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(no subject)

Who: Anyone
When: Day 49, Late afternoon
Where: Anywhere

[ If the morning's trial hadn't been miserable enough … ]

[ Now it's raining! And it's still so foggy you can barely see your own feet. ]

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[the fog is hard to see through, but down along the beach something's set it glowing the unmistakable orange of fire. a LOT of fire.

following it will find Eliza (dressed unusually severe) with her arms crossed in front of the array she's been working on-and-off for the past few weeks— now all up in flames. drawing sigils in the sand, taking measurements, getting her familiars to haul wood, all apparently to this end purpose of turning it into a giant, magical BONFIRE.]

...What are you doing?

[says a voice from the fog]

[without looking away from the fire]

Summoning. Beastmastery, not necromancy.

[one of Eliza's dragonwolf familiars looms up out of the fog next to 80H, sniffing at her before trotting off again on a wary lap around the fire.]

I see.

[her voice entirely lacks inflection.]

What are you calling?

[her other familiar paces out from the other side of the fire, taking a lap counterclockwise to the other.

for a bonfire this big and on a day this wet, it's maybe strange that it's not putting out any steam or smoke.]

A hellhound.

[eh magic is weird and weird things happen.]

Why?

Because I want one.

[because they’re something from home, because it’s a piece of her favorite magic finally working again, and because nothing fucks with a full-grown hellhound]

That is the only reason?

Do I need another reason?

I suppose it does not matter. What is it capable of?

[makes a sign to her familiars and they both lie down, poised to spring and watching the center of the bonfire where the flames have started to gutter]

Mm... They're a type of black dog, but they have a much greater affiliation with fire than the other species. Most of their use comes in fire management, hunting, or guarding.

I suppose that is fine.

[says the girl who has historically been very, very opposed? to fire?]

Something is different about that fire.

The hellhound is sampling it. The fire has to be to its tastes for it to answer the summons and accept the contract terms.

[she is still hanging somewhere in the fog]

And if it is not to its tastes?

Then it'll move on. But this is the first kind of summons I learned how to do, so I'll get one for sure.

See?

[nods at the fire where there's now shadows moving in the heart of it, darkening into the shape of something large crouched among the timbers]

...

[she watches quietly from wherever she is]

I see.

[nods again, focused on the fire.]

Oh, one second, this part gets rough.

[another sign to her familiars and they charge the fire, sending the shadow twisting into the embers to try get away from them. there's a horrible snarling and three sets of giant snapping jaws, but it's all bloodless— no yelping, no bones crunching, just a lot of very noisy posturing for dominance.]

What is happening?

The agreement is being finalized. It's safer to have them do it, since they're more able to go into the fire, but they always have to be animals about it.

[she did go to the medical carriage first, and change her clothing to something clean.] .

It's a good fire.

It is. Don't get close to it, she's still feeding.

[there's something dark in the center of the fire, where the flames are rushing downwards as if drawn by a vent]

What is that?

[but is staying clear]

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