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He's definitely a strong one. If not in form than in will. Not many mortals go up against a god and last as long as he did...or live to tell the tale.

"Oh, but that's easy...most people just don't try." She gave Maximos a conspirational look. "It's the trying that really ticks them off."

Why weren't there any chairs anywhere? Oh, well, she'd just have to stand up. That was okay, too, even if it did leave her pacing kind of restlessly around the room, spinning to face Maximos whenever he spoke to her, or she to him.

...Rain is far more complicated than I gave him credit for...

She noted the quizzical look on his face, and leaned in closer to him, as if trying to make sure she was seeing it right. Then she leaned back and sighed.

"I have to explain everything, don't I? Inside Rain, there's an old man. He was in a room, and there was a fire. He said come inside, so I went inside, but then he said, no, come inside. So I went inside. And then he said he wasn't a part of Rain, he was a little seed, a seed that was meant to destroy stuff; not Rain, but make Rain destroy stuff, like the little Bob that was in us. He'd tried once, but Rain's daughter made him a library, and he's got to stay in it, but now that we're in the library, he wants to hurt us. But we're not trapped; he is. Honestly, he should worry. Though I wish I'd let us help; it seems silly not to be in there."

She looked genuinely puzzled, but not actually hurt, at this exclusion.

(Inside Rain)

SLAM!

"Ow!"

THWACK!

"Oomf!"

THUD!

The trouble with not being able to see anything outside of the serpent was that Owle had no way of anticipating the attack to come. The serpent's heads slammed into her (probably cutting themselves on her razor wings in the process), leaving her temporarily disoriented. Even so, the fire again streamed out of the fireplace, just as the tail thwacked her towards earth.

Owle's body hit the floor, and the fire headed toward the stump where the center head had been, to make sure that head didn't grow back.

Mummify it! Owle thought at the athletic tape, but with her focus on the fire, it would be slow to even begin following her orders.

It wasn't that Slash didn't care about the proceedings; it was just that he felt somewhat removed. It didn't seem reasonable to him to show up at the gathering of friends, of people he had never met in such a serious situation.

He couldn't repress the thought that it was far better than escorting Owle to a funeral. Without any fanfare, he decided to go explore the hospital, assuming staff wouldn't bother him. He had an idea of what areas to keep out of.

((Four different RP's? Ah your silly. I am free! I was just waiting for you two to decide how you were going to proceed.))

Asherah would indeed find boats, dozens of boats though from this vantage point beneath the dock she would only see their bottoms, most were barnacle covered some were ritzy and expensive, kept squeaky clean at all times. Boats werent the problem, or the trick, the real issue here was the people!

Unless Asherah and Ryugi planned to leave a very big IOU there was no one awake or outside to talk to about renting or using a boat. In such a magical world simple wooden boats were quite an antiquated thing, just like old things they were owned by old people, with old fashioned ways....such as heading to bed early.

While the duo of adventurers discussed and looked about the creature stood completely still. Not a drop of motion of resonance slipping from its seemingly dead frame.

--
Them?

Maximos said with his head somewhat cocked to the side. She made it sound like there was a secret society of people waiting for people to die! There was, but that wasnt the point.

Maximos followed along, though shakily. His eyes somewhat squinted as he leaned forward and tried to take in the rush of words, nodding occasionally as he picked up a fact here or there. He got the mention of Rain, of an evil inside him, of someone named Bob and...the library. And all in all he felt left out, like he should be assisting Owle and Rain in some way shape or form, but could not. Her last sentence however totally tossed him for a loop. A navy blue eye brow cocked slightly upwards.

What wont you...let you help?

He had a sinking suspicion that this wasnt really Owle and that cinched it. If anything it was likely one of the adorable snakes that he met during their first encounter at HoH. He had no idea she could let them pilot her like this though.

(Outside Rain's mind)

Them?

Owle nodded, matter of factly. "Gods," she clarified, the smile still on her face.

"You know what they're like."

At the very least he should. His second question made her hesitate for a moment, deciding which way to answer it; Maximos seemed very confused, but he'd seemed so smart before...

"Myself, of course!" Owle responded, as if this were the most natural thing in the world. "I'm fighting in there, but I told me to stay here, and here I'm staying."

Again, she gestured to Rain's body.

Owle probably would have been mortified to know what the part of her embodied by the golden snakes was saying and doing in her absence, but she had a little bit more to worry about right now...

(Inside Rain's mind)

The lone snake followed the link toward prophecy, perhaps more out of curiousity than any real belief it would find what it was looking for.

In the library, as the old man threatened, the simplest solution seemed to be the best. Owle took one lunging step forward (or two or three, however many it would take to cross the distance between them) and punched the old man, full force, in the mouth. It should be noted that in the astral plane, Owle was considerably stronger than usual...so while she was not as strong as Athan, she was not as weak as she was in the material world.

The snake stared, and had to spend a moment overcoming its amusement before it could marshall the focus to search again.



Pain lanced through her chest, as if his mere touch had exploded fireworks inside her. Owle stepped back, removing herself from his immediate reach, and a pair of red butterfly wings sprouted from the back of her neck, the razor wings all but forgotten.

"You stopped amusing me a long time ago, granpa."

From the small, red butterfly wings, sharp threads of light emerged, slicing through the sticky strands of darkness hurtling towards her. Any that got through the beams of light were torn open, sliced apart, by the invisible blades of the still present razor wings.

And through all of that, Owle walked calmly forward, the pain in her chest slowly subsiding.

For its part, the snake lounged lazily in Rain's mind, out of ideas, out of options.

s**t. Owle was forced to withdraw the razor wings as the force of the wind pressed too strongly against them. Her usual pair, however, and the buttefly wings were much too small to be affected.

It was all she could do to brace and hold herself against the onslaught of wind and remain standing. However, from the butterfly wings, those red strands of light emerged again..this time seeking the old man.