Scene #427: Holy Flamethrower

Owner	Pose
Beli Klum	The entrance to Purgatorio in Earth-1111 is a strange one, even considering the portals to Inferno and Paradiso that dot the world. Directions given would point to a particular isolated lake in the middle of a forest where the sky is strangely clear of the blue clouds of Paradiso and the red clouds of Inferno. The air is clear and fresh, though strangely silent; a silence that brings attention to the lack of wildlife of any kind near the lake. Perhaps they have been warded off by the strange energies that come off it, as something in the water feels simultaneously blessed and cursed. Walking into the lake is the only way to enter Purgatorio. The moment the water consumes a person completely, everything shifts. A feeling of displacement and changing scenery settles over the person in question, and in the moment that follows, they find themselves standing on the beach at the base of Purgatorio's single, gigantic mountain. The endless ocean laps gently at the shore, and thousands of ghostly spirits wander and linger on the sand, those humans who have not yet chosen to try and make the ascent to Purgatorio's peak. The setting black sun hangs over the western horizon, casting that part of the sky in endless daylight, while the rising white moon lingers in the eastern horizon, shrouding that half of the world in endless night. The land itself is about as strange as the method of entering it. Faruja will have to make that strange journey to enter this world, but thankfully Beli is waiting for him at the point he'll appear. She stands on the beach with her arms crossed and wings folded on her back, hanging around just in front of one of the staircases carved into the mountain's face that curves around and up to the first level of Purgatorio. There she waits, patiently staring out to sea, letting the ocean breeze send her hair gently billowing behind her.
Faruja	Faruja finds himself peering into the lake, head tilting. Ears fold back. Step into the water, and you're there. The Burmecian likes water, and rain. But it's still a little odd. Crossing himself, trying to ignore the creeping feeling of so much evil not too far off, the rat finds himself glad he didn't bring his armor. "Once more into the Abyss." Leap! Splush! Faruja sighs, taking out his now slightly damp towel, and dries himself off. Thankfully, he came prepared. A quick change later, and he's dry, as is what he's come here with! A large backpack rattles and clinks as he's off to their meeting point. "Lady Klum, 'tis likely the /strangest/ place I hath ever been, aside from Lady Mizuki's abode. A /black/ sun! So many free spirits, 'tis..." Faruja waves his hands a bit, tail swaying. Hard to describe the feeling, his spiritual senses thrown for a loop in this place. Ahem! A bow. "But I forget mine manners! May ye ever walk in Faram's grace, M'Lady! Hale enough, I pray?" No, the rat's not going to forget the niceties.
Beli Klum	Ah, there's her guest. Beli's attention immediately turns to Faruja when he arrives, offering the rat priest a warm smile of welcome. His bafflement makes that smile widen a little more with amusement, but she tries to stay as polite as she can, offering a nod of greeting. Soft though her voice may be, it rings with the sound of bright, small bells and rumbles like an active volcano, betraying her mixed, supernatural nature. "Hello, Faruja. Yes, it is...a little unusual. Though I am unusual myself, so it would make sense for me to watch over a land to match, right?" The rephaite lifts a hand, gently brushing black and cyan bangs from her face. Her smile fades a little at that question as an air of seriousness comes over her. "I am...well enough, yes. There are some things that have been weighing on me lately, but...I will endure." She lets out a slow, almost tired sigh, then forces herself to brighten a little. "If Purgatorio has taught me anything, it is that peace, contentment, and happiness do not come without more than a little effort and exhaustion first. It is just a matter of keeping up hope, that is all." There's that smile again. If anything, Beli is not someone to be kept down for long. "And how are you, Faruja? Have things been well for you lately?"
Faruja	Really, Faruja can't help but flick his ears a touch. The angel-demon's presence is enough to cause both ends of his spiritual senses to be tugged in opposite directions. The hate for the demonic is tempered by the soothing presence of a true angel, the two cancelling each other out neatly. all it leaves is a vague sense of awkwardness and confusion for the rat who is still getting used to how strange the multiverse is. He taps one clawed toe into the sand. "Nay doubt a match made in He..." He cuts himself off. Damnit. Smile! Faruja's ears unfold and he straightens. There's a small nod, and the rat ponders a moment. "If ye ever require mine services, ye merely must ask." Offers the ratpriest, not pushing the angel-woman. She'll come to him if she needs it. "Keep Faith, and all shall be as the Lord wills it. 'Tis nay more precious a gift, Hope. A fire to ward off the chill of depression, hatred, and toil in our lives. But a fire that is best tended to by many rather than one." Leave it to Faruja to not miss an opportunity to preach. From the look on his face, times too have been rough. "Ivalice's war with Archadia looms ever larger, whilst unrest amidst the common man towards the nobility is ever rising. Heresy, cults, witch-craft, bandit attacks rising with the soldiers shifted to the front lines...and yet the Crown does nothing." Faruja all but snarls the last part. If he's ever seen a systemic failure of government, this is it. Even the nobility are doing more for the common man now than the royalty of Ivalice. "But the ravages of mine office aside, there is yet hope. Archadia's strike into Riovannes hath been turned aside for now. The goodly Marquis Elmdore hath agreed to offer refuge to mine people, bereft of their homes, Faram bless the man!" There's honest joy in the rat's voice. For all the ill he's suffered, that strand of hope is on he's clinging to. Two ears perk. "Ahh! /And/..." He pulls out a gun from his pack, looking similar to the one he showed Beli some time back. Popping open the breach? There's room for both a canister of the Seraphic Flame he was gifted with, as well as what appears to be an empty housing for something else. "Lady Strawberry, mine artificer, managed to put this together. It should be able to house an amplifying crystal that would ensure the fire ye hath loaned me wouldst not run out swiftly. Provided, of course, 'tis within tolerances. We thought ye aught look at it, see if ye can offer any insight into further design."
Beli Klum	Beli, fortunately, doesn't seem to be the type to mind preaching. The angelic demon smiles even brighter, in fact, seemingly bolstered by such encouraging words. "You are truly wise, Faruja. Those who find your aid are no doubt blessed." Again, however, that smile falters as Faruja speaks of the troubles coming over his world. A frown comes to replace it, and Beli shifts her posture slightly, folding her arms over her chest with a troubled look. "...that is certainly troubling. I...am not certain what one such as myself could offer to help with that situation, but if there is anything I /can/ do, you need only ask. I am not so troubled that I cannot offer my assistance to those who have need of it." And then the gun is produced. Beli looks at it with some surprise and no doubt a good amount of confusion, but once Faruja explains it, she extends a hand to take the device. Her soft smile returns, though this time it is of a more awkward nature. "...ah. I...am not really skilled with weaponry like this. Or...technology in general, really. I have always been better with mental tasks than scientific or practical ones." Her head tilts as she turns the device over, staring at it with a look of concentration and thought as she simply tries to figure it out. "...so...the seraphic flame goes in there with the crystal, and then the crystal helps launch the fire from the gun in a more powerful volume? Or something like that? That /should/ work, though I admit that I have not used my powers for something like that before." She purses her lips, frowning slightly in thought. "I guess...you would probably need other canisters of the flame to reload it, right? The fire is not much different from, say, water, so it should be easy to maintain. You do not need a source for it to feed on or anything."
Faruja	A receptive audience outside of his own Ivalicians. It's a rarity, and Faruja relishes in it. Before there's a touch of pink to the ears. "I speak naught but what the good Lord hath offered me through friends, and the experience of life." There's a small, bitter smile. "Ivalice is...a sick world. Many ailments cause her to fester. War, poverty, uncaring nobility, cults of less than benevolent natures..." His hand waves. "Such a...person of thine particular lineage wouldst be quite welcomed. However...what /art/ ye capable of? I must admit, ye art one of three angelic beings I hath met, for never hath I been blessed with such a personage whom watches specifically over Ivalice. In the flesh, at any rate. Mine survival up until now..." Really, it's hard to /not/ believe there's a guardian angel looking out for him somewhere up there. But back to business! Faruja gives a firm nod. 5r "Nor mineself. We nezumi art particularly...inept at technology in general." For all of his assertions, he promptly sets the crystal within its holding, this one a brilliant white as opposed to the red of his Blaze gun. One cannister later, and he hefts the weapon. "Ye speak the truth! Or at least, inasmuch Lady Strawberry surmised. Then...'tis possible to keep one source of flame, and use it to stoke others, as any other fire might do? How useful. Well. Lady Klum? Stand back. I find there is little reward without equal risk." Faruja prays he doesn't lose a hand here. The Burmecian pulls the trigger after giving Beli time to step away.
Beli Klum	Beli looks over at the gun once Faruja handles it again, loading the crystal and the canister that follows. She isn't terribly concerned about getting hit by her own powers, but there /is/ the question of what might happen with the device when firing it is attempted. She hasn't tried mixing her powers with outside weaponry before, after all; who knows what might happen? With that in mind, the rephaite steps aside, clearing the way and watching with rapt attention as Faruja attempts to make use of the weapon for the first time. And...remarkably, it /does/ work! Perhaps not quite as expected, but it's something. Flames of cyan rush out from the barrel, rolling through the air as one might expect a flamethrower to do...but rather than swirling and dissipating as a launched flame should, the angelic fires instead hover briefly in midair before falling to the ground, where they pool like water from a hose. Even with that burst alone, the sandy beach is abruptly covered in a pool of blue flames, gently licking at the air from where they were a moment before. Beli is silent for a moment. Then her hand lifts, brushing aside her hair from her face as she looks back at Faruja with a slight grin. "...well. Not /exactly/ a flamethrower...more like a napalm sprayer, or something. But it does seem effective, at least. It will not harm anyone not of a demonic nature, so you do not need to worry too much about making a mess from firing it, either. It could actually be a good way to heal allies, if you wanted." Still, Beli is of a partially demonic nature, and so before she steps anywhere in the lingering flames, she makes sure to channel her own angelic powers. A blue sheen comes over the black feathers of her wings, and flames of a similar blue color form in the centers of her halos. Only then does she step back toward Faruja, gently tapping a finger to her chin in thought. "As far as what I am capable of...well, my angelic powers can burn away curses or other evil influences, or they can heal wounds. My demonic powers are more for combat; darkness formed into physical weapons, or hellfire to burn and cause pain. I am...not so sure you will be needing those." Another pause as she considers. "Then there are the souls of archangels and demon lords that have given me certain powers. Those are more for particular in-person situations, but they still may do something. I suppose I could give you a demonstration, if you wanted."
Faruja	FWOOOMPH! Splat. Sizzlesizzlesizzle. Faruja watches with rapt attention, surprise and fascination mixing in his single-eyed gaze. "...How unexpected." He states lamely, slowly limp-walking towards the flame. An er perks. "Truly?" Faruja tries to test that theory, reaching out with a hand and passing it through the fire. Gentle, healing warmth fills him. He breathes a sigh of relief. Experimentally, he forces his bad leg into the fire with only a slight flinch. "Better..." He mutters, before pulling out. Fire is fire. Best not to tempt fate. "Given certain...forces I hath encountered, this shall be mayhaps a more potent weapon than I first surmised." He shudders, remembering Hashamlum's great size and power. Squint! On the topic of hellfire weaponry? "No." States the rat rather bluntly. Demonstrations? Faruja smiles. "Please! I wouldst be honored to see what ye art capable of!" Then, he gives her room.
Beli Klum	The denial of any hellfire flamethrowers gets a soft, awkward chuckle from Beli. "...right. I expected as much." As he accepts her offer, though, she nods and spreads her six wings, flapping them powerfully to lift her up into the air. She hovers a few feet above the ground, a good distance away so that her demonstration doesn't put the rat at risk. "I am not certain if you would want to make use of any of the demon lords' powers, but I will show them to you first, just in case anything seems...helpful." A light shrug, and then the blue sheen of her wings and the flames in her halos shift to a dark red as the energies of her demonic nature come into focus. "Fraud..." She lifts her left arm, holding it to the side. Beside her, a dark portal opens in space, and from it launches a long, rusted chain tipped with a single curved hook large enough to skewer a person. It rushes out in the same direction her arm points, then, as she yanks her arm back, it zips back into the portal, which promptly closes again. "...Voracity..." Again her left arm sweeps out, darkness swirling around it. From that darkness emerges a large swarm of demonic insects resembling vicious flies. The creatures buzz and roll in a black cloud around her before swirling back into the darkness around her arm. "...Lethargy..." Her left arm lashes downward this time, still swirling with darkness, and from that shadow rushes a stream of amber sap that splatters against the sand. A moment after it hits, it turns to stone, solidifying enough to resemble a natural rock that was merely sitting on the beach. "...and Hatred." This time, both her arms are held out, and around each forms a fleshy hand of muscle and bone. The fingers curl powerfully, then the hands dissipate again. With that, Beli's red sheen shifts back to blue as her angelic nature takes over, and she gently floats down to touch on the ground again. "And from the archangels, Fairness..." A sword manifests in her right hand in a flash of white light, the hilt of flowing, elegant silver and the double-edged blade formed from light blue magic made solid. She swings the weapon down, and the blade simply passes through the ground beneath her, not disturbing a single grain of sand, then vanishes in another flash. "...Restraint..." Both her arms are consumed in white light, and when it fades, a heavy golden scale is bound to each of her forearms by powerful chains. The metal crackles with lightning, but both scales soon vanish again. "...Industry..." Another flash, this time behind her, summoning two large wings formed from interlocking gears and blades of metal serving as feathers. With a wave of her right hand, the gears and blades separate, gently flying around her individually, then move behind her once more to lock into formation before vanishing. "...and Compassion." One last wave of her right hand, this time summoning a sphere of golden light large enough to encompass both her and Faruja. It seems to be a shield of some kind; the water laps up toward it, but can't get past the barrier's light. Soon that sphere dissolves too. Beli gives a little huff, then smiles to Faruja again, folding her wings on her back. "Varied...but at least they have their uses. I am not sure if you would have much use for them, but...I have been wrong before."
Faruja	Faruja is nothing if not polite; already, the tendency for restraint despite his more zealous urges has earned him much. A year ago he would have tried to hurt good Beli. Now? He knows better. Faruja's reaction to the summoning of the more Fell abilities of Beli's is the slowly increasing shade of green that the rat's face becomes colored with. Soon, he's coughing, and generally looking very, very ill. "Me...methinks we aught...banish such thoughts, Lady Klum." Then, he turns away, the poor rodent having to swallow several herbs from his backpack to avoid losing his lunch. When he returns? He's only looking marginally better. Someone is /very/ sensitive to demonic energies, it seems. On the other hand, he looks markedly better as she shows off her angelic gifts. There's pure fascination in the rat's gaze, and more than a little awe. This is a true angel, and he can't help but grip his cross and pray the entire time. A life-affirming vision, to be sure. He doesn't respond immediately, clearing his throat and trying to assume some amount of dignity. "I.." Gulp. What does one say to the living embodiment of all he believes in? Even /if/ it's only half. 5r "Mine dear, ye hath many a varied power. And most importantly, the blade, and thien shield art most important. I am amidst a most horrid war, /two/ of them. Both shall come quite useful to protect the innocent and strike upon those whom art threatening Ivalice. More than that? Ye symbolize something. Hope. Faith. All things every single ivalician shall need to weather the coming horrors of war." Then, the rat points to the mountain. "Now let us go, hmm? I shall make ye tea, and ye shall tell me of thine home."