soul_logs | [Closed] Souls for soles

Lily scoffed at the suggestion. "I didn't bring a swimsuit. Besides, you know very well I can't swim."

Walking to the end of the pier, she looked out at the Atlantic. Despite the fact that the waters should have been dotted with sailboats and fishing charters at this time of year, all that was visible was a lone sailboat. Apparently, the tales of bloodthirsty whales had scared off most vacationers. A boat rental business down the beach didn't seem to be having any luck, a dozen unrented boats tied up to their docks. And the fishing charter place they had passed earlier had a sign on the door saying they were closed indefinitely. The cry of gulls and splashing of the waves were much more audible than the laughter of children and their families playing on the beach.

"I reckon trying to row out there on our own isn't practical either." Unlike Lezard, she wouldn't want to risk others in their hunt. "Was there any mention of the closest this critter has come to land?"

"The report had noted that particular charter business further down the beach as the latest in suffering an attack, closing their doors for the safety of visitors and employees. They'd been struck not a mile from shore," he recited, pushing back his cloak against the humid New England heat. The buzzing of cicadas had long since stopped being jarring to the ears.

"Hm. So many unused vessels... perhaps their owners will refrain from feeling offended if we borrow one for Shibusen business if it is returned afterward." If it's destroyed in the process? Well, that's out of his hands. But he gestured to one of many mid-size fishing boats bobbing like corks in the water.

"Lezard, we can't just steal someone's boat!" she admonished with a huff. Admittedly, she wasn't above breaking into crime scenes or doing other things of questionable legality once in a while back home. But it seemed best to keep a low profile here with her witchy secret and avoid the attention of the authorities.

"But a mile's still pretty far out and we'll definitely need one unless you can think of a way to lure them all they way here to shore." She turned back up the pier and headed down the beach, her canvas sneakers sinking slightly into the sand. The charter fishing place might have been closed but as she shaded her eyes from the sun, she spotted someone sitting outside the shack that housed the boat rental business. Maybe, the could talk the fellow into letting them rent one of his boats...

The look he gave her was almost frighteningly blank, save for slightly lifted eyebrows. Don't... steal the boat? Well, what on earth were they supposed to do?

But as she walked away, he turned and was quick to follow. Ah, someone else was here. How did he miss them? Ah, but the sun was so bright here, the glare off the sea enough to leave him half-lidded and unaware.

He immediately fished into a pocket for his communicator, flicking it on to his Weapon ID. Most folks knew what Shibusen was, and if not, flashing a fancy badge tends to get you whatever you want.

Lezard was learning. But whether for good or for ill remained to be-- pffhahaha, let's not kid ourselves.

"I beg your pardon..." He called to the lone individual seated ahead.

The man was about Lily's age and tanned, no doubt from countless summer hours spent along the shore. But he was examining a ledger in lap and his expression so grim that one would suspect he was giving himself white hairs over its contents. He snapped it shut at the sound of Lezard's voice and looked up uncertainly.

"Can I help you?" Surely, they didn't want a boat. He hadn't been able to rent one in nearly two weeks! And unless that changed soon, the business would have as good a chance of staying afloat as a leaky rowboat full of rocks. Probably they were just lost tourists because who would wear a cloak to the beach?

"We need a boat for a few hours," Lily replied with a nod.

They did want a boat! A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes and the man bit his tongue, warring with his conscience on whether to keep silent for a few moments. But as much as he wanted to rent a boat, he couldn't not warn them about the danger. "...Are you sure about that? There's a red whale out there that's been attacking fishing boats. It's scared off most of the vacationers already."

"While the area appears quite lovely, a vacation is far from our minds," Lezard replied, and lifted the communicator to eye level.

"We're here on Shibusen business to eliminate your current whale problem, as a matter of fact. We do lack the capability to walk on water, however." The communicator was withdrawn at the last moment, pocketed.

"And we very well cannot paddle our way out..." With a shrug of his shoulders, hopefully the man wasn't about to charge them for the boat, ill business standings or no.

The man gaped at the device. He had heard about Shibusen, that the people there were among the few capable of defeating such creatures. "You're really here to hunt the whale?" The tiniest glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

Lily nodded. "Yes, we are."

"But do you even know how to drive a boat?" The doubt was returning as he looked over at Lezard, who looked like he would never have even seen a motorboat, much less driven one. And then at Lily. Could these two really beat that whale who had sunk a half dozen boats already?

"Well..." She looked over at Lezard for help, considering she was terrible at lying. Lily might have been driving for about 15 years but it'd always been on land.

He caught the glances but did not flinch. He was trying to update his wardrobe, but it was a slow, arduous process.

With a shrug he added, "To man a boat can't be that difficult. 'Tis a car that runs over water, correct? Then you factor in the resistance of the water and work from there. I am a genius, after all."

"Not exactly." The man sighed, still unsure about this, and wondering how they intended to hunt the whale if they did catch up with it. Did one of them turn into a harpoon? He addressed Lily since she looked more up-to-date than Lezard. "Do you at least know how to drive a car?"

"I've been driving since I was a teenager," she answered with a nod. No need to fib there.

His face was reluctant as he ducked inside the shack and returned with a set of keys. "Okay, I'll give you a lesson on how to maneuver a boat but be careful. I can't afford any more losses and you'll have to pay if there's damage to the boat."

Leading the way to the smallest of the motorboats, he proceeded to explain the controls, caution that it took longer to stop a boat because there were no brakes, and point out that steering causes the boat's stern to swing rather than the bow.

Half an hour later...

Lily hoped she could remember everything as she fastened a life jacket over her white dress. Picking up another of the neon orange garments in the back of the boat, she held it out to her partner. "Did you remember all of that? Put this on and then we'll go looking for that critter."

It was an odd lesson. He knew of the lack of resistance in water and how a ship maneuvered, but the minimalist approach was unusual in this day and age. Such a small boat, and people simply rode them out to sea? So used to large ships and crews of individuals, the idea of a vessel holding only two or three people seemed a little risky when the ocean was so unpredictable.

...That, and he was making a slight face at the sight of the life jacket.

"It was simple enough..." He accepted the garment and squeezed it between his fingers. Ah, so this was a kind of floatation device in case they capsized. The color was bright the noticable, he understood, but...

"This is positively garish."

She noticed the face. While the neon orange induced flashbacks to the day-glo colors trendy in the 1980s, it did serve a purpose.

"It'll make it easier for someone to find you in case you fall overboard. And help you stay afloat. Last I checked, soggy books don't float very well so just put it on. Or do I have to do it for you?"

Hands on her hips, she looked up at him in challenge. It was clear she wasn't starting the boat until he was wearing the ugly thing whether he put it on himself or she had to wrestle him into it.

Lily looked silly in the thing, and if he recalled correctly, she had no need of such things. Still, he supposed when in Rome... and they had a soul or three to collect, did they not?

Without a word he adorned the ridiculous thing, but made sure to pull his cloak on over the garment. He could salvage at least a little of his dignity!

"Your concern for my well-being forever lightens my heart... especially before we lock horns with demon whales."

Yes, she did look pretty silly in the puffy orange thing. But considering they were up against a demon whale, Lily wasn't so sure she didn't need it. After all, a demon had been the only thing to ever pull her underwater and she'd lost some of her buoyancy in this world.

Still, she couldn't help laughing when Lezard put the life jacket on and then tried to conceal it with his cloak. "You look ridiculous."

She settled at the wheel of the motorboat and steered it away from the dock, only narrowly missing one of the pilings as the stern swung around and inciting a yell from the man on the dock. A little sheepish, she gave a small wave and slowly maneuvered the boat away from shore.

"I reckon we'll need a way to bait Moby Dick. Just driving around and hoping we find the critter might not get us anywhere."

She laughed, and Lezard looked very much like a cat who had been rubbed the wrong way as he settled down in his overly poofy life jacket. What life was there to preserve when you're bobbing like a cork in a silly vest?

--Whoops. The boat was insured, right...?

Thankful for the subject change a while later, he rubbed his chin.

"These creatures subsist entirely on souls. The method of soul fragments shed from me to lure the horse should work here, but the sea may extinguish the flame if I do not maintain focus to keep it above water at all times."

"I guess that would be a problem," she mused as she steered past the sailboat they'd seen from the beach and out to sea. Things looked peaceful so far and there certainly wasn't any sign of the killer whale that she could see. "Or maybe you could pretend to be a fisherman since the whales have been attacking them. I think I saw a pole in the back."

"But we'd better go out a bit further and stop first. Trying to steer this thing and cast spells at the same time sounds like a recipe for an accident!"

"The boats are so few... I suppose it must be feeling rather famished, if anything." Fishing? That he could do. But if she needed to be further out, he could wait.

But he had to wonder just what kind of whale it had to be to develop a taste for humans rather than the fish or krill. For such a well-known, gentle creature to take up man-eating certainly spoke of the personality of what they were to face.

He'd just have to be ready.

"At least that means there aren't other folks for it to attack." Perhaps, it would be lured out more easily if it was hungry...

"And once we do find it, I suppose we'll have to figure out some way to keep it at the surface. Or feed it some fireballs." Being surrounded by water wasn't the ideal way to fight when you were using fire spells. Now that she thought about it more... "Or maybe, I should hold onto that fishing pole instead. Then, you could change and sit in my lap so that we're ready when that critter shows up."

Bringing the boat to a stop, she guessed that they were about a mile out now, the shore still visible but distant.

Once out, he mulled over both plans. They sounded both like long shots, but it was all they had. With a bow, he stood. "I do as my Meister bids. Should we catch anything, are we to keep it? ...Fish, of course."

He lifted a brow, looking out to the sea. His lips twitched, trying not to grin. "I doubt we've room in Death City for whales."

"Why? Is that a hint you want me to cook you a seafood dinner?" She couldn't help a small jest as she moved to the back of the boat. "Are you sure you'll still have an appetite for fish after a whale soul?"

Lily held out a hand to him and picked up the fishing pole with the other. There didn't seem to be any bait but she supposed that they were the bait with how this whale went after souls. Once he transformed, they would just have to settle down and wait.

"I made no such hint, my sweet, but if you're offering..." He left it at that with a laugh. Really, she didn't give him enough credit, but he'd heard such stories of the fish found here being some of the best one could eat! One grew so tired of the fare one could find in Death City. Even dark jokes lost their spark against the man, if anything out of being desensitized.

He took her hand and shifted with a soft blue light. May as well see if this fishing idea would work. They were fresh out of options.

"Fishing for whales... I suppose one could add this to their bucket list."

Or maybe they could find someplace to sample the local seafood before they went back to the desert... It'd save the trouble of fish scales flying all over her kitchen.

They connected quickly and she took a seat in the back of the boat, setting the open book down in her lap.

"I reckon not many folks would want to, not with how ferocious these whales are supposed to be. Sense anything out there?"

Lily tried to cast the line but never having fished before, she snagged Lezard's bookmark instead. Oops...

Edited 2014-03-04 06:23 (UTC)

"I'll take a look." He turned in the comfort of the dark of soul space, expanding his reach and seeing if he can feel any hunger, any unusual emotions and pressure lurking in the deep.

...Until she'd tried to cast and he felt something prick and drag up his back. Lezard went rigid, the book twitching.

"No fishing excursions in the San Francisco bay, I take it...?" Asked politely, rubbing his back. That really hurt.

"Sorry. Are you all right? I didn't exactly have time to take up fishing back home." She looked down at the sketch in the book, sheepish as she unhooked the line. It was a good thing she didn't cast hard enough to accidentally send him into the water!

And it seemed safer to just dangle the pole over the side and allow the hook to drop down into the water. It just had to look like she was fishing...

"Let me know if you pick anything up."

"I will live. At the very least, I know how the fish feel." Not that he cared. Fish were better on the plate than in the sea. ...He craved fish.

The hook submerged and down it went. The sketch nodded and appeared focused.

"You will be informed. I have a feeling such a creature will be less than subtle." Yet there was a spark of nerves from his end of the connection. They bobbed like a cork in the sea, hunting for whales. Were the ship to capsize, they would be in significant trouble. Lily was buoyant, as he's seen, but would be helpless to any currents carrying them further from land.

...Yes. He was allowed to be be nervous.

"I reckon it'd be hard to be subtle at that size."

Lily could sense his nerves though their connection and had a few misgivings herself. They'd fought other creatures near water before but it'd always just been rivers or lakes, not on the ocean. And not something as large as a whale. If the creature overturned their boat, it could easily end with them becoming a fish's dinner rather than enjoying a fish dinner.

But they had to concentrate. She murmured a protective chant under her breath and focused on their resonance, trying to make her soul one with his.

Not realizing she'd forgotten to secure the fishing line after dropping it, the line slowly unwound until it was almost gone and then she felt a tug, a strong one. ...Were they inching out towards sea after the line?

"Dag nab it! I think I might have hooked the critter!"

At first he wondered if this would even work, but they were short on options. Plus, he figured he'd humor her.

Now, the boat was moving... "Lily...?"

Lezard tried reaching further, but only brushed against something. "Of course- the creature happens to reside outside of my current sensory range. We cannot let it take us out further. It must be brought closer to surface!"

But he had to think. How could they achieve that?

"Well, I doubt I can just reel the thing in! If it really is the whale, it'd be more likely to pull me overboard!" It had to weigh a ton, right? It was amazing the line hadn't already snapped with them being towed along as they were!

"Can you bait it now to get it to come up?" Maybe, if they did like he suggested earlier... "I can't hold on much longer!" Although she tried to dig her heels in, she could feel herself inching off the seat. She might have to let go of the pole to keep from being pulled into the water.

Time was of the essence, of course!

He merely had to focus, did he not? To sever a piece of his own soul's energy and materialize it, and set it over the water to hold was another matter entirely. But surely his soul was strong enough - why wouldn't it be? - and it had to be all the more enticing to a greedy monster.

Surely, he'll miss that drop of energy. Whale food. Really.

The flame of soul energy appeared, drifting out over the water to serve as a tiny speck of bait.

The pull on the line slackened and she glanced down at Lezard. "I think it's coming up!"

She concentrated, letting her soul's energy blend into his. They had to be ready to hit the creature with the strongest attack they could manage once it surfaced.

That worked.

--Er, well, of course it did! Really, kishin eggs were so gullible. Lezard was quite happy for that, though to be honest, he found their mindless hunger rather dull. Still, more souls for him!

"An immense hunger just passed through my range. It certainly is coming." So he opened up, felt a rising energy coursing through him. The popping static was beginning to quiet, along with the popping in his ears. Strange... has it always been this clear before?

Lezard reached, coaxing more. The soul space was growing so much warmer, so much more comforting...

Now, it was certain that they'd hooked the whale and not just any huge fish. Maybe, this fishing idea had actually been decent. Or the whale was just that hungry for souls....

With how the line had gone slack, Lily took the opportunity to drop the fishing pole and take hold of the spellbook. The witch could sense the sorcerer reaching out to her and she passed more of her energy to Lezard. The idea of fighting such a gigantic foe should have left her cold but the resonance felt warmer than usual somehow. And the calm that passed over her was almost like a trance.

Flames gathered in the air above them, starting to coalesce into something more serpentine than a simple fireball.

Something odd was building, a sense of calm washing over his mind, calmer than he'd ever felt before. Flames weaved and tightened, thickened, ropes turning to burning sinew. One end, then another of the whip-like flames formed a crack that spread into a cold reptilian grin.

Lezard's lips parted as if to speak, but he said nothing, perhaps fearing that speaking would break whatever was happening. When the massive, red-skinned whale burst from the water's surface, showering sea water here and there, it only seemed to offend the creatures the two had spawned, hissing indignantly.

They were finally free, and they wished to bite. They wished to bite, to feed, to protect.

Snakes? But the last time they had conjured snakes had been when she was a Weapon and they weren't nearly this large. And Lezard hadn't mentioned any snake magic from his world.

Still, it seemed better to figure it out later and focus on the whale for now. Trying to keep focus even as the waves created by the creature's appearance rocked the boat, Lily willed the angry snakes to go forward and battle with the whale.

The reptiles sped towards the whale, catching it in mid-air and keeping it suspended there as they sunk their fangs in and wrapped their bodies around its girth. Steam rose from the whale's flesh as the snakes burned at it.

Now this was interesting. He moved with such ease in the soul space, every last thought seeming to keep the beasts taut, bolster their aggression. This was a power he had not before seen, but had she not mentioned her affiliation with snakes in the past? Yet to him, they seemed similar to the sinewy beast summoned by his Dragon Bolt...

But the waves from their souls synced, the power ringing in his ears. If he didn't know any better-

"Is this a Resonance Attack...?" He asked quietly. The whale struggled so bravely all the while, but with a twitch of a brow in annoyance, he decided to tighten the coils. The venom- should they have any- should begin to boil the blood soon enough. Lezard would not break his focus. They needed the boat to hold, their resonance to hold, and the serpents to hold.

"A resonance attack?" Lily didn't recall hearing of that particular phrase before but didn't dare speak out loud for fear of breaking the spell. Whatever it was, the power felt greater than any they had achieved before, warmer and as if their souls had truly combined into one, closer even than the time she had inadvertently entered his soul.

The snakes did indeed have venom, injecting it through their fangs to burn away at the red whale from the inside even as it thrashed in the air, trying to dislodge their teeth. But it was a losing battle for the sea creature, the tightening coils branding a spiraling pattern into its hide and smoke curling from its mouth as the venom ravaged its insides. It wasn't much longer until it dissolved away, leaving behind a glowing red soul.

"It was touched upon in one of the books in the library," he noted, watching as the whale burst into nothingness. A note of satisfaction flit from his soul.

"Meisters and Weapons can achieve what is called Perfect Resonance, one without flaw or static, and in doing so can call upon greater powers to defeat their enemies in times of need." On that note, he grinned.

"...You had doubts we weren't a proper fit, my sweet. The snakes say otherwise."

"Oh, all right. I guess we do work together pretty well." She'd realized months ago (to her dismay, at first!) that she seemed to resonate better with him than anyone else. Still, it wasn't something she admitted out loud that often.

"But why the snakes? That seems more like when I got turned into my Book of Shadows. Unless there's something you haven't mentioned about snakes back home?"

Together, the snakes grasped the soul with their fangs and returned to the pair in the boat, dropping the glowing sphere onto the spellbook's pages before vanishing in a flash of light.

He felt that rush of energy revitalizing him, but was too lost in thought to make any note of it.

"To my understanding, no, save for the great serpent Nidhogg chewing away upon the world tree's roots. But that itself is merely a rumor, despite the existence of every other fabled creature. I will need some time to think of any other connectons, but for now, I feel no malevolent presence. We ought head back to shore."

"The world tree?"

Lily picked up the fishing pole again and tried to reel in the line only to find it impossibly tangled. With a shrug, she pulled the rest out of the water and tossed it in a corner of the boat before making her way back to the wheel and starting the boat again.

Setting the spellbook down on the seat next to her, she finally realized... "Huh? You look different than before, not like a musty old book anymore..." When did that happen? The blue leather was now a brighter shade, smooth and unmarked by grime. Even the dent from that spear had disappeared and the corners were a shiny silver.

"...I-" He expanded his senses and looked down upon himself. Slowly bringing a hand to his chin, he realized it too. He looked much cleaner, like a new edition to whatever book of the series he belonged to!

"So I do. A remark in one of the books involving resonance noted change in the Weapon, but I'd thought it spoke of the Deathscythe change. Perhaps it is soul energy in great amounts that reflects the outside as well as the in. 'A sound mind and body makes for a sound soul,' is the frequent topic."

But it needed exploring. How fascinating...!

"Nevertheless, this requires practice. Shall I coax Amaterasu out of the flower beds so that we may make use of Morning Training?"

"That Weapons change appearance when they become Deathscythes?" She thought she recalled Kanji mentioning something to that effect too. But this was a bit of a surprise.

"Do you intend to convince her to do the gardening? I've been thinking of quitting with the extra time the shop expansion has been taking." And of course, their trips out of town to hunt down demons...

As she steered the boat back towards shore, she became aware of a crowd gathering on the beach and pointing out towards the water and making excited gestures. "Huh? What do you suppose they're all worked up about?"

Perhaps, it was best that she didn't realize their defeat of the whale had spawned stories of sea serpents...

"Knowing her, she may stop because she is not harassing you all the while," he noted with a grin.

But he looked ahead and wondered what was going on. Whatever the matter, he had what he wanted and could not honestly care any less for the locals. There was a new power to investigate, and matters of study to attend to.

"...I can't imagine it would be a riot over what we've done. We've eliminated their problem. Shall I make the report this time?"

Lily huffed but kept her focus on guiding the boat back towards the dock, being careful not to go too fast in case she had trouble stopping. They last thing they needed was to wreck the boat after taking out the whale without any damage to it!

"That's fine with me. I never fancied making those reports much." The witch still preferred to keep talking to the folks at the school to a minimum when possible.

As they neared the pier, some of the excited chatter drifted over to them from the group on the beach.

"Did you see that?! Those sea serpents killed the whale!"

"Sea serpents? That's nonsense. You must have imagined it!"

"There were sea serpents! I got it all on camera! I wonder how much the news will pay me for the video..."

"Daddy, can we go swimming now if the whale is gone?"

"I don't know, honey. It might still not be safe."

"Of course, it's safe! The whale is gone!"

"Land sakes! Those folks saw our snakes from all the way out there?!"

Blowing on one of the windows of the boat, he wrote the numbers with his finger against the condensation.

"We did produce quite a bit of power, Lily. I suppose it was only a matter of time until they were seen in their magnificence, although it is a great deal sooner than I expected. Tell them it's swamp gas or something equally ridiculous." The true explanation was far too complicated. Still, when a Shibusen representative appeared in the reflection, he offered his report.

He would leave the ogling masses to Lily for the moment.

Lily glared at him for leaving the crowds to her. Hadn't he realized she was terrible at lying by now?

Still, the crowd on the beach rushed over as she pulled up to the dock, demanding to know if she'd seen what happened out there. Did sea serpents eat the whale?

"Um, there weren't any sea serpents. It was just swamp gas..." she answered weakly, fiddling with her neon life jacket.

"But it's the ocean!"

"Yeah, what really happened to the whale?"

"Well, it just jumped out of the water and thrashed around. Looked kind of sick to me. Maybe, it ate something bad."

But the crowd wasn't so easily convinced.

"But there was something else out there!"

"I got it on camera too!"

"Um..." This wasn't going well... She looked over at Lezard, wordlessly begging him for help.

Distracted by the time he'd finished the report, he turned and realized he was being watched. Were the people truly so interested in the affairs of demons when they themselves lacked the capacity to deal with one? That must be why the hellish creatures fed so well-

"...What occurred is Shibusen business. Regardless, the water has been cleared and you are free to make use of it however you wish." He paused, shrugged.

"Of course, what follows is just another measure of safety. You've all touched the water, have you not?" He looked among them, nodded and reached into his jacket.

"You all have choices two: See to your chosen medical professionals immediately to assure your clean bills of health..." With a lofty, theatrical sigh as he produced a very large hypodermic needle that Lily had most definitely seen before.

"...Or I inoculate the lot of you. Shall we form a line?"

An alarmed yelp. "You mean we might catch something from the water?"

"But I don't want a shot!" cried the little girl who had wanted to go swimming.

"Don't cry, honey. That strange man isn't going to give you a shot." Her father gave Lezard a dirty look and led her away. The rest also hurried off as if they just remembered they'd left the stove on in their vacation cottages.

Lily just shook her head as she finished undoing her life jacket and tossed it into the back of the boat. "Now that you've scared all of them off, are you ready to go back or did you still want your fish dinner?"

"You're welcome," he replied with a laugh, tossing the accursed life jacket into the boat as he was glad to never look at another one of those ridiculous things ever again. The needle went right back in his pocket for use another day. Unsurprisingly, dirty looks and the like never phased him. It became a waste of energy to remark on what you've faced a thousand times.

"The report has been made, thus we are in no hurry to return. I say we engage in the phrase 'having a bite'."

"All right. But you'd better not try to scare the waiter with that syringe."

She'd quickly return the keys for the boat and then they would be off. Surely, some restaurant around here still had some seafood to be sampled even if it wasn't local due to the no longer existent whale problem...

[Closed] Souls for soles

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