Crash Landing

This city was so droll.

Celeste watched the people pass – quiet, unassuming, faded. They scurried along for some tasks or another: wake up, work enough to live, live enough to die. They were blinded horses on a scheduled track, and that was all dreadfully boring. It was hardly different than West City on a quiet weekend’s night. Fortunate it was, a lightshow of great convenience was being put off in Lux for all across the bay to enjoy – or anyone who had a mind to take notice without a gasp. The witch leaned against a weathered storefront, arms crossed and eyes wandering. It had been nights since she’d last had a bit of excitement. Nights since she’d last crossed paths with the fanatic relic hunters.

How amusing it would be when they crossed paths again! Perhaps they would know enough then to fear her. Though, of course, there was little to fear as of now. Celeste had no master plans – no plots or schemes and not even an elaborate ruse ending in torture and tragedy. As of now, she was but a careless traveler caught on a breeze, spreading trouble like dandelion seeds until they clouded the sky.

Celeste let out a long sigh, shaking her head before scanning the crowd again. She found no messy, black hair. No exasperated preaching of divinity carried along the wind over the masses. ’Are you hiding?’ The street was washed out. Grey with weathered bricks and weathered people. ’I’ve found all your friends, and I’m dreadfully bored.’ None of them would change the world. None of them would rise up to challenge her now. They weren’t worth her time for the little effort it took to dispatch them. Now where was she? The trail of blood was beginning to run cold, and she yearned to be further sated of more.

Celeste blinked, tilting her head at the sudden heat and unexpected color in the adjacent plaza soon made a crater. It came so quickly. So, blinding – so very hot. Hundreds of lives gone in an instant within the immediate blast, by one’s estimate, more to follow with the second detonation upon the earth after the Sankishin made its descent. The commotion eventually became a scene of those fleeing in terror, a pair of distinguishable figures standing among the panic in a silent revel. An unmistakable one her trained eye should so easily recall, yet something was different. Though maybe it was a trick of the light? It was hard to ascertain through a fan of spread fingers and a surge of heated wind across the face.

Still, Celeste was still certain she knew who had just unfortunately paid Konats an untimely visit. Or perhaps this was a boon in disguise? It remained to be seen. A slow, drawn-out applause would welcome the demonic duo to planet side once the screams had managed to warrant the witch enough air to do so.

”Punctual as ever, I see. Welcome, to what I imagine is likely your paradise.”

PL: 46,000 | Antisense: ON
TWC: 502

Ah, so it was Kamae after all – how fortunate.

The witch would appreciate the demon’s silent intake of the atmosphere of the world, her curiosity piqued over how acute his senses were to the magics bound here. Perhaps a threat of his strength may uncover something here that she could not, possessing as many talents as he did. That elusive trinket the shinjin was after might come along more quickly were she to pool his resources to her own. Nothing on this damned planet would hinder her search, should her suspicions about Ghoun’s recent activities prove any bit of fruitful. It was doubtless he had been busy since their last encounter, and there wasn’t so much as a sniff of the Sankishin’s energy anywhere back on Earth. Though, perhaps she held too much hope in such things, and this was all a random play at chance.

The witch would click her tongue curtly in disappointment when he finally offered his opinion on the city, to find it naught but a buffet of worms to sate his palette.

”A pity. I myself rather fancied a fine seared fish, nice glass of s’tarche sydah to start my night.”

The witch would casually push off the wall, starting in a lazed saunter to the duo. A wide berth given by those who continued to flee the area, though she paid them little mind for the intrigue this familiar presence brought with them to this world. A gesture to the minion would warrant a perk of the brow. The witch would lean to the side to garner a better glimpse of the arcane sentinel at work, a moment or two of silent observation as Ghoun shared his peace on the matter. Obtained, yet incomplete. As ever were the science projects one seemed to tote around it would seem.

Though such things couldn’t be helped – there was an inkling of happiness she felt for him. To have longed and wanted something for so long, to finally be able to have it within one’s grasp after all that time. Well, it was only a feeling she could imagine. Such things were hard kept repaired over the course of time with a dwindling supply of hope and light. Eyes were drawn across the water to the other city tither, a brief hum of disappointment.

”The latter I’m afraid. If that place wasn’t difficult enough to get into before that started, it will certainly prove a feat if it quiets down again.” A huff in disinterest as scarlet returned to meet a familiar set of bold yellow beneath vibrant lime locks. ”My attention has been elsewhere.”

TWC: 940

As far as to why he was here, Kamae was content to leave the explanation to nothing more than a simple reprieve with which to regain his missing strength. A graceful bow of couth would suggest that was all there was to it, and his word as good as golden on the matter. Though of what her? Celeste’s reasons had hardly been touched upon, and already the demon was content to guess away as to whatever it might be. The blond gave an amused hum, but after a few moments of silence, offer up a shrug to convey genuine lack of certainty.

”That’s just the thing, I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for either.”

The witch turned on her heel to saunter toward the boardwalk, and would beckon the demon to follow, as he was wont to do in the past. A leisurely walk would reveal a plethora of eateries and shop stalls all along the waterline; a vibrant constellation of man-made light beneath moonlit, clouding skies. Down on the beach people danced or played sports in the sand by firelight, to the rhythm of the drums played by S’tarche locals at a popular cantina. Celeste would let Kamae take in the festivities, before she would regard him with another glance.

”Now I’m rather fond of this place, so...try not to blow it up too ok!?” The expression and tone she used was so uncharacteristically filled with joy and glee over the matter. As though Kamae didn’t just incidentally slaughter over dozens of people. A familiar face at the bar caught her eye, and Celeste would wave ahead, the briefest glimmers of a girl who used to exist, fleeting through the shadow on the inside. The blond lowered her voice, before offering him a bit more.

”Besides, it will serve much better to mask our conversation. We’re not likely alone on these soils.”

A perk of the brow as she would meet his eyes again with a redoubled smugness.

”Drink?”

TWC: 1272

The witch took her own seat opposite Kamae at a table they found among the bustling atmosphere, raising a pair of fingers to the bartender, who had made sure to keep an eye out for where they sat. She kept her ears on Ghoun while taking in some of the fire dancers down the beach, marveling in how they moved so effortlessly with a flame in their routine. Celeste never could learn to dance like that, despite how adept she became in certain forms, though after all these years - she suspected all that muscle memory had gone out the window. It couldn’t be helped, but she certainly didn’t regret much over it. The witch couldn’t help but chuckle over it, and Kamae’s mention to a lack of vision.

”Oh, it is hardly my lack of vision which has kept me so...complacent.”

It was true, she had been idling for some time in her own menial task of finding this key, but it was best left to another evening, when her own indulgences weren’t so pressing. After all there was much of this world to explore, and to dedicate all her time to something so droll as to upholding her word of a very loose deal at best – it simply wasn’t in the cards in appealing to her interest.

A pair of drinks would arrive, something akin to a purple margarita with an abundance of fruit, tropical décor, and dried ice for a fogging effect beneath a tiny umbrella. The witch took a sip of her own, humming with satisfaction and a nod of approval at the choice of alcohol used for the recipe. ”Much better than on Earth,” she would comment on it before taking in another mouthful. A tug at her lips formed at the mention of Mount Five Element, and that day of carnatic music among the Furnace. Truly how could she forget such a memorable experience? It had certainly been some time since then, so much had happened to them both – and yet here they sat enjoying drinks on a faraway beach among the stars.

The blond considered the notion Kamae presented in the unlikeliness to find her here of all places. Yes, in truth she herself still found it all the more wondrous, and equally curious things to consider about where her decisions and path had led the witch. To even say it, that they were hundreds of parsecs away from all she knew and trusted still, was at an inkling a bit difficult to fathom. Though she was alive tonight – and had never felt more freed than she had in recent memory. There was nothing to bind her here, no witch hunters, no Accords, no misguided altruists proclaiming themselves heroes – just utter exhilarating bliss; An ocean’s width apart from where she stood.

”I won’t deny the very experience has held its own excitements, yet things back home...” The silence took her once more, as she paused to consider her next words carefully. ”Have become, complicated.” Her eyes would meet that of Ghoun’s with a hope that he possibly understood, certainly where his lab may be concerned. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to operate with how things were progressing politically back on Earth. She wasn’t certain what preparations he had done to ensure the survival of his own resources intact, however – it was plain to see that her own whimsical choices couldn’t continue. It wouldn’t be long before she too would be turned into prey for the bounty hunters and fame hungry vigilantes eager to use the Accords for their own avarice fueled agendas.

”So, I sought to dabble a bit with the idea of traveling to one of the worlds our former associate revealed to me. I believed there might lurk a source of strength among the stars left untapped, and thus ventured out in order to find it. My spell, led me to a city beyond the sands by the name of Vynh.”

The witch would take a pause with a sip of her drink, then continue after she had offered Kamae another shade of a smirk. ”The spell taxed a considerable amount of mana and left me in the presence of another proclaiming divinity, who I suspect desires a key to the heart of this world.” A basket of chips and some variety of localized dip was offered to the pair on the table. Celeste took a few for herself on a napkin, breaking one apart before absentmindedly stirring one of the pieces through the exotic salsa.

”So you see, a race of sorts is about to begin – one I believe may prove of interest,” The witch’s eyes flicker once more to Kamae. ”Should you desire an opportunity to kill a god.”

TWC: 2063

If there was any one of the former Yggdrasil members who might have possibly understood and sympathized with Celeste’s plight, it would have been Kamae. The others would have immediately turned their attention to the notion of acquiring this fabled strength, possibly whether it was obtainable or not. The very idea of killing a divine might have made some sheepish, or disinterested, but not the sort of trouble that Ghoun was, no. The idea of testing the strength of his newly reclaimed body possibly intrigued the demon, if Celeste had to take a guess. He never gave an impression that a thorough challenge would shy him away, in fact it was possibly the very reason Kamae stayed as long as he did before the Furnace that evening. If a problem presented itself that could be solved, then it was only the intrigue of the scientist within would take hold to see it through.

The witch’s smirk would only broaden in retort to his opinion on the subject at hand.

”My thought exactly, the opportunity is simply too ripe to pass on.”

Celeste would offer an upturned palm after taking another indulgence of the exotic dip, pausing to hum over the spice but a moment before she would continue.

”If I recall, there was something mentioned about an exhibit to be put on display at the university here in the city. The underling was convinced this key in question is to be the subject of this event.”

A waitress would step to the table with digital pad in one hand, and a pair of shots grasped firmly in the other before setting the glasses between the pair of customers. ”Sorry for bothering you two, but Roze wanted to treat you to some shots, since you were kind enough to help him with the fish.” She gave a nod behind her lazed chew of bubblegum over to the bar, where Celeste’s acquaintance would once more offer a friendly nod and wave. ”Oh?” offered the witch in surprise, before reaching out to take her own glass. A shrug to Kamae before she offered cheers to them all, made motion to clink glasses with the demon, then would slam the drink back. It would burn more fiercely than any Earth concoction she ever indulged, and yet among the burn was the sweetest, most vibrant taste of exotic fruit that ever passed her lips.

”Oh. Oh, my.”

What in the world was that delicious treat?

”Sweet S’tarchefish Pucker. A thousand zeni a shot. You’re welcome.”

The witch was a little awestricken at the rarity and price of the drink, all given to them for free simply because she helped the poor konatsian find his goldfish the other afternoon in the bay. It hadn’t been lost or anything, Roze simply wished to go out and catch a new one to teach old tricks like another he had. In hindsight it seemed less tedious than the afternoon’s stress had led her to believe about the entire venture, and as that vibrant flavor began to fade, so too did any aggravations she had about that day.

TWC: 2,581

A warranted silence passed over the table, with little surprise. Celeste had chosen this locale for a reason, after all it would allow for a suited ambience to fill the void in their talks whensoever it might arrive. In another light it provided an atmosphere likened to distraction, permitting the witch to make whatever observations about her subject of study with little hindrance from obvious suspicion. Indeed, she took much in the time between the seconds, merely diverting her attention to the festivities abound whenever those intense shades of gold might fall upon the sorceress. Though when he finally did choose to break the silence again, it wasn’t at all what she might have expected to come next.

The witch kept a close ear on the conversation while seeming to divert her focus, eyes fallen upon her drink and the frothing fog which continued to exude from its contents. The former Yggdrasil scientist would proceed to drill her with a rather direct, unusually personal question which pertained to her opinions of betrayal and revenge. At once her thoughts trailed back to home, to the path she had walked alone against a people she could still barely call her own. How easily she had been turned upon by Selene’s word alone, how quickly she had become ostracized, demonized by all she knew. She had her share of dark, unspoken intentions which quite easily dipped into the waters of vengeance and hatred.

Were these not the very reasons which still carried and guided her feet along this path?

The witch offered naught but silent contemplation to the inquiry Kamae brought forth, mulling over her losses and gains all in the pursuit of a power to right her world’s wrongs. Faces of her loved ones passed fleeting through her mind, their smiles lost to an umbral void that was inevitability. Everything she had ever striven to protect, held dear, taken from her one way or another.

Kamae spoke of himself and his nature, whether to simply remind the witch of what he was, or to let linger in the air like an unspoken threat, she couldn’t be certain. She remained all too aware of what transpired here, whose company she was so willing to indulge, yet the unsettling truth under it all did nothing to phase her resolve. The demon carried on to a tale of betrayal that he had only recently endured; a possible side-effect to whatever affairs he had chosen to involve himself in, of which Celeste came to suspect involved the recovery of that prized vessel he was so overtly fond of.

The witch took another sip of her drink, desiring him to simply get to the point in this outré turn of conversation. In truth, he did not trust her. The very words were enough to warrant the attention of those scarlet eyes once more. So, it had come to this. She had been content to leave the phantasmal practitioner to his own devices, sort out whatever affairs it felt needed addressed, so long as the after effects needn’t impede whatever progress she might make in her own studies.

Up to this point it had gone rather smoothly, they had indirectly avoided one another’s path, and in so doing gleaned more of their own pursuits than the others of their former alliance ever dreamed. It had not escaped Celeste’s attention that Ghoun remained a very viable threat to her own plans, and the rest of the cosmos at that. It had all been more of an amusement, to see what might become of the worlds should a danger such as Kamae be left to continue wandering the stars, ever free to pursue his own malicious desires. Though now his sights seemed to have settled on her once more, much as they had back within the heart of the mountain. That same incessant curiosity returned, yet this time it had come reenforced by an air of entitlement as the demon merely demanded to be given what he sought.

Celeste found the entire notion laughable, in fact she could hardly contain the maniacal fit that soon burst from her lips. Many passing their table would grant her the most incredulous, and wary of glances, doing their best to hasten their steps away from the unusual tourists. In fact, she paid the snakes and their victims little mind at that. The witch would stifle her fun, granting the demon a wide smirk - all too akin to the one she wore the day they met.

””Are we to embrace, and reminisce? To while away the hours in reverence of our deeds? Come now, Kamae. Your insecurity has sought me out with purpose, has it not? To scornfully tie up the loose ends because defeat tastes so bitter!” The witch would laugh some more, then sip her drink while she stared him down arrogantly over the glass brim. ”Do consider this. Perhaps what you must know - does not pertain to me? It is as I’ve ever proclaimed. Who I am is of little consequence – or importance.” She would lean back in her own seat, and offer the scenery another gleeful smile. ”That does not however,” Her tone suddenly so jovial and chipper -”Give you reign over me to do whatever with as you please.”

The waitress would arrive carrying two hot steaming plated entrees – some local konatsian dish not too far displaced from the likeness of pulled meat over rice, some form of bean, and a lava-colored tart. The witch casts Ghoun another glance, setting her drink down next to her meal with smug satisfaction. ”I’ve ever proffered but the best, alas I suppose my gestures of good will have availed me naught.” The witch offers a dreadful sigh, feigning exhaustion with a hand draped over her forehead. She would then peer out one eye, smirk again – then begin to dine while it was still warm.

”Strength or no strength, I will have what is owed to me, Kamae. You signed a contract with a witch, the moment you decided to so greedily take that laboratory for your own desires.” She would pause to swallow, and savor in the taste of this dish. ”And all to help precious widdle Sobi at that!” A soft chuckle. It’s adorable, really. To see a demon so concerned with mortal concerns and feelings. Though I suppose that must be a lingering after-effect. An echo of who you used to be, no?” A shrug at the irrelevance she found in the question, having used it more of a prod and poke at his focus than to actually know the answer.

”Were those sacrifices all those years ago worth it? This entire years' worth of ambition? To sit here before the likes of me, only to see what has become of you now?” The witch’s tone was so brash and cruel it would be a wonder she’d remain alive after such a remark. ”A pathetic, broken creature so blinded by passion and desire – it could never realize a true defeat of those proclaimed heroes of Earth, much less the rest of a hopeless galaxy?”

The more she took in of this delicacy the greater she longed for something back home. Maybe it was homesickness, or the way the vegetable reminded her of those baked beans in a can. Either way the damned thing needed a gravy, and the waitress had already wandered out of earshot or flagging distance. Celeste supposed she would just have to make due with whatever came off the rest of the food, much like her current predicament. The witch looked up again, at what might very well be the last face she looked upon – unless his temper held, and gave him a soft smile.

”By the way, how was your drink?”

The witch was content to sit through the prideful reaction to her words, ignoring the spouts of indolence simply for what they were: a blind, lost once-man's delusional rantings and self-justification of incorrigible actions. Brilliant in some aspect though he was, Kamae was still nothing more than what she had been trained since birth to fear, hate and eventually hunt to kill. It mattered little the reasonings of which it so hoarsely shouted to be truth, lies were lies no matter what shade they were colored. She was no saint – this much was true, Celeste too had her own share of sins for which to eventually pay penance for one day. Finite though her life may have been, she never fully cast aside what still remained of herself in a true pursuit of power.

To sate her curiosity never meant to sacrifice all she was in the process, for even she knew where to draw the line on a fruitless endeavor. It was a definite trait that separated the pair from each other, why the demon was so content to gloat and boast over his regained power, and why the witch would never so much as utter a word of her own. Though, from where rose true strength? The body, the soul? Or was it something else altogether which drove the indomitable will forward to its goals? Celeste considered these notions thoughtfully, rather than heed the emotional bait that yet another delusional demon sought to lay out before her feet.

The witch had to arch a brow with his final chuckle, the remark on the drink warranting a tug at the corner of her smug smile.

”I quite agree. The native fruits used in the concoction gave it a suitable camouflage, with which the bartender was able to dose them.”

The witch would pause her eating, set aside her silverware to elegantly dab her lips with the given napkin. She could only offer a smile of satisfaction, while the realization over the weight in her words might slowly begin to dawn upon the demon. Celeste would reach up one of her sleeves, before holding forth a small crystal vial – hardly bigger than a spice shaker, between finger and thumb. The malice in the witch’s eyes would almost twinkle as they slowly inspected the contents within – a colorless liquid plasma.

”A fascinating study alchemy, and even more so the origin from where these venoms are derived. It comes from an interesting strain of belladonna, grown back home - for its ability to ravage a spirit’s composition of aether. Often given to those wishing peace, before the evil of their sins eventually consume what remains of the soul. All of which eventually beg for death by the end.” A playful twist of her hand and fingers, and the vial was soon gone from sight, well without of reach from a desperate fool too angered to bargain. The witch would resume her meal once more, chuckling to herself as she would let the weight of the moment have it’s time to sink in.

”Why, whatever is the matter? Did you honestly believe I came here without a clear vision in mind?”

TWC: 4,404