World Tree MUSH

    Outside of her transformed state, Heartbreaker Moth resembles a middle-aged housewife. Dyed hair, eye shadow, impeccable makeup. Somebody clearly trying to cling to youth's fading beauty. The cell she's kept in is sparse; bed, bathroom, sink. The Beacon Society seems to ensure the bare necessities for prisoners. While waiting for... whatever is next, the woman is checking her nails for chipping.

    Serrah is looking awake and alert for once. This means that her irritable confusion is more pointed than it was last time.

    "I just want to point out that as ridiculous as all this inter-factional nonsense is," she says, "I'll take this over vampire politics any day of the week."

    She looks around at the others present for a moment, then shrugs. "Arright, I'll ask the first question," she says, turning to Heartbreaker Moth. "Where's Hornet Queen? Are you just, like, subbing for her? Or is something more ... unpleasant going on?"

"The real Sybil is with Shield-Maiden but that still leaves some questions to answer." Benedicta explains to the others, "Hey Fabric Eater, so how did you end coping Sybil?" Benedicta remembers what Heartbreaker called her before. "And why would a moth side with Baroness Spider?" She wonders what's the woman is getting all of this.

     "Wow, she looks like somebody's aunt. One of those wine-guzzling cat-obsessed ones who can't keep a lover because she keeps projecting all her insecurities on them. You know." Damian remarks, levitating in the air next to Benedicta. At Serrah's comment, he grins and says, "Yeah, I bet they can get really cutthroat. Here I thought regular politicians were bloodthirsty, heheh."

But since the questioning seems to have officially started, he turns his attention to the moth-now-not-moth and rubs his chin, thinking about what to ask her. "You don't know anything about soul magic, do you?"

Jun still has no idea what is going on with this whole thing. He's more or less stayed gone from his own world -- no sense going back when there's nothing there, right? So he's really only been hearing about all this third-hand, when some piece of something nasty hits the fan. Thusly, he's not going to be much help with the actual interrogation. He's here, though, mainly for a show of solidarity to the others. So he's staying back, hopefully out of trouble.

    "I'm sure Sybil is recuperating from the thrashing I gave her. Got her right... here." The woman puts both hands across her heart. "As for why I worked with the Baroness. Let's just say I was ensnared in her web."
    The Heartbreaker grins. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over how awesome I am." is aimed at Damian's remarks.

    Serrah smacks her forehead, and nods to Benedicta. "As I was saying!" She shakes her head. "Don't mind me, I'm probably the least-sensible person here."

    She chortles at Damian's comment. "Yeah, I keep hearing comments like that from various centenarians." (She ... probably means elves and other long-lived beings.) "Let's just say that the figurative bloodsuckers are before my time."

    She rolls her eyes at Heartbreaker's description of her fight. "Can we take a break? I need to edit that, uh, 'nearly threw hands with a thirteen-year-old' meme," she shoots back. "With, like, a moth's head over the guy's face." Her backtalk at Damian gets a chuckle, however.

"Yet, you're still a moth in a cage. Funny, how that works. Oh well, maybe your boss will eat you for a snack once we bring her in. Then again would that mean Sybil would go back to normal?" Benedicta can't help but to wonder about that.

 "Crap, if Sybil stole part of my soul and she stole part of Sybil's does that mean she has mine as well?" Maybe you should answer's Damian's question? Unless you want us to find out how well you can handle lavender?" She's not big on torture but she's not above making the woman feel uncomfortable.

     "Pride's one of the Seven Deadly Sins, you know~" Damian retorts with a wink, missing nary a beat. "I'm sure my dad would /love/ to have someone new to play with, especially a big shot magical granny. Of course we can't let him have all the fun."

Transforming into a black-and-red version of what seems to be the Cheshire Cat, he flips over onto his back and cuts a truly /massive/ grin with far too many teeth as he stares upside down at Heartbreaker. "I mean, look at our eclectic little group of friends here. Me, the son of the devil. Ms. Delany, time mistress herself. Sir Dragon over in the back, ooh he can do some really fun stuff. Can't forget Benny or Aur either, who I'm sure you know have /very/ good reasons to spare no expense making you talk."

His eyes shine red, like a pair of spotlights outlining the older woman. "Your call. Got anything useful?"

Heartbreaker laughs, a high-pitched OH HO HO HO sound. "I don't steal souls, just hearts. Sybil's is filled with regret and pride." The woman gives Benedicta a wicked smile that reaches her eyes. "If she wasn't /so/ concerned about status at school, you'd be best of friends, Miss Bunny. But really, high school is just an awful time. Everybody's so concerned about appearances and who's sleeping with who..."
    At Damian's comments, Heartbreaker narrows her eyes. "Well now, there's no accounting for taste. After all, I'm just a distraction." She simply smiles after stating this.

    Serrah frowns at Benedicta. She's no expert on souls, but that line of questioning is ... bothering her.

    She glances over her shoulder at Damian. She's about to try to correct him on the precise nature of her powers, then realizes he's trying to intimidate and/or bluff her, and doesn't speak.

    She furrows her brow at Heartbreaker, then glances at the others. "I dunno, we got anything else useful here, or should we ditch this clown for one of the other two?"

"Wait, Sybil can feel regret? Well, maybe she'll change now that she's graduated. Then again I won't keep my fingers crossed. We've been at it since we were kids." Benedicta knows it's more than just high school. "I'm finished here, let's go talk to Slug. I wonder what he's been doing since Luna's death." She hadn't heard much since then.

     Damian's head turns rightside up again, but his body waits a few seconds to follow it. A few more moments later, and he instantly POPs back to his normal form, the grin gone and replaced with a very disappointed frown. "Well you're just /boring/." is all he says to Heartbreaker.

"Alright, so, guess Slug's next. I dunno, salt shakers?" He's already floating away from the cell, scratching at his chin in thought.

    Uncle Slug has been placed in a very sterile and clean room, with bright lights. Everything is very white and clean, quite in contrast with its occupant. Uncle Slug was human once, but his body has been twisted into a flabby bloated shape, complete with a slimy slug-skin texture. He seems to be talking to a large rat that he has somehow smuggled in, talking to it in soothing rhyme.
    He looks up at the glass. "Is it that time? I hope you enjoy rhyme."

    Serrah shrugs. "Let's hope she at least grows out of it," she says. She pauses. "And that she actually has a future she can grow into."

    She shakes her head at Damian as they start to leave. "That probably means she won, or whatever," she says. "Still. Can't imagine why you'd feel the need to do that." She glances back at Heartbreaker.

    She smirks at Uncle Slug. "Whatever else I gotta say, in a fight, you sure don't play," she says without preamble. "I'm still feelin' the sting of the healin' Jun gave me on that day." She spent about half an hour this afternoon trying to come up with this rhyme, and the 'feeling' and 'healing' was a happy accident.

"I'm not going to have bother with the rhyme. Okay, why did you decide to step in the turf war between Sybil and Baroness Spider? Didn't piss enough people off when you were working for Luna?" Benedicta's wondering why he decided to be a third wheel when he managed to successfully escape before. She didn't really have that many questions for him, but the others might.

     "She's boring and lame. Let her think she 'won' or whatever. I don't care anymore." Damian gruffly responds to Serrah, before hearing the rhymes and groaning. "Oh yeah, I forgot you do that. Although that rat might make a nice snack for a cat."

Another cat transformation, but this time it's a massive panther, jaws dripping with green slime as he slowly stalks toward Uncle Slug and his small rodent companion. "Hey there, Slugger. I hope you're more fun than the last one. I even have the salt ready to go~" he says in a deep, growling voice, with several salt shakers popping into existence around him and floating in the air.

Jun follows the rest of the group to where Slug's being kept at. That rhyming from Slug gets a tilt of his head, but he doesn't react apart from that. It doesn't seem to bother him one way or the other.

Finally though, he speaks up. It's quiet, but it's a suggestion. "These guys might be magical, but they're all still people underneath it all," he reasons. "And usually when people do things that hurt others, it's because they either don't care, or because they're looking for attention. I think, when you insult them, make rude comments at them, maybe it makes them feel like they've won somehow. Makes them more resistant to giving information. So maybe just talking normally would work?"

It's a hesitant suggestion, but it's offered, nonetheless. He doesn't know much about these guys, but he does want to be able to treat them like people...

    Uncle Slug laughs at Damian as the rat grows porcupine quills, gnashing fangs, and wicked looking claws. "You may have some problem with that, as Michael fears no cat." The rat leaps at the clear divider, clinging to it and screeching horribly.
    Uncle Slug regards Benedicta with a yellow eye. "Your kind always needs to know more, when the explanation is simply a turf war. With Luna off and gone, Spider and I have scores to see done."

    Serrah considers this, and nods. "Jun has the right of it, I'd say," she answers Damian. "I think we should all just settle down for five minutes, jeez."

    She immediately turns back to Uncle Slug when he gives his answer. "Thank you," she says. "Okay, damn, this is a lot simpler than I was worried about, heh. Uhh ..." She shrugs. "I guess that ruled out the possibility of taking your fight elsewhere, where you won't turn into Uncle Collateral Damage. Right? Since it was the location itself you were fighting over."

Benedicta jumps back a bit at the rat screeching and she cringes at the noise, "Dammit, okay...remain calm...." She tries to stay polite after that jump scare. "With him in jail and Sybil out of action though, that kind of leaves Baroness unchecked right now. We might have her marching soon." She certainly doesn't want her taking over San Francisco as well.

     With some slight grumbling, Damian returns to his regular form, but keeps one of the salt shakers... just in case. "Fffffffine. It never works like in the movies..." The knowledge that it's just a turf war between rivals in the organization does cause another groan, though. "Ugh, really? All that over some stupid land? You guys are /so/ lame."

The rat, meanwhile, is met with a catlike hiss from Damian, his face contorting into a fierce expression with teeth bared and salt shaker menacingly shaking salt around.

    Uncle Slug takes the rat and calms it down, the battle modifications it sported melding back into its body. He pets it like one would stroke a beloved animal companion. "You'll find it's more about hearts and minds. The Cabal membership needs shepherds, lest they become rowdy and easily stirred. If we do not have a show of force, then there's no respect of course."

    Serrah reflexively puts a comforting hand on Benedicta's shoulder, and uses the other to push Damian's snarling face away. By the face.

    "Eh. I've heard that kind of thing before," she answers Uncle Slug, unapproving but earnest. "From an undead Emperor with more charisma than morals. Guess for now we gotta agree to disagree."

    She shrugs, and turns back to the others. "We gonna talk to the good doctor now?"

"Sure, if he's been working for Sybil I'm sure there's plenty we'll be able to get out of him." Of course Benedicta might not be happy when she hears some what of the Doctor has to say to them as she leads the way.

     Damian reluctantly dismisses the salt shaker and starts to head out again, moving on to the next prisoner. "Pfeh. Show of force, I'll give them a show of force alright..." he mutters under his breath, more annoyed than before. "Doctor whatever better give us /something/ good, or I swear I'm gonna feed him to my fanclub."

Jun turns to follow the group, but has one parting comment for Uncle Slug. He looks over his shoulder to offer it. "Sometimes a show of force isn't the answer. I know you've heard 'catch more flies with honey'. That's true of people too." He doesn't wait to get an answer, he just follows the others away.

    Doctor Worm is in an ordinary cell. He's grumbling about needing a trimming, and he might be right. There's sprouts and grass on his face and hands, some of which are even blooming. And bugs contributing to his personal eco-system, things like caterpillers and grubs that are giving rise to the ladybugs, moths, and butterlies that have formed a sort of cloud inside his cell. The plant man adjusts his thick glasses as Benedicta and company walk into view.
    "Got any gardening shears?" He asks with a wheezing chuckle and a thin smile.

    Serrah rolls her eyes at Damian, but smiles faintly at Jun. "I'm pretty sure you, on the other hand, are one of the most sensible people here," she says dryly.

    At Doctor Worm's request, she immediately turns to Benedicta. "Hey, can your guys get someone down here to fix this guy up a bit?" she says. "Like, obviously not give him sharp objects to hold unattended, but him not getting any, uh, 'maintenance' doesn't sit well with me."

    ... She has the thought 'catching worms with honey', but doesn't dare say it aloud right there in front of him.

     Damian takes a deep breath before entering this one, trying to start off in a fresh, neutral mood. With all the bugs flying around Doctor Worm though, he cracks a smile and remarks, "Hey there, Pigpen. At least you have plenty of company. Slugger's stuck with a rat and Mothballs has nothing but her delusions. Heck, we might have to get a whole lawnmower in there with all that overgrowth."

"Yeah, it could be a problem if he starts growing out of the cell. I'll get a clean-up crew to restrain him while they cut." Benedicta doesn't want to give him access to anything sharp either but a trimming might be a good idea. "So, mind telling what Sybil's been up to? I don't think she's coming to bail you out. Then again she might have trouble getting in here to begin with?"

Jun tilts his head. "I might be able to trim some of it away with a small, thin jet of steam," he volunteers. "Though I'm not sure how connected those plants are to you, so I'm not sure if it won't hurt."

Jun rubs the back of his head at Serrah's words, though. "I dunno," he hedges. "I just wonder what would get me to give information up if I was in their place. Though that means I'd probably turn if I was in their place, too..."

    Worm adjusts his glasses again. "Oh, she's been trying to get support from the low ranking members of the Obsidian Cabal. It really means a lot to them that she tries to protect them from violent types like Uncle Slug and Baroness Spider. But violence gets a lot done in the Cabal." He waves a hand at a bumblebee that's trying to get acquainted with a dandelion growing out of an eye-brow. 
    Doctor Worm cocks his head at Jun. "They're me as much as somebody's hair is a part of them." To Benedictia, he asks "How's Lizzie?"

    Serrah looks like she's about to respond to Damian's talk, but then she simply nods to Benedicta, looking slightly relieved. Jun gets a simple nod of acknowledgement.

    She shrugs. "If I was in the Cabal, she might get my support," she says. "Speaking as an outside observer ..." She hesitates, then shrugs. She isn't sure she wants to stick her neck out that far. "... eh, I won't try to burden you with my own outside perspective, I'd probably mess things up."

    Though, at the question about 'Lizzie', she looks curiously at Benedicta.

"I think she's going to need all the help she can get against Baroness Spider. Lizzie's doing fine, though her memory is still a mess." Benedicta answer before her eyes suddenly narrow, "Wait, how do you know who Lizzie is? I don't think she's spoken to anyone outside of Beacon?" She suddenly sounds concerned, then again he could have overheard the guards or something.

     "Finally, /something/ interesting!" Damian says, throwing his arms (and tail) up before letting them limply drop down again. "I dunno, Sybil's kind of a jerk, but I guess she's less of a jerk than Uncle Sludge. Bet she's not real popular with the higher ups though."

This whole business with Lizzie has him narrow his eyes though. "I swear, if you say a little bird told you, and you literally mean a little bird..."

Jun looks to Benedicta. "Remember what I said about trying to get a rise out of you?" he reminds. That's probably all the mention of Lizzie was. Still, it is kind of concerning how he got that information...

    Doctor Worm looks at Damian funny. "What makes you I like birds, when I'm a walking pile of seeds and bugs they love to eat? Have you had birds poop on you while dive-bombing a bug flying around your head?"
    "Well, I mean... I was trying to find a way to creat maho without... sacrificing souls to make obols? Lizzie was an early attempt. The Beacon Society doesn't like human experimentation, the Order would prefer to control the means of production. Lots of the Cabal's members were my uh... attempts." Doctor Worm explains nervously.

    At Benedicta's sudden worry, Serrah immediately tenses up. "She's certainly the least 'jerk' out of all those guys," she answers Damian hesitantly.

    When Jun makes that comment, she relaxes, but only halfway.

    And then Doctor Worm drops that revelation.

    Serrah slowly facepalms.

    "Oh my god," she says flatly. "That's ... I ... don't even know what to do with this information." She pauses. "Can we ... even verify this?" she adds weakly.

"You bastard! I found her when she escaped from a Cabal lab, she was practically a beast!" Reason just went out the window, and Benedicta's trying to grab at Dr. Worm through the cell bars. It seems like she just partly verified things for Serrah. "She couldn't remember anything thanks to what you did!" So much for trying to be reasonable.

Jun tilts his head at Doctor Worm again. Though he's not showing it, the idea that someone was intentionally doing to people what happened to him (though not completely the same, certainly) definitely upsets him. "And why did you want to create more?" he asks. "Isn't that because you wanted to control the production too?"

As a bit of possibly his own feeling creeping into the situation though... he merely moves out of Benedicta's way when she goes after Doctor Worm. Nope, he's not going to try and stop her. He's not getting in front of an angry jackalope~.

     "Maybe she'll have a change of heart and pull a Gre-" Damian starts to snark back at Serrah, but then Benedicta's anger gets the better of her! Immediately taking on an octopus-like form, he wraps his eight arms around her to keep her from doing anything rash. "Hey, hey now, normally I'd be all for this, but this guy probably still has useful info. Not the time to kill the guy, Benny. Take a deep breath and just... chill."

    Doctor Worm takes off his glasses. "Most new maho are created by using obols. Which are made by processing souls for their energy and then the resulting soulfire are bound to magical metals. The Cabal and Order steal the souls. The Society, as far as I've been able to ascertain, ends up capturing the souls of the dying. There's a reason the Beacon Society is always out-numbered. If we didn't need to use soulfire..." 
    Doctor Worm puts his glasses back on and shudders. "Soul processing is messy."

Benedicta takes a deep breath and struggles a bit, but she's not going to be able to break out of Damian's tentacles. "So Mephy managed to bound souls to two mirrors? Or he stole them from someone who did?" She would turn white if she wasn't already that color, but she still has a digusted look on her face. "But then how did you transform Lizze without an obol? That would require a ton of magical energy..." She knows it had to come from somewhere.

    And Serrah tenses up again, taking half a step back away from Benedicta in the opposite direction from Jun. She glances between Benedicta and Doctor Worm; her 'he probably deserves it' and 'don't stick your neck out for non-friends' instincts are starting to go to war with 'Benedicta might be going too far' in her mind ...

    And Damian resolves the matter by grabbing her himself. Okay, whew, there's that problem solved.

    She takes a deep breath. "Good grief, this whole situation is what's messy," she says finally. "I, uh. I don't have anything constructive to say, that's just not how you get energy where I'm from."

Jun shakes his head, echoing Serrah here. "Mine didn't come from a... what did you call it? An obol, I think. So I don't really have anything useful either," he agrees. "Something did die, but..." He trails off. No sense giving extra information to someone that might use it for bad.

     "A ton of magical energy, huh? Like, say, my dad?" Damian questions the doctor, even if the guy doesn't know who he is. It's not hard to figure out though. However, as Benedicta seems to have calmed down a little, he gives her a little pat on the head and asks, "You good now? Not gonna try to rip his head off or anything?"

    Doctor Worm shrugs at Benedicta's question. "I don't know how Mephistopheles screwed up or why. Luna wanted the imp dead though. As for where the energy for transformation came from... Lizzie's own soul. We're all small pieces of divine sparks here. The ancient gods and spirits were wholly made of soulfire, infinite fonts of it. Maho are just humans who've become able to access their own soulfire. I tried a process to open that access and... well, it consumes who they were. Not a great result." He pushes his glasses up again.
    "... And who's your dad?" He just looks confused at Damian.

"I'm still upset...there's no telling how many lives he's ruined through his experiments. So, Shield-Maiden managed to seal my soulfire somehow? Will it consume me eventually like it did with Lizzie?" Benedicta can't help but to worry about that now as she looks down at the floor. "Or will I become unable to transform even if the seal is removed?"

    Serrah sighs and runs a hand through her hair, looking lost. "Yeah, definitely significantly different from my own world," she mutters. "At least this makes more sense than not having magic ..."

    She frowns, looking over at Benedicta. "Transform which way?" she asks hesitantly. "Or ... wait, I might be getting mixed up with other stuff, never mind." She rubs her temples.

     Damian squeezes Benedicta just that extra bit harder, though not to restrain her. It's more of a comforting, eight-armed hug. "Look, I'm gonna trust you okay? No flying off the handle once I let go. You've got all of us here to help you through this, remember." he says, releasing his grip on her and returning to his jackal form again.

Then, with a blink and a very blunt tone, he answers Doctor Worm with "Lucifer."

Jun thinks about this. "That's... actually completely understandable. I think," he admits. "The whole 'higher soul' and 'lower soul' thing -- the lower soul is what forms throughout a person's life, and the higher soul is the 'spark of the divine' that follows a person from life to life, right? It's unlocking that higher soul so the lower soul can access it?"

Uh-oh... Jun's thinking now. "...So that unlock, that opening of the passage... is that what requires the ton of energy, and what ends up consuming everything they are?" he inquires.

    Doctor Worm shrugs at Benedicta. "Probably? Maybe? I could probably take a look if you brought me the mirror."
    "Hun and po? I know about the theory, not sure how applicable it is to reality..."

Benedicta falls to the floor upon hearing what Dr.Worm has to say. "There isn't a mirror anymore. Sybil destroyed it when she split my soul, I have a doll of my human form now. I use it to switch between forms. It's been powerless since Shield-Maiden sealed me though..." She looks like she's about to cry upon receiving the bad news.

    Serrah clears her throat, not really sure how to react to Benedicta and Damian's interactions, or to Benedicta's near-collapse. She opens and closes her mouth a few times. "Uh, what were you thinking, Jun?" she asks awkwardly, rather than try to profess knowledge about the two types of soul (which she got from anime regardless).

     Damian gives Benedicta another gentle pat on the head, quietly suggesting, "Maybe we should take a break. I think Benny needs time to work some stuff out. Thanks for the info, doc, I guess."