Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Welp me...
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"You know what we need?" Christopher finally voiced as he laid there staring at the dark ceiling of Yoko's bedroom. As he heard the various responses from his fellow plushy's he pushed himself into a sitting position. "I think we need to set up something for us to interact with. A means to work out and retain full flexibility in these forms, a chair back just isn't enough for mental stimulation."
"That sounds like a good idea," Richter agreed as he pushed his head back out from behind the curtains. Allowing a slip of the sky visible as he peered into the room from his perch at the window.
"Or you could try reading a book," Juste pointed out as he sat under a lamp with the book that Simon had been carrying. Interestingly enough, it proved to be the Journal of the previous Pope though again the language was still a bit advanced for him.
"Books are boring," Christopher and Richter both responded in chorus causing Juste's ears to flatten in annoyance.
"Just say 'I'm illiterate'," Juste retorted in irritably before sticking his muzzle back to the book.
"I can read!" Richter huffed out as he hopped down from his area before amending that statement with, "regardless of that though, its not like I can read this modern language very well." He walked over to emphasize his point by trying to read a single page. But the main word was 'trying' for the layers of tape were still a Belmont bane at that point. Juste had been very careful regarding where he sat and how he moved so he didn't get stuck again.
"I wonder how Trevor handles being awake all the time, if he is," Juste noted thoughtfully, before adding, "Oh and someone will need to give that as something to Leon as well."
Richter was internally busy for a moment before he began voicing his thoughts it seemed, "we could use some boxes, maybe if we find an unused rod we could build ourselves a little track and field. Something that we can put up and break down as needed. Less we have Yoko wake up in the middle of the night and step all over it or panic and trip all over it."
"Sound idea to me," Christopher agreed as he dropped down from his seat. "Its not like we can just run wild down the hallways at night after all."
"Says who?" Juste asked turning to look at the pair, causing a surprised reaction out of the pair when they turned to look at him. "I'm serious, its the middle of the night, virtually everyone is sleeping. So what harm is there if we go traveling at night?"
"You know, just the fact that you're ok with the idea is strange to me," Richter noted aloud while Christopher nodded in agreement.
"Though I confess the idea, while entertaining, has one snag." When the pair of Plushy's focused the attention on Christopher he continued. "How do we get out and back in? Sure we can leave, but unless we leave the door open, how do we get back in? Just think, we'd be leaving her room door open for as long as we're gone. If she wakes up and doesn't realize we're gone she could shut us out. But if someone comes after her, we've pretty much left a big gaping hole in her protection."
"This is the 'Vatican' who would try to carry out an assassination of a nun 'here'?" Juste pointed out before adding, "We... could shut the door behind us..." Juste pointed out, his tone carried his uncertainty over the fact. True the three of them 'could' easily climb up and balance themselves to reach the door knob. But what happened once they got 'out'? Their soft felt mouths and paws lacked the grip necessary to turn the door knob.
"But I'm not looking forward to being regulated to being a mere pet dog that has to be let out on occasion," Richter voiced.
"Maybe there's something in here that we can carry with us and use, like a small strip of leather?" Christopher suggested as he looked about the semi neat living suite aimlessly for a moment.
"Maybe a tissue?" Richter offered as he looked up at the desk where the box was. "Its light and we can just carry it with us..."
"I'm sure that Yoko has a handkerchief in her purse," Christopher suggested, tilting his head a bit towards where he saw her place it when she got back that day.
"Yes, but it wouldn't be safe to go into her bag, that's private after all," Juste noted as he finally stood up and delicately backed away from the taped book.
"Ok come on, she's not going to know we went in there, she's not 'that' fixated on perfection," Christopher argued as he began shuffling his way towards her purse.
"That's true, and I'm pretty sure that her purse is enough of a mess so there's no way she would notice that we had been in there. However; it 'is' a matter of privacy and respect, if we're going into her purse it should be for life or death situations," Juste countered pragmatically as he sat down on the open floor of the room.
"She's got a wash cloth right? In the bathroom? We could take one of those instead without digging into her purse," Richter suggested as an alternative.
The other two exchanged glances and followed Richter as the youngest of the Belmonts made his way into the bathroom. He looked around, checking each wall for anything that might be useful, a futile effort considering how small he was. The closest he could reach on his own was a towel hanging up against the wall, but who would want to carry around one the whole time? For that matter, how would they put it back up on the rack it was hanging off of?
Juste made his way forward towards the sink and got up on his feet so he could reach the door handle with his paw. Pulling it open, he gave the door a hard smack to open it wide while he dropped down to all fours. The small under sink cabinet held a small assortment of bathroom accessories, but near the front was the desired wash clothes. And the more annoying demeaning method of carrying things.
Picking up the wash cloth with his mouth he carried it out of the cabinet so he could hold it out before the pair with him. Christopher, amicably, took the cloth so Juste could talk and between the trio they got it unfolded.
"So either I twist or get one of you two up to the door knob," Christopher suggested as possible options before turning to look up at the bathroom door. "That has the same type of handle, we could use that to practice on..." He suggested thoughtfully.
"I can't believe we have to 'practice' just to open a door," Richter sighed as he looked at the ground. "I understand that Yoko had no clue what she was doing and this is all an accident of sorts, still.. I'm a DOG!"
Juste looked at his grandson and quietly extended a paw out and rested it on Richters' shoulder in sympathy. "Though I shudder to think it, had Soma not offended the Vatican I would hazard there could have been a chance for us."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Christopher asked, his tone thoughtful as he began pulling the bathroom door shut.
"Well, Soma used the souls of the monsters he absorbs, at least in the beginning. Shortly after he was able to both boost the power of a soul by collecting more, and to allow them to be extracted 'from' him so that Yoko could make a new weapon." Juste explained as both he and his grandson sat down. While Juste had a decided 'teacher tone' in his voice as he began his explanation and the other two listened dutifully. "Given what I know of magic, if she can do that, its possible she can just extract any soul all together and release them, not just monster souls."
"So she could free us any time she wants?" Christopher asked in mounting disbelief. He remembered her reports, Yoko had a habit of reading her reports out loud for Simon, and unbeknownst to her at the time, them as well. "I mean I knew about the monsters, but why not release 'us'?!"
"Well that's touchy," Richter replied his head tilted a bit to the side for a moment before straightening his head up. "On the one hand, given what's going on right now, where would you rather be? In the afterlife where we have no way of helping anyone despite how... well... downgraded we've become. Or here? We're all warriors, the field of battle is pretty much where we thrive. Though on the other hand, we never know when we are going to die. If Yoko died in her sleep tonight, it would be our one chance of escaping gone."
Christopher sat there, his ears slowly leaning forward until they were resting on his head, "that is both understandable and terrifying."
"And if you want to heap up the nightmares. Its perfectly reasonable to believe that Soma, himself, could absorb our souls and carry them. Like the first time he returned from the Castle after it ascertain his identity. Not using the souls eventually caused their release, so he 'could' release our souls after a time." Juste continued, guiding Christopher along regarding the application of magic.
"Entrust our 'souls' to our mortal enemy..." Christopher recited slowly as he opted to sit down on the floor all together.
"Its been an honor to know both you men," Richter began as he stood up and walked over to the door. "Come on Christopher, let's see if you can break us out of the most basic trap in history."
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The trio walked down the hallway with the wash cloth resting on across Richters' back, while taking in the building all about them. There was such a strange sensation, traveling the Vatican in the middle of the night some how felt wrong. Kind of like when a small child left their bed to sneak out into the kitchen for a snack. It felt wrong, but curiosity was such a strong instinct as they looked at everything.
"At least there's no chance of running into the kids, I never expected that I would scare a child when I look like 'this'." Richter commented, his ear flickering and the corner of his mouth rose up a little as he thought about how that one boy ran off in terror.
"There is that," Juste confessed as he looked about the quiet building. "You know, there are stories that this place holds a great deal of artifacts from around the world. I'm actually kind of curious to find them."
"Not tonight though, we left, too, late for that. We'll probably get ourselves, Yoko or both in trouble if we're found where we're not allowed. Best to wait until tomorrow or later," Christopher pointed out casually. Though the three of them 'did' turn their heads at once as they crossed a room with , surprisingly, both doors open wide.
"Hmm? Lets go in here for now," Juste suggested as he turned towards the room and the pair turned in accordance.
The room was in disarray, with the tables and chairs set aside and a sign warning about rug cleaning. "We could get some serious work out in here," Richter noted as Christopher gave a brief nod.
"Sure can... so why not?" With that Christopher began the process of climbing up one of the chairs without disturbing the other chair perched on it.
"The rug though, are you ok with getting your limbs wet?" Juste asked as he eyed the floor and places he could jump to.
"Come on Grandfather, let your hair down once in a while," Richter retorted as he bounded up onto the limb of a thick sturdy chair. The sturdy oak limb holding his fluff stuffed body with ease as he began to survey the area with mounting interest.
"Richter! The wash cloth!" Juste protested as he rushed over to grab their only means of getting back into Yoko's room.
Richter stuck his head over the arm rest and watched as his grandfather picked up said wash cloth. Bunched up in his mouth the husky designed dog plush proceeded to leap up so he was in the seat. Before carefully refolding the washcloth until it was a good carry size, a silent reminder to his grandson that he was a bit of a stickler for that... "Forgive me Grandfather, I got ahead of myself."
Juste looked up at him and for the life of the Hunter, Richter couldn't bring himself to feel intimidated. Not with that fluffy face staring up at him in the darkness. "Grandfather, you're not as intimidating with that fluffy face."
"Like you have a face that could intimidate anyone beyond that one child," Juste retorted with a flick of his ears.
Richter frowned as he couldn't muster a comeback before he opted to start leaping from chair to leg of table to chair as he moved about the room. "This is better than being trapped in Yoko's room."
Christopher had climbed onto a desk and found a plain box filled with small jars that piqued his curiosity. "If one of you could come over here?" He called out as he worked to free one of the bottles from the box. Behind him the pair of fellow fluffy hunters worked their way over to him and soon Richter landed on the edge of the table and trotted over.
"What's the matter Christopher?"
"Is... Correct me if I'm wrong because this isn't really my area of expertise, but isn't this supposed to be holy water?" Christopher inquired holding out the human fist sized bottle between his paws.
Richter's ears flickered in surprise as the bottle was placed on the table before him, "lets open it and see..." He suggested, though he already had an uneasy feeling in what used to be his stomach. He held the bottle between his paws while Christopher worked, while wondering about this bottle or rather the whole box. Holy water was supposed to have a type of aura to it, a sensation of holy essence that differentiated it from normal water.
Only this didn't and it worried him, making him hope that the bottles of this age just managed to hold the divine properties in... A fools hope to be sure, but the idea...
"Grandfather? We need you," Richter called out as the tips of his ears folded down expressing his confusion even more.
"Really now? It can't be good if that's the case," Juste noted as he finished the last hurdle over a chair back and joined them. But he picked up the concern quite quickly as he saw the bottle, saw the crafted cross on the bottle and yet... "Is that bottle empty? I would think there should be some level of sensation from it..."
"You as well?" Richter noted as he looked between the dog plush and the bottle. "If not for the fact that I am sensing everything 'else' that has divine blessings I would just assume it was something else lost to this condition. Only..."
"Lets take it with us," Juste suggested as he brought his own nose into the circle.
"Take it? Isn't that stealing?" Christopher argued a bit surprised even as he bent down to get the bottle topper.
"We're only taking it to Yoko's room to research what it really is. Its still on Vatican grounds, besides, what can the Church say? They stole our 'bodies' and use us to protect the grounds from outside evils save Soma." Juste retorted in a pragmatic tone that the other two just couldn't argue.
"Might actually need Soma to see what it is, though it can also just be water being prepared to be blessed," Christopher suggested thoughtfully.
"Christopher, pick up the bottle and rock it back and forth a little will you? I need to see something," Juste ordered while moving himself so he had the light from the hall to use. As the bear shrugged and did as told, he held the bottle out so Juste could observe the contents of it. "It doesn't move like water... its a bit sluggish, possibly one of the Oils that came from Sophia's bloodline. But still, its something we 'should' be able to sense..."
"What are you three idiots doing?"
The grumbling voice from the door caused the trio to turn quickly and find Simon standing there, arms crossed. Why he was there wasn't that important though...
"Simon, does the Vatican pour plain water into vials before blessing them into holy water or use vials to carry Sophia's oils in?" Juste asked, after all, Simon had the longest freedom in the residence, surely he would know. The oils were made into small wax like bricks and melted via the heat of flame or divine power, at least the recipe 'he' knew worked that way.
"What are you? Stupid? Oils stay in little cauldrons and the water is blessed 'during' pouring."