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 Du Liebst Mich Nicht

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Timestamp
Summer of Era XXIV
Location
Narim
Éclair:

The Sherian.
It wasn’t, t’wasn’t exactly,
The kind of place that ever, as ever,
Éclair was particularly fond of. For all that, as,
The West held Importance both Past & Present? So too did the East,
Only,
Nestled, nested right in the middle,
Did Éclair really feel that all was,
T’was well, with Her Mister Jorel, Her Anna-Sweet & Her Melissa-Doll,​
Unfinished Business.
That as there was, t’was Her Daughter to the West,
So too was there the matter of the Trash Collector God to the East,​
Humming away softly,
Pain au Chocolat was clasped in hand,
The sparkling caduceus giving off its glitter as she strolled through the wasteland, intent on ensuring, that if nothing else? The Trash Collector God was made to regret getting in the way of Corinalia,
Who was Death,
To stand between Her Mister Jorel and Her?!
Hmph! Some people clearly didn’t know their place, clearly! Evidently!​
And so, t’was time,
To Fix that little Discussion Point,​
Which meant Narim,
Or rather, all the great many souls in Narim,
A skip and a bounce,
The neat little pirouette that sent crimson skirts fluttering,
As Éclair began to draw upon the Essence of Entropy, pale features rosy with cheer, as the young Jorelite began to Amplify in preparation for giving the Trash Collector God a really, really Bad Time!​
Hmph!
Should have known better,
To stand between Éclair and Her Love!​



Indefinite:

And so Éclair ventured out from Temperance, leaving the city in the capable hands of her various subordinates and in hope that when she returned, it would more or less be as she left it. Maybe even better, depending on how long this particular journey might take. The journey through the province of Maeve was relatively uneventful, or at the very least the myriad dangers one might encounter upon the road proved terribly trivial for somebody like Éclair. The border to the province of Sherian saw the presence of the Imperial Legions but, quite frankly, it was easy enough to be able to circumvent them and not get in their way - or rather, it was easy enough for the Jorelite to ensure that the Legions didn't get in her way.

Into Sherian proper, and the border regions were actually rather quiet. Some semblance of normalcy seemed to have returned to these frontier towns, although the circumstances weren't exactly relevant to Éclair. The important thing was that her continued progress on towards Narim was unhindered, and people around these parts had started to grow savvy. See a strange young woman on her own walking south towards all the bad that was down there? Ahuh. Yeah. Leave well enough alone.

And so, with the Amplification complete and the ruins of Narim off in the distance? Éclair had managed to complete most of the trip without issue? Now, just the issue of the mass of undead that had finally appeared to fill the plains before her... because, it seemed, they had finally decided to make their presence known.



Éclair:

No Problems?
No Worries! Though,
That too, Éclair expected,
Would Change soon enough,
At least,
If all went to Not-a-Plan,
And well, then? It all well and truly,
Depended on whether she could pull it off,
And if it was actually as Annoying, as she anticipated,​
All the Souls! All the Undead!​
And still Éclair grinned,
Not caring all that much if it wasn’t quite,
As Inconvenient as she’d hoped, as there’d always be the question on what to do with all the Corpses afterwards! Something else to ponder perhaps, mayhaps,
But for now?
There was but the radiant smile,
As Éclair started the spell. Seeking, striving to wrest out,
The Souls of any and all around her, Channeling through Pain au Chocolat,
It really was simple in intent, even if she hadn’t the faintest of clues as to how it might cascade,​
Wasn’t allowed to keep Souls?
That was, t’was just fine, truly! And so? Éclair had every intent,
On dragging as many out within the Undead of Sherian as she could possibly manage,​
Trash Collector God wanted to interfere with Their Love?!
Nuh-uh! Not allowed! No, Éclair was going to positively bury the God under as many Souls as possible being shoved into Krypta all at once. Junk-Mail Soul Spam!
Curse Her?!
Hmph!​
Spell Name? Uh...umm...
Never had been very good at those, something, truly,
Had been one of the few talents of the Ex of Interest. But for now? Yoink!



Indefinite:

There were plenty of entities surrounding Narim that didn't have souls. They were just undead, after all, shambling around aimlessly as undead were wont to do. But there were plenty of the things that seemed to just be doing much the same in the area within the city. The whole debacle that had been the Sherian Civil War had concluded in such a way that a massive amount of lives had been extinguished all at once, after all. With so much paperwork to be done there was a terrible backlog in place, which was something that Éclair apparently wanted to take advantage of.

It wasn't as if this weren't a known problem, though. There was an entire system in place right now which allowed for the slow shuffle of the massive amounts of souls around down into Krypta, where they could be properly processed as opposed to flooding the frameworks and APIs present. A denial of service was very much a problem in this day and age - granted, the dead weren't going anywhere, but being stuck in a queue was a prime opportunity for somebody to snatch up the soul and do other things with it. Nothing was quite as incensing for the Lord of the Dead to have these souls nabbed away, for bothersome things like reincarnation to occur.

Yoink! But it wasn't quite so easy. A spell of that sort of magnitude took some time to prepare, and Éclair found that rather than just sweep all of the souls in the area towards her? There was a bit of resistance there. Less like just sweeping them in with a broom, and more like they were all collected in a sack, and she was trying to tug on the rope, but there was somebody else tugging the other way. Tug of war!

Something was keeping her from drawing in the souls - someone, maybe, was more accurate. Somebody in Narim didn't want her getting her hands on them, nope nope!



Éclair:

Yoink!
Or not! Not quite so easy it seemed,
To achieve the Snatch & Grab before anyone noticed what she was up to,
T’was a Shame,
But when she was intent,
On ensuring that the Trash Collector God,
Was, t’was kept otherwise occupied for a great while? Well,​
”Hmph!”​
Not though,
That there really was,
T’was much else that she could do,
Uninclined, disinclined even, to throw what extra she could,
From Her Engagement Ring’s stores, not when, well, she’d already put in her Amplified strength,
No, not yet!
Not when she might very well,
Need… oh what the Aeternia! Just a bit! It wasn’t as if she needed that much power for the Rainy Brightening Scenario!​
Tug-O-War!
Only, Éclair threw in a good two-thirds of the Engagement Ring’s stored power too,
A little more leverage!​



Indefinite:

Tug!

...tug!

Pull!

Yank!

Tug!

The Jorelite could feel herself making progress against whatever it was that was holding these souls back. With more power thrown in to fuel the engine of her spell, she was gradually prying things to her advantage. But while the other side might lose in a strength advantage, they had the power of... numbers!

Well, not really the "power of numbers" in the sense that there was some sort of alliance or camaraderie going on here. More just in a general sense of there happened to be a lot of things around here that had no qualms coming out and trying to kill Éclair and, oh hey, there just happened to be a few of them.

The brainless undead hordes slowly began to shift in her direction, and just some distance away? A bloodcurdling shriek as something moved swiftly along the ground in Éclair's direction, a speedy wraith of blood and viscera that shot right towards the Jorelite.

Continue her game of rope, or do something about the impending danger?



Éclair:

Resistance!
Resistance was, t’was, not exactly,
Futile, but it was kinda annoying which meant that,
Éclair quite well,
Could have done entirely without that,​
Yoink!
Was, t’was being spoiled!
Never mind that as the cheerful look,
Was slowly taking a turn towards a stubborn glower,
The very notion that she might actually have to deal with People… well… Undead?
Hadn’t much occurred to Éclair either,
Not when the whole notion had been to do the Magic Trick,
Of pulling out the tablecloth while leaving all the plates and cups untouched,​
No such luck.​
Still, the tip of Éclair’s tongue poking between cherry red lips,
There was a mildly annoyed Activation of the Golden Bangles she wore with the Spirit Armor and her free hand idly rummaging through a pocket – dangerous at the best of times,
As she sought out the White Magic Feather and,
Well, leave the Undead Problem on the ground to those that couldn’t,
Flutter off!​
Yoink!



Indefinite:

Up, up, up!

It spared the Jorelite from having to deal with the mass of undead, certainly. They weren't capable of following her, instead shambling towards the point underneath her upon the ground, mobbing that location. Should she ever come down she'd have to deal with them, but until that time came she'd be well outside of their reach.

The blood wraith, though, that one could chase. And so she dead, screeching something fierce, long bloody claws extending from her fingers as she suddenly leaped up off of the ground towards the Jorelite sailing daintily above.



Éclair:

Up, up and away!
Really didn’t have any Interest in,
Normal Undead. Boring! No, as fodder went?
They were an aspect of Necromancy that Éclair was quite content in Ignoring,
Had enough Skeleton-Minions in the various Closets at Temperance,
And that was most sufficient for Emergencies if things ended up with a disastrous return to Malice
Wraith?
More Interesting, but definitely,
Positively, not wanted!​
Partially because,
Éclair took umbrage to threats against herself,
But mostly because it was, t’was making an awful racket and could do quite without That,
Still, there was,
A small measure of faith in the Spirit Armor to at least,
Prevent herself from anything too terrible as she tried to wrest control over the Souls in the Sherian,​
Faith,
And a sweeping down of Pain au Chocolat,
To Bop! The Wraith over the head if it came within reach!​



Indefinite:

Splish, splash.

The downward bop was well-timed but it sunk right through the blood wraith as if it were... well, comprised of blood. Solid passes right through liquid with no apparent deleterious effect to the latter. Then again, Éclair had her protective armor in place, even as the rending of the wraith could be felt draining away at its capability. Her shrieking addled the necromancer's focus something fierce as well, making it hard to concentrate on the matter at hand - equilibrium once again settling in the game of tug-of-war.

Well. Merely proving a distraction was hardly Collette's aim here. Her rage was hotter than usual. Not too long ago she had been foiled fighting the Titan, and the Jalatians who had hunted him. The humiliating sting of defeat further fueled her rage, and her inability to immediately pierce through Éclair's armor was terribly frustrating.

So instead she'd do something else, reforming her body such that Éclair's head was engulfed in a sphere of blood, blocking (or at least severely limiting) the passage of air, even as the rest of her continued the frenzied assault on the armor.
 
Éclair:

Ooh, not solid!
That was a Problem,
Like, a really Problematic Problem even!
Dark eyes widening,
Even as Pain au Chocolat swished through the blood,
And well, that was, t’was that! No Impact!​
Uh-oh.​
That the Spirit Shackle was going too?
Really not all that surprising at all, given it’d been more for physical harm which…
Umm… oh.
No, that just couldn’t do,
Even as the next breath was proving to be all too troublesome,
Given the whole, far too much blood around her and really? Could quite do without that!
Failsafe!
That for all that Éclair had Faith in Her Love,
Well, she’d have been quite remiss in not Upgrading Her Star of Aeternia when given the means, Activating the Choker for Absorb,​
Plunging downwards too so that,
Her flight would bring her closer to the ground,
Even if, well, Éclair didn’t want to deal with the boring Undead Minions just yet either,
One problem at a time!
Breathing was after all kinda sorta Important!​



Indefinite:

Choker activated!

...?

Glub, glub! Collette wasn't magic! And Éclair was definitely still drowning!



Éclair:

This was Bad.
This was very, very Bad!
Wraith wasn’t Physical,
Wraith wasn’t Magical ,​
And Éclair?
Very, very much believed in the Importance of Breathing!​
Well, mostly.
A little light choking was fine…
But this? This was something altogether unpleasant as Éclair tried to shake the Glub away by ascending and descending to snatch what breaths she could,
Only for the decision made,
That for all that she quite objected to Grim Shift,
There was, t’was the Alternative, as Éclair used the reservoir of power from Her Engagement Ring to fashion Entropy Form once more,​



Indefinite:

Rapid shifting movements helped the Jorelite steal a gasp here and there, but not quite enough to actually sustain her, especially as Collette seemed to wise up on what she was doing and get better at predicting when the next sudden movement was.

Grim Shift? Mmhmm, get me outta here!

And then suddenly nothing was a problem. Collette realized that something had happened there, although not entirely sure what. But she was definitely angry about it.



Éclair:

Wasn’t dying?
That was a definite positive!
When Éclair remained an advocate,
To the notion, that the only Dead Necromancer was a Dumb Necromancer?
Éclair reeeeeally, reeeeeeally,
Didn’t want to lump herself into that category! Nuh-uh!​
Nor did she much care that the Blood Wraith,
Was, t’was being very inconsiderate just so long as it stopped also,
Being such a bother like when trying to kill her when she was Busy!​
Hmph!​
No, but that now could return,
To being a secondary issue! After all,
Had a great many souls to forcibly dump into Aeternia all at once, and for all that there’d been competition on the Soul’s Ownership? Well, Éclair remained as straight forward as ever,
Intent on turning the Trash Collector God’s Curse,
Into a Blessing for Her Love. One less Problem standing between Her & Her Mister Jorel!​
YOINK!



Indefinite:

Finally, with all of the distractions out of the way, it was time to properly...

...

...?

Hey! Something had been done while Collette was messing around with the Jorelite. Something akin to a big dome, a massive barrier, now covered the entirety of what remained of Narim. From the distance that Éclair was currently at? Well... it was like she was tugging at a rope that happened to be tied to a tree. No movement. Not from outside the barrier.



Éclair:

Huh.
On one hand?
She wasn’t y’know, dying,
Which was a pretty important detail as far as Éclair was concerned,
On the other hand?
This was a really, really big problem.​
Had been in a magical tug-of-war with someone,
Or something that was as strong as her in Arcana. That in itself was pretty Bad,
Throw in the New Ward and all the Undead and the Annoying Wraith Thing?​
Outclassed.
There was little doubt there,
That whatever was in Narim was also a big case of Nope,
And far, far more inclined to cause a Dead/Dumb Necromancer moment than anything within the young woman’s recent memory,
Huh.
Thoughtful, even as,
For the sheer spite of it,
Éclair activated Tainted Toy before putting her palm over some of the blood. Rebuke!​



Indefinite:

Would that even work when Éclair had shifted herself and couldn't interact with the corporeal world?

...

Uh...

...yeeeeeeeees...

It seemed Jorel's brand was strong enough to be able to work through such confines, such that any bit of Collette that the Jorelite came into contact to? The blood that comprised her boiled away. But besides make the wraith very very angry, shrieking and recoiling away from her? Well, everything that was boiled away soon enough condensed back in with the rest of her. It wasn't 'destroyed', per se, merely momentarily disassembled.

Good to know! Something of an inconvenience to Collette, and it probably hurt.



Éclair:

Rebuke!​
Not that Éclair had much thought,
As to the ‘What Next’ beyond trying to punish,
The Blood Wraith for trying to drown her in Gross,
Not giving it a second thought,
That Her Mister Jorel would be anything other than,
Completely and utterly effective against Everything! It was after all, Him, and well, what didn’t Chaos work on? Entropy affected all, and sooner or later, all things Changed because of it,​
Not that Éclair had much thought,
Towards just how in Aeternia she’d deal with the New Narim Problem.
Especially when she’d spent almost everything she had in the initial Yoink and then cycled through her various Gifts and Trinkets? Umm.
It really didn’t bode well.
“Shoo! Run along now! Go! Go annoy the Other Mage,
Or I’ll keep touching you and touching you and then there’ll be nothing left and that’ll totally serve you right given I didn’t do anything to you so ner.”​



Indefinite:

In the distance, the barrier flickered.

In the not-so-distant, Collette was not listening! Nope, just lots of indignant shrieking as she continued to charge at Éclair, and Éclair continued to melt Collette, which just made the wraith even angrier and charge at her even more!

It was a terrible cycle.
 
Éclair:

Change!
Only, it seemed to be very,
Veeery short lived as the Ward came straight back up.
Blood Wraith made the Change?
Or the Threat made the Change or?​
Didn’t know!
Occupied! Little busy as Éclair,
Was invested with making good on her threat,
Given that there really wasn’t much point in a threat if one didn’t make good on it! Nope! Then it was silly and bluster and pointless!​
That for all that Éclair,
Didn’t really seem to be getting anywhere,
Still she grinned cheerfully, sing-song words in her discordant, ever changing accent that settled upon Lauryllian more often than not,
”Useless! Failure!
You’re a useless failure,
Bloody and mean,
Such a useless bloody has-been!”​
All bubbling laughter,
As Éclair kept taking the hands on approach,
With Her Love’s Blessing, “Best go Annoy the other Mage now, best!
Might be broken, you might be, best go make sure that you’re not by Annoying them, bestest!”​



Indefinite:

It was taking Collette a bit longer each time to reform, it seemed. Blasted to pieces by Éclair's hands, coming back, charging in, rending at the incorporeal form to no effect.

Pride stung, rage fiery, but eventually it got through? This wasn't working. And so for the last time the blood wraith came back, if motionless. One long, sulking glare. She tried to find the words but there was nothing that she could say that wouldn't just make her angrier, to no avail.

Sulk.

And a return to the ground, and slithering away.



Éclair:

Time was,
Well not on Éclair’s side,
Given that the young Jorelite still held something of a grudge,
When it came to the Lady Time’s interference in allowing Éclair to do Everything,
But she could certainly outlast a silly Wraith!
At least, until she got bored or hungry or decided that the brightening was better off spent bothering Anna at the Bakery or practicing one of the Ballet Not-Routines for one of Her Mister Plushy Jorel’s,​
Sulk?
Éclair just stuck out her tongue in rebuke,​
“Run, run, run away!”
Came the sing-song chiding as it returned to the ground,
Leaving her in much the same Problem as she’d had for a while now. Namely, not a lot of Vis left, and still the Ward. Umm.
At least the Wraith wasn’t trying to drown her?
That was nice.​
Not that Éclair knew what to do next,
Besides catch her breath so to speak, and see if the Ward flickered again,
And if so? Yoink again!​



Indefinite:

Flickering? Just a little, maybe. More and more as time went on, but they were very quick blinks. For the most part. Not quite enough time early on for the Jorelite to actually be able to do anything.

But then eventually it just disappeared completely, and then Éclair's shenanigans could begin again. So... yoink?

...

Tradeoffs needed to be made with vis depleted to such an extent. Get closer and get more, or stay further away and nab just a few. Choices!



Éclair:

Blink-blink,
Umm, so, decision time!
Swaying gently as Éclair drifted in the air,
There really was a bit of a Problem, and one that she didn’t still quite know what to do with,
Uncertainty had never really,
Been something that plagued Éclair, had never been,
And yet every now and again? It cropped it’s ugly head up and was ever so dreadfully Inconvenient,​
Éclair blamed the Three-Faced God,
And the periodic moments of Morality that she could do quite without,​
It might have been true,
It might not have, but either way?
Umm. Closer = More Souls? Distance = Less Souls.
Some just wasn’t the Point,
Was, t’was trying to ensure that the Trash Collector God was overwhelmed for a good while! At least until after the next Corinalia!​
Closer it was!
At least to the edge of the flickering Ward,​



Indefinite:

A little bit closer it was. A little closer. A liiiiittle...

The Jorelite got the distinct impression now that getting all of the souls in Narim? Probably beyond her current vis capability. The closer she was the better - the more vis she spent, the better. Spend all the vis, get more souls, but then obviously she'd be vis-less. And that might be really bad. Less vis meant less souls and that obviously wasn't good either.

So many tradeoffs to make today.



Éclair:

Lame.
Stupid Necromancer!
Spoilsport Necromancer!​
That any true theft,
And subsequent bombardment into Aeternia,
Of Souls was being hindered? That well and truly soured Éclair’s mood, not that it’d been in a Good Place after the whole, Wraith trying to drown her,
Which, well,
Éclair huffed grumpily,
Markedly disinclined to leave herself without anything to work with Magically, especially not when contending with another Necromancer that was not only able to keep up with her? But keep her efforts at bay,​
Really, really felt,
Like that was just asking for a Dead/Dumb Necromancer moment,
Of the kind that Éclair could do quite well without. It was one thing to bombard Aeternia with lost souls, and quite another to add herself to the mix!
No, where she was now?
Just going to have to do! Might not be what she wanted,
But well, such was, t’was life, and when dealing with another Necromancer so? Life was Important to retain! Thanking you very much!​
No, definitely,
Positively not because Éclair,
Didn’t want to go any closer to the Unknown Necromancer than she had to, nope! Not scared! Just… being umm, sensible. Definitely!
And so?
Time to see what damage she could cause!​



Indefinite:

No closer, then. This was good enough a spot as it was. And a bit of vis, but not all the vis? That would get her... well, it'd certainly get her something. Not everything, not even closer to that, nowhere near that, but it was definitely a non-trivial amount that was probably going to make a bunch of problems.

Right then! With the barrier apparently sapping a lot of power over time and somewhat drained? Éclair was free to start pulling them into her net. And with the whole Jalat kinda cursing her thing going on, each one she pulled in she could feel immediately slipping out of her grasp again, just blinking away.

Just dumping a wheelbarrow of paperwork onto an already overloaded system.



Éclair:

Not even close?!
Just how many Souls were there in Narim?
Sure, the last time she’d been within the ruined town,
There’d been a lot of StrAngE,
But she’d put that down,
To the combination of Havina’s presence,
Multiple Demons and well, of course, Her Mister Gentleman Jorel Plushy,​
That there was still so much going on?
Weird.
Still, one problem at a time!
One step forwards, then the other one!
That for all it seemed as if, well, Narim was a far bigger obstacle than she’d have liked? It at least meant that there was plenty to do later! That if it worked? Well, could do it again and again!
Showtime!​
Dumping as many Souls as she could,
As quickly as she could! No, definitely, positively,
Not inclined to let the Trash Collector God interfere in Her Love affairs! Nuh-uh!​



Indefinite:

Whoever was at the desk here was apparently not doing a particularly speedy job, because there were sure as heck still a lot of souls loitering about.

Grab, grab, grab.

She'd manage quite a few until something managed to happen. Namely, the feeling of somebody tinkering with the whole shifting thing, and starting to tug her back to normal people land. This felt familiar. It was other tug-of-war necromancer person! Somewhere deeper in the city.
 
Éclair:

One step forwards!
One step forwards, and then the other one!​
One problem at a time!
Only, only, the First Problem was still there,
And when push came to shove?
Éclair just couldn’t see how,
Couldn’t figure out how even with Her Love’s Blessing,
That for all the young woman’s single mindedness when it came to matters of the heart? This, this had long since entered Dead/Dumb Necromancer Territory.​
Hadn’t been able to Sneak,
Wasn’t, t’wasn’t really able to best in strength,
And given the Undead and Minions? Most certainly outnumbered!
That as a disappointed little whine,
Slipped from Éclair’s cherry red lips at the prospect of even more meddling with her spells? There, when push came to shove?​
Really, really thought,
Quite well overdue, for Run, Run, Running Away time!
Certainly before things got even more Complicated!​



Indefinite:

Time to get out of Dodge Narim. Which really wasn't too difficult, luckily, the speed by which Éclair was capable of backpedaling out of the pace seemed to exceed the other necromancer's ability to unweave her spell. She'd manage to get out of the range of the attempted dispelling before it could be concluded, meaning that she could continue with her tactical advance in the opposite direction without having to worry about being mobbed by the undead, or further blood wraiths, or whatever.

The only real question was at what point she'd stop run, run, running away!



Éclair:

Home.
The Sherian clearly,
Wasn't, t'wasn't a place for Éclair.
Of that she had no doubt what so ever in mind,
That whatever trouble,
Most certainly lay upon the border of Maeve,
It wasn't, t'wasn't Her Problem now, not when well,
Éclair hadn't the foggiest on how to deal with another Necromancer like that,​
Distance was after all all too welcome,
And so? Run, Run Running Away! Sure, another brightening,
It might be worth playing the Questions and Answers Game with Archippos,
As a means of finding a solution, but for now? Éclair was all for returning to Temperate and basking in the creature comforts she'd mustered over the Era's.
Aka, sulking in Miss Applebloom's Kitchens,
And gorging herself upon Yumminess!​



Indefinite:

Running away was had, and either any possible pursuers were outpaced or those in the area were more than happy to just see her leave and wanted nothing more to do with the affair.

Back to Temperance, where Miss Applebloom had plenty of food with which to help the sulk session be the best that it could be, and both Anna and Melissa did their best to make sure that Éclair's sulking period was minimized - although that could certainly be taken advantage of to be doted on.
 
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