leetle | INBOX | noctium

Oh, that's great! [Her fingers drum excitedly on the tabletop, nodding along with him in agreement.]

Me, too. That settles that, then!

[His return to the previous topic pulls a chortle out of her.]

Oh, yeah! Any animal I know of! Want to see?

[ Matt's eyes shoot saucer wide.

Performing acts of shapeshifting and-or transfiguration, the likes of which would be absolutely impossible where he comes from? This date has just rocketed from good to great. ]

I would love to see that, [ he answers, with gravity. ]

[She looks incredibly pleased; any chance to show off her magic to someone with genuine interest is taken with glee.]

Well, then it's only fair that you pick which animal I turn into! But we should probably go outside first.

[ Matt laughs. ]

Oh, uh, yeah, good point.

[ There's a few moments of bill-settling, but then they're bundling out into the crisp winter evening. You would think that this pause would afford Matt enough time to select an animal, but "efficient choosing" is not among his various magical powers. He's drawing a total blank.

Okay. First thought, best thought. ]

Um.

A giraffe?

[Once they're all paid up and back outside, Jester dances excitedly in the patch of snow-covered grass between the bakery and the street. It's late, now, flurries coming down through the buildings to settle in both their hair. His choice in animals has her grinning, tail wagging back and forth behind her.]

Ooh! I've never done that one before! Okay, hold on—

[She pulls her symbol of the Traveler that hangs from her belt, clutching it close to her heart. Green light begins to emanate from between her fingers, the glow extending outward as a nonexistent wind ruffles her hair, catches the bells in her horns. And then her whole form is enveloped in green light, and when the light resolves Jester has been replaced by a pale blue giraffe with deeper blue spots. It's on the smaller side for a giraffe, but still around thirteen feet in height, towering far over Matt.

The Jester-giraffe bends its neck down slightly and sticks out its long, purple tongue, giving him an affectionate lick on the cheek.]

[ Matt watches Jester's every move in fascination, though he realizes pretty quickly he'd never be able to emulate her. It's interesting to see her use a focal item--like Liem's key, almost, the way she wields it--but Matt's academic observations give way to a more gut-level appreciation. A shiver in the wind that isn't, a golden gleam over his skin as the green light flares.

And then, suddenly, Jester is over twice his height and covered in cute blue splotchy spots and oh, God, she's a giraffe. She licks his cheek, and Matt bursts into a peal of laughter. ]

Oh my God Jester! This is incredible! How are you doing this?

[Jester doesn't answer, because she is a giraffe and unable to speak while she's turned into one. Instead, she nuzzles her velvety blue nose against Matt's cheek, and then sort of snuffles her way up to his hair where she...lips at it like it's a particularly decadent patch of grass.

Her hooves, deep shiny navy blue and the size of dinner plates, clomp back and forth in the snow, and she releases her attention on Matt's head to look around at the other passersby coming and going on the sidewalk, most of whom are giving the pair of them a wide berth. Her ears flicker as she cocks her fuzzy head, looking into Matt's face with huge, dark eyes for a long moment as she tries to remember how to be a tiefling again—

—and just as quickly as it appeared, the giraffe is gone, replaced by Jester, who is grinning but looks exhausted.]

Ta-daaa! Pretty cool, right?

[ This is easily the strangest thing that's ever happened to his hair, and Matt's absolutely here for it. He laughs helplessly as a big giraffe snout noses and mouths at him, and he's still giggling when Jester turns tiefling-shaped once more.

In the face of her grin, he beams back. ]

That's more than cool. It's fucking miraculous. [ Though he's still smiling, he's completely in earnest. ] Thank you for showing me that.

[ And, because turnabout seems like fair play, Matt presses a kiss to Jester's cheek. Because he's merciful, he does not lick her face or chew on her hair. ]

[Matt's helpless laughter is a hundred percent worth the energy Jester puts into the spell, and she sighs in momentary relief as he kisses her cheek and a spark of synchrony blooms through her. He smells nice, too, when he gets close, setting off butterflies in her chest.]

Oh, you're totally welcome! And that's not actually wrong, considering I'm using my god's power to do it! Consider it a miracle of the Traveler!

[She wiggles her fingers in their fingerless gloves for effect, but then her brow wrinkles for a moment as she sways on the spot.]

—oof. Leetle bit woozy, though. [She holds out one of her hands toward Matt with a hopeful smile.] Mind walking me home?

Oh. [ Matt's already moving towards her by the time she asks. His hand catches hers, long fingers wrapping around Jester's. ] I don't mind at all.

[ A slight pause, then: ]

Does that take it out of you, using your god's power?

[Jester nods, grateful, letting her arm wrap around Matt's as their boots scuffle through the snow.]

A little bit. When I'm low on Manna or whatever. I'm still getting used to that...I feel sapped way more quickly here than I did at home.

Ah ... you're not the first magic user I've heard say that.

[ Matt, in contrast, feels like his powers have bloomed in a few months in ways that took him years back home. Part of it is the opportunity to practice, and part of it may be that he just generates a lot of Manna in general?

Linhardt had posited there was something else in the mix. That his own propensity for generating magical energy through sex formed some kind of virtuous cycle. Matt's not sure, and with Linhardt gone, he doubts he'll figure out the thermodynamics of it anytime soon. ]

I guess no matter how good your relationship is with your god, the ones here gotta take their share.

It's not as big a deal with smaller spells. I could do Thaumaturgy or Mending pretty easily, but Polymorph is a fourth-level, so it's a little bit more energy, you know?

[Jester chuckles at Matt's next comment.] That's really funny once you know that I'm his High Priestess and we are, like, best friends since I was a kid.

[ Bigger versus smaller spells makes sense to Matt as a concept. He sorts them like that himself. But the idea of knowing a spell so specifically you can say it's "fourth level" is fascinatingly out of his ken.

There's no time to mull that over, though, because-- ]

For real?

[ Matt beams, startled. ]

I mean, I say relationship because I don't know a better word. But you really know him?

For real! [Jester laughs, giving Matt's arm a little squeeze.]

We sort of grew up together. Actually, um, for a really long time he was my only real friend, except for Mama.

[That's sort of vulnerable, but Jester's said it out loud before, enough times that it barely touches her voice anymore.]

He's the one who's watched over me during all my adventures with the Mighty Nein. He actually, um, this is really funny but he possessed my pet weasel? And I didn't know for, like, a year. He was just hanging out in my hood, making sure I was okay!

Oh ...

[ Matt says it on a sighing, sympathetic tone. In a weird way, he can relate. Magic can't exactly be your friend, as various lovers have reminded him over the years, but it was the most constant presence in his life through a lonely time. It's the realest thing he knows.

--Then the word "weasel" jostles him out of his revelry, and Matt laughs in surprise. ]

He possessed the weasel. I've heard of gods taking various animal forms, but not so much sliding into one that's already around.

[Jester laughs, too, shaking her head. Oh, Arty...always full of surprises, that guy.]

Yeah, he wanted to just, you know, keep watch! So he hung out inside Sprinkle sometimes. Which explains how he was still alive after all the shit I dragged him through, poor thing. I hope he's somewhere relaxing right now...

That's really nice ...

Well, uh, the god part's nice. I guess the Sprinkle situation is more of an unknown.

[ Matt cants a smile Jester's way as they walk. ]

I believe in a lot of gods from my home world. All of them, I think. And there's some I ask for help, and I believe that they hear me and they answer, but ... I've never really known one like that.

It sounds really special.

Oh, no, I'm pretty sure Sprinkle is, like, deeply traumatized.

[Which is totally her bad. She's not...a great pet owner, she's realizing. Not that it stops her from wanting to hoard animals; even here in Noctium she's had to restrain herself from bringing home pets.]

It is pretty special. And, yeah, it's also really unusual. In, um, the interest of full disclosure, though, The Traveler isn't tech-nick-ally a real god? Just a really powerful Fey being.

[ Oof, well, sad for Sprinkle. Matt figures the best they can do is move forward, and focuses on the very interesting theological point Jester's just raised. ]

Well, admittedly, I don't know what makes someone a god to begin with. We don't have enough regular, verifiable contact with spirits where I come from to have much of a taxonomy.

I mean, belief is a big part of it. I've definitely communed with spirits who've claimed to be various deities from my world's history, and there's really no way for me to be sure apart from just believing them.

Wow, your world sounds kind of boring. No offense, it's just that life's no fun without some spooky spirits!

[It's also probably safer in some ways, but Jester's not the kind of person accustomed to a life of safety anymore.]

How did you commune with them? With a spell?

Well, I mean, I have regular contact with spirits. I just don't always know how to classify them.

[ Though some are undeniably spooky. ]

There are spells that I've used to communicate with spirits, yeah. And also meditation techniques? I'm not as good at reaching them that way, but there's an element of meditative practice in a lot of my spells, so.

Ohhhh. Maybe you need to, like, start a classification guide? Like make a journal and write down what they're all saying to you and stuff. [Jester seems momentarily contemplative.]

Y'know, I've never actually meditated? My brain is too full of, like, a million ideas all the time.

[She gestures at the street corner ahead of them.] Ooh, this is my street I think! ...Yes! Ha, I was sort of worried I was getting us lost for a minute there!

[ Matt chuckles. ]

It's definitely not intuitive. I get lost a lot, just on tangents. But that's an interesting idea about classification. I don't know who but me would wanna read it back home, but ... it'd be nice for me to have, just to remember them all.

[ He brightens at Jester's gesture, squeezing her hand. ]

You kept your cool for somebody who thought we were lost.

That's what I do with my sketchbook. Write everything down, and draw so I can look back and remember it all!

[She laughs sheepishly, tilting her head sheepishly up at Matt.]

I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of you unless I absolutely had to.

[A few scant minutes later and they're approaching the front door of the home Jester occupies along with Essek Thelyss and the rest of the Mighty Nein here in Noctium. She skips up the steps without letting go of Matt's hand, and stops at the top to turn and look at him.]

Thank you for eating all the pastries with me. I had a really good time with you today.

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