GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[Ironsmith]

[Not Quite to That Cabin]

At this point Gilda wriggles until Sophie puts her down since hug time is obviously over now.

Sophie is trying not to laugh. Did she say something dumb? Because she didn't know how humans make babies? Ugh, Glory was maybe right after all?

What would be the point of just keeping an egg inside you, anyway?

But this new not-teacher is saying something about eating storks and making babies out of mud? How does that even make sense? Gilda and her siblings have played around in the clay by the east side of the lake before and that was fun. Gwen made little griffs out of clay since her claws are real clever even though she's a wimp. Is that how whatever sort of thing this lady is makes babies?

"That sounds dumb and made up," Gilda retorts after a few moments of thought. But then something important occurs to her!

Something that makes her excited!

"Oooh I can catch a goose fer you I'm best at hunting!"

Geese are pretty big birds maybe they would count? Gilda has been told countless times not to harass the local wild geese but she's seeing an opportunity here and isn't about to let it pass her by.

[Not Quite to That Cabin]

Sophie's eyes narrow in what isn't quite a glare, but a clear warning nonetheless. Fortunately, Gilda seems unbothered by Braon's... "joke".

"I'm sure you could, Gilda, but it won't be necessary. Ms. Hexebborne is simply joking. Now I do need to show her to her cabin."

[Not Quite to That Cabin]

Ugh. Griffin cub: two, Braon: zero. And Sophie's giving Braon dagger eyes. Well, fine. If one method for getting rid of the griffin isn't working, maybe another will. And Sophie can't possibly object to this one.

"It's not entirely made up." Braon counters, kneeling a bit so she can get her hands in the dirt. "It's not how we make babies, but that is a thing I can do. Watch."

Braon cups her hand around a loamy patch of soil and scoops up a small chunk, rolling it around in her fingers, holding it together with its natural moisture and shaping it into a vaguely ranine shape. She holds it up to her mouth, looking back and forth furtively, as though what she held in her hands was a secret only Gilda could know. She whispers into her hands indistinctly, channeling bits of anxiety into her little crafting project.

Then, abruptly, she lets it go.

At this point, Gilda and Sophie might expect to see a glob of dirt just drop back to the ground and splatter. What happens instead is that a little brown frog leaps from her hands, straight over Gilda's head. The second it hits the ground, it's going to start frantically hopping away from the griffin... hopefully, leading her on a merry chase and getting her to leave Braon and Sophie alone.

[Beans]

[Main Office]

"There is some paperwork." There's always paperwork. "And anything you can tell us about yourself and your child is helpful."

Nefila nods. "Well, I haven't seen any others of my species around here, so you might not be familiar with Vaess? Honestly, it might be good that there aren't other Vaess around. They're the reason I had to run." Shaking her head, she sighs. "To most of my species, I'm... what's the word? Bogeyman? A scary story, and I've never hurt anyone or wanted to."

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"That's why I was thinking about those springs that go into the lake," Khannie says. "Since they freeze in the winter, and frozen water is hard like a stone, right?"

Does ice count as a rock?

Maybe she's look that up on the internet or something.

"We could just try looking around in a few different places. By the springs, by the machine shop, by the bunks maybe? I haven't seen a rock and tree like that around the camp before but I've never found a magic key in a hollow tree before, either," she reasons.

"Did you figure out the riddle I can't wait to find the next thing maybe it'll be the trove or ANOTHER map I've never got a double-map before," Lapis rambles.

If a single map leads to such amazing treasure...

Just imagine what a double map might be like!


[Not Quite to That Cabin]

Yep.

That works.

As soon as the mudfrog leaps over her head Gilda's pupils dilate HUUUUGE as she launches herself after the small moving thing. It had better be quick on its feet because griffins aren't exactly slow.


[Cavorting With Chaos]

Whoop.

Fortuna's gone.

Must have had something to attend to. No doubt something incredibly serious and important.

So!

The grief seed.

Like Khannie's, the soul itself has been rearranged into this blasphemous object, heavy with hopelessness. The Witch within is slumbering once more, unable to manifest, and slowly drawing ambient negative emotions into itself. It is an incredible well of magical power; where Khannie's was like a vessel overflowing this is like a spring without limit. A source where one could offload grief and refill one's magical supply. It is, frankly, a long ways from being able to manifest itself again. Thankfully. If this entity awoke once again it could cause devastation to its surroundings-

-though the magic that suffices GLoG would prevent it from doing so here.

It is a corrupted spirit.

And no such foul spirit may ever taint this peaceful place.

The entity itself is... strange. All sense of its former self appears to be buried so deep in madness that no trace seems to remain. All that remains is a sense of utter hopelessness; that the world and the people in it have lost all sense of beauty and all that remains is ugliness and grime. A filthy, miry hole that no one should live in. A disgusting toxic swamp.

What a wretched creature.

Zebes will recognize this grief seed. It's the one they found near Mallside that was full of weird frogs with smoke stack backs riding around in sailboats or some nonsense.

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
Sekhmet looks a little sick. "This is a pit of despair into which no light enters." She seems like she has an idea. "Whatever it was, it is corrupted beyond repair... But I am the Archfiend of Corruption." She has a serious expression.

[Morty]

[Not Quite to That Cabin]

Sophie watches Gilda chase off after the frog and then resumes leading Braon to a cabin.

"Was being wrong about her being a pet rather than a child really that embarrassing? No one even pointed it out," she says conversationally.

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"Let's start around the lake," Tuskfang decides as he picks up Hornclaw. The crundle croaks. "Maybe we'll see it there. And then we can go to the other places if we don't."

[Main Office]

Reelshka shakes her head.

"Can't say the name rings a bell. Are any of them likely to come here and try to make trouble? Should we be ready for them?"

[Beans]

[Main Office]

"I don't think they would---my kind tend to stick within the territory of our hives and the communities around thereabouts. My worry wasn't that I'd be followed---just that there'd be an existing hive in this region already and I'd walk right into them." Nefila shrugs. "Honestly, if you had a Vaess hive, you'd know---outside of the kind of screaming witch-hunt that forced me here, my people tend to be friendly and charitable." She gives a wry huff from the slits she sports in place of a nose, shifting her child in her arms a bit, then tucking it into the crook of one arm to free up the other for signing stuff.

[Deathkeeper]

Cavorting with Chaos

"Oh. Good." Zebes says at Sekhmet's boast.
Right. Just. Archfiend of corruption. Sitting at GLoG.
Didn't Zebes' saxophone player want them to meet the Lord of books? And that was too sketchy?
He's not going to stop her, though.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting with Chaos]

Okay, being fair to Khannie, she doesn't know that Sekhmet is the Demon Queen of Corruption.

She knows absolutely nothing about Sekhmet's deal.

Just that she's some lady who lives in a little cabin at GLoG with her husband and she's a witch.

Not a Witch though since that's different. She knows Sekhmet has magic and looks kind of weird but hey LOTS of people look weird in the Nexus that's no big deal.

Now, that other guy?

Most notably he does not live at GLoG.

As far as Khannie is concerned anyone who is allowed to stay at GLoG is safe. Safe to talk to, safe to deal with. As such, she wanted to talk to someone she KNEW was safe rather than going elsewhere. That's why the first people she spoke with were the foxes at Inari's. Also people she trusted.

Anyway!

Grief Seed!

It still sits there in Sekhmet's hands, being horrible.

What's she going to try?


[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"Okay let's go!" Lapis says, starting off-

-in the wrong direction.

"The springs are over here," Khannie helpfully points out as she begins hiking along the ice lake-shore. It's a really nice walk, honestly. The frozen like, snow laden trees, and shimmering frost are all all absolutely beautiful. The sun is out, giving everything a diamond-like glint. It's still cold, but not unpleasantly so provided one is bundled up. Which Khannie sure is!

And Lapis sure isn't.

The half-elf girl doesn't appear to be bothered by the cold, though.

About half way to the first spring Lapis abruptly gives a little, "Oooh!" and goes scurrying off near the treeline and begins digging in the snow at the base of a large fallen log.

[Ironsmith]

[Not Quite to That Cabin]

Sophie watches Gilda chase off after the frog and then resumes leading Braon to a cabin.

"Was being wrong about her being a pet rather than a child really that embarrassing? No one even pointed it out," she says conversationally.

[That Cabin]

Off goes the frog, with all the speed of a small amphibian that wants to see a sunset before it dies.

"...What?" Braon asks, in a somewhat defensive tone. "Did I do something wrong? Kid was being a little [crap]. You really going to come at me over telling her a little tall tale? She didn't fall for it, for even a second. Exactly what's going to come of it, huh?"

Not that her opinion's much improved. While Gilda hadn't really done anything wrong, Braon doesn't really care; she "lost" in that interaction, and she hates losing. The best she could manage was just impressing a not-even-two-year-old child with her enchanting skills. No, not even impressing; just distracting. No, no, don't mind me, I didn't do anything special, just created life with my bare goddamn hands, that's all.

Ugh.

This is going to be a long nine months. At least Sekhmet hasn't seen her yet. She's not sure she could take another dose of the demon queen so soon.

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
What happens next can only be described in metaphor.

Sekhmet jumps into the muddy mess of the gem. Immersed up to her waist in despair, she begins combing through it, digging bits of uncorrupted soul out of the mud where she finds them and holds them close, where her light might shield them and dry them off. The process takes subjective hours and literal minutes as she painstakingly works her way through the marsh.
Once she's recovered everything she can, she departs with it, and in the comfort of her own mind, begins piecing what she found together. Of course if she found nothing, it would be moot.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting Without Chaos]

Sekhmet steps into the grief seed and what she finds within is disorienting to say the least.

Hellish the realm, scattered bricks and oil and paint and mud and twisted steel
In a murky pool a sailboat lays, broken
Desolation and despair is all that dwells here, grief driven like freezing rain
Earnest is the queen's search, sifting through the mire
Oil seeps into the mud
Unearthing points of light is her goal, but the only light here is glistening tears
Sucking mud pulls at her legs, trying to drag her down
Nothing to be found here, no light, no joy, no hope
Essence lost to despair
Soul sundered
Soul broken

A wish consumed by hopelessness
Beauty for my home
Oh that it could be as beautiful as those paintings of old
Unfettered power to make it so
Now only shattered brick and broken frames remain
Dully, a frog croaks in the distance
Sickened by failure, hideousness abounds

Sekhmet comes up for breath.

There is no uncorrupted soul left in the grief seed, only brokenness.

But in touching it so closely Sekhmet will have learned something vital.

Mary.

A little girl from the slums who wished to make her home beautiful.

I wish I had the power to make my neighborhood as beautiful as the paintings in the museum.

A breeze to sweep away the filthy air and trash. Painted brick to build up the ruins with wonders. She worked tirelessly to fulfill her dream.

But the Nexus itself strove against her. Because there must always be a Slums.

She wouldn't give up! She worked and worked and worked until she worked herself ragged!

When at last a building she had repaired was, just hours later, devoured by a fetid lake of industrial runoff it was too much. A huge, mutated frog sitting atop a heap of fallen bricks was all that remained. Broken, she lost hope.

I thought I could make a difference. I'm such an idiot.

Sekhmet has gained an insight. Mary isn't buried in the mire. She is the mire. Her despair has wholly subsumed her. It isn't enough to merely dig her out, for there is nothing to dig out.

No, Sekhmet must give this child hope again. Transform that slew of despondency into a thing of beauty. Show the child that all hope is not lost.

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
Outside the psychic realm of metaphor, Sekhmet's teeth clench, her fists tighten, and her eyes smoulder, as she is awash with rage. Something did this. To an innocent little girl who just wanted to make the world a better place. It doesn't last long though.

Zoom out. Digging through the marsh is not going to help. Sekhmet stands as a spiritual titan over Mary's swamp of despair.
You are not an idiot. You are a beautiful little girl with a wonderful heart. If she can hug a swamp, Sekhmet will do that now. You didn't fail. Look at this. Sekhmet dredges up a memory from the mire. A beautiful mural, one doomed to be demolished not much later. But she pulls the focus off the image to the people passing by. It may have been fleeting, but it brought joy to those around you. Sekhmet lets a burning tear of light fall into the mud. You deserve better than this fate. All you have to do is wake up. Come to my light.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting Without Chaos]

A single burning tear tumbles through the darkness
Not of sorrow but of hope

Into the mire it burns
Making clarity in its wake
Pitiful in form a broken mass of brick and torn sails and trash
Resting in the midst a frame depicting a girl
Expression hopeless hands covering her face as she weeps
Smudges of paint and impressions of color
Seen through eyes turned inward
Is this the heart of the Witch?
None had embraced her until now

Open arms
Flickers of hopes

Laughter on the faces of those she touched
Is it true?
Gratitude in their expressions
Her works destroyed yet a mark she still made
Taking her hands from her face, she reaches upward to an impression of light

Please. Help me. I don't like this place.

The child is reaching for Sekhmet, a glimmer of hope and a flicker of her pure soul under the grime.

Can the queen reach forth and grasp her by the hand?

Could it be that simple?

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
Fortunately, Sekhmet isn't about to say something dumb like "Come with me if you want to live."

She extends a hand. I'm here. You don't have to be afraid.

[Morty]

[That Cabin]

"Trust me that if I disapprove of your actions, I'll make it quite clear," Sophie says. "Right now I'm just asking a question, not 'coming at you'. Asking questions is what I have always done, as a social worker, monster-hunter or therapist. Or not asking questions, if I find some that shouldn't be asked." The mention of her monster-hunting past is dropped deliberately, to see how Braon will react. "But it is good that Gilda is a very fearless young cub."

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Tuskfang also enjoys merrily walking along the lake shore. He's as full of energy as any child his age. He whips his head in Lapis' direction when she runs off.

"Did you see something, Lapis?"

[Main Office]

"Hmm. Well, like I said, this is the first time I've heard the name of your people." Reelshka hands Nefila various forms. "So I think you'll be fine. We also have a daycare if you need your child looked after sometime."

[Beans]

[Main Office]
Nefila signs in each place she's directed, her six-fingered hand making quick work with the pen. "That'll be helpful---I imagine you're used to a pretty wide variety of kids, and Sujo isn't going to be terribly high-maintenance as babies go." She closes her eyes for a moment as she hands over the last form. "She's more a trooper than I am, honestly."

[Ironsmith]

[That Cabin]

"Trust me that if I disapprove of your actions, I'll make it quite clear," Sophie says. "Right now I'm just asking a question, not 'coming at you'. Asking questions is what I have always done, as a social worker, monster-hunter or therapist. Or not asking questions, if I find some that shouldn't be asked." The mention of her monster-hunting past is dropped deliberately, to see how Braon will react. "But it is good that Gilda is a very fearless young cub."

[That Cabin]

Oh, of course she's flouting spending some time as a monster-hunter. Braon knows exactly what that means.

Sophie could have called herself an adventurer. Or an explorer. A sellsword. A freelance bodyguard.

But no. What she wants to impress on Braon is that she, at one point, made a living hunting monsters, and that is why she should be careful about doing something Sophie wouldn't approve.

"Let me make something clear." Braon growls, leaning in close to Sophie. "I'm not afraid of you. I've had hunters, guardsmen, knights, and actual demigods take their swings at me since before my first blood moon. There's nothing you can threaten me with that I haven't already lived through a thousand times before and won't handle a thousand times again." She gives Sophie a hard poke in the chest with a pointed fingernail. "So you damn well better keep those kinds of questions to yourself."

She is, of course, engaging in a lie of omission, and a plain lie in saying she's not afraid. She has indeed dealt with some powerful people before she hit puberty. But she dealt with them by running. She's not a fighter, never was, and probably never will be. And she doesn't have the option of running away now. If Sophie really did threaten her, and Braon couldn't deter her with a show of force, she'd barely have time for a last prayer to Adea before it was curtains for her.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting Without Chaos]

Hand outstretched, fingers grasping
Ominous mire sucking at her legs
Pulling with all her might
Entrapped no more a breeze flies free in hope

At once the dream-like state of the Labyrinth stabilizes, shifting from a vague nightmare to merely a bleak marsh full of ruined factories.

A single point of color stands out in in the dreary expanse. A halfelf girl dressed in a sky blue dress with cloudy white highlights. Yellow ribbons dance in a phantom breeze and with one hand she holds onto a floppy white sunhat bearing ribbon and a blue gem stained with oily black. A canvas cloak flaps behind her and in her hand she holds a bright yellow brick.

"Wuhuh? What...?" Mary mumbles, looking around in confusion. "A labyrinth? When did I..."

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
Two points of color stand out.
A demon queen in bright red skin, shining black hair, and deep blue dress, glowing with warm yellow-orange firelight. She stands next to the freed girl in silence for a moment.
"Are you all right?" she asks after a moment, cautiously, "How do you feel?"

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting Without Chaos]

Mary doesn't remember going into a Labyrinth. There was that horrid frog bog and then she was really upset but after that? Everything is all hazy.

Then a demon lady talks to her.

"Woah hey hi!" Mary yelps in surprise, hopping back half a step and hefting her brick like she's meaning to hurl it at Sekhmet. "Cripes lady you shouldn't sneak up on a girl like that I coulda bloody well clobbered you."

With an "Ugh," the girl drops her brick into the mud, whereupon it begins multiplying as it creates a nice clean yelliw brick road to walk on. That's way better.

"Listen you're in a Witch's Labyrinth and these places are bleedin' crazy, they are. So you just follow little Mary here and I'll lead you out quick as a snap," Mary says, motioning with her once more brick-holding hand for Sekhmet to follow her.

It takes a few moments for Mary to register the questions. "Oh, me? Right as rain, I am. Don't you worry none about me I can take a few knocks."

That's a lie. Mary feels confused and bone tired. What's she doing here? How did she end up in a Labyrinth?

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
Sekhmet can tell that's a lie. But she knows better than to press. "I'll, uh, follow you, Mary." She could just leave, but leaving Mary alone seems like a bad idea. She helped, now she needs to make sure nothing happens to undo that. Since Mary doesn't seem to recognize her, the whole thing just a moment ago must have happened without Mary remembering. Sekhmet's not sure whether that's a blessing or a curse.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting Without Chaos]

Following Mary turns out to be easy. Everywhere she walks a beautiful brick road assembles itself in front of her. At first it's just yellow, but as she feels a little better images begin taking shape. The painted bricks form beautiful pictures of lakes and parks and people often with factories fae off in the distance.

They're all in an impressionist style uniquely Mary's own. That style of painting was popular in Sekhmet's era so she may recognize it.

"It's real queer that there aren't any familiars around," Mary notes as she walks, doing her best to stay alert. "Usually I'm up to my ears in them. But no bellyaching from me, no ma'am. This feels like a jolly spot."

And then?

The bricks form into an archway leading out of the Labyrinth.

"You head on out, ma'am I still have a Witch to box the ears of, I do."

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
"Uh, about that..." Sekhmet looks a bit awkward, "This isn't a witch's labyrinth, whatever, uh, that is." She's wrong, but she doesn't know that. "We're, uh, inside your mind. There's no witch here." Hopefully that bombshell, only half correct as it is, isn't too shattering.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"Yeah there's anther key!" Lapis says as she begins pawing snow out of the way of the end of the fallen log. Shortly there after a whole bunch of hissing follows. "Also another possum!"

Should our heroes peek into the end of the log, they'll find that it's hollowed out nicely. Within is a shiny key just like the one Lapis was showing off earlier.

Also?

A possum sitting right on top of it.

The marsupial looks pretty upset about being disturbed and now its hissing loudly.

Hmm...

They might need that key.

But how will the get it with that very toothy animal sitting atop it?

"Maybe if we feed it then it'll be nice?" Khannie suggests. That usually works with Safari Zone pokemon.


[Cavorting Without Chaos]

"What do you mean of course it is are you daft?" Mary replies incredulously. "You can't just go prancing around inside minds that's loony. This is a Labyrinth just a real queer one. Now hurry out so I can get working."

She seems pretty resolute.

Mary has no reason to believe this strange place is anything other than a Witch's Labyrinth.

Which it is.

Because Mary is still a Witch.

Just one that has temporarily regained her lucidity thanks to Sekhmet.

[bc56]

Cavorting Without Chaos
"Fine but, uh, believe me when I say I wouldn't have, uh, shown up here if your case wasn't special, and, uh, I'm not going to risk leaving you alone and possibly in danger." Sekhmet acquiesces on the labyrinth thing, but now she has a new problem. She really doesn't want to leave Mary alone to potentially relapse.

Outside, Sekhmet's body stirs. Her eyes remain closed, but one of her hands outstretches and grips the table for support. She sends a psychic message. Zebes, uh, you know more about what's going on here than I do, I need advice.

[Deathkeeper]

Cavorting With Chaos

Zebes sighs. Finally, he can be useful.
Okay, what's the issue here? he sends back, just as strongly. Sekhmet might not have realized that he's also telepathic.

[bc56]

Cavorting With Chaos
I found and awakened the girl that is, uh, in this gem, but, uh, she's convinced we're in some kind of maze and that she needs to kill a witch. I, uh, have no idea what she's talking about, do you know?" Sekhmet doesn't particularly care whether Zebes is telepathic. As long as he can send back to her, she's fine.

[Morty]

[That Cabin]

Braon is scared of her. She's scared of many things, Sophie thinks. Her reactions seem ruled mostly by fear and anger. It will take some untangling to get her to stop operating in fight and flight mode.

"I don't think I'm the kind of person you're used to dealing with," she says, as if Braon hadn't just threatened her. She ignores the poke to the chest as well. "You see, I lived most of my life on my homeworld having no idea anything supernatural existed. Just regular humans and animals. But then my eyes were opened to the truth when I saw a strange creature feed on one of my wards. And I found myself standing between society and things that hid from it and preyed on it. Though in the case of that particular creature, the poor man had little choice... it was a complicated matter."

[Main Office]

"Welcome to GLoG, then," Reelshka says as she puts the papers away. "Is there anything in particular that you need right now? Or just a place to rest?"

[Beans]

[Main Office]

"Just a place to rest will be plenty, thanks." She smiles gratefully, glancing over the cabin list. "Birch... Birch sounds like a nice cabin. I probably won't end up needing the bed after a few days at most---we tend to sleep in nests made of our webbing---so that can probably end up being stored in case there's a need for a spare bed, I think."

[Ironsmith]

[That Cabin]

Braon is scared of her. She's scared of many things, Sophie thinks. Her reactions seem ruled mostly by fear and anger. It will take some untangling to get her to stop operating in fight and flight mode.

"I don't think I'm the kind of person you're used to dealing with," she says, as if Braon hadn't just threatened her. She ignores the poke to the chest as well. "You see, I lived most of my life on my homeworld having no idea anything supernatural existed. Just regular humans and animals. But then my eyes were opened to the truth when I saw a strange creature feed on one of my wards. And I found myself standing between society and things that hid from it and preyed on it. Though in the case of that particular creature, the poor man had little choice... it was a complicated matter."

[That Cabin]

"...No, I'm pretty sure you're exactly what I'm used to dealing with." Braon replies with a scowl. "Stop me if I'm wrong. You were rightly pissed the first time this happened. Both in the sense that you were angry and in the sense that you wet yourself. How many more of those things were out there? What if it comes back? You weren't willing to let another one of your charges come to harm. So you went after the beast; maybe alone, maybe with a torch-and-pitchfork mob at your back, it doesn't really matter. Eventually, you found him, and before you plastered his brains over the cobblestones, he told you he couldn't help himself, it was just in his nature to prey on innocents. He was a beast, it's what he does. He has to eat and people are food."

"Of course, you pitied him. That's a wretched fate to have befall anyone, isn't it? To be a slave to the instinct to kill? But in the end, it also meant you couldn't help him. You couldn't change what he was. You either put him down and regretted it, or you let him go and he taught you that you should have put him down."

"The experience left you feeling sick and sad. That the world was like that, that it could produce such a contradiction, bothered you to no end. But it also taught you this would not be the last time you'd have to handle that kind of situation. You became a hunter to defend your own. You didn't hate your prey, you just had to put it down, for the sake of the people you cared about. That's just the way things are. Those beasts would eat your babies. You didn't want them eaten. So you fought back."

"At least at first. I'm sure something else happened a while later that broke your worldview again." She waves her hand dismissively. "Maybe you went too far. Maybe a friend did. Maybe you didn't realize it until you met a different sort of beast, one that was better than the first. So you changed tactics, out of sympathy for your prey. Now you spend your days hucking off the beastly bits, but trying to save the soul underneath. Your initial appraisal was wrong, you can change these people. It's slower work, but more merciful, I'm sure." Braon gives Sophie an intense glare. "Do I have that about right?"