melodiesofeternity | Anniversary Event: Defying Fate

Flesh-eating faeries. Why wasn't he surprised. But that's okay- if they didn't want to play nice he had some nice cold iron to feed 'em instead. The 'beast' chuckled and was excited by the prospect of that outcome, rather than this peaceful bullshit. Kanji was finding the idea tempting, because this whole thing was getting frustrating.

Now would be the perfect time for the others to come up with a plan.

"A'right, let's put it another way: Would you two agree 100% that I got the most meat on me?"

This was... unexpected. But with a contemplative "Nnn..." Ren wasn't exactly pumped to hear about their eating habits. Could it be that the white fairy would consume them all, while the black would nibble on none?

Or was that too easy...

There's a cautious glance at each of the group members as he wondered if they were considering the same thing— though his grey eyes landed on Kanji last. Did he... have a plan?

"..."

Kanji, Naoto is going to let you finish your thing, but she already had turned to face the black fairy. Looking at her notes, 'Black is none, But in a void they're pretty cool'.

Quietly, she would be shifting that way since they should be getting a move on.

She likes to think she's gotten pretty good at rolling with things, thanks to Papillon, but flesh-eating fairies are an entirely new experience. How are they supposed to beat that?

Marinette glances over at each of them in turn, and shrugs at Kanji's question. It might have been directed at their little friends but she doesn't mind answering.

"I wouldn't say that." Mostly because that's just an odd thing to say about someone, but whatever. Technicalities. It seems pretty obvious what his plan has to be, but she's too much of a meddler to stand by and do nothing about it.

Besides, they had more important things to worry about right now than hungry fairies.

The fairies do not answer any more questions; however Naoto's pick is the correct one. Upon walking this path, they'll find themselves in another crossroad, this one with three branching path.

[ OOC: As the mechanic for finding the right path has been correctly deduced, a couple more branching paths will be handwaved for the sake of getting to the Eidolon. ]

After finding the last correct path, the Heroes of Light find themselves in a clearing. There is a fountain in the middle and many fairies fly over it: red, blue, green, black and white ones. They all seem peaceful and don't appear to have a thirst for flesh contrary to what they said earlier. There is a stone before the fountain, with more marking in the language of Eidolons.

To those who reached thus far,
Call her forth:

Titania

And blessed you shall be,
By the Queen's gift.

He figured he was on to something. But he guessed his time for trying to be a clever boy would never come, and that was fine, he was just here as muscle anyway. Kanji tucked away the case and opted for silence from here on out.

So many fairies this time around, all probably hungry. He still had what he brought, but if they didn't want a bread-like sweet like in the books, then he'll just eat them himself later.

The stone didn't need to tell 'em twice, right? This was the summoners' cue.

Stepping forward again with the others, they calmly read the Eidolon inscribed.

"... Titania."

That makes sense. Why not come looking for the Queen of the Fairies... After this, they should take those children home.

"Titania?"

She knows the name, but wasn't really expecting to be seeing it here. Like before, she takes a couple photos of the inscription as well as adding a copy of the translated text to the same document.

"So we just call for her now?"

Upon calling her, a fairy appears in the center of the fountain: unlike the small fairies so far, this fairy is the size of an adult woman. More small fairies appear before her and she addresses the characters in the language of the Eidolons.

"Heroes of Light.
"In those dark times,
Speak the reason of your presence."

[ A new Eidolon has been unlocked! She will have to be unlocked again in the next loops for her to be available. ]

TITANIA [Holy]

The Queen of Fairies. Fairies are very mischievous little beings who like to scare people off and pretend they'd eat them off if they could; yet there is no record of a fairy ever harming any living being. Quite at the contrary, they possess the ability to heal all organic being. Legends even claim they can revive them, but such feats have never been observed.

As their Queen, Titania reign them in when their pranks go too far. Unlike most Eidolons, Titania can never harm an enemy. She is best used to heal and support a party.

Full Summoning: Angel Feathers
Titania appears, rains feathers on the party and sends her fairies to assist the Summoner and their allies. Recover 50% of the maximum health of all allies.

Partial Summoning: Fairy in a Bottle
The partial summoning doesn't actually summon Titania, but one of her fairies sealed in a bottle. Using it will heal a single target with the potency of a Cura spell.

Egi Summoning: Embrace
A Titania-egi stands by the Summoner side, casting a weak healing spell on them every turn.

He blinked. It was always so weird seeing a summoning happen, but at the very least they had the help of one more. She spoke gibberish to him, unfortunately, but he quickly dug through his bag again for the container.

"She's gotta know where the missing kids are."

Watching the Queen emerge, Naoto had seen her somewhere before... the Crystal Temple she if she recalled. Perhaps having Titania for the loop would help correct several of the ongoing incidents... but looking over at Kanji, she nodded.

Right, one task first.

"Titania, we've come to this place in search of two children. They sought you for aid in this Calamity and if you could help us, we would be grateful."

Well that was easier than she would've expected it to be. Hmm.

She understood what the Queen was saying, though, and she glanced over at Kanji. He was right of course. The children had to be their first priority.

"That's right! Have you seen any children come through this way?" Was that even how it worked? It seemed more likely that one or more of the smaller fairies would've seen them. But it also seemed pretty likely that the smaller ones weren't going to be terribly helpful.

It was her. Titania... the fairy depicted in the charm that Ren gripped unconsciously in his hand now. The others had already asked the appropriate questions, so he stood beside them, a resolved look in his eyes— hoping that she would be able to give them the answers they sought... and the reason they had come out here in the first place.

The fairy Titania floats above the water and turns her head downward to look at each of the teenagers before her with gently closed eyes.

"Young ones...please, rest yourselves at this fountain. I see that you have had a hard journey."

She gestures at them, waiting in case they need to sit down. After a minute, she smiles. "You are asking of the two children who wandered into our woods? Do not worry. I have taken them in for now. They were quite frightened, the poor things."

Well, he was the one who didn't understand the language, but he settled in the grass with a sigh as the summoners would talk things out. He memorized the path they took for a moment, which would help out in future loops should this one be another failure.

"For the record, if the kids're pooped, I can carry 'em back no problem." But he couldn't help relaxing all the same. This spring was... nice. It oddly made him feel homesick, of days when he was a kid where he'd look for faeries and fox spirits and stuff.

Looking back towards Kanji, Naoto relayed what the Fairy Queen had said, about her taking in the children and how they were frightened. Which was completely understandable. The same woods which would've trapped them and which had trapped the others before, they could've died... again.

"If we can, we're here to take them home. While their parents haven't noticed yet, they will, but their efforts to find them, even with help, will be in vain."

"Thank you."

Marinette doesn't have to be told twice, and she wastes no time in taking a seat near the fountain. Even still, her attention is focused almost entirely on Titania and what she's saying now.

It seems like Naoto has it handled, though, so she's content to sit quietly and wait to see how this plays out. She's worried about the missing children, but there's no reason to think that the fairy queen would be lying about them being safe for now.

Titania moves her head just a slight angle to acknowledge Naoto, and her hair shimmers in the light of the forest. "I see. They might still be sleeping at this moment, so please take care not to disturb them. How far have you come for their sakes?"

"We'll do our best."

She doesn't think anyone wanted to risk dealing with cranky children. "If we're speaking in a literal sense, we came here with the primary intention of finding them. However, due to the Eidolon script found and others having trouble traversing the forest, I cannot deny we were curious as to what that might entail due to their difficulties."

Kanji squinted. There was an exchange not happening here.

"Somethin' don't add up." He got up and headed for the group, and lowered his voice.

"The kids never go home before Bahamut fucks everything. She would've guided them out or called off the faeries or the weird forest voodoo."

He paused. They needed the help of the eidolons, but they'd gotten an eyeful and an afternoon of faeries messing with them. What would make Titania any different?

Having dealt with cranky children in the past, Marinette really had no desire to repeat the experience here. Especially not under these circumstances. So she just nodded at Titania's words.

Naoto seemed to be handling Titania well enough, and the latter seemed content enough to listen so there was no point in worrying.

At least until Kanji came over and spoke up. He was right, of course.

"That's why we're here, isn't it? We need to bring them home before things happen."

Obviously it wasn't going to be that simple, but she was willing to try as many times as it took to make it work.

Titania sighs. She begins to glow as she speaks again.

A child’s pure heart I count as most dear,
Of this ye should be without doubt.
Is it any wonder I kept them near,
When The Dragon lurks without?
Yet I shall not deny thee thine request,
If my bower’s refuge thou doth spurn.
Though they leave ‘gainst the fairies’ behest,
Who from mortals came, to mortals needs return.
With thee goes my aid, Titania’s Gift,
With hopes the coming tides shall shift.

With that, Titania and the band of fairies disappear in a flash of shimmering light. The tree branches surrounding the fountain sway and part, revealing the children slumbering on beds of soft moss. They awaken, and appear entirely unharmed. The party can now exit the forest with the lost children. A small fairy will appear again to guide them down the quickest path.

Naoto listened and bowed her thanks shortly after Titania and the other fairies disappeared. It made sense what her intentions were from the poems - she thinks she recalls hearing that it tended to work that way in fairytales after all. With the children awake, she would help them up and turn to the others.

"Well then, are we ready to head back?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I think I pissed her off, but their parents are gonna find out they went missing and families need to be together even more now than ever."

If needed, he'll be a mule to carry the kiddos. But first he would see if they needed the help. If not, he'll oversee the group's path back home overall.

There's a moment or two of blinking from Ren. It seemed the fairies in this forest weren't the best at being direct, but her tune got the point across. Satisfied that the mission seemed to be a success at least, he approached the sleeping children, ready to offer one a piggy back to the closest one should they so desire.

"I wouldn't worry about it," there's a smile for you, Kanji. Even if she wasn't pleased at the end, sometimes you had to rustle a few feathers to get the results you wanted, right?

"Nice work, everyone." At least they wouldn't have to worry about their flesh being munched on on the way back. Probably.

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doodlebuginette - 2019-04-20 22:50 (UTC) - Expand