Arc 1-Session 3-Mini 7 - Shade/Solaria

Kyoko - Yesterday at 3:06 PM
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The CR-20 had to be parked on Solaria's world. She's not arrogant enough to name it after herself, of course- the pantheon she's a member of is very large- but she is the one who lead the charge to link it to Pinnacle, so the dimensional mirror gate comes out just south of her largest cathedral and Alicia's internal notes on the Pinnacle wiki are just labeled "Solaria's World".
Shade has a great deal of time while the souls are unloaded and everything is negotiated here.
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:36 PM
Shade personally sticks out like a sore thumb. At least, she feels that way. She's loathe to slip into a shadow and hide because she shouldn't hide from things which are only uncomfortable. That's how you create bad habits.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:38 PM
"Lady Shade." One of the priests who'd been handling thing with the Pinnacle crew. "Is this a good time?"
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:38 PM
A "!" She doesn't leap into her own shadow. She does turn though. "...um. sure. for what?" She's a bit startled. What would anyone want with her?
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:39 PM
"For a meeting," the priest smiled indulgently. "Someone wished to have a word with you."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:40 PM
"um...yessir." ....Okay. So. She probably won't get shivved. And she owes the church so...
...."now is fine. uh, i'm not really doing much!"
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:42 PM
"Considering your victory against a high-ranking demon and liberation of three thousand hell-bound souls, I would say you have more than earned the right not to be doing much right now," the priest said with a grin. "Still, there's someone who really wants to have a discussion." He opened a door for her. There seemed to be light coming out of the room. Lots of light. Not blinding, but...
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:43 PM
"!" ....
Her first instinct is to HIDE
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:44 PM
"Shade." The voice coming from inside the room was feminine and... soothing. Kind. "Please come inside. No harm will come to you, I promise."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:45 PM
A tiny fidget. But she heads in anyway. "...yes'm..."
She squeaks that out, feeling very small all of a sudden.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:47 PM
Everything in the room, even the air, seems bright and luminous. Yet, somehow, it's not bright enough to be painful.
There's a throne in the back of the room, currently unoccupied. Various (digital?) maps on the walls. And in the center, a supernaturally-beautiful woman with long, bright flames in lieu of hair, veritably radiating power. "Hello, Shade. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Solaria."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:48 PM
"...um...t-technically it's the shrouded maiden ma'am..."
She walks up. And bows. She's unsure how protocol works here.
"....you um...you have very nice paladins ma'am."
....Fidget fidget.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:50 PM
"They are rather nice, aren't they?" the sun goddess smiled. "Do you prefer if I called you Shrouded Maiden? I am no stranger to protocol. Whichever you are more comfortable with."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:51 PM
"shade. or rachel if you want my old name." The girl smiles a little. "shade is more...me though?"
"it's my name."
"not my title? or something..."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:52 PM
"Very well. Shade it is." Solaria never stopped smiling. "I understand you are still adjusting to your current situation."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:52 PM
"...um, yes. i'm still trying to figure out...me. and what i can do."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:54 PM
"As is to be expected." The goddess gazed into her eyes. "If you need help, advice from someone more experienced in divine matters, or merely a sympathetic ear... I wanted you to know that you have my full support."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:55 PM
"...that would be great!" She beams. "um, i mean,..." a cough. "...uh, that would be amazing lady solaria...or uh, solaria." a fidget, her grin slighly wilting under her own sense of awkwardness.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:56 PM
"Call me whatever you like," said the regal, burning figure. "...Except Miss Poopyfire. Don't call me that," she said, her expression remaining just as serious and regal as before.
Hoshi - Yesterday at 3:57 PM
"okay. uh, solaria it is." A nod. "...so, uh, what advice do you have? i mean, i have no idea even where to get started with...doing godly things."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 3:58 PM
"Well, power is power," said Solaria. "You had power as a human. You have a different amount of power as a junior deity. What do you want to do with it?"
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:00 PM
....Shade frowns. And thinks. She begins to say something then stops. Then starts to say something again, then stops. And then frowns a little more and bites her bottom lip. "i...i want to help protect...things. people. show that the night isn't evil...yeah?"
"...i...the person who had this before me..."
"they were bad. auntie, uh, my aunt, she told me that much."
".....i don't want to be like that."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:03 PM
Solaria nodded, her expression changing slightly. "Did you know... in the majority of cultures that arise in diurnal creatures, such as humans, darkness and the night tend to be associated with evil. With terror. Not to surprising - humans struggle to see in the dark, and thus the night is source of terror for them."
She pressed one of the screens on the wall, and a picture appeared. The Moon. No... A Moon. The craters were different. "Do you know what this is?" Her voice seemed to have hitched slightly.
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:04 PM
"a moon? the one here?"
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:05 PM
"Indeed." The sun goddess looked solemn now. "It regulates the tides. It offers some modium of light at nighttime. Also, it serves as prison for an eldritch cosmic abomination that would rend this world to pieces were it allowed to go free."
She paused. "It was called 'The End'. A long time ago, villainous forces managed to summon it from another part of reality. An apocalyptic threat that could have obliterated an entire planet and its whole population."
Her fist tightened. "The goddess of the Moon stepped in. Fought the End. Dragged it into the very heart of the Moon. And then closed it around them both. For so many centuries now, she has been imprisoned there. Both prisoner and warden. Keeping the End trapped, sacrificing her own freedom in the process, and thus constantly saving the world.
"The Moon goddess. Selena, goddess of the Moon, Darkness, and Protection." She paused. "My sister."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:10 PM
"...oh. i'm...i'm sorry."
Shade would give her a hug. But flaming hair.
"is there anything i can do to help?"
...please don't say fight The End....
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:13 PM
Solaria gave her a sad smile. "Just by being yourself, you will remind people that darkness and evil are separate things. And as you might imagine, I rather take exception to the notion that they are one and the same. Be the benevolent night goddess that you are already inclined to be, and I will be grateful." She chuckled. "I imagine my gratitude is not that vital next to the gratitude of those you protect, such as three thousand recent rescuees, but you shall have it nevertheless."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:14 PM
"well um...right! i'm just not sure how to do that..." A moment. "not being myself, i can do that. but doing a good job as a night goddess..." A few moments.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:16 PM
"Goodness, who said anything about not being yourslef?" Solaria raised her eyebrows. "That is not tenable. No, far better to be yourself. The best version of yourself that you can manage." She paused. "The night, much as I would prefer otherwise, is full of terrors. If you can protect those who live in fear of it - perhaps, even, bring them joy in the darkness - then the night can become something to be welcomed. Does that not already happen in many technologically advanced societies? The 'night life', as it is called?"
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:17 PM
"um, i could! ....but i'm uh, mostly...uh, technically i'm also a goddess of assassination."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:19 PM
"Not my favorite tool, I will confess," Solaria grinned. "There are times when the assassination of a deadly villain may prove the lesser evil, but I do prefer alternative options. However..."
She activated another screen. This time, it displayed an oasis in the desert. A nearly-empty oasis, with hundreds of humans gathered around it.
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:21 PM
"what's that?"
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:24 PM
"A spot of this planet. This is the only source of water there within a radius of seventy miles. Normally, it suffices for the local population, but recently, a sudden migration almost emptied the oasis. At this rate, the water will run out, and thousands will die."
Her fiery hair rose, her shimmering aura flickered. "But now, sunlight over that area has dimmed. Only slightly. Barely noticeable. But enough that, for the next few weeks, temperature will be a few degrees lower. Evaporation will be slower. And the water will, if just barely, suffice for everyone."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:25 PM
"oooooh."
"that's really impressive!"
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:26 PM
"Thank you. But my point is, as a sun goddess, it is not only my duty to give light and warmth. It is also to avoid shining it where it would do harm."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:27 PM
"right. so...not just do darkness things but also keep the darkness from hurting people?"
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:28 PM
"Or, as it so happens, assassinations," Solaria smiled. "As a goddess of it, you will have some nontrivial added awareness of those who attempt to stealthily take lives, and of said attempts."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:30 PM
"i think so. i mean, i haven't really in the past, or not yet. but i imagine it will happen."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
"As it happens..." Solaria took a pondering tone, "I happen to know for a fact that, in a city less than a hundred miles from here," she showed a map of the region and the city in question, "a killer has been contracted to end a woman's life."
She gazed at Shade. "If you would, Shade... I would ask that you focus. That you look inside. And that you sense the thread of your self that resonates with this incoming assassination attempt."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:35 PM
nods and FOOOOOOCUSES. She's trying to reach inside herself and do what the goddess has told her to do. Mmmmf. Alright. This shoudln't be too hard. She hopes...
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:37 PM
There was... something. Something hard to define, but definitely something. In... the Southern corner of the city.
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:37 PM
"...um...i can sort of feel...something."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:38 PM
"Good," said Solaria. "Now, try to home in on it. Think about the act of assassination. About the taking of life. If it revulses you, then locate the source of that revulsion."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:40 PM
....Killing people really doesn't bother Shade that much. Killing the wrong sort of people does. Which is what she focuses on.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:42 PM
That building. The tavern.
The upper floor.
The middle room.
The man with the dagger, silently creeping toward the elven woman in her bed.
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:43 PM
...."um...should i just shoot him or..."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:44 PM
"You control darkness," said Solaria. "Darken his eyes at the critical moment."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:45 PM
"...okay." She fooooocuses. She's never done anything this long range before, but she's got Solaria watching her so she's TRYING HER HARDEST!
....
She's making a concentratey face.
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:48 PM
The assassin, surprised, stumbled, but still tried to stab with his dagger in the general direction of the elven woman.
Who, grinning fiercely, suddenly jumped out of bed, grabbing his dagger-holding arm with one hand, and punching him with the other.
...It was probably not regular practice to wear armor to bed, come to think of it.
"Wha... You knew I was coming!"
"Who do you think PAID for this?" the armored elf grinned. "Hello. My name is Altricia Everglade, paladin of the Order of the Sacred Flame, and I have a LOT of questions for you about your superiors."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:49 PM
"oh. um...she has that well in hand didn't she?" A fidget. "...but i did help..."
So, that's something!
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:50 PM
"You did," Solaria smiled. "But if I was going to have you practice foiling an assassination, it only made sense to be ready to prevent said assassination from succeeding in the first place. After all, one who trains in first aid does not practice for it in a hospital's emergency room. One trains under safe conditions."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:52 PM
"that's true."
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:53 PM
"Do, however, consider the possibilities," said Solaria. "Your portfolio of assassination can, in truth, make you the very bane of assassins, should you wish to be. And believe me, there is much evil to be foiled in such a manner, and many lives to be saved."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:54 PM
nodnods. "right! that makes sense!"
She seems so happy about that. "
sun tzu (Daphne Miller) - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
Solaria smiled. "There is no moral inevitability to any given power, Shade. No good powers, no evil powers - just people, and what they choose to do with the power they have. So long as you choose to use your power for the good of the multiverse, I will be proud to count you as an ally."
Hoshi - Yesterday at 4:57 PM
"well, that's what i'd like to do. i mean, i try and superhero and stuff. and do a good job. and um...try and do right by uh, kintara and anyone else who wants to worship me..." A fidget. Solaria almost certainly did feel Shade empowering one of the souls rescued.