✅ [Ruberium] Something Just Like This

[Clairé Maarkan]

Éclair:

Timestamp: Winter, after a certain Marketplace does the Mysterious Vanishing Thing.

Éclair eyed the earing.
It wasn’t, t’wasn’t Hers,
Of that, now the young Jorelite was certain.

Typical.​

Oh well!
T’was Silver, t’was Shiny!​

She’d done more for less,
But then, there remained the What Next!
Which, when it came to Options? While there remained a certain inkling, that one Brightening, truly, she was, t’was going to have to go meander through the Desert and say Hi-Hi to Her Daughter and of course Miss Cassie! But for now? Nuh.

Imperia or Ruberium,
Made for a simple enough decision of neighboring Towns,
And soon enough? One young woman curled up in a Tavern in Ruberium,
Lounging in the Common Room before the fire nursing a mug of Honey Mead and trying terribly not to fall asleep as she basked in the warmth.​

Winter was Hard.​

Winter was a Time,
When she knew all too well?
Was, t’was a time now best spent in Temperance,
Being pandered too and having Anna and Meli on hand. But here she was, t’was, and well, until Home? Honey Mead & Fire!

---

Sliucha:

Sliucha had been up in the north because of important reasons. They had to have been important, because northern Moonstone was freaking far when it came to the rest of the province. There was a giant bloody desert in the middle, for one. Not to mention the actual distance was actually pretty substantial, too. And then there'd been this whole illegal marketplace thing that had been operating way out here - very sketch. All in all Sliucha was reminded that they really needed to figure out something for the northern portions of the province that were, more or less, not under anybody's control at the moment. Make sure that they either stayed in line, or were sold off to be somebody else's problem.

That, though, was a matter for another time. For now, with the marketplace having up and vanished, Sliucha needed somewhere to stay! The trip back was quite non-trivial and preparations had to be made beforehand. To that end she'd wandered towards a nearby town and figured that a stay at the tavern might be nice and oh hey look!

"Éclair?" Well now there was somebody who she hadn't seen in a way! The Jorelite didn't look all that different, just... taller? Sliucha, in the meantime, had changed quite a bit, to the point where she felt like she actually needed to reintroduce herself, what with the bigger bust and the different color of tail and the fox ears and all that. "It's me, Sliucha! What're you doing way up here?"

Bounce bounce bounce, until she was standing beside the almost-dozing Éclair in her chair, grinning down at her. This was a weeeeeird place for a reunion.

---

Éclair:

Blink-Blink.
It was a rather effective means,
Of distracting Éclair from the Silver Earring & the Honey Mead,
Even as, well, Éclair took another cautious sip of the scrumptious syrup before hesitating,

Perhaps,
T’was the Honey Mead that was,
T’was the Problem. Maybe. But who’d genuinely drug or poison Mead in good conscience?!​

Still.
As strange as Miss StRAngE was?
This, well… through sleepy, heavy-lidden eyes?
Éclair rather thought, that someone or something was, t’was simply making sport of her.​

Miss StRangE was,
T’was an Elf. The bouncy creature before her?
uh. Pretty sure, almost positive even, not-an-Elfy. If nothing else for the whole… well, that was one way of redistributing weight, even if the young woman had been a little hesitant about padding her Guise elsewhere,

Pointy ears? Yes,
Furry… uh… didn’t think that was an Elf thing, no. Nope!
Then there, well, while admittedly she did feel a desire for a drink and to get away from the strange person… it wasn’t, well, the same unpleasant Blegh that Miss StrAngE of Miss Torture & Pain had generated.​

There was,
T’was a shaking of her head,
That within the depths of Éclair’s dark eyes, the Stars of Aeternia manifested,​

Only to nod most seriously,
Utterly confirmed! Definitely, positively,
T’was being made fun of! Aeternian!
“No you’re not.” Éclair huffed,
Scowling at the bouncy creature that,
Truly thought she was that daft as to forget what Miss StrAngE was! Hmph!

---

Sliucha:

...hey!

Sliucha puffed out her cheeks.

"Am!" She responded, sticking her lamian tongue out at Éclair. "Just got an upgrade is all!"

Okay, so maybe she should have expected there to be at least some degree of disbelief from the Jorelite. It had basically been forever since they had last met face to face and quite frankly a lot of things had happened in all that 'forever.' And she couldn't really think of anything that Éclair couldn't just say "well maybe the real one told you to say that!" Sooooo.

"Change is good, right?" Try to appeal to the Jorelite... change... chaos... thing?

---

Éclair:

“Not.” Éclair insisted,
All the more certain as well,
There was, t’was only two kinds of people,
That she knew had tongues like that!

Definitely not a Lamian!
Could tell! Wrong kind of Tail! Definitely!
Which meant more like Ezria, which, well… Fox-Person,
Snake-Tongue, Soooo not Elfy Physique, and an Aeternian.​

Ah.
An Ezria Succubus Person!​

Obviously.

This was a relief,
If only because, ‘cause,
It increased the odds that someone,
Hadn’t done the Unthinkable and messed with Her Honey Mead!​

”All things Change.”
She agreed with a sip of Honey Mead,
“But you’re not Miss StRAngE. Miss StrAngE isn’t an Aeternian.”​

Close but not quite!
And the very notion,
That someone might Abandon their God?!
No. Fix, suuuuure. Miss Tortue obviously needed a Hug & a Blanket. But Abandon? Nuh-uh! Refused to believe! Not Acceptable! Hmph! Trickster Demon!

Dark eyes widened,
“You’re not the Tricksy Fox Demon thing are you,
‘cause I’m soooo onto you! Do. Not. Want!​

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Sliucha:

Yeah, well...

"Well maybe you're not even Éclair then!" Sliucha said with a huff. "She's super smart and super pretty and an excellent Jorelite and I'm pretty sure she'd be able to figure out who I was super easy even though a bunch of things changed and stuff!" True, maybe the version of the Jorelite she had in her head was a more idealized version than anything, but that made sense, right? The same logic that had applied before did so now. Jorel > Alithea and that same sort of hierarchy sorta kinda applied to their followers?

Okay so Sliucha had perhaps matured to the point where she didn't quite believe that, much as Alithea didn't likely believe that Jorel was greater than her - no, it was more about respecting the hierarchy than anything. Éclair afforded respect by being an excellent Jorelite, and Sliucha, as a devout Alithean, was fine with giving her said respect.

"The what demon?" Tricksy fox? Hmmm. Had Éclair met Byxlle? But Byxlle wasn't really a... well, hm. Fox? Yes. Demon? Kind of now, yes. Tricksy? Well, not really tricksy. The dorin was as honest and straightforward as she could be, really. Hey! What was more offensive was that Éclair was potentially mixing the two of them up and stuff!

"Things change, but not all things change? That's weird. Shouldn't everything be liable to change?" Even whether or not somebody was an Aeternian? "I mean, surely you know people who weren't Aeternians and then became Aeternians? Like Iori! Except he's dumb, let's not talk about him." Please let's not talk about him.

---

Éclair:

There was a flash of dimples,
And a shake of her head, most certainly,
Positively was Éclair! Or at least one of them. The Big Book of Éclair Mainesthai had been a little difficult to accept, even if it also perfectly fit the Jorelite’s worldview,

And if nothing else,
She had Her Star of Aeternia and,
The Aeternian Triangles that were Her Love’s Gift,
And really, wasn’t that everything relevant? She thought so!​

SMRT?
Didn’t have Her +1 to Intelligence Glasses!
But Pretty? Could do that!​

So instead,
She just grinned happily,
“Fox Demon. Trickster. Stood on my head,
And if you try that I’ll melt your ankles.” She added, not Interested in being subjected to the same fate twice!

But there,
Was, ‘t’was the possibility,
That the being before her? Not the same Fox Demon Trickster,
Or was simply lying and being Trickstery too. That was a possibility,​

It was all Confusing,
And the Honey Mead only provided so many answers,​

Even if,
Even if Éclair’s cheerful smile failed,
Freezing at the mention of the Ex. Do. Not. Want.
Do. Not. Want.
Was, t’was Happy!
Nononononononono. Nope! Bad Fox Demon Trickster! Bad!

”Miss StrAngE would never discard Her Goddess.
So, you can't be Miss StRANge. Simple!”
Éclair settled with, definitely, most assuredly not wanting anything to do with the Ex. DoNotWant. Wanted Anna and Meli! NoMoreBAD.​

---

Sliucha:

"I don't think I could even fit up there," Sliucha noted, peering at the top of Éclair's head. Hmmm... maybe if she was really good at balancing or something? But she wasn't really all that acrobatic. She didn't think she could manage all that long even if the Jorelite was just sitting there. Not to mention, she rather needed her ankles. Ankles were important!

"I would too!" Sliucha protested. "Wait, no. Can you choose a word besides 'discard?'" Even if that was kind of accurate as to what had happened, i.e. the elf getting bored and/or realizing that Zyrgra didn't really fit her planned trajectory in life and Sliucha had hence rerolled.

Hmph! She suddenly sat down right next to Éclair, anyway. "Well it doesn't matter if you think I'm Sliucha or not! We're going to hang out and have a great time and that's that!" Somehow she got the impression that any further arguments were just going to result in the Jorelite steadfastly holding her ground, so what was the point in arguing further?

"So how's Temperance doing? Has trade picked up at all since I last provided some suggestions?"

---

Éclair:

Not that it’d stopped the,
Annoying Fox… no, wait, hadn’t it been a Coyote?
Coyote. Fox. Close enough? Right? The whole situation was Confusing,
And when push came to shove? Éclair just bunkered right on in. This obviously wasn’t Miss StRangE so that was, t’was that!

”Abandon. Neglect. Forsake?”
Éclair smiled anew, head tilting to the side as,
She claimed a lock of coffee-brown to nibble upon as,
For whatever reason, the Aeternian seemed to have found ‘Discard’ upsetting,​

”Miss StRangE had tried to Change,
Miss Pain. That’s A-Ok. Forsake? Uh-nuh.” Éclair added simply,
Finding no problems what so ever in treating other people as malleable, but there was, t’was such a thing as Religious Propriety.​

Never mind,
That Éclair didn’t see,
Any problem with an Aetherian abandoning their God for Aeternia.
That was just Common Sense!

A Great Time,
With Miss StrAngE too seemed,
Well, unlikely. The Unease and Blegh,
Had made for a Friendship that had its limits, and given, well, the lack thereof Bleghing? Only more evidence to the young Jorelite that this wasn’t her Miss StrAngE.​

”Miss StrAngE, provided some welcome suggestions, yes.”​

---

Sliucha:

New strategy: ignore the fact that Éclair didn't think Sliucha was Sliucha!

"Yes, but, did the suggestions actually end up helping about?" the elf continued her line of query. "I was also thinking - since both cities have rivers that connect to the sea - whether or not it might be good to also open up trade between Ziel Aerca and Temperance?"

"Ultimately it'd be good to further expand trade out east but I think it might be easier to start things off with a trusted partner, somebody you know. You know?"Ignooooooring the issue at hand, naturally.

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Éclair:

Éclair took another sip from the Honey Mead,
The igling, no, niggling, sense of unease growing,

Why did a potentially,
Demon Fox Trickster Person,
Want to even know why or what Miss StRangE had been up to?​

Éclair might have been a lot of things,
But she remained ever loyal to those that had been dubbed Friends.​

Well, more or less anyway,
“I think, that, if you have business with,
With Miss StrAngE, you really should be like,
Taking it up with her, y’know.” Éclair huffed, “Even I know you don’t Talky-Talk about stuff like this with strangers ‘cause then it might cost you lots of Shinies if people interfere.”

---

Sliucha:

A problem with the strategy of ignoring Éclair's refusal to accept her as Sliucha had been found.

"Why Miss Strange, anyway?" Sliucha asked, still pointedly working around that fact as best she could, though. "I didn't think that I was all that weird. Did you think I was strange?"

Granted, the situation had changed and Sliucha with it, but it wasn't as if she looked back and thought she had been weird or anything. It had maybe been a little embarrassing, but everybody had stages like that in their youth, right?

---

Éclair:

Why was Miss StrAngE,
StrAnGe.

It was,
T’was a Good Question,​

Even if,
It was, t’was a little difficult to Explain.​

Talky-Talk though,
Just wasn’t Éclair’s strong point,
Not that admittedly, there was a whole lot of those either,
But it was amongst the collective as the young woman happily nursed her drink,

”’cause she was.
Is.” came the resolute and most,
Adamant of decisions, “‘cause she’d be constantly bleeding,
But not Dying, and well, I’m pretty good at telling when someone is dying. At least, faster than the whole… y’know, living process tends to go when Entropy finally kicks in.”​

“Then there was the whole…
She’s Super Nice & Friendly,
But I always felt really… Blegh nearby,
Which was StrAngE.” only to pause,

”Plus she took Orders,
From Mister Master Mindrapey,
And that’s reeeeeally StrAngE. Like, Super StrAnGE,
‘though, maybe not. Mind Rapey and all, maybe has no Choice, which… well, not going back to Ziel to Fix, soooo…”​

---

Sliucha:

"Yeah, I guess the whole thing where I was always bleeding from my eyes was kind of strange," Sliucha ceded with a nod, adjusting herself a bit so that she could pull up her legs and hug her knees as she sat next to the Jorelite. "At the time it was like, hey, this is pretty Zyrgran, so it's kind of neat? Because it's always good to get recognition from your Goddess and all. But over time I started to realize that the whole pain and torture thing doesn't really work much when you're in politics."

Well, okay, maybe it usually did? "I mean, not when you want to be a benevolent politician." Big distinction.

"Did you know Shei'yein isn't a mystic anymore, by the way? Maybe you're right, and that's why I don't really listen to him anymore." Coincidence? Maybe! "Or maybe it's just because he's not really around anymore these days, so I kind of just run things in his stead."

---

Éclair:

I? No, Fox Demon Snake Elf Person,
Obviously wasn’t Miss Sliucha StrAngE,
On that, Éclair didn’t see any evidence to promote budging on that!

Especially not,
When the being before her,
Had faaaar more in common with a Demon than with Her Friend,​

Demons,
Were Resources of Various Sorts!
But didn’t have this one’s True Name or Reagent which made for Wary.​

Definitely wary,
Given Politics & Pain seemed,
To be actually pretty compatible from what Éclair had found of the Profession,
Which was why she’d left the Hard Stuff to Cerys, who, well, definitely seemed to be spending a good amount of time in the Dungeon,

No, Wary!
Even so, there was a claiming of coffee brown hair,
To nibble upon between her cherry red lips as the Talky-Talk went On & On,​

Mister Master Mindrapey wasn’t a Mystic?
Wasn’t believing that either! Surely, if one was sufficiently Mind Rapey, then obviously, that was just what he’d want people to think!​

Trap!
But, well,
It didn’t stop the,
Possibility for causing some Mischief in turn,
“So you Abandoned your Goddess and left them All Alone Forever & Evar,
And yet… Benevolent?” She chided with a soft ‘Tsk’ of Disapprove. “Miss StrAngE wouldn’t do that. Nuh-uh!”

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Sliucha:

This annoying feeling, what did it remind Sliucha of...? Oh, yes. Iori. The elf couldn't help but think that maybe it made sense the two of them had gotten together in the first place, even if they'd wound up breaking up afterwards. For all that the priest deserved absolutely no sympathy at all ever, and that she remained of the opinion that Éclair had been the one to break up with him? Well. Both seemed to have an uncanny ability at provoking this particular feeling in her.

Which was kind of sad, as far as Sliucha was concerned, but hey. If she could change a bunch, so too could Éclair, maybe? Had she always been like this?

"You'd think she'd like that, being all into pain and torture and stuff," Sliucha noted, definitely not purposely batting Éclair softly over the head with her wagging tail. "And it's not like she's alone, she has other champions!" Besides the one she'd killed. She'd still even been a Zyrgran then. Oops!

"How's Melissa doing?" Turn the conversation towards more pleasant things, perhaps? "Word through the nobility grapevine is that she's a Countess now? Congrats!"

---

Éclair:

“Discarded. “ Éclair reinforced,
Nodding her head in a sageous manner even as she took a tail whap in stride,
“Abandoned and Neglected.” She continued in sad little sing-song tones, realizing that there really wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough Honey Mead in the Tavern to,

Contend with dealing,
With an Errant Trickster Demon pretending,
To be Her Friend. Hmph! Aeternian’s really should have known better!​

No, didn’t need Her +1 to Intelligence Glasses to see through this ruse!​

“Some things Aren’t Done.”
Shaking her head from side to side,
“Like putting Mister Gentleman Jorel Plushy in bleach to be cleaned when the Instructions very, veeeery clearly say Do. Not. Do. This.” Which, well, while the other Plushies didn’t have those specifications? It was best to read between the lines than see if Mister Jorel Lord or Pharaoh Great could do with a chemical bath,

No, had found the loose end to prod and poke at!
Definitely not letting go until unraveled! Even if there was a hint of rose at Éclair’s cheeks in pride when it came to Melissa’s successes!​

”If Miss StRangE is a Traitor to Her Goddess,
Then Miss StrAngE Owes a Debt.” came the retort,
With a flicker of a stuck out tongue that had far more in common with Sliucha’s own than the Human-ish Guise that Éclair wore,​

“My Friends,
Don’t Change the World to make it Worse.
Benevolent is Mister Master Mindrapey Talky-Talk. It’s justTalky-Talk.
Pretending, Make Believing that Bad is actually Good is something the Ex would do. Hmph!”

"No, if you're Miss Sliucha StrAnGe,
You'd be trying to Help. Would! 'cause That's what My Friend would do. Did try to do! Hmph, Fox Demon Pretender."​

---

Sliucha:

"I mean, I don't see how that makes the world worse or anything," Sliucha noted.

"The last time I tried to help there was a demon involved that had fingers in places that fingers aren't supposed to be." Saying a lot for an Alithean. "So... I'm going to say that your summoned demons were so bad that they stopped me from helping. Ever. So it's kind of your fault?"

Made sense. So it was the Jorelite who owed a debt, right?

---

Éclair:

There was a flat look,
A hand raised, waggling her fingers,
The Demon really had been rather perverse. It’d been the fingers on the eyelashes really that had rather grossed her out, but still!

Had it been for Her Mister Jorel?
No question at all! Would have had to be done!
Had done! Had even dealt with the Trash Collector’s God as a side effect of the Done and Trying! Hmph!​

”Quitter.
Never Give Up! Never Surrender!
The World Must be made more Interesting!
Friends are never Abandoned & One Does Not Forsake Their Love.”
Adamant, utterly serious as Éclair huffed.​

“Miss StrAnGe wouldn’t,
‘cause My Friends; wouldn’t. Is as simple as that.”
She insisted, ever inclined to believe the Best out of people until they’d proven themselves to be the Worst. Which, well, Ex and Mister Master Mindrapey & the Zomboy and the LeToy, really… it just seemed to be a Boy Thing…

”Nope!
I was just Support!
I’m not the Quitter.
Still have the Fuzzy Blue Blanket and Honey Mead and Everything!”
Ok. So she’d drunk that particular batch of Honey Mead, but there was more on hand! Just… so long as she didn’t drink that too.​

”Debt is on Miss StRanGe.
And Miss StrAnGe would always get My Support & Help as a Friend.
You, Fox Trickster Demon Liar Person I’m sooo not sure about.”​

---

Sliucha:

Sliucha felt like she could use all of the experience that she'd managed to muster in her time working in Moonstone to figure out how to deal with the current situation and happened upon an answer that was elegant in its solution and simple in its design.

"Kay!"

Sliucha was right. That's all that mattered. Didn't need to convince Éclair of such in the end, right? The Jorelite almost sounded like she didn't want to be convinced, and it was starting to get to the point where maybe Sliucha just shouldn't burst that bubble. Ignorance was bliss? Never before had the statement made as much sense.

Really, really did understand now how maybe she and Iori had come together, though. It was like explaining to the Incubus why it wasn't a good idea to be super flashy about the whole "building a Temple to Alithea" thing. It made so much sense now!

Yup! Mmhmm! Everything was much clearer now. Just because a Jorelite deserved respect didn't mean they were sometimes stupid, too. You know? It was almost reassuring that somebody like Éclair really had some character flaws and all that. Sliucha patted the Jorelite on the head, smiling at her like one would to a simple child. Coming to that realization made things waaaay easier. Didn't get the hangup about this fox trickster demon or whatever, but... didn't matter! Sliucha was right.

Although, being an Alithean and all...

"Was your tongue always like that?" It seemed familiar somehow, was all.

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Éclair:

There was a smug,
Self satisfied look from the young Jorelite,
As the torrent of Talky-Talk managed to subdue the errant Demon!

Beaming proudly,
Éclair was assured that,
Her Friend and the Trickster Fox,
Clearly weren’t one and the same,​

’cause,
While, well, they looked kinda similar around the eyes?
There was no doubt in Éclair’s mind, none what so ever, that a person would abandon their God.​

An Aetherian maybe,
‘cause they just had no Standards what so ever!
But someone else? Nuh-uh! Nope!
Which did ensure a celebratory, polishing off of the last of the Honey Mead,
As she slouched into the chair, dark eyes all but closing over as the reassuring Acceptance was ceded and the Question that,

”Hmm?
Yes.” Éclair decided,
Pretty sure she’d met Miss Cassie and Miss Sarella,
Before she’d spoken to Miss Sliucha StrAngE last. Most definitely given that had been in Ziel Aerca!​

---

Sliucha:

Huh! Sliucha supposed she just hadn't paid all that much attention to it before. Some things, she just noticed a lot more now that she was an Alithean.

"Did you want some more mead?" the question came as she noticed that Éclair had finished off the last of hers. The two had apparently reached an impasse when it came to the rest of their conversation, so... time for general niceties?

---

Éclair:

Yes.
Wait. No.
Wait… was she…
There was a definitive pause,
As Éclair nursed the empty mug of No-More-Honey Mead,

Adamant in the belief,
That when the means presented itself?
That there should always be more!​

But that,
Well, as Important as Éclair believed,
It to be? No, there was more Important Matters,​

Like the whole,
Trickster Fox Demon person,
And its association with Miss Sliucha StrAngE,
Most assuredly needed Fixing. Rectifying even. Perhaps!

Plus, Fox Demon,
Was, t’was a little less problematic,
Than the Too-Many-Fingers-Demon. Just a little.​

”Nuh-uh.
Have to Fix the Miss Pain.”
Éclair insisted, “Can’t, well, shouldn’t do that Tipsy.”​

Or, well,
Given what the Goddess was,
Perhaps Tipsy wasn’t anywhere near far gone enough,
No, Goddess of Pain & Torture? Hammered seemed a far safer state of being… but… but…. Important!

---

Sliucha:

Oh!

Kaaaaay.

"Wouldn't it also be good not to be super tired if you were trying to do that?" Sliucha suggested. It looked like Éclair was fighting something fierce not to just nod off, after all. "So... if that's what you're going to be trying to do, maybe it'd be better to turn in before you do so."

Which also meant it was totally fine to get hammered now, of course.

---

Éclair:

Blink-Blink.
“No.” as contrariness reigned supreme,
Uncaring that she was being difficult, ‘cause there was More Important Matters to attend to! Like Fixing Things and Helping!

Would have,
Had admittedly Forgotten about the Goddess of Pain,
And done her very, very best to forget the Demon Guide that she’d called forth,​

Mistakes had been made,
Not all Demons were Friendly or Welcome,​

The huffy look wilting though,
As Éclair’s attention diverted readily back to the warmth of the fireplace,
That as welcome as the Arakmatian Frontier was, t’was, the warmth of Honey Mead & Bed and Anna & Meli had always reigned supreme.

Winter was,
T’was Difficult,​

Focus!
Pay Attention!​

”No, you definitely,
Don’t get to give me a Bedtime. Nuh-uh!
I can stay up as long as I like and that’s that!”​

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Sliucha:

"Do it, then!"

Staaaaaaaare.

Now to play the waiting game. Toasty fire. Honey mead already imbibed. Warm blanket.

A perfect cocktail, surely?

---

Éclair:

“No.” Hmph!
Wasn’t, t’wasn’t,
Going to be Told What To Do,
By Anyone!

Well.
Other than Her Mister Plushy Jorels’
And Anna. And Melissa. And sometimes Cerys ‘cause the alternative was potentially having to run Temperance herself and that would never work,​

But certainly didn’t,
Wasn’t when it came to someone who obviously wasn’t,
T’wasn’t Her Friend! Nuh-uh!​

Which made for the same huffy look,
As Éclair folded her arms beneath her breasts,
The rattle of jewelry as she wriggled that much deeper into the chair,
Legs momentarily curling up beneath her as the hem of the net dress rode about the Jorelite's upper thighs,

”Go Fix Miss Pain,
Or shoo-shoo ‘cause I don’t like Heathens.”​

---

Sliucha:

"No."

Sliucha wasn't going to listen to Éclair any more than Éclair was going to listen to Sliucha. That sort of thing was a two-way street, give and take, just like many other things in life as far as Sliucha was concerned.

Wait. Why would Éclair care about her fixing Miss Pain if she didn't think she was Sliucha? But then again, she'd also refused. So that was probably not going to go anywhere if she brought it up, either.

So, yup! That's where it was going to stay. No.

Staaaaaaaaaaaaaare.

---

Éclair:

Déjà vu.
Could swear,

Quite fluently when she set her mind on it,​

That she’d gone through this before. Impasse.

Still Éclair glowered at the fireplace,​

Still the huffy demeanor remained,
Only for Éclair’s arms to unfold, an irritated flick of her dark hair across her bare shoulder,
And in a sinuous manner that bespoke of a little too much time spent with certain Lamian’s, the Jorelite rose from the makeshift nest she’d fashioned within the tavern, hands running across her lithe frame to smooth out the linen net dress that she wore. Habitually emphasising the stark reality that Éclair was wearing far more in gems and precious metals than she was actual fabric,​

“Heathen.”
Éclair admittedly,
Had a rather conflicted time,
At the best of times with other Aeternian’s,
And that this one was pretending to be Miss StrAnGe?

Annoying.​

She might have been,
But refused to even consider, that indeed,
Some Things simply weren’t done. Not everything was to be done! Some things? Nuh-uh!​

Still, there remained,
A chipper skip, a slight bounce to Éclair’s step,
As she stuck out her tongue at the Fox Demon before flouncing off to most definitely, absolutely, positively not go zzZzzZ!​

No, would leave the Fox Demon,
To AnNoY someone else,
And well, probably, probably,
Be a good ThIng, to send word to Ziel Aerca,
That there was a terrible, ghastly Imposter about!

---

Sliucha:

Bleh! Sliucha simply stuck her tongue right back at the Jorelite. "Your face is a heathen!"

For all that Éclair was really pretty and seemed to hypnotically rise from her chair and stuff? Kay, had learned that the friends you made when you were sorta kinda really crazy? Probably also sorta kinda really crazy! A different sort of crazy from the mess that was, say, Iori, but not something Sliucha was particularly fond of either way.

You know what? Sliucha felt like ignoring any mail that might be sent from Temperance for a while! Hmph! And now she'd claimed this warm spot by the fire all for herself!