Welcome to Gaia! ::

((I'd meant to have her walk back to them after getting sandwiches; I just forgot to actually say it in my post. sweatdrop Edited a sentence in that she does so, and a clarification that her comment to Vahn doesn't mean she's going anywhere at the moment.))

The momentary distraction was welcome, because as daft as he was or the kind of rocks his relationship was on at the moment--- this trip was about the Siren.

Not him.

"Contact with what...?"

He folded his arms across his chest and sat down on one of the available boxes. It was safe to assume he had no idea.

Completely no idea whatsoever.

Alright, let's sum this up, Lucind thought to herself.

Owle knows Sun's here but for some reason doesn't want or can't point it out.

Vahn's got no clue and apparently also misinterpreted my last statement.

It was nagging inside her: she hadn't seen the redhead since the day he vanished out of a sudden while undead flooded Latent and really wished to just give him a bear hug.

However, right now the woman wondered if the seemingly complicated interpersonal situation between Sun, Owle and Vahn could rub off on the progress of her mission.

But if Sunstrike was willing to join...

Well, to not appear being too selfish: you could say there was no way to bring Sun off board without Vahn noticing. Plus, they needed a cook...okay, if worst came to worst they could take care of that on their own. But...Lucind really wasn't in the mood for playing cat and mouse, or rather helping Sun with it.

Well...it would be walking the line to smooth out things. The right blend of sympathy and influence.

It wasn't like the Half-Siren would ever ignore her friends' problems. But right now she needed to focus on the problem at hand.

Chances were Vahn would find out sooner or later anyway about Sun hiding somewhere on the ship.

And then it was better to happen sooner. When they had still a couple of weeks to spend on this ship.

Just hope they don't set the whole thing on fire before we even get there... So, for starters, I'll have a word with Tagis then.


"But first things first," she mumbled, only now recognizing she'd been staring at the sandwhich in Owle's hand. She thanked and finished it off with two bites, swallowing hard and patting her chest.

"So, where were we? Oh, yeah!"

Lucind shifted on her box to get into a more comfortable position, leaning against the mast.

"The contact with Efreet's Fang. The fight against the Behemoth. It grilled me before I was able to give you the sword." She stared at her right palm: the flesh had melted where she'd gripped the handle, as if it wanted to merge. No scar was left, though, with what excellent work the physicians at Yaits hospital had conducted.

"Thanks to your weapon I'm still here.

And then those black flames of yours..."

Lucind looked at Vahn. "I don't know if you've got any recollection of Owle's and mine encounter with The Other, back in my store. But Owle, maybe you remember: the cocoon, that shield I used back then. It's an emanation of the soul, made to protect or hide, that is, veil myself. Fullbloods can also use it to completely hide their aura here in our physical plane. And depending on each Siren's individuality, her soul and thus also the cocoon has another signature, although more or less the same psionic form.

Actually, when my aunt and my clan leader were trying to stop my soul from disconnecting from my body - while the guys at Yaits patched my flesh and skin - they witnessed that this cocoon had changed: once they'd managed to fix the worst, it started repulsing them and altered its form, still semi-transparent and blurry like water, but very much looking like flames, the more fiercely flickering the closer they got.

So yeah...you kinda messed up with me soul..."

For a moment, Lucind seemed to be quite serious, nearly glaring at Vahn, before she broke out into a broad smirk, waving a hand.

"Well, it first was a bit scary, truth to be told. But since it hasn't effected my powers in a negative way so far, I soon stopped worrying. Not so the others, I mean, Hetel and Mildroa. Things like that, another Siren's soul signature turning negative, can't be hidden in the lhor aven, not when it happens unexpectedly. And so...well, I guess it's just one point on a long list that made a black sheep and leader of this mission. It is like I've tried to explain at Duncan's Hole: everytime I was supposed to die I didn't but just grew stronger."

She yawned and stretched.

"That sounds...familiar..." Owle commented, frowning slightly as she tried to remember. Of course she remembered the cocoon...it was hard to forget that day, and some instinctive part of her had approved of the fiery shape, though she hadn't consciously recognized it at the time. Something that came of being brought up around fire elementals, she supposed.

But she was sure she'd heard something about the form of a soul changing, or seen something...her own feel in the astral never changed much, though her look did, depending on her own self-image at the time. Morgan's scar, for example, had never left her shoulder in the astral plane, though her physical body was entirely different than the one that he had carved the brand into.

"I've seen the appearance of souls change before, but nothing so major..." Owle shook her head. She had no idea. "And I still say we can fix that," she added to Vahn. The estimate had been Lucind's; Owle still firmly believed that if Vahn stopped being stupid he could get rid of the Other for good, well, at least stop it from being a seperate entity. And even if he continued to be stupid, Owle was sure she could keep it penned up...for as long as she had to, longer than she lived, even.

There was something else bothering her about Lucind's black sheep status, and how she was the only one the Sirens seemed to have sent on this mission...but she wasn't going to change the subject so drastically until they'd covered Vahn's questions. Not to mention, she was interested to hear what had happened there, as well.

"I can't say that I still completely understand...at least the technical aspects... but as long as your alright, I suppose that's that then."

He scratched at his chin even as he leaned back.

"It's not like we were meant to have contact or something anyway...so maybe what you should be doing is staying away from me... not getting near me again. Although it's a bit late for that."

He looked to Owle, then back to Lucind.

He had known the nature of the flames influence on others... how it had affected both Tellus, Sunstrike and Silver... as if making darker or more hungrier aspects come forth.

"As long as your still you...and all."

"Like I said, nothing alarming has happened yet. If anything, the unexpected contact and the change extended my abilities."

She looked at Vahn for a moment, staring at him while seemingly pondering something.

Then the woman jerked her head around to lightly smile at Owle.

"It's just a matter of definition, I'd say, and a confusing one since the translations of our Siren terms often don't really match the original meaning. You just choose the one that fits best, usually losing a sequence of the meaning. Anyway...

Alright, quick summary of the..ah...main terms.

We have brain, mind and soul. All of them different things, yet connected and dependend on each other. Brain and soul are opposites concerning their matter, representing flesh and spirit - and linked by the mind, which we see as a merge of the other two.

The three of them are constantly corresponding. And all those psychological or psionic actions or processes either refer more to the one or the other side, I mean, either more to the soul or the brain. However, they have to be balanced, otherwise you're mind might not take it. And that makes the mind also a kind of mediator, weighing situations with regard to experiences being made in the past, or following instinct..."

The Half-Siren paused and scanned the sky. For now, no unpleasant weather front could be seen.

"So, to come back to what you said: basically we also think aura and soul signatur to be the same. Or...to put it this way. The soul sig...or mind sig, since it's more or less the same, can be seen as your very souls DNA. And the data a soul emanates is called aura, in Siren terms. I think, though, that this aura is not necessarily the same, or rather, does not always contain the same information - simply depending on the ability of the receptor, the one scanning someone elses mind or soul.

Means, I'm sure that you've got a slightly different sensation when locating me than my kind has - but still all of you can tell it's me, once you've memorized my soul's signature...or essence.

And the cocoon, finally, is just a technique. The power for it mainly taken from the soul - and this is why its character and shape is related to the soul..."

Hence the alteration within herself.


Lucind waited to see if there were any more questions.

Prishazan blinked at the room, looking up from his search. The stoic first mate was digging through his belongings for Tagis on some unknown errand. He'd heard the door slam open, shut, and then a thump, all before he could turn around, which was no mean feat.

Now the room was just as empty as before, except for the other person hiding in it. The big man walked to the second bed, because honestly, where else could a person hide, and leaned way to the side.

An eye blinked out of the darkness, sheer panic making it mostly yellow and glowy. How Sunstrike had fit, squeezed and shoved himself into the very corner under the bed...that was fairly low and only five feet long to his six, was a mystery. But he'd managed it, and Prishazen didn't seem all that fazed, merely staring at the salamander's strange behavior.

"Prishazen?" Sunstrike finally whispered out of the dark. The first mate nodded, because it almost was like Sun was asking if it was actually Prishazen himself. "C-could you get the Captain for a moment? I...I think we need to talk..." Another glance. Obviously, the general rule was that the cook didn't give orders to the first mate, but since he was on his way back to Tagis anyway...and the fact that said cook was cowering under a bed instead of making dinner, an exception could be made.

Even all this hadn't affected the big man's calm. It was just short of a miracle.