vibrafinal | 26th moon [action/voice]

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26th moon [action/voice]

[Action

Should anyone be visiting the item shop in the morning or early afternoon, they'll be graced with the presence of a paladin! ...Which would normally be an extremely banal and commonplace event, but today said paladin happens to be a) turning the whole place upside down while looking for something, b) muttering some nasty curses that are directed at the items available in the shop, not at its patrons, promise, and c) wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck shirt over his mouth that happens to muffle most of point b). In the middle of July, if one must be reminded.

Some weeks, waking up is just not worth it.]

[Voice

The journal message comes later during the day, weary-sounding and still slightly muffled by that turtleneck.]

Would anyone be kind enough to help me find a razor? My visit to the item shop was... very fruitless. I'd owe you a favor in return, of course.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A world where every day is a battle for survival is not one where I'd want to live. Even Luceti has its quiet weeks.

[And its free everything, but it's not as if that was ever a problem for him.]

Yeah, me neither. It sounded like a nightmare the way he put it.

What's the worst world you've heard about?

...I cannot judge that particular world's everyday pleasantness, but from what I understand it is threatened by a force that could destroy it at any time, and that few can resist. Would that count?

[Whoa.]

...Yeah, I'd say that definitely counts. There's nothin' people can do about it?

If defeating it is the duty of a particularly strong being, I doubt it.

And what kinda being would that be? It does exist, right?

I'm not quite certain. The explanation sounded quite deliberately vague. But it also sounded much more like a being than, say, a natural disaster.

I guess a place like this is almost a good thing to somebody who lives in that world.

Surely, even if they must miss all the good parts of it.

Maybe it's like a vacation.

[That is, if they can ever go back home. Firo's heard the stories, but he's not sure how much to trust them.

Sighing, he lifts up a quilt to look under it, then sets it back down. He's gone through a good portion of the room.]

This side's still comin' up empty.

A particularly strange vacation.

[...Oh, would you look at that, he's pretty much done with his side too. It really does go much faster if two people are looking.]

So is this one. It seems I'm particularly unlucky today.

I find it hard to believe there wouldn't be one here, but that's how it goes, doesn't it? I bet as soon as you stop lookin' something'll turn up.

Until then, I guess you could use scissors or a really sharp knife...

[He winces slightly at that.]

The only knives we have in the house are the kitchen knives and a dagger with a water-elemental affinity. Kain would not appreciate a second tidal wave in the bathroom, I've no doubt.

It makes tidal waves..?

[He'd protest that that must be impossible, but, well, they were just talking about some pretty impossible stuff.]

I'd offer you my knife, but I doubt my Family'd appreciate it bein' used for somethin' like that.

Very useful in battle, not so useful when you need a regular knife.

[That poor bathroom.]

Of course not. Family heirlooms deserve better than to be used for such mundane purposes.

[...Not quite that sort of family, Cecil.]

I see that.

Oh, I didn't mean it's an heirloom. That probably wouldn't be the best thing to fight with. We just have rules and stuff for when you draw your knife.

It's something of a code of honor, then? It's good to know that certain traditions are shared between worlds.

...Yeah, you could call it that. We don't draw our knives unless somebody deserves it or if it's for the Family.

Is that how it is back where you're from?

Baron's knighthood has one: protecting the innocent, defending the country, aiding its allies... And as a paladin, I have one of my own that is slightly different.

A paladin..? Isn't that just a bigger knight? What's your code, then?

Not quite. Unlike regular knights, paladins can wield holy weapons and use some degree of white magic, though not a lot of it. They must also never raise their swords for a purpose other than protecting someone, or they risk losing their powers. ...Sparring matches and training do not count, obviously.

Magic? How exactly do you lose somethin' like that?

[That could be pretty scary to have the possibility of your powers removed hanging over you...]

The same way I gained it when I became a paladin but in reverse, I imagine?

[Actually, he kinda has no idea.]

Or in the same way the barrier reduces it, but completely instead of partially.

How'd you get 'em?

[He wonders if it's anything like the elixir, or perhaps some weird ritual?]

The spirits of a sacred mountain gave me their power after I passed their test. It is a very rare event.

[Also, the spirits were his father. Family reunion!]

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