Work Text:
The Bard of Light paused upon hearing a soft, choked whimper.
Confused, he peered around the bookshelf.
Caitlin stood in front of one of the shelves, trembling as she stared down at something in her hands. He could see the tears glistening in her eyes, not yet falling, but in the process of welling up.
“You okay?” he called.
She startled, forcibly jamming the book onto the shelf. “Fine! Just peachy!” she replied, voice breaking. She scrubbed a hand across her eyes, banishing their wet shine. “Yeah. Fine. Perfect.”
“You don't look fine, doll face. What's wrong?” Callisto replied, coming cautiously closer.
“Nothing!” Caitlin yelled, pushing past him. She ran down an aisle of books and dove into a portal seemingly at random.
Callisto blinked in confusion, staring at the spirograph that the Seer of Time had just vanished through.
Something here had made her very upset. Had she been reading a tragedy or something?
Turning to the shelf she'd been at, he looked for the book she'd been reading. It wasn't too hard to find, put sloppily back so that it wasn't even completely on the shelf. Carefully, Callisto pulled the book out to examine it.
It had a rather plain cover, pure black with red text in a gothic font. At least two inches thick, the page-size roughly the same as typical printer-paper. The title was Mortem, by an author called Quiet Grace. Curious, Callisto skimmed a few pages. It sounded interesting, but maybe not quite his shtick.
... Did the book maybe remind her of something?
Messaging her now wouldn't do him any good.
Recalling that Caitlin was friends with the Sylph of Mind, Callisto experimentally asked said Sylph the importance of the book in a message.
The reply was somewhat grave.
Apparently, Callisto was holding a copy of the Seer's father's work.
That had never been published.
A look at that weird page in the front of the book declared it to have been published and distributed by Skaia Publishing Corp. nearly four years ago.
Callisto frowned.
That was just cheap. Smooth, Skaia, real smooth. Way to go.
Sighing, the Bard reshelved the book, properly.
“Heya!”
“Jesus!” he yelled, jumping.
Spinning around, Callisto saw Lily standing nearby, chortling at his surprise.
“Lily Bouquet finds Don Stirrup's shock at her sudden appearance horribly amusing!” the Blood-player giggled.
“Don Stirrup is unamused by this cheeky filly, and debates teaching her a lesson in respect.” Callisto replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Confident that the mob-horse will do nothing to seriously hurt her, Lily Bouquet offers her hoof in greeting, saying, ‘It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Mr. Stirrup!’” Lily declared, thrusting forth a hand.
For a moment, Callisto just glared. But after that, he sighed and relented.
“That it is, Lily. Wish it was under more typical circumstances, but I guess it's just the luck of the draw.” he told her, reaching out to shake her hand.
The two had been roleplaying buddies for several years prior to the recent events. When Lily's helping her friend Morgana out had led to trouble on her end, Callisto had been the one to pull her out of that jam. They'd been discussing meeting face-to-face for a while now, having swapped face-shots months ago. In a way, the game had offered the perfect opportunity to meet.
“You're out of character!” Lily pouted. But then she perked up, saying, “What has you so serious, my pony-bro?”
“Ah— The Seer of Time was just here. You know her?”
“Can't say I do! Still only know my own Classpect and yours!” Lily replied cheerfully. “I mean, early in the game and all that noise!”
“Fair enough. I only know her since she's my server. I tried to have a friend get me going, but he was already in the chain, so he referenced me over to her. Talked once or twice, but not much else. Still kinda strangers.” Callisto explained.
“So what happened while she was here?” Lily asked, peering around him at the bookshelf. “Does it have to do with the book you were messing with?”
“Yeah, actually. Apparently her old man was a writer, and no one ever published any of his work. But look here. Skaia did.”
Lily looked to him with wide eyes.
“Don Stirrup nods grimly and trots away from the shelf, saying, ‘Ponies just don't got no respect anymore.’” Callisto said as he gestured for her to follow him.
“Lily Bouquet stares at the plagiarized novel for a while longer before cantering after her friend. ‘That's just awful!’ she declares. ‘Poor Hourglass must be really upset!’” Lily replied as she walked alongside him.
“The Don nods his head, not saying anything as the two head through his mansion.”
“You mean manesion.”
“No I don't. They say mansion, not manesion. Unless it's like the title of a place.”
“Manesion.”
“Mansion.”
“Manesion.”
“Mansion.”
“Manesion.”
“Mansion.”
“Mansion.”
“Thank you.”
“Dammit!”
Callisto sniggered, causing Lily to punch him in the shoulder.
“Anyway! Lore-swapping! What have your consorts told you aside from your Classpect and what are they?” the girl then declared.
“My consorts are owls. According to them, the Bard of Light will need to distort the light of Skaia so it no longer kills, and cleanse LOUAL of it's deadly rays. No clue how I'm going to do that unless I break Skaia, which I don't know if that's possible. Yourself?”
“The Heir of Blood will help the vines to regrow and dam the rivers, halting the rapids and allowing the goat-consorts to travel the planet of LOVAR without fear of drowning!” Lily declared dramatically, making him chuckle. “... No clue how, though. I mean, I thought these quests were supposed to involve our Asspects? How does plant-growing involve Blood? That sounds more Life-y, like Natasha's stuff. I mean, at least yours is related to Light.”
“Maybe you aren't looking close enough?” Callisto offered. “Maybe to regrow the vines, you have to unite the goats?”
Lily shrugged.
They continued walking, moving through the vast library as they chatted.
“So,” Lily said at one point, stretching her arms up above her head, “Um... how's your mom?”
“Uh.”
“Sorry.” the girl said automatically, looking away.
“It's fine, doll face, really. I... honestly don't know. She vanished right after we entered.”
“Yeah... My sister's dead. I... found her near one of the consort-villages. They were confused and scared, but they were all milling around in a big mob. I... ignored it at first. It was only when I was climbing the cliff nearby and looked down that I saw it was her.”
Callisto frowned, reaching out to pull her closer.
“I... I dunno. Sis was always so tough and cool. It seemed like... like nothing could ever happen to her.” the Heir said in a small voice as she allowed him to steer her over to a wall. As he carefully dragged her down to sit, arm still around her shoulder, she continued, “I don't know what could have possibly happened... she was so strong. What on earth attacked her that was so powerful it could wipe out Sis?”
“... Maybe nothing did. Maybe it was something powerful that distracted her, allowing something weak to pull a dirt-cheap, under-handed move against her. Or maybe she was simply outnumbered.” Callisto said, rubbing her shoulder and squeezing her against his side. “My old woman... she's tough, but I know she isn't all-powerful. Under the right circumstances, anyone will die. Even we will, one day, and we're these fated heroes, right?”
“Aren't you worried about her?” Lily asked quietly.
“Yeah... but moms tend to do what is best for their kids. So I trust her to know what she's doing.”
Lily was quiet.
After a moment, she reached over and hugged him back with a shuddering sigh.
“... Lily Bouquet thanks Don Stirrup for his counsel.”
“Don Stirrup tells the filly not to worry about it and puts her on a train home with instructions to eat and go to bed.” Callisto replied, planting a gentle, friendly kiss on Lily's temple. She nodded, squeezing him tighter before getting up and waving goodbye.
Not long after the Heir had vanished from his sight, Callisto noticed someone was pestering him. Confused, he uncaptchalogued his laptop to see what they wanted.
apocalypsezombie (AZ) began pestering Mafiasecretkeeper (MS)
AZ: evisserpmi
MS: Excuse me?
AZ: yortsedottcepsariehtsesudraba
MS: Who is this?
AZ: sgnihtdabehtylnoyortsedotsruoyesuuoynac
MS: I'm going to assume this is a joke.
MS: Good night to you, buddy.
Mafiasecretkeeper (MS) stopped pestering apocalypsezombie (AZ)
AZ: thgilruoyhtiwswodahsyortsedoteunitnocesaelp