idolpro | TEMPTATION OF ANGELS, which is named KHRYSAOR: A Heart Game (I)

[Stretches with a lazy coil of her tail, immensely pleased to be here all nice and warm and dry and not drowned.

Then she makes her way over to the two figures, though as always she's cautious not to get too close.]

Hey. You.

Both of them turn to towards you. The woman tilts her head a touch, as though interested but unsurprised. Neither one of the pair answer you right away, and instead wait for you to approach, a choice that could be considered either an indication of patience and discretion or else faintly bored indifference.

"Looks like Kiri brought back another one." The man's voice is heavy as stone. Like stone, it is hard, but not in a way that is unkind—simply in a way that does not compromise itself for anything as irrelevant as social niceties.

[Honestly that's a quality she appreciates, lacking in social niceties herself. She rubs absently at the new plant growth she traded to humour her distaste of water and comes to a stop before them, well out of arms' reach.]

I brought myself, thanks. Who're you?

The man looks you up and down. Actually, you recognize him: he's the axe-wielding executioner—the one who had been called "Harlowe."

"...So you damn well did." His brows are raised, now; he might actually be surprised. "I'd say it was good as breaking in, coming here without a single person near-drowning in the process, but I know Treasure when I see it."

"Hm."

The woman has her chin angled as she considers you in a way that's very obviously an assessment. She seems like the sort who expects most things to disappoint her, so she's given up bothering to be upset when they do. Up close, you can see that her skin is olive-toned, but with a strange sort of sheen to it at certain angles, like starlight or like the way light refracts through morning new.

"I'm Adalet, Power of Injustice, and of Sprouts. He's Harlowe, Power of Axes. We're Familia Leli—or part of it, in any event." She has an alto voice, with a tone seemingly set to "no-nonsense" as default.

. . .

"Treasure"? What are you talking about?

[Ignoring the introduction and not offering one of her own because manners are for losers.]

"Treasure's about empowering parts of your Estate. Kiri's Scars. And that's how you got here, isn't it? Her crest is all over you."

A beat, and he nods at your scar-made-of-flowers. "...More or less literally. Call it being invited, as far as I'm concerned."

I don't know a "Kiri". And whoever she is, I don't appreciate her marking me.

"She's sharing some of Scars with you. Nothing says you have to use it, though. Never let anyone take away your ability to make a choice."

"Most likely you just know her by a different name," Adalet offers, reasonably. She does not look like she especially enjoys being reasonable, but she also looks like she's used to it.

"Do you know any cursed, shattered swords?"

. . .

What do you know about cursed swords? Seems like useful information.

"I know about this cursed sword. She's not just any soulcarving sword—though those are rare enough. She's an abhorrent weapon: Temptation of Angels."

For the first time, Adalet looks... almost uncomfortable. "...And I suppose I led Leli right to her."

Harlowe watches her with his same stony expression, and says nothing.

Just who--or what--is "Leli"?

"An Imperator. One of the beings that make up the structure of reality, and enlist things like us to help them fight to keep it around."

This doesn't seem like the first time Harlowe has given this kind of explanation.

"And Leli is..." He actually hesitates a moment. "...She's a Fallen Angel. Devil of the Night, now."