kapuchu — Roleplayer Guild

A slow, gentle tune wafted through the air, bringing with it a sense of calm and contentment. Light shined down through the transparent roof above, lighting up the lone figure clad in a simple, light-blue gown sitting by the piano in a room otherwise filled with various instruments; everything from cellos to lyres covered the walls and various stands in the spacious room, but only one piano sat in the centre of it all.

The tune was interrupted by a misplaced key, creating discord and instantly disrupting the entire melody, forcing her to stop. A quiet, yet obviously annoyed sigh escaped Lily’s lips, her fingers hovering over the keys.

She wasn’t exactly good yet, but she was starting to learn how to play this one piece without mistakes. Almost.

Playing the piano was a habit she had taken to during the past year, having decided that she wanted to learn to play it as well, after she first stumbled upon the music room and heard another student play the piano. She had waited for him to leave before she took the spot for herself, and failed miserably when she tried to replicate anything resembling a melody.

Luckily—and also somewhat to her chagrin—he had returned shortly after and, rather than mock her, had offered to teach her. She had reluctantly accepted, for once in her life acknowledging that help might not be a bad thing.

That was a year past, however, and now she was at least getting somewhere in terms of playing cleanly. Mastery was still a long way off, but she worked her way there. She shook her head, dispelling what motes of doubt had gathered. Her otherwise braided hair hang loose, scant inches from the floor from where she sat and bereft of anything resembling bows, clips, and whatever else that might’ve kept it in check.

The tune began a new, her slender fingers carefully pressing down each note.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a figure walking into the room and leaning against the wall. Perhaps they were hoping to use the piano? Doubtful. It did not take long for it to be clear that she was the focus of this sudden audience. Still, they did not interrupt. At first. When it became apparent that she was perfectly fine ignoring whoever else had walked into the room, they spoke.

“You’re Lily Strider, right?” asked the female voice, walking closer.

Lily stopped, fingers hovering over the keys. She had managed to avoid any mistakes so far, so of course fate had to make sure she was interrupted in other ways. Looking up, she turned her head just enough that she could see the approaching woman clearly out the corner of her eye.

“I am,” she replied, taking her hands in her lap. “And you are?”

“Celica.” She had a hand on her hip, and her eyes searched the room with the expression one wore when they couldn’t decide whether to go to the point or start with small-talk. She chose the latter. “You’re good at this. I never had the patience to learn an instrument.”

She couldn’t quite help but grimace at that comment, scrunching up her nose briefly in what could almost be described as distaste. “Not as good as I’d like to be,” she admitted, glancing back at the piano. “Started last year. Some guy from that time’s first year taught me the basics. Mostly I’ve just been practicing on my own.”

“Well, you know what they say about practice,” she gave her a small smile before sighing. “In a way, that’s why I’m here. I heard you were a Kitsune, and I wanted to ask a few questions. Maybe a favor.”

Her brows rose at the mentioned of a favor, and she turned fully towards Celica, head tilted ever so slightly to the side. “What questions?” She asked. It has something to do with me being a Kitsune, but what? She tried searching for any hint in Celica’s eyes, but didn’t immediately find anything. “And what favor, exactly? I’m not in the best of moods today, so whether I grant it or not depends very much on what it is.”

“I can imagine,” Celica said with a sly smile. “Some of my questions might be about what has you feeling that way.”

Lily’s eyes narrowed, a hostility that was previously absent now very much present. “Tread. Carefully.”

The woman gave her a half-lidded stare. “So cold. That’s supposed to be my shtick.” She shook her head. “Fine. I guess I can forget about that for a moment. Mostly, I wanted to ask you about that life-drain magic of yours.”

The hostility disappeared and her eyes were no longer narrowed, but she was still on guard. Mainly her curiosity was peaked, however. “What about it? It’s something every Kitsune can do.”

“You happen to be one, so two birds with one stone, you know?” With a shrug and a half smile, Celica picked up one of the nearby stools and took a seat. “Could you explain it for me? What it does, what happens when you use it, that kind of thing.”

Lily sighed and resigned herself to having to wait before she could get back to playing the piano. Didn’t look like this Celica would be satisfied with only a quick rundown. “Magic,” she began, “is a force that we all carry in our bodies. It doesn’t matter if you’re a plant or a human; we all have it. For plants and animals the amount of magic in them is proportionate to their size. A small oak wouldn’t have anywhere near the same amount of energy as a large mahogany. Same way a mouse would have very little compared to a tiger. Sapient beings like humans, shifters, or mythics, however, are different. No one really knows why some are stronger than others.”

“Magic isn’t just a power source, but something intimately connected to the rest of you. And I don’t mean that it’s something personal, but that it’s a part of your very life. In fact, it’s not really called ‘Magic’ unless there’s talk of people capable of using it. For animals and trees and so on we call it Life Energy.” She paused for a moment, watching for any reaction before she continued. “Essentially what we do is drain the very life out of whatever is near us in order to empower ourselves. It’s different with sapient beings as well.” She extended her hand, palm up. “Give me your hand and I’ll show you. And no, I’m not going to do anything that’ll harm you.”

“Someone’s being paying attention to her lessons.” Celica chuckled, placing her hand atop Lily’s without hesitation. “That’s good. I was going to ask for a demonstration.”

“It was either pay attention or risk destroying my own body if I tried to do it incorrectly,” she mumbled. “Now, you’ll feel something akin to a probe; a presence. Ignore it and don’t resist.” Celica nodded, closing her eyes. A few moments passed during which she did nothing, waiting for the pale woman to prepare herself. Even un-shifted what she was doing could be dangerous. When she was certain that she had prepared herself, Lily took a deep breath and dove in. She found Celica’s magic pool almost immediately, visualising it as a large pool of silvery liquid in what she could best describe as an underground cavern.

“That feels strange.” She could feel the magic reacting to her presence, a feeling akin to being watched. The liquid shivered indecisively, as if struggling with the urge to push against her incursion. Or, considering the curious expression in Celica’s face, perhaps she was resisting the urge to bring it closer for inspection.

“This will feel a bit uncomfortable, but bear with it,” she murmured. With that, she reached out for the pool and took a fraction of it and pulled it to herself. She had only taken enough that Celica would feel the slightest effects of it; the feeling of being winded after ascending a few steps of a staircase. The power Lily drew, she simply stored away for later use. Not much she could do with it now. “And that’s it,” she said, putting her own hand back in her lap.

Celica sighed and opened her eyes. She held her hand in front of her and gave it a long look, turning it around as if expecting it to have changed in some way. “It felt… almost like casting a spell.” She grimaced, unsatisfied. “No, more as if you cast a spell using my magic.” Celica hummed thoughtfully, giving Lily a sidelong glance.

“I could have locked you out, couldn’t I? That’s why you told me to ignore you.”

“Yes and no. You couldn’t have locked me out, but you could have fought against me. In all honesty, what I just did breaks about a dozen rules. We are not, under any circumstances, allowed to drain the life of another sapient being. There are exceptions, but this wasn’t one of them. But to answer you question; locking me out entirely is impossible, but when there’s a way in there’s a way out. You could combat me and create a backlash so powerful that it might just kill me, depending on how much I attempt to drain. If I attempt to make you an empty shell I wouldn’t stand a chance if your will ends up being more powerful than mine, and you’re capable of striking back. It’s a… dangerous process, which is why we’re only allowed to do it to plants, trees, bushes, as well as animals and such that are near death. The “near death” part is a question of morals more than anything else, however.”

Celica nodded thoughtfully. “Do you need to stay in contact with whatever you are draining?”

She shook her head briefly. “No, but it makes it easier for the larger… vessels. There’s a max range, so to speak. But generally the closer I am the easier it is.”

“I see. That’s usually how this kind of thing works.” Celica nodded to herself before smiling. It was then that she produced a small glass bead from her pockets, the kind of thing cheap necklaces were made of. “How about a little experiment?”

The bead received a raised eyebrow in response, Lily’s curious gaze resting on it for a few moments before it was directed at Celica herself. “I’m not much for playing with beads, but I don’t think that’s what you want.”

The woman shrugged. “You might as well call it that. There is a tiny sliver of magic stored in this thing. I want to see if you can pull it out.”

“That… shouldn’t be a problem, but why?”

“I’m curious. If a Kitsune can pull magic out of an object like this, I’m surprised I haven’t heard of anything along the lines of ‘magic batteries’.”

Lily stared at it for a few moments, silent. She tried to grasp it with her mind multiple times, but nothing happened. In the end she just sighed. “Probably because it doesn’t work that way. I can’t take anything from it. It’s… dead, is the best way to describe it. Makes sense when you think about it; According to the legends we Kitsune—or Gumiho, if you will—drain the life force of whoever we charm with your beauty—yes it sounds arrogant, blame whatever created the Kitsune, because it’s fact. Anyway, according to those we only took the life from living people, and while it’s not entirely accurate it does make sense: If it’s not alive we can’t drain from it.”

Celica clicked her tongue. “Damn. And here I thought something would come out of that.” She glared at the little ball of glass, turning it around in her hand. “I wonder what it would mean for it to be alive,” she muttered in a low voice, seemingly to herself. “A Kitsune can take the energy of a living being, I understand that, but I don’t see the distinction. The energy is there, and it came from me, the energy of a living being, if not in a living vessel. Why would it matter if the thing to be drained is the same? Is it perhaps that I changed it when I placed it inside the object?”

Lily couldn’t help but smile. It was a slightly condescending one, but only slightly. “Someone didn’t listen to the legends. There’s a grain of truth in every legend. What is the exact wording of this specific one? We drain the life, not the energy. What’s in there, I just realised, is only magic. It’s bland and, to be frank, useless. What I can use to power myself is life in its most basic form.” She paused for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts and figure out how to explain it properly. “Wait… I got it wrong. It’s like this: The way I drain is by tethering my mind—or life, you could say—to something else’s. That link allows me to take from them, like a pipe, but it has to be alive for me to be able to establish such a link. If it isn’t… I can’t, plain and simple.” She pointed at the marble. “That’s why the magic in that thing is useless: Because it’s only magic that is not bound to ‘life’.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call it useless. I put it in there, and there is a way to bring it out. Now, if I could only find a way to pull it back intact…” Celica sighed, a disappointed expression on her face, but it was quickly replaced by a smirk. “Well, I learned some things. It’s interesting to think that, even if everything alive has this energy, not everything with magic is alive. Even if things die once their magic is taken from them, magic cannot be the same as life, and maybe not even the same as a soul.”

“It isn’t, but it’s tied so closely to it that if you use too much, you die. It sticks to it, for lack of better words. That’s why you get tired when you use too much of it.”

“Sounds about right,” she said, holding out a hand. “Thanks for the help.”

“You’re… welcome,” she said, hesitating a bit before she tentatively took Celica’s hand in her own.

Celica smiled. “You know, you strike me as a nice girl. I find it hard to picture you trying to kill Alice.”

Rather than scowl, narrow her eyes, or pull her hand to herself, Lily just smiled. “Figured there was something off about you. You did hint at knowing why I was in a bad mood earlier, after all.” She pulled her hand to herself again, her expression never once coming even close to anger. “So you’re a friend of hers?” She asked.

“Nosy roommate,” she clarified. “I admit I’m kind of disappointed. After that warning, I was expecting you to go up in arms. Not quite as fun if you just take it in stride.” She pulled her hand back, resting her chin on it. “So, what did she say, anyway? She didn’t threaten you or someone else, did she? That’s not quite her.”

“What she said is none of your business, but suffice to say there are ghosts in my past I would not want to deal with.” Her tone wasn’t unfriendly per se, but it was definitely not a friendly one either. One would almost say that it was monotone, to some extent. “There’s one thing, however,” she added after a little while. “Why did you expect me to get violent simply by the mention of our conflict?”

“I wouldn’t say violent. Angrily uncooperative, maybe. And that ‘tread carefully’ warning.” She tilted her head. “Come on, there are always ghosts. Think you can trust me with this one? I can tell it bothered Alice.”

Lily chuckled. She couldn’t do anything else. Celica’s request was simply too absurd “Pretending to be a knight in shining armour riding in one your white charger to save me from my past?” She shook her head, almost somberly. “No. You can’t save me, and telling you won’t help. Not to mention that it’s not something I’m going to talk about.”

“Hm. I might not be so tight lipped about the few dozen rules you broke with your demonstration.” Celica clicked her tongue, glancing away. “But then again, that would just be spiteful, wouldn’t it? Fine. I don’t really need to know. I only came to ask if you remember why we are being trained.”

“Why we’re being trained?” Her eyebrows rose almost of their own accord, momentary surprise taking the place of indignation at the threat of blackmail. “I’d say it is to protect ourselves and ultimately push back Endolas to the point where they accept that they cannot achieve their goal of a joint government—or whatever it is they want.”

“We’re going to war, Lily. We’re not students, we are recruits. The Mythics may not see the distinction, but they don’t have to, as long as we have the skills we need. The mindset is not their problem.” For once, the traces of amusement were gone from the pale woman’s face, leaving behind a sober gaze. “When we signed that waiver and took the procedure, our responsibility ceased to extend only as far as ourselves. Once we are out there, and we’re placed on the spot, we will be forced to trust whoever is standing next to us with our lives. There won’t be a choice in the matter. You can hate everyone’s guts, bear as much pain as you want, as long as you can shoulder that responsibility. Whether you actually do it or not is up to you. It’s for us to blindly trust.”

Celica stood up, and began walking away from the piano. “I’ll see you around, Lily. Hope I see you in practice.”

Lily’s curious gaze was fixed upon Celica as she spoke, and then for a time after she said her goodbyes. But before she could leave the room, she called after her. “I may not want to tell you of my past, but I can tell you one thing.”

Celica lagged at the doorway, then looked over her shoulder, eyebrow cocked.

“What I have had,” she waved a hand at the area around them, though indicating the entire compound and every other student—or recruit—in it. “This is more than I’ve ever had.”

Celica snorted. “Then protect it.” And with that, she left.

Lily sighed, shaking her head once again before she turned back to the piano, her fingers quickly finding the notes she had been playing before, her lips parting for one final sentence as Celica left. “And I will.”

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