Completed [Palsa Hydrasa] New Vessel, Old Mind (Mirage)

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Eh... uhm.. ah... o...kay..." Kouri was not really following what Ama said, all those jargons and strange terms in Common were rather too much for the little girl. She only smiled a small smile coated with awkwardness, both hands fidgeting with one of her hair ribbons and just pretended to understand by nodding, she didn't want to offend Ama, not with the lives of both her maid and her little sister at stake. Wanda had specifically warn her that should she cause trouble for the Wizards, the Spiritist would scatter Rena's dust. That was a very, very, effective way of putting the little girl in her place.

"W-well... uh... like I said, anything that would make Kriem prettier and last longer..." Kouri sighed, she was basically repeating her request. She didn't understand what Ama meant by "forearm compartment" or some other difficult vocabularies in Common. She did understand that Ama could change the body's appearance, like eye color for example. Wait, could they make Kriem's eyes shift like a Vantha? Kouri shook her head, she still had her pride as a Vantha, no one could replicate that, not even these powerful Nuits. Besides, she didn't want Kriem to have eyes like that for a purely selfish reason out of pride.

As they arrived at the barren room, Kriem looked eager to approach the body and begin the ritual. She slightly fidgeted, a rare sign of nervousness to the stoic Nuit, but she would wait until Ama gave her clearance before actually doing it. She hoped that clearance would come sooner than later.

Kouri's eyes widened and she smiled when Ama mentioned "mizas". So even Nuits desired those pretty little coins, Kouri had a lot of them! She almost nodded in agreement before suddenly stopping herself. "Ah... my cart..." She had left her cart at the entrance of the Courtyard. Lily, the animated doll, must be worried sick about them. Kouri hoped the little doll didn't wander... she cursed that ghost girl, Mia, in her mind. That was one naughty girl, how dare she tricked Rena like that. Kouri exhaled in defeat, a puff of frosty white mist flowed from her lips, there was nothing she could do right now.

"M-madame Amaryllis, I uuh... my cart along with my belongings was left at the entrance of the Courtyard. I... I promise to bring it back here as soon as possible! S-so can you put the payment on hold for just a few chimes? I promise I'll come back right away!" She was repeating her "promises", this was getting awkward. Fidgeting with her ribbon, Kouri hoped Ama would understand.

Boxcode made by Savio

[Mirage]

The men finished their work, and as they did Amaryllis was already stepping toward Kreim with a brush and ink in hand. With the blunt end of the brush she poked the maid's arms so that she raised them out at her sides so that the Embalmer could begin drawing the fluid glyphs across the exposed flesh. The woman did not even look up from her work as she spoke, "Very well then. Fetch your things and return here and we shall discuss payment and further procedures." And with that the little ghost girl was dismissed. Amaryllis was completely focused on her work, and the glyphs she drew twisted and intertwined with one another flowed over Kreim's body, from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes. The ritual would soon begin, and for now this was no place for those who did not understand, even if they were not of the living. Without a word the little ghost girl was alienated, sent to fetch the belongings while the nuits did their work.

The rest of the Palsa Hydrasa was empty, save for the stray nuit finishing their bathing in the pools. It was quiet, undisturbed, and peaceful... Though Fubuiki would find an unexpected visitor waiting for her at the door that lead from this grand hall.

Mia stood with doll cradled close to her heart, thumb in mouth as she looked up at Fubuki with her blank white eyes. She smiled, and giggled, "You got in trouble. Wanda told me I should watch you, in case you act up." While the orders were real, obviously Wanda had not meant for Mia to REVEAL herself to Fubuki, or to inform the other ghost girl of her intentions. Mia was just a little kid after all. She didn't know any better... right?

"Want to play with me?"

[Fubuki Kouri]

"U-un!" Kouri nodded twice in rapid succession and dashed out of the room, phasing through the entrance, she would have to move quickly lest Ama changed her mind. Kriem gave her Mistress a silent goodbye by glancing at her, a tinge of appreciation in her pure black eyes, Kouri was the first person to truly care about her. Her human master and Nuit master both treated her as mere pleasure slave for the former and experimental subject for the latter. Flying through the silent corridor, finally alone for the first time since she arrived at the island, Kouri felt loneliness coming to her, this place was quiet, much too quiet. For the moment, she got no one to talk and lean her shoulder on. Though, that state would soon change when her crimson eyes found a familiar figure. That naughty fellow ghostly little girl, Mia. The ghost was about - or even smaller - than Rena, this made Kouri viewed her like an exasperated older child to a naughty younger child. The older ghost girl abruptly stopped, staring down at Mia, one could almost feel the air between them crackle and freeze with cold tension. At the moment, the only reason Kouri held herself from slapping Mia repeatedly was Rena being Wanda's hostage "Y-you..." She blinked from her location, her taller form appeared directly in front of Mia. "You got in trouble. Wanda told me I should watch you, in case you act up." Oh, the nerve of the little kid. If she still had flesh, Kouri would feel a vein popping near her forehead. She gave the girl a fake smile, her eyes frowning, while her smiling lips twitching at one corner "Hooo..." She mocked astonishment and crossed her arms over her chest "So you're going to be my babysitter now?" Her belongings could wait, she got more pressing issues at hand, a little annoying pressing issue. "Want to play with me?" "P-play...?" *Pop! pop!* Two more figurative veins popped on her head, now her right eye were twitching as well. Everything about Mia annoyed her, how she copied Kouri's very long hairstyle, how she adorably held that doll near her chest, how her pure white eyes were the complete opposite of Kriem's pure black eyes. Mia looked like Kouri, Rena, and Kriem mixed haphazardly together with the personality of Kouri's former naughty side. "Ooooh~ You want to play?" Against her better judgement, Kouri decided to humor her "Sure! Big sis will play with you~ What games are we going to play? Ehehehe... but I can't promise that you won't cry running back to Mistress Wanda... huhuhuhu..." Such a little kid, what could she do? Kouri was confident she could handle one of Wanda's guardians, that big knight, an even smaller girl than herself should be a walk in the park.

[Mirage]

Mia giggled, floating up to be on eye level with Kouri, "Oh oh! Let's play tag and die! Tag and die!" She skipped in the air, pulling the doll behind her with one hand as she did. Her smile widened and she clasped her hands behind her back before turning to look at Kouri, "It's super fun! Super fun! *hehe* I'll show you how to play!"

She blinked, grabbing ahold of Kouri's hand before she could protest. With a quick smile up she pulled with more strength than child her size should possess, more strength than a full grown man should have. It was strong enough to rip a person's arm from their shoulder, if they were not careful. Her touch tingled, and seemed to vibrate with energy. No doubt due to the almost daily consumption of powerful soulmist from Mistress Wanda herself.

Mia pulled Kouri through the wall, and then down a corridor, flying at speeds that would easily match a horse in full gallop. Suddenly she tipped downward, pulling them through the floor, down down down beneath the surface of the world until they came out into a large underground space. It was a large cavern made of stone with a deep impression in the ground that looked like a fighting pit. Around it, filling cages, chained to the walls by their wrists and some by their necks, countless bodies, living souls of various races that lamented and plead for aid, for mercy, to be set free.

The little girl released Kouri, flying down into the pit. Weaving in and out of the bodies she looked at them all with a practiced eye, before extending one hand forward. Her fingers split at her knuckles, dividing into five tendrils all the way up to her shoulder. Each shaped itself into an edge, and in swift motions the sounds of chains clanging and breaking filled the room, echoing off the walls. Silence fell then, and all eyes turned to see what was going on. Once freed Mia grasped each pulser around the waist, tossing them into the pit until there were 7, all human with only 2 of them females. They were all thin, starved looking, and afraid.

Waving up at Kouri, Mia shouted, "Tag one! Tag one!!" Before diving into the body of one of the males herself.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Tag and... die?" The ghost girl expected the first word, but the second part made her eyebrow raised in confusion. Die? What did Mia mean by that? Kouri had the thought that it was like a normal game of tag, but between two "dead" girls so it was called 'Tag and Die'. Mia was floating to her eye-level now, crimson and white staring off. The older girl smirked, head slightly cocking to the side. "Sure, Miiiia~ I'll play that, haha! Don't cry when I beat yo- Fueh?!" She didn't even get the chance to finish her boast before Mia suddenly pulled her. Her strength was unexpectedly strong, Kouri felt that she actually had to try if she wanted resist Mia to a stop. The smaller ghost girl was just as deceptive as Kouri was regarding their power. Tch... She spat inside her mind, Kouri felt jealous, this girl was cheating! Mia became thing strong because she was taken care of by Wanda, it must be. Kouri had no one to foster her ghostly powers, all of the things she learnt was self-taught. Still, she was curious on where Mia was taking her. They found themselves in high-speed flight through a corridor. Flying like this made Kouri remember when she chased evil horsemen on the Kabrin road to rescue Edreina, together with Razkar, she killed about about two horsemen together with their horses, saving Edreina as the result. "....." Kouri looked down, her thoughts wandering, those horsemen didn't look like bandits or slavers... maybe she shouldn't have killed them on the spot. One of them even tried to talk to her, but she ignored it all and killed them nonetheless; however, with Razkar commanding her to basically butcher them and Edreina screaming for help, Kouri didn't get much choice at that moment. When her focus returned to her, her crimson eyes went wide open at the ghastly sight before her. Cages, chains, manacles, screams, wails, and captives. The spectacle before her was like her worst nightmares came true, her mouth went slightly ajar, from seeing Kriem's memories through their possession session once, Kouri immediately felt the suffering of these caged men and women. Seeing her hand released, Kouri instinctively dropped down until she was a few inches floating above the ground, still in disbelief. She saw Mia's tendrils lashed out and destroyed the chains binding some of these poor souls. Oh, she was releasing them? So they were going to rescue people? Kouri almost sighed in relief before abruptly stopping when she heard Mia shouting at her. "Tag one! Tag one!!" "What?" She muttered in Vani, slowly approaching the group of five men and two women. Her crimson eyes examined each of them, they were all malnourished and visibly terrified at the two powerful phantoms before them. It all finally clicked into place, 'Tag and Die'... so Mia invited her into a killing session as if it was a game. No... even if Kouri was her previous self, she drew the line at killing innocents. Were they innocent people though? She had to make sure. "....Mia..." The older ghost floated to the smaller girl, ignoring the pulsers for the moment. "What is this place? Who are these people?" So many questions swimming inside her mind, just waiting to flow out from her lips. She didn't think Nuits would keep living people, dead bodies she could understand, but actual captives? Really? Unless... "Are they evil people?" Maybe this place was a jail for people who wronged the Nuits for some reason. From the stories she heard from Kriem, people trying to rob the Nuits for their magical artifacts or ancient tomes didn't sound unreasonable. Exhaling a white mist out of her small mouth, Kouri confirmed her stance on this "game". "If they are not evil people, then we should play... 'Tag and Free' instead." She crossed her arms, like a big sister reprimanding her younger sibling "Killing innocent people is bad, Mia." Mia may even be hundreds of years old, but she looked younger and acted childish that so Kouri treated her as such. It was at this time Kouri found herself to realize how annoyingly naughty she must act in the past.

[Mirage]

Mia blinked from within the body she now possessed, tilting her head in a rather childish way, "You don't want to play my game...?" She paused for a tick before picking up a cleaver from the ground. It was stained and rusted, and around them there were similar weapons stabbed into the ground and propped against the walls. Mia walked in a slow circle around Kouri, absently spinning the cleaver in her fingers, "I don't know who they are. They are my toys. They come on the ships and they put them down here, and they fight for scraps. Its a game for the adults, but my games are much more fun."

She giggled, raising her free hand to wiggle her fingers at Kouri, "If you don't want to play then I should clean up my mess. Mommy told me to always pick up after myself, or naughty girls lose a toe!" The cleaver raised over head, coming down on the extended arm, cutting clean through and sending a severed hand rolling on the floor. Mia, or rather the body she possessed, shuddered and she smiled broader even as life blood poured forth from the severed limb. She looked at Kouri through the man's terrifed eyes, glazed with pain, "OK after I clean up we can play something else!!"

One of the women behind Mia screamed, breaking down to tears as she huddled back against the wall. The rest edged to the sides, trying to get as far away as possible, some even tried to climb out of the pit but to no avail. Mia frowned, turning to look at the woman, [/color]"No! No screaming yet! Good toys don't scream unless told to. Mommy says bad toys that don't follow rules lose their face..." She began walking toward the woman, leaver in one hand while the other nub still gushed life blood on the ground, forming a trail from where she began.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Mhm, no, big sis would not play your gam-... what are you doing?" Kouri tilted her head, she was getting worried. Mia commanded the man's body to pick up a rusted blade, that couldn't be good. She was not worried about herself, but about those men and women instead, Mia was really going to kill them. To make matters worse, the possessing ghost told that she didn't even know these poor souls, she was only toying with them. Kouri felt a twang of pity, these may be innocent men and women "Mia, put that thing down... now." She reprimanded the girl, by Morwen she hoped Mia would listen. The naughty smaller girl clearly didn't heed her words. What mess? Kouri didn't get what she was talking at all and who was 'Mommy'? Don't tell me... Mistress Wanda?! Mia raised the cleaver. "Mia, N-!" *SLICE!* SPUUUURT!!* -O!" She was too late, crimson juices flowed from where the man's arm supposed to be. "A...ah..." Kouri couldn't believe it, did Wanda actually command Mia to do this? To show Kouri needless cruelty by using a little girl? Kouri clenched her fists, anger flooded to her. Fueled by seeing Mia tortured for the fun of torture, Kouri also saw some semblance of her past insane side in this psychotic girl. So, this how the people close to her felt when they saw here cackled and giggled like a monster in the form of a little girl. "Mia! No!" Kouri vanished from her location and appeared at some distance in front of Mia's possessed body, between her and the screaming woman. "You lied! Mistress Wanda would never tell you this! S...she would never..." Kouri found herself faltering, maybe Wanda did allow her, heck, the Spiritist wouldn't even care for these... insignificant "living" creatures. Shaking her head, three thick black tendrils extended from Kouri's back, one of them grabbed Mia's possessed body's wrist, the second one tried to wrestle the cleaver out of her arm, and the third one wrapped around the man's neck, trying to prevent him moving further. "Don't do this, no... what have they done? This is not right! This is... evil..." Kouri strangely felt guilty, Mia might not understand morals, her thought process was so alien that she saw this as a normal thing. Kouri herself could see herself in it, she had been acting very unreasonable, using her own flawed logic and judgement to determine good or evil. Nevertheless, she vowed to change and this was her chance to finally set something straight. "If you want to play... then play with me instead! Don't involve them! They didn't do anything!" She found herself to be in a great dilemma, Kouri couldn't hurt Mia, Wanda would scatter Rena's ashes; but if she let this be, these men and women would suffer and it was because of her inaction. Didn't she just tell Shiyami that people who have power but chose to not act was just the same as evil people themselves? "No, Mia... p-please... y-you are a good girl, aren't you? Stop this... i-if 'Mommy' wants to punish you, I... I'll be the one taking the punishment. L-let's just play another game, okay?" Her crimson eyes pleading, this was not a battle she could win with violence.

[Mirage]

The girl paused in her advance as Fubuki appeared between her and the girl who screamed. A gasp escaped the man's lips as the tendrils wound about him, and his face contorted into a pout, "Wanda never lets me play! She said to watch you, so I'm watching you, but she didn't say we couldn't play! I thought you were fun! Mommy would let me play, mommy taught me to play!" She struggled in vain, growing more and more frustrated until Fubuki said the magic words.

Her eyes brightened, "Oh you just don't like this game? Ok! There are much more fun things we could play!" The little girl rose from her vessel, the man crumbling to the ground in a puddle of his own blood. Mia smiled and floated close to Fubuki, looking excited, "I have LOTS more toys we can play with! We can play as long as we want! Don't worry mommy wont punish us. She was naughty so I had to punish her instead." She giggled and floated up to the top of the pit, waving at Fubuki, "Come on!"

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Ha... what?" Kouri was, again, struck with confusion. Mistress Wanda was not the one who tell her to do this? Then, 'Mommy' wouldn't be Wanda. Hearing Mia's words, Kouri was reminded once again that almost everyone in this island took words literally. She thought she could play just because Wanda didn't prohibit her? Indeed, Mia was beyond normal reasoning just like... she herself in the past. "Mia, who's 'Mommy'? Can you tell me?" If Kouri wanted to solve this, she needed to get to the bottom of it. She needed to know the identity of this... 'Mommy'. Was she some other vile spiritist or ghosts tricking the 'innocent' mind of Mia? She would report this individual to Wanda. "Big Sis can be fun, but I can't have fun if I'm confused, you know? Mia can tell me on who's 'Mommy' is so Big sis won't be confused anymore, sounds good?" Kouri smiled, albeit it was clearly fake. "So much more...?" Kouri couldn't believe this girl, she may even be more detached than Kouri ever was. Why did Wanda even keep a malevolent spirit such as her? Kouri began to think that Mia was not really a little girl unlike herself. She may be some kind of ethereal monster who took the form of a little girl. Right now, she would have to accept if she wanted to save the rest of these poor souls. The little devil released her hold on the amputee, he immediately fell to the ground, blood pouring from the bloody stump of an arm. It was clear he would die soon... all Kouri could do was hasten his departure. Approaching the man, Kouri looked at him in the eyes and crouched down. Focusing the soulmist on her palms, her little right hand clasped around his neck "Rest well..." *CRACK!* Kouri snapped the man's neck as quickly as possible, hoping he died a painless death. She then gave him the final honor by closing his eyes with her hand. "....." Standing up, she looked up to Mia, who was waving at her from above. Kouri gave one final look to the remaining six captives, gritting her teeth, she hunched down and launched herself upwards to Mia with a blast of chilling cold air. "Okay, Mia, let's play, but I don't want to play something that involves the death of innocent sentient beings... and like I said, can you tell me more about 'Mommy'?" Kouri followed Mia as she headed to an unknown new location. What in the name of Morwen did she get herself into? Queen Morwen, please help me...

[Mirage]

Mia looked confused at Kouri's insistent question, and when she spoke it was clear in her tone as well, "Mommy is mommy. She took care of me, she fed me, put me to sleep, and punished me when I was a naughty girl. She carried me in her tummy too!" She held her arms out in front of her like she was holding a big belly for extra emphasis, before giggling, "Didn't you have a mommy? My mommy was the bests! She gave me toys to play with, and taught me lots! She told me all the rules I had to follow! I was naughty a lot but she punished me and I got good." She shivered, trembling from head to foot as she continued to smile at Kouri, "Clean up your toys or you lose a finger, eat all your food or you get two cuts. Never swear or you get an iron on your tongue. Don't talk back or you are nailed to the naughty plank."

The little girl's entire body quivered as tears welled slowly in her eyes, but she continued to smile, hugging her doll tighter and tighter, "I was a good girl. A good girl. A good good girl. I always cleaned up my toys. I never talked back. I did everything mommy told me to do. I was a good good girl... She was the bad one. She was naughty. She forgot to clean up, but for adults they have different rules. I had to punish mommy so she would learn better. I was a good good girl."

She giggled, rocking slowly back and forth, but then she blinked her eyes and it was like she saw Kouri again for the first time. Excitement filled her features again as she floated in a circle around Fubuki, "Lets go play with the screamers! They are the best! They rock back and forth when you touch them and pull on their straps until they bleed." She laughed, pulling at Fubuki's hand, "If we hurry we might get to help Mr. Slasher! He is so fun, he makes people talk REAL LOUD. They are so funny when they cry. Want to go?" She looked up intently at Fubuki, question hanging in the air.