Video - UN: Runeseeker (CW for Body Horror/Headlessness)

[onerthes]

If you want to get ahead in life, I recommend keeping a good one on your shoulders. The alternative is troublesome.

[Badum Tish.

That dryly delivered and awful joke was said by Vira-Lorr's head, which was resting on a metal plate in front of her. She was seated in her fortune teller's booth, relaxed back and reclined in her chair, wearing a particularly high necked Ao Dai that completely concealed the clean cut from sight. Trails of smoke extended from within the collar, floating upwards. Her head, meanwhile, was resting in the spot that the crystal ball usually would, looking about as acrid and "Over every last minute of this" as she possibly could. There was no way in which she was pleased by this.]

Ahem. It appears that some of the masks are a bit too effective at making us seem like monsters. This was an experience I was not planning to have again. But, rather than search high and low for blood in this situation? I will tolerate it as long as I must until it returns to normal. The discomfort is ... minimal. It's just very disorienting.

However, until this remedies itself, I will be sticking to the shop closely. I don't have a collar to keep from losing my head after all, you understand. And... [she switched which leg was crossed on top of each other and, in the process her leg accidentally bumped her head, causing it to topple over with a yelp of distress.]

This! This is exactly why I am not going out right now! Damnit! I'll have whoever's head for this!

[The answer came when a small litwick hopped up on top of the table and waved at the camera angle beatifically, touching a button and blessedly ending the feed.]

Comments

[imaglyphwitch]

That would be a problem for me. Despite knowing it could be no one but you, I love cats, and I'd probably be forced to spoil you like crazy.

[Luz wouldn't be able to help it: she loved cats]!

Heh, I should have figured you'd do that! But that's probably most bears, right?

I am somehow not surprised by that!

[onerthes]

I'd be a kitty. Spoiling me would be a requirement. [She said that with such pride and pleasure.] It's one of the advantages of cats, after all.

They're very ... well, tehy're not that picky as eaters. They won't eat anything, but they do eat quite a bit. So yes, definitely not something to be surprised over, anymore than knowing I will turn their curses to my advantage when I can.

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz nodded, laughing]. If I turned into a kitty while around my girlfriend, I think I'd be in heaven!

[Mostly because they were dating but also because Lexi liked cats as much as she did]!

You mean storing a lot of food in you so you can hibernate a few months?

[This was teasing of course. Luz doubted Vira needed a real reason to hibernate].

[onerthes]

[She snickered.] See, you already have the right idea. You'd get to rub up against her ankle and purr until she pet you and pampered you. It would be perfect in its own way.

Yes. For a huge amount of time. It was a pity it was in Spring, or I would have gotten the chance to try out hibernating. Imagine sleeping for three months.

[imaglyphwitch]

You know, being pampered by my girlfriend would normally be something I wouldn't like, but as a cat? I think I'd like that.

[Again, if they'd been switched, Luz would be just as doting, especially if it was involving Lexi].

I can't imagine that at all! I have way too much to do in the house! I'm afraid it would be all burned down if I left for three months!

[Which she might not have felt so strongly about had this not happened to Ruby and Ange]!

[onerthes]

I think that's the one thing that would make me unsure of it. You never know what could happen in the whole of three months, so it's far too long to sleep.

But it's an interesting thought.

[imaglyphwitch]

Exactly. I would be scared too much would be happening while I was away.

Oh, it is! I've never slept that long before! I imagine you'd be pretty refreshed afterward!

[onerthes]

Nice long naps were definitely a thing when i was a bear. It was oh so luxurious. Actually everything about being a bear was kind of luxury. I wonder why nobody enjoyed the experience besides me.

[There'd been a looooot of angry people, but they might have not missed the point like VL did.]

[imaglyphwitch]

Now I wanna be a bear.

Sure would beat being cut up in an abandoned blood barn where you don't WANT to fall asleep.

[Luz is totally joking about this because she just relived those memories and is trying to minimalize its damage to her psyche slowly].

[onerthes]

It's better than so many things. maybe we can convince Bauphomette next year doing her month?

[imaglyphwitch]

Yeah, ok! She might not be my Pthumerian, but each of them have some kind of wisdom or, uh, experience they share with Sleepers, right?

[onerthes]

That's perhaps... kinder than some of them deserve. But! I believe that they each think that they have something to guide us.

...

Ok, most of them. I really don't think Marina is trying to teach us anything.

[imaglyphwitch]

That's kind of where I lie!

So...you think Mariana just sort of IS, or do you think she's just cruel?

[onerthes]

I'd say she is not intentionally cruel, but her actions even lacking malice are ultimately naturally harmful. She's somewhere along the line of simply being what she is, but also being dangerous by nature.

[imaglyphwitch]

Right, I can understand that. I guess that's why they thought it was OK to try and manipulate her, from what I heard.

But I don't think they'd want to do that. Something about her seems very unpredictable.

[onerthes]

Ah... yes... him. [A sigh.] I also think he thought he could get away with it at the time. She is well beyond any of our power within the span of this world because of the limits we're under, not to mention unpredictable.

Dangerous. Definitely.

[imaglyphwitch]

That was my thoughts. Granted, I don't know a lot about being a god and what that includes either. I've only just been hearing about this guy.

Any encounter with water that wasn't that one where you were a squid? Wound up being pretty dangerous.

[onerthes]

well, the truth is he's a type of "god" that is different from what I think most consider a god. He's a person of such great power that he might as well be a god, rather than something that brought his world into existence.

...and admittedly the water just seems to be hazardous in general, yes.

[imaglyphwitch]

So he's just really powerful then. Well. That's still pretty scary, if he can get people forgetting what a menace Darth Maul is in comparison.

[Not that she thought Darth Maul WAS, but considering what that guy was trying to accomplish, Darth Maul was at least not of the mind that Sleepers were just expendable fodder.

She hoped].

Varian and I almost got eaten once by one of those monsters, and I was possessed by a ghost in the Lighthouse. I know pretty well not to mess too deep in Trench waters.

[onerthes]

He appears to be incredibly powerful, though I am working with whaat others have said about him. I am not capable of testing him that way anymore.

[She nodded quietly.]

I think the worst we encounter in this world seems to come from the depths. It surprises me people don't try to get further and further inland.

[imaglyphwitch]

You're not? Could you before?

[That was unfortunate. What would stop him from hurting people she cared about. Something about this all bugged her, reminding her too much of the Emperor in the Boiling Isles].

I noticed that too. I can't make Luca stay away, for obvious reasons, but I worry a lot about him encountering something scary and strong one day.

[onerthes]

Mmmm? Oh my, I thought I told you. I once killed a god. Six of them, in fact.

[Pause. That might have sounded a little bit egotistical the way that she'd said that. It might be a good idea to clarify very slightly.]

Admittedly, I was at the head of a vast army, and fought them with my closest and most powerful allies. But my powers were much greater before Trench.

Luca does like to swim doesn't he? Just be careful for him. It's all we can truly do.

[imaglyphwitch]

WHAT?! I'd remember if you told me that, Vira!

[Doggone it, everyone had all these crazy stories, sometimes it was hard to keep track]!

At the same time?! Oh, with people, right. But, how did that wind up happening? 0What would you even use to do it?

[Not that Luz was fixing to go challenge some gods or anything, but it was still a shock to find out]!

He does. A lot. I'll be sure to remind him.

[Ugh. She did hate not telling Vira what Luca was, but he did want to keep that a secret, and Luz would respect that].

[onerthes]

I suppose I stopped telling the story, because it's hard not to sound egotistical when I do it. It was an impressive feat, but we were fortunate. The dark gods had been sealed with the death of the gods of light countless eons before.

They were breaking free of their prisons, and the inevitability was that they would destroy the world when freed. So, in the end after we had drawn together enough power, we used the power we had gained and the actions of the bloodline I'd served to unseal them. One at a time.

We had drawn incredible power together, and one of the two leading us carried some of the last glimmers of Chaos' power, so it enabled us to face the groggy, weak gods down when they first woke. They were not at full strength, but we weren't fighting fair. It was a matter of survival.

[She still kept Jupiter and Venus' secret to this day. If she knew? She could understand.]

[imaglyphwitch]

Whoa. That is SOME kind of a fight. I'm glad you and the people you were fighting alongside were able to tip the scales.

[Luz had only gotten close to battles like that in some scenarios, and even then, she wasn't right at the forefront of a fight like that. She knew she was nowhere near that kind of power].

And this was in Deerington?!