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Post by ultralilly on Mar 21, 2024 22:57:17 GMT
Eda chuckled then snorted. "Ya got spunk, kid. Most folk just want to learn just to upend a rough and crooked system. Like me! Hah!" she sheepishly smiled. "Not here. What you all got going here is kinda nice. Not everyone in the worlds are willing to take in an orphan. Some think they're too much trouble. But me? Heh. Looks like I'm all about taking in folk lately." she looked behind her at the pack on her back. "Nah, back where I'm from their system is....well I'll be honest is a big load of shhhhhhhhhoddy and outdated ideals. I'm there to break the norm! Heh, maybe I AM a good teacher."
Cait bopped his hand into his open palm."Awright. Now that that is all squared away, I need to have a talk with the Masters so Eda can be officially or unofficially registered as a Guardian...part-time...with interest!"
"Lots of interest." Eda added firmly. "SO much interest, it'll come spilling out your fuzzy little ears!"
He chuckled nervously with ears slightly drooped."A-Aye...well anyways..." He hopped off the stall.
Eda held up her hand. "Hold a minute, furball. " he ceased and looked up to Eda. "I'm no big believer in fate and alla that stuff but maybe give the girl a little reading of yours." She looked to Lucille with a smirk and a shrug. "Normally, I'd say fortune-telling is all bunk but back home, we got a little oracle magic that foretells future stuff and Cait here has dabbled in it a bit. It's not 100% accurate but it makes for fun motivation."
Cait nervously rubbed the back of his head then looked to Lucille. "How about it, lassie? I won't charge ya anything for it!"
"Of course you won't, you rapacious feline." chastised Eda with her hands on her hips.
"Steady on! Just lightenin' the mood!" he assured before looking back to Lucille with hands raised like a beckoning cat statue. "Your call."
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 21, 2024 23:22:20 GMT
Eda's comments about her home didn't exactly paint it in a positive light. Hopefully things get better there. The next thing that got brought up made her perk up curiously.
A reading? Like fortune telling? Lucille had to agree she thought things like fortune telling or starsigns or things like that were just for fun and not actually real, but then again she didn't think magic was real and guess what? Magic IS real, soooo who knows. She shrugs and smiles. "Ehh, sure, why not? Could be fun," She responds.
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Post by ultralilly on Mar 21, 2024 23:43:55 GMT
"That's the spirit!" chimed Cait Sith. He leapt up into the air, did a flip, and a poof of magical smoke emerged below, giving way once more to his mount. Eda chuckled at the tub of fluff. "Ah I love it when it appears. Just makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Almost makes me forget it's a magical construct." she added, walking up next to Lucille. "Heard he made it himself or so HE says.""Right then...!" he cleared his throat then did a pose. He would then begin to do a little jig atop his mount's head all while meowing phonetically and to a rhythm. Calaguru seemed to bounce along to the rhythm which caught Eda's attention. She tried not to stare but the thing was so darned cute! She nibbled her lower lip and tried to look away...but she couldn't. Dang cute bundles of jiggly happiness. She knew if he were awake, he'd wanna join in on the fun. She finally managed to tear her gaze away and looked at cait Sith with a pensive expression. He really liked playing it up but there was some charm to it all, at least. The plush construct them twirled in place just as Cait Sith finished with a pose. The eyes of the plush began flashing different colors before a slip of paper slid out its mouth. It then proceeded to pull it out and hand it to Lucille. The paper was decorated with Cait's face in the corners and was made of what felt like papyrus. Upon the slip was her fortune. "Failure is your best teacher. The moment you become lost, is the moment you find your way."
Your lucky color is Violet
Your lucky number is four
Your lucky food for today are grapes
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 21, 2024 23:54:01 GMT
Lucille chuckles at the sight of Cal seemingly enjoying the show. It reminded her a little bit of Cait's earlier performance for the kids. When she fortune is quite literally printed out by the mount she reads it curiously. Failure is the best teacher, huh? That definitely seems just vague enough to seem fortuitous when in reality it's just good life advice. She isn't sure what the deal is with violet or four though. She supposed she'll see, maybe.
The last one makes her tilt her head thought. "Grapes, huh? My family used to grow grapes on our farm. My parents used them to make a decent chunk of money selling wine," She remarks. Her look darkens. "I wonder where I would be right now if everything hadn't happened... I'd probably be studying for my school exams right now... Or more likely be PRETENDING to study for my school exams when in reality I'm reading a storybook I begged my parents to get me... Simple times," She reminisces.
Finally she looks up. "Aaaaaaanyways, what now?"
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Post by ultralilly on Mar 22, 2024 0:18:48 GMT
Cait and Eda exchange looks at the sight of Lucille's features darkening and nearly seethe. Cait pipes up first. "Ahem, now...I'll take my leave! I'm a very busy cat, aye? Take care, Eda and Lucille! Hope ta see ya again soon!" With that departure, the plush hops away with Cait Sith in tow back the way they came. Children trailed behind him as his distant chuckles faded into the noise of the promenade.
As he does, this leaves Eda looking a bit lost herself. That is, until, the owl decides to brush up against her cheek to snap her out of her stupor. "Right..uhm..." she clears her throat and puffs out her chest, suddenly brimming with gusto. "Alright, here's out it's all gonna play out. You're not the only one I'll be... "teaching"...so I need to probably teach you together which makes for less work on my end but needs some type of schedule which isn't really my thing..." she ponders as the owl perks up and trills inquisitively. Eda snaps her fingers. "AH, great idea, Owlbert!"
She looks to Lucille. "So today isn't a great day to start your training but sometime this week would work. Unfortunately, I'm liable to forget on account of...other things..." she rubs her arm anxiously then gestures to the owl. "Luckily, Owlbert here can be a friendly reminder! He'll come flying to wherever you are when we're in Scala and I got time to kill. In fact, he can fetch you both!"
The named Owlbert hoots affirmatively and flits over to Lucille, staring at her. It then circles her a few times, perches on her shoulder briefly, then takes off again to rest on Eda's. "Just make sure you bring that spunk with ya when the time comes, okay kid?"
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 22, 2024 1:10:36 GMT
Lucille nods as Eda explains how things will work. "I don't mind training with other people. Honestly it felt kinda weird being trained alone anyways, since I'm used to going to school with a class of like 30," She explains, before smiling. "Thanks for agreeing to this, I was kinda worried I'd somehow get stuck with Shantotto," She says with a shudder.
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Post by ultralilly on Mar 23, 2024 6:06:21 GMT
"Eh don't let short stuff intimidate ya, kid. I mean her magic is off the charts and her personality leaves something to be desired and her teaching skills are as fearsome as a slitherbeast...but she is a heckuva fashionista and knows the best way to make my favorite drink in the worlds!" she chuckles."...well that probably didn't help make her any less intimidating...still, she's alright. I just can't stand her teaching method."
Owlbert flits about before landing back on the end of Eda's staff and returning to a wooden form. She twirls it then sets it aside, organizing a few bits and bobs of junk around before looking to Lucille. "Anyways, kid, I gotta get back to it. I'll get Owlbert to call on ya when it's time, alright? If I don't remember, he will." she gives a shooing motion to Lucille as she heaves up what looks to be the engine of a car with great effort. "Now WHAT do you think the humans use this for? I bet it's one of those death machines that's causing alla that global warming stuff the humans are always yapping about...or just a really REALLY big paper weight." she thinks aloud then she heaves it up and set it atop a stack of papers and nods to herself. It looked as if she would be busy for awhile.
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Time has passed in the week and Eda was snoring away in her home...in her nest. Made of actual branches and twigs. Off to the side of the nest was an empty flask with trace amounts of orange-yellow fluid still inside. Owlbert was wide awake as he flew right into her room and checked in on the dozing Eda. She was out like a light and Owlbert was determined to get her awake right this instant. He circled her head and made a racket before divebombing Eda who grunted lazily with every strike.
"Dangit, Hooty. I don't wanna see the bug you found!" she grumbled irritably, not even deigning to move from her facedown position. The divebombing continued followed by pecking and then pulling at her hair. The pulling was what finally gave her the strength to arise with a growl. "So help me Titan, I'm gonna twist you into a knot you-" she realized finally who it was that was and lazily squinted at Owlbert who hooted curiously then flew to the calendar and pecked at it. "Oh, right. I have people to uh...." she bopped her forehead a few times as she tried to find the words her tongue would not. "...teach. yeah..no...still doesn't sound right." She gave a great big yawn, scratched her side and got changed.
She got her travel pack ready by habit but then remembered she was just going to fetch some kids and come right back. King eagerly scampered into the pack then peeked out as if urging Eda to hurry up. "Not today, King. I need to fetch the kids..."
"OOOOOO! Are you ACTUALLY going to make that kid stew you read about?!" the front door flew open to reveal the face of a very circular and tube-shaped owl.
"What? No! Eugh, geez you're morbid! Besides, that stew looks way to rich for my blood. Mama needs to watch her figure." she poses before a mirror and makes kissy faces as her reflection. "Nah, I'm actually bringing kids here from another world to teach them and-"
"BAHAHA! Oh...oh Eda...that's a GOOD one! You? Teach? I- ACK!"
Eda seized the owl...tube...thing. "Listen here, Hooty. Be on your best behavior when I bring those two here. I would say not to creep them out but we both know that's like asking me NOT to drink apple blood!"
"OH BOY! COMPANY!" he shouted, wriggling free from her grip "What should I wear? Oh! I'll get the funny sunglasses! King likes the funny sunglasses! First impressions are everything! EVERYTHING!"
"Just because King likes- ugh nevermind...I got no time for this. Just...watch over King for a little bit; I'll be back in a bit." she stated as she walked right out the door then reached into her hair to pull out a key-shaped object with an eye in its base. She clicked on the eye and a box opened up into a door she then stepped through. As she did, she would be in Scala Ad Caelum and stretched as she twirled her staff about. "Alright, Owlbert; bring 'em here." The owl familiar then detached itself from the staff and flew off into the afternoon air to bring the two would-be students here. Eda sighs and looks skyward. "This is gonna be a long day, huh?"
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 25, 2024 0:06:25 GMT
Suffice it to say, Eda's words didn't exactly sell Lucille on Shantotto in the slightest. Still, she's glad someone seemed to have something slightly positive to say about her. As Eda shoos her off she shrugs and heads home with Cal in toe. She supposed she'll have to wait, but she had ways to occupy her time...
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A week would go by with her basically doing the same old, training under Lightning and studying up on her sword techniques. Eventually it came time. Since it was the afternoon Owlbert would find Lucille in the training grounds practising her sword forms. She had hit her stride after finally landing that third hit and she was really starting to make some progress in her swordfighting. She actually felt like she knew how to wield it properly instead of just wildly swinging it. Of course, she was still a long ways off from being truly combat-ready, but thankfully she was in no rush. Cal had been waiting for centuries after all, waiting a few more years for Lucille to be fully prepared shouldn't be too much of a hassle. She would be doing a simple form with her rapier, repeating the same set of strikes over and over. Her training with Lightning was, as usual, a mixture of rigorous exercise and repetition. At this point Lucille was familiar enough with the exercises Lightning didn't need to spend as much time supervising her, so she would often arrive at the training grounds and go through all the warm-ups and practice without Lighting, and at some point Lightning would check in on Lucille and run her through some new drill to shake things up. It wasn't anything glorious but repetition really is key to building her physique and muscle memory.
Owlbert would notice Lucille is practising with her eyes closed, but upon feeling the slight shift in the airflow near her Lucille turns and looks at the disturbance. Upon noticing Owlbert her eyes widen. "Oh, is it finally time? I'll need to wrap up my exercises first but I'm sure I can convince Lightning to end my training early today so I can learn magic. I'll probably be ready in an hour or so," She explains, before resuming her exercises and waiting for Lightning to show up.
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It would actually end up being around two hours before Lucille finally showed up with Cal in toe. Lightning was the diligent sort so while the training was shorter than normal, they made sure to get Lucille through all the essentials before letting them take their leave. Lucille totally understood why, but she did feel a little bad for making Eda wait. When she finally arrives she waves to Eda with a smile. "Hey! Sorry for the hold-up, I was busy with my regular training," She greets simply.
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Post by cmd1095 on Mar 25, 2024 0:56:48 GMT
When Lucille arrived, she'd find Eda of course, but also another girl. She may have seen her around the training grounds while training with Lightning, but they hadn't spoken before if she had. She was dressed in a two piece outfit made of black fabric, tattoos on her shoulders, and long dark blue hair. She looked expressionless at the moment, really nailing the stoic and aloof punk vibe with her whole aesthetic, but when Lucille arrived she looked over and cracked a slight smile.
"So this is the other girl you mentioned" the girl said, stepping forward and offering a hand to shake "Name's Tsukiko, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Despite her attire and body language at first, her tone of voice was oddly friendly and kind sounding, giving a bit of tonal whiplash, but the friendliness did seem to be genuine... probably.
"Eda mentioned she'd be taking on a new student tod..." Tsukiko mentioned, then she trailed off as she spotted Cal, her expression was hard to read... except for her eyes... which were wide and sparkling. There was only one interpretation of that, she was weak to cute things. She immediately knelt down and would try to pet Cal like a regular dog as she asked "and who is this cute little fella? He's adorable!"
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 25, 2024 1:03:30 GMT
Upon arrival Lucille would see a person she'd spotted here and there. They had a very distinct appearance so Lucille took a note of the stranger, but this is the first time they're actually interacting. After spending so much time with Lightning though Lucille wasn't really intimidated by people with seemingly cold exteriors and she greets Tsukiko with a simple wave and returns the smile. "Bonjour, je m'appelle Lucille, nice to meet you Tsukiko," She says, accepting the handshake. Tsukiko would notice her grip is more firm than one might expect from the relatively unassuming girl. When Tsukiko notices Cal and immediately tries to pet them Lucille giggles. "That's Calaguru, they're my Dream Eater pal—and yes, he is indeed adorable," She responds.
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Post by ultralilly on Mar 25, 2024 3:10:18 GMT
Cal yipped/meowed and rolled about on its back before wiggling then stretched, nuzzling its head into the petting Tsukiko was giving it. It relished this chance for another to touch it and took its sweet time doing so with eyes closing. Eda watched the sight and gave a sigh followed by a smile. Yup. This Dream Eater was going to be a distraction. In a good way but she hoped it wouldn't get in the way of the training. "Yes yes, it's very cute." she hurriedly stated before pointing toward the open gateway. "We can laud over its adorableness once we get to MY world, alright? Titan knows what kind of things Hooty is doing right now..." she muttered with her hand on her chin, looking worried at the ground. She made hasty motions with her hand, then pushed the two through the doorway and letting the girls take in the sights of the Boiling Isles. The red grass and trees. The different air. The steamy waters of the sea nearby. And behind them, the whimsical home with the stained glass eye window upon the upper floor. Not to mention the huge tower behind it and the door decoration of an owl face...wearing sunglasses.  As they stepped through, Eda closed the doorway and looked proudly at the scene before them as well as their expressions. "Welcome...to the Boiling Isles!" |
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 25, 2024 5:01:46 GMT
Lucille was on the same page as Eda, partially because she had already grown accustomed to Cal's presence so their cuteness was more of a given than a distraction. Not to say she doesn't give them pets every once in a while of course, but her mind was very much excited about learning magic so she was quick to follow Eda through the portal, her eyes widening as she enters a new world. It looked, sounded... And smelled different from what she was used to. Not that that was a problem mind you, she was kind of embracing the new at this point.
"Wow..." She glances to the side and smiles. "I see that the name is... Quite literal. I'm guessing 'going swimming' is more of a threat than a recreational activity here," She jokes.
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Post by cmd1095 on Mar 25, 2024 6:10:12 GMT
As Lucille accepted the handshake, Tsukiko did indeed notice the firm grip... this girl was used to hard labor it seemed, she'd met plenty of people like that back home, lots of good honest folk. It was a good sign about this girl if she was the same... Lucielle might also notice the same from Tsukiko, her grip being like iron, closer to Lightning's warrior hands than a teenage girl's.
Then as Cal responded positively to being pet, Tsukiko would dote on him even more... but she would reluctantly stop when Eda opened the portal. Standing back up and stepping on through. It was quite the odd place on the other side, she'd paid a couple scouting visits after meeting Eda initially, but she hadn't found this place in the woods before, and the world as a whole still seemed really odd to her... plus it had been raining when she showed up the first time... which had been less than fun for her.
"Yeah, that's not even the wildest part, we're currently standing on a giant corpse of something they call the Titan." Tsukiko said, nodding to Lucille to confirm her suspicions about the water "It's so huge that there's entire biomes and ecosystems, like a continent... haven't figured out the deal with that yet just from poking around on my own, but it's an interesting place."
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Post by ultralilly on Mar 26, 2024 16:14:15 GMT
Eda nodded and took pride in her homeworld. "Ah and there is also boiling rain but ya don't need to worry about that right now." She turned to face her home and steadily walked toward the door. She took a deep breath and boldly approached the front door. She grimaced and prayed to the Titan that Hooty's antics were tame.
"HELLO! PASSWORD PLEASE!"
Eda grumbled. "Hooty I...for Titan's sake, I was just here not an hour or two ago!"
"Long enough for me to construct a difficult password that not even YOU can guess!" spoke the door "decoration" who then inched out, revealing itself to Lucille and and its serpentine-like body. "HELLO NEW PEOPLE! IT IS I, HOOTY! HOOT HOOT! BEHOLD MY GLORIOUS VISAGE!" He spun out and "posed" majestically as if for an artist to paint a masterpiece.
Eda pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Hooty..." she said with a warning intonation "I am going to count to three. If you aren't open by the time I get there, I will poke your eyes out and "forget" how to cast the barrier spell the next time there's boiling rain..."
The owl...tube retracted back into place. "Geez. It was a joke. You never wanna have fun anymore. Hoot." he huffed then the door then opened and sitting inside for Tsukiko to easily spot was King pouncing on a pillow as ferociously as he was able.
Eda gestured inside for the two girls to enter. "Just...make yourselves comfy. We're going to just stay in here awhile. While I just...get myself together." she groaned.
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Post by giantfiredog on Mar 27, 2024 3:59:16 GMT
Lucille pales as Eda mentions the rain being boiling as well. "Uhhh... Duly noted. Hopefully the weather forecasts here are reliable..." She says. They would then approach the house and the door ornament wearing sunglasses started speaking. Lucille tilts her head curiously at the odd creature with a long neck and a strange voice as it banters with Eda. After the initial confusion wears off though she finds herself giggling a little at the absurd exchange. It looks like Eda and this creature named Hooty tend to do this kind of thing a lot.
As the door opens and Eda leads them inside, Lucille does stop to briefly say. "It's nice to meet you, Hooty. I like the sunglasses," She says with a genuine smile. She then looks around as they head inside, also spotting the adorable little creature trying its best to maul a pillow. She smiles at the cute display. "I see I am not the only person with a little friend by my side,"
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