Trog's Tavern CLIV

[bc56]

"I'm sorry. You must be mistaken." Jade replies. She certainly doesn't recognize this woman. Maybe the other woman knew her back when she was Jason, but she doesn't think that's likely. She'd remember someone so distinct. Having shifted her weight in the stool, she realizes that she needs to adjust her skirt again. She does so, awkwardly. Skirts are weird.

[5a Violista]

Maria drifts down onto the stool next to Jade.

"No, you're wearing the color of the shape of life," she says. "And your body is rife like the edge of a knife."

She blinks.
No.
That was bad. The explanation was bad. Not very understandable. She shakes her head.
"I mean to say, you look like a follower of life."

[bc56]

Jade looks perplexed. "What do you mean? My body is rife? What's a follower of life?" She finds herself examining her body just because it was mentioned. She's still a beautiful woman. Still has oversized breasts and shapely curves. In other words, nothing seems out of the ordinary to her. For the current value of ordinary anyway, which is not what it was weeks ago.

[5a Violista]

Maria knocks on her own head, as if trying to hit the sense out of it.

"You...you look..." she says, trying to make sense of the words that are coming out of her mouth. "Familiar. That's how you look." She gives up. She's not sure if there's some other way she can describe it. No other words are coming to mind.

She scratches at her own face, hoping that will help. No blood comes out - only cinders, instead, that burn away into ash and smoke.

"Which is...you...ground sunflowers...red flour..." Okay, she really gives up this time. She lays her head onto the bar, and pounds it a couple times. "It's...It's...beauty. You. Life. Sky." Maria hopes punctuating between each word will make it make more sense.

[bc56]

"Are you saying I'm beautiful?" Jade asks. This stranger is a very confusing person, and evidently quite confused herself. "How do I look familiar?" Jade tries to position herself so that the other woman can get a good look at her, which unfortunately requires another adjustment to the skirt. Jade makes a mental note to practice wearing skirts at home, so she can get used to their intricacies.

[5a Violista]

Maria stops pounding her head, but leaves her forehead on the bar.
She turns her head to face Jade

"Yes," she says. "Yes to both." Even though the second question wasn't a yes-or-no question. "It's the same question."

How were those both the same question? is something that a reasonable person would ask.
It's just the same question.
That's it.
She doesn't know why either.

[bc56]

"So you're saying I am beautiful and familiar, and that the two are the same? Am I familiar because of my beauty?" It seems a reasonable conclusion to draw from that answer. If the answer to "are you calling me beautiful" is yes, and "how am I familiar?" is the same question, then perhaps beauty is the real answer to the second question.

[5a Violista]

"That sounds like truth," Maria says, as if all of it suddenly started making sense.

She rolls her head back. "I died for beauty," she says. "But I was scarce adjusted in the tomb when I died for truth. Ask why I failed, and I'll say the two are one. We met at night, whispered between rooms, even until ash reached our lips and covered our names."

Yes.
That makes sense.
"Yes. You are familiar." Maria sounds relieved that it's all making sense now. "I remember, and you're familiar."

[bc56]

"I remind you of someone... Someone from your past life. A close friend? Or a lover?" Jade suggests. That's what Maria's words seem to mean. "What do you want?" It seems a prudent question to ask.

[5a Violista]

"I remind you of someone... Someone from your past life. A close friend? Or a lover?" Jade suggests. That's what Maria's words seem to mean. "What do you want?" It seems a prudent question to ask.

Maria groans and hits her head on the bar again. "No." And again. "No." And again. "No." And again. "No."

This gives her time to think what it is she actually wants.
"I feel myself burning away," she responds. Thinking some more, as if trying to clarify - or maybe add a question to make a point - she then asks, "Looking in a mirror, what do you see?"
She pauses, realizing that she didn't exactly answer the question. To fix this, she adds: "Burn it all to the ground; burn it until nothing's left. The memories were tossed into the flame, and all that remained was ash." She's hoping Jade will continue the mixed metaphor until it makes sense.

[bc56]

"Yourself," Jade answers. Wait, that's it! "You've lost your memories, but I remind you of yourself?" She examines Maria's scorched and dried-out body. Is there a resemblance there? Could she have once had the same beauty Jade now wears?

[5a Violista]

Maria thinks about Jade's answer.

She...she hadn't considered that. "Perhaps," she says. But it makes sense. It's an answer that fits.

She sits up, and starts scratching something into her forearm. As she does this, she explains something: "The glade is watched over by a wondrously fair fowl, strong of feathers. The lone-dweller observes that land, brave-minded. Death never harms him, so long as the world remains. He must behold the injustice of the sun and come towards Justice's flame, eagerly attending it, when the most noble of stars over the waved sea flee to the east." Her tone of voice suggests this isn't any story - but a story that she personally knows and experienced. It seems she's probably writing 'phoenix' on her arm. "But the bird is born alone, among the ashes, with no knowledge of that which it once was."

She stares at her arm.
And stops writing.
She sighs.

Maria then starts levitating up from the seat so, while she's still in sitting position, she's no longer sitting on it.

[bc56]

"You died and were reborn from fire. Like a phoenix." Jade comes to a realization from Maria's tone. "Are you a phoenix?" She doesn't look like a bird. "Who are you?"

[5a Violista]

"You died and were reborn from fire. Like a phoenix." Jade comes to a realization from Maria's tone. "Are you a phoenix?" She doesn't look like a bird. "Who are you?"

"No," Maria says. She adjusts her body to it's in a standing position. "That's not..."

She can't remember why that's not correct, or what actually is correct. She just knows that's not correct.

"No."

A deep flame starts burning behind her eyes. The cracks along her skin have a dim red shining through, as if a long-burnt out log started to reignite from the inside. "That's...not...everything..."

(((Do you want this to transition into combat? Or not?)))

[bc56]

"Calm down! How is it not correct?" Jade looks a bit worried. Maria seems like she's about to explode. Literally. And she doesn't have any of her equipment on her that could help if that happens. Hopefully she can calm the fiery woman down without a fight.

[5a Violista]

"It's...It's..."

She backs away a little, and pulls an old rusty pair of scissors out of her dress pocket. "It's...everything...everything burns."

On that cue, Maria stabs a hole into her palm. Boiling blood drips.

The witch flicks some blood at a table.
The table ignites in a flash fire that burns quickly and ends quickly.

She turns and flicks blood at the bar now, causing another flash fire.

[bc56]

"No! Stop!" Jade comes up into a fighting stance. She's very much not dressed for this, but if she has to stop Maria from burning down the tavern by force, she will try.

[Zefir]

The man at the bar turn his head as jade comes in, not really for herself, but for something he feels. he looks at her for a moment which might be mistaken as a stare for her body befor he turns of and smirkes.

he doesn't really notice Maria entering after. I am not sure if this is the same maria from AMEN, but if it is she got another AMEN person in this taven.

As the fire hits the bar it got some strange reactions, even thougth the bar sure is soaked in alcohole and should spread in seconds it seems to stop right in front of the man sitting there and taking his drink. Anyone with keens eyes or an understanding of fire will realize that this is not a normal reaction of the fire. it is like it fears the man or as if he keeps it away from him.

[5a Violista]

This is, in fact, the very same Maria!

As evidenced by what she does next.

"Appreciate the beauty of simple things," she says. "You can make beautiful poetry about little things, but you can't stop yourself: that transforms life into hell."

She reaches into her pocket, with the bleeding hand, and grabs a handful of rocks. "Enjoy the panic-" she tosses a couple of rocks around. They start smoking, then fizzle out. "-that's caused-" She scatters a couple more rocks, closer to Jade this time. These ones light up, then make a bright flash and a loud boom. "by the life ahead." She tosses the last of her rocks around her. These ones slowly light up, flash, and then explode.

[bc56]

Jade is in motion in a flash, stepping out of the way of the with the fluid movements of an experienced combatant. She's been practicing fighting as a woman. It's a good thing this dress doesn't impede her much, because the next maneuver she makes carries her forward, next to Maria, where she unleashes a front kick, aimed high at the pyromaniac's face.

[5a Violista]

The levitating witch gets kicked. Not touching the ground means she kind-of spins around until she's upside down, but...to be honest, it doesn't appear to bother her too much. At the very least, it didn't knock her out.

"The city ablaze, a cataclysmic roar," she says. She raises her hands towards the floor, and touches it. Centered on the place she touches, a glowing magic circle forms. About five feet radius. The circle absorbs magic from the surroundings, and grows brighter and brighter. "From the land of flames, open a door!"

Once the circle has absorbed enough magic, it starts flashing and - after three seconds of flashing - a burning charcoal hand reaches out of the ground.

[bc56]

Great, more magic. Jade is unsurprised when the hand emerges. She doesn't know what it is, but the odds are, it will cause a lot of collateral damage if it gets loose in a small space. "Let's take this outside." She leaps at Maria, intending to tackle her through a convenient window and out onto the street. Hopefully, that will distract the summon from attacking the people inside, and also bring Jade closer to her car, where something very useful is stored in the trunk.

[5a Violista]

Maria is tackled and taken out through the window.

"There are lights blazing in rooms you've never seen," she says. "...Don't stay out too long."

The witch still lies on the ground outside, not trying to get up. Instead, she reaches towards her own face and plucks out an eye. The iris glows brighter.


...shortly afterwards, the hand-and-arm detaches itself from the ground and starts to crawl towards the door. It leaves things burning in its wake and knocks tables and chairs aside.

[bc56]

"Put that down!" Jade chops at Maria's hand, aiming to knock the eyeball away. "You really should take better care of your body. You're really letting yourself go." Regardless of whether she succeeds, she'll disengage and run across the parking lot towards her car, an unremarkable sedan. Of course, she's not great at running in a dress, but at least the skirt on this one is short and loose.

[5a Violista]

She drops the eyeball.
It rolls away.

After Jade disengages and runs that way, Maria stands up - in a manner as if she's being pulled upwards by strings.

She says something, and the eyeball starts releasing smoke out of it, kind-of like a smoke bomb.


After a bit, that giant charcoal arm has dragged itself out of the door and starts menacing people who walk by Trog's, threatening them with being caught on fire.

[bc56]

Jade opens the trunk of her car, reaches in, and pulls something out. She's now wearing a high-tech glove on her right hand, connected by wires to something inside the vehicle. "You like fire? How do you handle real light?" A beam of light lances out from her fist at the charcoal hand, intended to blast through it.

[5a Violista]

The light pierces the large hand's palm and its forearm.

It spasms and then turns its attention towards the source of the light: to Jade. It starts crawling its way across the parking lot towards her, not caring about what gets in its way or what gets too close to its fire.


Maria, on the other hand, grabs another rock out of her pocket and holds it in her bleeding hand. "There is a light in each one of us, burning with delight," she responds.

She then throws the rock in the direction of Jade.
Rather than exploding or bursting into flames or whatever, it releases a ton of light like a flash grenade.

[Zefir]

The man who was sitting at the bar still remains there. He only looks over his shoulder as the hand comes out an crawls outside. He shrugs, should Maria mind her own business. He was never sure if she is in a sane moment or not. His attention turns to the flames at the bar. He sights annoyed as he has to deal with that or won t get any drinks for some time.
His eyes flash in a red light as he offers the flames his open hand. In some way the flames take this as an invite an move into the hand like some kind of vaacum cleaner draws them in. After some moments the bar should be clean from all flames and the man holds a raw gemstone in his hand.

After that he continues his drink

[Rebonack]

About this time Zee comes out of the stairs to the cellar and-!

"Oh. Arson. That hasn't happened in a while," she sighs. The two bottles of wine are set on a counter nearby as she fetches the tavern's fire extinguisher.

*pwoosh!* goes the extinguisher as she begins putting out the flames.

She could probably put out the fires with shinanagins but reality will only take so much abuse before it starts getting upset with her. Given the choice, Zee would rather use mundane means to accomplish a task if that option is available.

Case in point?

Once the fires are out in Trog's she'll shove the door open with her foot and begin spraying the giant charcoal hand, too.

"Go on! Shoo! Stop harassing my customers!"

She doesn't seem very happen with it being here.

And hopefully getting sprayed with the fire extinguisher helps.

[bc56]

"Gaaaaah!" Jade shrieks, averting her eyes. She manages to get a rather inaccurate blast off at Maria though. This is not shaping up to be an easy fight