Day 54

[worldlyafflictions]

[Having kept an idle ear on the public channel for the last week and gotten a better idea of what to actually look for, Shima chimes in again today after coming across a rolled up scrap of scroll among the Scribe's writings.]

Hey guys, more news for ya. Maybe bad news? Unless RM-san's got some kind of amnesia thing going on and just doesn't remember being the last piece, [--that's a joke, mostly--] sounds like our last Miracle can run from us.

"The third, a Beast with a coat and blood of Red, with thoughts and dreams to match its will. As a being of Birth and Decay, its life was its own. It could not be held by the hands of its creator, and fled to the wild, seeking the freedom it was denied."

Looks like it escaped on its own.

Comments

[lordofthering]

"Beast" is a term that can be used to apply to any Wyld Fae... or any animal, for that matter. "The Great Beast" is simply a title given to whichever Wyld Fae is deemed to be the most powerful at the time.

[worldlyafflictions]

Haha, I guess it woulda been too convenient if you were just in disguise.

[lordofthering]

I'm not nearly so old as that. As fae go, I'm actually quite the spring chicken.

[betheman]

Hmm! Then what we seek is certainly some form of animal...

Though, I, the man Gongenzaka, did not know that about the title Great Beast..!

How fitting in your case, then~ [Chimes in Marishi herself.] What caught our eye however is what was being discussed not long ago.

Namely the matter of 'Beasts' with a capital, and the location of the Silver Mirror!

Though it would be quite a hope indeed to have both artifacts so close, wouldn't it~

[worldlyafflictions]

Guess we don't have anything that says the Red Beast here couldn't have run off there, even if it came before Eden should've existed.

[betheman]

It is good at the least however, to know that it is a Beast however!

I do enjoy this 'temporary name' of Red Beast however, I must say- [Shush Marishi.]

With the knowledge of what they are, we can presumably unearth more information, with far more ease after all...

[worldlyafflictions]

Blue Rose, Silver Mirror, Red Beast--it seemed ta fit the theme.

[betheman]

It does~ One almost hopes it's their true name~

Mmm, though if it is a Beast, one wonders if we could perhaps directly communicate with them for that matter...

[chronosynthesis]

And was that you? [Since she's confirming that's not related to a miracle. And there was one little detail in the story that matched what she told Strange.]

Because I did find something about The Great Beast.

[lordofthering]

H-Hah! [It bubbles out, an uncertain mixture of amusement and... uncomfortable surprise?] I shouldn't be surprised that there would be tales about me... considering...

It was what I was called when I still lived in Arcadia, yes. The only ones that call me that now are the tiresome Court fae that have decided to chase us.

[chronosynthesis]

[Oho.]

It seems not even you are safe from embarrassing stories of your youth. [He says it lightly. It's pretty humorous, all things considered.]

I still have it. Something about a Maiden of the Winter and Summer Courts coming to you for aid, and you would only relent in a competition.

[lordofthering]

Oh... yes, that would do it. How nostalgic.

That would be the same Maiden we've met in the Summerlands. It's how we met.

[chronosynthesis]

It did sound like it. [Syrlya was briefly around for the Summerlands, but he never met the Maiden there. She's the one who took in the Manor servants, though, so he has a positive impression of her.] They were both trying to bring a 'new era' to the Fae, and didn't care much for their infighting and violence... what became of that?

[He assumes it wasn't terribly successful, given the still fighting.]

[lordofthering]

[Listen as the Ringmaster sounds increasingly awkward.]

Our plans ultimately ceased to be effective. It all turned out to be much more complicated than I'd imagined.

[chronosynthesis]

And you do not wish to talk about it. [He presumes, when she takes the vaguest possible answer to his question.

Still, if not about the actual attempt to change the Courts, there's another detail he's curious about.] We know where the Summer Maiden is, but what happened to the Winter Maiden?

[lordofthering]

[A long pause.]

I believe... she is going by the Winter Queen, now.

[chronosynthesis]

... Ah. [Well. That's unfortunate.]