The Temple of Inari 57: Life goes on

[Rebonack]

[Magic Lessons]

Messenger of one of the goddesses.

Oh.

Oh, so Keiko isn't just one of the priests, is she? She's important. That's why she has rules she has to follow.

How does Khannie always manage to get herself mixed up with these powerful otherworldly beings?

But that's okay! That's fine. The Temple of Inari is safe. Sure the glowing eyes and nimbus of gloom is kind of spooky but Khannie used to be part ghost-type so spooky really doesn't bother her that much.

"Is it okay to say prayers like a spell?" Khannie asks a bit hesitantly. "I haven't ever said prayers before so I thought maybe saying one like it's magic words would maybe make it special? Seraphina said that when she prays it's just like she's talking to someone who isn't there."

But... since this is a temple and all Khannie thought maybe it should be more formal? If that's the right word.

Regardless, she nods at the talk of rules. "Okay. Well, I don't want you to get in trouble. You seem nice. Thanks for being willing to help me," she says, offering an appreciative smile.

Then?

Rocks!

"Alright?" Khannie says, looking over at the stepping stone. It looks like one of those concrete ones that they toss a bunch of little pebbles on the top of. She's walked on that one before but she hasn't really paid any attention to it. Being in the garden reminds her of her visit to Grandpa Koi. But right now no thinking! Just being quiet. And counting.

Another deep, centering breath and-

One... two... three...

Khannie is now focused on the vitally unimportant task of counting small stones.

[Ironsmith]

[Magic Lessons]

Braeg scoots a large-ish rock nearby and sits, watching the magic lesson. He was curious to see how these priests went about teaching the Art. As an educator himself, who had taken on many apprentices over the years (two of whom were with him at the temple for a moment), he's found himself interested in seeing various methods of teaching in action. For the moment, he doesn't see a need to intervene in the lesson, but he will be watching closely and might speak up if something happens which catches his interest.

[Fenric]

[Magic Lessons]

Keiko grins

If you say your prayers properly, they work better. Now then...

Keiko summons her ball: and orb of inky black with only the faintest sheen of color on the outside.

Ok. So, focus on the subject, then...

Keiko fades from sight and Khannie should feel a sudden extra fullness in her mind. A warm, fuzzy, bouncy, playful sense of... crushing PTSD only barely under control and a whole lot of fake cheerfulness to hide the anxiety of someone murdered in her own bedroom when she was 16 and then dragged off to a hell where you get eaten alive every day until her wonderful amazing big sister rescued her and made everything all better.

sort of.

You know, getting posessed by Keiko is probably a bit unsettling at first. Especially since she isn't good at keeping herself properly separated.

Ok, so the idea is that if you let me drive, then you can watch and learn how to do it yourself! It should be so much easier than trying to explain with words!

...


Khannie?

[Rebonack]

[Magic Lessons]

All of a sudden Khannie feels all warm and sleepy and fuzzy, like she's looking at herself from very far away. Suddenly the distance between her soul gem and her body is like a great gulf.

Was she thinking about something?

She was thinking about driving her body and casting some charms so she can watch. Wait, no, that isn't quite right. Keiko was thinking about driving her body and casting some charms so she can watch.

But isn't she Keiko?

No, that isn't quite right either.

Mmmm? Khannie (Keiko?) thinks. That's a good idea. But I don't know how humans cast spells, I only know casting spells with fox ears and tails and I haven't got any of those.

Doesn't Keiko usually have those things? That seems right. So why hasn't she got them right now? This is mysterious.

So she does the only reasonable thing and reaches out with her shadow magic, weaving some ears and tails for herself with tactile, visual, and magical aspects.

There!

All better. Now she has the things she needs for magicking. The fact that she just magicked without those things is largely lost on her.

[Fenric]

[Posessed Magic Lesson]

Keiko giggles

I don't know how to cast human spells, but I can adapt automatically if I'm in human form. Even if it's because I borrowed it.

Keiko.Khannie takes a deep breath

So here goes... a basic Suggestion... Oh, look: Steven is over there.

You didn't REALLY think you were going to escape, did you?

Keiko.Khannie casts a Suggestion at Steven that any fox would have difficulty resisting: Don't you think it's time for a snack?

[Deathkeeper]

Possessed Magic Lesson

You know, one would think that Keiko being banned from possessing priests would extend to charms as well.
Still, Steven is on duty and he could never abandon his post while he's on duty.
...but he does suspiciously go back to the altar where he started.
There definitely isn't a midnight stash in one of the alcoves. No, ma'am.

[Ironsmith]

[Possessed Magic Lesson]

Braeg stands up abruptly, alarmed by the teacher's sudden disappearance and Khannie's acquisition of new features. This was not common where he was from, and usually preceded Very Bad Things when it did occur. Fortunately, at least from his perspective, he's a somewhat competent exorcist.

Raising his hand, he points it at Khannie and channels just a smidge of this shock and alarm into her; enough to separate the two entities, more than likely, or at least undermine their bond so he could do more.

Exactly when he does this, there will be another set of thoughts that they'll also pick up. Well, maybe thought is the wrong term for it. It's more esoteric, and muffled, as the temple's hallowed nature does not allow for such things, but the meaning is clear to them both:

This man is not to be trusted. If he is caught weaving magic again, get help and/or stop him.

[Rebonack]

[Possessed Magic Lesson]

Okay, so far so good.

There's an effort not to giggle when Keiko casts the Suggestion on Steven just because making mischief directed at Steven is always funny. But she's busy showing Khannie how to cast charms and this is official business so maybe she should be at least a little bit serious. So there it is. One basic charm. That's pretty easy, right? Just ball up that false idea and plant it in the mind like a little seed. Let it grow and the mind will figure out where to go with it. That's not too bad. It doesn't feel quite the same as the illusions, though. Illusions are about making concrete things. Charms are about creating abstract ideas. But the goal of both is the same.

Sow mischief by misdirection.

Hmm...

The differences are still tricky, though. Maybe Keiko should cast another Suggestion just to make sure Khannie is getting it?

But then something terrible happens! Keiko feels like she's getting yanked right out of her bod and then she IS and-

-wait. If she's getting expelled from her body then why is Keiko over there, too? Where's Khannie?

Khannie is, at this point, pretty disoriented. Her mind is still hovering at the edge of a dream state where she was having some trouble distinguishing the fact that she's distinct from Keiko. And in this state of confusion she quickly zeros in on the source of her lesson being thwarted.

"You jerk!" Khannie snarls at Braeg, her teeth bared, her ears flat, and her tails lashing in anger. "What did you do THAT for? I should bite you for that."

[Fenric]

[Disposessed Magic Lesson]

(( Um.... how about "Official business by a Messenger in direct response to a prayer gets to bypass the wards on his holy symbol."... cause otherwise you're right and it shouldn't have worked... ))

Keiko having an exceedingly tenuous hold due to being very inexperienced at posession to begin with, and having actively been trying to keep Khannie engaged in the process instead of just sending her to sleep, is exorcised without any particular effort.

She reappears and immeaditely flops to her behind in the wet grass, looking dazed and unwell

Oooof... I think Imma be sick now...

despite this announcement, she just sits there woozily.

[Ironsmith]

[Dispossessed Magic Lesson]

Braeg gives Khannie a look somewhere between a snarl and a sneer, exposing his own needly teeth. It would appear as though he was mistaken about the nature of this connection, but he was too proud to admit to any fault. So, rather than acknowledge the mistake, he takes a different tack.

"Are you really going to try doing that?" He growls, an undercurrent of amusement in his voice. "Heh. Feisty, but a little uncreative, aren't you? One would imagine making me into a toad or something equally loathsome for a while would be a much better use of your abilities... if you could manage it, of course."

Braeg walks over to Keiko and extends his hand, offering her help back to her feet.

[Rebonack]

[Dispossessed Magic Lesson]

"I was just trying to teach Khannie how to cast charms and-" Keiko growls back and-

Wait.

Wait, she isn't Keiko.

She isn't Keiko at all.

Why was she even thinking that?

Khannie touches at the ears poking out of her hair, then back at the mess of fox-tails protruding from under her dress. No, this is dumb, these aren't hers. She waves her hands through the tails, causing them to disperse in little pops of shadow. What just happened? She- Oh! That's right. Keiko possessed her and was casting cast a charm through her. It's like trying to hang onto a dream but Khannie is... pretty sure she got it? That's a clever way to teach someone spells, if a little unorthodox.

And it definitely doesn't help when random guys exorcise you in the middle of a lesson.

The twelve (almost thirteen!) year old girl sticks her tongue out at Braeg petulantly instead of actually responding to his challenge. It boils her blood a bit not to respond to a confrontation but she knows the jerk is just trying to get a rise out of her. Besides, she definitely doesn't know how to do transmogrifications. Or maybe transfrogrifications in this case. Illusions are definitely her forte and she thinks maybe with a bit of practice she might be able to puzzle through charms.

"You should at least ask before magicking someone like that," Khannie retorts a little lamely. Especially after she (Keiko) magicked Steven without asking.

[Fenric]

[Disposessed Magic Lesson]

Keiko tries to look at Braeg, but her eyes are still crossing. She blinks a few times, then squeezes her eyes shut trying to regain her composure.

That was very not nice. I didn't even do anything wrong this time!

She finally manages to look up with one eye closed and the other squinting heavily

You get in trouble a lot? I can't imagine jumping in and interrupting things you don't understand goes over all that well as you visit various temples.

[Deathkeeper]

Altar

Steven looks up, having polished off one of his snack packets.
He has the distinct feeling that he’s missed something related to how he got here.
He also feels like his visit with Keiko has been cut short.
On one hand, Keiko is Keiko. On the other, Keiko is his goddess’ sister and he ought to have a little faith, shouldn’t he? She doesn’t need supervision at all times. He’ll just sit closer to the door in case someone makes any loud noises.
And he does think that she gave him plenty to think about.

[Ironsmith]

[Dispossessed Magic Lesson]

"I was just trying to teach Khannie how to cast charms and-" Keiko growls back and-

Wait.

Wait, she isn't Keiko.

She isn't Keiko at all.

Why was she even thinking that?

Khannie touches at the ears poking out of her hair, then back at the mess of fox-tails protruding from under her dress. No, this is dumb, these aren't hers. She waves her hands through the tails, causing them to disperse in little pops of shadow. What just happened? She- Oh! That's right. Keiko possessed her and was casting cast a charm through her. It's like trying to hang onto a dream but Khannie is... pretty sure she got it? That's a clever way to teach someone spells, if a little unorthodox.

And it definitely doesn't help when random guys exorcise you in the middle of a lesson.

The twelve (almost thirteen!) year old girl sticks her tongue out at Braeg petulantly instead of actually responding to his challenge. It boils her blood a bit not to respond to a confrontation but she knows the jerk is just trying to get a rise out of her. Besides, she definitely doesn't know how to do transmogrifications. Or maybe transfrogrifications in this case. Illusions are definitely her forte and she thinks maybe with a bit of practice she might be able to puzzle through charms.

"You should at least ask before magicking someone like that," Khannie retorts a little lamely. Especially after she (Keiko) magicked Steven without asking.

[Disposessed Magic Lesson]

Keiko tries to look at Braeg, but her eyes are still crossing. She blinks a few times, then squeezes her eyes shut trying to regain her composure.

That was very not nice. I didn't even do anything wrong this time!

She finally manages to look up with one eye closed and the other squinting heavily

You get in trouble a lot? I can't imagine jumping in and interrupting things you don't understand goes over all that well as you visit various temples.

[Dispossessed Magic Lesson]

Braeg holds out his hand to Keiko assertively, nonverbally reminding her that he was more than happy to help her up. "Young lady, you'll find that there are very few things I don't understand." He says, with a small, mirthless chuckle. "Magic permeates our kind like water permeates a fish. And for very good reason, possession is a forbidden technique in most other temples."

He turns his attention back to Khannie. "...Hmm." He mumbles to himself, stroking his beard with his free hand. The resemblance is uncanny... "Tell me, child, how long have you been studying the Art? Two months? Three? Am I close?"

[Rebonack]

[Dispossessed Magic Lesson]

Oh geeze this jerk is really irritating Khannie. Coming over here and wrecking their lesson and then being all smug about it?

"YEAH!? Do you understand how to sum infinitesimals with calculus?" she half-shouts at him. Now, see, Khannie really likes math. Math is basically without question her favorite subject in school. Granted, she doesn't quite get calculus yet. She understands some of the basic ideas (they're pretty simple ideas!) but the actual calculations behind the ideas are gross. She's still working on the first few steps of algebra herself and won't actually be to calculus for a while yet but she read about it on the Internet and she really wants to try to take this jerk down a peg since even most grownups don't seem to know anything about calculus.

Hopefully he has no idea what she's talking about so she can feel smug back at him.

Then he says something that, if Khannie had a goat, would REALLY get it.

"I've been doing magic since I was six!" she thunders back at him. "Don't call me child! I'm nearly thirteen and teenagers aren't children!"

Okay they are.

But being called a child is only making Khannie more indignant.

[Fenric]

[Magic Lesson Disasters]

Keiko was about to complain about the "young lady" comment when Khannie starts up.

It doesn't happen very often, and some serious post-posession reaction sickness surely contributes, but she stares at Khannie with her mouth half-open and is briefly speechless. When she regains the use of words...

You're twelve?! I didn't realize... um... you are a student here, though, right? Your parents already agreed for you to learn here?

Keiko still seems quite content to be sitting, even if the grass is wet. Her ears are still wobbling in a way that says equilibrium is unlikely to be one of her stronger skills right now. Then she huffs.

And ok, it wasn't the best idea I've ever had. Not the worst by a long shot, but solidly not the best.

[Ironsmith]

[Dispossessed Magic Lesson]

Oh geeze this jerk is really irritating Khannie. Coming over here and wrecking their lesson and then being all smug about it?

"YEAH!? Do you understand how to sum infinitesimals with calculus?" she half-shouts at him. Now, see, Khannie really likes math. Math is basically without question her favorite subject in school. Granted, she doesn't quite get calculus yet. She understands some of the basic ideas (they're pretty simple ideas!) but the actual calculations behind the ideas are gross. She's still working on the first few steps of algebra herself and won't actually be to calculus for a while yet but she read about it on the Internet and she really wants to try to take this jerk down a peg since even most grownups don't seem to know anything about calculus.

Hopefully he has no idea what she's talking about so she can feel smug back at him.

Then he says something that, if Khannie had a goat, would REALLY get it.

"I've been doing magic since I was six!" she thunders back at him. "Don't call me child! I'm nearly thirteen and teenagers aren't children!"

Okay they are.

But being called a child is only making Khannie more indignant.

[Magic Lesson Disasters]

Keiko was about to complain about the "young lady" comment when Khannie starts up.

It doesn't happen very often, and some serious post-posession reaction sickness surely contributes, but she stares at Khannie with her mouth half-open and is briefly speechless. When she regains the use of words...

You're twelve?! I didn't realize... um... you are a student here, though, right? Your parents already agreed for you to learn here?

Keiko still seems quite content to be sitting, even if the grass is wet. Her ears are still wobbling in a way that says equilibrium is unlikely to be one of her stronger skills right now. Then she huffs.

And ok, it wasn't the best idea I've ever had. Not the worst by a long shot, but solidly not the best.

[Disastrous Magic Lesson]

Braeg scoffs. "Six years?!" He chuckles mirthlessly. Half this girl's life had been spent studying the Art, and the best she could do was... what, a half-baked attempt at an orange? Braeg shakes his head, laughing inwardly. "Heh... who's been teaching you, some... some mortal with his nose in a dusty book?"

Oh, that was just rich.

Braeg kicks up a rock from the path into his hand, rubbing it against his tunic like a dirty apple.

"Six years and you struggle to make the semblance of a fruit. Surely, that's the result of inferior tutelage." Braeg lifts the rock to his mouth and takes a hearty bite. Wait... no, it wasn't a rock anymore. At some point between picking it up and biting it, the rock had been transformed into an apple.

[Rebonack]

[Disastrous Magic Lesson]

"Almost thirteen!" Khannie amends to Keiko's surprised reaction. "Yeah I've been coming to school here since daddy brought me back from that horrible place I got kidnapped to. But usually I'm just here during the day time so I guess maybe that's why I haven't met you before?"

She figures that's a pretty good reason.

And then?

Then that jerk starts laughing at her.

Khannie's little fists ball in rage as her face flushes red.

This guy.

This guy is saying her daddy and all her teachers are bad at magic, too?

Never has the desire to clobber someone been so great. It would be easy. She could leave this jerk picking his teeth up out of the grass. But she's not going to do that. No sir. Daddy has been VERY CLEAR that she is never, ever, EVER to punch people. Even if they deserve it.

Khannie turns on her heel and begins stomping away.

"C'mon Keiko let's go practice somewhere else. The garden smells gross tonight."

[Purple Eagle]

[A wild celestial appears]

The relatively still night air a ways from the gate is interrupted by a silver-furred fox drifting into existence and making a beeline for the gate. The creature's eyes are purple, and there's an aura of celestial cosmic energy that can be sensed from the creature. It seems to mean no harm however.

The silver fox stops once he's at the gate and looks around for anyone he can accost for pats.

[Fenric]

[Magic Lesson Disaster]

Keiko gets up with a nod

There's a solid case of rude going on out here tonight.

She shakes her head

You can outperform a twelve year old human child, congrats: really amazing. Good night, sir, and you'll just have to manage without any blessings: my sister doesn't have any patience for arrogance.

There is a distinct feeling of the withdrawl of divine favor from around Braeg.

---

[Sanctuary]

Someone looking quite similar to Keiko appears, though there are some subtle differences and one major one: her eyes are gently aqua-blue, not blazing red. Yumiko rolls said eyes

Well, I cannot say that I am particularly surprised that Keiko would fail. I had hoped she might just possibly manage to remain where she is supposed to for at least a few hours, though.

[bc56]

Temple Entrance
Jade walks into the temple. It's been a little while since she's been here. Nine tails fanned out behind her, she surveys the place.
It's changed, she notices. Much busier that it's been since she first visited. More alive.
She needs to talk to a priest though, mostly about her increasingly confusing fox-spirit-ness. And whether she still should be taking magic lessons. And what she even is now that she has her kumiho memories back. She doesn't think she wants to eat people anymore, but... Better safe than sorry.

[Deathkeeper]

Sanctuary

Steven blinks in surprise.
"ah, two Messengers in one evening? I am blessed. Keiko did give me some advice at least." Steven might as well put a little bit of a good word in for her.

[Ironsmith]

[Disastrous Magic Lesson]

The moment Keiko withdraws the blessing, something wonderfully karmic happens.

The apple Braeg was eating flies out if his hand, transforms back into a rock, and begins whaling on him, slamming itself into him, starting with his face. Braeg manages to avoid its second pass through, ducking under the flying rock as it whizzes past where his head would be, nursing his jaw.

At the same time, Keiko, Khannie, and anyone else who happens to be nearby and even the slightest bit magic-sensitive, will hear a deep, feminine, righteously angry voice chanting in their head.

All creation, hear my plea,
This man is our enemy
He who speaks in only lies
Who steals daughters from their beds
Severs fathers from their heads
Commands dead again to rise
And ate hearts before my eyes

All creation, hear my cry
I condemn this man to die
Tie him down and flay his skin
Rip his black heart from his chest
Let the grave deny him rest
Doom this man for his sin
This blasphemer, traitor of kin!

Oof. He pissed off someone but good. Not Inari... someone else. Apparently, that blessing was the only thing stopping everything within a ten meter radius from trying to kill him.

[Rebonack]

[More Magic Lessons But Also Scary Sounding Poetry?]

Okay.

So Khannie WAS just going to head over to the currently empty schoolyard adjoining the temple. That would have been a good place to practice, right?

But then something deeply concerning happened.

A magical voice started talking in her head.

And not just any magical voice.

A magical voice telling her to do horrible, violent things to that jerk who had ruined their lesson. A violent jerk who, if the voice was to be believed, kidnaps people and kills people and does necromancy and eats people's hearts. Some of those things being worse than other things, but none of them being nice at all. She isn't sure what to do. The voice is saying he's a bad guy, but aside from being rude and mean he hasn't actually done any bad guy things has he? And the temple is safe, right? It's a protected place. So she doesn't have to-

She turns back around and sees that rocks are skipping up from the garden to clobber the supposed villain.

Khannie frowns, then looks over at Keiko.

"Are you doing that thing with the rocks?" she asks. "And... umm... did you hear that voice saying to do... things?"

Really bad things that Khannie absolutely would never do to a person.

Ever.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Yumiko smiles at Steven

Well... to be fair, I was the one who was supposed to come in the first place, but Keiko was getting bored and that is never a good thing. The Nexus is usually a reasonable place for her to blow off some steam.

She sighs

Hopefully she will recover... someday... Revered Eldest Sister says she has a plan, so until that come to fruition we can only carry on. Now then, you were concerned that you hadn't been doing enough to keep things interestng. As Keiko rightly said, that is not precisely what we wish of you. We are the nogitsune: wild, free, and our own people. We do not seek to further the goals of humans unless it happens to suit us, and we challenge them when their pride demands action. But that is not to say that we expect our followers to seek out conflict. Just that they should not shy away from it just because some human decided it was not "proper" in some context or other.

Then, she looks over to the ninetailed Kumiho.

Ah... a relative from across the waters. Do you know this one, Steven? Is she one to welcome, or one to resume an ancient disagreement?

[Disaster That Was Once a Magic Lesson]

Keiko blinks, once again briefly rendered without words

Nuh-uh. I don't do telekenesis like that: if I wanna fight someone, I just do. And yeah, I heard it too. See: I wasn't wrong: this guy has offended people with his jerkface attitude and ... well, that's quite a list of crimes there.

She is particularly bothered by the "steals daughters from their beds", having been the victim of exactly that. In all honestly, only Tamamo's power is holding her from diving straight into what the magical voice suggested

I gotta wonder how he got all the way here if Tammy's favor was the only thing keeping the scenery from acting like this was Trog's though. But he's not one of ours and even that obnoxious display wasn't really an attack, and heresay is heresay even if it's divine heresay. Um...

She looks at Khannie as a dark ring swiftly draws itself on the ground in a twenty meter radius, surrounding herself, Braeg, the violent props, and Khannie for the moment

I think you're gonna wanna get on the outside of that before I turn it on, Khannie. I know I'll be fine, but you've got that purple egg thing and all... besides, I think someone maybe ought to get the guards.

[Ironsmith]

[Just A Disaster At This Point]

Braeg ducks under the rock as it goes after his face again, grinning the whole time. "Well, would it help if I said I offended one person, who happens to be quite powerful, and under very unique circumstances?" He weighs in casually, sidestepping a wayward tree branch. "Incidentally, kid, this is proof positive of what a sufficiently motivated, and properly trained, young lady your age can do. I'd be taking notes if I were y- whoa, that was a close one!" He cackles.

[Deathkeeper]

Sanctuary

"My role here is always two-sided. As high priest I am master of ceremonies but...well, as speaker for the nogitsune and my own person I find all the speak of 'properness' to be rather tiring. Which might be why that woman getting her snout out of joint over one of the heads of this temple not being a lady annoyed me so much." Steven had been on the verge of sending Eclipse after her the entire time.
"It might have also been the four hours in poorly fitted robes." Steven had tried mocking her by shifting into a female form, only to be ordered to stay like that for the rest of the hierophant's visit. Which had resulted in spending six hours and an entire foray into the catacombs in robes that didn't fit his current body. Which is certainly a reason he ought to learn how to shapeshift his clothes and also why having to obey every order of higher ranking priestesses can be ultimately frustrating.
"Oh, that's the woman that Arlem had been helping. He did supposedly mostly fix the problem. I wonder if something else went wrong."

[Rebonack]

[Just A Disaster At This Point]

Keiko can't move things around with her mind so who IS doing that? Was it the voice that was talking to them? Keiko heard it, too and she looks really angry.

There's a lightbulb moment as Khannie recalls Keiko (maybe unintentionally?) sharing a defining trauma early in her life.

And then the reason why she's so mad makes sense. Just like Khannie, she was stolen away to somewhere terrible and had to be rescued. And that's exactly the sort of thing this horrible person does. Suddenly she's feeling a little more okay with finding an excuse to sock this jerk right in the jaw.

But...

Khannie is having a little bit of trouble processing everything that's going on. There's definitely something BIG happening here, something WAY out of her league. After all, she's just a twelve (almost thirteen!) year old girl. She might have some cool tricks up her sleeve but at the end of the day it sounds like these are gods throwing their weight around. When the black circle snaps on she gives a little "Eep!" and hops back.

"Alright Miss Keiko I'll go get the guards," she says before scampering off to do exactly that. She makes a line straight for the gates where the rifle-toting werefoxes are typically hanging out. "Umm... hello! There's a really bad person over in the garden and Miss Keiko told me to come get you."

Hopefully they'll take the plea from one of the students (who, admittedly, is here well after hours) seriously.

[bc56]

Sanctuary

Oh good, there are some priests. That's Steven, right, and who's the other one? Oh, it doesn't matter. Jade walks up to the pair. "Do you have a few minutes? I have some questions."

Are you sure it's the same woman, Steven? Didn't she only have one tail?

Jade's a redheaded woman with fox ears and nine fox tails. She's wearing a simple white dress and sandals.
Beyond the physical, she's some sort of fox spirit; but even she's not sure what sort. She was a kumiho at one point, then she was a kitsune, and now she's a bit of both. It's hard to say what might be going on there.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Yumiko was basically focusing on Jade having "otherness", not really digging for any sort of reason to it. But anyway...

Ah, very good then. I will let you carry on, in that case. I am still here in an official capacity, so I am bound to the rules of that state.


[Disaster]

Keiko can do telekenetic stuff... she just doesn't.

Keiko waits for Khannie to leave the circle, then activates the anti-magic shell she was preparing. This should put a rather abrupt end to the flying rocks... hopefully it doesn't terminate too much else.

Her eyes stop glowing and the nimbus around her vanishes.

This also makes her involuntarily snarl and wince at her suddenly uncorked rage... but the fact is she really has gained a lot of self control over the years and she works to get a handle back on herself.

It doesn't help in the slightest, no.

We have been on the receiving end of being manipulated both by "vengeful" people who were totally in the wrong as well as criminals trying to hide under a veneer of innocence, and I'm really tired of all that.

So while my first impulse is to do my very best to follow whoever that was's advice 'cause you're one to make Magtok look saintly, I can't really say for certain that's the right thing because maybe they are one short-tempered twit who's totally overreacting. Goddesses can be that way sometimes. Or maybe she's sort of right and you did bad things but then you ought to be judged fairly not just killed vigillante style.

And I am just a Messenger in the end: deciding this stuff is above my pay grade. As is arresting you, so I'll levae that part to the professionals.

Khannie's terse and detail-light call for help results in the werefox getting on his radio in a partial panic. That, in turn, results in a siren starting to wail off in the distance.

That, at the end, makes Keiko's ears perk up and she looks confused

Huh?