Seaside 6: Six at the Beach

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"Scout's honor!"

Siana shakes her head. "...That's not good enough." She says quietly. "She can't know, either."

"...Oh, hey, I think I forgot to wax the car last night. I think I'll be at that for... oh, at least the next four hours. And that buffer's going to be loud. I don't think I'll be able to hear anything in here, but call me if you need me!"

Siana sighs as the door to the garage opens and closes. Even with just her and Codebreaker in here, this wasn't going to be easy to say.

...Screw it. She should just rip the proverbial band-aid off and be done with it.

Siana reaches up to her hood and hesitantly pulls it back, slowly exposing the horns she'd gained from her accident at MERC. They're bigger now than they were there; about three inches long, curling back to follow the contour of her forehead. They look chipped, scratched, and dull; she hasn't been taking good care of them.

"...I look a mess, don't I?" She reiterates bitterly.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

Codebreaker looks...unimpressed.
"Siana, one time my brother left home and two days later came back as a ten foot tall, one-ton tiger-man with a gut the size of my body. You are going to have to do a lot more than that to shock me."

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"Didn't my sister ever tell you what horns on a Maesdan mean?" Siana hisses. "They're the identifying marks of fiendlings. Demons who steal hearts from their friends in magic rituals and eat them. They're just the worst, and if anybody in my family sees me with them..." She trails off, fist going to her mouth as she chews her finger nervously.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

CB raises an eyebrow. Or what passes for one on a face that's already furry.
"Siana, your family are literally vampires. You already have avoided actually eating anyone. As long as you didn't actually rip someone's heart out to get them, just do what you're already doing. Besides, you can just tell Kyrie it was Nexus nonsense. After all it's not supposed to be possible for him to really gain wait but there he goes in his size XXL pants." CB is not actually sure what Kyrie's waistband size is.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana's eyes flicker over to the site of their fight again, tacitly reminding Codebreaker that was only barely true and that this latest transformation might erode away further at that.

"That's easy for you to say." She hisses. "My uncle's only had a taste of 'Nexus nonsense' and all it did was make him fat. Which isn't exactly impossible, either. But these-" she gestures to her horns, "-have always been an accurate way of tracking people who have strayed too far from decency to come back. If my uncle sees them, he might not even give me a chance to explain, never mind if he believes me." She shakes her head slowly. "Same goes for Owena. She might not hurt me over it but she wouldn't ever want to see me again. And Arthfael... I think he might still get the wrong idea entirely. Point being, I can't go home like this, and you have to promise you won't tell anyone about it."

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

Codebreaker doesn't seem entirely convinced.
"Siana, your uncle legitimately tried to murder me for harming you. Do you really think he would stop loving you for anything?" he asks her gently.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana chews her lip nervously. "I... I don't..." She begins uncertainly.

"...I don't... think... that will matter." She says finally. "If he thinks of me as a fiendling, it won't matter if he loves me or not; I'd still be a danger to everyone I met, and he'd be obliged to do something about that." She holds herself and shivers. "...Especially since that includes my brother and sister. He tried to kill you for threatening me. What do you think he'll do if I threaten them?"

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"Then don't let him think of you as A Fiendling? It's not like I think of you as A Vampire." CB knows it's more complicated than that. But he's still biased given that his parents managed to accept their son coming home as an incredibly round, furry noble.
Twice.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"I ca- are you serious?!" Siana demands. "I can't control how he thinks of me, and it'd be really messed up if I could! What kind of a solution is that?!"

She takes a deep breath and tries to force herself to calm down. "...Sorry, I just... it's so frustrating, hearing that. I want to go home, I really do, but I won't be... I can't." She wipes away at her eyes and sniffles. "...Promise me you won't tell. Please. It's better that nobody else knows."

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"No matter what the nature of your blood is, you're his daughter for all intents and purposes. Are you scared because of how he thinks of you, or how you think he might think of you? Are you willing to walk out that door and not see him ever again? What have you got to lose? If he really did freak out and banish you isn't that the same as just never coming home? Or did you plan on making one visit a year wearing a big hat? What exactly is your plan here?" Codebreaker continues, not answering Siana's question. He doesn't want to drill into her argument like this but she's deflecting too much for him to be anything but direct.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana shakes her head. That part should be obvious; she didn't have a plan, long-term. She just had a set of restraints she was trying to work around.

"It's not that simple." She says finally. "You think he might kick me out? I'm worried he might put me down like a rabid dog." She pauses, mentally debating whether to append "no offense" to that before deciding, no, that would probably be worse than just leaving it as it is. "I mean that almost literally. That's almost exactly what I'm worried he'll see."

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

Cobebreaker stares at her for a long time.
"He won't, Siana. He won't. But if you're so convinced he will I can ask a for help again. You know what price Their gifts can have." he lets that one hang in the air.
On one hand, full reality warping gifts. On the other hand, a so-far 100% rate of winding up climbing 3 or more shirt sizes.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana seems to seriously consider it for a moment. On the one hand, no matter what a changed her to, it'd almost certainly solve her immediate problem. And going up a few sizes might not be such a bad thi- she pushes that thought out of her head. Vanity, for shame.

On the other hand, she would still be stuck with a body she wasn't at all familiar with. And she'd still have to explain to her uncle why she felt the need to go to a even knowing they weren't the best wish granter.

That... still had to be better, if she could be with her family, right?

"...Okay. Let's go talk to a."

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

CB sighs. He knew she would say that.
Still, he's a priest so it's his job to talk about how great his patron is. Even if They seem to still be working on their wish-granting skills.
"Fine. Take one of my crystals and offer it to Them. If you think you can get to the shrine under an umbrella you can try but I'd suggest going tonight." Either way he's going to have to continue leaving Owena behind because of this stupid secret.
Still, they should be able to make their way to the shrine eventually. It's tranquil and simple, as it always is. Well, ever since Owena made a point of scaring off all the local vandals.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana nods, takes the crystal, an umbrella, and her cane, and heads out the door.

About ten minutes pass, during which the weather turns increasingly inclement; this can still be seen even casually from inside, as the room visibly darkens under overcast conditions. There'll be a flash of lightning, a deafening roar of thunder, and Siana stepping back in through the front door, pinkened and drenched.

"...So, that... is definitely a sign." She moans, handing the crystal back to Codebreaker and leaving the ruined umbrella in the foyer.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"Congratulations, Absum is watching over you, too." CB declares. He can't imagine it's anyone else. Kyrie was convinced it was the first time. Twice in the family? Has to be the family patron.
"And he seems to think that you and your uncle avoiding certain problems isn't adviseable.
That or he's just really jealous."
CB is not smitten for suggesting that, so it probably isn't true.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana nods slowly, her skin gradually returning to its usual pallor now that she's inside and has had a chance to heal. "It... it looks like it, yeah." She says, licking rain off her lips. "...Kind of makes me feel a little better, honestly. If I'm meant to push through this, I'd rather know it than not, you know?" Siana, apparently, isn't the type to get test anxiety.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"It does seem like he's got stuff planned out for your family.
So uh. What are you going to do now?" Codebreaker says.
He is being...somewhat cruel with this particular question.
Since last time Kyrie took the wrong lesson from his taste of Absum's displeasure he was immediately struck again.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"Well, I... I don't really know." Siana sighs. "I mean, I guess I know what I'm not doing, which is getting a quick fix... or maybe just not with a?"

This is followed by a loud kra-koom of thunder and a startled shriek from Siana.

"Okay, okay, not at all!" She squeaks, frightened.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"It sounds like His will that you are this way. I don't know if that will be enough for Kyrie, but he did manage to accept things I never would have guess with that excuse. I can't make you decide what to do but you should at least think about it.

Also you're probably here for the rest of the day at this point." Her sopping wet hoodie is also probably not going to be good at hiding the points on her head from Owena if she walks by.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"...Right." Siana pulls her hood back up, which curiously enough, still does hide her horns pretty well, though the fabric bends unnaturally to do it. A quick look at the hoodie might remind Codebreaker the clothing in question is merch for a certain all-succubus band; created by demons, for demons, by the look of it.

Although that doesn't really solve the problem of it being all we-

fwssssssh

Siana watches, nonplussed, as the hoodie dries itself, the rainwater rolling off her in the form of little clouds of steam, palpably warming the room around her.

Well never mind, then.

"So... what do we do now?" She asks, taking a seat on the couch again. "As in, right now?"

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

CB blinks. Okay, magic hoodie. Sure.
"I dunno, what do you normally do all day? I have a spare room if you just want to sleep. But there's only one so you and Owena might have to flip a coin for it. Otherwise I have plenty of games." he says with a grin.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Siana's eyes light up at the mention of games. "I... guess there's no harm in unwinding a lit-"

[Codebreaker's Home (Three and a half hours later)]

plon
plon
pling

Siana stares at the screen intently, watching as her character slowly draws her rapier from the eight-foot king-guy's chest, a large portion of the boss's health bar disappearing from the bottom of the screen. With as intensely as she's concentrating, she doesn't hear her sister come back from the garage.

Owena makes her way over to Codebreaker, wiping her hands off on her apron. "How'd it go?" She asks, just before Siana lets out an exuberant squeel.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

CB is really not sure how they got here so fast.
"Um, it went fine? Nothing has really happened." CB tells Owena. Which is true. They've made basically no progress other than successfully getting Siana to relax a little bit.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

Owena takes a seat next to him and smiles. "Well, you talked her down from running out into the sun screaming bloody murder, so... whatever you did, I'd qualify it as progress." She gives him a little pat on the back, looking up at the screen, then back down at her sister, then up at the screen again. "...Cliff skip?"

"...Skip?"

Owena waves her hand dismissively and mutters to Codebreaker. "She has a habit of doing that out here in reality, too. Falling doesn't seem to scare her much, no matter how many times it gives her broken bones. Neat little perk of our condition that she can do that more than once."

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

As expected, CB's back is rather soft.
"Well, that was that. Your uncle hated that one. Anything else you feel like?" he asks the girls.
He doesn't think Siana would get as addicted to musical games.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"What? Why?!" Siana asks, surprised. "I would've thought he'd love it! Terrific challenge, relatable characters and situation... and the soundtrack, to die for. Literally, in some places. I can't imagine why he wouldn't like it."

"Eh, it's okay, I guess." Owena shrugs. "The sequels are better."

Siana's eyes widen. "There are sequels?!" She squeels delightedly.

Owena gives a little smirk and stands. "Aaaand I think that's the sound of your living room being occupied all day." She jokes, giving Codebreaker a playful nudge.

[Deathkeeper]

a's Shrine

Codebreaker has shown up for his duties, as usual. He's been feeling uncharacteristically pious today and is wearing his robes and not whatever he felt like today.
"Hey boss, what's up? Anything new in the land of spirits? You said you might have something to talk to me about today?" he asks the basin in the middle of the shrine.

[bc56]

a's Shrine

"I-We was-were calculating." a begins. "You-others often state that I-We do not comprehend-model nongeometric-life accurately." The phrasing suggests this is both an observation and a question. Codebreaker should know that a is unlikely to be angry if he gives an unfavorable answer.

[Deathkeeper]

a’s Shrine

Codebreaker nods astutely.
”Yeah, sorry Boss. You’re swell. But your observations and help are often just a smidge off ideal.” he admits.