Sutoratosu

"Psychosomatic Dissonance, Ecquis... though at this point, ya might as well call it whatever you want." "Well... guess this proves ya don't have to wield a weapon or be a combat mage to destroy your enemies...tearing their minds apart with jurrirgged healing magic does the job just fine too. Shame ya can't actually do it in battle though..." "Healing the enemy would be counterproductive, you fool...you think we have to time for me to get to every foe and break them down one by one? It's quicker and takes alot less effort to just let the others hack through them, and besides, my job isn't to do any of the actual fighting. I just enable others to keep doing it." "Fine, fine... fair enough of a reason, I suppose..."

Shit, she really did break the monk...well, this is sure gonna lead to fun times...

"Genocide, eh?" His eyes were unreadable behind those thick shades, though he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the space ferret, "Oh yeah, I heard all about that through the grapevine... you were one of Parasol's lackeys doing their dirty work eh? Well, best advice I can give ya is to buddy up with Starfox over there... you're both about in the same boat. Just like with him, ya never know when someone with a chip on their shoulder is gonna figure out why you're here and try to shiv ya in the mess or the showers... only a matter of time kiddos, better prepare." He considered cooling it with the revenge and death prophecies for just a moment, maybe try to lighten things for them... but as far as he could see it, they both really were screwed in the end, if there was even a single other inmate in here with any fond personal ties to the Gamans or that water world...the only real bit of respite was "but eh, look on the bright side, if they do get ya, at least they can only do it once, right? Can't kill a ghost afterall. Or... can you? Ya'll will have to get back to me on that... though I guess if they can, that would be a bit hard for you to do...eh, anyways...you, bug man-" He turned himself to the large insectoid that had previously been staring at him, "What about you, buddy? Don't think I've seen one of your kind before. Whatcha have to do to get tossed into this joint like the rest of us?"

"Welp, guess that means you won't be the one I'll have to keep tabs on the most then...""Oh, Pirate huh? Eh, that's not anywhere as interesting a story, but alright I guess..." He let the bullshit about fried chicken stands slide though. He knew an obvious bit of evasion when he saw it, but there was no reason to pry any deeper than he already had. Besides, there was still the eyeless one... "What about you kiddo? What was your beef with johnny law?"

"So you're a serial killer then?" The watcher ask, the sudden peak in his curiosity probably a bit...unsettling to some of the softer inmates, "Or a hand for hire? What's your body count? Employer? You take down political enemies for a living and fudged it up on that one job that was supposed to be it before retirement? How'd ya go forty years and still look like a kid, what you use relativistic travel to get from place to place?...bit low tech, but it can work out if ya ain't in any hurry"

So...he's the cause of that giant mess... guess the official story they gave for it was bullshit then "Eh, annihilated a space station..." The man said without bating an eye. "Honestly, though, the buggers shoulda been thinking me, that place was older than dirt, practically beggin' to be wiped away. Not like there was even anyone on it to begin with, but eh, dem's the breaks." There was no point revealing his motive, things were always a bit more... interesting when the kiddies didn't know who or what he truly was. Besides, it was more fun making em narrow it down on their own, oh the ride that would be for them... Boho could imagine it now, the first instant he swapped to a different form, they'd think he was a shapeshifter, then when he started flinging things and making stuff heavier and lighter... messing with shit with his AT field... fun times. Fun times... but later. He turned his attention the albino girl and the Monocu "So, how'd you kiddos end up breaking stones in the hot sun? Don't be shy, we all fought the law, and the law won."

"What, you blow up station or something, starfox?" Boho finally prodded. It was...interesting to say the least, as this weasel's whole story had fallen apart like wet tissue paper under just a bit of scrutiny, "Come on, you're gonna be in the place...what, how long is forever?" He seemed to ponder it a few moments...before feigning a shrug. He knew damn well how long forever was, he had already seen both the alpha and the omega in action; the birth of the universe and dawn of time and space, and the death of all things and return to zero, laid out plain before him. He knew precisely how long this verse and all life forms in it had left...but why scare the little kiddies with that info? As if they were supposed to have any inkling of it in the first place... "Whatever, either way, you're in here for the foreseeable future buddy, someone's gonna dig up the dirt on you sooner or later around here, only a matter of time... and when they do, if it's as bad as you say, you're probably gonna start bursting into those pretty death glitters like your kind is like to do, a whole lot more often..."

Doesn't Safron's spear also like...kinda murder fellow flying units and have no degradable quality? OwO

"I'll try to keep that in mind then...thanks." She said simply, glancing at the wyvern. Honestly she'd forgotten Morgan was still there. "And it's not like much more to keep us here. Besides, they'll get curious and come looking if we tarry too long, and I need to start thinking about just how I'm going to try and undo all this anyway. So... lead the way, I suppose... "

"Not...really." She said, starting to get just a bit weary at how curious the rider was about all this. Well, she guessed...she couldn't really blame him for it. Afterall, she was probably the first person to ever use a Healing staff to torture someone, or even if not the first, at the very least one of the few clergy you'd see walking around who had figured out how to do it... "though, obviously it's not like I've gone experimenting with how far I can push someone until they break- I'm a sister for Goddess sake, not a sorceress. But... I haven't found anything I can't make someone else feel, so far... there once this archer, who k... no. Nevermind. It's best you don't hear that story. In hindsight, I'm not very proud of that one either; how he ended up was even worse than Klaren when I was done with him...even with what he'd done, that punishment I gave him might've outweighed the crime. Just yet another time when I let my emotions drive me too far."

"But little did they know, it would not the last..." The cliched voice over called promptly from wherever he hid. Well guess that puts that to bed then...but no seriously, I doubt this is just gonna fade into the past... there will probably be some serious consequences from this whole crystal/Ignexeus thing further down the line, just watch ya'll

The girl stared at him a few seconds, still in disbelief that he'd actually want to go through with this, till finally she sighed and readied the staff as the orb again flared. "Fine...if you're this sure about it..." "I don't even know if it'll work, when I try it outside of anger. Most of the time it's a reflexive thing...but fine. Don't say I didn't try to warn you. Now..." a small swirling of radiance emerged as the crystal burned, quickly beginning to surround Ecquis. Rather than pain or crushing doubt though, all the man felt as the incorporeal energy penetrated his entire being was a wave of restraint and apprehension...the very same that racked Maya herself as she wove the energy, oh so careful to avoid assaulting his mind with anything that would actually cause harm. Perhaps it wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting, but it would have to be enough "I...I can't..." She muttered, turning her eyes away as the light began to die, and the sensation with it, "It's bad enough when I do it to one of you out of anger, I... I'm not proud, when it happens, not to you all. Honestly, there's only one person I really want to inflict this on...alright, well two...alright, fine, maybe make that a few... but not you all, we're supposed to be allies, not enemies. But I'm...just so used to doing this that it's become second nature by now, both the good and the bad of it... and sometimes my personal feelings seep into it whether I intend them to or not. Probably like you just felt..."

Oh yeah, that's right.... don't know how that slipped my mind, given I friggin commented about that at length IC when it happened and she was saying 'fuck examination, burn it all to the ground' Your lightning would've done nothing most likely... except make it angry somehow and cause the whole mob to rise up and nibble on our giblets

"N...no...no, no, no..." she said, backing up, shaking her head, "I...really don't think that's a good idea. Besides... you saw what I did to klaren, didn't you? Wasn't that demonstration enough..." She looked at him for a moment... that way he was so nonchalant about it, unflinching at the potential risks...her expression changed like clockwork as she sighed in defeat. "...wait...let me guess. No...it wasn't, not for you right? You actually want to experience this first hand, see it for yourself? A...are you sure? This... isn't a joke, Ecquis. The pain will feel virtually indistinguishable from an actual injury, and the sensation might linger for a little bit in your head, even after I stop..."

"O...oh. You uh...want to know about that..." She hesitated for a bit, staring down in the gem atop the length of pearly oak she carried. The thing seemed to almost flare to life again in those few indecisive moments... "Well...it's...hard to explain to someone who hasn't actually studied some type of magic, but... you know how Anima and Darkness and Light all form a circle with one another, one school trumping the other, in a cycle? and how Staffs are said to exist outside that balancing cycle altogether? well um... that's because that those three are all driven by spirits, the mage themselves, they can't actually... directly control fire or lightning or darkness... but what they can do, is utter the right words to order the spirits related to those elements to do it for them- infact, words of command are really all that's inside most tomes... I'll show you." And like that, she had pulled an ratty black book from her sleeve, an ungodly symbol emblazoned upon it's weather beaten face in rich gold, pages yellowed with both age and extensive study. On it's pages sat a strange and alien tongue, coupled here and there with various notes and annotations in Common Dragoan... well, that being if various was enough to describe how they practically occupied about as much space as the actual printed text itself. Maya doubted Ecquis could read anything in the dark tongue... though she could've read the thing cover to cover and recite every last one, if she wanted, without his many translations... which she didn't. and never would want to do anyway. "This... was Freyl's, long ago..." she explained with a sigh, almost hiding a bit of shame in the mere words "he took up the darkness as a means to an end... he said he'd never let it consume him, that he'd put it down and leave it all behind if it ever started to do more harm than good... but there were somedays where I wondered if it wasn't already too late for him." She shook her head, turning away the memory before it could take hold. "But...that's not the point here. You probably don't recognize anything but what he wrote in the margins and inbetween the lines. That's because normal language simply doesn't work on the spirits, if you don't address them in their own tongue, they either won't respond or won't understand, and you'll get nowhere. Staffs though... they function completely differently. There are no spirits imbued into them, or any specific words that have the be known to spur them to action... only the power of the goddess herself, a blessing held inside orbs like these-" This time it was a small, emerald gem the gleamed in the waning light that she produced for Ecquis to see, different from the azure hue of the one fixed to her staff currently. She had put the book back in it's hiding place in the same motion, looking at him "Each one of them has a different type of blessing... some of them unlock doors or create protective barriers, some heal wounds and cure illness, and others still... do the opposite and inflict maladies as divine punishment. We don't rely on spirits to bring her power out of the orb though, only our own willpower, tempered by our faith in her... if you have faith but lack the will to control it, you'll still be able to spur it out, but you'll end up being unable to direct it and just causing a chaotic mess of energy, waste it's charge till you either stopped or there was nothing left. And if you have willpower but no faith, the orbs won't even respond to you at all, just sit there inert." Again, like the book, the orb vanished into her sleeve again. "But it's because we don't rely on spirits that we have alot more direct control over the energy released. We have to literally guide it ourselves, know what we need it to do and how we need it to do. Say like back when Meredith nearly went down against Maris, or I healed you and Morgan... I wouldn't have been able to do that if I didn't know the body or how it worked. I would never have been able to recognize what the feedback the magic was giving me meant, or known where to direct the healing the most in order to save you. but there's something else to it too... and that's where the answer lies. With healing staves, we're more or less stitching your bodies back together using her raw power and our own raw focus... I've just... figured out there was...other stuff I could do while I was in there too, if I controlled it in a certain way... use it on someone's mind as well as their bodies. Calm them down by trying to stay calm myself, turn pain into bliss by blocking their sense of the wound and replacing it with a new one..." She turned from him, walking a few feet away as she paused, wringing her hands up and down the staff's length...there was shame in her eyes... "and I figured out how to do the opposite too... more by simply letting my emotions get the better of me, than actually trying to torture someone... I can make a person feel even worse than they actually are, manipulate their senses so that it feels like things are getting even worse, even as their being healed... I can make them feel like their being crushed, that it's hopeless, like they can't even breath, slowly drowning in it all... I can even make them feel pain that was never there to begin with; it's all in their head...and the body does the rest on it's own and acts like it's been hurt when it's completely fine."

TFW you're just hamfisting lore so hard right from the handbook right now... EDIT: Hey, wait... Pyon, you never gave either me or Bfroger a legit explanation on why we can't exorcise the undead and shit....and the whole thing with the crystal doesn't really count, cause from how that scene was set up, it seemed like we were only going to get even more questions than answers if we had actually examined it... seeing as how not even the ultra-critting, badass designated historian in the group knew what the hell it was.

"...I'm not walking away." She finally said, gripping her staff firm. "I can't. What I did here... a member of the actual Dragaon Church probably wouldn't bat an eye at it, given how... unusual Klaren is. And that's precisely why I have to try and fix it. I let myself think I was better than him somehow, that I somehow couldn't be wrong about my convictions, simply because I served the goddess... and in doing that, I've betrayed not only everything I was taught, but the man who taught me it as well. And I've betrayed my father even more, using this staff as a weapon against someone innocent... So no. I won't leave this be, Ecquis. I'm going to try and right what I made wrong here, one way, or another..."

"Klaren, wait!" It was no use, the monk was already gone... honestly, Maya didn't know whether trying to catch up with him would only make things worse...but no point in risking it; she'd probably done more than enough damage already. She sighed, part in shame, part in anger at herself, but mostly in perplexion of how to fix this...ironic, given her intentions were to, in a way, break him down in the first place. Just...not like this. Not like this at all. "By the goddess, Ecquis...what have I done?" She said, turning to the rider. "I...I never expected him to just completely fall apart. Get scared, yes, that's what I wanted but...to just crumble like that. Perhaps I really did misjudge everything about him; I kept thinking of him as some deviant, putting on an act or something, hiding something just under the surface and feigning that...I don't even know what to call it anymore. But really... he almost seems like a child. I... I don't think he even really considers or knows just how what he says and does comes off sometimes- and that just makes what I've done here even worse..."

For those who cannot understand sarcasm or don't recognize the names dropped such as Zedla CDI, Sonic 06, Birdemic, Troll 2, etc. and yet will inevitably post anyway...

"I...what?" She stopped in her tracks as the fool started bawling. The light faltered alongside her wrath, beginning to recede as starred down at the monk... this had been what she'd wanted, honestly. But yet.. it felt nowhere near as satisfying as she thought. Why? He was literally on the ground begging, it'd been exactly as she intended when she'd enlisted Morgan's aid...and yet...why did she feel so hollow? "Because you misunderstand how your father did things," The voice was quiet, subtle in her ears. She turned to look, only to find nothing... just like with Freyl's. Still, it continued "he was feared only because his actions and character so easily struck terror into the hearts of the wicked... not because he sought to actively make people tremble before him. You've done the exact opposite of what you were hoping here, my child. If he saw you acting like this now, abusing the power of that staff he made you himself to torment some child, there would be no end to the shame he'd feel..." "I..." The words...they stung worse than the hottest fire, especially coming from her. But she knew them to be true in her heart, nonetheless. There was nothing noble or right about what she'd done here, "I...I'm sorry....Klaren." The lights and the oppressive tension faded almost instantly. She kneeled and picked up the fallen journal and a few of it's pages as the man (or boy...honestly, Maya had never been entirely sure to begin with, and this scene certainly didn't befit the former...) continued his weeping, dusting off the dirt... "with...everything that's happened today, the dead men walking, that fire demon and the things he did to those villagers and the soldiers garrisoned there, I guess... I let my rage get the better of me, and ended up taking it all out on you even though you were only a small part of it in the end... please, forgive me..." Just then, she heard his footsteps drawing closer. "Alright then Maya. I think that Klaren has had enough. I think you should explain to Klaren exactly what's troubling you, don't you think?" "Aye...this has indeed gone far enough. Too far infact... I see that now." She only spared a passing glance at the man before turning back to the monk... she just hoped she hadn't pushed him so far as to leave him unable to speak "Klaren...how old are you, by chance?"

I don't know you keep doing this Bfroger. But damn it, you're doing it well... with a guy as annoying as Klaren, there's no way in hell I should have any reason to care whether he starts bawling or not...but... you got some serious skill boy. I'll give ya that much.