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Blaguarro Town Residential District

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Inkedust

Inkedust

A Murder of 'Krows
Heartache staff
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The east side of Blaguarro bustled with the most activity as the residents made their homes in the tightly packed buildings of wood and cheap metal. This led to these buildings being prone to being worn down by the elements, most holes were patched up by any spare cloth or even poorer material, necessitating another replacement sooner rather than later. People were lucky to get more than one room and some even shared - a holdover from the old days when the only need for a home was to have a shelter as one slept. On the upper floors, entrances sat at the end of steep stairways or on crude balconies connected by ladders.

Pathways grew narrower as buildings, that progressively grew cheaper in their make, pushed further east towards the outskirts. Sometimes, in these narrower streets, a local would attempt to set up shop or trade (or signs pointing to their own residence to handle their dealings there) if either the Town Hall or Dragon's Cellar got too busy but there wasn't much else to see or do beyond sleep or living.

However, if there was someone to find around Blaguarro, chances were that they were here. Locating them was simply a matter of finding the right address.

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Ch05: Fowling at Noon New
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    • After the incident with Archie, word of Moltres had spread quickly amongst the Wayfarers and the troubles she had decidedly brought to Blaguarro Town. It wasn't hard to pinpoint her location at all, she had still kept to the Blaguarro and her size and flames certainly didn't make her the most inconspicuous of people. With how easy she was to find, anyone could have sworn that she wanted the attention.

    This time, she had been causing a ruckus in the districts most townsfolk called home, pulling at wires, boards all the while knocking over shingles although at this point, it seemed that the Blaguarro townsfolk were more annoyed by the whole show and were starting to consider it a minor inconvenience. Not that Moltres seemed to visibly care.
     
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    • "What are... Saints?" called a voice from above.

    A Grovyle who hadn't been there before, sitting on a rooftop using her bag as a cushion against the heat, though the gesture was subtle.

    "Where I'm from, that word has hefty connotations. Yet you..." Mhynt tilted her head, pensive. She glanced at Dave--whom she had brought with her for the ordeal via Teleport--and then looked down at Moltres again. "You seem to have a different answer."
     
    Oh, look, it was another fucking 'Saint' using their status to just be a dickhead for no reason. What a surprise.

    Dave couldn't exactly say he looked forward to meeting Moltres, with his ribs still recovering after the Zapdos encounter, but Mhynt had bumped into him on her way to check it out, and he'd said yes with the same morbid curiosity that drove him to look at the Twitter feeds of internet creationists. What sort of bullshit was this one going to spout.

    He reeled a little as they blinked onto a rooftop. Below, the bird was pulling apart wires, casually destroying property. Like you do when you're a saint, apparently.
     
    There was a pause as Moltres turned to face the two spectators before she pulled apart a few more wires whilst making eye contact with the two. "I don't know," she replied, very intentionally obtuse. "What are mortals who act like they know how I should act?" she asked, scraping the roof with her talons.
     
    "Curious. I believe I was asking you," Mhynt replied. "Yet it seems with your reply, it's very clear you are so constantly persecuted for your decision making. Why do you think that is, little bird?"

    Mhynt's shadow wobbled as if growing wings of its own before it settled back into its Grovyle shape. From Moltres' angle, it wouldn't be visible. To Dave, perhaps he'd noticed.
     
    "And I don't need to answer to you," replied Moltres, straightening, a slight hiss entering her tone. She glared at Mhynt, it didn't seem that being called 'little' went over well with her.

    She tossed her head towards the town below. "I will leave them alone when they learn. Until then—" she pulled a board from the rooftop and threw it over the side, the sound of it hitting the ground below echoing through the district.
     
    Mhynt knew 'little' would get a rise out of her. It was the intent. It made people vulnerable and easier to read. Volatile and easier to manipulate. Whether they knew it or not. This was no Saint; this was an animal who happened to learn how to speak.

    "Learn what?" Mhynt said. "Let me guess... From a report from another, similar Saint... that the mortals' efforts to set up their society is a hopeless ideal? That anything could come along and put it all to ruin, and they should stop trying because of that inevitability?" She leaned forward, kicking her legs behind her back, as if studying Moltres like a specimen in a glass box.

    "That one day, some force stronger than them may come and tear it all down? Why, in some ways, perhaps that applies to life itself. After all... we all die. Why make anything of it?" She brought her hands under her chin, leaning forward.

    "What say you?"
     
    Dave watched Mhynt exchange words with the bird, frowning. Similar to Zapdos, but a slightly different flavor. Same ooh-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-because-I-have-a-special-edgy-life-lesson. Mhynt was playing along to extract more. Not so much his style.

    "You know this guy Zapdos, by any chance? The Roaming Cyclone or whatever?"
     
    At that... Moltres laughed. Bitterly. "For someone who acts like she has gotten everything figured out, you couldn't be more wrong," she said in a sing-song voice. She hopped closer, trying to show more of herself off. "You sound like one to give up if you expect others to do the same in response. Do you think I want them to stop? Do you think I'm doing all this on a whim? Who do you think I am, Zap—"

    She cut herself off and glowered when Dave mentioned Zapdos' name for her. "Unfortunately," she spat in reply to Dave. "And I would prefer if you didn't compare me to an idiot who thinks that acting mindless is a way to put up with his own failures."
     
    This surprised her. So they're different. Hmm...

    "Yes," she said, echoing Dave. "What are you teaching them?" she asked, this time with a more genuine curiosity in her tone. She hoped this wasn't going to be one of those gods who did things and expected mortals to figure out what they meant. Honestly, she had enough of that in school 1000 years ago...
     
    Moltres looked thoughtful for a moment, and gave a slight smile at Dave's comment, perhaps slightly endeared by their mutual dislike of the Roaming Cyclone.

    "Life," she began, "is inherently cruel and unfair, yes? It doesn't care for thought out plans, doesn't care for those who struggle. It is more than happy to throw a terrible, unexpected wrench at anyone." She hopped from foot to foot. "And what do most people do when life inevitably comes for them? They give up. While others remain wilfully blind to their plights. Don't you think they should fight? To stand up for themselves against the cruelties of life?"
     
    Mhynt frowned at that, thoughtful. Not at the question, no--but at why Moltres decided to take it upon herself to do that.

    "You're right," Mhynt said. "Life is full of struggle. It is not cruel and unfair, though. It's only indifferent. 'Life' does not feel. It is just a set of rules that nature dictates. No opinions. Only facts.

    "Don't you think that the creation of a society, with its rules and laws, its safeties and securities, is a world fighting back against that indifference?" Mhynt pressed. "I come from a world of darkness and suffering, and even there, society forms to combat the chaos. Order in the face of erosion. That is fighting. What need is there for you to cause more trouble when life's indifference is just fine without you?"
     
    Dave looked at Moltres, deadpan. "I mean, sure, life is unfair. Bad shit happens to good people. Going around being the bad shit that happens to good people isn't exactly helping." He narrowed his eyes. "Look, you can talk about 'teaching people to fight', but honestly this just sounds like an excuse for being a dick to me. Enough bad shit already happens without you contributing. Half of this town was already kidnapped by a fucking criminal gang from another world and turned into miserable half-zombies that we're still trying to cure. How about teaching people to fight the many fucking problems they're already having instead of gleefully coming here to create new ones?"
     
    Moltres certainly didn't seem like she agreed with Mhynt's sentiment, but after a curious glance at Dave, she was willing to humour the discussion for just a moment longer. It seemed that she was growing to like the poochyena. "I don't see how," she responded, her eyes narrowing at the grovyle. "These 'rules and laws' are easily abused by anyone who has power. Why do you think I like this town so much? Why it has been through so much time and time again? Was the town not seized by a more powerful group? Did the mayor of Frontier Town not encourage this with his own dealings? I should visit to smash the windows of that manor," she added, thinking aloud.

    At Dave, she pawed at the roof below. "But isn't hardship the best of teachers? A way to keep them from growing complacent? Is this not me teaching them?"
     
    "I'm not sure how advanced the technology is in this world on this front," Mhynt said, "but typically, when someone is sick, a medic would give them medicine to help. And by the end, that person is stronger and more resistant to what made them sick. To be preventative, a doctor may give a less harmful version of some harmful thing so they are prepared for it.

    "But they don't do it while they are already sick. And even when they do, the hardship is controlled and provided in a way that is meant to help. If someone is sick with an illness, someone who wants better of that weakened person does not help by smashing their kneecaps."
     
    "Yeah, uh, if they've got a bunch of hardship and they're complacent, I'm not seeing how adding a bit more hardship on top is going to magically teach them not to be. Why exactly do you think it's up to you to teach people to be less complacent about hardship, anyway?"
     
    "They need to see the reality for what it is," Moltres replied. She let out another taunting cackle. "Plans get disrupted all the time by things out of your control, and seeing how you're such the experts on how it all works, why don't you indulge me on how to help people without coddling them."

    She leaned forward, an impish glimmer in her eyes. "That's what's missing here. Because anything can get disrupted in the last minute. Would you like me to give you an example?"
     
    Mhynt saw the ruin that Moltres was already causing. Well, "ruin" didn't really fit the description at the moment. More like seeing the aftermath a bird digging through the trash... except divine and somehow sadder.

    "You choose to be another hindrance when the world already has so many." Mhynt said, ignoring the question. Instead, she exhaled through her nose and said, "Name a place. Somewhere nearby. If you want someone to deal with a problem, we'll deal with you. And if you win... so be it. We will be at your mercy.

    "But you are not a solution. You are no saint. You are a child acting out, cosplaying as a god under the veil of some crude, cobbled-together philosophy."

    She was ready for retaliation. She was evasive at this point. She also kept Dave in mind if they had to flee early.
     
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