The capitol city of Impossible, a thriving empire of great riches and influence. Here, the people live in the utmost excess; drink flows, money pours, sex is a passion of fleeting moments and fancy. Its architecture is pure and white, as if in mockery of the flesh-lust at play inside, and resembles a French castle town blended with the temple fixation of the Aztecs. The might Sjor river flows a half-mile wide through the center of the city, feeding its reservoirs, pools and cooling pipes while spiriting its offal to the ends of the world. Standing over it all is its absolute Dual, the demon queen Ulalume, and her slave husband Ortune, mightiest and most perfect of Impossible men.

---

Wildwood Inn-Sanitorium - the entrance to Impossible.

Evilingus - the capital of Impossible, a fortress city of great mercantile and religious expression.
Dastard - a middle class to poor city outside Evilingus.
Wild Moors - the untamed countryside of Impossible.

---

"So," Ulalume asks as they pass the wolven guards and enter into the delightfully white city and its very Acre of ancient Israel-fame architecture. "Do you want to go immediately to meet the Queen?"

Nearby, a bard dressed in deep red plucks at the strings of something like a lute, but longer, and deeper. He gazes at them over a scarfed mouth and beneath a quaint straw hat.

"Yes." Ari's eyes remain down. Pause. "Is it that simple to get an audience, though...?" She knows the procedures for Julen, after all.

"This place is not as structured as others. Few ever find reason to see the queen, and no one would ever try to do her harm. Her king is like the hand of god, and he is always with her during audiences." Ulalume points down the road, though finding the palace should not be difficult forAri as it spirals into the sky with its ornate palisades and stained glass windows.

Ariella smiles just a little at the explanation, and nods. It's a sign of a functional government, anyway, that the citizens don't need to pay much attention to it. "It...sounds like a good arrangement. All right. She pauses, though, when Ulalume points. "Are you not coming, then?"

The cloaked thing shrugs a bit. "I'll meet you there. I have to change if I'm going to stand in the queen's chamber."

Ari nods. "Alright. I'll see you soon, then." She manages a small smile, and turns and begins to head up the street in that direction. Closes her eyes a few moments, the forced smile dying once she's turned away.

Naturally, the lone bard picks up his instrument and follows along, playing softly, acknowledging others only when they acknowledge him. The road to the capitol is wide, inviting, and gradually thick with people dressed as they were outside. The crowd is nearly elbow to elbow close to the doors, as people crowd around vendors and performers and slip errant hands into errant places; no one seems to mind, and no one seems interested in doing much more than passively petting. Ariella does receive a great deal of looks, though; she's entirely too dressed.

The wyvern, for her part, is ridiculously out of her element. She jumps once at a hand in a spot it's not supposed to be, and the poor fellow seems so startled at her shock that he's gone in a heartbeat. She shivers, and quickens her pace as much as possible to head through the crowd. Her injured hand, by now, is badly swollen and held close to her abdomen, inside her jacket, to disguise it from view. It really, really hurts. She looks out of place, and knows it...both by her clothing--modest even by Julen standards--and her dishevelled, somewhat dirty appearance. One of her prosthetic human ears had been pulled partly aside at some point, though she hasn't noticed that.

She's only barely aware of those.

Trenton's dead.

She does, however, gradually become aware of the bard, glancing sidelong every now and again to see if he's still there. Each time, he is. Her background considered, it's more concerning than anything.

Oddly enough, no one's touching him, either. The crowd gradually figures her out and makes space until, at the gates, she's met by two brown wolf-guards and one black one, each more regal and proud looking than beastly.

"Name?" the black barks.

"Ariella Chevalier," she responds, quietly and honestly.

It looks at its second and third. "Chevalier?"

"Not on the list."

"We don't have a list."

"Clearly. Doesn't change the fact."

"So write a list."

"I don't have a pen."

"You don't?"

"I don't."

"Fuck me sidelong."

"I don't have a pen, either."

"I hope that wasn't in response to the sidelong thing."

"Trade secret, sorry."

The black looks at Ari, his eyes quite crossed. "You're cool. Enter. Get that hand looked at." He winks.

She smiles a bit, wanly, and bows her head a moment. "Right. I will. Thank you." And she moves to push open one of the gates with her good hand.

The gate moves, startlingly light, and opens the way to the royal palace.

Inside is... rather like outside, only with more decorum. Wine and fruit, dancers in various shades of undressed, muscular mean bearing heavy trays and dressed in only slip on shoes, and wolves on all sides standing guard.

The bard follows her in, being nodded to by the wolves.

"Hello," one of the men, a sand-skinned manling with deep brown eyes and a dimple on his cheek greets her. "How may I service you?"

"I need to speak with the queen," Ari offers softly. Smiles a bit.

"Indeed! But you can't dressed like that, and..." the manling blinks. "You look like you've need of a bath and medical attention?"

A pause as Ari considers, a touch more slowly than usual. She probably wouldn't even be allowed to go before this queen looking like this. there was probably no helping it it. Also...she really felt ready to pass out at this point. A combination of pain and stress. Finally, she nods a little, wan smile returning. "Whatever you need to do. I...don't have any local currency, though."

"Currency?" He blinks, even as his hand moves to her back to guide her. His short hair sparkles black when he moves into a shaft of sunlight, and his smile is liquid smooth. He's clearly a pro at this. He gently urges her to her left, toward a series of stall doors from which steam rises now and again.

"Er...money? Repayment of the favor?" she does follow along, though.

"Money? Hm... repayment I do understand, but you seem not the better for it." 

He leads Ariella through the stall doors, which are saloon style and quite open at top and bottom, to a hot-tub burbling with pressure from unseen vents.

"Disrobe and I will attend to you."

The bard follows them in, playing his gentle, mournful tune.

Even despite everything, Ariella does manage to blush a bit at this. "I...er...can take care of it myself...?" She smiles a bit. Also, the bard is starting to weird her out.

"No, no, I would be damned to hell for that," the manling chuckles. The bard plays along, but the servant doesn't acknowledge him. "Come. I can sense you are not in the mood to be given the light. I will clean you and bandage your wounds, and find you appropriate attire. You may trust me." His smile, utterly sincere, sparkles.

Another pause...Ari manages a nervous smile. Different culture...right. Check. "...Okay. Thank you." She breathes out and, after a hesitation, begins to undress. Her jacket, her boots and socks, then her pants. The shirt...well. She starts to pull it off, and gets one arm out of it. Pulling off the one around her broken hand, though...the instant she tries, she doesn't restrain a pained cry in time. Ari sucks in her breath, cringing and clasping it--surrounded in shirt, still--to her chest again.

The servant steps forward. "You are badly hurt, then. Please, let me."

The bard's song quickens a bit, lightens... a pleasant tune, lilting and bright.

"It's...nothing that serious..." Ari manages a tight, sheepish smile...forces herself to un-cling to the hand, wincing when she holds it out for help getting the garment off.

The servant is incredibly gentle, careful with her garment, and pulls it away from her without any undue pressure on the hand. When her body is bare, his eyes are only on her hand, bright with concern; by now it will have swollen and begun to discolor. 

"Broken? It looks like you punched a wall or... something heavy fell on you?" He holds out his palms, which radiate a soft gold from marks scratched into the flesh.

"The first one." She smiles sheepishly. She can't really move it at this point...but the golden light most certainly gets her attention. She's silent a moment.

"That gold, from the scars in your skin...what is that...?"

He looks down. "You have it, don't you? The Sun? It's in you, I can tell." He takes her hand, and the golden power gleams forth, purer than Rasputin's, purer than anyone on Earth but Revilier's, infinitely more potent than Yin's, and carrying the stimulant effects the Wyvern leader boasts so often.

Ari's cheeks flush a bit at the pleasure of it when he takes her hand...though it's not so much the pleasure, exactly, as the relief of the pain, to a sigh of relief. She can feel the bones snapping back into place, the inflamed and torn tissue righting itself...but it doesn't hurt, under the effects of the spell. "...Kind of. It's what I need to talk to the queen about. Correcting the...impurity, in mine." She smiles just a little. Pause. "So...does everyone here have this spell...?"

"This spell?" He blinks. "The sun is in all of us. But only the queen knows where it came from. It was queen Ulalume who brought it to us to begin with, from the top of the mountain." He says this as if there is only one mountain in all creation.

The bard's song sweetens and quickens; Ari might notice that he never stops to rest his hands.

The wyvern blinks. "Ulalume...?"

Fingers find the bridge of her nose. Cool. Okay, that works. "Is the sun...inborn, then?"

"Oh, no. Once a year, the queen returns to the mountaintop. There she and the god of the sun engage in blissful romance, and the sun streams from the mountaintop and enlightens us all." He smiles a little, still holding her hand. "She suffers greatly when he leaves her. But that is the price she pays to give the gift to us."

"I see..." Ari nods a bit. "Thank you for that, then." She breathes out, relieved beyond relieved that her hand is no longer on fire.

He smiles a bit. "Do you hurt anywhere else?" Still holding her hand, he steps down into the bubbling water, which rises to his waist; likely to Ariella's relief. "Come."

"No. Thank you." It isn't entirely true, but nothing else can be attributed to some singular injury. Ariella's still blushing--though grateful that the matter of taking off her undergarments hadn't been impressed, and follow into the water after him. She lets out her breath at how good it feels...better. Much better.

She wonders suddenly if Shigoriath is here and following.

...Eh-heh. So much for relief.

The servant moves around her, urging her toward the center of the pool.

"You stiffened, just now," he observes, dipping his fingers into a bowl of warm bath oil and wringing it into his palms. "I am going to wash you, now. Speak to me calmly, and you will feel less nervous."

"Sorry..." Ari concedes, blushing as she follows, and trying to not start. "I just...have a lot on my mind. It's hard to keep my thoughts in one place for long."

"Perhaps this is better," the servant says, his skillful fingers working lather down her back and arms. "You must not let pain overcome you. The sun does not live in agony."

This brings Ari to pause. "...I have to cheer up, or my version can't be corrected to the proper one?"

"I do not like the word can't, but it would help to be happy. You are obviously an outsider; I suppose you have noticed that the people inside Evilingus drink and lust and live in a perpetual state of orgasm?" This as he rubs her neck with the soap, massaging the oily stuff into her skin with gentle, circular motions.

"...Yes. It did get my attention," she admits, sheepishly. The bath, she admits, does feel good.

"We live to be happy. Outside, the people do not have the spell because they live in pessimism." His hands trail down her sides, then, and around to her belly, rubbing soap in, humming softly when he isn't speaking.

The bard's tune mellows.

Ariella quiets at this. Just...thinking. "It's hard to be happy, all the time," she finally notes, softly.

"No one can be happy all the time. Life is about finding worth." His touch remains gentle, far from suggestive. Warm, and comforting, a cool bass.  "Freeing oneself from the burden of moral fastidiousness makes life easier to deal with."

"Maybe..." she closes her eyes a bit. "It would certainly let me fit better into my lifestyle."

"Your lifestyle? Tell me about it?" He washes her arms, and kneels, washing her legs as well, humming brightly to keep her attention off things she clearly doesn't want.

I kill people. I kill friends. I deceive brave, patriotic men and women. I get friends killed again. I get shot at. A lot.

Ari closes her eyes.

Smiles a little.

"I file paperwork. I just have to turn a blind eye to some of it that I know is...dishonest."

"You're lying to me," the servant says, as his hands gently slide over her thighs. "But you have reason, I'm sure. Why do you need the pure spell, if I may ask?"

"Oh. Because the version I have will kill me sometime in the next few days, and a friend more quickly if I can't get it to pass onto him." Ari's expression doesn't change in the least here. The bath feels good, anyway.

"You have a tainted version, then. We will help you, the Queen, she is as benevolent a ruler as I have ever known." He pauses. His hands pass over her underwear. "I must remove these."

Her cheeks color...but she's really working on apathy, and in no frame of mind to protest. "Okay."

The servant nods, and tucks his thumbs into the waistband of the garment, drawing it carefully down her legs, and around her feet. He kneels in front of her, chest deep in the water, and washes her, slowly, but again without suggestion.

"You are beautiful here," he observes.

"Thank you." She pauses. Closes her eyes, bottom lip quivering a bit. She can't say that she hadn't idly entertained the idea of what it would be like to lay with Trenton, during their little time together. Not seriously, and masturbation was a sin, but...

Still. Tears sparkle in the corners of her closed eyes, and one manages to slide down her cheek.

The servant rises, after a moment. "You have too much pain. You know there is a spirit in our presence, do you not?"

The bard looks up.

"...what?" Ari's eyes open a bit. She tries to wipe the tears away to keep them from falling.

"A spirit. I can't see it, but I can feel it somewhere nearby." The servant continues to wash, and kneels again. "It's a very strong spirit, very close to you."

Ari blinks slow. Looks at the bard, a question in her eyes.

The bard plucks a string. Pulls down the scarf to reveal a pale, pale mouth.

"Would you ever kiss a stranger...?"

Ari's hands rise to cover her own mouth, to cover the gasp that catches in her throat, anyway. Her eyes squeeze shut, and the sob she's been restraining all the time finally cracks loudly from her throat. "Trenton...I'm so sorry...I should never have let you come, I'm so sorry..."

The scarf stays down, but the lips and chin flicker a bit. "You didn't have a say," Trenton's voice says, muffled a bit. "I would have followed you. How were we to know that thing would follow? But he hasn't made it here. And you... seem to be doing well." A smirk touches the corner of the lips.

"But your family...Terra....I have to tell her that...and your dad...and you..." and she loses her voice under another wracking sob. It occurs to her vaguely, somewhere, that the local boy probably thinks she's insane. Realizes she doesn't care.

"Hey, now. Shut up." The face wavers again. "This place is not like home. I don't know how this happened, but I know damn well this form can be made real here. I don't know how. It's like... I blew up, and I saw something, someone, a bright, beautiful thing, a demon almost certainly, but she said her name was Ulalume and she was Queen here. Something about restoring me with the power of the sun."

The local boy rises and, quite abruptly, hugs Ariella, patting her back.

Ari is trying very hard to withhold the crying. But the hug is just too much, and that fight ends there...even as her mind tries to race, processing what Trenton was saying. "If there's a way..." she manages, sucking in her breath... "I'll find it. Trenton, I promise...I'll find it." She's hugging the boy now as she cries without really thinking about it, mind running in circles. She wants to be hugging Trenton...but doubts she can.

He just pats, and lets her do what she has to.

Trenton nods. "I figured you would. You're that way. Now... I'm told I can possess folks to a point, so I may be able to help some. Like this guy. If you want."

Ari pauses. Thinks. "Well...will you be able to stay with me like this for a bit...?"

"A while. I haven't had much chance to practice." Trenton's mouth flickers again. he plucks the strings.

Ari smiles wanly, and nods. "Let's try that...if you don't mind." She sniffles. "I'm...afraid to get anyone else involved, at this point." Also, though she doesn't realize it until after speaking, him being in this form has its own strategic advantages, too.

The bard wavers down into the pool, untouched by the water. He reaches out, hand wrapping around the boy's neck, beneath the skin, empty fingers touching spine.

The ghost vanishes. The boy's eyes dull a little.

Ari sucks in her breath. Not what she'd meant. Not what she'd...but..."T...Trenton...?" She tries to look into the boy's face.

He looks up. Smiles just a little.

"Hello, Ariella. You..." he blinks. "No more tears, right?" It's Trenton's voice, down to the purring charm.

Yeah...she doesn't listen. There's a heavy pause, before she throws her arms back around him, breaking into heavy sobbing. Of relief, largely, now.

The boy's powerful, lean arms wrap tightly around her, and holds her, quiet, just holding. Trenton is glad for that; he is still feeling out control of another body, and having someone to lean with helps.

He doesn't want to tell her that she may have to simply... deal with the fact that he is gone. No one should ever have to suffer that fate, not when they are already in agony. And so, he holds her, as long as she needs.

Ari is shaking, and clinging. This, she just does for awhile. Finally, sha manages to murmur, clinging to his chest still... "I'll find a way, Trenton. I will. I've seen twenty friends and allies die in the last four days..." her voice cracks again. "Twenty one now. I'll find a way. I promise. Just don't leave..."

"Relax. I can't imagine we would be talking if we didn't have a chance to make this right." Trenton glances over his shoulder. The strange instrument lies on the ground near the tub. "I never knew how to play an instrument before."

Ari smiles just a little...wipes her nose on an arm, and steps back a little to wash it. "We...do need this boy, to get us to see the queen, and...can't let him get hurt. No more people can be hurt." She closes her eyes. "He's okay, isn't he...?"

"Of course. Sleeping. Though," he looks down. "Not all of him is sleeping. He was just hugging a beautiful nude French woman."

Ariella glances down...and turns very, very red, very much the old Ari for a moment, covering her mouth and looking away a few moments later when she can. "Eee! Oh...my...we're naked, aren't we?" She turns quickly away, furiously red.

"Apparently. I don't... see any clothes for me, anywhere. Wasn't this lout supposed to get you something to wear?" He turns away, for her sake.

"I..doubt that he has them right around here, for himself. And...yes, he was." Her cheeks are still furiously red despite the deep emotion of the moment. Now what?

"I should let him loose. Let him get you something to wear, and then pick someone else to borrow," Trenton decides. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah...yeah." Pause. "Hug me again...?"

He nods. "Sure." He turns, eyes away from her, and carefully begins to loop an arm around her shoulders.

Ariella smiles, faintly...reaches out, and hugs him tightly, nudity be damned. Her brow creases a touch, and she's shaking...she may not get another chance to touch Trenton ever again, and she knows it. 

He knows, too. But he's contained. For him, this is closure. This is the last step to before freefall.

And so he holds, as long as he can.

She's crying again, and her throat burns. Even so...she hugs him tightly, and then kisses him, cleanly on the lips. Someone else's lips.

When they kiss back, though, it is certainly Trenton's kiss. He cannot fathom how this must be hurting her; for him, the end is understood. He knew as soon as Shigoriath grabbed him, and accepted it as such. There was no guilt for him to bear.

And so he kisses, and his hold does not loosen.

Ari's throat burns still...her eyes do. Everything about her does. The kiss....lasts and lasts, as though she fears the consequences of it ending. Finally, though, she breaks it...wipes her eyes. "...Yeah. Okay. I'll talk to the queen about it, Trenton. 'Power of the sun,' and all. I'll find a way to bring you back, okay? I promise..." her voice cracks, but she nods.

He nods, too. "I believe you."

And still his lips tingle. He lets go, and when he does, the eyes of the boy lighten again. He blinks, and the bard reappears with his instrument. Sighing softly, he begins to play.

Ari's eyes are closed. When they open again, they're...solemn, even sullen, but stronger than the despondence of before. And concerned despite it, if it only shows a touch. She tilts her head a little. "Are you all right..." she inquires of the boy.

"Of course," he nods. "Are you? You were upset."

"Yeah...yeah." She smiles just a little. Isn't, of course. But yeah. She turns away. "Let's get the bathing and dressing thing finished to satisfaction that I can see the queen, yes?"

The boy's a little taken aback. He must be losing his touch.

"I'll get you something to wear. Finish up yourself, and I'll only be a moment." This as he hauls himself from the pool and heads for the door, still wet.

Ari sighs softly...but an offended kid is way down on her list of concerns right now. She finishes cleaning, washing her hair, scrubbing her skin. She can barely bring herself to care, really, but does the whole scented oils thing, that her skin's soft and smelling good. They seem...particular, about niceties. soon, she finds a decadently soft towel and sets to patting herself dry.

The boy returns after a while with an armload cloth, and a dark cloak much like the one Ulalume wore. The cloth flows like gelatin in his arms and is a pale blue with glittering shards of gold.

"I have these," he reports.

Ari smiles a bit at hte choice, much more modest than it could have been. "That's perfect. Thank you."

He drapes the clothes by the tub, and turns, an utter failure by his culture's standards, to request the audience for her.

She isn't sure what to make of his behavior...cultural blocks are fun. Still, she dresses once she figures out which limbs go in which clothes, and breathes out. Wonders if it's the same Ulalume or a namesake. Suspects that it's the same one.

She looks to Trenton while she waits. "How are you doing...?"

"Right as the rain. Apart from you being dressed, it's all good." He plucks a string. "Just head on out. He's probably just standing there fretting."

"Yeah..." She smiles at him, wanly, and heads that way, pulling the cloak's hood up.

The boy is out there, as Trenton had suggested, waiting with a sad face. He doesn't speak to her, but leads her through the wriggling foyer and toward a carpeted staircase only four steps tall. He stops there.

"Through that arch," he says, pointing toward an open doorway without a door, "is the queen's chamber. No one case see inside from out here, but you are expected, so go right in."

Ari smiles a bit, trying to look more cheerful, and nods. Turns to head in, and pauses. "Hey..." smiles a little. "Thanks. You did help a lot, you know." And she breathes out, and heads towards the open door.

He doesn't smile back.

As soon as she steps through the door, the architecture changes. What was smooth and white is now black and shimmering with torchlight. Shadows stretch like opening wings across the floor; it's a smallish chamber, no larger than a suburban garage, and the throne in back is the dominant feature. There are two pillars, fat and tall, on either side in black bricks, and the red carpet leads right up to the pedestaled chair. Two side doors lead to darker corridors, and a white-clad servant girl who looks, at a glance, a great deal like Terra, emerges from one. She looks at them; her eyes are different, and the shape of her nose, but Trenton certainly notes the similarity.

"Ulalume will be with you in a moment. You must take off your cloak in her presence; it is the mark of a foreigner and a sign of great disrespect before her." The girl's voice is lilting, singing, moving up and down in notation like the creature Ulalume's had.

"Oh..." Ari nods. "Of course." She slips it off obediently, and waits quietly.

The girl smiles at them, and waits a moment. Quietly, just smiling, until she quite abruptly lowers herself to all fours and waits, sitting perpendicular to the throne.

The torches blow out, casting them in darkness for just a moment before billowing to life in purple flame.

The throne restores to sight, occupied. The demon queen Ulalume is a vastly different beast from the little cloaked creature; her eyes are absolutely silver and without pupil, her skin pale and lightly pink like newborn flesh. Her heart-shaped face is warm and inviting, her chin leaned against a lithe hand. A row of long cilia flow from her forearm and triceps, about twelve in total, soft-looking things that waver like long hairs caught in a gentle wind and piqued with a touch of luminescence. Her hair is tight in a tail that rests against her minimal chest and hangs to her lap; Ariella may not be able to see that the end of the tail has a mouth and lamprey teeth. Ulalume's skin is here and there marked by diamond-shaped scaled in black that shines umber; her feet are kicked up, using the servant girl like an ottoman, and her toes wiggle with sharp-looking talons. She is, of course, bare to to the flesh.

"Ariella Chevalier," she sings, "welcome to my parlor. You know my name, I trust, by now?"

"Yes..." Ari bows politely, here, and humbly...the same way she's supposed to, theoretically, with Yinxirziji. "Thank you for seeing me. And...for helping me through the Inn. Us through."

"Yes, well, your friend was not supposed to have his face dissolved before he blew himself to shrapnel. The imps and I never kill our visitors to death. The absolute might." Ulalume shifts her feet a bit, and servant shifts to accomodate. "So. What do you want?"

"I was instructed to find mantracorns, to correct my healing spell to...you know. Avoid death. And you know the latest development in that." Beign told to come here. She looks up. "And...Trenton said that you mentioned somethign about restoring him, with 'the power of the sun.'" This is more important to her than saving herself and Rasputin. She thinks he'd agree.

"Ah. Yes, I do remember talking to Trenton. It was... how long ago?" She tilts her chin. "Four hundred twenty... no... thirty years? Something like that. I can't think. Excuse me." She lifts her heel and gently nudges the servant girl, moving her feet. The servant sits up on her knees, turns a bit, and much to Trenton's pleasure begins to kiss her queen's parting thighs. "Better. Four hundred forty-two," Ulalume purrs, scratching the girl's hair with her thick, curved nails.

Ari blinks...flabbergasted. "Er...I'd been under the impression it was more like ten minutes?" She looks over to Trenton, agape.

Trenton's not paying much attention. He's just listening to the plucking, moist popping sounds coming from ahead. 

"Time in the afterlife is different," Ulalume purrs, voice a bit breathy. "Didn't you listen in church?"

"I..." Pause. Ari looks back to Ulalume. "So he....wait...do you move between the two, then, that the time scale is off...?"

Trenton smiles a bit, though it's unseen. "Aren't you Catholic? Purgatory. It's like... an interdimensional airport terminal. A dead fellow works out his sentence if he's led a mediocre life."

Ari closes her eyes, too floored to be more perturbed than blushing at Ulalume's...attendant. "I...Trenton, I didn't know that. I mean..."

Pause.

Bites her lip, and opens her eyes.

"But it can still happen, right...? To restore him...?"

Ulalume's eyes are a bit far away, now. "Oh, yes indeed," she nods. Bites her lip. The girl is good. "You'll need to reach the top of the mountain and meet up with my beloved sun god, though. I don't know what he'll ask of you in return, but I do hope it's not what he asks of me. I like having him to myself."

Ari nods...bows her head. "I would hope not, too." She smiles sheepishly, though it fades almost immediatly. "How do I get there, and...what about mantracorns?"

"Haven't you figured it out?" Ulalume drapes one leg over the girl's shoulder; she's beginning to slurp, which is just the most heavenly sound right now. "We're all mantracorns. And the mountain is a mountain. You climb."

"Oh..."

Ariella blushes at this. That, or it's the sounds the girl is making and oral sex.

She nods. "I...wasn't looking around much on my way into the city. 'The Mountain' is obvious, I assume...?"

"Quite." Ulalume shifts a bit. Pats the girl, who comes up for air at last, on the head. "Thank you. Take this to Ariella." She holds out her other hand, the one without a chin on it, and drops a wand into the palms of the smiling girl. She rises and brings it over, her lips and chin a bit shiny. Holds it out.

Ari's cheeks are still extremely red at the sight and smell of her face, but manages a wan smile. It weakens when she accepts the thing with a slightly bowed head...glee. A wand. That had gone so well the first time.

"Don't worry. It's not the same as before." Ulalume sits up a bit. "Shigoriath followed you here. He's in the moors as we speak, heading to the mountain."

Ari's face gains a shade of white at this...though, admittedly, it doesn't change much more. "Is...this wand for defense...?"

"Yes. No. Sort of. It attaches to the base of the one I gave you." Ulalume sits up straight, now, and rises, the dark marks on her body flowing and widening until they form something like a catsuit over her nudity. "Once attached, it will never break. Well... not never, never. You would have to slam an asteroid the size of a refrigerator into it before it touched your planet's atmosphere to break it. Anyway... there is a mark on the green wand. Touch it, slide it forward and swing the staff to cast a red runic projectile from the tip. Slide it back and, as long as you hold onto the staff, you will be transported safely to the point of contact the rune makes."

Ari smiles a bit, and bows her head. "All right. Thank you. Er..." she looks up again. "Why is Shigoriath going there? What's he looking for?"

"That's a good question, precious. I have no idea, but he is making a beeline for it. I wasn't sure at first, but I am positive that he is in the beginning stages of becoming a lich. The power of the sun is tremendous, and he could very well be trying to harness it to create a phylactery for himself." The demon folds her hands.

Ari's face becomes more serious at this, suddenly. That...may harm that power for her to heal Rasputin. And bring Trenton back. "What's quickest way to get there?"

"Your staff will have an effective range of about a thousand feet. If you work with it, you can travel with it faster than almost any other method of travel here; the bolt travels about thirty miles an hour. The mountain is north. So..." She smiles a little. "Going?"

Ari nods. "Is there anything else I should know first?" experience has made it a good question to ask.

The question is a good one.

"Well. It's not a place for everyone. There are imps there, but they are mine, and will help you. There are minor drakes, but the biggest threat is the dragon."

Trenton shrugs. "We know dragons," he notes.

Ulalume smiles. "No, you don't."

Ari's nose wrinkles a touch at this. She doesn't like dragons despite trying to keep the peace...and a dragon really won't like her. Still, she nods. "Okay. Thank you for seeing us, Queen Ulalume, really." She bows politely, and turns to take her quick leave.

Ulalume nods. "Take care. I'm not kidding about the dragon. It's a real dragon."

Trenton blinks. "What a silly thing to say."

Outside, things are just as they were.

Ari breathes quietly...feels a little odd in the very foreign clothes though her hood's back up. "Let's try this, hm Trenton?" she murmurs, not caring that it makes her sound crazy. She fiddles with it a moment until she figures out how the two wands snap together. Breathes out, finds the mark. Touches it, slides it forward...and then swings it at a statue some twenty feet away.

A few people jump at the flash of orb-like runes the shoot through the air and burst against the statue, leaving a triangular, luminescent red mark glowing on its forehead. The servant boy blinks, staring at the staff.

Ari sucks in her breath, and pulls the mark back quickly.

Ari's vision should blacken and just as quickly be covered with a surging, dark red tunnel; it should give her the impression of shooting down a tube or corridor, but goes away just as quickly, and she should find herself near the mark, surrounded in a red light that, if she's paying attention, she'll notice has taken her to the ground safely from the spot she actually reappeared near the mark.

Her eyes are quite wide at this. Sways a touch, off-balance at the sudden change of view...nods to herself after a moment. "Right then. So you can keep up fine with anything, Trenton?" This as she hurries towards the front gates on foot.

He's right behind her, floating casper-like, instrument in hand. "Sure. I'm not sure how I'll be helpful; I don't know that there's anyone up there to possess."

"You're probably a lot better at scouting around and looking ahead." Ari smiles a bit. Quiets a moment as she walks quickly along, approaching the front gate. "What's a lich, anyway? It sounds familiar..."

"It's a sorcerer who's taking his soul and separating it from his body to make his body immortal."

"That's...creepy." Ari nods. Breathes out as she passes the gate, readying the staff to see how fast she can get moving with a rhythm on this thing.

"Sure. I'm surprised your canon lets you believe what I just said." Trenton looks outside. "Yup, still an orgy out here."

Ari smiles a bit, though....blushing at the scene outside. "Honestly, as much as I've done and seen..." she shakes her head. "I mean, a vampire is the queen of my nation. Besides, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't say anywhere in the bible that sorcerors can't separate their souls from their bodies for whatever..."

Ari breathes out. Time to try this again, to string a couple of them together. She pushes the mark forward and swings the staff to cast the rune, then jerks it back...and tries to do it again as soon as she takes a step the normal way.

She finds herself transported forward, brought down again, and it should work as well as she planned unless the vertigo is too strong.

She manages this for about five or six casts...before a very, very dizzy foreigner sways, and catches herself involuntarily on what she thinks is something stationary but actually the shoulder of a burly man. Whoo...need to...I don't know.

It's the concrete sort of dizzy you get when spinning around too many times in an office chair.

The owner of said shoulder turns, blinking, but he doesn't get a chance to speak before his eyes go dark.

"Hi!" He says, in Trenton's voice. Looks down. "Oh. I'm nude again. And a bodybuilder."

"Oh. Oh!" Ari turns very red at this. "Ah...thanks for bailing me out of that one?" She turns quite red at this.

"No problem." He blinks. "I don't know how transport works with that thing, but it looks like we're almost out of the city, here."

The two are standing by a massive gate; the mountain stands about a mile away, its foothills not all that gradual; it's enormous and dark, dark grey, with a single prominent summit.

"Do you want to go like that, then...?" Ari inquires. She doesn't look at his nudity...though she is glancing around for companions of the guy.

There are a few, actually; two more bodybuilder types and a pear-shaped girl. They're talking amongst themselves at the moment, until one of them happens at a glance at Ariella.

"Hey, Erhune, who's your friend?" One, a sandy-looking fellow with a hawknose and golden green eyes, asks as he approaches. He, unlike the others, is quite dressed.

Trenton doesn't seem to notice, but from Ari's view, it's clear this man is speaking to them.

Ari blushes, and elbows Trenton to get his attention since he's the one being addressed.

He blinks. "Why?" He asks, mock-devestated.

"Eruhn." The man looks at him again. "You alright?"

Trenton starts to answer, but the words don't reach his lips before the screaming starts, erupting from somewhere outside the wall; dozens of people shouting, the sounds of bazaar stalls crunching and cloth ripping and people running.

Ari cringes. Stops dead for a few moments, just...debating. She shouldn't get involved with things outside her nation's interest, she's learned to turn a blind eye many times. But...that doesn't mean it's the righteous thing to do. She bites her lip, and in another moment, is off running that way.

Trenton starts to follow, but stops, and abruptly abandons the body, reappearing in front of Ariella.

"Stop, stop, it's him, it's Shigoriath."

"Of course it's him! And it's our fault he's here!" Ari sucks in her breath, and tries to run through Trenton.

Ariella should feel an intense cold chill when she passes through his form, and he turns to follow shortly after. The screaming goes suddenly quiet outside in Dastard.