"An inspection!"
"They won't inspect everyone, just act natural."
As the pure and soothing breeze washed over and along the fading path of Danann Highway, a natural commotion of flowing merchants poured in and out of the overarching city gates. Steady and orderly, the journeying sailors marched through and both departed nervously; the strict watch of the surveying guardsmen casually checking over the monotonous cycle.
And from just over the peaceful ridge, trodded the sinful menagerie with stark eyes honed in on the scouring entrapment of Loegres' entrance. Stalking over the worn tracks that cemented the dirt path, the group approached within sight of the guardsmen; their carefully carved steel on display while the unknown misfits were silently evaluated. Either way, the soldiers made no drastic reaction, and allowed them to etch closer, the faces of all remaining relaxed and composed. Mostly.
"Your face is all stiff," the Samurai chuckled quietly as he ambled past the stern frown of a grumbling daemoness.
"I know." Velvet growled lowly at the warrior, letting a casual sigh seep out and attempted to release the constant tension engorged upon her figure. At the front of the pack this time, was a meandering Eizen, who strolled onwards with confident ease. One by one, the guardsmen ahead paid the travellers no mind as each one strode past. The stern but knowledgeable look of an experienced sailor, here for the merchants. A decorated kimono and calcite blades, merely a searching ronin. The shimmering flap of white, amber and crimson with an ornate weapon at the hip, a wandering swordsman; perhaps an exorcist with the young and blank-faced boy at his side. Even the pompous mess of colour strolling past was no different, perhaps here for a stage performance.
However, the guardsman raised a palm to hush the civilian child he was conversing with, eyes cast under the gleaming helm narrowed upon the vacant, dangerous shuffle of a poorly-dressed woman scantily clad in ripped black and vermillion. As the folding tendrils of onyx - tied back into a thin bandage as a hair-band - swept past the once thought occupied soldier, he shifted on his feet as the group stepped through the grand standing gates of the Empire's Jewel.
As their boots brushed upon cobbled roads, the cawing of soaring birds above fell short of the wall created by the conversation of the masses. Throughout winding streets - the cosy structures and rising buildings acted akin to rocks of a river - flowing residents and stalls a many parting among the palatial properties surrounding. However, as the crew passed over the road, seconds away from steeping out of the inspection's reach, a commanding voice warningly reached Velvet's ears.
"You, in the black coat. Show me your documentation."
She cursed under her breath, and the air went still. Even as the daily stream of lives at their sides continued on, the group could feel the urgency rise as if their anchor was caught. The daemoness in disguise turned, holding her impassive expression as the guardsman stared on expectedly. "Uh... um..." she blankly mumbled out, passively patting down knowingly empty pockets while her mind franticly clambered for an answer. At the back, the crew remained still as to not draw attention, but the suspicion centred upon their undisputed leader was giving dregs of ire to some. While their malakhim pirate casually flicked his coin up and down, the young boy shuffling worriedly, and the roving eyes of indigo zipped over any swappable spares to utilise; each member was drawing up a blank. And the soldier only grew more agitated with each passing second.
"Well? Your travel permit from the Abbey. Where is it?" he demanded firmly, crossing his arms warily with every moment running by. Eventually, the group did turn, the direness too high to ignore, but still remained without answer. Until, a fiendish grin split over Magilou's face.
Thwack!
Velvet felt a fist bonk the back of her head akin to an act of discipline, and she looked up with a scowl to see the bubbling Witch prance about with an obviously ridiculing plan in mind. "Foolish girl! How many times have I told you? A magician's apprentice must wear a pleasant grin," the 'Magician' acted out with a taunting and telling finger. Velvet spared a disbelieving look to the posing raspberry, shifting a hand upon her hip as the daemon felt a rumbling headache already begin to sprout. The group was not far off, with a collection of narrowly unheard sighs and gestures of incredulity, even a passing 'oh no...' was mumbled under a facepalm of the half-breed.
"Magician?" the soldier questioned, almost dumbfounded at the display before him.
"Verily!" the Witch joyfully affirmed, spreading out a guiding hand to present her amazing group at the side. "I present to you the travelling troupe of mischievous misfits known across the land as... Magilou's Menagerie!" Each fair and independent member of this cast felt slight regret sink into their minds, settling heir sights away from the conversing baboon and bewildered townspeople.
"...Entertainment for the ceremony?" the guardsman grumbled with a dead tone, also similarly regretting his suspicions of the lady in black.
With a hop and spin, the petty Witch dramatically swayed and crossed her arms with a proud and cheery smirk, "Why yes, indeed we are, my dear! Please, pardon my uncouth apprentice." Suffice to say, Velvet's gathering glare upon the girl's irritable form would mean the Witch may not leave the city at all. "Girl! Allay the man's fears and show him the... dove trick you've spent all these weeks on! Go to." Another heavy sigh of disbelief and agitation slipped from the daemon's lips, closing her eyes incredulously at the situation. The Witch is done for.
"...Huh!?" Velvet gasped out; flabbergasted, eyeing Magilou in complete and utter warning before she looked back to the waiting soldier. He was silent, the cold helm faced towards the so-called 'apprentice' patiently. With a complete roll of her eyes and a thousand curses for the pompous magician, the daemon swallowed her pride and 'shyly' tilted her head downwards in 'shame'. "Oh, uh... Sorry, mistress..." she barely choked out with a shielded sneer, "I forgot to prepare."
Completely ignoring the growling grit at the end of the daemon's words, the witch continued her act and flopped over in absolute devastation. "Y-Y-You pathetic little shirker!" Magilou exasperatedly cried out, further edging on Velvet's temper as she silently inhaled. "A proper performer is perpetually prepared!"
Eventually, the soldier relented at the shame of this scene, even out of slight pity for the woman in black at these ridiculous antics. "It's fine. Doves flying around would be a nuisance."
"No! This will not do!" the Witch yelled out with a veil of angered disappointment. Verdant irises darting over, she frowned at the woman to her side. "If you cannot summon a dove, then ACT like one!"
The daemon's hazel orbs almost hollowed out at this pointless continuation, grinding her teeth together in final warning as nostrils flaired. "You're really pushing it..." Velvet whispered dangerously, almost snarling as she hid it under a shift in weight. However, it went unheeded, and Magilou did not yield this out-blown performance.
"Act. Like. A. Dove!"
With a painful sounding inhale, she finally bit back the remaining wisps of pride and stomped onto the ground to dispel her gathering tension; planting a thankfully unnoticed crack upon the cobble. Brows staying pointed acutely, Velvet stared ahead, and placed an open palm flatly perpendicular to her lips.
"Coo. Coo."
A hue of scarlet spotted her pale cheeks, as a rush of immediate regret darted over her features. Even the rest of the group reacted with a silent motion away of second-hand embarrassment; Eizen turning slightly to focus upon the stalls ahead, while Rokurou scratched the back of his onyx-haired head skittishly with his copper iris falling to the road below. It definitely did not assist her situation, when Velvet's senses could catch the hushed snickers behind a side watching head of blanched strands, propping a hand over to cover his mouth. The daemon's eyes flashed deathly; the flair of shame brimming larger as Sarid cleared his throat of chuckles instantly.
While the growing cackles of laughter echoed from the few watching crowds, the Witch stuck to her word with a flourish of glittering magic to sparkle the sky; and out forth from the ether did a flock of crisp white doves flap out into the endless blue above. Soon did the ridicule pass as the focus became of the birds soaring above, the cast - surprised yet glad at this revelation - looked on with a few fair smiles. "Remember, Magilou's Menagerie manufactures mirth! That was just a sample for the good citizenry of Loegres!"
With laughter turning to claps of admiration, Magilou leapt and posed extravagantly before the crowds, relishing in the daemoness' completely ashamed gesture of her head sunken onto a palm. "Hey!" The soldier yelled at this abrupt change in discussion, "You can't advertise here! Move along!"
The magician twisted on her heel with a winning smirk and a delicate wink. "As you say!"
~~~
And soon, the group was trekking freely though the sharp and emblazoned streets of the capital, the knowing looks of witnessed residents growing to zero as they finally moved away from the absurd situation. Rokurou's howls of entertained laughter rang the sprinkled roads, the Samurai in utter disbelief at such a move from the now proven magician, "That was a fine ploy, Magilou!" he admitted with a goofy grin.
"Well, don't expect tricks like that every day. Coo, coo," she deviously mocked with a knowing eye at the daemon lady's tightening fists. Velvet growled audibly - which only grew gutteral as the familiar snickers of a lone figure in the crew came again - a few more lines away from giving the Witch a physical reason to stay silent. "Oh! That murderous gaze!" Magilou squabbled in joking fear. "Coo, coo."
Crash!
With a single, wrenching hand, the impish woman was sent stumbling into a bundle of cargo and boxes; scattering various resources to be strewn about over the street. The magician's whines of pain from under the hill of collapsed objects only accentuated a specific half-malak's humour, finally amplified as the great flamboyant witch hat fluttered gently down from the air to sit upon its throne of fallen materials and fruit alike over a defeated Magilou. Velvet stalked away from the clattering mess and newly brought commotion with the spacing steps of the menagerie in tow, the Samurai's brimming laughter from moments before now carried on by an almost hysterical Sarid; only brought to weary close after he was threatened with a similiar - deserved - fate.
Wincing away the cries of the newly titled; Magilou the Betrayed, Laphicet could not shake the unnatural brilliance of the summoned doves. "Those doves were amazing!" he joyfully cried, eyes glimmering like dotted with sparkling green marbles.
The daemoness blinked away the already regrettable reminder of her act, turning and dismissing its extravagancy for the sake of the humanity she had left. "Just a cruel trick. If anything, it just shows the capital's defenses are pathetic," she grated with an unimpressed glance upon the few soldiers even patrolling the city's inner workings. Despite their very sparing moments of peace and quiet, the bobbling hat of pinks and purples popped up again with a soured smirk; still willing to agitate the frowning beast.
"More like it shows how much confidence they have in those defenses," she playfully corrected. "How many soldiers are here, Laphicet?"
"The number of exorcists in the capital? At least a thousand. And two divisions of guards," he boy confidently and knowingly explained.
"I'd believe it," Sarid interjected with a grimace of his own, "I couldn't even sense how many there were outside the city walls without getting a splitting headache, forget the entire army stationed here." Velvet hummed along with his explanation - being the only one in the know about his powerful sensory - while the others remained clueless yet interested for another time.
"Hm, well I'd expect no less from the capital. They're not careless. they're covered," Eizen warned warily, almost exclusively keeping an eye upon every move made by the Loegres forces. So, in order to freely traverse the city walls without being caught like that again, Velvet surmised the need of transit documents in her mind.
Magilou's uncommon analytical peering over the cheering and happy residents within was noted, every innocent man, woman and child enjoying the day to day lives wrought by the Abbey's harsh fist. "See how the citizens smile? To think they were fleeing from daemons just a few years ago..."
"To hold an observance of this scale shows just how much peace their power has brought," Rokurou bluntly stated, and was no less incorrect from the positive energy bouncing off the tall walls of this huge capital.
"Peace..." Velvet's voice trembled darkly, quiet and isolated form the prying ears of the group, as she turned away; pressing a harsh hand over a sharp pain crackling in her mind. "...Paid for with Laphi's..." her low seethes of barely unnoticeable torment racked the thoughts, eyelids slamming closed as the once bitter tone gave way to the emotion beneath.
"Velvet...?" the young malak wondered softly at her side.
A tiny, noiseless gasp; sharp and brisk. And then she twisted again, sauntering off and down the lively streets of Loegres with the eyes of the muted crew on her back. Comfortingly, a fellow palm enshrouded in white cloth patted onto the small child's shoulder, Sarid's violet eyes of voiceless concern staring onwards at the swaying dark coat, before they all were soon to follow at her heels and continue the long and harsh trek towards their goals.
All over did the group scour the first few streets of this grand capital, the plain conversations of each and every citizen filled with an unheard of trust in the Abbey, and complete optimism for the future of Midgand. From the persevering admiration of the newly crowned Prince Percival, to the dear excitement of the world's future, all the way to unadulterated and unshakeable faith in the powerful Abbey; and the fully trusted leader of the Holy Midgand Empire. Lord Artorias Collbrande.
All that this misleading, naive and impenetrable trust in the Church's word and the Abbey's power did, was engrave a disgusted frown upon the daemoness that strode across broad and patterned streets; unfeeling to the world that she began to realise stood against her very existence. And the very core of its birth; the Jewel of the Empire - site of the royal castle, headquarter's of the ever so noble abbey, and ornamental cathedral dedicated to the gods of their dying world. The Empyreans.
Traversing the snaking alleyways and decorated roads, the group followed Velvet's brooding lead under several imposing arches and up several layers of stairs, soon locating where the main congregation of Loegres' residents flooded to and from; the City Centre. With long standing towers impaled between the many cozy architectural properties at the broad road, it soon gaped into a wide central district. Benign maroon steps to a beautiful sloshing fountain, encompassed by various markets with perusing residents, the downtown courtyard was a central piece of the important city. And, as they entered this berth of premises, the daemoness noticed the effect of past memories burrow to the surface of their half-malak, who stood frozen upon setting sights on the unblemished courtyard.
"Sarid, what's the matter?" the pirate malak barked with concern shimmering in his icy blue stare. Despite the direct catch of the man overwhelmed with remembrance of a world long gone, the half-breed shook his head dismissively.
"It's nothing, just... didn't expect such a boring city," he attempted to dissuade, allowing his casual calmness to settle in once again. However, it was obvious that not one member of their large group believed him. Nevertheless, they continued on, Velvet particularly not even turning to address his moment of problematics. Not that there was a complete lack of concern, but she figured he wouldn't explain, none of them have a right to be aware of each other's past and potential trauma.
Just as the courtyard entered their full view, it was soon made aware that multiple groups of soldiers were marched into formation near the left most exit of the downtown centre, completely unmoving in the assumed practice for the ceremony creeping ever closer. Skirting to step away from the potential prying eyes of the many guardsmen, the group clambered up the few scarlet brick steps and found themselves close to the serene rushing of fountain streams. And at the seats dedicated to sitting close to this calming structure, was a simple mother and her affectionate child having a pleasant chat about the upcoming - supposed - communion with the high and mighty exorcists so far above the grovelling populace.
All that was conveyed, was another instance of unfaltering love for all the exorcists do and sacrifice seemingly shared by the commoners of this major capital.
"They sure are popular," Magilou stated with a lousy and bored tone, the robotic repetitions of the standard folk about the abbey's greatness finally grinding her own ears with annoyance.
"Because these people don't know the truth." Velvet didn't yield any hesitance in declaring her distaste for these sheepish followers of lies.
However, the Witch offered a different perspective to the daemon's incorrigible views in a rare display of independence and humility, "You think that's so? That the exorcists are fighting the daemons they themselves cannot. That's why the people support the exorcists." Of course, this only released a growl and grumble of denial or possible unwillingness to accept this reality. However, someone else decided to bring another position to light.
"You're not wrong," the half-malak inputted wearily - somehow seeming slightly heavy under the air of this singular place - and decided to set in his train of thought for battling this supposed valiant force; "Though, there is also the countless people that have lost trust in the exorcists entirely. That town outside Hellewas? It's obvious that they play favourites - whether or not it's on purpose - the Abbey is obviously fallible and not as all powerful as they think." The sharp-eyed man scoured over the bustling crowds surrounding the centre, taking in their naive joy with a glimmer of longing. "The world outside is falling apart, and the Abbey doesn't even care."
Velvet simply hummed along with this middle-ground, as is typical of her mannerisms, and was wordlessly thankful for the reinforcement of her beliefs. Nonetheless, the Witch just shrugged excessively with an aloof expression. "Welp! 'Ignorance is bliss' as they say!" she sang, hopping away from the trickling fountain.
Daemonic eyes of hazel bore into indigo inquisitively, and she let a statement slip from her mouth. "You have changed," she murmured, the facts sinking in right before her, while Sarid merely ambled forth towards the far along stairway rising above and away from the centre; leading to the overbearing citadel that intermingled with the drifting clouds. As he strolled forward, the rest of this hidden menagerie gravitating in tow to soon begin their clamber up to the ceremony, the daemon sighted Laphicet cheerfully wave her over to catch up. And just from the shift of Sarid's arms - even as his back remained facing her - she could catch onto his gesture. Through the most negligible of smirks, the half-breed turned his head ever so slightly, cupped his hands, and blew.
And so, the sound immediately caused the calmness of Velvet's face to simmer into one of deadpan chagrin; the slight twitch of a sharp brow and reddened hue accenting it, while the most authentic call of a dove rang from the man's hollowed hands across the peaceful courtyard.