Mithar Keep & Frescot House IV: Magic babble lies within

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

"Jezebel, you're making me sound more like some aloof ideal than a actual human being." Cessie protests as soon as the former daemon finishes her speech. "Why are you degrading yourself like this? This feels more like it's about you than it's about me. You looking down on yourself and lifting me into the heavens, but I don't belong up there Jezebel. I'm not some goddess you should look up to." And neither are you, is left unsaid. "We are equals, you and I. That's how I've always regarded you and always will. Even back at the hotel I felt like I was talking to an equal. That's why your words cut so deep back then." She looks aghast at how Jezebel felt. "I'm just... shocked that you've created this fantasy about me. How long has this been going on? Have you always wanted to be like me? Since you shouldn't, that has to end. Feel pride about who you are Jezebel, don't look at me." She rubs her forehead tiredly and mumbles about Artaris saving her.

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

"You have been aloof though." She claims before pausing and shaking her head. "No, that's the wrong word. Distant. Sometimes you feel so distant that I can't tell what you are thinking. Either way, you are special. Even if we're equals in reality, it doesn't make me feel any less unworthy." She argues, finally removing her arm to look at Cessie. Jezebel looks...tired. Very much so, as if just admitting all of this was draining for her. "Even as far back as the hotel I knew you were special and that I'd enjoy your company. I was able to spar with you verbally, discuss things logically, and feel at ease for the first time in years. I finally felt like a Noble again instead of a cult leader." She explains before leaning forward, closing her eyes, and pinching the bridge of her nose. "It was when I threw off the shackles on my mind that Slaanesh has put upon me that I was finally able to look back. I...there are no words to how sickened I was by what I did to achieve everything I had. How else should I feel if not disgust at myself?" She asks rhetorically.

"I try to make up for it every day I can and I know I am making headway, but it will be a long time before I forgive myself, Cessie." She explains. "And through it all, you were standing there and reaching out to me despite it all! How can I not hold my opinion of you above myself, even slightly? Until I make amends, I'm not sure I can hold myself as your equal, not morally at least and I do realize you're a person and not some ideal. But in many ways that just makes this more frustrating. An ideal can't make me want to kiss her just by saying hello." She says, sounding like she's wanting to pull her hair out at this point.

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir decides to take refuge in brutal honesty with a side of sarcasm.

"That depends," he says in a serious tone. "Do you set people's houses on fire, use sorcery to summon demons or plan to conquer the world? Those are the troublemakers I usually tangle with."

"Ahh..." Zillia seriously ponders his remarks. "The first, I'm afraid so. Mostly on accident. I promise." She turns to him and grins. "You don't have to slay me now, do you?"

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"I think we can let that slide," Wenomir says. "Besides, it would be awfully rude to kill someone in Cessie's kitchen while she's not even here."

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Zillia laughs for him, and leans conspiratorially toward the warrior. With half-shut eyes full of warm passion and melodrama, she asks him, "Who said anything about killing, hmm, sweet one?"

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir blinks. He's... really not sure where this situation is going.

"I'm... not really sure what you mean," he says, for lack of anything else.

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

Cessie rubs the bridge of her nose with one finger as she puts the other arm underneath her chest. "I hated you, Jezebel. You have no idea how furious you made me that night and how you continued to infuriate me at every turn. That you threatened to take legal action against VIGIL, that you talked to Harnel, that you avoided any open confrontation. I thought you wanted to ruin my life." She pauses. "I honestly thought there was no hope for you whatsoever, but now... I don't even know where to begin. I just simply don't know if I can return your feelings, Jezebel. I mean, how can you tell? How could you tell? It still seems so... wild to me. How did you figure it out?"

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

"For a while, I thought I did want to ruin your lives." Jezebel admits, sounding a little more collected after taking a deep breath. "But as time went on, it all started to seem so...petty." She adds with a shake of her head before giving a small burst of laughter. "By the stars, I think I tried to be infuriating just to get some attention." She says with a grin before sighing, still smiling a bit as she thinks back. "I've always said I wouldn't know what love is even if it came up and stabbed me in the back, but I have a couple theories at least. Such feelings were anthame to me for so long that even now the thought of it is so utterly foreign as to be alien to me. All I know is that I feel something at least."

She pauses, standing up in order to stretch her arms in front of her and to twist her neck from side to side to pop it. "I admit, I've been attracted to many people. Gender or sexuality don't mean much to me and I don't think they ever did. It doesn't mean I ever felt comfortable around someone though. Not like around you. I doubt there is another person across these lands that I could talk to so casually without fear of being thrown out. Despite everything that's happened between us, here we are and despite finding this entire conversation incredibly frustrating, I can't help but smile." She says, flashing a smile before settling back down into the chair and looking more serious as she turns to look out the window.

"How do I know? I don't, not really, and I'm not sure I ever will know for certain. These emotions are ones that are nothing but vague clouded memories. What I do know though are a few things. First, just because I don't know what the future might bring doesn't mean I won't try my damnedest to make sure everything goes as well as it can. The reason I was so doubtful for any chance of anything beyond friendship is because you're still something of a mystery to me, Cessie. You know how I am and accept me whole-heartedly even if it seems to make you uncomfortable, but I don't know if you're able to cross that gap and take another step. You seem to accept my advances for what they are but neither spurn nor bend to them and that both confuses and scares the daylights out of me. Everything just seems so uncertain. You're still an enigma sometimes and perhaps that's one of the reasons I'm so drawn to you."

"I also know that the kiss the other day was perhaps the final nail in the coffin. I might have kissed several people, but I have only given a kiss of affection or adoration to two not of my own kin. One has passed onto a realm of their own decision, and the other is you, Cessie. Think what you might, and so can the public, but such events do not come easily to me." She explains. "But perhaps most importantly, Cessie?" She asks, turning to face the mage. "No matter how this ends, I still want you by my side. Either as a friend or potentially something more, I want you there with me. I've told you all of this because you asked for the truth and I bared my heart to you because you deserve the proper answers as best as my confused mind can give them. To lose you as a result of this would be world-shattering."

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir blinks. He's... really not sure where this situation is going.

"I'm... not really sure what you mean," he says, for lack of anything else.

[Sunny Afternoon]

"Ooh, I know!" Zillia says, eyes widening with realization. She seems to have drawn some inspiration from his absolute awkwardness. The redhead dances forward and shimmies up beside Wenomir, trying to place her hands on his shoulders. "If you can't tell, I love warriors. They're so much fun to play with! They always have such fine stories. And I never mind observing their... prowess." If she can, she'll squeeze his upper arms. "Now I can't let you go and truly slay me, at least not right now. Death is a terrible inconvenience, don't you know? But I would just about die to observe your talent firsthand..."

"So what do you say we spar?" Her eyes flash. "You and I, here in the keep. You'd be doing an old lady a favor, relieving her boredom. A mock-fight is just exactly what I need."

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"That's... a surprise," Wenomir remarks. "Does Cessie have any weapons here, though?"

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"Oh, weapons," Zillia says gleefully like she's speaking of toys. "I can make those, silly one. Not that I'll need one!" The little nymph starts off toward the hall, beckoning Wenomir to follow her. "Come along, while our water boils! We'll be but a minute!"

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir sighs. This really isn't what he envisioned when he came to the keep. Alright, Wenomir. Just play along and ignore any suggestions that she wants anything other than a fight. You've never been very smart, so pretend to be even dumber. He follows Zillia with a resigned air.

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Zillia skips among the flowers in the Keep's courtyard, looking far more like a young flower girl than a centuries-old nymph spirit. She stoops and picks up a beaming blue flower, tucking it behind her ear. "Ah, here," says she, coming to one of the yard's trees. Her pretty blue eyes (the very same eyes Cessie has, it's worth noting) flare with cold light, and she pushes her hand into the tree's trunk. What she pulls free from the hole in the bark is a long, beautifully carved wooden sword. The guard is minimal, the pommel round, and it's edges are whittled almost to the point of sharpness. It's blade is perhaps three and a half feet long.

"Will this do?" Zillia asks him sweetly, offering it to the warrior hilt-first. It is supremely well weighted, though perhaps a little on the light side for a practice blade. The tree behind her groans as the hole her hand made closes up.

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir's surprise gives way to a professional interest in the wooden sword. Pulling something like that out of the tree... maybe Zillia really did spend some time with warriors, and not all of this time involved unseemly acts.

"Interesting. Didn't it hurt the tree to pull this out? And what about your own weapon?"

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"Don't be silly, darling! Trees can't feel pain," Zillia says with a titter at his expense. She blinks. "Oh, unless you mean... well, come now!" She waps him on the arm. "I have to ask for such beautiful boons! I would never ask for more than the darling thing could give." She puts her hand on the tree's trunk.

"As for weapons... why, I need none! Unless you insist, of course. I can conjure something..." She hums a moment, pushing one of her fingers against her mouth. "How is sparring done where you come from, sweet one?"

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"That's a long and complicated topic. My people are serious about duels," Wenomir says. "Anyway, I'll take your word that you don't need a weapon. I'm ready when you are," he adds, raising his sword in a plow-guard.

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Zillia suddenly parts her feet and bends her knees, toes scraping in the dirt. She takes a curious martial stance, one hand with fingers curled toward herself, the other out toward Wenomir with palm thrust forward. The nymph looks quite full of herself, and still as foolish as ever.

"First one on the ground then, oh sweetest of succulents. What do you say we make a real sport of it?" Zillia asks him. "If I win, you give me a kiss. A big, proper one, and on my rosy lips. I worthy reward for my trials, I should say." She smirks. "I haven't been kissed by a genuine man's man in quite some time. It will be nice, I promise. You may ask me for another." And she winks, as well!

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir frowns. This is getting progressively more ridiculous, but...

"I accept. Now let's fight, shall we."

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

"For a while, I thought I did want to ruin your lives." Jezebel admits, sounding a little more collected after taking a deep breath. "But as time went on, it all started to seem so...petty." She adds with a shake of her head before giving a small burst of laughter. "By the stars, I think I tried to be infuriating just to get some attention." She says with a grin before sighing, still smiling a bit as she thinks back. "I've always said I wouldn't know what love is even if it came up and stabbed me in the back, but I have a couple theories at least. Such feelings were anthame to me for so long that even now the thought of it is so utterly foreign as to be alien to me. All I know is that I feel something at least."

She pauses, standing up in order to stretch her arms in front of her and to twist her neck from side to side to pop it. "I admit, I've been attracted to many people. Gender or sexuality don't mean much to me and I don't think they ever did. It doesn't mean I ever felt comfortable around someone though. Not like around you. I doubt there is another person across these lands that I could talk to so casually without fear of being thrown out. Despite everything that's happened between us, here we are and despite finding this entire conversation incredibly frustrating, I can't help but smile." She says, flashing a smile before settling back down into the chair and looking more serious as she turns to look out the window.

"How do I know? I don't, not really, and I'm not sure I ever will know for certain. These emotions are ones that are nothing but vague clouded memories. What I do know though are a few things. First, just because I don't know what the future might bring doesn't mean I won't try my damnedest to make sure everything goes as well as it can. The reason I was so doubtful for any chance of anything beyond friendship is because you're still something of a mystery to me, Cessie. You know how I am and accept me whole-heartedly even if it seems to make you uncomfortable, but I don't know if you're able to cross that gap and take another step. You seem to accept my advances for what they are but neither spurn nor bend to them and that both confuses and scares the daylights out of me. Everything just seems so uncertain. You're still an enigma sometimes and perhaps that's one of the reasons I'm so drawn to you."

"I also know that the kiss the other day was perhaps the final nail in the coffin. I might have kissed several people, but I have only given a kiss of affection or adoration to two not of my own kin. One has passed onto a realm of their own decision, and the other is you, Cessie. Think what you might, and so can the public, but such events do not come easily to me." She explains. "But perhaps most importantly, Cessie?" She asks, turning to face the mage. "No matter how this ends, I still want you by my side. Either as a friend or potentially something more, I want you there with me. I've told you all of this because you asked for the truth and I bared my heart to you because you deserve the proper answers as best as my confused mind can give them. To lose you as a result of this would be world-shattering."

Weekend Morning

Cessie appears stunned as Jezebel finishes her little speech. She had known of course, but there was a difference between knowing it and actually hearing it. Just how much had she influenced Jezebel? Had she single-handedly saved her from her former life? There had been so much spite there, yet a spite she was all too familiar with. She wasn't the saint Jezebel claimed her to be, yet it was difficult to remained unmoved by what she said.

Jezebel had done so much to reform herself and her followers. More than anyone she had ever know, she had never seen such a shining example of redemption, yet for all that, it was really besides the point, wasn't it? She admired Jezebel, that much was true, but was she attracted to her? Did she love her? Such concepts still felt alien to her, even as she looked at the other woman. She had never been told that being attracted to another woman was wrong, the idea had simply not existed in her world. She thought it as something impossible, something she never would have to consider. Until she left Hestopia of course, Michicora had been like that. She knew that now, and it did explain a couple of other things that she had seen.

But what did it mean to her? She had such a long time to think this over, yet no response had come to her...

"I'm... frankly not sure hot to reply to that Jezebel. You've left me speechless. In normal cases, I'd ask for more time to think, but I think I've thought enough. I just want to know one more thing, at first you seemed to believe that a relationship between us was doomed. Do you still believe that now? I'm... considering a trial." She waves her hand. "Nothing serious. I just think that it's fair that there should be a trial. I need to understand it better."

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

"I was disheartened because I feared you would respond in disgust or wouldn't dare dream of the possibility. As you've not freaked out and yelled or thrown me out, no, I am not so certain it is doomed from the start. Especially now that you seem to be considering the idea itself." She admits with a hint of a smile. "I do not think it'll be easy, but it will be worth the attempt at the very least. What sort of trial did you have in mind?" Jezebel asks, the smile fading to be replaced by curiosity, interest, and just a very slight trace of worry that it might be something impossible.

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

"Erm, well, I was thinking sort of a secret test.relationship? As I said, nothing too serious, just so I get a feel for it." She puts it as a question to herself. "I mean, so I just don't dismiss it out of hand. It's not like I'm ashamed, but I don't think I could handle having it public until I would know for sure."

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

"No, I understand, don't worry." Jezebel says even though she wants to shout "Oh the scandal!" but that'd be in poor taste. "How do you want to handle the secrecy? We're already well known to be friends I believe."

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir frowns. This is getting progressively more ridiculous, but...

"I accept. Now let's fight, shall we."

[Sunny Afternoon]

Zillia simpers, satisfied. "Then I'll let the terms of your own victory in this wager be a pleasant surprise," Zillia declares, before a change comes over the tiny woman.

Her eyes flare, her smile broadens, and she spins on her toes. It doesn't really require theatrics to unsheathe her second Aspect, to wear her soul on her face, but she enjoys the show. In a single blur of motion, one becomes as two. She is at once Human and Fey, both halves merging and rippling across her body. She is now possessed of two long, thick red braids, looped behind her head in a heart shape... then winding down to criss-cross her body, hovering about an inch off her suddenly very bare skin with enough length to maintain the more important parts of her propriety. She's perhaps several inches taller... and clad in wiry, gorgeous muscle. Besides these and the floating braids, she seems to be dangling with chains of gold, dangling trinkets, all along her limbs and throat. These had previously been around her braids, hidden in the folds.

One half of her flesh is like marble, perfect, ageless... yet at once also hard, remote, and impersonal. Utterly separate from the world of men. The other is sweet, pale white, the most fragile, succulent flesh a man can imagine, with the same dimpled darling face and a single glacial lovestruck blue eye. The other eye, on her equally beautiful grey half, is closed shut.

If Wenomir isn't suddenly struck temporarily dumb by her visage (though she has tried to tone down the weaponizable aura of raw passion and Emotion that overcomes those who look upon her), she rushes at him with all force. Her feet scarcely touch the dust as she feints forward with one outstretched arm, hand held outward and flat... before twisting to one side, attempting to spin around his guard and land a knock-down hammer blow in the center of his back. The attempt to get around behind him is done with what might be one of the greatest displays of agility and blinding speed he'll have ever had to contend with. Coupled with the grace of a master ballerina's pirouette... she is truly a spectacle of the most terrible pulchritude.

[Keep Proper]

In yet another timeline, a certain resident stag comes running home. He bursts into the Keep and scurries inside, taking the stairs practically two at a time he's so excited. He hurries to find Sakura.

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

It's not easy to surprise Wenomir, but Zillia's transformation manages to anyway. He wouldn't still be alive if he didn't recover quickly, though. And as it often happens, his initial shock is fuelled into determination.

Zillia will find that she has no guard to bypass, because Wenomir thought better than to meet her assault head-on. It looks like he does, as he bounds forward in her direction, but just as she's about to punc him, he dances away from the strike with frustrating lightness of movement. With grace rivalling that of any denizen of faerie lands, he interrupts his evasive motion and makes a sudden, forceful strike at Zillia's elbow.

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Zillia squeals pain in twin, eerie voices as she recoils from him, dancing a full ten feet away in the blink of an eye. Her elbow, the one of weak flesh, looks a bit red for a moment before the painful blemish fades. She looks at him with her single cold blue eye, and if anything it looks as though she likes him more.

"I like you mortals, here. I like you very much," she declares, and streaks at him once more in a blur of white and red. Still far shorter than he (though her presence of personality makes that easy to forget) it might be disorienting as Zillia seems to charge right at his blade... before dipping down, outright floating off the ground as she attempts to crash into his legs. Her arms lance out and pinch together, attempting (if she catches him, of course), to lock his knees together and bring him crashing to the earth.

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

"No, I understand, don't worry." Jezebel says even though she wants to shout "Oh the scandal!" but that'd be in poor taste. "How do you want to handle the secrecy? We're already well known to be friends I believe."

Weekend Morning

"We'll just meet as usual." Cessie replies before clearing her throat again. "I will have difficulty handling the relationship part myself I imagine but that we're going to ignore now."

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

"As will I." Jezebel says, agreeing as she leans back into the chair a bit before shaking her head after a pause. "Not for the same reasons however. This is new territory for myself as much as you, though for me it is because I have never allowed myself to become so...invested in a person." She admits, looking out the window again. "I will be the first in line to say with all honesty I had grown far too used to momentary flings and fancies and scandalous affairs, but thinking upon such now after that trip home..."

The goddess gives a small sigh. "The memories of such tire me now, and in a way, bring embarrassment. As much as I have been through, I am still young and I think it's about time I grew up past such things. So no matter how this goes, Cessie, I want to thank you. From the very bottom of my heart, thank you for being by my side." She says, looking back at the mage and sounding entirely sincere.

After her thanks however, she gives a small smile. "As for continuing on as we are but with thoughts towards us during such outings, that's perfectly acceptable with me. I wouldn't have known what to suggest and had no ideas as to where to begin."

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

Scandalous affairs? What in the world did Jezebel consider scandalously? "I had hoped you had a few suggestions frankly. While you're crossing new territory, I feel like on a different plane of existence altogether." Cessie admits. "And please don't thank me, it sounds like I just gave you a new job, Jezebel. This is something we're supposed to have together, not something I'm granting you. All my relationships started out rather... passionate. This feels like a trade agreement in comparison." She let's out a small sigh. "That's why I hoped you had some ideas." She didn't even dare to reach out and touch Jezebel's hand.

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir responds to this sudden maneuver by leaping upwards, spinning and coming crashing down next to Zillia. He'll try to jab her with her sword as he descends. It's rarely a good idea to give him a reason to jump.

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

And jab he does! Zillia cackles mischievously as she arcs one of her twin braids to deflect the attack, whirling peacefully through the air as easily as a seal through water, and she straightens upright to land on those dainty feet once again. She darts to one side, into the corner of his eye... then toward the warrior again, fist outstretched to strike before arcing down to punch at his broad chest. The ideal direction is to send him backwards and downwards. Her floating dash, despite it's eerie movement, carries the full momentum of a charging opponent.

Then from above, other voices ring out. A trio of squeaks and cries of 'Lookit!' Lo and behold, the eldest Frescot children stand side by side on the Mithar Balcony, pointing and talking noisily. Laela cries above them, leaning over the balcony, "Uncle Wenomiiiiir! Don't hurt Gramma!"