Helantri Deru is...well, a calm oasis in ways, but a fortress beneath its beauty. The mansion holds influences from Earth's China, but a good many other sensibilities are merged into that as well. It appears open, well-lit, and airy...but can be sealed to virtual impenetrability at a moment's notice. The grounds around it are graced by beautiful gardens, practically a horticultural museum or botanical masterwork. There are what appear to be training areas scattered throughout, but they fit into the landscape as though they belong. They do. The protective and cloaking fields around the entire area are exceedingly similar to those around Saea's Gardens.

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It's been a very busy couple of days. Difficult, really, the very last and most psychically dramatic of Minna's transitions had been trying and brought a powerful challenger along with them.

But now that matter is put to rest, and a new elemental goddess is resting, exhausted from the change, back in the house. The matriarch, for her part, just relaxes in the shade of a favorite tree beside a small lake, hardly big enough to graduate from "pond," sipping a cup of tea when the mood strikes and letting her thoughts quiet.

Time passes a bit by bit, and eventually Mara trots across the shore, a little catnip stuck to her nose. She putters slowly on the way, obviously lost in thought, but still smiling. Truth be told, she's looking for Ting, but only to poke her about using most of the catnip. And probably pounce her.

"Hiya Fel! What's shakin'mookie?"

"Hi there." She looks up at her double, and smiles. "Just trying to relax a bit, like a certain red-headed catgirl I know occasionally pokes me to. I think Ting's out with Ale somewhere. Hypothetically, she'll be back soon."

"Hope one of 'em's getting something!" Mara bounces on one foot, and then the other. "Got any plans today?"

"For once in my life...no! I need to get ahold of Stasiel soon so that we can get Yue out of hell, assuming that she hasn't picked up Minna's presence of her own accord, but poor Minna is far too exhausted to properly talk to a queen of hell about being a guide with any lucidity. Want some tea? It's mint, so it should go pretty well with catnip."

"Oooh, mint, and I should so have a cup but I'm trying to watch my figure and I just had ten cups of coffee do you believe that coffee is good if you put lots of sugar in it and a little bit of candy cane." The redhead plops down by her double, not too close and not too far. "Do you think Yue'll be scary when she comes back?"

"I really don't know what to expect," Felina admits. "She used to be a lot more...hm. Daring, than he has been, but she's been through such difficult personal transitions latly, she's forgotten how tough she really is. So...there is a lot of sterness that can be brought out of her. I really don't know." It's certainly been on her mind...every hour, the past week.

"I just hope she doesn't come back too different. Well, a little more stable. Like a table! Only not yours, because it's always temporary." Mara blows the catnip off her nose, and falls over backwards looking at a butterfly passing over head. She giggles like a madwoman. "It's so nice to have a peaceful day," she chitters, grinning still. She's been even bouncier than usual, the last few days. It's her defense mechanism, after all.

Felina smiles, and nods. "Isn't it, though? I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for quite a few more like this."

"Auntie!" Except Ting skids to a stop mid-pounce, electing to bend over over the flat serinian and stare at her instead. "Not fair! I can't very well pounce you when you've already pounced yourself!"

Mara smiles up at her. "True! Are you well and truly loved, Tingy Tingy?"

Ting blushes, but grins. "If the coffee is indication, probably! Bartenders make really good coffee as it turns out and it's all sweet and good and did you know that it makes you hyper butterfly!"

"Coffee! I had coffee too today isn't that great if you weren't my niece we'd make out and have each other's coffeeeee!" Mara giggles, having tickled herself again. "Oh, I just love days like this! Looky all the purty chewy clouds, Ting!"

"Ugh...two caffeinated kitties," Felina observes, amused. "I'll warn the authorities."

Ting wrinkles her nose at her mom. "Hmph! And I can't even pounce you for it because aunt won't let me 'cause of your big belly-ness. But she didn't say we can't hold you down and the other one turns your hair purple." She grins. "Whaddya say, Auntie?"

Mara sits up abruptly, eyes shinging brilliant. "Oh, hell yeah! We should turn all her hair purple, that would freak Orrin way out." Her kitty-pounce stance is achieved in short order. "Ready mommy?"

Felina mock-groans. "At least promise me there will be no flashy beads?"

Ting grins brightly. "No promise made!"

"Oh Fel," Mara tuts, "we're saving those for your nipple rings." And she pounces for her double, tongue dancing, snicker-snack.

"Eep!" And a suddenly not-so-dignified head of household goes tumbling right over.

"Whee!" Ting bounces right over there, untying her mom's hair and brushing her fingers through it. "Hmm...you know what would look pretty aunt? If we just faded some purple in from the bottom, it would look really good against the blonde." She purrs, and sets right to doing this, no questions asked.

Felina mock-sighs, and look up at her double, whose face is of course inches away. She grins. "Hi! Come here often?"

"Twice, just now," Mara winks. "Purple has that effect on me." She beams up at Ting.

Felina smirks. Yep! Leave it to Mara to twist any innocent statement under the sun. Or behind it. Or in it.

Ting titters, cutting off tracts of hair--knowing full well that her mother can re-grow them--fading purple up from the bottom, and completely colouring certain areas while leaving others alone. Finally, she purrs. "All done! Mom's a hot punk, yes Aunt?" She grins, and backs off. (ooc: style here http://www.imvu.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=437317)

Mara looks Felina over. Skitters around her, grinning, and looks some more. "Ooh... definitely! Though she definitely needs those nipple rings, now."

"Uh-uh!" Felina protests. "Come on, I happen to know that one, soon enough to be two, fellows would love to have those intact!"

Mara blinks. "You personify your chest as male?"

Ting titters. "I think she means my dad and the squirmy thing by her belly button would like them bunches, Aunt."

Again, the Serinian red blinks. "Shit you say!"

Ting wiggles, and pounces for her aunt, giggling. "You're weird, lady!"

Mara goes down willingly, laughing happily and tumbling over and over. "Yeah! But you all luff me anyway!"

"Heehee!" Ting is happy to snuggle her aunt while Felina tries to discern just what's been done to her head. "So whatcha do today, Auntie?"

"Nothing much! I... went to the store on a planet where there were mermen!" She grins. "Cute! And I bought a flower and pinned it in my hair, and I thought of you!" She holds up a flower, a white iris. "Here!"

"Ooo...pretty!" Ting purrs, accepting it most happily. "Thank you!" She giggles. "I like mermen. I don't think Makyon believed me the time he asked if I'd ever caught any fish with my net robe and I told him mermen."

"Ooooh, speaking of him, where is muscles?"

"I dunno! I haven't seen him."

"I gave him the second half of the day off, for once," Felina notes when she's done smirking at her hair in a manifested mirror. "I'm trying not to pry."

"Well, that's just fine!" Mara hops up once, again, shaking water off her hair from where she'd gotten it in the pond a bit. "We need to track him down later."

"Oh? Whyzzat?" Ting inquires. She still adores creepy, even if the Ale situation is weirding things up a bit.

"I got him a flower too!" Mara bounces up to her feet, wiggling around and generally hyperactive. "Actually, I was kinda worried about him. He seemed a little fidgety the other day, and didn't seem too interested in talking. Thash unusual you know!"

"Aww...poor Creepy." Ting nods. "He needs some cheering up!But...that's what Maras do best! Happy Trail!"

"Yus!" Mara flings her arms out and tumbles over backwards again, giggling. "I need to find more pizza. Hey Fel! Feel like a trip to Earth? Mess with people a little bit?"

"Sure. Sounds like a fun." Felina smiles a bit, and nods.

"Can I come I wanna be a ferret?" Ting tilts her head. When it comes to disguises, she loves being the pet.

"I suppose you could," Mara nods with a spring and a landing. "Humans are weird though. You need to be careful."

"I will!" Ting purrs. "Weird how?"

"They're all paranoid. And they don't react well to things they don't understand. They like guns, too. They'll fuckin' cap you in your smacky little ass!" Mara-kuru holds out her first finger, pulls an imaginary trigger and giggles as a tiny sphere of flame shoots out of her fingertip and sizzles out in the water. "Like that, only it's your ass and the ball is metal."

"But what if it's a pinchably cute ass?" Ting inquires.

"Then they might pinch it, as long as you look like a human. Like..." Mara closes her eyes, breathing out as her energies lift and whirl around her like squall winds chasing their storm. Mara's disguises are good, but her methods can be somewhat unsubtle without mind-slapping those who see her afterwards. Her entire form blinks blue, then white, and fades back to normal. When it does, her long ears are gone, replaced by the round ears of a human woman. She's a little curvier (as though she's vivacious by Serinian standards, she's still a little bony by human) and her facial markings vanish. Her eyes, however, remain the same lung-straining shade of red.

"You like?" she asks, smiling her human smile.

"Hee...you look hot, aunt!" Ting grins, and bounces. "I changed my mind! I want to be a human too! Hm..." thinks a bit, then an only slightly more subdued mirror of Mara's transmutation spell ends with a black-eyed, white-haired human. The tips of her hair are black just because it appealed to her. "Yay!"

"Trippy," Mara observes with a nod. "Now remember, when you're a human you can't do kitty-jumps or fireballs or things like that. We have to be incognito! Or something."

"Something like that," Felina observes. Her own shift, of course, is much quieter and more understated, and her usual beige-clad, tawny-haired, golden-eyed human persona stands up. "But whatever else happens...we get pizza!"

"Yeah!" Mara smiles at both of them. "Do you think we should find Creepy and bring him? It might make him feel better. Of course, there's no incognito walking around with that mountain, and I thought we might visit China to get some Fel-food too. He'll stick out there like Dewei when Ai purrs at him."

Felina smiles a bit at the "Fel-food" part. Mara's so considerate. "I think that should be Ting's call."

Ting fidgets. "Um...well..." Considers. "I think we should invite him, yes. See if he feels comfy coming." She smiles, confident in the decision.

"Neat!" Mara blows her hair out of her face. "I command one of you to go find him! Mara has to get some essentials for earth-traveling. Like deodorant."

"Ah, yes. I always forget how odd Earth people tend on 'if I can smell it, it's a bad smell,'" Felina observes.

Ting covers her nose. "In aunt's case, even I appreciate it!" She grins.

"Hey! Not all of us have angel drool all over us." Mara winks, and vanishes to collect her things.

Ting actually turns...quite red at this.

Felina titters a little. "Right. You run off and find Makyon--if you're comfortable, of course, while I run and let Kaies and Orrin know we're taking off?"

"Righty-o!" Ting salutes smartly, and then poofs off to where she senses Makyon.

Makyon is where he's generally been lately-- at one of the training areas far removed from the house. He's been pushing himself harder than ever since the place was restored, and on the few occasions he has shown up in the presence of people it has been with few words and the weakest of courtesy smiles. And now, just like usual, he looks exhausted from working.

He doesn't acknowledge Ting, partially because he's standing on a platform the size of a watermelon seed, in the air.

Ting...really isn't sure what to say. Even if things have gotten weird, he's still one of her bestest buddies, or she wishes he were, so she just stands on the ground and tilts her head, watching. Doesn't particularly have the usual level of gall, which would end with a water balloon to the back of the head. "Hi!"

He drops at the sound of her voice, but lands crisply, surprising even himself.

"Hello," he answers her, not coldly in the least. "Did you want something?" He snags a towel he's been using - and cleaning, thankfully - the wipe the perspiration from his brow. 

"Nice landing!" She chirps, grinning and relieved at the reception. "Mara and mom and I are gonna go to Earth for food and hopefully mischief although that last part was kinda me reading between the lines that or writing in the margins? Yus. Wanna come?" Tilts her head over, ears perked.

"No," he replies, bowing shallowly. "Thank you. I have things to do here." Something catches his eye to one side, and Ting loses his attention. "Ting," he blinks, "is that... yours?"

Off to the side, a patient, quiet-eyed malefactor sits on its froggish legs, blinking spider eyes now and again.

She blinks slowly. "Um...no...." Cringes. "Is that...from Shigoriath's world...?" Of course it's where her mind goes. She's getting over it, she is, but the thought of that particular lich still freaks her the hell out.

"I don't know," the revenant growls, "get behind me, Ting." Makyon steps towards the little beast, whose hands are perfectly simian and holding something shiny out. It squeals a strange, throaty rasp.

Ting cringes but, uncharacteristically, half-complies. She tilts her head, though, intrigued by the shiny. "I don't think he means any harm, do you...?"

The malefactor squeals again, stamping black feet angrily.

"She," Makyon corrects, "apparently."

The little beast steps forward again, holding the shiny thing out. It's a squat little monster, and quite weak if its signature is any indictation.

The shiny, an ornate, jeweled vial, is set at their feet, and the little monster dissipates, quiet as a mouse on all planes of sense.

Ting blinks. "My bad. So, uh..." although her senses are pretty alert for her, she doesn't really take too much time to check before reaching for the vial, intrigued.

When Ting touches it, the vial, a soft violet and pink crystal affair, comes alive with a power that is neither sorcerous nor psychic, divine nor infernal. It is otherworldly, for sure, though.

A hiss of smoke streams out of the tip as that energy begins to gather into a strikingly sentient signature.

"Eep!" A startled half-kitty jerks back, but then just stares, ears back in interest. "That's...um...really really trippy! Sentient!"

Makyon doesn't know what to make of all this. He just stares, watching as the hissing gas pulls itself together, gradually growing dense until a form stands within it. A woman, tall and slender, dressed in nothing more than translucent veils and gold armlets. Sapphire studs dot her eyebrows, navel, both sides of her nose, and a jewel sits smack in the center of her forehead as well.

"Hello," she greets them, bowing her bald, tattooed head gracefully.

"Uh...hi! I'm Ting. Pretty tattoos!"

"Yes, I know." She graces both of them with a smile that practically bleeds omnipresence. "My name is Asiba Ganorn. I am Makyon's wife."

Makyon coughs, sputters, and nearly chokes. "Say wha...?"

Ting...actually, has a similar reaction, fairly bug-eyed. "Um." Blinks, processes a few moments, then a few more. Looks at Creepy. "Well...I'm confused. But she's hot! You're good!" She waits a few seconds for a response, then pokes him.

Makyon doesn't even know what to say. Asiba smiles a little at him, sensing this, and looks to Ting.

"I was the wife of Shigoriath," she explains, "and Makyon was his only heir. All that belonged to him belongs now to this revenant, I along with it."

After a few seconds, Ting tilts her head. She absolutely...can't help herself. "Wow. Um...you're really really pretty and how in the universe did that stinky bastard net someone like you anyway?"

"Please," Asiba tilts her head a bit the other way, a touch of sternness coming to her expressive face, "you are speaking of my departed husband. Show respect for the twice-dead." She smiles a little at that. "You are an Ono. Surely you can guess what I am?" She glances at the vial in Ting's hands. 

Ting blinks slowly, then looks down to the vial. "Um..." Guesses. "A construct?"

Asiba shakes her head. "A Jinneyeh, dear."

Makyon's eyes clear at this. "A what?"

"Female genie. You really are a solid gold body with a nickel brain, aren't you?"

"And huggable!" Ting notes. "So...uh..." Tilts her head the other way. "So, do you have any choice but to be Makyon's chickie or is a wishy wishy master thing?" Copper brain.

"You touched the vial," Asiba reminds Ting with a flourish of veils. Translucent veils, much to Makyon's interest. "I was Shigoriath's wife because granting wishes annoys me. Most want trifles, which is fine. Some want things they have no business having... power, for example, is common. So Shigoriath kept the vial to keep people from seeking me out. Not many would go up against a lich lord of his caliber for a single wish."

"Oooo...that's a good point. Would be stupid, yus. STill, I can't believe bedtime, uh...nevermind! Forget I said that, please, I just died a little inside." She snickers, and looks to Makyon. "So...whatcha thinkin', Creepy?" Her voice is pretty gentle regardless, and she leans on his arm, looking up at him.

Asiba just smiles. She would've avoided the question anyway.

Makyon shakes his head, as if awakened by being touched. "I can't take a wife that way," he protests, "attractive and nearly naked or not. I'm sorry."

"It really is not negotiable, Makyon. You are free to live as you like, just... you must keep my vial, and suffer my presence now and again. I will repay you in way you will never be able to believe." Her eyes drift to Ting. "You won't keep me waiting on your wish, I hope?"

Ting blinks. "Uhh...oh. So I do get one of those?" Ponders this. Out of curiosity... "What if I say you can hold onto it?"

"It does not work that way. I am bound to you as long as you have a wish. I wish to be bound to him." She looks to Makyon, who mutters a quiet protest. "Hush. So, I would ask you to wish fairly soon, or I may begin to persuade you. I am far more free to act than the genies people tell about."

Makyon has to admit that if that was a threat, it was a well masked one.

She more or less takes it as one, though not an unfriendly one if it makes sense, and blinks. "Uh...well..."

At about this time, drawn by the striking energy signature, Felina steps up beside her daughter. "Make sure you think carefully, Ting. Wishes can be dangerous." She smiles at Ashiba. "Hello, Miss. A pleasure."

The genie glances at the vial before she looks to Felina. "Quite." Though which statement she's answering, Makyon, for one, cannot decide. "I generally advise those in your position to wish for something small and material, that will not alter the state of anyone else."

Ting nods hesitantly. "Um...well..." She thinks. Finally looks at Makyon, jumps forward, nd grabs his hand, pulling him off towards a nearby lake. "C'mon let's talk!"

Felina blinks once. "So...Shigoriath, huh? I can see how that would ease irritating visitors."

Makyon goes off with Ting, thoroughly bamboozled by now.

Asiba watches Ting go, quite annoyed by this, but not really showing it. "That was the point, yes."

Meanwhile, Ting gets Makyon far enough away from the others to not be heard, keeping the conversation quiet on every level and looking up at him imploringly. "That's big news, Creepy! And she's really pretty and would probably make a good wifey, but...I know your head is spinny but what do you think? I have a wish you know maybe it could get you off the hook?"

"She seems more willful than to just let it go at that." Makyon wants to answer intelligently, but... in the last four minutes, he's discovered that his lost master - whom he turned against - willed an entire planet of monsters and marsh along with an exotic nearly-naked jinneyeh wife to him. He can't help but wonder if all of this is just coincidence, occurring when he has felt so inexplicably different in the last little bit.

"I know that didn't answer the question, but... I don't know."

Ting finally tilts her head a little. "You seem even more worried and off than finding out you're suddenly married can account for."

He looks at her. "I'm okay," he assures her, "trust me."

She nods hesitantly,k and hugs him. "What do you want me to do with the wishy thing? I seriously have no use for a wish."

"I don't know. Wish for something arbitrary. I don't know. Wish to know something. Maybe about your angel. I know for a fact you all haven't checked him out yet." There is no bitterness in his tone, only warning. Makyon still thinks Ale had something to do with all the nastiness that happened before, costing Mara-kuru her husband.

Ting bites her lip, and nods. She knows how Makyon feels about Ale...she doesn't think he's right, of course, but of course, she hasn't pried into the Vanguard's personal affairs to know for sure. She sighs quietly. "I wish I had more time to think about it...heh. But I guess that's a much much smaller concern than any of yours right now, huh?"

"Phhp. I just got handed a naked wife. Or near enough. Things are fine." Makyon smiles a little, convincingly. "You should go on to wherever with your mom and aunt, though. Have fun, relax a bit. Get Mara to flash bystanders or something."

"...okay. Are you sure you're all right...?" Kitty eyes.

"I think so, Ting." He gives her a bigger smile. "C'mon. You're not a worrier, what's up?" If Ting can peer into energy signatures as well as Felina or Mara, though, it's likely that she can sense the odd pinpoint that Mara mentioned after she first met Makyon. His energy signature exists in a dense, delicate space rather like the head of a pin, though he has never been able to explain why.

"I dunno...I'm just worried." Never something to be taken lightly. "And your energy feels kinda weird and tickly. And you feel worried about somethin'."

"I'm fine," Makyon assures her, reaching to touch her shoulders. "I appreciate the sentiment. I've just felt driven to improve myself lately... having been useless in every single conflict that has come up since Shigoriath. You mother even transported me off the field when I tried to help her against those overseers... like a meddling little kid. That's all." He smiles a little more. "If it makes you feel better, I'll have Yoru look me over. Okay?"

Ting smiles a little, and nods. "Okay. Promise? You're my best friend, you know, and I require you to be in tip-top shape for it!"

The revenant holds up a hand. "Promise. Yoru's been bothering me to get a checkup anyway. She's really taken to this 'everybody's doctor' role." He holds out his arm, glancing in the direction that they had come from. "Let's go see what's up, eh?"

Ting smiles a bit, and is more than happy to attach herself right to his arm. "Yup!"

"... so you would not release Shigoriath again?" Asiba's line of questions has been polite, and as neutral as she herself seems to be. She keeps her hands clasped at her waist for Felina's sake, although her veils are solid enough that one can only see hints of things anyway.

"I am sorry that you're being hurt by this... but no, I won't. I'm confident that he would threaten my family, especially my daughter, for their role in his overthrow."

"For that you cannot be blamed," Asiba admits. "He is fitting to his role, I suppose. If you ever do, though, I must know... I will revert to his property if he ever returns."

Felina bows slightly, politely to Asiba. "It's hard to fully see wht the future holds. If that ever comes to pass, I'll inform you straight away."

"Makyon's a lot nicer, anyway!" Ting chirps as they approach.

"... not that saying that is all that complimentary, necessarily," Makyon adds with a smirk.

Asiba glances at Ting, then to Felina, her thoughtful gaze patiently unraveling the fabric of their various relationships. Ting, it seems, is either a girlfriend - not likely, considering her reaction to the wife issue - or a 'best friend' type, considering his reaction to her presence on his arm. Felina is obviously Ting's mother. Therefore...

"So, you own Makyon right now?" The Jinneyeh directs the question at Felina, still standing where she has been the whole time.

"No." The psion shakes her head slowly. "Makyon is a free man, my apprentice and assistant. He also lives here as a friend of the family. Should I feel that he's learned all he can from me or he chooses to leave for any reason, it's his right and will pass without incident."

"Excellent. Then I have duties to attend..." Asiba holds out her hands at chest level, a mist trickling inwards and out of her fingertips. In her hand a familiar-looking staff forms, dark, almost alive in its oozing pulse. Three eyelid marks sit on the headpiece, in triangular arrangement. "This is to be yours, Makyon."

Ting's eyes are suddenly saucer-wide. A quiet eep accompanies her cringing grip on Makyon's arm tightening a tremendous amount.

Makyon's eyes cross for a second. "Ting, arm, breaking," he he shrugs at her.

"This is not Shigoriath's staff," Asiba assures Ting in her honey-pot voice. "This is another, made for Makyon some time ago. It's name is Ichor." The staff's power is almost certainly equal to the weapon Shigoriath had wielded before, but doesn't quite have the decayed sort of presence the cycloptic staff had.

Ting opens her eyes after a moment. "Sorry," she murmurs quietly, loosening her grip. She bites her lip. "So...uh...what does Makyon need that for, anyway?" she ventures after few moments. Her voice isn't entirely week, but only because she's trying hard.

"It is part of the legacy," the jinneyeh shrugs. "Something that is his now, to do with as he will. Shigoriath seemed to think it was important, though."

Makyon looks at Felina, as if asking permission.

Felina's face rarely gives its thoughts away easily, but Makyon certainly knows her well enough to identify her passive equivalent of a light frown. She nods just the littlest bit, after a moment, though not happy. "I don't like that staff for reasons very much akin to why I didn't like Yoru's parasol. Stay alert, and please, if you notice anything remotely unusual in your moods or inclinations, please let me know immediately."

Ting remains silent, but is clearly extremely worried. Although much more cautious of her potential strength this time, her clinging tightens again.

Makyon reaches out, consciuos of all the worry in Ting's little bearing. A chasm seperates him from them, though, one that feels narrower where the staff and the wife are concerned than where Ting and Felina are concerned. He takes the device from her almost as if touching something sacred. In a way, he is.

"Ting here could wish such effects away," Asiba suggests, "wish for the staff to have no effect on him, or something of the like. I am not a wish-granter prone to contorting words."

Felina nods slowly when Ting glances to her. No, the jinneyeh is not lying about that.

Ting lets out a deep breath, thinking. Thinking hard. Ouch. Makes her poor brain hurt, she's not used to thinking through things. "Okay," she finally breathes. "Makyon is my best friend and I love him and I don't want to hurt ever, so..." thinks carefully. "I wish...that no magic or sorcery or psionics or items can ever alter his mind or thoughts or feelings in a way he doesn't consciously allow them to." Freezes a second, reviewing what she had said, paranoid that she'd made a mistake in phrasology.

Felina blinks slowly. Powerful, powerful wish. Makes Makyon immune to...well, actually a good many of her tricks, along with those of other psychics.

The jinneyeh notices this as well. So much for something arbitrary. She waves her blue-painted fingertips, obviously casting, which makes Makyon blink a little. He'd never thought of 'genies' as spellcasters before. Much unlike most spells he's familiar with, there is little in the way of a light show attached to this one.

"Alright," she shrugs, as if bored, "test it, if you like. And give him my vial, please."

Ting picks up the vial, gingerly this time, and holds it out to the genie.

Felina shrugs a little, and looks to her apprentice. "Makyon, you are a flamingo." And if it didn't work, he'll be on one leg in all of three seconds.

The revenant tilts his head at her. "I could be," he assures her, "for a price."

The genie takes her vial just as gingerly. "Here, husband. Your wish is my... oh, you know." She fades into mist again, drawing herself with a strange anti-hiss into the jeweled tube again. The vial levitates in the air where it is.

Felina grins a little at this, pleased to see a touch of Makyon's usual humor shine through after the last few weeks. "I'll ask Orrin what and when we can spare," she assures in return.

The revenant snags the vial, holding it, and offers Felina a small smile. "I think," he begins, turning the staff over and over in his hands, "I am going to play with this toy a bit. Now that I know it can't harm me," smiles at Ting, "it will be fun. Are you still going, Ting?"

"Um...to be honest, I don't really know if I'm in the mood for it now," Ting admits. "Just so long as Auntie and mom bring me back some pizza!"

Felina nods a little. "Only if you wouldn't prefer I scryed a bit and checked things out, Makyon...? I would be more than happy to." Speaking as a cross between master and friend.

"What sort of things?" He might be tired, but for some reason, he is completely satisfied with the way this genie/staff thing worked out. Like it was supposed to work, or something.

"Oh, I never know until I look. Why your 'wife' and this staff showed up just now, for one, if it has any correlation with your altered moods, regardless of whether they were justified, anything useful to know about the staff or wife, what Shigoriath was thinking and doing when he arranged all this. All possibilities." It's true. Scrying generally takes her where she needs to go, and she follows.

"Mmm..." The revenant shakes his head a little bit. "No, I think I will ask Mara or Yoru to try. Someone without precious cargo aboard, who can spare the energy." He turns the staff a little bit in his hands. "I wonder how this thing works," he muses out loud, "Shigoriath could do all sorts of things with his. You saw it. I wonder if they are all necessarily bad, though... oh, well. We can figure it out later."

Ichor throbs gently all the while, all along its scaly length, as if it has a heartbeat of its own. Occasionally it even blinks one of its eyes, showing off three distinctly colored irises: aquamarine, rose, and periwinkle.

Ting very gingerly reaches out a claw to poke it.

The staff itself doesn't react, except that it feels flesh-icky. Makyon doesn't seem to notice, though, personally. The rose eye looks at Ting.

Ting looks back. The Hair on the back of her neck is all prickly, but... "it doesn't seem quite as creepy as Stinkybastard's," she observes after a moment, nodding. "For some reason." The eyes are a little pretty.

"Shigoriath's staff could putrify things," Makyon recalls, "I don't feel that capacity about this one, but that means nothing really. I'll ask Asiba later, I suppose." The eye closes, and the periwinkle one opens. A faintly curative aura surrounds it, unlike the rose eye's quiet aura.

Ting tilts her head the other way. "Heeey...that feels kinda like Minna's aura! That's definitely not an evil element. Are you sure tall, dark, and icky made this?"

"Well, she said so," Makyon looks to the vial, "but you know how women lie."

Ichor rolls its eyes.

"Oh, shut up, you."

Fel? Feeeeeeeeeeel n' Ting! We got company at the house. It's that Lysaria chicky!

"I'll be right there," Felina notes in return. Glances back to Ting and Makyon, scanning one last time for a hint of trouble, and then takes two steps get get to where Mara is.

Ting blinks. "Now why do you suppose aunt called me, too...? Hmm...I guess I better check. Be careful with your awesome smart-assy staff, right Creepy?" She grins.

There's really no hint of trouble, for once. Makyon nods, acknowledging them. "Be careful, now, you never know what company can mean around here."

Back at home, Lysaria is sitting quietly in the front room, sipping tea with Mara-kuru, her divine staff lying across her lap, and seeming much more peaceful than usual.

Felina smiles when she heads into the room. "You're looking entirely too at ease to be visiting me Miss Lysaria," Felina observes with an amused smile. "It breaks trends, you know."

The goddess favors Felina with a very amused gaze, rising to greet her with the utmost respect. "Isn't that a good thing, though? I was speaking with Mara about your planned trip to Earth. I think it's a fantastic idea."

Felina smiles, reaching out to take Lysaria's hands in friendly greeting. "I thought so. It should be an enjoyable outing, and a nice break from normality. Would you like to come?"

Lysaria squeezes Felina's hand gently, smiling her perfect, not as beautiful as imperfect can be smile. "No, thank you... I have to talk to some of your apprentices, and your husband, actually. Yue and Makyon, and Orrin."

"Orrin's in the forge, I'll retrieve him for you. Yue is in hell, he'll legitimately be able to leave...anytime, really, I'm waiting on the procedure for that and will start being proactive if he isn't back tomorrow." She looks over to the door when Ting heads in. "Ting, will you ask Makyon to come here, please?"

Daughter blinks. "Gah! I so just came from there!" She titters, smiles at Lysaria, and then vanished back to where she'd just come from.

Makyon is already swinging the staff around. About the time Ting appears, the red eye opens and fires a pencil thin beam of something into the ground, scorching a V-shaped mark. 

"Gah! Oops!"

"Eep!" A wide-eyed Ting hangs to a tree branch above, feet spared by a quick jump upward. "Uhhh...note to self: don't appear in front while someone's playing with a new staff! Hey Lysaria wants to talk to you for somethin' Mom asked me to get you?"

Makyon nods, looking at the stick. Yeah... I'll just leave this here..." he moves to set down the staff, but is surprised to see it puff into smoke and vanish when he thinks about it. "Eh? Where'd it-" and it reappears, knocking him in the head he was about to scratch. "Owie!"

"Eep!" As on-edge as she is, Ting automatically jumps to the conclusion that it's attacking, and pounces for it, fangs bared.

Makyon looks up about the time she pounces, just in time to be bowled over. "GyahTingwhyyyyy?!"

"Eeep!" Ting looks at him, wide-eyed. "Blame the creepy triclops! I aimed and it moved!" Pats his head.

Makyon laughs, hugs Ting before he can stop himself. "I thought about setting it down, and the stick disappeared. And when I wondered where it was, it reappeared as I was gonna scritch and bonked me."

Aww...Ting almost melts with happiness when he hugs her, and happily hugs him back. It's been awhile! She grins brightly. "Evilly helpful! Maybe Ichor and I have stuff in common, yus. So. To the house? Of course we are."

"Sure." He nods, wondering why he couldn't restrain the affection impulse this time. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope!" She purrs, letting him go after a few moments. Off we go!

And, without even letting him get to his feet, so they both appear prettily post pouncing posed on the floor of the parlor. "Hi!"

"Hello there," Lysaria smiles at them, "need a minute?"

"Nope, we're good!" Ting giggles, and gets to her feet, pulling Makyon up with her. "Hey, cookies!" And trots over to a plate her Aunt had brought.

Felina shows up a few moments later. "Orrin will be along shortly."

"Lovely!" Lysaria offers Ting and Makyon an elegant bow, which might be more elegant if she were in typical goddess frippery. Her garb is very much a functional affair, a snug white jumpsuit of dense cloth belted at her waist by what looks to be a long-stemmed rose. "I am glad to be here without bearing immediate bad news for once. I came as swiftly as I could get clearance... having heard about the assault at Istan Aiga."

Felina frowns a little, and nods. She's seen her son all of twice in the last week, and only briefly...not that she faults him for it. She's proud of how well he's taking care of Ai. Although, she's quite sure Dewei is mostly supressing his own thoughts on the matter. Moorn had been his master for over a year. Dewei had lived with him and was either in the sorcerer's presence or under his direction almost all of his waking hours...and, while far removed from what Ai's feeling, there had to be an attachment there.

She nods a little. "Yeah...a bit of a shock to all involved. The pieces are more or less picked up, I suppose, though there are two ladies trying to recover from his death."

Ting nods solemnly, even if Moorn had scared the shit out of her in life. Two ladies and a twin.

"Well, I did come to offer condolences, but I also wanted to find out a few things." Lysaria scootches on Felina's couch so that Makyon can sit, all pleasant-like. "Pretender promised that no divinity would get involved in that man's business again, did she not? Granted the promise seemed more geared towards your son, but still?"

"Yes. The aggressors were angels, though I don't know to which divinity. Do you, Ting?"

She thinks, blinks, and shakes her head. It just never came up.

Felina nods, and looks back to Lysaria. "There's strong evidence for the actual attack being the work of one conspirator in the angelic heirarchy, although Delalenei still said something about having to go talk to Moorn and ultimately have him banished to the Millenium Maze."

"Angels don't tend to act so rashly outside of being ordered to do so. I have a few angels, too, and Pretender has at least two hundred. They're very obedient, in general." Lysaria leans back and runs her fingertips up and down her staff idly, not thinking much of it. Makyon, for his part, is able to look without having any unclean thoughts for once. "If there is a divinity behind assassinating him - and I believe that and a future abduction of your friend Minna was the purpose of everything that happened here - then I need to get clearance to investigate Delalenei and his particular branch of angels."

"'Future' abduction?" Felina sighs inwardly. "Well, a few minutes of peace for an extremely young and so far comparatively weak goddess is too much to hope for even after the transitional stage. Stasiel wanted to talk to her about being a guide for the souls of the dead, as well...hopefully that meeting will take place in the next few days. Do you have any idea where the threat may come from?"

Ting, of course, is fidgeting at the conversation.

"Well, the window of opportunity is closed, by now," Lysaria reassures them all. "If someone did not attack Minna after the assassination, then it likely will not happen at this point. Although... I do believe I know why that happened to begin with."

"Oh?" Felina smiles at her husband's hand on her shoulder when he walks in, greeting the company with a polite bowed head but not interrupting, and a dainty clawed hands proceeds to secure his right where it is. "Would you be so kind as to share, Miss Lysaria, if you're permitted?"

Lysaria rises when he enters, bowing her head in return before sitting again. "Of course. There is... hm. There is a gathering of forces occurring right now, and has been for a very long time. Over the course of millenia, certain individuals have been allowed for one reason or another to live for a disproportionately long time. Those individuals are, whether they know it or not, officers-to-be in these four forces. Divine, Infernal, Unlife, and Mortal." Lysaria glances at Makyon and Orrin. "Radivishe Moorn was, I believe, going to be a commander for the mortals when the time came."

Felina blinks slowly. "Did he know this?" She considers. "No, I doubt he would have agreed. Okay... do you know who the other commanders are meant to be, and is Makyon the 'unlife' candidate?"

"There are many. I understand that it seems amazingly convenient that so many people you associate with closely would be chosen, but know that there will be at least two dozen chosen for each side. Makyon is a candidate, yes. Yue is, as well... Pretender has been watching her closely. She feels that Yue will end up as either the supreme commander or vanguard commander of the infernal forces. Shigoriath would have been the unlife commander, but Makyon is not as experienced... will probably be groomed for an infantry position." 

Makyon is just staring at this point. "I wish someone had told me beforehand," he sighs, "I don't want to fight any forces."

Lysaria reaches out and touches his shoulder, but withdraws her hand when he cringes. "Oops..."

So Ting leans on him instead.

Felina's grip on Orrin is a little tighter, and he finally wraps his arms around her shoulders, to a wan smile. She's paranoid about him being in any sort of danger since he was comatose for so very long. "So what position is Orrin up for?" she ventures. "As much as I love my husband, it's a far jump from Radivishe Moorn to him, pretty broad range to both be included."

"I hang out in these power circles because I'm uncannily good at being a deceptive bastard," the dumen affirms.

"That might just be it," Lysaria quietly answers. "That you 'hang out' in these circles is a great testament to your personal ability. Your place would likely be somewhere strategic, perhaps as far as supreme commander. We don't know yet. Please understand, though, that the 'when' is just as much in question as the 'who' at this point. Consider the ages of those involved. Yue, Makyon, Felina, Moorn, Shigoriath, and I - yes, I am being groomed as well - are quite old enough to have died in our natural forms. Were Yue and I human instead of divine, for example. Well... infernal, now, in her case. Do you understand? You may not be old enough for some time."

("Orrin... is not the type who will be sent on the field," Lysaria observes, "he will be a strategist, or commander, more likely... his ability to survive amongst strong people is a great talent in its own right.")

Felina nods slowly.

"So," the dumen inquires. "Four different groups being arranged without any of the members' knowledge...what exactly is the goal of all this?"

Lysaria looks at all of them, one at a time. "Well... I don't really know. No one knows. It happens every so often... Armageddon, Ragnarok, and another I can no longer remember."

Orrin groans. Felins's grip tightens on him, eyes widening just a touch. Ting's eyes do too...not so slightly. "Oh, lovely. So are the four factions working together against something or trying to blow each other up?"

"I really don't know. It always happens. Pretender has been through three of these things. She's been getting us ready for a long time."

Felina's quiet...for a few moments, just content to cling to Orrin, drawing comfort from him. This...may be inevitable. Finally... "Where is Pretendering expecting me to be during this? And my children?" They're far too powerful to not have been thought of, she knows...one way or the other.

"I do not know, really." She shakes her head, soft hair bouncing like rushes blowing in the wind. "If they fight, they will end up on the mortal end of things."

"So I'd likely be fighting Makyon?" Orrin blinks, and looks over at his wife's apprentice...who he's certainly had quite a lot of interaction with, even taught at times when Felina was away. Looks back to Lysaria. "No."

"Yus, that!" Ting declares, clinging to Makyon's arm. "Ain't gonna happen!"

"Less of the shooting the messenger, please," Felina requests. Looks back to Lysaria. "So. Do you know when this is going to transpire?"

"No... but soon. Within a decade for sure." The goddess smiles a little. "But that will not even begin to develop for a while. I am more interested in investigating the angels right now... I just thought I'd tell you."

Felina smiles a bit, and nods. "Thank you for that, Lysaria. The heads-up is appreciated, I assure you."

Ting is concentrating on the part about angels now, a touch nervously. "Ale avoids the subject of stuff that happens," she admits, as though guiltily, but then... "but he had to beat up a guy who was kind of like a dad to him and have him tried on heavy heavy charges after getting betrayed by him and that's enough reason to now want to talk about it yes?" She's talking fast by the end.

"Knowing what I know now, I believe that he should be taken to see Pretender. We need to know who his deity is. She... will not be gentle, if she believes that he has played a part in divine corruption. So I should think asking him directly might be a better idea, before that." Lysaria glances between Orrin and Makyon. She smiles at each, genuinely hoping that things do not end the way Pretender seems to think they will between them.

Orrin doesn't see. Felina looks more or less complacent, except for being quite a bit pale...he isn't sure what's going through her head, but he has a guess, and holds her gently, his attention thoroughly on his wife.

He's actually right. Nightshade's thoughts are literally turned inward. No more than a decade...one of her babies will lose his childhood to a war that, now that it's mentioned, is positively tearing at her psyche as though it's been begging a place in her premonitions.

Ting's ears are drooping...but over the Ale thing. Please don't let this be going to a bad place. Please please please.

"Oh, now, Felina. Stop that." Lysaria raps the floor sharply, tap tap, to get their attention. "Pretender is many things, but she has never been one to keep free will in mind. Most beings are mindless sheep. Just telling you all of this may well change the outcome of all of it. So... yes." She looks to Ting with that pleasant expression she always seems to wear. "Darling," she begins, "could you speak with him? I cannot, without clearance, and Pretender would probably ask me to bring him in if I requested it."

"I've thwarted fate before; I'll start scrying this afternoon," Felina observes, managing a small, wry smile.

Ting, of course, is hesitant. "Well, uh...what am I asking, exactly...?"

"In very long, sugary terms, you are asking him if he was part of the plot to assassinate Radivishe Moorn." Lysaria nods slowly, gazing at her staff all the while. "I also want to know how he was assassinated, recalling the lengths Felina had to go the first time. I do not buy that he was stabbed in the back and that was all."

Felina nods a bit. "He was working on a project to fully integrate his soul back to the physical plane, trying to work away from the semi-spectral sort of form I had to deal with, but I'm positive he hadn't completed the research. It's only half an explanation."

"What worries me the most about all this is that, now that he is in hell again, he might be persuaded to fight along with the infernal forces when this vague conflict occurs. I think you would all agree with me that for the sake of all involved, there are certain parties who must not be allowed to fight on separate sides." Lysaria closes her eyes, showing off a second set of bright blues when they open again. Makyon blinks, not sure if what he's seeing is genuine, or if he hadn't noticed their amber brown before. "Felina, Mara-kuru, Moorn, Pretender, Stasiel, Shigoriath, Yoru, the Divine Winds, and above all, any versions of them from the outside. There are others, but I'll chance that you do not know them."

Felina nods slowly. "Cataclysms to be avoided. Check."

Ting fiddles with the edge of one of her ears, pulling it in front of her face ti look and poking the silver studs. "So...when do you need to know about Ale...?"

"I want to say 'at your leisure'. But I want many things that are not convenient or gentle." The goddess sighs quietly... genuinely broken up by all of this. Every time she comes, it is with problems on her back. "Another divinity, my half-brother Sxavior, will probably be en route to speak with him soon... immediately after I return. I am required to make a full report of official visits, and Pretender will send him to fetch the angel. Sxavior is the flaming sword variety of divinity, by the way."

"Ahh ha. Right. On with the questions, then." Ting sighs, inwardly shaky...she really really really doesn't want to do this. But stands up, a little slowly.

"Wait, wait," Makyon cuts in at last, "don't you think someone else ought to do this? Someone without as much vested interest in the angel?" He still doesn't trust or care for Ale all that much. Lysaria shrugs, as if it doesn't matter all that much. Not that she doesn't care, she simply needs results.

Ting glances to her mom, but after a few seconds, gets no response. Finally bites her lip "I don't think there's any chance he'd admit stuff to anyone else," she admits quietly. Which is exactly why she doesn't want to exploit it. Just...damn.

Felina nods slowly. "Sorry, Ting. If there's something going on, the way I could likely get the true information out of him quickly enough would be to forcefully wrench it from his mind. If he is involved and has kept it quiet this long, he must have a large interest in keeping it that way."

Spot just nods. Sighs, breathes out, and, not in the mood for further conversation, vanished to the House of Ale.

Lysaria's blue eyes give away the guilt that's gnawing at her poor divine soul. "Felina, I wish I could once come without bearing some ill omen. I have applied to Pretender for a discharge, though, and I truly hope to find a way to make amends for it once I am free of service."

"None of us hold it against you, and I meant it when I said that I appreciate the heads up." Felina nods, and looks back over to the goddess, trying to smile reassuringly. Tilts her head. "A discharge? That's a big step. What will do next, do you think?" Felina seats herself again, with Orrin, and leans on him comfortably, which he's more than happy to oblige with a hand draped over her shoulders.

"A family would be nice," she dreams aloud, "children, a wife. Something to... hm. Protect, I think." Her words are just as misty as her complexion, right now. Lysaria is not accustomed to speaking of her personal wants, it seems.

Felina has to smile, and nods. She definitely understands. "I think it's a fine goal, Miss Lysaria." She smiles fondly at her husband, then looks back to the goddess. "A family is a very special thing, and kids...hm. They're one long drug trip, LSD in Ting's case, but worth every second."

"... aaaaaaaaaannnnndd HI I found them!" Mara-kuru appears out of nowhere and leaps, back in kitty-form, to tackle a bamboozled Lysaria over the back of Felina's couch in a flurry of staff and arms and legs. "Hiyee! See? I toldja I could find 'em lookie!"

Mara sits happily on the goddess's belly, displaying in her outstretched hands a pair of solid blue bullfrogs.

Felina has to laugh softly. "So. What's with the blue frogs?"

"Lysaria said I should come back when I had found some blue bullfrogs, and by then she would be done asking Felina boring questions!" Mara grins. "Yay!"

Lysaria coughs softly. "Yay," she agrees, "must breathe...!"

Mara bounces up and off of her, laughing as she rolls onto her back in front of Felina. "Hiyee! Good news?"

"News," Felina nods. Grins. "Mara, what have I told you about suffocating goddesses indoors?"

"That if I'm doing it with private areas I should find a closet!" Mara smiles brightly. Makyon covers his ears, shaking his head vigorously.

"Gyah!"

Felina smirks. "We hadn't polluted your brain enough for the day, Makyon dear. I think you're still short of the norms, actually."

Lysaria climbs up from the floor with as much dignity as she can muster with a blue bullfrog sitting on her shoulder. "Thank you, Mara. I think that is my cue to return home, actually... as promised."

Felina nods, and stands respectfully. "Sounds good. But, Lysaria..? I meant what I said. I really appreciate the heads-up you give us, and you're still welcome here any time, divine messenger or no. Alright?" She smiles.

"Of course. Thank you." She bows her head a little bit, the depth of her gratitude showing far more brightly in the hint of a crooked smile she shows than in any words she might say.

As the goddess takes her leave, Mara blinks. "I am so confused what happened where's Ting why is Makyon covering his ears there's Orrin hi Orrin!"

"Hi! No pounce for me?"

Mara smiles a little. "No, of course not. You smell like Fel-spit."

The dumen snickers. "Fair enough!"

Felina blushes. "Moving on! Makyon's covering his ears because you put naughty pictures in his head. Ting needs to go talk to Ale about something."

Mara beams, handing her double the other bullfrog. "See? Things are fine. Lysaria's weird. I like her. She's so serious! I'm not sure what I would do if I were a bullfrog and she wanted me, though. I couldn't imagine why." She sits up on the couch, glances at Makyon, who is snickering despite the weight of the conversation.

"If you were a bullfrog and she wanted you, I'm sure you'd be just as happy as if you were a Mara and she wanted you," Felina observes with a grin as she situates the amphibian gently in her hand.

Mara considers this for a moment, ears a-twitch.

"I dunno. I don't think I'd like to live in a terrarium. Or lick flies."

"Point," Felina notes, smiling and letting it die. She sits down beside Orrin again, picking her feet off the floor and settles herself more comfortably with him now that the formal goddess is gone, just thinking. Considering. Largely about her baby.

"If you'll excuse me," Makyon's footsteps precede his words as he heads for the door, "I think I'd like to talk to my jinneyeh about all this. Coincidence bothers me."

Felina nods. "Wise, to be sure."

Makyon smirks a little bit. "My teacher, your grasp of the obvious has yet again astounded me."

Felina smirks a little, and bows. "Always a pleasure."

The revenant grins a bit. "Sure is!" And he heads outside to see what's about with Asiba.

Mara tuts. "Hum. He'll need to be petted later, I think he's freakied out." After a while, she gets bored and wanders off, pouting a little that the trip is apparently off.

---

A little while later, an unmistakably divine presence sounds at the edge of the planet's atmosphere, entreating entry. It is remarkably like Lysaria's, and yet... not. To Mara, who is hanging around by the water, there is no doubt as to who it is.

The brother, or...wait, Dun? Felina had just been setting up a scrying room--just barely starting, and so an empathetic welcome wastes no time in greeting the visitor and dropping the shields for passage, along with a nudge to the front of the house. She heads that way herself, straightening her garments a few steps before teleporting.

It isn't immediately that the visitor appears. A sparkle of rose red flashes high overhead, rather like the streaking tail of a shooting star, and careens towards the ground. The fireball of white-fading-into-red decelerates just in time to strike the ground with a sound like a muffled cannon's retort, dissipating to reveal a lean man patting himself down in the dust. His garb is simplistic, and still formal-- a gray-green halfcoat over somewhat loose pants that fit snugly, tucked into black boots, is all that covers him. Though he is unquestionably divine, the sharply patterned tattoos on his face - which look rather like rows of black knives pointing towards his nose - clash against his tanned skin but mesh with his silver eyes and bleak, black hair. His smile, though, is genuine.

"Felina Deyono," he softly says, "my honor. I am Sxavior."

Felina smiles, slightly though it doesn't lack for warmth, and bows a polite greeting. "The honor is mine. Lysaria mentioned that you'd be coming."

"I must admit I jumped the gun a bit, in coming here." Xsavior glances about, admiring the surroundings for a bit. "But I could not well pass up the opportunity to meet you and not be AWOL at the same time. As it turns out," he smiles a little more, "I was given an assignment as I walked out the door, concerning this place. Apparently your circle is big business today."

Felina smirks a little. "Yes, it seems so...despite its best efforts, I assure you." Smiles. "Just for my absolute clarification, and if I may ask, which assignment were you handed?"

"It is beneath me," the divinity chuckles, "but I am to inform you that your incubus is to arrive tonight. On the surface, that is. In reality, I am gauging the threat she represents. You understand."

Felina nods. "Certainly, yes. Well, it's certainly a relief to hear, thank you...and, things being as they are, you're welcome to remain here until this evening, in that..."

"Mom mom hey mom you needta..." Ting poofs right behind her mom, hands already on her shoulder. Her eyes widen when she sees Sxavior. "Uhh...you're the swordy guy, yes? Hi!" Her ears flick at a falling blossom petal...it's that time of year.

"That swordy guy?" Sxavior seems genuinely amused at that, like most people seem to be at Ting. "THE swordy guy, thank you." He notices the petal as well, and carefully snags it out of the air to hold up.

Ting likes the response, anyway, and almost smiles...the petal has her attention of course. Part of her brain fires to say something about exquisite reflexes, but most of it just says hey...that looked AWESOME! She grins sheepishly. "Well I was gonna poke you about maybe getting ahold of Lysaria to say Ale told me stuff so no need to send anyone to beat him up or anything but I'm always just a little late hey, pretty pommel?" The hilt of Sxavior's sword is very "pretty" to someone who knows weapons.

Felina sighs inwardly, facial expression wry and something like "I can't believe you just said that" amused. "Ah...Ting...Sxavior just came to let us know that Yue will be returning this evening."

It actually is quite pretty, in an odd sort of way. "Quite," he nods, looking to Ting. "Do you want to see it? Off duty, I am not allowed to harm anyone with it anyway."

Ting in cringe-sheepish mode after mispeaking just now...but her ears perk with interest, expression brightening a little, and she stands up to get off her much shorter mom's shoulder. "Sure!" She loves shinies.

The divinity twists the handle of the weapon to a soft clicking sound. He gives a tug, and hands the handle, pommel, and spherical crossguard to Ting... without a blade. "Here."

Ting takes it gingerly, though her face is crossed between careful excitement and quizzical interest. "No tang?" Giggles. "Fancy!" Examines it most happily for a bit before actually trying out the grip, and just generally seeming extremely interested and appreciative of the thing.

Felina still looks a touch amused as she watches Ting's moods, and then looks back to Sxavior. "So, would you like to remain here for the evening, then, until Yue returns?"

"That would be best, I think." Sxavior looks at Ting again. "It takes cartridges," he explains. "I'll show you later, if you like."

"Cartidges?" Ting blinks. "I have no idea what you're describing, but it sounds awesome." She grins, and plays with the hilt just a bit more before deciding it's probably better to give it back--with both hands; it's huge for her--and smiles a cute smile. "Thank you!"

The divinity is quite amused by her. But business is, of course, business.

"What did you say about Delalenei, just now, child?"

Ting's ears drop a little bit. "Uhhh..." Finally, conflicted, she glances to her mother.

Felina shakes her head. "Tell him whatever you wanted me to relate to Lysaria, Ting. They report to the same place and the same person would have ended up calling the shots." She's still going to relate it back to Lysaria, distrustful as she is of anything that goes through channels coming out the same on the end, but that's another story.

Ting bites her lip, and nods. Looks back up to Sxavior. "Ale's deity is Dun. He did help set up Moorn but he didn't know it, he thought the plan was just to restrain him or threaten him or blackmail him or whatever into not helping with the doomsday thingie. It was probably his goddess's plan even though Spintrius got blamed."

"I see. You understand that I need to interrogate him anyway, I hope?" Sxavior's just met these two nice cat-chicks. He doesn't especially want to make them dislike him over something like this.

Ting's ears droop again, eyes a little stricken. "You aren't going to hurt him, are you...?"

"Only if I think he's lying. An Ono would have known if he was, I believe, so you have nothing to worry about."

Ting bites her lip, and nods a little. She's still worried, thinking about him getting his sword. Please please please don't let him do anything stupid....

"The incubus should return in about an hour. So if you don't mind terribly, I'd like to finish this issue with Delalenei right away and get it out of mind." Sxavior nods a little bit back.

"I think he was on his way here," Ting notes, a little hesitantly and holding her opposite arm. The logic and point of this is there. But she still feels like a dirty traitor.

Felina nods a little. "Right. Well, Ale will need to come willingly. I can't control what befalls my children's friends outside of Helantri Deru, but I don't normally allow forceful apprehensions on the estate." She smirks a little after a moment. "The funny part of that statement is its happening often enough to need to decide a rule like that."

"You do have something of a reputation. Still, I expect cooperation from him unless he has something to hide from me. There should not be an issue." Sxavior actually does believe that. "If he does resist, though, I will expect you all to stand aside."

"We'll just hope it doesn't come to that." Still, this is all understood as "duty" enough that she doesn't even have any particular new tension towards Sxavior, which is pretty obvious, and Felina's every bit as relaxed as before. "Would you like something to drink, Sxavior?" She smiles. "I was just debating between a scrying session and a cup of berry tea when you arrived, and it's obviously a bad time for the former."

"No, thank you," the divine fixer shakes his head, "though if you have coffee, that would be exquisite?"

"Sure, Mara needs it for her hangovers." Smirks. "Well, the kitchen's this way, if you're so inclined." Smiles, and heads into the house.

Sxavior follows quietly along. As he passes by Ting he pauses to glance at her a moment. "Here," he softly says, holding up the flower petal just as it distorts and blooms into a soft pink lily, "you should have this."

Ting's jerked out of thoughtfulness about the whole situation at the words...blinks at the petal as it shifts. She smiles a little, though, ears perking, and takes it gingerly between both sets of claws. "Pretty...thank you!" She smiles at the god.

He just smiles his knowing smile, and heads on into the house in search of coffee.

Only a few moments pass before Ale appears near Ting, armed and girded in white trimmed, solid blue cuirass and leggings. He looks like a warrior angel, for once.

"Hi!"

"Hi! You look pretty!" Ting smiles a little despite herself, and pokes his armor.

The Vanguard angel laughs a little at that. "So do you," he points out, "as usual. Did I miss anything?"

"Uhh...well the swordy guy who was supposed to come and give you the once over is here for another reason and I told him whatcha told me. Mom told me to. But he said he still has to interview you..." blinks. Fiddles with his armor with her claws, mostly distracting herself. "He's in the kitchen. He said he wouldn't be mean unless he thought you were lying, though...?" Kitty cat eyes. Don't lie. Don't get hurt. Or I'll bite you somewhere you'll regret it a long long time.

The angel nods a bit. "I'm not. It'll be okay." On a whim he reaches his arms around her and hugs her, feeling amazingly comforted to have her at this particular moment. "I promise."

Ting smiles at that. She believes him, and is relieved. Hugs him tight. "Okay, then. No problems!" She grins a little. "Gotta keep you intact and all you know. It's icky when your wings go awol, you know, stubby." Grins.

"Matches the rest of me, right?" Ale winks. "Pity, that. Do you want to go in there with me?"

"I think so..." Ting tucks the pink lily into her hair, and then grins brightly at him, looking more like herself suddenly. "You just can't get rid of me, so we may as well be in stuff together!" Smiles, wraps one of his arms around herself, and starts off towards the house without further adieu.

---

"... and then Felina healed my wings. That's basically what happened."

Ale cannot remember the last time he felt so uncomfortable. Sxavior's manner and questions have been nothing but fair so far, but Delalenei is quite familiar with the politics of the divine. He's worried that, at any time, Sxavior will ask some kind of question that implicates him indirectly.

"You are a Vanguard, Delalenei. Your orders are always clear, or they should be. Do you have an assignment right now?"

Ale looks at Ting, asking with his eyes if it's right to answer this question.

Ting...doesn't really know. She looks down after a moment, just indicating in a soft, wordless idea that Makyon isn't in earshot. Her mom and dad are in the room, though.

Sxavior watches their quiet exchange. His neutral expression sours for a split second, but he continues to listen.

"I've been assigned to terminate three individuals," the angel admits, head hung a little bit. "Shigoriath, his wife, and his apprentice." His eyes close.

Felina blinks slowly. "I guess I need to have a word with Dun in the very near future, if she has a problem with my apprentice," she notes, characteristically softly, and sips her tea. "Ting, how long have you known about this?"

Spot is noticeably startled and defensive at the question, and looks up suddenly. "Twenty minutes...I'd never let something happen to Makyon! Ale just told me...and we were going to tell you along with the other stuff."

Sxavior does not want to get involved in any family fussing, though he doubts such a thing really exists here anyway. "I only ask this," he points out, "because of the ramifications of it. It seems that Dun might be targetting future officers, perhaps in effort to subvert Pretender's armaggedon. If she is, then a fairly large number of your allies will be in danger, ma dame."

Felina nods. "I'll be paying her a visit fairly soon. Dun and I have been, if not allies, at least a fainter fascimile due to a very old favor-repayment set, but this isn't acceptable."

"Seconded!"

Felina smirks at her overall quiet, maybe-officer husband, who grins. Orrin looks up to Sxavior afterward, though. He has another question...he's quite good at picking up subtleties and single, oddly placed words. "Why 'Pretender's armageddon,' though? We'd been given the impression it was more or less an inevitability, something larger than a single power group could account for."

"It is indeed an inevitability, sir. Pretender has always been watching its progress, guiding this and that, to make its occurence less awful for those involved. She's had a few folks assassinated herself, or more commonly bought off. She knows the when, the how, and all entirely because she is setting it up that way." Sxavior smiles a bit, as if in admiration. "It is a remarkably efficient way of doing things."

Orrin's at least somewhat satisfied with the answer, and just grins his "I'm much dumber than I am!" smile. "That works." Looks at his wife. "Back to discussing why I need some more facial tattos like his?" He does so like loosening her up.

Felina shakes her head in mock-exasperation. "They look good on him, but you, sir, will end up sleeping alone for awhile."

Ting almost smiles a bit, and finally tilts her head a little, and looks at the god. "So, no one's been perfectly clear on it, really. Am I gonna be 'tapped' to fight, or no? Is Dewei?" She just wants a clear answer on the matter.

Sxavior is looking at Ale, who looks as if he wants to crawl into a hole for a while, when Ting speaks. He ponders a moment, debating whether this needs answered. Finally, though...

"You, yes. Dewei, no." He considers this a moment, gives his shiny-dry, oil-black hair a swish. "But he will probably elect to fight once Ai Orr is tapped."


Felina's face is stricken a moment, and Orrin's not much less, before they both hide it, him faster. Yes, of course Dewei will fight. Then...both their kids will.

Ting considers this for a few moments, and finally nods. "Okay." Tilts her head just a little. "I'm curious, though. Why one and not the other?"

"No one involved will want the two of you fighting on opposing sides. You, Ting, will fight for the mortals. You probably would have been one of Radivishe Moorn's infiltration units- high rank, but not commanding others. Dewei would have been fighting for the divine if tapped. This way, even Pretender cannot predict how he will react and there is a good chance he will elect to fight alongside you instead of against you."

Ting blinks slowly. Then her brow creases as her ears press back with concern for her brother. "Ding is gonna have to choose between us and her? That's...hm. Not even nice!"

"Yes. Actually, Pretender seems to think that Dewei's choice will determine, largely, how the conflict turns out."

"Eep."

Felina, listening quietly, sips her tea. Well. That settles that. If there's a way to stop armageddon, she's going to find it. If there's not, she's going to make one. Orrin, for his part, knowing that slight tensing in her muscles, and wonders what she's planning.