Tha sin mar bhàs.

[hollystrike]

Who: Katie and you!
Broadcast: Yes!
Action: Planetside
When: Now-ish

[Amusement Park]

[So this is where she goes when she wants time to think, apparently.  The bunker is a place she won't enter; between the heavy aftermath of a mass death and the understandably stricken reactions of its visitors, the atmosphere is far too toxic.  But it doesn't mean she isn't grieving.  The deaths could not be helped and are god knows how far in the past, but the fact that these people have been forgotten - not acknowledged even by this automated town, let alone the rest of space - is something that sits very poorly.  She can't even change anything about the town to reflect its population's final days.

She's walking the rollercoaster tracks, very high up, thinking over the issue.  Don't ask how she got up that high.  And don't worry if you should be using the rollercoaster at the time; she can avoid you.  Might give you a bit of a scare, though, sorry.

Eventually, she puts a call through to Sam.]

[Outside of town]

[As far as she can go before she suspects (or hopes) she's outside the range of the city's replication science so her work isn't scrubbed.  She's not too far from the bunker; it would be pointless if she were too far away from it. 

She finds a rock face smooth enough, and between a thick blade and Kirito's lightsaber she carves a memorial.  Maybe nobody will ever see it, but if any other visitors come to this place, they should know what happened.  It's worth the extra headache.]

[And Broadcast]

I've decided to quit making dreamcatchers and move on to voodoo dolls instead.  It's more fun.  So if you'd like to take one before I end up throwing them all out, feel free.

[Just so you know.  Totally honest, as usual.  Less cheerful than normal.

If anyone wants her she'll be curled up in her office with Licorice on her lap.  She's so tired of these planets.]

Comments

[tsunergy]

[SNORT. That's hilarious.]

Lord of the Land means she's the guardian seraph of that particular city and its surrounding region. Humans provide prayers and offerings to the chosen shrine, and in exchange the Lord of the Land protects the region from an overwhelming level of malevolence.

[hollystrike]

[Hey look A CAT CAN BE A KING
oh wait a cat can look at a king that's how the saying goes oh well]

Well. That sounds far more important than being some paltry king, anyway.

[tsunergy]

[in this case a cat can be a god, which is much more impressive, in a way.]

There isn't even a king in Pendrago, paltry or otherwise- Rolance is ruled by an emperor. Not that it really matters much who's in charge to a seraph, so I'm told. Morgrim's probably seen so many rise and fall for it to even be an issue.

[hollystrike]

[You know, there's still comparisons she can draw between the Fae and Seraphs in general. Some of the details wildly differ, but the Lord of the Land stuff was kind of how it worked for them a good... five, six centuries ago.

Times change.] Is Morgim immortal? [Which thought occurs:] Are you?

[tsunergy]

Ah... technically yes, and yes. At least, I've never heard of a seraph dying of old age. Zaveid, Eizen, and Edna are all over a thousand years old, maybe two, and Gramps was older than all of them combined.

[He's a little uncomfortable about it; generally, the thought of living that long is still scary, especially when one factors in his very human partner. But then, if he was human, that would have brought about a whole number of other problems.]

[hollystrike]

[But you can become a dragon. Is that Bad End?]

That's a lot of other people to see come and go. [Definitely thinking of Sorey.] I think I'd rather live in sets of lifetimes, if I had the option.

[tsunergy]

[Very Bad End.]

I haven't given it much thought, admittedly. I'm still around twenty years old, still young enough to count in actual numbers. I probably won't know how I feel until I've lived a lot more.

[hollystrike]

At least you won't have to take the journey on your own, if Seraphs all live such long lives.

[tsunergy]

True enough. I have a whole seraph family to support me if I get lonely, and it might be exciting to witness the lives of many humans and their descendants.

[BRIGHT SIDE... reach for that bright side.]

[hollystrike]

Is reincarnation a belief where you're from?

[She has it easier in a sense because she just keeps recycling.]

[tsunergy]

It... exists, in a sense. Under the right circumstances, humans can be reborn as seraphim when they die.

[There's a sliver of unease and a quiet sadness in those words. His understanding of that process is... complicated.]

[hollystrike]

[She can pick up on some of that, but not the whys. So a little softer--]

Is that... not a good thing?

[tsunergy]

No, it's... that's not exactly it.

[The easiest explanation would be to dig into situation with Sorey- that the seraph rebirth isn't guaranteed, that it often comes with a price. It's a painful thought, to consider it might not happen, but mostly hopeful. His prospects are good.

He knows Katie, though. She's not a stranger, but rather someone he's come to trust. He doesn't owe anyone anything, but he'd prefer to be honest with her. So, after a slight hesitation,]

Sorey and I were found together as infants- a human and seraph. I was born human, though. And... died.

[It's an explanation, but open-ended- she can ask or leave it at that, and he'll spare her the grim details. Her choice.]

[hollystrike]

[Oh, that's a very young time to die. Her expression softens, but that long ago perhaps Mikleo can't remember it clearly.]

Did you have a human family?

[And of course she can't leave well enough alone.]

[tsunergy]

[It's hard to tell if he's relieved or concerned that she's asking; either way, he's entirely unprepared, hesitating awkwardly.]

I had a mother, and... an uncle. He was the Shepherd before Sorey- his Prime Lord was Lailah, actually. They lived in a little village below Elysia's mountain, in between the main countries of our continent. My mother... she left me with this.

[He touches a hand to his forehead, lifting his bangs- his gold circlet is there, inlaid with green gems. She's probably seen bits of it under his hair before, he's never without it.]

I was... maybe a year old, so I don't really remember them. Almost everything that I saw of them was through the iris gems- they can reveal important fragments of the past in our world.

[hollystrike]

[It's the awkwardness that makes Katie decide not to press more about them-- well, not in the way she would have as a child, anyway. Are they still alive? She suspects the answer is no.

Especially not if Sorey is the Shepherd now. There's generally only one, isn't there...?]

Who found you? [She's sifting through vague memories; calibrations brought her some information there, which was also painful.] Your grandfather? Or-- Gramps?

[Not grandfather by blood, she assumes.]

[tsunergy]

Not exactly. My mother brought me to him after I'd been reborn as a seraph- she wanted him to take care of me, while she...

[He trails off, lips pursing; he's giving the story in half-parts, and that's bound to get confusing. It's not fair to her when she's offering to hear him out.

Shaking his head, he tries again.]

The village, Camlann, is where the seraph Maotelus resided- he's the leader of the Five Lords, essentially the protector of the whole continent. It was under attack by two rival countries vying for the territory in between. Innocent people were being killed, the land was growing corrupted... even Maotelus was affected.

[It's strange to describe it- to relive it, in a sense, the way he had back then, watching it unfold before his eyes. The scent of burning houses, the screams of the townsfolk, the blood soaking into the ground, it's all impossible to forget. In that kind of environment, what seraph would be able to remain pure? The whole place had reeked of desperation.

He reaches out and gently tugs Lucen into his lap, stroking the cat's fur as his voice drops.]

My uncle used me as a sacrifice to curse the man he felt was responsible for it all, and that curse trapped Maotelus in malevolence he couldn't endure. It started the new Age of Chaos that Sorey brought an end to after almost twenty years.

[In other words, his family did a Bad Thing.]

[hollystrike]

[Maotelus is a name that tugs at her memory, and it takes her a long moment of trying to work out why. It brings to mind a field, and pooling malevolence, and--

--oh, this isn't her memory. It's Mikleo's, lifted from a dream he shouldn't have been forced into having.]

Your world has been very harsh to the two of you, hasn't it? [She wonders if he remembers her poking around in his head. Some don't.

There's a gentle pat-pat on Mikleo's leg. Licorice wants up, surely you have room for two.]

[tsunergy]

I think the world is harsh to everyone. It's sort of the nature of things. We survived it a lot better than many others have.

[Or in his case, was given a second chance to live it. A third, if you count surviving the process of separating Heldalf from Maotelus. They'd all halfway expected to die in that fight.

He's small, but his lap is still big enough for two cats, so he nudges Lucen over to make room until she can curl up. He's got two hands for petting, so he'll put them to work. Despite his dismissive tone, he kind of looks like he needs them there.]

I'm sorry if I'm oversharing. That isn't my intent.

[Not just with words- she gets flashes of things sometimes, he knows, like the whole thing with Sam, and his own dragon-related issues. He doesn't want to burden her with more, but he can't help what she sees, either.]

[hollystrike]

[Looking like he needs it is exactly why Katie suggested Licorice do it. Not in as many words, of course. (Or any words at all.)]

Well, you are in a supposed counsellor's office. [She keeps her tone light. It's okay, Mikleo. Oversharing is generally what happens around pooka, anyway.] Does Sorey know all this?

[tsunergy]

[Yeah, that's fair. Counselling isn't something he knows much about - Edna isn't exactly a stellar example, and it's not a common concept in his world - so this is pretty new for him.]

He knows. He saw it all with me- he was born in that same village, the day that everyone else died. Gramps and my mother found him as she was handing me over. It's why we were raised together.

[hollystrike]

For someone to be born into such chaos and turn out how Sorey has is a small miracle in itself, isn't it? [She smiles faintly.]

At least you didn't have to grow up alone. That's the best defense against harsh worlds, I think. Finding silver clouds among all the linings.

[Not quite how the saying goes, but she's pushing a little too close to honesty as it is.]

[tsunergy]

Mmm... yes, we were lucky.

[At times he struggled with that, because there have been plenty of hardships since (and indeed because of) those incidents, but... well, they did have a good life together. It was just far too short.]

I think it's why we don't really talk about it. It sort of feels like- it wasn't really us, so it hardly matters. Camlann wasn't our home, and our parents didn't raise us- Gramps and those in Elysia did. We lost a few strangers and the idea of another life we may have shared. It's sad, but... I don't know.

[hollystrike]

Yes, well. "Blood is thicker than water" is a full and complete saying where I'm from, and I've always found it rubbish. [At least these days, it's easier to tell herself that.]

It's a could-have-would-have-maybe. Interesting to think about sometimes, and maybe it might have been nice, but what you have is no poor substitute.

[tsunergy]

Mm, true enough. And I'm comforted with the idea that whether the calamity had happened or not, we'd still have grown up together. He's more important to me than the rest of it.

[Not that he'll often say that out loud, but.]