Description: The Red Witch searches the deepest, darkest places at the Capital 7 Casino and she inevitably finds what she seeks. Or, rather, the Devil of Koga finds her. The evil creature loathes the irreverent sorceress like no other, what proposition could Naerose offer Marise that actually intrigues her?
The exposed, rotten underbelly of Metro City.
Thats where the Red Witch finds herself now. The deepest, darkest place she could find beneath the recently built Capital 7. Beneath the service entrances and basement infrastructure. Beneath the winding corridors and staircases leading to the secret, high-security underground fighting ring. Even ensconced within yards of concrete, the festivities can still be heard from these small, tight walkways. Little more than access tunnels to the sewage, independent power generators and air ventilation and filtration systems. Amenities such as light and heat are afterthoughts here, barely considered conveniences as humans rarely traverse here. Occasionally there's a hidden machine that requires fixing, a utility in need of tuning, but such events are uncommon. Dim, fluorescent lights sparsely populate the low clearance ceiling. Often dangling in-between exposed pipes and cabling one must duck beneath to pass.
People do not come here. Which would make it the perfect hiding area for those whom wish not to be found..
But why and how did she get there? Naerose though: The Casino. Sometimes Naerose came here and when she did, she often got ushered away from the all you can eat buffet. Today however she doesn't go there at all, she goes down, takes the elevator down. She takes it down to the bottom of the elevator and steps out. She's pretty sure that if she's going to find Marise it's either going to be in a haunted shinto shrine, or a dark castle on a cliff or a grave yard.. Unfortunately she isn't finding any of those so she decides the basement levels of the casino would have to do the trick.
She was looking for Marise, so she went and brought a flashlight, figuring this is the only place that she would be. Wait, she already thought that. She looks at a puddle that is under her foot. She splashes a little.
"Echo.. echo.. echo.."
"Always looking for trouble.."
A deep, feminine voice fills the tight corridor. The air itself seems to chill a degree or two from its already cold atmosphere. The only determinable source of the bizarre cadence seems from somewhere behind..
"..Always seeking what you should not. I wonder if you ever ask yourself.." From the dark, a pair of wicked golden eyes faintly glow. Sharply narrowing with black slits focusing upon the intruder like obsidian knives, "..If you'd be afraid of what you'd find?"
And thus, the Witch succeeds in her little quest to bring the Devil from hiding. The question of how good an idea that was.. remains to be answered. From what little the shadowy distance reveals of the ghost, she doesn't particularly seem pleased to see the young Witch. But then.. Marise has hardly ever been pleased to meet the irreverent one. Assuming she was ever pleased to meet anyone at all.
"Ah.. huh," Naerose says and fixes her shades. She can't see the spiffy evilness of Marise because it's dark down here, her flashlight sucks and the witch is wearing shades. So nya.
"You're really into saying like spiffy myssssterious stuff, but check it, I saw mystery men too." It must be hard to come up with cool lines on the likes of Naerose, a more thoughtful person might come to the conclusion that that was one reason why she might hate the witch so much, if you can't really say anything to her or get to her.
"So anyway, I dunno what you're going on about, but I totally got this great idea and I was thinking, who could be really helpful in this and then I realized.."
The red witch fixes Marise with a biiiiiiig smile and leans on her broom.
Wicked eyes slowly begin to roll upwards, perhaps in silent question of why all the deities she's forsaken would choose such an annoying method of revenge.
A slow, calming exhale. Yes, she'd promised Miss Elle that she wouldn't murder Naerose. She has been a useful little cretin, and she did do her part well enough during the Jinchuu affair.
Perhaps removing her lower jaw would keep her just as effective but remove the bulk of her issues? Hrmm..
As the Witch babbles about something or other, The Devil Ninja nearly simply disappears again to leave the girl to her madness. However, The ghost cannot help but become morbidly curious about a certain point.
"Speak." The Devil states simply in what must be her most patient and calm of tones. Her sinister outline remaining hidden in the dark, only those baleful eyes and occasional glint of ivory fang can be discerned from the blackness.
Once again the viewers at home must be reminded that while Marise can make herself almost disapear, the fact is Naerose couldn't see her in the first place. She refuses to take those damned tea shades off and if you even managed to get them off of her she'd just close her eyes. Yes she is literally blind without her glasses, but this is entirely and completely by choice. Much of this you might not know without seeing it happen first hand. Now as to the scene at hand, we have the bit about speaking, the witch COULD press farther and mess with Marise, but why do that? Why do that when she already has the advantage. She should you know, just actually answer the question sort of.
"Oh, right, why I came," she fishes an index card out of her hat,
"I have an order for you, lets see, pizza order, no .. not RIGHT! here it is. I need some stones that can have memories inscribed, no wait, better yet.. Feelings.. Yeah feelings. You see, I want to build a castle of regrets, using the regrets of well.. just about everyone who has regrets and to do that I need to capture said regrets... I figured if anyone could do that macabre sort of thing it'd be you, right?"
Notice Naerose does not mention her own regrets. Why? Well the simple answer, she literally has none. She is incapable of regret. But once again you would have to look to know this
The Devil somehow manages to muster the patience to survive the indignity of Naerose's sprawling commentary and listen long enough for her to say something actually interesting. Those eyes slowly turn back towards the Witch as she makes the particularly strange request.
In the wake of that question, a profound silence lingers. The Devil weighing her thoughts as she gazes upon the girl idly.
Well now..
"A.. fascinating proposal.." The Devil muses softly, "Tell me.." Glowing eyes extinguishing from view for a moment. Leaving her movements completely hidden, save for the sensation of something devoid of warmth slithering through the air.
"Why would you desire such a thing? Hrmm? A shrine of woe? Of loss? A temple to the dissolution of hope?.."
Those inhuman eyes open then a short distance away from the Witch. Hovering a few inches above her eye level, looking through her curiously, "What would you hope to gain by such a thing.. Yesss?"
"What? huh?" The witch says, looking utterly confused and then fixes her shades and then leans on her staff and then.. and then.
"Oh, well I want to capture everyone's regret ... and then.. invite them to the castle for a fabulous evening." The witch gives a broad grin and changes the subject, "So.. basically I need bricks, they need to be big and I need a lot, I estimate I'll need about .. ohh. a hundred... thousand? Oh and if you want to help, I need to collect a lot of regrets from a lot of people.. Maybe I can like.. make it some sort of Casino vice thing, what stays in the castle of regrets .. stays in the castle of regrets..? " She scratches her head under her hat, apparently attempting to evade the question. Seriously. Evade the question. Her posture is bent, meanwhile, relaxed, as though this were a pleasant conversation about the weather. It wasn't as though the witch did serious very well.
"Why?"
The Devil does not let that question drop. That evil voice is as piercing as it is implacable. The sensation of the wicked ghost looming a bit closer is felt, if not seen, as the whisper continues quietly, "Who do you hate so much... that you would do such a cruel.. terrible thing to? Hrmm?" The whisper slowly gaining an edge.
"Regret is a powerful force, child. It is the one thing mere mortals desire most to forget, as they assuredly loathe that which forces them to remember. I wonder.."
Eyes all but looming over the girl's shoulder, looking very closely indeed, "Are you willing to endure this? To be hated by all? ... Even from those you so desired acceptance?"
"Huh? I don't hate anyone? bu I thought I'd try to get everyone to contribute," The witch says innocently enough. Wow, Marise has never gotten this close to her before. The witch has to fix her shades again to see if she's actually able to tell. Inconclusive. She leaves her shades alone and instead brushes her fingers over her forehead.
"Must really bother you always trying to get like a window into people's souls and hearts, I bet you don't fail often huh Marise.. And then like when you do, you're totally trying to hide the evidence." She stares at Marise, or maybe stares at Marise, "So I desire acceptance huh?"
A terrible, vaguely metallic-like shrieking sound echos in the corridor at Naerose's words. The dim flashlight reveals very, very long bladed nails glittering in the dark.
"I do not fail."
The Devil doesn't feel it necessary to elaborate on that point. Arguing with this child is certainly not what she's interested in. A point of fact, the ghoulish maiden isn't particularly interested in her breathing. However, there is a curious grain of mystery embedded in this Witches request that Marise sees fit to pry at.
"Of course you do. Of courssssse you do.." That whispering voice murmurs. The presence shifting to hover over her other shoulder, predatory eyes glistening through thin slits, "Don't be naive, hrmm? You wish to drown others in their very own regrets. Bask in their pain. Mock them for their poor decisions.. yess? Why else would you create such a thing? Why else?"
The creature chuckles softly, a Cheshire grin revealing a smile filled with glimmering fangs, "Would you desire to hurt others so? Unless you feel they deserve such pain.."
Naerose doesn't need to speak does she? After all, here is Marise doing it all for her, she's going to just let her talk and then well, eventually the devil will want something from Naerose.
"Well, okay so you got alla the answers right? That's great, really I always liked it better that way, but ya know I'm just totally wondering if you can do this I mean.. You don't fail right? So you should be able to pull it off and then I guess you'd have a nice feast in store for you mmm?" The witch lifts a brow and tries to track the sound if she can't see anything. No flashlight, it hardly matters, but it does mean she's more or less in the complete dark. This isn't that unusual for the witch. She's used to being blind. At least it isn't a great disadvantage.
"Come on.. it'll be all sorts of fun." She winks, you 'd be hard pressed to see that.
"Not all of them.."
The Devil demures quietly. A rare admission from one who prefers to let people think her omniscient. Clearly, however, Naerose is exceptionally reluctant to answer the question. Certainly not willingly. However..
The shadowed silhouette moves away from the Witch, backing away a few paces and eyes lifting into the air, glancing down to the girl as if attempting to see her in a new light. Letting Nae's offers of what's in it for Marise to hang in the air for a few moments.
And then, "Perhaps.. Perhaps I know of a method to accomplish much of what you seek. However.."
The Devil's gaze bows forth, looking through the Witch intensely as she furthers her terms, "Such services do not come without price. The first of my terms is to tell me.. The truth. Why do you wish to create such an edifice devoted to the lamentations of others? Answer this.." The Devil's unseen head tilts, "..And we shall see what 'fun' there is to be had.."
A sigh.
"Wow you know when you ask questions, I mean, not like a lawyer, cause that Pheonix guy totally knows when to say objection. It's really simple. People got these regrets right? But they totally wouldn't let Aurelia, or Urika in the bath house. Her unrequited love was so heart breaking. Okay well in the end she prolly didn't have many regrets, but who ever actually faces their regrets head on an who jus sorta pretends they arn't there?" Speaking of which is Naerose just pretending she doesn't regret anything at all? Or is she for real,
"So after the castle is built I'll probably do something cliche like have a tournament in it and invite all the people who inscribed their regret to... Seriously, are you still not following?" The witch pulls a half eaten candy bar out of her hat and starts to chump on it. It's crunchy, stale and makes her next words into,
"Mummumummm."
A faint, cycling glint in the darkness suggests that the Devil quietly waves her hand in a clock-wise circle, "Go on."
Clearly, the Witches madness is beginning to overcome what intriguing motive the girl may actually possess for all of this. Regardless, the Devil's terms of cooperation have been open and clear. It is now the little sorceresses turn to decide if the cost is worth this creature's potential assistance. The potential of something useful actually being divulged from this girl's bizarre tangents and insanity is enough to provide the Devil just a little more patience. Long enough, perhaps, to see the girl spit it out.
"Because I wanna see people forced face to face with their regrets," The witch finally admits, though there is a little more to it and she looks like it's pulling teeth to say it, "And fight them." She stops here, as if to make it abundantly clear tht she isn't going to go any farther at all what so ever. She falls silent, save for the crunching of a candy bar. It's all sorts of difficulty really, trying to be serious to this woman.
"Anyway, you'll have more prices too, an since yer totally already makin demands that means you've agreed to me proposal in principal and that you only wanna haggle over cost. So lets say you don't like my answer, just up the ante someplace else, or are you saying you don't want anythign at all that I couuld possibly have to offer to you ever in any way shape or form or otherwise known little smidge of something that might be found on the bottom of a shoe but that you don't wear shoes so you wouldn't know about..." Almost drawn out words as if the length of useless rambling was a clue itself.
Of the inane babble, Marise picks out a few useful nuggets of information. Puzzling over this, the creature mulls the response over calmly. Horrid, if softer, shrieking returns as the Devil runs her nails over one another. While the deepest truth yet exists, perhaps the answer was satisfactory enough as a down payment for purchasing the Devil's involvement.
However, as the Witch begins to state this and that about what this monsteress has agreed to, those golden eyes suddenly blink into existence before the girl's own. The Devil having leaned forth to peer straight into the blackness of those sunglasses, eye level. "I am obliged to do.. Precisely what entertains me. Let us not mistake this conversation for common, mercantile blather. If at any time I do not enjoy your 'answers', you will find my sufferance intensely ... Uncomfortable."
With that outright threat spoken, The Devil leans away to give the Witch a little more room. Murmuring, "..To your credit, I find your request.. amusing enough to consider entertaining. For now.." The creature then takes another step away.
"The second term of my assistance.. You will never return here." The ghost decides to clarify then, her luminous gaze sweeping about the immediate area, "..The Casino proper and the Circle you may visit to your heart's content. But these tunnels? .. Never again. Yess?"
"Ah, why would I ever want to come down here?" Naerose asks, looking perplexed. She sweeps her gaze over the ah tunnels and then looks over at the devil, "I mean, did you even consider that before saying it? It's so.. cramped, I couldn't get by broom to swing around here and there isn't any.. I mean, you totally wouldnt understand being unable to fly" - debatable coming from Naerose since she's hinting that she can, "Now if you said I couldn't go on the roof.. Anyway, what other weird demands do you have?" The witch asks, and adjusts her shades some more. The threat, it doens't seem to register at all, she looks utterly unmoved by it, infact, she's even smiling again.
The Devil, however, is not smiling.
While it is debatable what Naerose can make out in the blackness, it is clear that humor does not touch those vehement eyes. Arguing is something other people do. Marise is not in the habit of explaining herself, unless she chooses to do so.
However, to answer one fairly legitimate question, The Devil adds, "Further prices are pending my determinations of costs. I must research your request. I know of a method or two, but I must review the difficulties thereof. Once established.." The creature clicks her flesh-rending nails together, ".. We will redress the issue of further payment."
And thus, the Devil continues moving away, her eyes lingering upon the Witch as they fade into the black, "I will give you my answer soon. It will entirely depend.. How well you've met my previous two requirements.. And if I continue to be entertained by this ..Castle of Regret. Now.. Go."
As that final word is whispered, golden eyes blink closed, and all traces of the ghost's existence are simply.. gone.
And almost like the meeting never took place the wtich tries to leave, singing to herself randomly hacked up songs, seriously if you wanna know what it sounds like listen to a song and insert the lyrics you know are wrong. She gets lost, but luckily not in the tunnels, in the elevator. She totally forgets which floor she's supposed to hit, so she hits all of them. This takes a while and eventually she gets off on one. The wrong floor. She's tried. She sleeps under a table in a conference room of the hotel and gets kicked out shortly there after.
Log created on 00:12:07 12/13/2007 by Marise, and last modified on 15:31:44 12/18/2007.