036.1 Aaeru and Sylvie

[Corwin]

[20:38] <Kotono> Everyone was kung-fu fighting? Well, not quite, but Aaeru and Sylvie sure were. The heat beats down, the two in a field outside of the western gates of the city. Sylvie promptly goes to sit, taking a long swig from her waterskin and wiping her brow clear of sweat. "I think I have that backthrow down. Ooof. Take a break?"
[20:40] <Aaeru> "Sure," Aaeru responds, freshening up herself with the aid of a cantrip. "Do you like all the grabs and the throws? It's not for everyone."
[20:50] <Kotono> "I can use them." Sylvie replies, "I'm mainly working on my defense right now, anyway." After a short, restful pause, "So I was thinking about making some money."
[20:50] * Aaeru nods, attentive if clueless about the subject.
[20:53] <Kotono> "Now," Going out to poke Aaeru on the nose, "What do you have that people want to pay money for? Simple question, right?"
[20:55] * Aaeru gives Sylvie a guarded look.
[20:56] <Kotono> Smiling winsomely, "Now I've learned a few things from Josa. You know how he has me dress up for attention sometimes, handing out flyers? It does get a lot of attention for a cause, you know."
[20:57] <Aaeru> "I thought about that, actually," Aaeru admits with some measure of hesitance. "I think I was wrong that time. It's probably alright to dress for attention if it's for a really good cause."
[21:06] <Kotono> "It's fine. We get you a cute hungry orphan girl look and you'll make a lot of money for a good cause." Sylvie nods along, "Playing on sympathy and looking cute? That's hard to resist."
[21:08] <Aaeru> "There are many of them at the orphanage!" Aaeru exclaims. "They're all very cute!" She pauses. "Not really hungry, last I visited."
[21:11] <Kotono> "Well, skip dinner or something," Sylvie waves a hand, "As long as you look hungry it'll do welle nough."
[21:12] * Aaeru nods thoughtfully. "Maybe we can fast together. It's really fun once you get used to it."
[21:16] <Kotono> "AH, it's best if I don't fast. I'll need all my energy to make sure you get everything right. I'd hate to lose money because I was lightheaded!"
[21:20] <Aaeru> "That only happens at the start... but I guess that's where you are." Aaeru relents. "Wanna go and meet the kids, then?"
[21:22] <Kotono> "Sure," Sylvie takes another draught of water and wipes herself down, "Let's stop by one of the bath-houses first. I'm going to reek if I don't, with all the sweating we did."
[21:24] <Aaeru> "We could do that," Aaeru agrees, not putting up any fight with a proposal to get cleaned up.
[21:37] <Kotono> One quick bath later, the two head a few blocks down from the House of Suffering. Here in the quiet poverty of the southeastern part of the Old City a single building stands. It's well weathered, yet it's freshly painted and kept. To it's side a yard sprawls, a few discarded toys about.  "This is it?" Sylvie asks.
[21:38] <Aaeru> "You were expecting a shack, weren't you?" Aaeru asks back, grinning.
[21:39] <Kotono> "Well...." Sylvie draws it out with her own grin.
[21:40] <Aaeru> "It's kids! It's really hard for them when it's cold or hot or... stuff like that. So they have a house! No suffering in that house!"
[21:47] <Kotono> "Yeah," Sylvie just nods to that, heading inside. Coming inside you see them - several dozen, sat at two long tables and eating. They're a buzz of munching, endlessly chatting away about this and that and playing. A few women go back and forth amid them, admonishing and preventing outright 7 year old chaos.
[21:51] <Aaeru> "What do you think?" Aaeru asks, eager for an outsider's opinion. She waves brightly at anyone turning her way, a happy smile on her face.
[21:52] <Kotono> Some of the children stop and wave, an excited buzz passing between them. Sylvie takes a long look at the bright eyed, energetic children, "They're cute, I suppose."
[21:56] <Aaeru> "Just cute? Stingy!" Aaeru snatches a running child and twirls in place, letting him fly in her arms. "They're adorable! All of them!"
[22:09] <Kotono> The child cries out and laughs, as Sylvie cracks a smile. "Adorable, sure," she says, watching them all. Aaeru, Aaeru! The children call, a small herd of them rising to surround her!
[22:13] <Aaeru> "Hi~" Aaeru calls back, squatting down in their midst. The child in her arms is easily shifted to sit on her shoulders, which frees her arms to hug every one of the kids surrounding her, one by one. "This is my friend Sylvie!" she introduces her fellow blonde.
[22:17] <Kotono> "Hi," Sylvie smiles slightly as she joins them, the children looking her over. "Aren't you all the cutest?"
[22:18] <Aaeru> "Sylvie works for this elf that makes candy!"

[Corwin]

[20:33] <Kotono> "Uh huh, lots of candy!" Sylvie agrees, "When I'm not doing that, Aaeru and I go beat up the bad guys!"
[20:33] <Aaeru> "We give them a chance to stop being bad," Aaeru assures the young, impressionable children. "It's very important to try!"
[20:38] <Kotono> Amid the childish looks and smiles Sylvie nods, "That's right! Aaeru, why don't you tell them a little about our last good story?"
[20:39] <Aaeru> "The one with the evil skeletons?"
[20:41] <Kotono> "Sure," Sylvie calls as she starts to manuver out of the press of children, "Tell them that one."
[20:47] * Aaeru can do that! "There was this temple of Lunatics," she says, jumping right into the story rather than go into their preparations and travel. "It's Selune's. It's kinda pretty since it's got silver on the walls and stuff. But this villain kicked the Lunatics out and turned it into an evil temple of evil!" Aaeru pauses for effect. "It had evil skeletons, and evil ghosts, and even a floating evil skull!"
[20:53] <Kotono> You get oohs and aaahs as the story goes on, "Evil temple of evil..." Sylvie mouths with a curious look on her face, as the children raptly listen!
[20:57] <Aaeru> "They rushed us just as we reached the gates. This horde of skeletons, all of them charging together!" Aaeru stands up and flips back, mindful of the child on her shoulders. A good story needs a good demonstration, and she launches into a recreation of that first battle. "We fought them with fire, because fire's really good against the evil dead," she asserts, making her fist burn with a thought. "Between our fists, magic and even a fiery phoenix feather as a sword, we won the yard and got inside. And something almost jumped on me from above!" Aaeru looks up suddenly, before dodging out of the way and coming up into a defensive crouch. "It was an evil undead spider, large as a horse!"
[21:03] <Kotono> "Can a spider even be..." Sylvie begins, but she shakes her head, "Nevermind."
[21:03] <Kotono> "Aaah!" One of the children cries, "I hate spiders!"
[21:03] <Aaeru> "When we won against that," Aaeru continues, ignoring Sylvie's skepticism, "the rest of those creatures ran away to hide. But we still didn't know who raised them all, and it was really hard to know what to do next. Like any temple, it had all these rooms and corridors and it's not like the evil skeletons had signs for us to find them. So we just had to look everywhere, and I just picked left and we went there. We thought there would be skeletons, but once we got there? These evil spirits, wraiths, they rose out of the ground! And they moaned how we're all gonna die for their master, and tried to suck the life out of us! They're horrible! Just being near, you get a chill, and if they touch you they can steal your strength! It was really dangerous, because you can't punch ghosts. If you do, your fist just goes right through them. And they were fast, swarming my friend Balyss before we could even do anything!"
[21:10] <Kotono> "Oooooh!" You hear more cries and attention, as Sylvie almost cracks a smile. "Then what happened?!"
[21:10] <Aaeru> "But the wraiths didn't know it wasn't their master's temple! It was Selune's!" Aaeru proclaims, gathering the power welling within her. Ilmater surely wouldn't mind, if it entertains the children. "Just as the last one reached out for Balyss with its evil ghost hands, there was a bright light!" She glows, and then so does the room in short order, as Ilmater's holy power washes over everyone. "Ilmater's mercy and Selune's healing. They worked together, and when we looked again, the wraiths were all gone, and our wounds were all healed." She clasps her hands before her chest, smiling fondly. "That's when I knew we could win, no matter who the master was. Because we weren't alone."
[21:16] <Kotono> That gets more nods, "Ilmater's always watching!" One child says, "So we are free of suffering!"
[21:18] <Aaeru> "There was a coffin, we saw," Aaeru says. "The wraiths were protecting it. The lid was heavy." She mimicks pushing it aside, before recoiling in shock. "Even though we knew it would be an undead, we didn't expect a mummy. It was wrapped in all those bandages, and beneath them there was a horrible, tiny head! It was grinning, always grinning, even when we set it on fire!" Aaeru shudders, taking a step back. "It was very strong, and really really hard to fight. But I believed in Ilmater, and I chanted His name, and I fought my fear down. And then, I grabbed the fiery mummy by the bandages and held him so he won't escape! It tried to bite me but I held on, believing in Ilmater, and my friends stabbed at the mummy from all sides until it died again!"
[21:23] <Kotono> "Cool, you killed a mummy!" The children clear, "Set it on fire and everything?!"
[21:23] <Kotono> Sylvie can't seem to help but to crack a smle at that, "Just like that," she agrees, "Set it to burn."
[21:25] <Aaeru> "We were tired, then, after killing a mummy with fire," Aaeru proceeds, taking a deep breath and looking harried by that point. "There was a dark wall of evil energy and it hurt to touch it, but we had to get across. And once we did, that's where we met the evil floating skull! It was fast, and it took a breath even though it didn't need to. We dodged, and I'm glad we did, and we didn't give it another chance to attack. Then, the way to the master was clear." Aaeru pauses briefly again, her features schooled into a solemn expression. "We went on, down the stairs. We knew there had to be real evil below. But even though we knew it, nothing prepared us for the master! It was a skeleton, but it was huge!" Aaeru spreads her arms appropriately. "It had a staff with a skull on top, and it had three heads!"
[21:27] <Kotono> "Three heads?!" This buzzes about the conversation like a ricohet, conversation seeming ot explode out around you. This and that makes tons of noise, "Like atwo headed giant?!"
[21:28] <Aaeru> "Three heads," Aaeru affirms. She smiles slightly, projecting confidence. "There were other skeletons, and they were guarding it, but Ilmater's mercy burned through them. And then there was only one. It was strong! A fighter, with real strength in his blows, and that staff stung when you guarded against it. But it was an evil mage, too! Just when we thought we were winning, it reached out and leered and tried to break all the bones in our bodies with a look!"
[21:37] <Kotono> "Ooooooooooooh!" As the children continue to listen, "Did it? It didn't, did it? You got the bad skeleton, didn't you?"
[21:38] <Aaeru> "Just when things looked pretty bad," Aaeru continues, fanning the flames as her tale nears its conclusion, "we got a lucky break! It missed! And I don't know if it slipped, or my friends broke its foot, but it started to fall and that was my chance, I knew! It would recover in a moment, and steal our bones and become even stronger if we gave it a chance! We couldn't let it! So I leapt up, fire and everything, and punched it in the middle skull, right in the jaw!" A demonstration follows, Aaeru flexing her knees and then leaping into an uppercut, her fist trailing flames in its wake. "I broke through the evil spell on it, and then the other heads were set on fire and the master skeleton exploded!"
[21:41] <Kotono> "Booooom!" Sylvie adds, throwing her hands up, "KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
[21:41] <Kotono> To this the children cheer and shout, "Boooom! Blew it up!"
[21:42] <Aaeru> "It was very bad," Aaeru asserts. "I broke its staff, too." She stomps on the ground for good measure.
[21:46] <Kotono> "Snap, crackle, pop," Sylvie adds for emphasis as the children cheer! She comes forward, "Now wasn't that a good story? But Aaeru and I have to go now, to make sre no other three headed skeletons get out, okay?"
[21:52] <Kotono> Once out of the orphanage Sylvie stretches. After that she looks to Aaeru, "Fond of all of them?" she asks, out of the blue.
[21:52] <Aaeru> "Of course," Aaeru responds, not needing to think about it.
[22:04] <Kotono> "Mmmm." Sylvie just digests that, "Sow here were we before all this?"
[22:06] <Aaeru> "You wanted to find someone to raise money for the orphanage with," Aaeru reminds her. "Maybe we could build another floor!"
[22:09] <Kotono> "Exactly. I have some ideas now," she goes on, "There's a lot to work with there, you know?"
[22:11] * Aaeru nods. "Yeah. I really want to do more, but I don't really get all this stuff. I'm glad you're helping me!"
[22:18] <Kotono> "Thanks!" Sylvie just smiles at that, "We'll figure it out. C'mon," she says, picking her pace up, "Let's go home. You can work on another book while you're there."
[22:22] * Aaeru briefly considers protesting, but she doesn't seem to be imposing and she does want to stop by for a visit. "Do you have books about Balmuria?" she asks Sylvie, smiling back. "Like what happened before we were born, or about the wars, or even all the important people who live here?"
[22:28] <Kotono> "Plenty of them," Sylvie says, "Any in particular interest you?"
[22:29] <Aaeru> "Books about the Triad and Balmuria, together?"
[22:32] <Kotono> "Sure!" With that Sylvie leads Aaeru along and away...