Episode 6
"Anointing Problems"
I can use these eggs.
This thought had flowed to the fore of your mind as you descended the stairs moments ago. It had passed through on silent feet and because of it, you paused in your destruction, your Soul Arrows ceasing to fly from your hands.
Now, here you are. Your eyes are resting on the plinth of stone where a bare few eggs remain, as wisps of your Soul Arts evaporate into nothing. You are standing serenely in the darkness. The face you are wearing is blank, calm.
I can use one of these eggs.
The thought peaks your curiosity, of a sort. Looking inwards you trace the path of the thought. There is nothing to find. Nothing amiss.
Perhaps another consequence of my changes? You know you have been changing since you left the influence of the Old Monk and his direction. This is as it should be. But…
Hmmm, perhaps I have been in error in my past decisions.
As a
hmmm of air whistles between your lips, you resume blasting and smashing the remaining eggs. You leave one and when it is done you wrap this one egg in a swaddling of tattered netting pulled from the nest. Your mind only briefly notes these actions however, as you turn to leave the home and disappear into the night. It is far more focused on an introspective consideration of your past choices.
Is there some place where my experience has failed me in this world? This thought accompanies you, as you walk far more lightly than you should.
You are not sure if there is such a place.
The trip back home is quick. You know that the sun is only a few short hours away. The wards you set are silent and calm when you emerge from the shadows in front of your home. The silver car your servant found and stole is quiescent beside you.
You enter your home and find the entrance hall quiet. The stone is cool, and a faint scent of berries, and your servant, lingers in the air. Your servant's Soul is strong, resting in her room on the fourth floor far above you.
Hmmm… I have no need of her right now. Your eyes flick over the room before settling on your table. Casting away your seeming entirely you settle into the chair at the head of the table, facing toward the front door.
On that table you place the "Remington" and your purse, which also contains the egg, peeking out of the top. You had never really paid any attention to this table, and sitting at it now you only briefly note that it has a dark lacquered wood and a pattern of lilacs and leaves carved around the edge. The chairs also follow a similar theme, with the backs and seats upholstered in white leather.
No, you pay little attention at all to these things.
In fact, you pay little attention to anything outside your mind now that you are seated. In the inhuman and inhumane expanse of your mind you retread the past decisions you have made, seeking out some previous decision where you were perhaps foolish because of the new existence you find yourself in.
Your running deception of the Warrior and Angel is acceptable, you were weak at the time and even now fighting them, consuming them, is not the proper course. Not yet. Then, is it somewhere else where you made a mistake and that is what is causing your mind to seethe?
Perhaps… your mind flits towards your interactions with the vampires of the Master. Is there some other way you could have interacted with them? Perhaps… Declaring your domain and dictating lines and boundaries to his servants...
Hmmm, no. That is not what agitates you, though there is a part of it which is related.
It takes no thought for you to decide twisting your servant was not a mistake. You must have access to the Revival Spell, and she is the one who will carry it in this world. Your mind then slides over an event closely aligned in time. Killing the witches.
That… your head tilts left. You decide that it was hasty, though not ill-done, as you would have killed them eventually.
But you have not been hasty in quite some time.
How odd.
Rifling through your memories, you look at them, searching through the little glittering motes for whatever small thing is hiding here. And you find it in the scene where you fight the mother witch and her daughter. Aggression. Desire for destruction. Hunger for hunger's sake. Old, old,
old Fog Demon ideals and instincts and beliefs.
The conclusion is apparent to you; you had struck out because of territorial desires and hunger rising to prominence in your changed mind. Setting aside this conclusion for a moment you search through the other decisions you have made. The approach for the Rat King was acceptable and you know nothing from that series of events agitates you.
The next event you come to is the Mantis' creatures. You realized while destroying them that you did not have to fight them yourself. But
why did you come to this conclusion?
They were too weak, was your initial thought, not worth the time you would spend on them. But that is not valid. If they are weak you can easily consume them. So why did you?
A test… you realize.
You know the Soul of the Warrior and Angel, but you know little of their actual ability except for one showing against the Rat King and one other time with Angel against the giant rats. So the reason you must have decided this was as a
test for them, or the Master. This is not right.
Having such thoughts hidden from my awareness is not acceptable. Subconscious thoughts and structures are normal for your kind, as you are corruptions of Souls to begin with and they possess such things. But for you in particular they should only be thoughts of your task and how they can fulfill your hunger.
Oneness of purpose.
You hear he then, next to you. Looking over you see your servant staring at you from a few meters away, her hands held behind her. Her expression is interesting. Hidden confusion, concern, curiosity and interest. A glance of worry, concern, disgust and anger when she spies the egg. All squashed under a blank mask similar to your own. Tilting your head to the right you relax your posture, imitating an "open" posture.
"These are for you." You say quietly, gesturing at the weapon and the purse while plucking out the egg with one of your lower arms, the life within pulsing against your palm. Her expression doesn't change overmuch as she slowly approaches the table and looks at the items laid there, which is interesting as she has usually been much more expressive in your presence.
You watch as she picks up the weapon, running her hands over it, pausing as she gets to various parts like the trigger and looking at them intently. Spinning it over in her hands after completing her examination she sets it on the table, and looks at you, an eyebrow cocked questioningly. You are already raising your hand, gesturing for her to speak.
Her eyes flick briefly down to the weapon again and her voice is as quiet as yours when she speaks. "Thank you my Lady…" She looks up at you shyly, her hand lightly stroking the device. Whatever she catches in your expression is enough to encourage her to continue speaking.
"My daddy used to own a gun just like this." She chuckles. "If I had the right tools I could take this apart and put it back together in a couple of minutes." Her eyes drop again. Reaching over she starts to pull items out of the purse. You can tell from how her posture tenses that she is restraining herself from jumping around in joy. The corners of her mouth flicking in hidden smiles give it away in particular.
"Did he now?" Your soft and lilting voice makes her jump, startled out of her light reverie.
"He did." She says, nodding vigorously. You rise, causing her to look at you.
"It is yours now." You say, and walking around the table you head for the stairs. Behind you, you can hear a
clatter and very quiet
squeak as your servant hurries after you, still carrying the items. Passing through the sanctum wards the energy of the Hellmouth quiets even further, muffled by the faint hymn the wards make.
Careful with the egg, held in one of your left hands, you stride through the columns and arches of the room and arrive before the spent sigil you once stored the rat prisoner in. You'll need to do something with that corpse soon as well. Setting the egg down you draw a quick circle out of your energy and the sanctum wards, sealing it in.
Rising, you see your servant depositing the items on the lower shelf, except for the gun. She is throwing glances between you, the egg and the Gauntlet of Mynhegon. Interesting. You step beside her and survey the items you have collected in your time here so far. Another thing you did not do before. Not exactly.
You glance at your servant briefly, a flicker of genuine curiosity passing over your features where she can't see. No, you collected people.
Reaching out with your upper hands you pull the Gauntlet down from the shelf, feeling the magic of it coursing through the cold metal and sparking lightly against your fingers. You feel your servant looking at you and turning, you find her with her head tilted in curiosity. Holding the glove something like a child or pet you look at the woman.
"Do you know what this is?" You ask her, your voice monotone.
She nods, slowly, expression intense.
"It is dangerous. A weapon for the…" She pauses, looking at it intently. Then she continues, "I am not certain. Just the taste of sky." Her tone is odd, uncertain of itself like you have rarely heard from her. It would appear her sight has a limit when viewing items enchanted in the way the Gauntlet was.
How odd.
You incline your head slightly, and speak. "Indeed. A weapon. I have plans for it. And you." You look at her out of the corner of your eye as you stroke the Gauntlet. All of it an affectation.
A strange, eager and yet cautious expression widens her eyes at this. She won't speak. Yet. So you continue.
"This, and a few other things. To make you something far
more than the
meat and bone standing before me
." You lean down at these last words, your head harshly tilted to the left and teeth bared in a grotesque expression. "Do you understand what I offer?" You ask, your voice ringing like bells and humming in the air.
The woman nods, her posture wavering between an instinctive retreat and a desire to edge forward. She nods again, and then speaks.
"I understand." Annie's voice wobbles. You've awoken fear in her, and also interest.
You watch her eradicate that fear and straighten your posture as she does so.
Good, that is the proper response. You nod serenely, face impassive again at this response. You can see her desire to speak rising so you simply wait, feeling the gauntlet almost purr in your arms. Your servants posture goes from a simple attentive stance to something nervous and unsure, her hand flicking up to play with her red hair and her eyes focused on the floor.
After a few moments of your silence and shifting her weight uncertainty Annie actually looks at you and blurts out the question bothering her.
"Will I get to go out and hunt your enemies soon… or will I… have to wait for this to be done." She says in a staccato burst which dies as she speaks, curling in on herself slightly. But you can almost taste her drive to… protect you.
Hmm, I didn't expect that.
What do you say?
[] Yes, let her go out and hunt things.
[] No, she will wait for a while longer.
And that's that,
finally finally done. Hurray!
I'm going back to my normal breakneck pace.
Voting will be closed at 6:00 pm UTC today, July 17th.
