What happens if a holdasszony's heart is literally stolen, whether from their own chest or from a holder? Or if a holdasszony just removes and hides their heart somewhere?
Can a heart be deliberately broken in such a way that a holdasszony can give it to more than one being at a time, or will that just invariably destroy it?
Will it automatically shatter if the one who holds it dies? I could see a place for some more Inigo Montoya style vengeance, where the murderer of a holdasszony's loved one finds themself hunted down and slaughtered years later by the one they wronged. Even more so if the love created by the heart isn't necessarily romantic; that would also leave room for a dynamic where the first one to hold a newborn holdasszony's heart is a parent, with the expectation that one day the parent will return it.
They fall in love with the scoundrel who stole their heart and his rogueish ways.
It sickens and dies if not owned by a person.
No, that would just destroy it.
No, it's fine if the owner dies and a killer can take it (unless they accidentally break it in the course of killing husbando).
Nope, they're moon wives; it's romantic adoration (though it doesn't necessarily have to be a sexual relationship).
Moon wives are quite a brutal lens through which to view relationships and love and abuse. It's quite intentional that there are a number of ways that their nature can be taken advantage of or turn into really scary territory - at least until those situations run into the fact that a moon wife can always, always return to her heart and shatter it herself. And then she's a vengeful yandere demon without an ounce of love or pity in her chest, so things get a bit Kill Billish (but with more mercury poisoning).
Moon wives are quite a brutal lens through which to view relationships and love and abuse. It's quite intentional that there are a number of ways that their nature can be taken advantage of or turn into really scary territory - at least until those situations run into the fact that a moon wife can always, always return to her heart and shatter it herself.
To be clear what I meant by that, that was my way of noting that one of their distinctive things is that holdasszony can always Hurry Home to their heart.
You can lock it up somewhere safe, hide it and not tell her where it is, run away with it, and it won't help. A moon wife can vanish and reappear touching her heart. Which, of course, if you're doing what you're "meant" to and taking personal care of it, means she can always find you to help you, or return to your side.
That seems like the type of thing which would lead the more paranoid or ruthless demon summoners to prioritize finding a way to prevent other people or the Holdasszony herself from accessing her heart and would thereby inspire heroic action from young men to free the beautiful maiden from the evil man who keeps her heart locked away. This seems like it could be the start of a very interesting tale that would end quite differently depending on whether the heart is eventually stolen or destroyed.
Does a relationship with a moon wife really have to end badly? It seems like they would make an exemplary partner for someone understands their nature and is careful to avoid behaving in a manner that would agitate their more "yandere" instincts. I don't think that the Holdasszony innately possess any qualities that would make achieving a reasonably healthy long-term relationship with a decent human or demon partner impossible.
I could actually see the fondness for summoning Holdasszony as partners to eventually lead to the beginning of a demon-blood clan that is comprised of sorcerers who summon a Holdasszony as some kind of coming of age or graduation ceremony with the end goal of eventually continuing the family line by having her give birth to a demon-blooded child.
(Well, obviously beside having an arcane connection to them)
That's the joke. Their heart isn't a biological heart. It doesn't pump blood around their bodies. It's just a heart from a love perspective. You can steal their heart and they'll love you. They can give you their heart and they'll fall for you. You can break their heart and they'll hate you for it. But it's "just" love. You can't kill them by destroying it; you can't force their obedience because you have it; they can't have a heart attack.
And love isn't a truly reliable means of control. They're very stable and well-behaved demons - as long as you treat them romantically, make time for them, and don't cheat on them. As soon as you treat "having the heart" as a magical means of control rather than just a statement that they love you, then things start going wrong and you can well wind up with them going full yandere.
(the other joke is that if you just want them as an architect, you just summon the demon and don't make them bring their heart with them, so they love someone else but that's a long way away and that doesn't really affect the here and now. Sure, they'll pine somewhat over the fact they can't see their husbando, but binding will make them rationalise things. There's only really a risk of them going yandere if they love you. So they're actually most useful as demons when you use them as architects and sculptors and keep romance out of things)
And Oula was giving hers to Keris, until Suddenly Rathan. I sincerely hope that this interrupt gets Oula to reconsider the target of her affections. Because somehow, I think "I accidentally a demon waifu, wut do" would go over well with Sasi or Calesco, given that keeping Oula happy while holding her heart would require legitimately treating her as a beloved wife, and I'm not sure Keris could really provide that to her. Meanwhile just giving her heart away instead of keeping it wouldn't go over well with Haneyl and possibly Rathan by virtue of Keris' Be Loved 4-dot and Possesiveness 3-dot principles, or (once again) Calesco due to basically no one being able to handle a demon wife who must be loved Or Else and also drips highly toxic mercury wherever she goes.
Actually you know what never mind, I do want Keris to take Oula's heart as a genuine act of kindness, not knowing the consequences (to be fair, given that she's the first of her kind, no one could know the consequences.) It sounds like it would be hilarious. Or possibly result in Freedom Lets Go, but that's its own kind of hilarity.
Just remember kids, try not to have more than one waifu, more than one waifu will ruin your laifu. Also, getting demon-married to your son's friend is probably Not A Thing That Cool Moms Do. Even if it was accidentally.
Well-spotted. Yes, holdasszony couples are possible, though not as common as you might think. It's one of the most "free" states they can exist in, and Calesco is known to look favourably on such pairings and offer them homes in the Meadows.
Remember that Calesco hurts everybody - especially the people she hates, but including the people she loves, and also including herself. Her hurting everybody around her is why she can't get a date, so keeping around a Holdasszony couple or two would serve to remind her of her own shortcomings.
If you look at the three major Charms that went into Vali at birth, they were Countless Cities Clotting (his brass and basalt regrowth), Cracked Cell Circumvention (his general attitude and nature) and Racing Vitaris. This last is his lightning and his sudden bursts of explosive force. When Keris uses the Charm it manifests as blinding light, Knockback force and an anima-halo of flickering afterimages, but in Vali the combination of "blinding light" and "sudden explosive force" combined with the metal in him and the way his TEDness took form as greasy black storm clouds meant that the Adorjani speed turned into black-fringed actinic blue lightning. It arcs around him when he runs in those sudden jolts of speed and it crackles forward when he stops to scorch the ground in front of him - essentially essence-bremsstrahlung.
(He then added most of Keris's other Malfeas Charms for his toughen up, smash-and-rebuild themes and Ancient and Firstborn oath-making as a statement that the only thing that can chain him is himself, but those three are basically his core.)
If you look at the three major Charms that went into Vali at birth, they were Countless Cities Clotting (his brass and basalt regrowth), Cracked Cell Circumvention (his general attitude and nature) and Racing Vitaris. This last is his lightning and his sudden bursts of explosive force. When Keris uses the Charm it manifests as blinding light, Knockback force and an anima-halo of flickering afterimages, but in Vali the combination of "blinding light" and "sudden explosive force" combined with the metal in him and the way his TEDness took form as greasy black storm clouds meant that the Adorjani speed turned into black-fringed actinic blue lightning. It arcs around him when he runs in those sudden jolts of speed and it crackles forward when he stops to scorch the ground in front of him - essentially essence-bremsstrahlung.
(He then added most of Keris's other Malfeas Charms for his toughen up, smash-and-rebuild themes and Ancient and Firstborn oath-making as a statement that the only thing that can chain him is himself, but those three are basically his core.)
@Aleph when you are drawn into your tiger empire by Fourth Soul Devil Domain, does that count as normal sleep? Does it allow willpower recovery, reduce fatigue, etc
The great colleges of Saata predate the current government in that pirate-city. The eldest, those associated with the Great Temple of Mercury Wind-Swift are the remnants of Shogunate institutions of learning, sharing scraps of knowledge passed down from a devastated faculty of priests. Even during the times of the Blue Monkey Shogunate successor-state, the schools of Saata were respected in the southern reaches of that empire. But the Realm smashed the Blue Monkey Shogunate, and for two hundred years the South West past An Teng has been known as the Anarchy.
In the modern day, the colleges of Saata are part of a city ruled by pirate lords. The students were always infamous for their criminality and vice, but such a reputation has only redoubled. Student thaumaturges who cannot afford their fees - or want more money for booze - hire themselves out to pirates as weather-diviners, soothsayers and freelance god-speakers. In back-alley shops, alchemist drop-outs brew up drugs from the reagents of the Far South West that flow into the port here. In the bars, students drink and they gamble, then go out on the town to fight in the streets and smash up the furniture in brothels.
Among the students there is extreme economic inequality. The princelings of pirate lords attend college dressed in fine silks, escorted by their personal bodyguards and their tutors. Less well-off students have to scrape by, working for richer students as their manservants, serving the colleges, or living off alms and begging for food. The larger colleges are entire neighbourhoods in their own right, with service economies largely consisting of students and failed graduates. The chancellor-princes sit beside pirate lords at grand feasts, and many have their own raiding fleets.
Many consider the corrupt nature of the city made evident by the fact that every graduate of their colleges is legally considered a priest. Indeed, the term 'priest' in Saata is largely synonymous with possessing an education. All one needs to be considered a priest is to be recognised by a temple, and the colleges count their graduates as such. Few colleges demand that a student dedicates themself to the temple, and so lay priests can be found in almost any professional, from clerks to bakers to pirates.
Over the years, this priestly recognition has evolved into something that replaces the guild structures known in other parts of Creation. There is no such thing as a 'secular' education system on this island. Even the ragged teachers who instruct poor children in the basics of counting and teach them tales are priests. There are temples to gods of writing that recognise anyone who demonstrates basic literacy - subject, of course, to a suitable donation. On the other hand, those who endure the eight years of training and discipline to be recognised as a priest of Sipra, city-father of Saata and once the Daimyo-Director of War Bonds can walk into a respected position in countinghouses across the South West. Such is the paradox of Saata; a sinful city that has more priests per capita than Great Forks.
The following are a few example colleges of Saata:
The Blessed College of Our Lady of Journeys
More commonly known as Wind-Swift College, this institution is the eldest and most prestigious of the colleges of Saata. It backs onto the Great Temple of Mercury Wind-Swift, and is large enough that it fills an entire neighbourhood of the city; a place with its own shops, markets, bars and Provost. Wind-Swift College claims continuity with an older institution of the same name from the Shogunate, and dwells within the magnificent towers and spires of the old building. Still, time has been hard on it and many of its glories are tarnished or damaged. Modern semaphore towers perch precariously on the old lighthouse, while the once-renowned greenhouses have lost all their crystal and been turned into open fields.
The priests that teach at Wind-Swift College claim that they teach anything that is heard by the wind. Of course this is nonsense, but the college does have a remarkable number of people from all across Creation who have found their way to it. In return for room and board, they contribute what knowledge they have. The course here is highly academic, although there is a mandatory year of travel for all graduates who must travel wide making use of the skills they were taught, and bring back all they learn. The patchwork archives of Wind-Swift are stuffed to bursting with tales and rumours. Many of them are false, but there are enough nuggets of truth buried deep within that some clerks spend their lives trying to track down a particular fact. The social cachet of priesthood from Wind-Swift means that its graduates can be found far and wide, and the temple encourages them to build shrines to Mercury Wind-Swift wherever they wind up.
In the modern era, Wind-Swift is most famous for its weather-workers. Across the South West thaumaturges from this academy command high fees, serving in the courts of pirate lords. More fearfully, it has its own school of sorcery - no rival to the Heptagram, but famed enough that outcastes from across the region will come here. The master of the school is Third Gale, a ancient Fire-Aspected nun who once chained the doldrum-elemental Quiet Pacific Serenity for a century and only released her once she had sworn unbreakable oaths with the college. Since then, a few humans have studied the forbidden lore she beat out of the elemental queen and shed their humanity at the Station of Choice, becoming mighty spirits of the sky.
Noi Luoi Cau College
Standing at the southern edge of the Saatan docks, the Noi Luoi Cau college is a young upstart. Their four storey high central building of yellow-painted stone is already a landmark, due to the junk they constructed on top of it to demonstrate their craft. Sail-banners flap in the wind, rising about the workyards, cranes and dry docks that are the true heart of the facility.
Students at this college are taught as apprentices, working under a master. To graduate, they must demonstrate their skills in mathematics, the occult principles of ship design and construction, management of shipwright projects, and their capacity to placate the whimsy of the tide and wave gods. As a final project, a student must design, build and man a ship, and and take it on a five day trip. Poor students who cannot afford these expenses frequently make deals with ship-buyers who fund their project in return for keeping it once it is completed. The dockhands and labourers at the college are mere dayhire, though at the Feast of the Rising Canvas each year seven scholarship students are selected from among the most skilled and sober workers to be admitted.
It was founded twenty years ago by a consortium of shipwrights and investors who made the proper offerings to the gods to draw their attention. Noi Luoi Cau spreads its worship between a pantheon of deities. Veneration is of course given to Mercury and many wind and tide gods, but the largest icon in their shrine is devoted to Ka Iren, God of Rigging, who first answered their pact. Sailors are a superstitious lot, and the thaumaturges of this college are meticulous with how they bless and test the soundness of the sailwork of their ships.
Luc Phan Academy
The academy is a modest structure in the Tengese-dominated district the Hui Cha call Memory of a Golden Land, but which is known to the rest of Saata as Yellow Point. The base structure was once a Shogunate factory floor, but newer walls sub-divide it and have added new floors. Its teachers are devotees of the Tengese goddess Lan Gach, one of the lesser deities of writing and stored knowledge in the court of the Golden Lord. Luc Phan is very typical of the small temple-colleges that can be found in Saata, that take on children once they are weaned in return for a small daily payment from their parents.
The temple is sponsored and respected by the Hui Cha triad, and thus its curriculum is somewhat more in depth than other such colleges. Children are also taught the basic arts of self-defence, with the additional cost covered by generous donations from luminaries in the triad. Parents who fail to pay their part of the fees will find not only shame, but also a visit from the Hui Cha explaining their responsibility to their family.
The Burning Tiger Halls
The bronze-masked acolytes of the Burning Tiger Halls are seldom seen within Saata itself, largely because House Sinasana forced them to move out of the city due to the volatile nature of their work. They are usually only seen when collecting their dues from sellers and traders in firedust, for they hold a right of inspection and a special tax on such traders in return for their service to the House. The priests of Akhanammu are respected, but feared - even as the graduates of this place take on respected positions as the engineers and artillerists of South Western lords. On his feast day the entire city is entertained by their sacred fireworks. During the rest of the year, everyone else is glad that they are well away from their bubbling firedust alchemy and constant smelting of brass and bronze to make firerams and flamewands. The buildings themselves are squat and made of solid stone - the prominent tanks of water placed at regular intervals are frequently needed when mishaps occur.
Though Akhanammu's portfolio includes such things as fire arrows, arson and even campfires, his priests at the Burning Tiger Halls care only for the occult secrets of firedust. They are the ones who - sometimes explosively - push the limits of what can be done with water-tainted South Western firedust. Students here learn mathematics, smelting, casting, and the diverse occult practices of firedust alchemy. Those who remain with the temple and don the tiger masks of his devoted priests learn even deeper secrets. Under their crimson robes are bodies covered in fireink tattoos and it is said some devotees ritually - and perhaps literally - give themselves to their god.
The Devout College of the Wild Orchid
To understand that which divides Wild Orchid College, one must only look to their statue of Livilla. It is rich and lavish, but it is hidden within a backroom where those not initiated to the college may never see it and it is dusty. Instead, the accessible parts of the temple have statues to the spirits of dance, acting, and many other gods beside that and they are well-polished and cleaned - but none as fine as that of Livilla. A holdover of the Blue Monkey Shogunate, the orchids who blossom here are wilting and ailing, lost in modern Saata.
The priests and priestesses here were once an honoured sacred order of courtesans who existed in a carefully negotiated place within the Immaculate Orthodoxy. In those times they were the companions of the Terrestrial princes of the Blue Monkey Shogunate, relieving the stress of their lords and ladies by any of the many means they were trained in. When it fell, they became adornments of the pirate princes and warlords who took their place, a trinket of fallen glory. They danced at festivals for other gods and to celebrate great victories; they shared the beds of savage warrior-queens and smug nutmeg-traders.
But for two hundred years they have been declining. In Saata they have held on longer than other places in the South West with the wealth of the city, but their ways have become stultified and archaic - and many pirate lords no longer care about pretensions towards lost glory. Their dances are stale, their music old-fashioned, and their costumes reach towards lost glories rather than tantalise with the ways of the cosmopolitan city of vice. A few lords of the Raraan Ge with pretensions and the older members of House Sinasana are their most prominent clients. Change has become a blasphemy. Twenty years ago there was a schism and a third of the priests left to set up Wavering Flame Academy, which is sanctified to a fire elemental dragon and a dance-goddess. Year by year they decrease in number, and there are fewer than twenty full priests and priestesses here when once there were two hundred.
Quite possibly! The last time Keris had the option to go for a weakened group (of Hui Cha) she ignored it in favour of subverting a healthier one, but this is art!
We started this session literally last fuckin' year, guys. ¬_¬
Buuut then AFF went and ate all our writing agency for, like, most of December. So we weren't able to finish the last part of Family Matters until this week just gone. A lot got done, though! Keris now has mercenaries, her family is off travelling safely with them, she's had a breakthrough re: Kerisa and things are about to get Exceedingly Interesting with the publication (finally) of the Trust Your Instincts Kerisgame extra that I've been mentioning for literally more than a year now and waiting for a narratively appropriate time to use for months.
We can also call this session yet another success story for SOCIAL KERIS POWERS. Though, uh. Not so much for bureaucratic Keris powers, which we are reminded yet again are kind of shit and need some training. :c
Extras:
Aleph: Hmm. So when flurrying with Self as Cyclone Stance, Keris can make, what, 2 Lance attacks, 2 Ascending Air attacks and 5 "punches" - and honestly, between her hair and Szoreny she technically has +8 Rate on top of her natural Rate 3 for punches, it's just that Rate caps out at 5. Aleph: The "punches" more accurately being "bites" or "branch-stabs". EarthScorpion: Keris: "My god, now I understand why I might want better Bite attacks." Aleph: If she's done up for war she might be able to convert 3 of those hair-limbs to mechanical "tiger claw" attacks and thus sneak them around the Rate cap of 5. EarthScorpion: Keris: "Sasiiiiiii! I want quad twinned short daiklaives for Calibration." Aleph: Sasi: "... make them yourself."
...
Aleph: You know, I might actually start making/writing up some of Keris's more common combos to streamline their mechanics a bit Aleph: Like, AHG and BOT both need her to roll Persuasion+Expression, and, mm... is there any compelling reason why she shouldn't just roll it once and use that result for both, when she activates them at the same time? Aleph: Or, you know. One right after the other. EarthScorpion: Independent resistance Aleph: mm, I guess
...
EarthScorpion: Zanara is this your fault? Aleph: It is almost certainly Zanara's fault, probably due to Kerisa telling them about cinema screens.
...
<during the talk with Rathan and Oula> Aleph: Rathan is, what, 16ish? Or is he PRIME JAPANESE PROTAGONIST AGE, eg 14-year old Kaworu? Aleph: I think he was 13-14 at the end of From One, Many. So probs still in the 14-15 range. EarthScorpion: keris scary chaperone mama Aleph: : P EarthScorpion: Also, hmm, much to both their annoyances Rathan and Haneyl are usually pretty much exactly the same age, so Rathan is probably past that gawky early teen bit and more into the middle bits - while Eko is clearly at the high end. EarthScorpion: It's Calesco who's full magical girl
Calesco: "homuhomu."
Aleph: lawl Aleph: ... see, normally I would feel bad about leaving Oula with no defence against Rathan's social aura. Aleph: But now it's kind of the other way around. Aleph: Sigh. Why do I suspect that Rathan has suddenly seen the upsides to Oula's new passions if they mean he can be casually disdainful of Haneyl's poorly-planned architecture? EarthScorpion: Haneyl objects! Her architecture is very planned! EarthScorpion: In fact, it has many plans, all competing! Aleph: *snicker* EarthScorpion: Sigh. Dammit Haneyl. Stop making use of a natural selection approach to architecture. That just gets you buildings that are like living organisms, full of rooms that used to serve a purpose and workarounds for design issues that have found new purposes. Aleph: ... suits her, tbh. EarthScorpion: Sigh, and when they get too complicated and over-complicated, she just burns them down and starts afresh. Aleph: : D EarthScorpion: And it's pretty typical of Rathan that he in fact gets all worried as soon as he's not in control and Oula is getting pushy. Aleph: hee Aleph: he comes by it honestly, let's be fair Aleph: I mean... where was it...
Sasi has finished [putting on Keris's Amulet for a forest stealth mission], and Keris has to suppress a teeny weeny pang of jealousy at the sight of it around Sasi's neck. Which she can see, because Sasi is using the red dress Keris is so fond of. It never sat like that on Keris, and the blood red is the only colour on her.
((Aleph: ... well played, Sasi. Well played.))
The brief pang of jealousy is followed by a happy squeal at Sasi's choice of garment - well, okay, Sasi has altered the proportions somewhat, but it's still recognisably the same dress - and Keris dashes up and circles her in a blur of hair and giggling as she examines the effect from every angle. "That looks brilliant!" is her verdict, before she cocks her head. "Though you don't usually wear red..."
Sasi looks up at Keris through soulful eyes. "I can't work out how to alter the library," she says. "It's stuck on the last thing it was active with."
((ES: ... and despite a shockingly bad roll, Sasi manages to beat Keris' MDV 5. But only because intimacies were lowering it.))
"Really?" Keris frowns. "But it's easy! You just sort of picture what you want, and... no, wait, first you have to sort of hook it with your mind, and then you kind of picture what you want to be wearing, or just think real hard about what you want it to be like, and then you kinda push it at the Amulet. Like when you're tossing someone something. Only with your head."
Sasi frowns, screwing her eyes shut. "How about... this?" she asks as the clothes ripple and shift. "Did it work?"
Considering that the expanse of pale flesh in front of Keris is revealing that Sasi removed all her undergarments which must be sitting in the pile of neatly folded clothes beside her... no, it did not appear to work.
((ES: ... and that's 14 successes vs Keris' MDV of 3, due to the Intimacy. Goddamnit Sasi, that was on the same pool you got 5 successes on last time.))
Keris stares, wide-eyed, and makes a sound somewhat along the lines of "grrlk"
Sasi pats herself down. "It didn't work," she says, looking down. She looks up at Keris demurely. "Sorry, but I thought that since you weren't wearing underthings, they might be incompatible with the amulet. Was I wrong?" she says, rising and stretching.
"I, uh," says Keris intelligently. "Um. I. Um..." She frowns as she carefully looks elsewhere - which doesn't actually help much, since her ears are still telling her that Sasi does not appear to have any clothes for the light breezes to rustle - and thinks. "I... don't really remember? I mean, I found it in... in the tomb, and then... yeah. I woke up wearing it, and I'd sort of already got the hang of, um..." She trails off as Sasi links her hands behind her, and her eyes swing back around involuntarily.
Sasi licks her lips, a faint smile on them. "Let's try again," she says, closing her eyes. Spinning out from the amulet, a garment which seems to be made of flowing silver sand itself spins out, sweeping over her into a long all-encompassing robe. "Oh, I think I see how it works," Sasi says. "Dragons, this is convenient."
"I know, right?" Keris bounces happily. "You, uh, do promise you'll give it back after, right? Oh oh oh! And! And! Try, um... sort of... if you kind of..." She thinks for a minute, and shrugs. "Tell it to make you pretty. Well..." she blushes. "You know, prettier."
The sand-robe begins to glow from deep within, casting light in the silvery-green of Sasi's anima. It lulls the eye, and shifts her features from merely humanly beautiful to something else entirely.
And something about her looks even more like Lilun. There's a... a similar feel to their beauty, like they were carved by the same craftsman
Keris stares. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, but no sound comes out. She takes a couple of paces sideways to lean against a nearby tree, but doesn't take her eyes off Sasi for a second.
Sasi smiles divinely. "But this doesn't help with subtlety, does it?" she says, and the robe unfolds and melts away, replaced with... well, it looks like she's wearing some kind of cape covered in leaves and branches, with muddy brown shapeless garments underneath. The hood covers her hair, and there seems to be a scarf-like thing sewn into the hood which can be raised to cover her face.
Keris blinks several times, then comes back to herself somewhat and nods. "Yeah... uh, I mean, yeah. Yeah, that's good."
Keris stares, wide-eyed, and makes a sound somewhat along the lines of "grrlk"
"I, uh," says Keris intelligently. "Um. I. Um..."
Keris stares. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, but no sound comes out.
Aleph: : P Aleph: I was going to say "but Keris has grown a lot since she was that young and that easily thrown by Sasi's charms" Aleph: and then remembered that literally less than a season and a half ago, this Calibration just gone, Sasi showed up in a dress made of insubstantial shadow and Keris's reaction was:
"Gneh," is Keris's comment as they disengage. Well, they break lip contact. Sasi is holding her up somewhat, because her legs seem to have temporarily stopped working. "Ngh. Hello." She smiles up dreamily at Sasi, then drifts back to lucidity.
EarthScorpion: Ah yes, that dress. EarthScorpion: The one that both Eko and Calesco were squeeing over. Aleph: And Rathan, to a lesser extent. Aleph: That dress was a cruel thing to do to a gay disaster like Keris. EarthScorpion: She's a one-woman gay apocalypse. EarthScorpion: But heh, yes, that's really Rathan's problem. Sasi and Lilunu are things to stare at from a distance - just like river goddesses and the like. Mortals are things to charm for hugs. Then he suddenly finds that not only is Oula chasing after him, but she's been doing it for a while. EarthScorpion: God, Oula's quite the little terror who's going to fight to stop Rathan getting a harem. EarthScorpion: Hee. And she's actually a pretty good example of the power a lower enlightenment person can have over a higher one. Aleph: Hee. Aleph: Ironically, from back around the time Sasi started flirt-teasing Keris...
"Good," Sasi says, shedding her outer robe casually and beginning to strip with practised ease. She shoots a sidelong glance at Keris over a bare shoulder as she slips off her inner robe. "Your amulet makes things so much easier," she says, making no move to send Keris out, and talking perfectly casually. "Where did you find that?"
Keris's face makes an amazing attempt at matching Sasi's natural skin tone. She looks down and mutters something, but so quietly as to be inaudible to anyone without hearing as good as her own.
"Sorry?" Sasi says, adjusting the set of the chest bandages she wears for support. Keris is vaguely aware of the style being known as 'Lookshyian style' in Nexus, because it's apparently what their swordswomen wear, but Sasi isn't a fighter. "What was that?"
"I... um..." Keris shuffles uncomfortably and bites her lip. "... my tomb," she says in a small voice. "When my... when, you know, Yamal. I don't... exactly remember putting it on. Or... much of anything else."
"Interesting," Sasi sighs. "Well. I suppose we might as well have this talk," she says, hands on her hips as she faces Keris. "You think I'm beautiful, yes? And I have seen very clearly that you prefer women. You're in a relationship, you know."
Keris opens her mouth. Keris closes her mouth. Keris turns an interesting shade of red. "Um," she squeaks, trying to adjust to the sudden shift from remembered creeping fear to sudden unexpected embarrassment.
"If this makes you feel awkward, you can leave," Sasi says, not unkindly. "I sometimes forget that other cultures have less... civilised approaches to the human body."
"N-no, I just..." Keris stutters, wide-eyed. "I hadn't... um... you didn't... I thought..."
"I'm sorry if I assumed something from how you typically run around baring so much skin. If you have some cultural issues with me changing in front of you, I'm sorry."
((Aleph: Incidentally, regarding her puppy-crush on Sasi: I see Keris as being the kind of person who splits her desires into two categories; the kind she can have, and the kind she can't. The former, she pretty much treats as already being hers by right - her thoughtless pickpocketing, her fairly casual approach to burglary, etc. The latter, she daydreams about and makes motions and boasts about wanting, but she doesn't really, seriously think she'll actually get them. Like how she always used to make up elaborate plans for getting revenge on Kasseni when she was with Rat, or making some massive score and being rich. Ogi is mortal, and Keris is more powerful than her, so she's someone attainable. Sasi, for all that Keris is attracted to her, is sophisticated and powerful and another Infernal and more experienced and gorgeous and knows about all this stuff, so her interest in Sasi has mostly been... hmm... not less than genuine, but not made with any expectation that Sasi would even acknowledge it.))
((Aleph: As a result, Sasi flat-out bringing the issue up out of nowhere kind of throws her for a loop. In much the same way, and for mostly the same reasons, as when she zoned out when presented with several square miles of real estate.))
((EarthScorpion: Yes. And Sasi is addressing it now, not least because she's a little bit worried if she can trust Keris if they're alone in the woods and Keris - who Sasi is probably more aware of her relationship with Ogi and aspects of it than Keris is - decides to make a move on her. She'd really rather not wind up adversely affected.))
((Aleph: Oh, Sasi. Ironically, if she had left it alone, Keris would just have kept dancing around hinting forever.))
Aleph: Rathan is, I presume, hitting a similar issue. He's daydreamed about the mysterious and increasingly interesting territory of Girl Parts before, but hasn't put any real thought into actually interacting with them. And now they have somewhat literally been handed to him. Aleph: sigh Aleph: as much as he's like Rat, he's also very much Keris's son EarthScorpion: And all his friends before have been children, and the only girls his own age have been... well, Haneyl. Aleph: : P EarthScorpion: Haneyl teaches you that girls are cruel, greedy, cunning, malicious and wilful. And Oula is unfortunately pushing some of those buttons. Aleph: Oula: "Maybe. But I'm also on your side. So I'll only be those things at your enemies, my prince." EarthScorpion: ... he may also ask Keris to summon a male wave cherub for masculine protection. EarthScorpion: Heh, that's one of the unusual things about how wave cherubs work - the children do enforce social norms on the adults. Aleph: yes, because, heh Aleph: a justice-pack of children is actually a notable threat Aleph: especially if they've vowed to bring you to justice and can thus deal Agg damage to you for being an ENEMY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS EarthScorpion: Wind cherubs just run around the place in gangs or follow the szilfa. EarthScorpion: Petal cherubs gleefully become underlings for their adult forms and usually can't wait to grow up and become one of the bosses. EarthScorpion: Tar cherub society is this weird thing that mostly never grows up and is basically run for their benefit. EarthScorpion: Spark cherub society is just an anarchy, albeit often anarcho-capitalist. Aleph: Clay cherubs are basically hobbits who interact cheerfully with each other and respect their elders to at least some extent. EarthScorpion: Especially since they could have been elders before getting bored of it and deciding to be a child again. Aleph: indeed. Aleph: but orvenkeruby...
...
EarthScorpion: Heh. So how long do you think Rathan will hold out? Aleph: Hold out what? He'll give in stages. Aleph: If you mean just affection and loving her back... honestly, not long. He needs love, he needs to love, and he's literally Pay Each (Wo)Man Back In Kind personified. I'd give him a week at most after Oula wrestles her Urge under control and stops being so scary and girlyish before her devotion to him seeps through his defences and he starts to find himself dwelling on how much she trusted him in giving over her heart. And possibly opening the box and staring at it and thinking about how, in the moment she offered it, her love wasn't enforced yet and she knew he didn't love her back yet and she still trusted him to literally take her heart in his hands. And then catching himself smiling giddily and feeling all smug and proud and contented. Aleph: It might take a while longer for that feeling to make it back out again past his façade of "coolness" and charm and poise, but it won't take long for her to get in. EarthScorpion: Heh. And honestly, as soon as Keris takes Oula aside for some girl talk (as well as The Talk), and she understands that he's getting freaked out by how she's acting differently, her nature will force her to let up on him and take it a bit slower. Aleph: Heh. And she'll always be special to him, too. Aleph: Because yeah, other moon wives might offer him their hearts, but they'll know what they're doing. How it works. By then they'll probably even know that - for instance - if he crushes their heart they won't die, which Oula certainly didn't. Aleph: She struck out into the unknown on trust and blind faith, and as one of the most cautious of Keris's souls he knows how scary that must have been. EarthScorpion: ... if the tidal raiders don't show up fairly soon, the first generation of moon wives are going to be a lot of homokerubs. Or fall for angyalkae, I suppose. Aleph: Oh, I reckon the first tidal raider will start putting on bulk after only a week or so around Rathan. EarthScorpion: Sigh. Dammit Keris. The adult wave keruby tend to adapt to Keris' tastes. Even the tidal raiders tend to be bishie. EarthScorpion: Tidal raiders just get fat when they get powerful and old.
...
<about the initial talk with the Lionesses> Aleph: Hee. I really liked that talk : D EarthScorpion: Hmm? Aleph: Partly the metaphors used in it - especially that line about how they just call themselves lionesses, while Keris is a real monster - but mostly Keris finally getting to talk to someone who knows her power and understands what it actually means, without being a being of similar power themselves. I do love it when Keris gets to be on the Unquestionable side of the equation. Aleph: And it looks like she sees demons and ghosts as being just as valid as gods, which is nice. EarthScorpion: Yes, heh. Aleph: Heh. Xasan probably wasn't the only person in the room to understand that Keris meant what she said about ending any fights. Aleph: That must have rung uncomfortably threatening to Sulekha. EarthScorpion: Oh Keris EarthScorpion: scurry keris scurry EarthScorpion: very scurry gurl Aleph: : D EarthScorpion: Hee. Honestly, over this arc Keris has basically had a Nemo moment where she's just decided to stop hiding so much. EarthScorpion: I don't think before this arc she admitted to anyone who wasn't part of the Hell community that she was an Exalt. Aleph: ... yeah, basically. Aleph: oh, keris Aleph: she r growin' up EarthScorpion: Being in non-Immaculate places is making her chill. Aleph: heh Aleph: amusing parallel, actually Aleph: because Nemo started as an adjuchas arrancar Aleph: which from the PoV of most people is in fact terrifyingly strong Aleph: She was only shy because of the beings she perceived as far stronger, lol
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<after the initial talk with the Lionesses> EarthScorpion: So, what do you want to do now? Aleph: Keris will go back to the Sceptred Leaf/Baishan camp and do her best to get the money distributed, which should take long enough to fill the intervening time. And also have a quiet talk with Kuha about money. EarthScorpion: Uh, question. How's Keris paying her mercenaries if she's giving the money away to the Baishans? Aleph: ... the money from the saffron is going to the Baishans. The money from the herd of literally a hundred or so fine Vakotan horses is going to the Bloody Lionesses, but she's not finished making that deal yet because it's going to be through the Sceptred Leaf as a third party to liquidate their value. EarthScorpion: Ah, yes, that figures. Okay, how is she going to try to hand out the money to the Baishans? Aleph: Hmm. Probably a speech (speech!) and then handing it out - sigh, she may rope that priest Xasan mentioned in to be officially in charge of giving each family or person their cash, so that he can use the opportunity to hand out some more stay-together-as-a-community preaching with it. Even if they know it's coming from Keris, him being the one to actually distribute it as her agent gives his words some more weight. EarthScorpion: Ha ha, nice one. So you just need to talk him into it, rather than run into my Bureaucracy trap I laid for you. Per + Pres to coax him into doing it to her wishes, against MDV 4, and just stunt it. Aleph: KERIS learned DELEGATION! It's super effective!
...
<just prior to the negotiations with the Lionesses> EarthScorpion: So, is there anything she wants to say to Kazem Motahari or any instructions she wants to give him before negotiations begin? Aleph: There's quite a lot she wants to say to him, much of it colourful. But she'll probably keep it to a reiteration of what she wants from the Lionesses, and that Rathan's Greater Self will be displeased if she isn't satisfied with what she gets out of this trip. EarthScorpion: No, I was actually just asking for a summary of her position going into it - her negotiating position and how much she's willing to pay, etc, if you will Aleph: Ah. Then she's willing to sign over the herd to the Bloody Lionesses, since she can get cash from other places. What she wants ideally is something more than a mercenary contract - essentially to overbid enough to buy them out in full, or from another point of view "convince them to commit to her on more than a contractual basis" - she wants loyal followers rather than hired soldiers. She's aware that this is unlikely to happen overnight or in one offer, so she's willing to accept them appreciating a generous offer and the lure of magical healing, with intent to capitalise on that with her social-fu once they're working for her. She definitely wants a strong level of surety that they'll stay loyal for the three to four months she won't be directly supervising them en route to the Southwest, because they'll be guarding a) any leftover money she doesn't wind up paying them and more importantly b) her family.
...
EarthScorpion: So, finally finished that session EarthScorpion: i guess we were technically playing for a month and three days Aleph: ^_^' EarthScorpion: You might have missed it, by the way, but the dislike is basically one directional between Keris and Kazem. He wants her to be his friend. EarthScorpion: Keris doesn't like him, but he doesn't mind her and wants a powerful being like her as an ally. Aleph: Well, Keris is very likeable. : P Aleph: Lol, I wonder if Orange Blossom will be irritated that Keris has made a good impression on him. EarthScorpion: He also wants Rathan. Aleph: Keris: "I will break you over my knee." EarthScorpion: As an ally. Aleph: Keris: "Better." EarthScorpion: And otherwise. Aleph: Keris: <draws Ascending Air> EarthScorpion: Rathan: "Let's not be hasty." Aleph: Oula: "No, no. Let's." Aleph: Keris: ^_^ "Best student." EarthScorpion: Oh, Calesco. You've decided to fight in Oula's corner. You've also decided that you making sexual references makes Keris suffer, so it's something you'll do. Aleph: Well, "decided". More like "realised". EarthScorpion: And oh, Keris. She's found making herself into artwork makes her super effective, So really, there's no reason not to every morning.
...
EarthScorpion: Hee. If Keris was willing to invest a lot of money and time, she could probably build something like this. Aleph:man Aleph: that middle one on the left Aleph: you can still juuuuust about see the superstructure through the growth at the bottom Aleph: but give it fifty years and they'll just be these looming spires of GREEN Aleph: ... Keris, sigh EarthScorpion: Keris: "I want just one of those vertical garden towers to start with." Aleph: Yeah, the door in that one on the right, at the bottom? Aleph: Keris doesn't bother keeping that clear. She just lets the plants grow straight over it. Aleph: It's not like they get in her way. Aleph: (the door behind them opens inwards) Aleph: (most people don't even know where on the base of the tree it is, or that it's there at all) Aleph: (and the plants over it make it abundantly clear when anyone's broken in, unless they can do what she can do) EarthScorpion: Actually, amusingly, that's Singapore. EarthScorpion: Therefore the tower blocks in Saata that are all overgrown do look like that. Aleph: oooo : D Aleph: Hmm. Those aren't quite tower blocks. The right hand one looks like a Kerislab, tbh. Aleph: Can she move overgrown towers into and out of her Domain? EarthScorpion: Hmm. Well, I think the way we're going to change it is she'll be mechanically Wyld-shaping an infernal tainted location to make it resemble her soul. Aleph: Ah, yes, true. She can just straight-up forge a tower like this, already covered in plants. Aleph: ^_^
I really like the snippets that you showed of the Death Comes to Matasque Arc. The early stages of the Keris-Sasi relationship are absolutely adorable and I feel that they provide context which makes the early chapters of Ascension and Trangression much better. Any chance of this arc and the other early two arcs being made available?
Keris's uncle is a hassle and a half. Seriously man, there is a time and a place to get grudges out ( for reconciliation or violence) and in the middle of a mercenary commander's compound with your pregnant niece is not one of them.
And Rathan is adorable and flustered and Oula knows far, far too much about certain matters than she really should. Demons, eh.
Anyway, I did like that while Keris is a social-Tsunami (Ha, poetry) she's actually not all that good at buying or selling things against other magical beings who've got their own bureaucracy powers, she can't keep up with her peers. The downside of being murder on legs I guess.
