[Video]

[flickerflash]

[She'd been waiting for hours to see if they'd turn up.

Just a little after dawn on the 25th a piece of smudged notepaper gets carefully tucked into Katie's journal, and then she tosses the whole thing into the hollow log she's sitting on out in the forest.

The video clearly picks up the message. It's not very long.]



   Gone fishing.
Everyones invited
   except Raine.
  No drowning.



[There won't be any replies. She's gone.]

Comments

[flickerflash]

They're made very lightly. A cat has no attention span, always chasing after the last, lost pieces of light. But if you bell the cat, they will always hear it ringing.

[wise_maiden]

[That sounded... tricky. Very tricky. Opposites? Metaphors? Katie was always full of little tangles like these.] So it's the bells that are the reminders?

[flickerflash]

As long as it's heard, I can remember my promises and my vows. Until death do us part, but I'm too young to be married. [And that requires churches anyway. Katie knows she's making less sense than usual. She's not trying terribly hard to be clear. Except for the important part, a depth and gravity behind her words that might summon up images of being sealed in stone:]

A belled cat will never let you drown.

[wise_maiden]

As long as it's heard...

[But even bells can stop ringing, or grow rusty, the promise lost, forgotten. Or is that taking the metaphor too far? Is it based on trust, perhaps? ... It was almost ironic. Not very long ago, she was the teacher helping the girl, but those roles felt almost left behind in another world, as it were.] You promised that you wouldn't let me drown, and I believe in you.

[flickerflash]

You should never believe anything I say. [Katie giggles a little, still watching the water. If Raine does believe it, that should at least keep this echo manageable until it fades from view again.] I'm a frightful liar.

[wise_maiden]

Keeping up with you can be a challenge. Your words and your intentions can be very different things. [The water turns a little lighter and less stormy once Raine's stopped fixating on it, though the shadow slowly makes its way up the shade of the building.]

[flickerflash]

[...that shadow is a little peculiar. Katie watches it climb, trying to make it out.] I plan it that way, you know. All of life is a little game.

[wise_maiden]

[The shadow is very long, though the movement still subtle for now.] Hm. I can't say I share that particular opinion. Calling it a game seems to gloss over all of the little things that come together... and not everyone plays by the same rules.

[flickerflash]

That just means the world is made up of orderly people and cheats. Games are all about little things coming together. All those different dice rolls to get you over the finishing line.

[Perhaps it's a snake. It's a reaction to Raine's presence, her echoes, and so Katie keeps her eye on it.]

[wise_maiden]

The finish line?

[The shadow seems to twitch slightly at that, but still retains it's subtle position, flat and harmless as it rolls onto the roof's surface.]

I don't know if there's really a finish line to it. Certainly, there are little goals that a person has, from time to time, and sometimes when they feel that they've reached it, there's no more that they can do, but... it just seems too complicated to call it a true game from start to finish.

[flickerflash]

[Katie sighs. Raine is taking things too seriously and not-at-all opposite, but really more of her attention is taken tracking the shadow. It's probably harmless, but at the same time she's a cat and it's moving.

And on the roof. She points.] Do you know what that would be?

[wise_maiden]

Hm? [At first she's glad for the distraction--she really was taking the discussion too seriously, and it wasn't at all pleasant. Until her eyes fall on what the distraction actually is, and the shadows suddenly thicken before her eyes and in less than a blink, lunge forward to coil around her.] -- Oh, this is --

[flickerflash]

[It isn't until the shadows thicken that Katie finds its coiling movement familiar, and her eyes widen as she grabs reflexively over her shoulder for the hilt of a sword...which she doesn't have. Well, that's irritating. And coiling around Raine makes it complicated to get rid of.

This is recent. He attacked Raine too, did he?]

You're very rude to interrupt, Helios. Hold on. [She puts out her hands to touch the coiling shadow instead.]

[wise_maiden]

[Katie called it Helios. Did that mean --

... well, there wasn't much time to peruse that thought, despite a connection slipping into place. For now there was that pressing thought of how certain things could kill you here if you weren't careful - and she certainly knew how dangerous that shadow was. Katie was doing something though, so she tries to remain as still as possible, watching the girl take hold -]

... i-it's a demon. Or was a demon. [A God, it had called itself, but mostly she just remembers everything growing cold and numb and spinny as the mana was drained right out of her.] Be careful, please -

[flickerflash]

I'm always careful. [It's an echo. A ghost of a nightmare, and if she had her sword here she'd just fight it in the good old-fashioned way, because that would be fair. Her other option is an extremely disconcerting one, but no damage would really be done. She reaches her other hand across to Raine.] Would you take my hand, Professor Sage?

[wise_maiden]

[Mentally, Raine tries to shove those thoughts aside-the ones of growing numb and dread- though when Katie asks for her hand, almost no thought goes into the action, as she reaches a hand out to the one waiting for her. This was her world, she was better equipped to deal with the things that appeared in it, however unfair it was.]

[flickerflash]

[Katie's magic revolves around the art of wayfare-- quick travel and easy access, and if this shadow was a pure living thing she could never do this. But it's nothing but pure shadow, a trick of the light and the imagination, and she draws the fingers of her free hand down its side in a straight line-- and then thrusts them into the gap that suddenly appears, peeling the shadow back and yanking Raine through the space created.

...in effect, she basically just opened a doorway in the side of a living shadow. It's a little trippy.]

[wise_maiden]

[... Now she just needs a moment to process what just happened there, her eyes wide, but still trusting Katie's lead. And to catch her breath.] I -- goodness.

[flickerflash]

[Katie frowns at the shadow-- and flicks it away, now Raine is free of it, vanishing it into the middle of the forest somewhere. It probably looks rather comical, sailing off. But that's not what she's thinking about.] Is that going to happen often, do you think?

[wise_maiden]

I hope not. [She watches it sail off, then shakes her head and looks back at Katie, instead.] The idea of it must have been bothering me more than I thought it was.

[flickerflash]

[Yes, well. That brings up another point. Katie's eyes flick to Raine's face.] He attacked you, didn't he?

[wise_maiden]

He did. Or rather, the being that had been possessing him did. What do you know about it, Katie?

[flickerflash]

I know it's very rude to attack people when they're minding their own business.

[wise_maiden]

You weren't hurt at all, were you? [Paying close attention to her expressions, so she doesn't misjudge anything.]

[flickerflash]

[Katie looks up at her, face grave.]

Terribly. I died all over again. He was terribly merciless.