Medeia: Alright. That should do it for now. So, Cel. Anything you want to ask of me? You have been staring quite intently, after all.
Paracelsus: Oh, sorry. No need to worry about it. My curiosity is fully unrelated to the recipe you’re prepping. You don’t need to worry about something so inconsequential.
Medeia: Well, I think even the silliest and most inconsequential of curiosities deserves to be listened to. Besides, I am imposing on your house quite a bit as is. I might as well entertain you a bit. What is it?
Paracelsus: To say the truth, the way you, Damian and Tul all talk to each other… I’m a bit curious about the recurrent names. Did you all work together or something?
Medeia: Hum, pretty much. Besides me, Tul and Damian, there were four other main members of our merry group. Do you want to know more about any of them? I don’t mind gossiping about them with you.
Paracelsus: Calling it gossip with such a bold face. You’re truly shameless.
Medeia: Shame is lost somewhere in your 20s. Enjoy the fact you still have it for another couple years.
Paracelsus: Sure. Not like I have much left anyway. (But I do wanna take her up on her offer. Let’s see, who should I ask about first…)
>Option Select: Barghest
Paracelsus: About Barghest… that is a nickname, right?
Medeia: Hum? No. She was an actual, genuine Barghest. We domesticated her and she proceeded to help us with our battles. That is all.
Paracelsus: … you domesticated. A full blown Barghest.
Medeia: Yup. Pretty much.
Paracelsus: Bullshit!!! That’s a rhinoceros-sized beast dog! That shoots LIGHTNING! How do you tame that!?
Medeia: Fufufu… years of canine experience, my humble student.
Paracelsus: Those skills should NOT be transferable!
Medeia: And yet, they were. It’s not like it matters, one way or another. After we escaped that world, she was the one member we never found again.
Paracelsus: I see. Is that okay?
Medeia: Well, one Barghest more or less won’t make that big a difference to the world. Probably.
Medeia: I just hope that, wherever she is, she’s feeling the wide breeze caress her face. As free as she can be.
—
>Option Select: Marylin
Medeia: Is that necessary? You already listen to her covers, don’t you?
Paracelsus: Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I know her. I want to learn more about her from someone other than Damian.
Medeia: Fair enough. Marylin is- was, to use a more appropriate verb tense, a self-thaught magician. She used her magic in order to conjure a permanently active glamour as well as by reinforcing her sound output for offensive purposes.
Paracelsus: … That is a dangerous combination.
Medeia: It is. You know that very well. She was very jumpy and aggressive back then, as you may expect. I’m glad that she managed to stabilize herself.
Paracelsus: She didn’t leave a good first impression on you, did she?
Medeia: Spot on. I regret the way I looked at her when we first met. She just needed a little bit of help. And now that she got it, she’s ready to bloom for the entire world to see.
Medeia: I hope you get to meet her. I think you two would get along pretty well. Actually, nevermind. Maybe I’m only seeing a lot of her in you because I see a lot of me in her.
Paracelsus: … What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Medeia: Who knows? Maybe you’ll find out when you first meet face-to-face.
Paracelsus: When I-
Paracelsus: …
Paracelsus (small smile expression) : Yeah. I think I’d like that.
—
>Option Select: Tul
Medeia: Tul? Oof. That is a bit of a tough one. Let's see.
Medeia: Tul is the kind of person who'd notice a banana peel on the floor and leave it there for you to slip on. Then, when that inevitably happened, he'd be there to get you on your feet with an uplifting smile.
Medeia: So he could see you trip on a toy car and fall down the stairs next.
Paracelsus: How do you even meet all these people...
Medeia: Hey, it's not like I had a choice. And besides, I don't think one's actions could be more fully justified than his.
Paracelsus: I see. Is he going to be okay?
Medeia: I hope so. He did let go of immediate revenge to help us all, but he is not as happy as he pretends to be. Unfortunately, right now, all I can directly do is wait for time to heal all wounds. Anymore would be rather insensitive on my part.
Medeia: He will probably turn his gaze to you, though, so keep your guard up a bit. If you can help him, great. If not, c’est la vie.
Paracelsus: Got it. Thanks for the warning, Medeia.
—
>Option Select: Damian
Medeia: I don’t think you need me to tell you more about him, by this point. Why don’t you share with me your thoughts on him?
Paracelsus: He’s a self-serving idiot.
Medeia: That is certainly a collection of words. Care to elaborate?
Paracelsus: He’s a naive ball of sunshine who rolls through any understandable social norms in order to offer people help because he made that his personal serotonin-inducing mission. I think my description is pretty understandable.
Medeia: It is. But it is not a fully negative one, is it?
Paracelsus: No. It is not. His naivete regarding how the world works made him suggest some pretty idiotic stuff. But at the same time, that and the way he wore his past on his sleeve made him the only one that could help me. One way or another, I wouldn’t be here today if he hadn’t shown up at the beginning of the year.
Paracelsus: After all… I’m the kind of person who can only be saved by force.
—
>Option Select: Vri
Paracelsus: Is Vri really a dragon? An actual, genuine dragon?
Medeia: Yup. A bonafide water dragon, in every possible way. The villagers regarded him with as much awe as you just did.
Medeia: But, since you did ask for my opinion: I’d say Vri is the kind of person who was born to be a perfect shut-in.
Paracelsus: Well, isn’t that a flattering picture.
Medeia: Hum hum. Unfortunately, he experienced too much love when he was young. Because of that, he mistakenly understood “community” as something necessary for “existence”. And it is, just not for him.
Medeia: If he had vanished into the mountains of the realm as soon as he arrived, he would have lived a much better life. However, the villagers asked for his help, and he, understanding people as needed for his happiness, shackled himself to them and vice-versa. And that is how their shared punishment began.
Medeia: I have not the faintest idea of where he is right now. Hopefully he found a snug little cave to hide himself in forever. Or someone who is willing to pamper and finance his non-existence in society. Either one works.
Paracelsus: …
Medeia: Yes? Do you have something you want to say?
Paracelsus: I was just thinking to myself… asking someone to give up on the house they painstakingly built over their entire life, when said house is their most important belonging, bar none-
Paracelsus: Even if the life he lived was harmful to him, you asked more of Vri than you asked of everyone else. What offer did you make for him, Medeia?
Medeia: Fufufu, does it matter?
Medeia: He agreed to it. All the villagers that were with him were freed from their imprisonment, and all the people of this world were saved from absolution.
Medeia: I’d pay the price over and over again, without a drop of regret.
—
>Option Select: Ariadne
Cel: So… Ariadne?
Medeia: She is the love of my life. Simple as that.
Cel: Huh. You said that very casually.
Medeia: Well, I’d like to think I’m someone who is honest about their own feelings. Unlike some people.
Cel: Hey, I caught that. It is not like I’m dishonest about mine.
Medeia: If you say so.
Medeia: We are high school sweethearts, Ariadne and I. But we agreed to mostly travel our own separate ways, once college came around, and that is the arrangement we still have to this day, meeting up more by chance than by plan.
Medeia: It just so happened that we were traveling in unison when we got roped up in Damian and Tul’s little incident, so we went through its entirety together.
Cel: I see.
Cel: … doing this kind of long distance arrangement… I wonder…
Medeia: I won’t say it is easy, per se. Half the time, when we meet again, it is like we have to figure each other out from the start, whether immediately of halfway through.
Medeia: But it is worth it. It never stops being worth it.
Medeia: Ariadne, my love, my life, the one that will lead me into my next world. There is no one I adore more than her.
Medeia: And I can only hope she keeps on thinking the same of me. That is all.
And one big group portrait of all my OCs having been mummified and ready to be put away. This one was pretty fun to do. You can probably guess who is saying what based on the text position and colors.
