The "Best" RPG Ever-74

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Nora noticed that Clera hadn't gotten up yet, and went over to her. "Are you a-alright?"
"Hfffff..." The winged girl pushed herself up just enough to sit cross-legged on the ground. "I either forgot, hhh." She still seemed to be trying to catch her breath. "...or wasn't aware of just how physically draining the stronger spells can be. Empathic powers grant massive, physical endurance against injury but not, exertion, and in that way this body seems to be somewhat frail."

"I guess that giant bomb attack was pushing it?" Lynn said, walking up. Clera nodded.
"It, hhh. Didn't help I kept going afterward. Once being electrocuted was a significant risk I suspect the adrenaline took over."

"You should be okay, though," Nora said. The elf had knelt over to examine her in her own way; there was no indication of real danger.
Clera nodded. "Once I—hhh—stop feeling like I'm having a heart attack, yes."

As soon as she was done with the ogre mage, Aria had run toward the direction of the other two. Of course, that was about the time that Katherine announced to everyone that Rose had shown up and instantly destroyed them. Still, the blood was probably fresh enough to let the blade take its fill of them yet. When she got there, Rose was explaining how she'd come to them.

"—So I saw this bird girl flying over your house, and flew over to investigate, and she yelled something about some ogres and pointed this way. They're mean-nasty creatures but they like to use wood weapons and they're really fragile if you know where to hit 'em," she said, nod-nodding.

"And if you have the strength of a dragon to do the hitting with," Katherine said, crossing her arms. "Anyway, we probably could've held out for the others to finish up and get here, but your timely arrival made things a lot less dicey at least."
"Glad I could help~. Oh hi Aria!" she waved, finally noticing the shifter.

"Hey there. Just...finishing up feeding the sword," she said. It protested that there was still some relatively fresh blood on the dragon-girl's limbs but she deemed that a little too risky to give it, and insistently sheathed the demon-blade instead, putting it away. "You shoulda seen the one in the middle, throwing lightning around like—" She hesitated for a second; Thor? It was a bad idea to push Earth references just now, so: "—well, like an angry thundercloud. He wasn't much use without his staff, though."

Nora stood up and walked over to the ogre's body, particularly the unusual weapon he'd been throwing around. The crystal at the top of the crude wooden staff was bigger than her fist, and glowed faintly with a brilliant white. She took it in both of her hands and pried it out of the staff to get a closer look.

"What d'you make of that?" Mira asked, landing next to her.
"I-it's..full of a large amount of elemental power. Similar to the uh, p-power source for the moving armor in the ruins. But—more elements. Th-the lightning and fire is weaker than the rest, but it's reasonable to conclude that's from recent use..."
"Iiit's not gonna suddenly explode, is it?" the witch said, leaning away slightly.

Nora shook her head. "It seems more...s-stable. The elements aren't being used to balance each other out like in those. I-it's more like they're, being held in separate c-compartments somehow..."

Rayna was walking up by now, her breath finally caught up from running to the middle group. Mira turned to her. "Well, what do you see here?"

"Uh—'elemental crystal', high magic enchantment readings, like a well-crafted artifact...not a lot else. Maybe the loremaster Ezra will know more about how an ogre got his hands on something like this."

"It'd be a great source of natural elements for you to use, wouldn't it?" Mira suggested.

"I-if it weren't so big, perhaps," Nora said, shaking her head slightly. She put it into her own inventory for now.

Everyone joined up not long into the walk back. "Hi everyone!" Rose waved to the rest of them excitedly, receiving a few nods and an equally enthusiastic wave back from the witch. "Um, sorry I didn't come to visit yesterday. After the uh, f-fire giant attack I got really antsy about my forest, and wanted to make sure everything was okay there. Even though he didn't even get there thanks to all of you!" she rattled off nervously.
"Rose," Katherine said. "It's perfectly normal not to visit someone every day."

"Oh, yeah. I-I guess so. It's just." The dragon-girl tapped her index-finger claws together a couple of times. "I dunno. When I'm not there I get worried about how the forest is doing after a while. But when I am there I start missing everyone. And, I wonder if you're all doing okay. Since you're always fighting dangerous monsters and stuff. But I can't be in two places at once, and even flying it still takes a while to get from one to the other!"

The psion wasn't the only one who immediately thought of the unlinked door in their house's front hallway. But she also knew what Aria had asked Mira to talk to her about, so she didn't bring it up for now. Instead she changed the subject so nobody else had a chance to, either: "So, quick tactical meeting so we don't have to do it when we get back. Lynn, you were absolutely right—there should've been at least one person able to kill an ogre per group. Just stalling them is way less effective than actually hurting them even when it comes to distraction. If Aria'd been switched out with me or Zack things would've probably gone a bit smoother, since Lynn and Clera had enough firepower to take out an ogre on their own as long as they weren't his target."

"Or just put me in a party by myself," Rayna said. "Ogres are just too stupid to stop attacking illusions when it doesn't work. And things only went a little bad when I ran off to help with the big guy. So maybe you two could've gone instead of me?" The wolf barked. "Oh—you three, sorry," she said.

"No plan survives contact with the enemy," Mira said. "If we knew the middle guy was a mage we should've sicced Aria on him in the first place. Maybe with a Nora shield."

"But we didn't expect an ogre mage," Lynn observed. "If we're in this kind of situation again we should have someone who can fly assess the situation in a bit more detail before solidifying a plan. Clera would be a good choice because she can see farther, and even if the enemy spots and shoots her she can probably regenerate. I mean, not to put you as bait but just objectively speaking?"

"I don't mind being bait," the winged girl said. "And your reasoning is sound."

Kayriel swooped down to the ground in front of them, managing her velocity so she could stick the landing without so much as a single bounce. "Well, you lot are as good as I've heard. And Dimeos's face, dragon girl, you cut those ogres apart faster 'n I could see it!" she added, to Rose; she just giggled nervously in response. "Anyway, I should report this whole thing back at the guardhouse and get back to my patrol. Don't mind if I use your door for this do ya?"

"Not at all," Katherine nodded. She rocketed herself into the air by flapping her wings rather than getting a running start, and continued ahead toward the house.

"She's..kind of a show-off, huh," Lynn commented, watching Kayriel make a complex corkscrew through the air once she had some altitude.
"It's a surprisingly common trait among Avians, unfortunately," Clera said. "I won't deny she has some real skill, however."

---

Everyone went their own way once they got back to the house. Mira said she wanted to speak with Rose outside—meaning the conversation was going on between them. Zack went straight upstairs to remove his armor and rest, and a moment later Katherine saw the wolf coming out of the stairwell alone as Lynn was on her way up. He walked over to a spot next to one of the couches and flopped over onto his side.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a wolf sulk before," she said, leaning toward him a bit from her own seat. "What's the matter, Zack kick you out?"

The wolf growled. Alpha needs rest. Then, turning his head upward: Cat already knows.

"That I do. It's just not normal conversation to start by announcing what the other person's upset about."

The catgirl leaned back again, crossing her legs in a more relaxed position. "Frankly I don't exactly get it, though. You were plenty helpful keeping that ogre off our backs for a while. And getting the ice dog's attention the other night. And—well, there's a very limited set of skills that are useful against a pure elemental opponent, so..."

To hunt is to kill. At least wound, the wolf replied with another displeased grunt. Running away, not hunting. Strong pack hunts stronger prey.

"You think you're getting left behind, huh. Not much chance of winning a rematch?"

The wolf lifted his head just enough to stare into her eyes for a second or two. Cat knows (that he had no intention of fighting the alpha again—probably ever.) Alpha not well. Did not protect alpha.

"I disagree. You expressed concern when you noticed, warned him to be careful, and even tried to push yourself a bit so he wouldn't have to work as hard. Besides—he made it through the fight without taking so much as a scratch. You don't think that qualifies as protection?" Katherine said.

Unwell alpha should not have to fight, the wolf persisted.

"Maybe, but you know he would never willingly back down while the rest of us are fighting."

Strong enough can kill prey before alpha must do anything. The wolf was thinking of Rose's instant destruction of the two ogres.

"I don't think you'll get anywhere comparing yourself to a dragon," the psion said. "Look, there's no real competition here. As long as everyone works together, we all have value."

Ignored by Fox.

"Wh—Rayna? I can tell you with confidence she thinks of you as a sort of extension of Zack. You two haven't exactly talked enough for her to see you as an individual, is all. I could help with that if you'd like."
The wolf gave a low, negative bark. Should be honored.

"If you say so. Still, it's not a bad idea for the rest of the 'pack' to get to know you a little better, I think."

---

Rayna came into the kitchen in search of a snack and found Aria with her own skill tree spread out on the kitchen table. The fox-girl glanced over it for a moment. "Do you really need to look at it in that form? Like, instead of just closing your eyes?"
"I can't make notes on my eyelids," the shifter said. "This last fight I felt like just a more manic me instead of somebody else, sooo, I think I've finally taken enough control skills for now. Need to shore up the stat boosting side next."

"Mmh." Rayna continued on her quest for food for a moment.

"Say, Lynn told me the way your weapon-change stuff looks a little different now. Like, you were manually reshaping it in your hands before, like it was made of a bunch of rigid pieces that could be broken apart and put back together—but now it's like your own personal T-1000."

"Well, at first the sword wasn't so sure about taking new shapes; now it understands that that gets it more blood faster. So I only have to do that first thing to make a new form now," said Aria. "It's weird, even though Tsaron told me there's nothing but instinct in there I still feel a bit like I'm negotiating with it sometimes."

"He could just be lying," Rayna shrugged. "There's really no motivation present to not lie in his position."

"Nah..it's not like I'm negotiating with an intelligence. I guess it's more like an addiction. I've never really had one of those before. Obsessions, sure, but it's different from that."

"I'll admit to no experience there," the fox-girl said, biting back several potential jokes about being 'addicted' to video games, books, or certain kinds of food. It was sensible, in a way, to think of the dependence on blood as similar to the biochemical need for tobacco or something, and in the direct physical presence of a real addict those kinds of jokes seemed more disrespectful than usual.

---

Rose didn't seem to suspect anything from being led outside; just recently a similar invitation had just led to some casual talk and a race through the air, after all. That was good—assuming the worst case, it was better to spring this kind of thing as a total surprise when possible.

The witch stopped up against the eastern fence, looking out toward the late-morning sun. "So, Rose, I was wondering something. You've been around a long while," she said.
"Well, sure but—um. I've barely been anywhere," the dragon-girl replied. "I know a lot about plants, though!"

"Right. Still, I was curious if you've ever heard someone talking about Earth."

Three full seconds of dead silence. "Uhhhh. Earth. You mean like, um. Dirt?" Rose was a terrifically poor liar, and off-guard enough to make it even worse. That told Mira most of what she needed to know right away. The more important thing, that needed a far lighter touch to get at, was why.

"Not really. I guess I shouldn't be surprised," the witch said. Then, after a short pause of her own: "I guess I can try to explain anyway." She turned toward the dragon-girl to find her still looking extremely nervous. "You know the demon realm, and the afterlives? Familiar with them, at least?" She nodded slowly in response. "Those are other realms, with different rules and limited travel to or from here. It's different from parts of this world we could at least in theory walk or fly to," the witch continued. "So it's not inconcievable that there are other worlds a little like this one, or a lot not. Right?"
"Um. Sure." She was starting to recover from the near-confrontation, as expected. So Mira continued:

"It's a bit more of a jump from that, but I feel like we're good enough friends to share, so..." She put a hand up to her head, poking the side of her forehead with an index finger. "I've got two sets of memories in here. One from this world, and another from a different one, called Earth. That's my situation. Does the explanation make sense to you?"
"Umm..." The gears were visibly turning in her head, trying to figure out how someone unfamiliar with the entire concept would respond. "W-well. I guess so? Is that, do a lot of people have that?"

"Very few that I know of," she said. "It seems to me more like I came from there and had new memories implanted here. Not exactly that the 'new' ones are fake, either, though. But a lot of who I see myself as comes from those other memories. A world I can't show to you, or even prove exists." After that, Mira pointed her head toward the sun again, awaiting a response.

"W-well. Um. I-I think you're an amazing person!" Rose said. "No matter why. Isn't..isn't who you are now more important than where it came from?" That sounded like a good hint.
"Oh, sure," Mira nodded, turning back toward her again. "But that doesn't make my past unimportant." She went quiet again, trying to bait out another response

The dragon-girl took a long moment to form one, but eventually: "I guess..you like who you were? In the um, the other world?"
"Sure. I wasn't perfect, and I'm not perfect, but..I felt like I was living a good, fulfilling life. If anything, it was worse in this world. I was wandering around with no real direction, until I came to this town and met some people who treated me like a normal person."

"But what if...you didn't," Rose said. "Like what if you were a bad person before?"

"Then I don't really see how an extra set of memories would make me not a bad person now," Mira said, shrugging.

"Not, but—like."

"I mean. What if you, were useless. Pathetic. Ashamed to even look in the mirror in the morning?" Rose pressed (and pulling out of character slightly; surely she'd never lived in a place with a mirror to wake up to for very long). "Like, if you knew you were bad but felt like you couldn't change it? And just desperately wishing you could be someone else, or do, something that mattered, that someone else cared about at all?"

"Hmn." Well, this sounded a little familiar. "I imagine suddenly having a lot of magic powers like I do might make me feel better at first," Mira said. "But eventually I'd probably realize it was still just me under all that." Rose looked terrified at the prospect, but the witch continued: "And that would mean one of two things."

"Hmn?" She headtilted, immediately curious.
She counted on her fingers. "Well, one: I could conclude that I'm exactly as useless as I always thought I was, and I'm just faking it somehow now. Or two: What I thought about myself was wrong before. I wouldn't go so far as to say anything I can do with demon magic, I could've done back on Earth, sure. But if my impulses on how to use all that power are good, then the impulse to do good has been there all along. Maybe I just needed something or someone to jolt me out of the belief that I was useless and couldn't change, and this all served as a pretty big jolt.

"...Hypothetically, of course." Mira winked, and turned toward the sky again, leaning her arms on the fence.

"S-sure."

That was enough for now—and if she was lucky, she'd made Rose feel a little bit better about herself. It was time to pull out gracefully. She pushed herself off of the fence, turning back toward the dragon-girl. "Thanks for listening to me, anyway. You can let me know if there's ever anything you want to get off your chest, okay?"
"Um. Okay," Rose said, slowly nodding.

"So did you eat before you flew out this way?"
"Uh-uh," she shook her head. "Not uh, s-since last night."
"C'mon, I can get you something if you want," Mira said, waving and taking a couple of steps back toward the house to lead her. The dragon-girl followed, looking somewhere between worried and dazed. But now that the subject was changed it stayed changed; the witch went on to talk about what kind of food would be easy to get out and ready for her guest, as friendly and casual as the invitation to come outside had been in the first place.

Katherine watched them come inside, and lent some of her processing power to Mira so they could have a quick conversation without alerting Rose to it. ...Well?

Don't bring it up. Surely she knows that I know, and by extension you know, but saying it would be like opening up a scabbed-over wound. Seriously, I have a lot of experience with talking people through problems they don't wanna talk about, please trust me on this.

Sure. The catgirl sent along a brief mental nod. So. What do we tell Aria to keep her from saying anything?

Rose has admitted to nothing and I'm still working on it.

I'll pass that along. You should probably stall for a second or two so she can roll up her skill chart and move it out of the kitchen, though.