ORIGIN

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Serendipity didn't have the capability-- or even realisation --that she should hide some things from Pride. Not that she had anything to hide, but surely privacy should be respected even when someone is innocent. She couldn't hear any of Pride's own thoughts but she was almost aware of him picking through her own, bringing certain memories to the surface.

Surely, if he saw that she was bad, he'd say something..?

Serendipity kept her eyes shut throughout the silence, watching the images flicker past with her mind focused mostly on not crying, don't cry. She was half-surprised to see him search through more than just her meeting with Azure, however-- shaking hands with the Collector, rifling through tunnel J, striking a hammer against steel on an anvil in a room too hot for her liking.

When she opened her eyes again, at least, she didn't feel like she was going to cry anymore. She listened, somberly, frowning lightly.

She still wanted to be a guardian-- now lowercase, in her mind, there were fairly important things to get through --but she didn't want to get Azure hurt either. Wasn't that the point of being one? "But if she goes back to Eridanus the plant-people might hurt her?" She fretted quietly, her brow knitting worry-lines into her speckled skin. "And-- what's a trial? What if she gets hurt at the trial?"

This all seemed too confusing to her, now. Lying, and betrayals, and trials, and -berries-- "why are they all named berry?" --and not knowing what to do. If this was what being a guardian was, Serendipity wasn't sure if she was entirely cut out for it.

"I want to learn but I don't want to get my friends hurt," she mumbled.

@Pride

Pride shook his head immediately.

"If it is only Cloudberry, there needn't be any sort of trial. She did not even harm anyone in the fight, I believe, and those who did are still being treated well. Huckleberry and Yewberry are doing just fine; neither were harmed and neither would your friend be. She need not go straight to Eridanus--I am close friends with Mercurius and I will arrange whatever needs to be done. Just send her to me and we will talk, Sirendippity. I will not attack her or the like."

"I have no idea why they called themselves Berries. Their group was called the Bloodberries but why 'Berry" I have no idea. Their leader was Blackberry, so perhaps that factored into it, but I always thought the name rather foolish," he added, in an amused and confiding tone. "If Azure truly is Cloudberry, she did not make a mistake in changing that name. And do not worry--not wanting your friends to be harmed is the very essence of being a guardian. Tell me--what sort of magic do you have?" Pride asked politely, hoping to turn Siren's mind to something a little more pleasant.

She was suffering more than a child should.

@Siren

Serendipity's head was awash with confusion-- if people could just lie then perhaps both of them were lying to her. Who was she supposed to trust? The child slumped back, sitting back and pulling her knees up towards her chest, frowning. Maybe she should see what Azure says-- but what if she got mad that Pride wanted to talk to her?

Her eyes flicked to the stag, and then back to trace the outline of the quartz around the throne. "It's a little dumb," she murmured half-heartedly, her mind thoroughly elsewhere.

The only thing that managed to pry it back to reality was the direct question-- a question she, at least, actually knew the answer to. "Fire," she said. "I like fire, and I can find gemstones and break rocks but I'm not really good at it. It's always really random if it works or not."

She shifted, quiet for a few beats, before speaking further. "I like making stuff and the Collector says 'cause of my hands I'm supposed to be really good at it," she offered.

@Pride

The Collector? Pride jolted a little, but he didn't know enough about the being to warn Siren not to trust him. He'd in fact met him only twice, and briefly. Fire, though--that he knew.

"Ahhh! A volatile element, fire, but a powerful one. Brute, perhaps, blunt, and prone to harming its user as well as its target," he went on, "and it can be difficult to use for guardian work--its damage is not kind. But you may find this useful," he went on, turning.

It should be noted that Pride had no idea that his spell was not, in fact, native to the "fire" element. He simply assumed that it was, since it made things... well, fiery. Plasma, to be exact--essentially, it turned things into suns, for awhile, melting them into sticky white-hot flame. But to him it seemed it might be useful. "A powerful spell--shield your eyes, please." He picked out a rock--not too close, and not too large or small--and focused on it. He waited patiently a moment, intent on not rushing and disrupting his own spellcasting.

He realized rather quickly that his magicka wasn't quite responding to him. It flickered and faltered, and so he chose a smaller rock--not the sort of thing he'd wanted to use, but he was learning to listen to his own magic.

This stone, after a delay, crackled and then burst into white fire, hissing where it burned like a miniature sun on the ground beneath.

"There," he said, "you may look now, but be careful. There are many uses to which fire can be put, though I am not a master of it. As for shattering stones and finding gems, both sound as though they would be very useful for creating things; what sort of objects do you wish to create?"

He turned back to Siren, his demeanor one of patience and interest, as though he were genuinely invested in the conversation--and he was, really. He wasn't just indulging a child. He respected others despite their young age, and to him, the child might have a wealth of untapped potential. Not only in magic, either--but in morals, in strength of will, in intellect and who knew what else.

All children did.

@Siren

Serendipity tilted her head. She hadn't really known fire to be harmful to anyone other than herself, but she supposed it made sense. As instructed, she shielded her eyes from the light-- though it didn't seem like... fire, to her, somehow.

She knew fire could be so hot that it gets white, but that didn't seem entirely right. When she dropped her hand again to squint, she tried to replicate the spell. She brought her attention to a nearby rock and furrowed her brow, trying to focus in on it.

There was a surge-- something familiar to her, and something of a relief --but the rock didn't go white, or get hot. But she did... feel hot. And there was a smell of something familiar, that Serendipity couldn't quite put her finger on.

It wasn't until she caught sight of the smoke coming out of her own skin that she realised she'd set herself on fire, and that familiar stench was of burning hair, like she smelled on Dread's deer. She squawked and lifted her hands to start patting herself out, though as soon as she stopped focusing on casting, it stopped.

Just leaving the smell.

"Magic is weird," she murmured, paraphrasing Azure. "It seems... random? How do you know to do new spells without just-- trying them just because you think you could and then finding out you can?"

She ruffled her hair, some leftover soot falling out of the thick pink curls. "I make, uh, weapons. I made a knife. I want to try to recreate pieces of armour and clothes and stuff, too? I really like finding stuff in the tunnel near Monoceros and I can make little rocks in shapes. Uhh. I gave Azure a blue ring and she really liked it."

@Pride

Pride saw the smoking hand before Siren did, and stepped quickly forward, focusing on his own magicka for a moment. He did his best to summon up a cloud of thick, cooling mist to help, just in case it pained the child. Nothing seemed to happen, though, perhaps because it was rushed--but she didn't seem all that distressed.

"Magic is indeed strange, and unreliable, at times. It takes a great deal of focus and practice to make it as consistent as it will be--be patient with it, too, and give yourself time to focus. Polaris is a good place to practice once you're skilled at it--the Spire is there, and it is quite chaotic, making it more difficult to use magic at all. But it means you will get better at it. For fire--I suggest always practicing near a water source, Sirendippity. It can be dangerous if you do not--even deadly. And be wary the water source is not a chaotic one--Polaris' river, for example, is icy cold, deep and swift. Best to do it near a pool, if you can, or a slower, wider portion of river."

It was all good, practical advice, and after a pause, Pride continued--it seemed he wasn't done yet. "To learn new magic, speak to those who know it already. I believe that you can shape it into whatever form, to do whatever task, you desire, really; it is limited only by its user."

He stepped back, a little, eyeing the hand that had been smoking, but as Siren spoke, he turned back toward her again. "Ahh, I see. I can create gemstones in various shapes--I have formed myself my own armor--but in my case I can create only that... gemstones. There is, in fact, a blacksmith--Glory--in Monoceros who creates such things. Perhaps you could seek him out, for training in this?" Pride suggested helpfully--rather unaware of just who had already trained her.

@Siren

Serendipity shook herself out a final time, but she didn't feel all that harmed. Her nose was the only thing truly assaulted here, or at least for now. "I know Glory," she said. "A big dragon told me about him, and about a Thing with Yellow Horns, but he lead me to Glory first in exchange for a shiny. Uhh. I have to make Dread something else now, but Glory taught me how to fix and make things with a forge and a smelter and stuff." She paused, thinking. "I dunno if he's super good at it because he sort of has weird things of doing things. Like, uh, instead of washing all the rust off something he'll say you have to grind it instead even though putting it in hot water might make it easier to come off? And he says that you should put this stuff on a sword but that you should wash it off before putting it near fire or it'll go on fire but it's really cool when it goes up on fire when it's oiled."

"The Collector told me to go meet someone called the Blacksmith, too, and said that he could teach me some things. Uhh. Like how to make a robe, I think? I wanted one from the Collector but he said the Blacksmith would be better for that, I think," she said thoughtfully. And then, as an afterthought, added, "I think the Blacksmith has hands."

Not that it mattered or anything, but apparently having hands made you superior.

"What other magic do you know?" She asked. "Is there a certain type of magic you need to know to be a Guardian and stuff?"

Pride's advice didn't go right over her head, of course-- but her mind was quite scattered with... everything. To boot, she felt exhausted, but she wasn't sure if it was from casting a lot today, from walking, or from the horrific realisation that not everybody tells the truth all the time.

"Where's Polaris?" She asked. "And what is the Spire?"

@Pride

Pride nodded in two directions--to Tunnel I, and to Tunnel N.

"There are tunnels--that way, or--there. Both will lead there. The Spire is a great crystal, massive, full of magic. It's also dangerous; don't touch it or try and reach it through magic of the mind. It tends to lash out. As for Glory, I know little of blacksmithing, myself; perhaps he has reasons for the way that he does things. It may be best to ask him why he does not do it the other way? I hardly think it is a very settled art--Glory himself is not that old, I believe, so perhaps careful experimentation can improve things. I do not know the Blacksmith, however, so I fear I can be of little help there."

"As for guardianship, no. You must have training, however, so that you can handle threats well. It would be up to you to decide how to do it. If you wish, I can aid you in that regard myself. And the Seven will have a meeting soon, a training exercise against another group. You could join us here, for that, if you wish it. But no, guardians have all sorts of magic--or none at all. Now--forgive me for saying so, but you seem slightly tired. You may rest here, if you wish--or if you prefer I can carry you somewhere on my back?"

@Siren

Serendipity looked around, and then shook her head quietly. "I think he's just weird or he didn't think about it himself," she murmured, shrugging. She gave a gentle sigh and started pushing herself up to her feet.

"How soon?" She asked. "And do you just-- meet right here for meetings? I want to be a guardian." She half-repeated herself, to make sure that Pride knew that she still wanted to be a part of the Good Guys. Maybe it was a little less exciting than she initially thought, but not at all untempting. "I can do training. And I can handle myself good. And I'll be a good-- making-things-..er." Creator. She meant creator.

She frowned lightly, looking out towards Monoceros. "No, I can't sleep right now. I have to go talk to Azure and make sure everything's okay," she said quietly. "But I'll be back. I wanna live in one of, uh, those things." She gestured down at the buildings.

@Pride

Pride glanced quizzically back toward the ruins, then to Sirendippity.

"Ah? Very well. If you wish, I can carry you back, or alternatively--if you have one chosen I could clean it for you in your absence. We meet, occasionally, but I can always give you advance warning when it's planned. Come back to me when you wish to train to fight, or wish to learn of magic or anything else, really; I can also accompany you in any exploration, if you wish, and teach you what I know of the caves." Pride didn't say this with any particular kindness--he was kind, but it was the same offer he'd have given to most young Gembound seeking guidance.

"Otherwise, I wish you well, until we meet again."

@Siren

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