiences, they will either go to the Pure Lands, remain trapped in Limbo, or descend into the Hellscape - many cultures refer to this as Narrak’a. The soul may not be bound by physical constraints, but there are still trials they must overcome. Do not forget this.
"Was that…the trial that your soul was put through. Having to bear the weight of your experiences?" She asked.
"My experiences... no... that was simply the cost of knowledge..." Scarlett says.
"I see." Nadia said, looking at Mili nestling at Scarlett’s feet.
"You know, at first, I truly couldn’t understand why you were so angry when I Synergized Mili. But, after hearing all this, perhaps I should take heed to better understand spirits as a whole." She then looked back at Zephyria, who could sense he was empathizing with his master. "In a way, by transmigrating their souls without consent, I’m essentially playing at being a Scion. Willingly invalidating the trials and sins they went through in their mortal lives and ascribing to them a new purpose they didn’t ask for. Perhaps…that was the real reason that some were so against my research… "
"My first rule: I never experiment on something that can reject me, be they humanoid or beast," Scarlett says, before raise her arm, "The only test subject that could never reject me..." she clenched her fist, "...is me."
"The price, I understand, is dear," Scarlett’s arm twisted, turning, bloody flesh and breaking bone, as metal grew from her muscle and skin; a mass formed, like cancer, before taking shape - a sharply tapered cone with a ridge that spiraled down form the top to bottom. "I understand the rush of being summoned, and the pain of being changed," she says, as she pointed the iron drill bit at Nadia, "I do this willingly, however."
Scarlett pointing her sharpen arm at her reminded Nadia of when they first met. She had done the exact same thing, albeit under different circumstances. "You perform experiments on your own body?!" Nadia thought that must’ve meant that many of those scars were self-inflicted if that were the case.
"Why…subject yourself to all that pain?"
"Science is a demanding taskmaster, and progress marches, ever-forward. If you fall behind, you'll stay behind," Scarlett says, "The evolution of the Human species has fallen behind, but I seek to change that. Master our Domain. A little pain is but a small price to pay, if I can cure cancers and diseases, heal skin and bone in a fraction of the time, and connect us closer to ultimate expression of our potential."
"Potential, huh?" Nadia said. It was funny, the way Scarlett spoke of evolution and potential in regards to humanity was rather similar to her viewpoints on spirits up until this point. By Scarlett’s words, what Nadia was doing was completely unethical. Did Arteus feel this way when he offered her to come to Eon, did he even care about the moral applications of her research in the first place?
Nadia was silent for a moment, thinking on how she's conducted her studies thus far. Should she adopt Scarlett’s methodology of magical experimentation, and conduct Synergy experiments on her own soul? Obviously not, unlike Scarlett’s body her soul likely wouldn’t regenerate from any mishaps. She looked at Zephyria, who now had his own voice. Perhaps that would be the first step - actually attempting communication with the wisps and souls she seemed to have an innate talent for summoning.
"I’d actually like to achieve the same thing, in regards to strengthening the bridge between the Material and the Spectral. I’m…not sure if I’m ready to experiment on myself yet, but I think taking a new avenue to understand spirits as a whole would be a good first step."
"I am happy for you, master. I will do my utmost to support you in your new endeavors. Zephyria added.
"It seems you’ve become something likable all of a sudden," Scarlett says, a slight breeze moving Nadia’s hair, as Scarlett was cutting past her like a proper assassin, nothing like a Magus, "Curious that..."
A series of claps would resound in the sewer chamber as a shadow lengthened in approach, the familiar visage of Morgan stepping out of the darkness. "An adequately heartfelt connection. Shakespeare would be snoring, but that’s for the best. Now, is there anything else that needs addressing? Aside from the murder?"
"A murder, you say," Scarlett asks, concerned by the former subject of her heart troubles - the emotional ones. Her heart disease were still undiagnosed to Nadia, and now, Morgan. If she had her way, so it would stay. "Well, have fun, then. I have other tasks I would rather attend."
She didn’t. But, in a big town, fun could be found, surely.
"A shame. Your intellect would be appreciated, along with your instincts," Morgan said before going over and offering Scarlett her hand. "I look forward to seeing more of you in the future, Ms. Ishval."
Scarlett eyed Morgan for a moment, before passing by, "Ta~"
It took Nadia a moment to realize that Scarlett had zipped past her. Those bodily augmentations were quite something! After she passed by the now present Morgan, she attempted to run up to her and get her attention.
"Scarlett, please wait!" She said. "Ok, look, I’m sure we’ll probably be staying here for a few days, maybe. While I have no personal grievance against the Church, I can certainly understand why someone in your position would. " Nadia put her hands together, making a prayer pose.
"Being a member of Eon will ensure that nothing will happen to you, aside from this place being a safe zone of sorts. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to just play along until the joint session is over, then Arteus will likely give us free roam until it’s time to leave. So, c’mon, pleeeease?"
Scarlett sighed, before cocking a smirk, "Fine. I have one condition, then, since it matters so much."
Nadia raised her head and looked at Scarlett with cautious, curious eyes. Perhaps she wasn’t as prepared for what she was getting herself into as she thought.
"Um… What condition would that be?"
"I'm hungry, after all that transformation. It's the one downside of hyper-production of iron from my blood and rapid cellular growth, controlling cancer and such," Scarlett says, "As such, I need meats and sweets. So, feed me. Take me on a date."
Nadia stared at Scarlett with a blank expression, blinking a few times. It seemed she didn’t really know how to respond to the body-morphing alchemist.
"Uh, sorry…" Nadia finally managed to say. "I thought I misheard you; Did you say ask me to take you out on a…date?"
"D-A-T-E, that spells 'date', which rhymes with 'sate,' which is what I want you to do with my belly, which is very empty, like my soul, but that's a lost cause, so let's focus on the food," Scarlett says, in a manner than was, shockingly, playful for the skyclad sociopath, as she made hand gestures and rather spirited expressions, "Chop chop, or stir stir, or fry fry, I'm not picky, so long as there's meats and sweets," and ended with a cheeky wink.
This lady goes from wanting to kill everything, to wanting to go on dinner dates with people… Nadia thought. Nervously squinting at her, Nadia sighed whilst adjusting her glasses once again.
"I mean, if that will get you to come back with me, then I suppose we could grab a bite to eat. With all this running around we've been doing I’m a little peckish myself. Oh, um, you do plan on actually putting on clothes for the outing, right?"
"Clothing is for the weak and noble. I am neither," Scarlett says, "I discarded my weakness and my nobility was taken from me," she says, "I am stronger than clothing and richer for it!"
Scarlett's hair billowed out, and knitted itself into her familiar, crimson cloak - however, it wasn't ratty and worn, so Nadia could actually see an emblem upon the back - and fastened it around her, slicing her hair to finish the only piece of clothing Scarlett wore.
"This cloak is all I need," Scarlett smirked.
"An interesting theory on clothing to be certain, but I am neither noble, nor weak, I simply think that I," Morgan would stamp a heel and turn sharply. "look," she would then toss her hair over her shoulder, then adjust the cuffs of her sleeves. "Flawless. At least in a two-piece."
One could practically see her nose getting longer as she somehow sparkled in a sewer.
"I would ask to join on your date, but the last of my personal funds went into that fish Scarlett ate. As such, this genius shall starve on the job," Morgan said.
"Consider it a free lesson in not being a dumbass that feast wild beasts," Scarlett says, "Little Miss 6.9 outta 10." Scarlett extended her right arm, "Milli, to me, don't bite the help. Even if her scent taste more appealing than most."
From a portal, the iron-scaled flame snake would twist around Scarlett's arm, before a small, lamia girl hung off it, "Okay~"
"Morgan, a word of warning. Don't test my mind. It's borrowed, and the woman borrowing it won't be bothered to borrow yours, as well," Scarlett says, "Consider that the last we'll speak on the subject. I won't be to blame if you end up on my dinner plate for being nosy.
"I’ve my own ways of prying outside of your mind, Scarlett. Anyone borrowing my mind without proper care might find themselves gibbering mad, or worse: thinking like I do. Also, I believe I am standing at a steady 7.8 at the minimum."
"Uh-huh. We should all have hopes and dreams," Scarlett says, "Let’s go, Glasses."
"H-Hey! My name’s Nadia, y’know!" Nadia quickly corrected her new date. "I’m all too happy to leave the Scions’ damned sewers!"
She quickly jogged to catch up to Scarlett, walking alongside her as they began to leave.
"When did Mili get that more humanoid form? Was that you using Synergy?"
"Milli do herself! Milli smarter than Glasses!" boasted the snake, as she crossed her arms.
Left with her ego bruised by miniature tappings, Morgan would smile as Nadia and Scarlett began to leave, taking her own way out of the dank darkness of the sewer. "At least the cat can prove herself honest once she stops flailing. They always land on their feet…an invaluable trait for a human to take for themselves," the Polymathis Alumni muttered as she walked away, hand sparking with the faintest hint of Galdr activating before stopping, fading into blackness.
"It seems spirits are the most difficult to imagine replicating. No matter. I imagine they’re content just where they are…not to mention the ire I’d draw, becoming a pet-napper."
With her footsteps fading away, Morgan’s research for the day was completed, a failed experiment…but a good experience nonetheless.
As Morgan left on her own six, Scarlett and Nadia would depart opposite, and continue their story elsewhere with a lost lamp and her shepherd...
