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"Honestly, I'm gonna be pretty disappointed if I can't make people believe I helped save the world. When I write my memoir: 'Quasit's Tale-How I did it!', I expect to receive a very healthy advance from the publisher."Fin chuckles. ”Can’t wait to read that…I want a signed copy though…”
"Man, can you imagine watching your whole family get gunned down? Then being brought back to life while they all remain dead? And remembering it? The girl has no home and no family aside from Rasputin and a bunch of witches. Either we die and they claim her and raise her to be an evil witch, or Rasputin dies and we have to find her a new home and a new life. That poor kid."
”I can’t even imagine…and then seeing her ‘brother’ turn into a 3-headed dragon? That girl’s gonna need some serious therapy. Hmmm, if we take her back to the Hut, maybe Tez could talk to her; he always fancied himself a philosopher, maybe he could help…”
"Jeepers, you think Baba Yaga will try to claim her even if we succeed?"Fin ponders a moment. ”Wouldn’t be surprised, Q. Rasputin must think Anastasia has the white witch blood in her, methinks; why else would he keep her alive? He must be on the outs with Elvanna and if he can defeat her, he might possibly see the girl as a successor, one he can control, perhaps? Might be Baba Yaga would see her the same way…”
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After searching for signs of the graveyard fairy with no luck, Fin turns to Quasit, with a grim look, shaking his head. ”All signs of her are days old; she must’ve have moved on to richer graveyards. Hope Rasputin didn’t find her. Either way, you might have to attempt disabling that bloody damn machine without Viktor, Q. I can assist you as best I can; might be able to help a little…
“So, back to the others now? And then to the Hut?”
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”All signs of her are days old; she must’ve have moved on to richer graveyards."
Hands on her hips, Quasit scans about the graveyard, her mouth curled up in pique.
"Maybe. Or maybe she's just hiding and doesn't want to do us any more favors now that she's gotten what she wants." she grumbles.
“So, back to the others now? And then to the Hut?”
She nods. "Yeah, I guess so." she says in defeat. "C'mon." She turns around and begins to trudge back to the group.
"First, we'll likely regroup and return to the hut that serves as our base," Kalchine answers the girl's question.
"Fin and Quasit have gone to find an ally and, with their help, we'll then return to shut down that machine," he continues, pointing to the towers with the lightning arcing between them.
"Then, we'll face Rasputin."
"No, not a fairy tale. We're all real. And we're going to take care of you." She catches Maka's eye and raises an eyebrow giving her a knowing look. An expectant look like she's wanting Maka to add a word of encouragement.
Maka grinned. "Of course! You can live in Cluckers with us! I can even teach you how to fight if you want." Her tone was cheerfully confident and unshaken. Like she had no doubt Anastasia would be okay now that she was part of their group.
Anastasia jumps slightly at Sakitu's touch, but she doesn't shy away from it. "That..."
She makes a visible effort to draw on some shred of imperial dignity. "I would, of course, appreciate your aid in protecting me. And if Rasputin is truly responsible for..."
She glances at the dead dragon, shudders, and looks away, trailing off into silence.
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She nods. "Yeah, I guess so." she says in defeat. "C'mon." She turns around and begins to trudge back to the group.
Fin nods in disappointment and warily follows, covering Quasit as he stays alert for any signs of danger, until they reach their friends and fill them in on the missing graveyard fairy…
Looking to Kal and Selena, he queries, ”With Anastasia accompanying us, can we all teleport or plant jump back to the Hut? If we’re too many, I can go by foot…been so many times now, I could walk it blindfold…”
Kalchine nods. "We've done as much here as we can," he says.
"Time to go," he quietly says, touching Quasit on the shoulder. He nods to the tower. "It will be here tomorrow, but not the day after that."
He then casts the spell to let them walk through vegetation.
"Don't worry, it's safe," he tells Anastasia.
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Seeing Quasit being so very quiet, Fin starts to say something to her…but then thinks better of it as she appears deep in thought…
Looking to Kal, he says, ”Might be best if Anastasia teleports with the girls, traveling by plant might freak her out; besides, they’ve bonded with her and Selena can teleport that many. Bull and I can go with you…”
He turns to Sakitu, kissing her lightly. ”You’ve done well, Hlao-roo, she’s taken with you, I believe. Teleport with her and the other girls; I’ll ride the plants with Kal & Bull and we’ll see you back at the Hut…”
Fin returns to Kal and links with he an Bull, nodding that he’s ready when they are…
Maka watched Fin and Quasit approach, noting Quasit's unusually quiet demeanor. She exchanged a glance with Sakitu, sensing the lingering tension in the air.
Hearing Fin's suggestion about teleporting versus traveling through the plants, Maka gave Anastasia a reassuring smile, placing a comforting hand gently on the girl's shoulder. "Getting teleported is easy! It's just like doing a really spinny backflip but without the moving." Maka said to Anastasia in an attempt to ease the girl's mind.
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"We're back!" Maka called out cheerfully as she wrapped her arms lovingly around one of the hut's chicken legs, squeezing it tightly. "We've brought a new friend. She's been through a lot, so be extra nice to her, okay? If you're a good boy, you'll get some pancakes." She gave the hut a few affectionate pats before stepping back from the embrace.
"Anastasia, meet Cluckers. Cluckers, meet Anastasia."
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Quasit's instinct is to try to curb Maka's friendly enthusiasm about shoving more of the world of fairy tales into Anastasia's face, but she inwardly shrugs and lets it happen. There wasn't really any point in trying to shield her from it any more. They WERE traveling around in a giant chicken-legged murder hut to free a fey demigod from captivity, and only a couple in the group were even human.
In a way, the strangeness might even be good. The whirl of unreality might be the break that the poor girl's shattered, confused world needed right now; a brief escape from the horror and grief of her life. And all this was certainly not going to be the strangest thing she was going to be experiencing in the coming days.
"Ok everyone, today was a good day. We finally emptied that camp and have access to the machine. And we've rescued Anastasia from Rasputin's clutches. But Headless is still out there, and Rasputin may have more tricks up his sleeve. So, we're going to keep watch tonight, and we're going to head back to the camp first thing in the morning."
She then addresses the girl in Russian. "So Ana, obviously this is no ordinary Hut. The inside is magical, and seems very much bigger on the inside than it seems from the outside. We know our way around, but there are rooms in there that can be dangerous, so please don't wander off alone. The good thing about the Hut is that you'll be safe from Rasputin and his minions there. I'm sure you'd like to get some sleep and a warm meal. Maybe we can even rustle up a change of clothes or a bath, if you like."
"Oh, and the man guarding the door is a skeleton. But don't worry, he's harmless. He likes to play card games, if you get bored."
The camp is silent as you leave. Anastasia seems confused about the whole teleportation thing right up until she's suddenly somewhere else. She gapes around in astonishment, then sees the Hut. Fear flashes across her face as she takes a step back, but Maka and Quasit's calmness seems to settle her a little.
"She's... she's not here, right? Baba Yaga?" she asks.
The Hut, meanwhile, holds perfectly still.
"She's... she's not here, right? Baba Yaga?" she asks."No. Definitely not." says Quasit. "She did create it. But we've kind of taken it over. We've been using it for weeks now."
There would be plenty of time to tell the girl about the quest to find Baba Yaga later--now didn't seem like the time.
"Has it only been weeks? It feels way longer than that.
With a laugh, Maka throws her arms around Quasit's neck. "No! I mean in a good way."
"Oh. Okay..." Anastasia is not doing a very good job at trying to seem brave.
"Hey, how about I make you a hot meal? Do you like pancakes?" Maka took Anastasia's hand, gently leading her inside.
"One more thing," Kalchine says, not wanting that one more thing to happen across the girl without her knowing he exists.
He takes the statuette out of his pouch and sets it on the ground outside the hut.
With a short phrase, he calls Chest Thumper back to his true form.
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The frost ape shrugs and stretches, looking around then glowering, hooting and grumbling at Kalchine.
Then, he sniffs the air questioningly before focusing on Anastasia.
He hoots more gently then takes a seat in the snow. He refocuses on Kalchine and gives him another accusatory growl before crossing his arms over his chest and turning his back on the Triaxian.
By this point Anastasia is too culture(?)-shocked to muster more of a response than "Oh" to the sudden appearance of a giant ape. She trails after Maka in a daze, staring only briefly at the Coffin Man when he bows to her and says, "Welcome, Honored Granddaughter."
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”Hey big guy, you missed all the fun.” say Quasit to Chest Thumper. Clearly the ape’s feelings needed some soothing, so she lowers her head and lays a hand over her hair, patting at it a little, then approaches him She’d seen this behavior between Thumper and Kalchine when they were in friendlier moods with one another. She turns her face sideways and looks up at him. ”It’s no fun being a little statue, huh?”
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Chest Thumper glares at Kalchine, though the Triaxian is pointedly ignoring him, rather too casually examining the entrance to the hut.
The frost ape pats her gently when she approaches, his massive hand covering the entirety of her back each time it makes contact but so light that she is unmoved.
He huffs and shakes his head and slaps his free palm down on the ground hard enough for her to feel the vibration in her feet then gibbers for a few moments.
Apparently, having vented enough, he then gets up and walks on all fours up to the hut.
He doesn't look at Kalchine as he goes in but gives the triaxian a shove hard enough to knock him sprawling off the porch.
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Quasit can't help but laugh as Kalchine sprawls to the ground, but she immediately moves to help the druid back up to his feet. "Tough love." she observes. "But that hornet's nest yesterday was no place for him. To be honest, I worry about him tomorrow too, but I leave that to your judgment."
She goes and sits on a step of the Chicken Hut.
"I don't know if we've ever talked to you about Irrissen. That's kinda where all this started. It's a country back home that is ruled as a monarchy by the female descendants of Baba Yaga, and the witch goes back to Irrissen every hundred years or so, removes the current ruler and installs a new one. The old one is naturally never heard from again. The current queen, Elvanna, is behind this whole plot to kidnap and imprison Baba Yaga, and I guess technically Rasputin would be her brother. But it seems to me he plans to betray her and put Anastasia in her place. Because Irrissen can only have queens, by tradition."
"Which means we now have custody of a potential heir to the Irrissen throne. All the queens of that nation are ruthless evil witches, and even if Anastasia were older, she is definitely not that, So I don't really know what we should do with her. I think Fin thinks we should help Anastasia gain the throne in hopes that she'll be a just and ethical ruler for that stricken country. But I'm not sure that would be doing her any favors. She's too young and innocent for such a responsibility right now -- that place would eat her alive."
"I tend to feel that the further away from Irrissen we keep her, the better. Unless we found her a really good regent who planned to stand by her side for 10 years or so. But even then, she's from Russia, not Golarian. I'm not sure she'd even want the throne. Or to leave this country. But she's a child of a deposed monarch here -- if the current government finds her, they'll shoot her again. And I don't think any of us want to stay here just to protect her."
"It's a mess. There don't seem to be a lot of good options. But we have to do something with her. What do you think?"
"It's a mess. There don't seem to be a lot of good options. But we have to do something with her. What do you think?"
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Inside the hut, the warmth of the fire was a welcome relief from the icy world outside. Maka guided Anastasia to a sturdy wooden chair near the hearth. “Sit tight. I’m going to make this special.”
She worked quickly, her hands moving with practiced ease. Before long, the rich scent of something warm and sweet filled the hut, laced with the faintest hint of spice.
Maka set a bountiful meal in front of Anastasia: a stack of golden-brown pancakes drizzled with warm honey, pan-fried salt pork, and potatoes crisped in the rendered fat. Steam rose from each plate, promising heat and comfort with each bite.
Maka slid into the seat across from Anastasia, resting her chin on her hand with a small, satisfied grin. “Not bad, right? Go on, try it.”
Anastasia trails after Maka in a daze, not even seeming to see the bizarre scenery around her as they go from room to room. But once Maka slides a plate of food in front of her, she seems to wake up a bit. She digs in daintily at first, but quickly picks up speed as she realizes how hungry she is.
Maka watched with an amused glint in her eyes. "Guess that means it’s good, huh?" she said, her grin widening as Anastasia barely paused long enough to look up.
"You keep eating, I'll get some clean clothes and a hot bath ready for you."
"It was safer to keep him that way, today. Tomorrow, we may need tooth and claw to help take down what we face. I wish I had thought of keeping him safe like that before. I'm so accustomed to him being the big brother and protecting me it had not occurred to me that I was powerful enough to protect him, now."
Kalchine listens to Quasit's explanation closely. His ears are quite animated moving up and down as she mentions one curiosity after another. They flick slowly as he contemplates the conundrum.
"A hundred years of rule seems like quite a prize but I would always be thinking of the end result. Perhaps they know where Baba Yaga takes them and it is worth it. Perhaps they don't know but she gives them no choice.
"I either case, I would likely try to get rid of Baba Yaga myself, as well. Then I could continue to rule indefinitely, or however long I managed to be able to make myself live."
He looks to the door where the girl disappeared and the smells of cooking have begun to appear. "The choice is hers, as far as I'm concerned. She owes none of these people anything. The people on your homeworld are strangers who are so distantly related a plane of existence exists between them. The people of this world have already killed her once. I have little desire to overthrow a king or queen on either world but I will help that poor girl stop being a pawn in other people's games. Perhaps, if she decides to stay here, I will as well. This world is so alive and I think I will like seeing this place when summer comes and it gets warm."
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"The choice is hers, as far as I'm concerned. She owes none of these people anything.”
Still sitting on the steps, Quasit leans back onto her elbows and sighs. ”That poor kid barely remembers anything. I’m not sure she’s in any frame of mind to make major life choices right now. And she’s just been kidnapped by a bunch of fairy tale characters. And yet, if we turn off that machine and get rid of Rasputin tomorrow, we may free Baba Yaga by lunchtime. Who will then want her Hut back and will also probably claim the girl. So she may not have much time to work through her shock and grief before some hard choices are put to her.”
”Perhaps, if she decides to stay here, I will as well. This world is so alive and I think I will like seeing this place when summer comes and it gets warm."
Quasit stiffens a little then silently sits up again. ”You’d want to stay here? I mean, once we stop Elvanna, we have summer in Golarian too, and you’d be on the same plane as Triaxus.” she finally says, a little awkwardly.
"Oh, right. Do you bathe and sleep communally or privately?" Maka asked Anastasia.
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"Oh, right. Do you bathe and sleep communally or privately?" Maka asked Anastasia.
”Uh…oh…didn’t know you were talking to our new guest…that’s what I get for coming in on the end of a conversation, all I heard was ‘hot bath’…really miss the hot baths in Triaxus…ah well, got a poker date with Bones, I’ll be there if I’m needed…”
Fin walks into the door room, sits by the skeleton dude, saying, ”Deal ‘em, Bones…and can you tell me what you know of Anastasia and how she relates to Baba Yaga?”
Kalchine notes the surprise and hesitation in Quasit's voice and turns his gaze on her closely, his ears perking up at surprised attention.
He shrugs, though. "I don't really know where I'm going at the end of all this, to be honest. If there's a place for me here, I'll stay here. If there's nowhere else I'll return to Triaxus. The war's still going and I can still help."
He has been studying the snow at his feet but he looks up at her now. "If there is a place with my friends, as you all keep talking about..." he shrugs again and looks away. "...I suppose, in the end, I'll go where I'm wanted."
Anastasia seems shocked Maka would even ask such a question. "Privately!" she exclaims.
The Coffin Man gladly deals Fin in. "Anastasia is Baba Yaga's granddaughter. Surely you knew this, chosen of the Black Rider?"
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Quasit nods and leans forward to rest her arms on her knees. ”Yeah, I get it. Who knows where any of us will be when this is over, if we manage to somehow pull it off. I think I like to talk about my future shipping business and my beach house because I like to pretend there’s a ‘happily ever after’ coming at the end of this story and that this nightmare will actually end. Sometimes I think I’ll be happy to just experience a warm day again. I’m sick of being cold all the time.”
She grows quiet for a bit as her mind drifts back to the Anastasia conundrum.
”I don’t know if I ever told you about my brother — I watched him get executed. Hanged. He was three years older than me. I’m the youngest, he was the middle child — and we were really close when I was little, before my mom dragged me off to the wilds of Varisia. Anyway, I know what it’s like to watch a family member getting executed. I was in shock for days, it took me a long time to process it. It hurt too much to think about it; I couldn’t even really cry. The only comfort I got was being around other people and losing myself in trivial day to day stuff. But eventually I got to where I was ready to think about it, and then my dad was really there for me. It was mostly just a matter of not looking to make sense of it or reasonably planning on how I should proceed with things. It’s just about accepting it. And realizing that’s all any of us can do.”
“Maybe I can talk to Anastasia about all that. There’s always guilt wrapped up in grief. You punish yourself for not feeling the way you think you should. I feel too sad, I feel not sad enough, whatever. She won’t be ready to decide what to do with her life, but maybe I can accustom her to relaxing a little around us and accepting us… oh, and I should introduce her to Tezuzu. He can watch over her while we’re gone.”
She stands and stretches her back and stamps the ground to drive the cold from her feet. ”Looks like I’m first watch. I’ll bet a witch’s fart Headless is nearby watching us. Hopefully that’s all he feels like doing.”
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As Anastasia sates her hunger, the sound of shuffling feet and creaking boards heralds the entrance of Tezuzu into the room, spectacles still perched on his beak and a book cradled in one arm, his finger marking a page.
”Do I smell salted drake and winter tubers?” he says over the audible rumbling of his belly. ”Oh! We have a visitor! Another fresh-faced young monkey, I see.”. He shuffles over to Maka’s pan and daintily helps himself to some herbed taters and stewed varmint, plucking the pieces onto a tin plate with his talons. As he does so, he cocks his head to the side a little to get a better look at her. ”Make sure you keep her away from the candy room. Little girls can never resist sweets.”
He then settles himself at the table and looks over his glasses at her. ”Does she speak? And shouldn’t she be in school? Dear me, what time even is it? I can’t even tell if this is breakfast, lunch or dinner. Would it have killed the old witch to put a window or two in this extradimensional coach-and-four of hers?” He studies the girl for a moment. ”You mustn’t be alarmed if I don’t smile at you child. I have neither teeth nor lips.”
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The Coffin Man gladly deals Fin in. "Anastasia is Baba Yaga's granddaughter. Surely you knew this, chosen of the Black Rider?"
As Fin checks his hole card, he murmurs, ”I suspected…but when this whole thing started, we didn’t even know where Baba Yaga came from, least of all here…and the Black Rider was dying and didn’t have time to fill us in with all the details. If I recall correctly, he told us something about Baba Yaga imprisoned, Elvanna freezing Golarion, and we were the only hope; then he sent us thru a portal to Irrisen and…died. And now we’re here…”
He ponders a moment as he antes up. ”I’m guessing Rasputin resurrected Anastasia so he might have control over a potential heir to the throne? Also guessing he and Elvanna allied and imprisoned Baba Yaga…and now perhaps they’re at odds? Do you know anything about that, Bones?”
As Quasit bends forward, Kalchine reaches over and gently, reassuringly rubs her back. "That's terrible. Even if he'd done something to deserve it, no one should have to see their brother die like that," he says.
He's quick to pull his hand away as she straightens up. "Go eat first," he says as she prepares for her watch. "I'll stay on watch until you get back. This obsession you all have on eating your food scalding hot baffle me, anyway."
He pauses and looks out into the snowy forest for a while before looking back up at her. "There is a future for us. We'll make it through this and then we'll each find the peace that we are looking for. It's what we deserve."
He grins and his ears flick playfully. "Besides, we might be friends with a queen. Surely that's a short path to a good life."
He ponders a moment as he antes up. ”I’m guessing Rasputin resurrected Anastasia so he might have control over a potential heir to the throne? Also guessing he and Elvanna allied and imprisoned Baba Yaga…and now perhaps they’re at odds? Do you know anything about that, Bones?”
The Coffin Man is clearly not holding back in playing right now, even as he continues the conversation. "The two children betrayed their mother together, it is true. What more they want or what they have done since, I know not. I cannot leave, and none have come with news since she was captured."
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The Coffin Man is clearly not holding back in playing right now, even as he continues the conversation. "The two children betrayed their mother together, it is true…"
Fin nods. ”That’s enough for me then…Elvanna wouldn’t want Anastasia alive as she would have a claim to the throne of Irrisen; Rasputin likely wants her alive as an heir he could control. Makes me wonder if Rasputin is planning on double-crossing Elvanna…or if he’s just hedging his bets,” he says as he pushes several coins to the pot. ”I call…two pair, Jacks over deuces…”
Anastasia seems shocked Maka would even ask such a question. "Privately!" she exclaims.
Maka simply nodded. "Okay." She replied cheerfully, turning to leave without any sign that she had noticed Anastasia’s shock. By the time Anastasia had finished eating, Maka had already prepared a secluded spot for her to bathe and rest.
He studies the girl for a moment. ”You mustn’t be alarmed if I don’t smile at you child. I have neither teeth nor lips.”
Maka reappeared just in time, arms full of clean clothes. "Don't tease her, Tez. We don’t even know if there are talking birds on this planet." She shot Anastasia a reassuring smile. "Anastasia, this is Tezuzu. He's like the group dad."
Anastasia doesn't seem that surprised by Tezuzu. After everything else she's seen today, a talking bird-person hardly seems surprising. "I greet you, Tezuzu," she says, before turning back to the food.
The Coffin Man continues crushing Fin at Poker. (I should really learn what Poker hands are good... XD) "Betrayal often breeds betrayal," he says, right before yet another coughing fit.
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As Quasit bends forward, Kalchine reaches over and gently, reassuringly rubs her back. "That's terrible. Even if he'd done something to deserve it, no one should have to see their brother die like that," he says.
Quasit doesn't pull away from the friendly hand, but gives a weak smile. "Oh, he had it coming. He joined a cult of Groetus and was involved in kidnapping and trafficking people. Nardo had a good heart, but he could be kind of naive... well, stupid might be a better word. I talked to him in his jail cell the day before he died. He knew what he did was wrong -- it was one of those situations where you take the first step on trust, and before you know it, you're just neck deep in quicksand. He accepted that he had to pay for what he did, and wished he could take back some of the things he did. Not sure what Groetus thought of that."
She pauses and looks off into the trees. "Didn't make it any easier to watch it, of course. And it really didn't help that my other brother was there with me and didn't have an ounce of sympathy for his own brother. Colin is kind of a bastard."
"Go eat first," he says as she prepares for her watch. "I'll stay on watch until you get back. This obsession you all have on eating your food scalding hot baffle me, anyway."
Quasit shakes her head. "Not hungry. My stomach is still all wound up from the excitement earlier I think. Mostly I think I just need to decompress awhile, you know?"
"There is a future for us. We'll make it through this and then we'll each find the peace that we are looking for. It's what we deserve."
Quasit emits a single sardonic chortle. "I hope you're right. I'm not sure anyone gets what they deserve in life, but it's a good thought to hold onto." She smiles at Kalchine again, perhaps a bit apologetically. "If you believe that, who am I to say otherwise?"
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"Don't tease her, Tez. We don’t even know if there are talking birds on this planet."
"What an appalling thought. What sort of barbaric backwater have you all dragged me to?"
"Anastasia, this is Tezuzu. He's like the group dad."
Noting that Maka uses a language other than the Common tongue to speak to the girl, Tezuzu's linguistic instincts and curiosities are aroused.
"I greet you, Anastasia." he repeats back to her in Russian, using her inflections quite effectively. He immediately and enthusiastically begins engaging her in the sort of show-and-tell pantomime that characterizes any person trying to learn a new language from a foreigner, swiftly committing a collection of new nouns to memory, and employing Maka and Bulvi to coach him on grammar and phrasing. At least until the girl is led off to a bath and a bed.
"Charming girl. A bit haughty maybe." is the tengu's judgement. "You're quite sure she isn't a doppelgänger or a succubus in disguise?"
"Charming girl. A bit haughty maybe." is the tengu's judgement. "You're quite sure she isn't a doppelgänger or a succubus in disguise?"
Maka shrugged, unfazed. "Well, her brother was a three-headed dragon in disguise, so... not really." She replied in common.
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Tezuzu’ s eyes widen a little, and he nods approvingly with newfound respect. “Some of my best friends in the old country were dragons, and they tended to be haughty as well. I shall of course do my best to be civil. However, if she tries to dominate me with Abyssal wiles, I reserve the right to chop off her pretty head.”. And he pops a bit of winter tuber in his mouth to seal the point.