Time for a Break

[alphacraft]

Who: Odile and OPEN
What: Just chillin
When: After Suri-fight
Where: The cafe and/or inn
Warnings: Will add if needed

The consequences of Enciodes' little mission have been far-reaching, it seems. Odile herself is satisfied that she's learned a great deal (though grumpy that some of it had to be learned at all) and relatively un-traumatized from the whole ordeal, but people around town are clearly not doing well. So while she normally keeps mostly to herself, this week she's decided to get out and about.

It's still bitterly cold, and she still wants to just sit somewhere warm and read a book, so the inn and the cafe will have to do for "out and about".

She makes herself comfortable, sipping occassionally from a cup of tea as she reads, but makes a point to look up whenever someone comes by or starts talking and nod, or raise her eyebrows, or otherwise signal that she is open to having company.

Comments

[alphacraft]

"Evidently we just aren't worth the effort." She's not sure that it would really be any more effort to kill them than to play with them, but the fact remains that 'play' seems to be Suri's goal. But that's something to contemplate later.

"Go ahead," she calls, eyes on the ground between them. She probably shouldn't be trusting him not to burn her, if he doesn't know his range that well. At least she can trust him to rush her to medical assistance if he does.

[aneikonic]

He nods, centers himself with a soft exhale, and calls upon Ifrit. In the space of one blink and the next, the air erupts around him in flames that jettison towards the sky. Thankfully he's judged the distance properly and while she will feel a rush of heat, like standing too close to a forge, it doesn't become painful.

Ifrit slowly stands upright as if unfolding himself, mindful of the large tail as it turns back towards Odile, though it does send rubble scattering. It's flames are pacified for now, the red rocky scales of it's body looking more like magma cooling, even as 'lava' looks like it licks between them.

Then, very carefully, like an oversized canine, he lowers himself down onto his hands to bring his head down towards her, so he can hear whatever she might tell him.

[alphacraft]

She instinctively takes a step back from the heat and shields her face. It's uncomfortable, but not dangerous. Fortunate. She can't help staring at the creature as it lowers itself. She's seen it once before, but now that she has the time to look at it properly it's fascinating.

He, she reminds herself. He's fascinating. And more docile than she had been expecting, all things considered.

She tilts her head curiously.

"How well can you understand me in this form?"

[aneikonic]

As normally as before.

His mouth doesn't move as he speaks, instead it seems to echo in the air around them. Thankfully like this it prevents his voice from becoming too loud for her ears. He turns his head a little to be able to see her better, as she's small enough to him now that trying to focus this close with both eyes is ridiculous. The blue glow in his eye somehow manages to seem amused.

Is there anything you want to see? Don't ask me to juggle, though.

[alphacraft]

That is unnerving, but no more so than having Loop's voice in her head.

She grins wryly.

"No juggling? Then how about a handstand?"

This is a joke, of course, so she doesn't wait for him to answer. Instead, she looks at the trees a ways away. Ifrit seems so large now, but compared to Suri he practically looked like a toy. She frowns thoughtfully.

"Could you stand next to a tree without burning it? I'd like to get an accurate measure of your height."

[aneikonic]

I can manage that. I think.

It takes him a moment or two to cool his flames further, focusing on drawing them inwards as he stands up again. The glow of his body dims, fades, and he carefully approaches the nearest tree. When it doesn't immediately lit on fire he exhales a hot gust of air, and stands as near to it as he can.

He comes up to sixty feet or so, with his horns adding extra height but he doesn't count them. His tail sways lightly behind him, as he focuses on Odile from the distance.

[alphacraft]

She eyes the tree, then him, doing some mental math. By her estimation, when they entered the temple Suri was somewhere around 50 meters tall. She turns to survey the ruins around them- what little there is- her frown deepening.

The sizes don't really make sense.

Was the inside of the temple even here? Was it somewhere else? Was it real at all? The temple certainly was, since it left tangible remains. But what exactly happened that day? She wishes she could have seen it as an observer like she had originally intended, rather than as a participant.

Lost in thought, she has forgotten about Clive for the moment.

[aneikonic]

She's not wrong. Clive had noticed he only came up to Suri's height while the other was sitting. Upon standing, he was overly double Clive's height. It felt like facing against Titan's evolved form.

With her attention on the ruins of the Temple, he lets himself return back to his normal self. And with her gaze elsewhere, she can't see the grimace that passes over his face, nor the way he grabs his right arm as he feels the stone creeping higher. It's agony, but he makes no sound, and by the time he approaches her again, his expression is back to normal.

"Gil for your thoughts?"

[alphacraft]

She's a little startled to hear his voice so close when he was so far a moment ago, but only a little.

"Hmm? A what?" From context she can guess, given a moment, but she's guessing at a third language from the context of a second language.

"Ah, I was just thinking that the ruins are quite a bit smaller than I remember."

[aneikonic]

"Our currency back home," he offers, smiling a little. Then blinks and looks towards the ruins as well, frowning thoughtfully. She's ... not wrong. The ruins are large enough to have held the main chambers and "rooms" from the side but-

"Huh."

Eloquent. He steps forward to step up onto the rubble again, looking around. Scorch marks from himself, recent, but there doesn't seem to be damage from their fight. He stops and turns back towards her, shrugging one shoulder gently, "It doesn't surprise me. The God I fought with back home could make his own inner world as well."

[alphacraft]

She grimaces at that thought. She suspected, but hearing it said aloud makes it sound so much worse. Is it even possible to defeat a God, real or not, in their own world? They should never have stepped inside his temple.

"We should have thought of that," she notes flatly. Would they have, if they had approached this venture more thoughtfully? What basic measures did each of them fail to take because they went in planning to fail?

[aneikonic]

"We should have," he agrees and while he can say it IS possible... his was only possible because he literally became a God in his own right to defeat the thing. Logos, Ultima's equal. "But we knew little to nothing about this creature, let alone the fact it could create it's own sub-world."

... Fuck, was his sword under this rubble? Did he just melt his sword? He grimaces down at the rocks beneath his feet, before sighing hard and moving back towards Odiles side.

"We know now, however, and we did enough damage to him in his own world that he started becoming serious. That's promising. But it also means we need to weaken him, or lure him out where he has the disadvantage."

[alphacraft]

That's exactly why they should have been more careful. But what's done is done, and at this point she's only beating herself up over it. She takes a deep breath in, and lets it out.

"Preferably both. But I don't think we'll get another opportunity for a while. We should get back. I think we're done here."

[aneikonic]

"We most certainly won't."

And from the things he's read in the journals, once Winter ends and this beast truly wakes up, it might make their lives worse due to their attack. He nods gently to Odile and waits for her to take the lead this time, keep at her back, like he might be worried from an attack from the temple.

[alphacraft]

She takes the lead now, though she goes rather slowly and looks back from time to time to make sure he's still behind her. She's not used to being at the front of the pack. Otherwise, she takes the time to quietly sort her thoughts.

[aneikonic]

He's following, enough distance between them he can attack without hitting her but within distance he can close it to help if needed.

Though the minute they pass back into the grove he noticeably relaxes. It seems the demon wasn't interested in them for their trespassing. He pauses to glance over his shoulder, then move more towards her side.

"We need to find a way to destabilize him."

There's got to be something.

[alphacraft]

"Hmm? Ah." She was lost in thought again.

"He does seem to be rather emotionally motivated. I suspect we'll have to discuss the matter with the Goddesses, since they doubtless know him best."

[aneikonic]

"So we hit him where it hurts," he nods. Anger might make him make mistakes, too. He rubs his jaw thoughtfully, staring at her like he might find the answers if he ponders her hard enough, then nods again.

"I think it's time to start hunting around, as well. He's suspiciously powerful for not having worshipers, for not having ways to funnel power to him. He's got to be siphoning something somewhere."

[alphacraft]

"Past time, really," she notes. "I'm told that names have power in these matters. That's probably why he told us his."