Spirit Eyes - Failure

[19:43] After a short walk, Lemuria lead the two of them to a mysterious set of ruins, unfathomably ancient, hailing from an age that preceded recorded history. Anyone with even the slightest spiritual sense could tell that this place carried a lot of history behind it, as the spirits there were highly eager to tell their story. Thoughts and feelings circled throughout the minds of everyone in the general area, although they were faint and hard to notice unless one specifically tried to listen.

"Heidi, you could consider this a final exam, of sorts. All kinds of spirits exist within these ruins- nature, human, and dark- but they all have a story to tell. To connect with them is to discern portions of the story amongst all the white noise that comes with a place so densely populated with spirits."

Lemuria held her arm up, as wisps became plainly visible on her arm. They had all kinds of colors to them and appeared to be in no particular order, but...

"The spirits here seem chaotic. They seem like they are flooding you with messages that do not make sense and are hard to organize. And yet..."

...upon saying that, the spirits surrounding her arm organized themselves based off of color. Even the dark ones, as erratic and unpredictable as they were, did the same.

"...an order is born from that chaos. After all, chaos is merely unrecognized order. Once you hone your spiritual perception enough, you will be able to recognize the story with ease. At which point, your training will be complete."

"Any questions?"
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[19:49] Dammit, Poppylus were sacked again. Poor Aerymi was going to be missing some flowers again. In the midst of this endeavour, Lavinia found herself in one of the many ruins in this weald of bizarre creatures and entities. No white flowers, shame. But what she'd find would be her first teacher, Lemuria, along her all-female family.

How cute.

At first, a little eavesdropping, though she did nothing to conceal her presence or anything. The drakanite allowed her frame to lean to the side, against one of the sturdy stone beams nearby. Arms crossed, she absorbed all the details she was instructing to the young clown.

"Ohhh, graduation is so soon, huh? My my, haven't we come a long way, aye?"

A smirk as she'd leer Heidi, scrutinizing her being to remark just how much she had evolved since her naive debut in Theria. Absolutely glorious.

"Hmmm. Spirits. Fascinatin'. Don't mind if I hop in on the field trip lecture, teach? I am just 'bout to sign our glorious dark lord's book in the next Tower Sabbath and I could always learn more, m'hm."

She took a few steps forward, arms opened in an inviting manner.

"I do have a question, however! Those spirits, they don't truly belong in the world of mortals, though, yes? I'm actually aware they have a realm. One oh so difficult to find. But maybe y'know more, teach."
(Lavinia Walters)
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[19:58] Oh, how fitting! Another one of her students showed up. She turned towards Lavinia and smiled, continuing her lecture, if only for the sake of dropping some exposition.

"Yes, that is true! They are not, in fact, supposed to be here. Well... that is not entirely true, per se. Nature spirits belong everywhere, not just the spirit realm, as they govern mother nature and her actions. But human spirits often linger around in the places they died when they have too many regrets to truly pass on. They usually believe, on some level, that they can only find the answers they need if they remain in one location. And, as such, they rarely allow themselves to enter the spirit realm unless that happens."

"To put it simply, spirits are the closest things to beings of pure thought that exist within this world, so they hang out in locations where they did a lot of thinking."

"Dark spirits, however, mostly hang out wherever they please. They are intrudersby their very nature, of both mind and thought, and do not technically belong anywhere except Helheim itself."

"Any further questions? I do not mind you hanging around either way, but I am always eager to share what I know!"
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[20:11] The trio strolled into the ruins, ducking through ancient vines and past crumbling walls. This place was older than anything she'd ever seen and had blatantly not been kept up. Things tickled at her burgeoning senses. She knew what they were now after her prior experiences; they were spirits. They'd already communed with the spirits of Nature and the spirits of the Dark, so perhaps these were the third set of spirits mentioned in Lemurias initial lecture. The Human spirits.

It would fit this area. Ancient, lost souls must crowd this place. But no. . there was another presence here. A presence that she recognised. The spirits of Nature. She settled down a little, but just as she did, the next group made an impression upon her mind.

She felt those darkened spirits from before creep up on her. They burrowed into her mind, drawing upon her darkest memories and emotions. Once again, she weathered the storm and as they glared at her, she glared back. They sensed how she reacted. They felt what she felt towards them. The creatures realised that she wasn't another feast offered up to them and quietly laid off on their most intrusive poking and prodding.

For now.

As Lemuria began her explanation, Lavinia appeared! Oh, she'd not seen Lavinia for a very long time now! She posed a fair few questions, interrupting their little moment, but the answers to which intrigued her! So all of these spirits hung around here for different reasons, but were all alien from this realm in a way. That made sense! Everyone has reasons for not wanting to pass on; Nature to protect and govern mother nature. Humans because they had too many regrets and could not pass on proper, and Dark spirits. . predominantly so they could fuck with people.

Interesting! She quite liked the reasoning for Dark spirits. It was most certainly something she'd do herself if she passed on. Regardless, she had a lesson to attend!

The wispsof spirits made their way around Lemurias arm as she summoned them upwards, floating and orbiting in a dazzling array of stunning, pretty lights! If she hadn't been in a more serious frame of mind, she'd probably have tried to play with them and dance around with them. Alas, not the time.

Order could not exist without Chaos. Not everyone could handle Chaos, so Order made its way into humanity. That was what Heidi got from that explanation, and it fit her mindset. Most people were sheep that simply followed orders without thinking for themselves. Without trying to experience the more unrestrained things that life had to offer! They weren't free and they did not seek to understand. They only sought to follow.

That wasn't her style.

"No questions here, mum! Lets carry on! And, hey, Lavinia!"

(Heidi Augustus)
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[20:18] Fundamentals were important and Lemuria was a great source of knowledge in that regard. The spirits of this world and the next, one that roamed it bound to nature and those of malicious intent. All so fascinating, all so useful to know.

"Ahhh. They have their place in our mortal realm, then, to an extent. And yet, they also do not, even for those bound to Nature, they are entities that are not truly necessary nor irrelevant to their environment."

Arms remained crossed, as Lavinia integrated herself into this intriguing witchcraft lesson. Herself having reached a level worthy of a pact with the dark lord, she felt it useful to learn about the specificity of spirits.

Of course, Heidi got an enthusiastic nod when saluted! Lavinia was certainly pleased to see her friend again.

"Now . . . I hope y'don't mind if I join ya' in this session, yes? I assure you, I do have the level and knowledge t'keep up."

She kept a sly little grin on her drakan expression.

"But, I do have a very important question. If spirits can enter our world, then . . . It is only logical that mortals be capable of accessing the spirit realm through their own means, yes? Am I keepin' a logical train of thought?"
(Lavinia Walters)
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[20:18] Alita Didn't mind at all! She's happy for anyone to join in Lemuria's lessons, as long as they desire to learn and aid their people!
(Alita Tym)
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[20:29] Lemuria also didn't mind. After all, she enjoyed the spreading of knowledge and understanding for its own sake.

"Yes, there is in fact a way of accessing the spirit realm! However, it is important to note that it is far more difficult for us to travel to them than it is for them to travel to use. Witches can open up portals to Helheim, but they are far too weak to actually travel thought. It would take something big for a physical body to enter the spirit realm; quite possibly more mana than one person could ever hope to generate."

...But Lemuria herself found that to be an unsatisfactory answer, so she held her chin, beginning to lose herself in thought. But, eventually...

She came up with something.

"...although. Our own spirits are technically separate from us, in a way. They exist within us and are connected to us, but..."

She began pacing throughout the room, back and forth, trying to make absolutely certain that this idea was at least theoretically possible.

"...it should be possible to jettison our own spirits into the spiritual realm and control them as if they were our own bodies. All that would be required is a deep connection with our own spirit and a safe space for our bodies. Then... perhaps... we could travel though the portals that witches could generate."

Hm.

"Perhaps it would not even be all that difficult to achieve this!"

There was not much more to explain about the goal of today's training; it was merely the same exercise as before, except listening to every kind of spirit and trying to discern the narrative they are trying to tell.

But Lemuria was very, very interested in answering any more would-be questions, as they really got her thinking.
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[20:33] Heidi thought about all that was being said. Travelling to the spirit realm? What an interesting concept. Start at Helheim, fight or sneak your way through and find ways to the other realms! Interact, learn, understand. . cause chaos???

The possibilities were endless! If Heidi knew anything about Dreamwalking, she'd suggest that the same concept of projecting your psyche into someone elses mind could potentially be used to wander the spirit realm without much issue. Unfortunately, she knew absolutely nothing of dream walking.

"Though, if our spirits are killed, there'll be no afterlife for us!"

That tidbit might be good to remember.
(Heidi Augustus)
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[20:42] The benefit of two very distinct teachers. Serenity Vander was far more opportunistic and did not hesitate to hex her own student to get what she wanted all the while exposing them to the full-on effects of witchcraft. Lemuria, on the other hand, was a bank of knowledge with immense enthusiasm put into it. Both had their results, and Lavinia was going to indulge in both these cakes.

"Oh, Lady Lemuria, you confer t'me more knowledge than even our Seer is capable of, oh yes. M'hm. Y'have to realize just how essential y'are to this land. I fear we'd be drownin' in very confused doctrine otherwise."

Her dragon-shifted hand would come to pat some of the stone that composed the beam next to her. The wisps that had congregated around Lemuria were bound to this place, and it wouldn't be too surprising if Lavinia herself would find a stray or two lingering on the old stone.

"I actually love the idea, teach. Enter it as a spirit. M'hm. It's simple yet genius, if y'have the know-how in the coven! Because, well . . ."

Lavinia's gaze veered back to the teacher and her daughter, Alita's silent nature here made it a bit more difficult for her to be noticed! Maybe she preferred it like that.

"I intend to find something, in that realm. A Spirit. A mighty one. One with answers. Answers that can only come from an entity that has a grasp on most spirits of this world and the next, m'hm. Ambitious, certainly. Deadly? As Heidi here said, we can definitely die. But, possible? I think so, with geniuses like ya', teach, 'n' other ambitious individuals. One must simply know how we could access it, on a technical perspective."
(Lavinia Walters)
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[21:05] Lemuria was nothing if not knowledgeable. So much so that Anabelle saw fit to call her one of the most brilliant minds of the village! A fact that made her blush furiously when she first heard, but one that she'd never try to deny.

"That does indeed sound quite dangerous! Dangerous, yet fun. I could definitely get behind such an idea."

Really, the woman would jump at any chance to explore new territory and gain more information. It was her primary passion!

"I would be happy to assist with such a venture, Lavinia."

Somewhere along the way, she seemed to have forgotten the very reason she came here...
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[21:09] Heidi had since plopped herself down on the ground, crossing her legs over simply to listen to the pair talk about the intricacies of spirits and the mechanics of interdimensional travel.

She just blinked. Somehow with both eyes, since her eyepatch had burned away. The occultic flame that burnt within her socket just snuffed out for a moment to simulate the blink before sparking right back up.

Gently, she reached out and tugged at her mothers pants, staring at her with a blank expression.
(Heidi Augustus)
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[21:13] Alita Tym says, "I'd be happy to assist as well, if I'm awake at that time. Sometimes I sleep a lot."
[21:14] Lavinia had certainly usurped this session. Although perhaps this was just as educational. Or maybe one would tell themselves that to feel better about this hijack! Either way, at least something was being born out of it. An opportunity.

"Amazing! Now, of course, we gotta speak logistics. What would we need and, mostly importantly, who?"

Approaching her teacher to have about the same distance she had with her seated daughter, Lavinia was entirely focused on the veteran witch.

"And, do be warned! It will be very dangerous. Maybe y'wouldn't wanna have your daughter attendin', maybe? Loved ones to be lost in the realm of spirits, that'd be catastrophic. Though, the soul and the spirit ain't the same, I believe! It is not damnation, no. But it is still death!"

Her wings stretched out somewhat, excited over the prospect of finally visiting such a world. But the journey wasn't what got Lavinia worked up. She made her goal clear. She needed to meet him.

"Ah! Tsk, I kinda realized I invaded your course a lil' too much! Mmmm, sorry 'bout that. I felt like so few knew 'bout the spirit realm with a degree of consistency that I just had t'push! M'hm!"
(Lavinia Walters)
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[21:20] Oh right. They were here for a reason.

Lemuria awkwardly cleared her throat, mentioning one final thing to Lavinia...

"It is up to her if she goes. As much as I would prefer for her to risk her life as little as possible, her life is her own, and living a riskless life is as boring as it gets."

...before course correcting back to the matter at hand. The training. The whole reason they were there. Were it up to Lemuria, she'd answer question after question for as long as her body could stand. She was a nigh-limitless wellspring of knowledge, after all!

"Heidi, do you remember what I mentioned about what you have to do for the final exercise? Or need I repeat myself?"
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[21:22] * You have been awarded 1 Roleplay Points! *
[21:23] Heidi turned to look at Lavinia, canting her head to the side. "I mean, having our spirits killed is kind of double-deadly given there'll be nothing to really. . 'pass on' with, but I'm willing to give it a shot!" she nodded, honking her nose once in response before turning back to her mother.

"You mentioned discerning portions of the story. I'm assuming you mean the story of what happened to this place? Or their life stories? It was very vague on 'which' story I was meant to be discerning and putting together."
(Heidi Augustus)
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[21:27] "Ey, Teach."

Tilting her head, Lavinia spoke up to get Lemuria's attention.

"Just, what do we need to actually access the realm? Preparations and people. 'Cause I intend to prepare as soon as possible."

Hands on her hips, once Lavinia got her answer, she'd be keen on observing Heidi's progress. And in turn, perhaps she could also try to pass this test, considering the drakanite has had a peculiar training in the arts as well.

Focus was all on the clown bluenette, with a toothy grin of anticipation decorating her face.
(Lavinia Walters)
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[21:35] First, her attention was directed towards Lavinia, as her question was rather sparse in terms of the answer it required.

"People with a deep enough connection to their own spirit; witches or druids will suffice. Then, we can do a Sabbath to open up the portal. We will likely go straight to Helheim as our first destination, but given the people involved, that is probably one of the least dangerous places we could end up."

Then, her attention directed towards Heidi.

"Spirits tell all kinds of stories. I imagine you will hear of one of many potential stories that have happened in this place. The spirits will work in unison to tell it to you the moment they know you are listening. You will feel the feelings, see symbols and images representing it, and have memories dug up that will correspond to the events that happened. The possibilities are potentially limitless!"

"Any questions, either of you?"
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[22:02] Heidi shook her head as Lemuria asked her about the questions; Lavinia could keep questioning her mother about the intricacies of the spirit realm but she herself had something she needed to work on.

"No. I'm going to get started."

Heidi let out a sigh as spheres of blood formed in her hands, finding themselves tossed into the air. Two more appeared, creating a total of four which she juggled perfectly even as her eye closed over. This was her way of grounding herself. Her way of locking down the constant spinning and twisting of her mind and allowing her to truly focus on the things that mattered.

She allowed her mana to stretch out from her, tickling at the senses of the spirits that floated around. First, she began with the spirits seeped in darkness and misery. The ones she'd most recently communed with. The tendrils of her occult drew them in like fruit flies to sugar, tantalizing them. Offering them something to feed from.

And one by one, they came. They latched onto her and rooted themselves in her mindscape as they fed from her strength. Hundreds of whispers were present within her mind as the mass conglomerate of spirits all spoke to each other, but the ones she could pick out were the ones currently locked to her.

And through their feeding, memories passed to her. Horrible things. Decrepit things. Huge fires. Creatures with large, pointed masks hauling carts through the city. Burlap sacks rolling from the carts, hitting the ground with heavy thuds. Visions of skulls and crossbones, rotting bodies, flies. A scent. Death. Desecration. Decomposition. Sounds; screaming, wailing, coughing and choking. Loud thuds as people keeled over.

Crying children, their wailing cut with raspiness and illness. The feelings of fear, loss and devastation coming from the people around, spliced with the madness, cackling and carnal displays that some of the more decrepit of the spirits had engaged in during the chaos. They had quite enjoyed the misery that had befallen the city, using it as an excuse to drive their knives into victims and blame it on whatever had been infesting the city. The doctors weren't going to check. They didn't have time. That much was obvious.

A sound of crackling overwhelmed her, then silence. Thuds. A smell of burning flesh. Flickers of distorted, blurred images of the hook-nosed doctors emptying their carts into fires.

While things of this nature would normally push a person away, Heidi wasn't exactly of the 'right' mindset. All of these visions, scents and feelings brought a soft smile to her face. This was chaos. This was what she enjoyed. The intelligent ones had left the city already, whilst the sheep had scrambled like headless chickens. The lesser had been the ones to suffer whilst the greater watched everything crumble from a distance. Perhaps this was why some people should not be given freedom. Maybe thiswas the Dark Lord punishing the weak. The sheep. They ran around like headless chickens, squawking as they perished. A cull, perhaps?

The clown snapped her mana back into her body with a quiet giggle, opening her eyes to look up at her mother.

"The Dark ones showed me the Hel that the people went through. Some form of disaster. It killed a lot of people!" she nodded, grinning up at her! Perhaps the prolonged exposure to dark spirits today had had a negative on her psyche.

Or perhaps she really WAS just back to her old self, now that she understood the Heidi within that she had kept bottled up for all of those years!
(Heidi Augustus)
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[22:09] An interesting exercise. One that required not only finesse but a know-how that wasn't readily available everywhere. Luckily, Lavinia had been exposed enough to various forms of the occult and witchcraft to have a grasp of what was expected. What Lemuria was saying didn't seem so intangible to Lavinia anymore.

Despite it not being her dedicated course, the Drakanite went for some practical application as well. One of the sentient wisps floating in the area would be invited by the drakan's long claw. Like a bird landed on a finger, it looked as though Lavinia was using her claw as a support for the levitating, small spirit.

"My-my. What a lovely little one you are."

She cooed. But with these soft words came the usual backhanded conclusion that was common with people of the dark. Dark mana came to seal the little manifestation into a sort of bubble of occult, similar to the shields used by many occultists. The wisp was trapped in a sphereof mana, though Lavinia didn't make it so obvious. No sudden movement, nothing to indicate malicious intent. It wasn't malicious, after all, merely carelessly curious.

The power to take from another to empower oneself was a core tenet of the occult, in a way. To use others, to put oneself before the other. The ability to siphon the life of a being was one of the first abilities occultists used in combat! And here, well, Lavinia was going to get a little creative.

There'd be two inspirations here:

Daemia. The little gremlin that has permanently scarred Lavinia in this world, and in the world of dreams. Inspired by how the short demon devoured dreams and was able to visualize them as a result, Lavinia sought to imitate her. Evidently, it'd be tricky since it always involved the drakanite sleeping. But that didn't matter, because she very much could remember how it /felt/. And that's all she needed to exercise this ordeal onto the spirit.

And then there were the demons. Especially the ones that came to her expedition. They demanded the essence of a dragon they had repulsed. The way it happened, how demons could assimilate the essence of a being, inspired Lavinia to an extent. To take from a creature something so intangible, something so powerful. It'd be an art Lavinia wanted to know, but this was somewhat different.

With enough concentration and meticulous poking of the spirit with her dark mana, Lavinia would be able to finally 'taste' a portion of the spirit. It would harm it, but nothing fatal. An unpleasant minute for the spirit, for she had no intention of actually hurting it.

Heidi was having her own little vision. One quite powerful it seemed. All the while, Lavinia was comfortable as a spectator to the show. She had eaten the horrors of this place, after all, and thus had no issues filtering it as necessary in her mind. A dreadful sight to behold, nonetheless.

Milky eyes came to be as she'd actually focus on the precise details the spirit had conferred to her by force. Entering a somewhat trans-like state, Lavinia was unresponsive for a good minute, though her occult prison on the spirit did not falter.

Blink blink.

"Mmm. A lot of fear and pain, here. M'hm. So much misery. So little hope. Poor lil' one."

The black bubble shattered, allowing the fragment of the past to slip away, marked by this unpleasant experience.
(Lavinia Walters)
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[22:17] Lemuria blinked, and upon opening her eyes, they were glowing spectral blue, tinted by her ability to see the spirit realm. When the two of them finished speaking, Lemuria nodded, confirming that they had in fact bore witness to the correct stories. And with that, Lemuria offered her final explanation, quite possibly her most important one to date.

"And now, I require the two of you to meditate on everything you have learned about spirits and how they communicate. Once you do- once you find the common ground between all of them- the understanding will sublimate itself into the power to consciously understand spirits. And then, when you open your eyes, they will become like my own."

She pointed towards them, just to make sure. The glow was clearly visible, beyond any shadow of a doubt.

She wasn't certain if Lavinia was ready for this, as it depended on what her other teachers have told her, but Lemuria was absolutely certain that Heidi had what it took to finish this one final step. She made sure of it.
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[22:27] Heidi's approach appeared to be more in line with communing with the spirits, while Lavinia sought to take from them. A habit adopted from those around her, whether it'd be her Demon Daemia, or her second teacher, Serenity Vander, that hex'd Lavinia for consent. The distinct schools of thought were clear here.

Now, they had to meditate on what they had seen. To revisit the lucid dream she had swallowed whole with the oppressive force she applied on the spirit. The issue was, here, that Lavinia had ultimately failed to actually communicate with the spirits and took everything for herself rather than being told of the spirits' plight and history.

A moment of focus would leave the drakanite unable to truly concentrate. The images were oddly vivid in her head, perhaps even more than Heidi, but they were merely that. Raw footage stolen.

Ticked off, Lavinia opened her eyes only to rub them. It wasn't so much that she wasn't ready than she hadn't been properly guided on how to commune.

"Mmm, tsk. I just . . . I can't feel it. I can't, teach, I can't."

Frustrated, index and major fingers pressed against her temple as she'd pace around before the stone beam. The vision she had was playing on repeat in her head, with all that misery and pain she had assimilated now burning into her brain. Biting off more than you can chew, aye?

She definitely could, of course, she made it this far and had a remarkable control over the dark. But it may require some extra attention!
(Lavinia Walters)
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[22:43] Lavinia Walters says, "yes"
[22:43] Heidi wasn't done yet. She hadn't gotten the full story. She knew that there was a lot of pain and suffering that occurred here, but she didn't quite know why. Her guess was a plague of sorts, but she didn't have anything to confirm that.

This time, her mana reached out once more and sank itself into the ground, sending out pulses stripped of as much occultic energies as she could; she knew the occult could be harmful for nature and she wanted to draw IN the spirits of nature moreso than she did push them away.

And the motes that attached themselves to her told another story.

Bubbling masses, burning trees, the killings that some Dark spirits committed using the apparent plague as a cover to unleash their dark desires. The sound of screaming from a distance. An overhead view of a city burning, with smoke pouring out of the Vale. An indescribable feeling that she could only attribute to a rapid loss of life. It was like snuffing out a thousand candles.

It took her a moment to realise she was seeing things through the eyes of the animals, specifically the birds. Scents filled her nose; scorched wood, flesh, fabrics. All was black as the bird flew through the skies, descending downwards to view all of the death from a closer place. The bird flew by a shattered piece of glass, giving Heidi an image to put to her current form.

She was a Raven. A metaphor for death in a way. Quite fitting, given what she was watching. Life after life fell, falling. She felt the pain of those who were passing. The agony of the families of the ones who had gone. She could smell a 'wrongness' in the air.

Then her vision shifted once more. A differing spirit had broken through the cacophony of whispers that plagued her mind. This spirit was not dark, nor was it attuned to nature. It was a human. A doctor. Visions of the clinics, full of the sick as far as the eye could see. The smell of sickness. The wailing and crying of the ill. That settled it; it was a plague. A plague had stricken this city. They were cutting the trees to use as firewood. Burning the bodies to try and prevent infection. Other doctors in the room were attempting to use herbal remedies to fix the damage done, but they were completely ineffective.

Her vision zoomed back to darkness. That was the story, then.

(Heidi Augustus)
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[22:44] As she opened her eyes, something had changed. Whilst her right eye still held that corrupting influence, it had not spread. She had not tapped into the dark to corrupt her. She'd tapped into it to understand. Her left eye socket, though. .

With her eye missing and the eyepatch gone, it was easy to see into. While an auburn flame usually shone from the darkness, this time it was something different entirely. A bright cyan glow resided inside of where her eye should have been. A direct connection to the spirits around her. A symbol of their communion.

And as she stood, it left a soft trail through the air which quickly faded. Her attention this time did not go straight to her mother. It went to the ground. She saw a mass of green wisps converging on a singular point three meters below her. They were indicating something. Telling her that something was there.

And so her hand stretched out. Blood ran from her upper arm, three strands spinning around it as theytravelled in a helix. They converged together at the end of her hand and formed into a swirling sphere which slowly sunk into the ground. Bit by bit, the dirt was churned. Eviscerated. Destroyed. Not by the Arcane forces, but by Heidi herself.

And eventually, it stopped. A skeleton lay there, covered in robes and a mask. Her occultic energies washed over it and quickly doused it in its energies, destroying the natural bacteria that may still live on it. The wisps converged around the mask, which Heidi removed. A piece of paper wrapped in an ornate envelope dropped out onto the corpses chest, leading Heidi to quickly rip it open.

A note. Which she read aloud.

"Esther,
I do not know how long we have left. The Vale has descended into anarchy; the plague has taken root and we've lost too many. Its spreading like wildfire, purging us. Wiping us out. If you get this letter, stay away. Tell everyone what happened here. Tell them to avoid this place sothat it may die with us.

I'm sorry.

I love you.
Tybalt."

Heidi crunched the note up and placed it back onto the corpse, gently shifting dirt back over it to cover it.

"I guess the spirits wanted me to find that. I don't really. . care? That plague is long dead. Why would it matt--." Heidi paused, a lightbulb shining in her head. Whilst the spirits had only shown her what had happened, they hadn't shown her the effect it had had on peoples lives truly. Things that weren't contained within the city. Things that spread. A knock-on effect. While the plague ravaged this city, others on the outside may have had lovers, family, friends here.

Causality. The spirits were trying to tell her that everything she did had a larger effect on the world.

Would she take this and learn that perhaps her own actions would have consequences for her friends? Or would she take this and truly understand it, using itto cause more misery with her actions than she would before?

"How. . intriguing."
(Heidi Augustus)
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[22:46] Lemuria ran Heidi through the three step process to commune with spirits, etc etc. Does anyone actually read these things? I didn't think so.
(Lemuria Augustus mentoring Heidi Augustus)

[22:56] At first, Lavinia's declaration of failure didn't so much as catch Lemuria's attention. No, she was too entranced in what her daughter was doing. After all, she was bearing witness to genuine success, which made her excited and proud to be a part of what was going on. The successes of her students never ceased to make her proud, and to an extent, surprised, no matter how much faith she had in them. She smiled and pat Heidi on the head

"The world of the spirits is every bit as intriguing as our own. Maybe even more intriguing. Contained within are secrets that man once knew, and perhaps, was not meant to know. It is a veritable library of knowledge, where the only limits are just how deep you are willing to go."

And then, her attention shifted over to Lavinia.

"That just leads me to wonder how you learned to interface with them so far. Perhaps I could come up with a method for learning it if you could tell me the perspectives you have been provided by your other teachers."
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[23:13] Heidi was successful and Lavinia was not. That was what the drakanite saw here, before anything else. Not the lesson, not her own actions, but this outcome. Two failure in a day, this was starting to get very, very frustrating for her.

Her bandaged tail was used to assault the stone beam she had been pacing before. The enhancement made through the dark allowed her pulverized a small portion of it, prompting a cloud of dust to explode around the area. This was a pretty unhappy Lavinia.

"Tch. Fuckin' . . . When I wanna take somethin', it's always baaaad, or wrooong. But when others take, it's 'cause it's for the best. One day it's about crushin' my thoughts 'n' feelins', the next I gotta be all in tune with these things."

This anger seemed to be directed at nothing specific, as she'd shift her gaze to varying parts of the room with a scowl of disgust on her face.

"I didn't learn squat about talkin' to 'em spirits. I just know how to make things SHUT UP and GIVE ME WHAT I WANT. Ain't that the whole point? T'be the one on top, to survive? And not end up like these lousy fucks that can only cry in your visions 'bout their failed city and their horrible deaths."

A bit of a tantrum here, she had a hard time keeping in place or being too coherent. Failure was not a pleasant experience for her.

"Y'said a plague, yeah? HAH! Fuckin' full circle. Pffft. Just the other day, as a lesson, I got to see that pathetic Cadet turned into . . . Ugh, that disgusting corpse. And now, that gross ass corpse, is also afflicted with a plague that's spreadin' everywhere in the North! Wow. If only more were blessed with this sight."

"Oh wait. They all have these eyes."

She narrowed her eyes at her teacher.
(Lavinia Walters)
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[23:19] Heidi jumped a little as Lavinia slammed her bandaged tail into the stone beam. The little clown watched as it took a heavy chunk out of that pillar, reducing it to little more than rubble and dust.

It surprised her at first, but she could feel the frustration rolling from her and once she was finished speaking, she understood.

She was jealous. This was jealousy, plan and simple. Front and centre. The drakanite was jealous of her.

She didn't care about what she said about the city, given she fully believed that the weak had been culled there, but she DID care about the stupidity.

"This corpse has been dead and buried for longer than we've had calendars. Do you really think its the same plague." she deadpanned.

If Lemuria was still looking inwards into her mind, she could hear it squealing in joy! She'd proven herself to be better than Lavinia. Stronger. More focused. Driven. Superior. She had accomplished what Lavinia had not. It took everything she had not to display an evil little grin. Right now, she was tired from all the intense focus she'd had to put out all through the day. Fighting now would not be the intelligent option.
(Heidi Augustus)
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[23:22] Lavinia Walters says, "No no no no noo! This is new, made by Lady Veles, yes. But, it's still a plague! One we think we can control."
[23:23] Heidi Augustus says, "Mmhn, thought you were talking about this one. I'm tired."
[23:33] Lemuria remained silent, allowing Lavinia to give her piece, and vent all she needed. After which, she exhaled a sigh of frustration and held her arm up, as dozens of clearly visible spiritual wisps gathered around her arm.

"I prefer fostering a respectful, understanding relationship with spirits because I enjoy speaking to them, communing with them. But that does not seem to be something you are capable of doing right now, so I suppose I will teach you the method that foregoes that."

She outstretched her hand, and with that...

"There are two ways to exert your will upon spirits. One is through calm, concentration, and self-control. But the other..."

...all of the spirits on her arm suddenly flooded into her hand, and were clearly trying to get away.

"...is to command them through utilizing your own spirit as your voice. Spirits belonging to the living are often much more powerful than those belonging to the dead; such is the benefit of having a body and a soul."

She then allowed the spirits to fly away, not wanting to hold them for too long.

"You must learn to communicate with your own spirit, directly, and the best way to do that is to empty your mind of its background noise so there is nothing getting in between your conscious mind and your spirit. But if that is not your cup of tea, you must learn how to communicate with your spirit in a way that it cannot ignore; that it does not have to hear."

"This is where ritualism comes in. The dancing, lighting of fires, blood sacrifice... all of it serves the purpose of communicating to the spirit, be it your own, or others. Actions such as this speak a language universal, for they are symbolic, and symbols are the language of the divine."

"The unfortunate thing about taking symbolic action, however, is that symbols can be deeply personal, so me explaining to you which specific actions you needto take runs the risk of misdirecting you."

"If I were to summarize all of this, it would be that being loud, angry, and forceful can in fact enable you to see spirits just like my prior method can. It just involves you commanding your own spirit."

"To see them, you must command your spirit to deliver the knowledge unto you, opening up a permanent line from its knowledge to your own. To bend them to your whims, you must command your spirit to speak to those other spirits, and they will listen."

"Any questions?"
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[23:47] It was all just playing on repeat in her head. The same portion she had 'eaten' from the spirit was the same over and over. It was an efficient way to keep certain specific experiences intact, but it failed at digging deeper as Heidi did. This was just driving her nuts, like a small tune ceaselessly running in her head.

And Heidi's face. God she couldn't stand the Bluenette now. There was very much some jealously, but there was also pride and resentment too. Jealous for her advantageous position with the teacher. But proud because she was a dragon, while Heidi was an adopted clown. Lavinia resented Heidi, but not as much as herself for failing.

A nasty glare was directed at the eyepatch lass. Lavinia was trying hard to restrain herself.

"I- Tsk. Just . . . ARGH! I can't DO IT."

She probably could. For she did master the occult with mostly her own will, needing only a singular course with a teacher. But right now?Lavinia was a bull and everything was red. But a modicum of self control prevented a rampage.

"I can't. I'm sorry teach, Heidi. I'm gonna fuck off. Yeah. No."

The information conferred to her by Lemuria was registered, and when calmed would be food for thought in Lavinia's times of musing. For now, she had to go and unleash this fury. Preferably away from people.

(Lavinia Walters)