The market is familiar, but in different ways. There are many different species here, but some are more alien than Tasha is used to. The wares for sale range from food to equipment, some of which looks out of place given the setting. Alongside smoked meats (of varying colors) are packs of self-contained and self-preparing meals, and next to swords and flint are rifles and flares and tools harder to identify. The market is also surrounded by permanent shops and services.
Tasha decides she likes this sort of shop, it's familiar enough to give her a sense of home but alien enough to be interesting. Had she more time she thinks she could have spent several days just touring the goods offered by the boarder town, as it is she needs to be fast, as she only has a few hours and they set out again in the morning. She already used up two hours locating a tavern with tubs -- an out of the way establishment used by traveling merchants who want both comfort and safety, without fuss -- leaving her with only a few more hours to shop.
As Tasha tours the wares, she sends to Kai, "I located an inn, I'll pass on the location now. It's ... The location is given by street direction from where she had been. Since she doesn't have to travel with the others she can fly, which has given her a good layout of the city by which to navigate. As she explains the rout she looks for small souvenirs to bring back, maybe something of interest to her as well. "Do you think any of these goods are worth buying? What do you recommend? I think I saw some magic books, and books in general. I'd like to look at the magic books, and Hake and Katie probably want some as well."
"We are heading to one of the great libraries, so there will also be books there," Kai replies. "A city of bookshops, most likely. Don't do business with any giant spiders. They will try to upsell you on everything. The portal here is beacon-based, which is troublesome. We may need to go with that priest."
"Alright, I'll save my money then. I'm going to get some food and head back to the inn." Tasha thanks the merchant she had been talking to, she knows it helps to be nice, and then breaks away to make her way back to th inn. "Did you see where the priest went? I can try and fetch him, he might appreciate knowing about the inn."
"I assume he's back with the others," Kai notes. "He and the Kitsune seem to stick together."
"Priest of order and priestess of chaos. Opposites attract, you know. Like me and Gabriel! I'll see if I can find them, there's still some time." Tasha diverts to try and find an empty street, or path out of town where she can get enough speed to take to the air again.
Down one street are.. birdhouses. They're built on top of the street-level homes, like attics. There is also a lot of plumage on display by the locals that are out on their balconies or perches, and at least one of them singing. But there aren't any wires or lines overhead.
Tasha suspects this is the flying types street, which means space and an understanding of 'I'm taking off please move'. She waits until things are clear and takes to the air, but not before getting a good look at the locales. It's been a while since she's been around an avian community, after all.
Not all of them are bird-based. There's at least one pegasus person, and several things with odd wings and bodies that seem made of bundles of worms and insect limbs.
Tasha has definitely not seen those before, and she wonders where they come from. "Kai, I'm seeing people made from piles of worms, insect limbs, and other things. What are those?" Once in the air she decides that enough being a touristy, she knows first hand how little the locales might appreciate it, and so starts looking for the priest and for anything else of interest.
"Probably Mi-go or similar," Kai notes. "Some species are weird enough to worship beings like Nyarlothotep."
While passing over a building that seems to emitting a lot of steam, Tasha spots what might be Brother Bone and Lila-ren. The Kitsune is easier to recognize, given that there are a lot of reptilian and dragonoid sorts in town. The pair are sitting on a bench and appear to be wearing bathrobes.
"That is weird, especially if they actually know a little bit about him." A pause, then, "I think I see them, near a bath house. I'm heading down."
Landing here is trickier; if she can't make it safely Tasha decides to just land on a roof and jump down after making sure the ansible works, to cushion her landing.
With a light bounce on reaching the ground, Tasha manages to keep her wings folded despite her reflexes. The Kitsune watches this with curiosity. "That isn't how one normally enters a spa," she teases Tasha.
"I know, but you like exciting things, so why not surprise you?" Tasha flaps her wings a few times to make it seem like she was really using them, then stretches. "Annnyway, I came to as Mr. Priest there if he'd like to travel with us to Dragon Land."
Brother Bone looks at Tasha, then retracts his inner eyelids to get a better look. "Shouldn't I be the one inviting you?" he asks. "Are you heading to the Platinum Mountains?"
"Uhh, /Dragon Land/. Kai's the one who handles directions, you'll have to discuss it with her. You may be pleased to know I found an inn with baths /and/ empty rooms, if you'd like to join us there. Then we can discuss things in detail over food./" Tasha drops out of her stretch, then tilts her head. "Why would you be inviting me, anyway?"
"Why invite me, unless you needed to make use of my lodestone?" Brother Bone says.
"An inn, with baths?" Lila asks. "Hmmm. We do have free room and board here at the spa, as it is owned by my lecherous cousin. But it was difficult to get Bony to agree to even a bit of luxury. Is Kai the large man or the homunculus? It isn't the goose is it?"
"I suspect that's the case, so I won't lie about it and tell you otherwise. The gate's unstable, after all. At any rate, traveling with us is is a safe option," Tasha tells the Priest. To the Kitsune, she answers, "Kai's the elf woman. The big man is Wulfgar. I don't know the name of the goose, it's probably Slaughter or Decimator or something."
"In ages past, geese were flightless creatures that were seven times as long as you stand tall," Brother Bone notes. "They have not forgotten. I will meet with your party to discuss merging our forces."
"Stupendous. Well, I'll just leave you to your steam then, I know how sad it is to have it interrupted." Tasha looks around for an exit, ears flicking.
The courtyard is surrounded by the tall building on all sides, but there are sliding partitions instead of doors. Not enough room for a running start at taking flight.
"I'll just go.. this way then." Tasha fusses with the sliding door for a while until she figures it out. Once it's open she gives the pair a finger-wiggle wave, then she slips out.
It's a bit of a maze inside, but by avoiding steamy areas and sticking to hallways Tasha eventually makes it outside with only a few odd looks (as she's the only person not wearing a bathrobe in every encounter).
Tasha is used to odd looks, she pays them no mind. Once out she reports her success. "The priest will join us at the inn. I'm heading there now, myself."
"I'll join you shortly then, after I collect Wulfgaar," Kai reports. "My examination of the gateway is finished."
"Anything interesting?" With time to spare now, Tasha takes her time walking back to th inn. It's not every day she gets to walk through a quaint border town in a style like home that's also full of strange new things, after all. In fact, she can't think of another time it's happened. Abaddon was too industrial, and most of Galactic space is full of technologically advanced -- and often magically devoid -- civilizations.
"That depends on what you find interesting," Kai replies. "The nexus doesn't have quantum isolation properties, so regardless of where we go, time will pass on both sides equally."
"Time, what a problem, especially since our enemies often don't care about it or can exist across timelines, times, and universes, often simultaneously." Tasha looks around as she goes, both to keep watch, and to see if she can spot anything or anyone else that's new to her. She can never have too many resources, after all.
There are many more kinds of people here as well.. specifically, alien types. Creatures with bodies that don't match anything that Tasha is used to. Current galactic civilization seems very sparse in comparison. A fish-faced being is doing business in an alleyway, which may involve drugs. There are Zelak-like creatures as well, but it's difficult to tell if they are people, pets or servants.
She also passes a food vendor, which is.. milking.. a strange beast and selling what it produces. It isn't clear if it's vomiting or lactating, the anatomy is too odd. The vender is also odd, being primarily barrel-shaped with two spindly arms on one side of its body and a single beefy are on the other, along with a too-wide smile.
Tasha suspects she's dealing some some sort of Thotep worshiper again, and avoids eye contact. She's just passing through. She hangs out with Thotep enough as it is, she doesn't need his worshipers as well. They might start asking her about him.
The inn has a patio in front, where several people are seated. A few are what Kai might call 'low elves', and the seem to be glaring at another table seated by beings that don't look particularly different. There's also a bench, with someone either passed out or deceased on it, which a staff member is attempting to rouse.
Tasha takes one of the empty tables and kicks back, quite literally, crossing her legs and leaning backwards. She grabbed a chair for the winged, which is a nice touch, and one civilizations forget all too often. Once comfortable she settles in to wait, watch, and enjoy the scenery. She could almost imagine herself back home. Almost. She wonders what her mother and Tashly are doing; what her three other selves are up to.
There are lots of people to watch. A few adventurers from the group pass by, also shopping, and then Kai and Wulfgaar appear. "I hope this place is cheap," Kai remarks when they reach the table.
Tasha makes a handy-wavey 'eh' gesture. "You wanted baths, what were you expecting?" She gestures to the chairs around her for the two to take a seat.
"Are the rooms big enough, or do we need separate ones?" Kai asks, looking around. "When will the priest be here?"
"I got one for you and me and one for Wulf and the goose. And I don't know when he'll be here, since he seems like an upstanding sort probably promptly, after he's done with his sauna." Tasha stifles a yawn, and then notes, "You seem impatient Kai. You could order some food and toss it at the elves?"
"Seelie and Unseelie, this town attracts everyone it seems," Kai notes. "If you are to wait out here, I will take our belongings to the rooms," Wulfgaar offers.
"Please do, I have sharp eyes, I can keep watch out here. Kai, you don't need to wait if you're bored." Tasha looks in no hurry to move, and quite comfortable as-is. "But I wouldn't go too far."
Kai apparently doesn't get bored, and fine to hand around until Brother Bone and Lila-ren arrive. They pair are wearing clothes, although Lili is in her hag glamour. The draconian priest is dressed as usual, wearing leather armor under a cloak.
Tasha has remained kicked back, feet on the table and hands behind her head. She wore pants for this adventure, and this is one of the many rewards. "Hello again you two. Kai, do you want to start off?"
"Me? Oh, well.. I'm sure Tasha has told you we are headed to the Dragonlands," Kai explains. "The Nightmare Gate here is beacon based, so it can only tune to preset planes of existence. From there we'll need to get to another gate. I believe you have a key for that."
"Yes, my holy symbol is also a lodestone," Brother Bone says. "And your group wishes to come along with us. You are not part of the irritable elf-lord's expedition then, I take it?"
"That's about it really," Tasha adds helpfully (?). "As for the elf, no, we really don't like him, either. If he tries to harm you in route we'd be willing to protect you."
"Oh, he won't be coming along," Lila notes. "And he only has to pay the people that return alive with information. So, having protection while traversing whatever conflict zone we're dropped into is welcome. If you can actually protect us."
"Well, I know Nyarlathotep, which isn't a guarantee if we run in to him he won't scower us from existence, or worse, probably worse, but it might help. I'm also familiar with the other side of the conflict enough I may be able to divert her wrath if I can make contact. As for more mundane threats, we can all fight, and my job when I'm not here with Kai is fighting the demonic servants of a pantheon of gods whom I also hope to be rid of." Tasha spreads her hands. "I'm also super cute and someone-who-can-not-be-named also likes me. I know some basic magic, I have an iron gun, and I can fight with a sword."
"If either antagonist is out there, being on speaking terms with them may not be enough," Lila says. "There will be other factions trying to grab as much territory as possible before Nyarlathotep returns. He had his own army, as did other factions. We need to get past them to a usable gate."
"I'm good at keeping people hidden, and know most of the geography.. although it has been awhile since I've been to the Dreamlands," Kai adds. "I don't have access to all of the power I normally would at the moment, but it should suffice for what we need."
"Well it may be more than you have without me, so it's part of our offer. I can also fly and carry someone, probably you," Tasha nods to the woman, "if that becomes necessary. I doubt we can stop an army, but we can probably handle a small force. Kai can use magic, Wulfgar can stab people. I do a little of everything."
"Having a small group with a common goal should be more efficient," Brother Bone says. "So this seems to be good grouping. Lila has not shared what exactly her abilities are."
"She's a four-tail kitsune," Kai notes. "Illusions, clouding the minds of lesser beings. Anything else?"
"But you spend so much time together," Tasha observes, eyes widening and ears shooting up in a look of mock-surprise. "She can also do some scrying I believe, Kai."
"A bit of genuine shape-shifting," the hag claims. "I'm more spirit than flesh after all. This can be a blessing or a curse in the Dreamlands. But my power is not tied to the Unformed like the fey."
"Scrying?" Kai asks.
"Not as useful as you might think," Lila admits. "I can see what happened in a place, not what is happening or will happen anywhere else."
"She was working to look in to the history of the castle using magic, so maybe there's another word for it. They were trying to figure out what happened and why the magic was distorted." Tasha taps the side of her heading, thinking. "But you couldn't see the raw chaos matter, right?"
"Not the sort of magic I'm attuned to," Lila says.
"So it requires attunement," Tasha repeats, glancing to Kai. "Does that apply universally?"
"Different families of entities have certain affinities," Kai explains. "Kitsune and yokai are spiritually attuned."
"I feel a shudder when you say families of entities. Like I'm seeing my future, and it's going to get me." Tasha shakes her head. "And I was thinking about it, too. Well. Kai has been teaching me about avoidance, so perhaps between all our skills we can avoid fighting entirely."
"We need to cover contracts and patronage at some point as well," Kai says. "And I'm sure Brother Bone can provide insight into that."
"We still have a ways to go, right? We can talk along the way." Tasha then flashes a smile towards Brother Bone. "Welcome to joining my procession of teachers."
"Have they all survived the tutelage?" Brother Bone asks.
"I am happy to report they all survived," Tasha replies, tail wagging.
"Pending reports on the missing ones," Kai adds, but smiles as she says it.
"Hey they were alive the last time I saw them and I wasn't.. probably wasn't the cause of the new disaster that followed. I might have been set up. And we both know all of this was going to happen eventually anyway," Tasha insists, the tail wagging becoming more of a tail flicking.
"So you are a person whom interesting things happen around?" Lila asks, grinning a hag's grin (complete with missing and darkened teeth).
Tasha suddenly seems very interested in the sky. "I've heard that's the case. Someone once called me a 'strange attractor'," she answers, sounding airy.
"Because you are strange, or because you attract the strange?" Lili asks.
"Perhaps you are destined to become a sage," Brother Bone says.
"Uhhhhh," goes Tasha at Lili's question, still gazing upward. "Probably both. I was born unusual, then it just got worse over time. I picked up things. People. Abilities." Her head finally comes down as she peers at Brother Bone. "Maybe. I have been picking up a lot as I go along."
"Hmm, I think she still has some way to go yet before earning a spot on a mountaintop," Kai says. "You'll never find me dispensing wisdom."
"Yeah dispensing wisdom means people like me show up, and I'm a little difficult." Tasha shrugs her hands, then slides down in to her chair. "Maybe after my children are running around."
"I'm not sure sages are allowed to complain about their children though," Lila points out. "I assume we will be leaving with the main group in the morning, to make use of their strength in numbers."
"Maybe they'll have learned something from the townsfolk we missed," Tasha suggests, and then she sits up again. "At any rate, I'd hate to see them die needlessly if I can help it. I can't protect them once we split but I can try to until then."
"The commission is to investigate a conflict zone, determine the factions involved, who may be winning, and if there is any news of Nyarlathotep or the Queen of Demise," Kai says. "So we aren't going to be exiting in a pleasant meadow by a lake."
"Nobody knows what this Queen of Demise is even supposed to look like," Lila points out.
"Unless that lake meadow is gunning to achieve supremacy!" Tasha makes an 'ah, ah?' raised eyebrow look at Kai.
"Lakes and meadows are not to be trusted in the Dreamlands," Kai agrees. "The land itself can be alive."
Tasha taps the side of her head, see I know. "As for the Queen, well, she's a dragon of some sort. By the name, probably a big one, maybe black, there'd probably fire. Thotep has his many avatars so he could also look like that."
"So, big black monsters," Lila says. "That should narrow it down."
"She'd probably be draconic where as Thotep would not be, but you never know. I knew two demons about the size of a star, and another the size of a city. Some, like spirits, can be purely memetic and exist in completely different formats. People come in alls shapes and sizes, really." Tasha shrugs with her hands again.
Wulfgaar returns from the inn, and sits down. He doesn't have his swords, so must have left them in the room. "I figured out how the ceramic washtubs work," he reports. "Shinbreaker is very happy to use one. She only bit me twice."
"I knew her name was something like that." Tasha nods to Wulgar and gestures to the two other people who have joined them. "This is Brother Bone and Lila, they'll be joining our party when we head out tomorrow."
"Are you a witch?" the barbarian asks Lila, who just nods her head and cackles.
"It is good fortune to protect a witch," Wulfgaar claims. "And a holy man. Are you a man, or is Brother honorific?"
"I believe I am a man," Brother Bone claims. "For I have not laid an egg as of yet."
Tasha perks her ears up at this question, then they go back down. "Well that's one way to answer that."
"It usually doesn't matter with dragon priests," Kai notes. "Over time, they'll become the gender of their god."
"Is that true? I guess that's a way to unify the clergy. Or is the dragon god that powerful it exudes influence?" Tasha is back to perked ears, now towards Kai.
"They influence the world around them, and by extension those whose serve them and carry their influence," Brother Bone says. "That said, we are not particularly romantic, and other species are seldom willing to check."
"yeah I've tried flirting with dragons, it never goes anywhere," Tasha admits, slumping again, ears back. "Or maybe it's because I look like a teenager again? Well either way, nowhere."
"How many dragons have you flirted with?" Kai asks Tasha.
Tasha counts off on her fingers, "Two, maybe three?" She waggles the finger counting hand. "There may be more, what constitutes a dragon is more broad than I realized."
Brother Bone seems curious as well. "What sort of gifts did you try to entice them with?" he asks.
"Mostly me, I wasn't carrying much whenever we met. Half the time I was just extremely nervous or otherwise off and I like to shift the momentum, besides anyone who has kids as cute as some dragons do must be worth knowing. And curiosity, I was curious. Plus, as a -- figureative -- dragonslayer, I suppose there's that forbidden curiosity. Honestly, I haven't done well flirting with anyone outside my circle lately, so maybe it's just me." Tasha shrugs, and her tail wags pendulum like.
"Dragons need to be approached in certain ways," Brother Bone claims, but doesn't elaborate.
"Downwind, certainly," Wulgaar offers.
"Lots of gifts, stroke their ego, compliment them a lot, maybe subservience? Oh, oh, or you fight them to show your dominance." Tasha nods, that must be it.
"Combat can certainly be a factor, but novelty is good as well," Brother Bone says. "Dragons can be jaded."
"Sometimes literally," Lila claims.
"Hmmmm, well I am certainly a novelty," Tasha confirms, nodding slowly. "Novelty. I'll keep that in mind."
"Dragons tend to collect things they find novel though, so one shouldn't be too novel unless looking for a permanent home with a dragon," Brother Bone cautions.
"Sometimes they will dip you in chocolate, and lick it off," Lila claims. But she could be joking, as is the nature of Kitsune.
"Honey too," Kai says.
"Dipped in sauces, got it. They better not eat me, though; I'm very poisonous." Tasha dips her head and arches a brow in a well, arch manner; is she joking? She's not.
"You're covered in fur, so batter would be more likely, but that requires boiling oil," Brother Bone says. "It would be better if you could sing or dance or create art."
"I can sing a little, I can dance badly, and I paint," Tasha lists off, her tail tapping shoulder, then head, then other shoulder.
"Painting is good," Brother Bone says. "Artists are usually welcome."
"It might be nice to paint again, I've been too busy and too stressed." Tasha tilts her head back and forth. "I didn't bring any painting tools either, but I suppose they'll have some." She thinks for a moment and then her ears shoot up. "Oh! Keep an eye out for a falcon or ibis headed deity in a skirt, they may be in other forms like a winged man with a metal ibis head. Also, for a giant metal statue with wings and a bird head."
"Those seem oddly specific," Lila notes. "A statue?"
"I'm looking for them. And a statue, you might think of it as a golem. There may be an avian man ins shiny pants nearby, black, he may look a little like me, except much bigger. The statue will look like metal and will move. It might seem like a god." Tasha then pauses, rapping her knuckles against her muzzle. "The others may also seem like gods, come to think of it."
"You speak of the sorcerer, Thoth-Amon?" Wulfgaar asks.
"Yeah that guy. He's kind of stiff, but I miss him," Tasha admits, shrugging.
"He is also bad at flirting with dragons," Kai reveals.
"Is he now," Tasha utters conspiratorially. She scoots over and leans forward, resting her head on her folded hands. "I must know about this."
"Gods are surprisingly awkward at social interaction," Brother Bone notes.
"I'll tell you in private," Kai promises.
"Yeesssss," goes Tasha who sits back, smiling.
"I sense gossip," Lila says, grinning.
"Ooobviously. But it's ours! You'll have to wonder. You'll try, but it's impossible." Tasha then leans back, hands behind her head. "Impossible."
"I will discover this secret, in time," the Kitsune promises.
"Now, the important thing at the moment is whether or not Tasha has found a pizza slinger in this town," Kai claims.
"Immmpoossiblleee," intones Tasha in what she presumes is an ominous and final tone. She then tilts her head and thinks back, did she spot one? She had been in the air a while, and there's be smoke. She'd have smelled it.
It's possible that the delicacy has not made it to this corner of faerie. Or they don't have the necessary ingredients.
"Nope," Tasha declares, folding her arms and shaking her head. "Either it's not here or they don't have the ingredients because I was over the city and I didn't smell a single pizza. Which, for a border town, is atrocious. Atrocious."
"They must have meat pies then," Kai suggests. "And some of those must have cheese."
"I only eat bread and vegetables," Brother Bone claims.
"No cheese?" Kai asks.
"I'm not familiar with that food," the draconian admits.
"We shall discover these pies." Tasha nods confidently. Then, she explains to Kai, "Perhaps his god only eats bread and vegetables. Maybe it's a bread and vegetables dragon."
"Gods eat whatever you feel like sacrificing to them," Kai claims. "But they can be fooled with vegetable sausage, usually."
"Hmmm," goes Tasha, nodding slowly. "Hmmmmm."
"Hmmm?" Kai responds. "Well.. those pies aren't going to fetch themselves, Tasha.."
"Yes, they certainly aren't, Wulfgar." Tasha then looks to Wulfgar,
"I am only familiar with gargoyle cooking in places such as this," Wulfgaar responds. "I must also look after Shinbreaker."
"Well I won't make our guests do it, so I'll go. I warn you of the not insignificant danger that I will bite your pie." Tasha hops up, going from full lounging to full energy and ready to go. "I'll be back in a little bit. Place your order before I go or don't complain to me after!"
"There are three vendors in the market," Kai notes, suddenly knowledgeable. "Go to the one with the longest line of locals. Make mine spicy, with cheese if they have it."
"I am curious about cheese as well," Brother Bone says.
"I prefer sweet, if they have tarts as well," Lili requests.
"Meat," Wulfgaar notes. "No bigger than my head."
"I know that longest line means best place. Spice and cheese for red, cheese and veggies for the Priest, sweets for the fox and meat for the meat, got it. I'll be back, If you yell or throw things I'll be slower, if you grab my tail I'll brain you." And off Tasha goes.
"We will acquire beverages," Kai promises.
"Good 'cause you didn't order themmmmm," sing-songs Tasha, who then disappears around the bend.
After a hearty meal (and some hearty ale), the group retires to their respective rooms, and Tasha has the opportunity to take a bath.. and possibly get some gossip out of Kai if she can.
Tasha does decide to take a bath. For Karnors, weird smells are good, even if they're yours. But Tasha is a pampered Karnor-like being now, not to mentioned brow-beaten from all the pushes to get her to dress better, smell better, sound better, talk better, and generally better better. She goes as much for cleanliness as social momentum.
The tub is large at least, and has fur and hair traps. The plumbing, though, is unusual. It isn't clear if the water is actually stored or pumped from anywhere, as some parts connecting the pipes seem to be solid crystal that water couldn't possibly flow through. But it's very comfy, and the available soaps and shampoos smell nice, and would certainly cover up the smell of old blood and sweat.
And so Tasha strips, gathers her favorite soaps and oil, and plops herself in to the water near what she's tentatively named a 'water crystal' no matter how banal show knows it sounds. She does stop to poke it with a nail a few times, to see if it really is permeable.
Poking it causes water to jet out briefly from the point of contact, but it still feels solid. The water is just warm enough to be comfortable.
"I need one of these." Tasha thinks of all the impromptu warm baths she could have, almost anywhere! And also the drinks! And it would fascinates Phins, maybe she could learn to shoot water at people so she could enjoy the consequences of wet uniforms and recreational clothes, all at a moment's notice.
"Are you taking your bath now?" Kai asks, connecting through Tasha's ansible (or at least it seems that she is).
Tasha's never sure with Kai, for all she knows Kai is making her have a conversation with herself Kai recorded yesterday as part of her busy schedule of elf torture. "Yes I am. How does this water crystal thing work, anyway?"
It's then Tasha decides on a way forward: she decides to lather herself up so much by the time Kai arrives she's just bubbles with a Karnor head.
Tasha is fairly successful by the time Kai arrives. "Not foaming at the mouth, are you?" she asks. "Oh.. that's a water crystal."
"I KNEW IT," Tasha declares, pointing at the crystal. It's a bit hard to tell what with the foam encapsulation. "How does it work? And, why is magical stuff so boringly named? Is it because it's already magical and giving it a boring name enhances in some sort of dichotomy?"
"I never gave it much thought, but it's probably tapping into some hot spring somewhere," Kai suggests. "A lot of 'magic' could be considered quantum entanglement scaled up to macroscopic levels." She sticks her hand in the water, then starts shedding her own clothes, since the tub is large enough.
"So another kind of Wizardry. Wizardry for the masses. It's alllll aboooout ruuuules." And so Tasha slides back until she's like an island if that island was made of foam, had a dog head, and below the surface it was a goat lady. "Ahhh. I have become too domestic."
"More likely someone hacked it off a crystal that was already growing in the water," Kai suggests. "The lather is working well to cover up the wet fur smell."
"Yeah so quickly work on the wet pointy-Human spell," Tasha insists, then she sticks her tongue out. Soon after she goes beneath the water to shed her mantle and then pops back up, looking therefore skinnier and smaller for the compressed fur. "So step one to acquire magic: break off some existing magic, take it with you."
"Isn't that how you get salt?" Kai asks. She dunks her head into the soapy water then pops back up.
"Salt is magical. It's also very valuable, except only somewhere. So, any news? Rumors? Gossip? I was promised gossip." Tasha's ears are forward. It is probably good she didn't end up a fennec.
"Ah, yes," Kai says. "Gossip about Thoth, yes?"
Tasha nods. "But, you know, I'll accept other kinds. I am a magnanimous princess."
"Well.. I found Thoth in Avalon, as you may have guessed," Kai notes. "Asking about the Unformed and the Tuatha de Danaan. And getting nowhere, since the elves aren't the knowledge sharing sort."
"They really aren't. Can you believe they were immediately suspicious of me when I popped out of a drain? Honestly. And I even shared and still, suspicion. And they called me glib. Glib." Tasha huffs. It's less impressive when she's soaking wet, if it had actually been impressive before. Which it wasn't. But it's less now.
"So, I told him I'd introduce him to someone more willing to help," Kai continues. "I suppose I could have shown him myself, but as a 'low elf' I shouldn't be able to do that. He was, of course, still looking for alternate ways to create Vril. I took him to the Seelie Court of Queen Mab, to see Kainudy."
"I did wonder how they knew each other. Now I'm even more curious! And what was Mab like, as bad as the courtier?" Tasha kicks her legs slowly in the water. She's not sure why she acts younger these days, and suspects it's the body. It seems to her the body you wear influences how you are, as much as the soul and the mind. It's something she continues to think about.
"Queen Mab was.. well.. a queen," Kai says. "Surrounded by advisers and courtiers and nobles all wanting something. Court is like a dance, everyone trying to get their turn with the queen. They hated Kainudy, because she always had the Queen's ear, as her Security Advisor. Thoth had to wait around a lot, just watching."
"I think I'm beginning to know what that feels like." Tasha rocks back and fourth, shifting to sit on her hands. "So everyone didn't like Kainudy because she wasn't corrupt and actually did her job. That reminds me a little of Abaddon. So much suspicion, so many wars. I know why, but still."
"Well, it's more that she was very good at playing people against each other and general manipulation," Kai says. "And she just knew things about folks. Almost as if she had a spy." She grins at the last bit. "That was pretty much when she was at her peak. She never showed any magical ability, so everyone underestimated her. No weaknesses to exploit. I think Thoth developed a crush, or whatever his equivalent might be. I didn't try to read his mind. The tragedy, in the end, was that she never got to really show him the Unformed before the dragon war, where the nobles - Lord Fael'wynn chief among them - managed to get rid of her by noting she was the only person 'neutral' enough, with ties to both the Seelie, Unseelie and Dragons to lead a combined force."
"Defeat via success and acclaim. I think I know what that looks like now. You become indispensable, or you're the only one, and you march off and destroy yourself and all the people who want you gone and profit from your work stay behind," Tasha observes, still rocking. "And I didn't even know Thoth could have a crush. on anything. Well, general manipulation is its own dangers, so I can kind of see why she had enemies. Did she have any good sides?"
"Oh, she was very nice to everyone," Kai notes. "That counted against her. And she was associated with their goddess, Danu, which also rubbed people the wrong way. I couldn't say that she had any real friends though. Allies, certainly, but the high fae aren't ones for friendship. They're all rather nasty."
"They do seem really nasty. I hadn't met a one where I didn't feel immediately threatened in some way. Kainudy seemed like she had problems, but she didn't threaten me when I arrived. We- uh, well Vartans can have a sense of the spirit of something. I still feel it, sometimes. I didn't feel danger around Kainudy, that sense of neutral all-directional spite or malice, or even direct malice." Tasha's tail flicks at the water surface, then taps at it, like it's playing a song only she can hear. "I'm not sure I can say the same, that I'm nice to everyone, or that I don't exude a certain malice. So I guess she's nicer than me ultimately."
"I'm not sure what Thoth did after I was put in storage and Kainudy went of to war, but I assume he explored the Dreamlands and other realms," Kai notes. "The Kainudy you met is not like she was in her prime. When Persephone rescued her she was falling apart, so when she returned to court her mind was being held together with bubble-gum and regret. She was in no shape to defend herself. Then she ended up on a different world and was soul-poisoned immediately, and it seeped into the cracks. She never had to time to really recover, it was just hit after hit until she ended up locking herself away from everything in the Halfworld."
"That's really rough," Tasha observes, propping her head on her chin. She strongly believes 'really rough' doesn't even begin to encompass the overview, but she also hasn't found any better way to state such things. In all her travels better ways to express how tragic, awful, or bad something in have eluded her. "Really rough. Words are limited and dumb. I'd throw my feelings at you but I think you know me well enough to know I mean more than I can express sometimes, and that I care. So if that was Kainudy, then what happened to her mate? How did that happen? Something about astral projection?"
"For that.. uh," Kai goes, and even pinches the bridge of her nose. "So.. things are a bit mucky because of parallel timelines and such," she warns. "There are three variations that I know of that deal with Daniarood, the first natural-born, flesh-and-blood Terran immortal. One, which seems to deal with your reality, is that she saw how Eve botched the first version of humanity, and decided to do it properly. In another, she got humanity on the road to sapience as well, but then decided to push a few as far as possible to create the Tuatha de Danaan, the Gods of the Fae. Kainudy's main timeline holds that Daniarood experimented with human ancestors to figure out how to breed for genetic obedience, which is why humans ended up with a universal belief in dragons and gods. But that was just so she could apply what she learned from human experimentation on her own kind."
"So she's probably hyper-dimensional and possible non-local. It's not impossible for a linearly temporal immortal to have done such things if she inserted herself early in each timeline, but it seems she might have become more than just a temporally locked being, much as the Ogdoad, Thotep, and others are not locked. So any could be true, or all could be true. Or could be made true-haven-been-true-and-are-not-again-and-again." Tasha taps the side of her head. "Temporalarity is funny, isn't it? What happened can not happen again. What has been can never be, and what isn't can be again, before and after."
"Or certain archetypes keep showing up, because they have to," Kai supposes. "The Stelya-rhian in your memories of Charon and Persephone are a lot bigger than the ones in Kainudy's memories, but they are most certainly the same beings. So they may just be bigger in your reality because they need to be."
"Persephone said I might be from her future, which is why she avoids me, sometimes. And the place I first met their kind was further still in her future. That's the problem when you travel beyond your own timeline, your timeline can become just yours, and yours alone. Daniarood may be the same way. She seems everywhere but she's just snaking through other timelines to accomplish her tasks, whenever and where-ever needed." Tasha sniffs, ears flicking off water. "I wonder where the truth is. Maybe it's always changing. After all what do before and after matter if the bath room them ins't linear? If they can be changed?"
"I think she exists in all those timelines simultaneously," Kai says. "She doesn't vanish from one to do something in another. What I don't know if she's aware of all of them. Kainudy has an outside view, since she's traveled to a lot of alternate realities. But that's later in the story. So, Kainudy's Daniarood wanted to make the perfect being. Remember when you were defending the Halfworld from the invading Sidhe? That bit in a bit ivory sort of tower with lots of colorful, wingless, bigger-than-a-wolf but smaller-than-a-bear dragons running around in a panic?"
"Maybe she isn't, it must be hard to walk that path alone, even for an immortal. The less anchored you are, the more everything musts seem dream-like. Mortals depend on dimensions, patterns, and consensus. What, then, does a solo immortal depend on, divorced form all of those things?" Tasha blinks. She looks young, but sometimes she sounds older. Sometimes she feels the edges of the forevers she has walked along side. "And I remember. I thought they were panicking because of the earlier war, that I was seeing inside the city what had been outside."
"Actually, they were panicking because Kainudy's mate was dead," Kai explains. "And yes, Daniarood was trying to create a peer, from a species of not-very-bright animals that she'd out-evolved. She wasn't able to just create them though. Her own children weren't immortal. So she founded some bloodlines, and crossed them to try and get what she wanted. Every hundred generations she'd take the most promising ones and try to make them immortal. Eventually she wound up with Khryss and Kainudy, who actually survived her attempts. They turned out to be more powerful than her, though, so she conditioned them to have limits. And instead of giving her the perfect child she wanted, they went and created the Stelya-rhian first - which were outside of her control. Then they took the species to a new world they'd built, which delayed things further, and finally had a dragon child that would be the immortal Daniarood actually wanted."
"She's sounds terribly lonely, this Dianarood. So lonely she forgot what it meant. Lonely, and afraid of everything. Control and power always speak of problems and fears. She was immortal, so her problems were limited, but she was alone. Or so it seems to me." Another sniff, this one also in thought. Sometimes she sniffs, as if she might smell an answer if she tried hard enough. "So they had a child, Kainudy mentioned that briefly, but little more. The child wasn't Tia. I know the astral projection failure effected both of them somehow. I probably asked about a topic that hurt her, but I didn't know, and didn't have any way to have known. It's no wonder the whole affair fell apart."
"I don't actually understand the circumstances, because at the time Kainudy didn't," Kai says. "It was part of their daughter's training. Something happened, and they didn't wake up. Kainudy couldn't wake them up, didn't feel anything there anymore. So she just stayed with the bodies. It took years for them to finally die, and since she held the role of the Heart, it affected everyone. She didn't try to comfort the others. All they knew was that their gods could die. It broke Kainudy. Eventually Persephone couldn't take it anymore, and undid Daniarood's conditioning. Kainudy was suddenly able to do.. well, more than the little telepathic tricks I can do. She blamed Daniarood for a lot. That the restraints had weakened them and led to her loss."
"I wonder if that's the case. It would depend on what really happened, and why. It sounds like the training was intended for more than just education, like it was some plan of Dianarood's, something maybe she pushed too far, too hard, and it went beyond control. I don't know what they could have wandered in tot o cause such a thing, or how Dianarood could not have known of such dangers. But, the fae seem unfamiliar with the Ogdoad and beings like them, even if they are a plague on the reality where I come from and those like it. I wonder. I wonder.." Tasha taps the side of her chin, head angles off as she stares at a wall. "The Way leads from the Beginning to the End. Time is not linear for some. But it is for others. What happens when a soul is destroyed, to the soul that came before that, in time? Was it never there to begin with? Was it there and then erased through time? Or does a piece remain, stuck in long and faded time?"
"And what happens to a being outside of time that is attached to time? Maybe the Source would know." More tapping. More thinking by Tasha.
"Well, when Kainudy was freed, she told off Daniarood and left with Persephone, taking me along as well. We all jumped between different realities, and a lot of the time Kainudy specifically returned to Terra," Kai says. "She imposed restraints on herself, but kept the key. She didn't trying to find realities where versions of her family might still be alive. Somehow that was more painful for her to consider. And you can't go back in time within your own timeline."
"That'd cause a collision.. or a severance. Either would be bad. But.." Tasha's looks back to Kai, ears going up. "I'm not from their timelime. And a being outside of time, like a soul-devouring entity, maybe not have a timeline at all. They touch all places, and in turn are touched by all of them. The touch might be like paper against a finger, never reaching the full being, but it's there. It's there. They have no past to return to, no reality to escape to. they are all they are. That means they are always available, if you can just bridge to where they are. The Sifra did that, I think. Knew they're always touching, and pulled them in and in and down and down. Like the Source. But the opposite should be true, too: You should be able to leap up to them."
Tasha clucks her tongue now. "This doesn't sit right with me. Not at all. And it's for these things that I feel most useful, like it matters the most."
"The soul-devouring dragons Kainudy fought against were very much flesh and blood, linear-time beings, up until they got to Vorgulremik himself," Kai says. "That's where things fell apart. Some of that is blocked off from me. All I know is that Kainudy's soul had another one crammed into it, things broke, and she used a piece of herself to seal Vorgulremik's soul instead of destroying it. And it was the first time the Queen of Demise appeared."
"And it was these steel dragons that got at Kainudy's mate and her child?" Tasha keeps thinking, all the myriad tricks and ways she could cheat the system, for there is a system, and it can be cheated. You just have to cheat by the rules, and if failing that, make some that work for you. The hard part is how.
"I don't know if they were involved, but she did hate them," Kai says, and notices Tasha's expression. "You're trying to think of a loophole, aren't you?"
"Yes." Tasha taps her chin harder. "There are infinite realities. Timelines, dimensions, they're all just paths leading somewhere, everywhere."
"But they aren't all infinite reflections of the same thing," Kai notes. "Trying to find a specific reality, is like finding a needle in an infinite haystack. There are points in time, where many pasts lead to, and futures expand from. Try to change something, and you could destroy other realities, or spawn entirely new ones. And timelines resist change as well. You understand memetic archetypes, right?"
"Oh I'm not trying to find the specific time, I want to find the entity responsible. If they exist outside of time I don't need find the time, they'll have already found it for me. When you touch everywhere you remember everywhere because you are everywhere and all the souls within. Samael showed me the way, he showed me what was inside him. I wouldn't find the time and place, I would find the demon and the demon would be the time and the place, and I would invade the demon." Tasha snaps her fingers, pointing Kai-wards, her other hand a finger gun even as she makes a shooting gesture. "They are what they know."
"I suspect that Kainudy knows the culprit," Kai admits. "Either she's acted.. or has chosen not to. She's a memetic archetype herself, after a fashion: The Consequences of Power Cannot Be Escaped. Really need a simpler term for that though. It's what keeps gods and powerful entities from just running roughshod over creation. It's a fundamental law, something they end up inflicting on themselves."
"Good thing I'm neither a god nor an especially powerful entity. My movements through realties cause relatively small ripples. And, unlike those law abiding citizens, I have different priorities. I'm really not a spare the few for the many sort of person, not when the many is your family, or friends, people dear. What would be the point? It's a great love of the faceless concepts, like loving a forest but hating trees." Tasha lowers her hands, then spreads them. "I was created form a being who would become a memetic avatar of divine punishment, specifically, homicide, fratricide, and parricide. So I have something of an aveging and punishing streak. But, I suppose what I really find to be better, is a correcting one. A making of things right, answering wishes."
"Just don't let yourself become a servitor of some powerful being just so they can avoid consequences," Kai says. "Like me! Although you could say I'm the consequences that other powerful beings have earned. It should have been me that went to war in Kainudy's place. There was reason she kept me out and locked me up. But I'm sure Brother Bone will have more to say about service and rewards than I would. If you had to seek a contract from a powerful entity, you may want to try Galatea. She's got a lot more power than I do, certainly, and has a lot of anger and rage that she tries to pretend she doesn't. Offer her an outlet, and she may take it."
"I heard all of that but the most interesting thing was what you didn't say. You have much of her knowledge and you never said: Tasha, that's impossible, and here's why, more why, and this other why. She tried everything. It won't work. You didn't even strongly disincline em to do it, which means you feel it has some merit, or at least the part of you that's her -- which is most of you -- wants to believe. And that's enough for me." Tasha leans back and folds her hand. "But i'll need more. The name of the being, what it is, what it's dimensionality is. Then a way in. And the power to overcome it from within. Demons usual don't have souls leap in to them, and I'm no longer even capable of being afraid of that, not really. And if I can answer the way to make a soul bite back, my original fear will also fade. I must therefore become an undying sun in their finite darkness, or at least a virus from within. Maybe the library has answers." She settles back down again and then shakes herself out.
"For the rest, well, Galatea still hasn't decided if she wants to destroy me or not. I don't know if you noticed but I kind of stabbed her with my suffering, all to get Kainudy to not eat us. It was a desperate move from a very busted up Tasha, but it was hardly a kind one. Still, maybe she'll see it as some kind of punishment. Maybe that would be for the best. It may help us both atone in some way. Or at believe we have." Tasha's smile is a little sad.
"Actually it may just help her with her hatred of all things Ogdru-hem-like," Kai suggests. "She may harbor a bit of anger towards you, but she hasn't stopped helping you, probably because you're trying to strike at entities that are bound up with feelings of anger, fear and guilt for her."
"Well, it's worth a try, then. I feel bad for her as I do Kainudy, and in some ways she was tossed to the side and forgotten amidst other things Kainudy worried about more. I think she's more than just a house now, certainly. Well, I'l talk to her when I get back. And, I think she'd very much be in on a plan to try and right an old wrong. I owe more than one person that effort." And now Tasha's smile is a lot less sad. Then she blinks. "Unless my three other selves have made things difficult. I know me."
"Well, I assume Sharon and Tia and Yue are spending time together," Kai says. "Vasha and Lacci as well. Lacci is a teacher at heart I feel. Sasha.. probably hanging out with Gabriel once he gets past the awkwardness. Easier to deal with a male Gabriel than a female Hakeber probably."
"Sharron's a bit mysterious, even for me. I suspect controlling her directly will be very eye-opening. She's simultaneously the most shy and the most willful, and the least social-able, but not because she avoids others, exactly. She's the most fragile but the most independent. It's peculiar." Tasha's ears go askew and she sinks deeper in the water. "Sasha's pretty easy other than being a boy, I spent a lot of time as him and I think he's safe to leave alone except for the ever-present danger I might somehow end up getting someone pregnant, then I have to chew on that mentally forever. Vasha will annoy Lacci until they get along I'm sure. And yeah, I don't see Sasha avoiding Hake, but it'll take some time for the rest. Gabriel's going to hurt him, but, well, maybe I'll let them sort it out."
"They'll probably all go get drunk on Caltrop before we get back," Kai says. "Time can be funny in places like this. The valley is tethered to the base, so time should flow at the same rate there as in the 'real' world."
"Is that so? But we are quite a ways out now, and have walked a long path through many realities. Well, not too much longer, right? Off we go tomorrow, and I can talk to Brother Bone about pacts along the way. I think you had other lessons for me as well. At any rate, despite the few problems it's been a fun trip." And so Tasha's tail wags. "Also Katie wants me and Sharron around at some point, so that will be fun to look forward to."
"Oh, there's something we should try together here in the tub," Kai says, and grins at Tasha. "I promise it won't hurt.. but you may feel a little sore later."
Tasha looks immediately suspicious. "I've heard that a lot you know," she warns.
"And does that mean you don't want to try something new?" Kai asks, one eyebrow raised.
"No I just need to be very suspicious and seem calculating so I appear to have weighed fully and therefore no one can tease me about it later," Tasha replies, wagging her tail. "So, what do you want to show me? And is that fox lady spying? I mean, she would have been spying a while now."
Kai scoops up some of the bath foam, and holds it up in one hand, palm held flat. "Now, raise your hand, extend one finger, and point at this little bubble-cloud," she instructs.
Tasha does so, but she makes a finger gun point instead of just a regular point.
She can feel Kai's connection to her grow stronger, until it's like her body isn't her own. Her flight muscles contract and clench, again and again until it's painful.. and then something flows along her shoulder, to her arm and then to her finger. The cloud of soap bubbles reacts as if she'd blown into them, flying apart. Then she's back in full control of her body again.
"Ow," deadpans Tasha, who flaps her now sore wing. "Was that wingakinesis?"
"Well, the baby-steps version, yes," Kai says. "I'll need to flex you a bit more to explore the limits."
"I am pretty flexible. Especially when wet." Tasha says this deadpan, no reaction at all, then stretches and lounges back. "Ahh. The simple pleasures. I wonder what exciting bathing opportunities a giant library has. There's probably a lot of reading. Maybe they have water proof books, that would blow hake's mind."
"It's a dragon library," Kai notes. "So expect.. something." She then sticks her index fingers into Tasha's suddenly exposed armpits.
"I sure will expect som- hey!" Tasha immediately encloses and enfolds like a feather flower, or maybe clam. "Just because I look like a kid doesn't mean I'm ticklish -- don't test that either!"
"Do you at least like your belly rubbed?" Kai asks.
"Maaaybe," Tasha answers noncommittally. She folds her arms and looks away, aloof.
"Heh! You're fun to tease," Kai claims. "Anything else we need to go over before we depart in the morning?"
"Sometimes I think I hold my team together based on how much amusement everyone gets from teasing me. That's why proper procedure was important." Tasha looks back, head tilting. "Not that I can think of. Plenty for tomorrow, though! We should probably turn in soon, I don't know about you, but I'm still growing and need my sleep."
Kai climbs out of the tub.. and is suddenly dry, as if her skin and hair turned hydrophobic. "I'm going to see if they sell the water crystals anywhere," she says. "Sleep well! Tomorrow we go to Hell!" She even plays up the rhyme.
"Maybe I can pick up something nostalgic for Samael, or some souvenirs. I bet Aaron would like a little hellhound -- for a moment, until he realizes what it is and then runs away while telling me how bad an idea it is. Which it is, but still." Tasha climbs out as well, and dries off in the manner of birds and of dogs, that is shaking and fluffing herself until the water has been ejected from her person, and then she begins preening as she walks with her clothes under an arm.
She has the room all to herself, as Kai has vanished (presumably dressed) already.
Tasha puts her clothes aside to dry and climbs in to bed, yawning. Shje's not especially worried about being naked or unarmed, all her best weapons and defenses require neither clothes nor personal weapons, and beds are more comfortable without clothes no matter what Sharron thinks. "Good night strange but familiar world." She flops on a pillow, wiggles until comfortable, then closes her eyes.