Distracted as he was, Story did not realize at first that Dalanesca had been somewhat indecent in her sheer evening attire. She had given a terse and nervous greeting, and then hurriedly taken her leave. Respectfully, he averted his eyes as the goddess rushed out from the kitchen. This left the dragon alone with the child goddess, newly reborn. He stood there, blinking dumbly for a moment. Trying to process what he had just heard caused him to take Angela's sass and odd assessment seriously at first - something that he should have known better not to do.

"I'll do?" Story repeated, taking the apron from the tiny goddess and staring at it. He chuckled good-naturedly as a bonnet was conjured upon his head, and he willingly donned the apron as well. "Very well then. I am neither sticky nor sweet, but I shall give the part my all."

Following the animate chair, Story leisurely sat next to the girl, and graciously accepted the tea from the mutes as it was offered. He habitually found it necessary to thank them, despite their inability to respond. Probably due to a discomfort in being served. These ones were a little more socially acclimated compared to the thralls in the library, and did not flinch when touched or bowed to.

"I know of you, Lady Angela," Story intoned, bowing his head to her. He looked down at the table as his long-forgotten sword appeared at her command. He was less surprised at this point, but nonetheless his crimson gaze seemed dumbfounded, a mixture of emotions playing across his features.

Studying her gaze, he tried to look for any glimmer of knowing, beyond what she was told of him, or desires she may have gleaned from surface memories. Porta Inferi had recreated pieces of his memories when he was put through trial, but it was not entirely accurate. He was very grateful that beyond these things, he was not, and had not been read beyond these pieces to his puzzle. Beings that could see deeply into him admittedly unnerved him a little.

"I am known as Story, but you probably already knew that too. You may continue calling me whatever you wish."
Sipping the tea, he sighed. It was quite good. Soothing on the tongue, but tingled on the way down. Also very sweet. No sugar required. It reminded him of chai, but it seemed to be a blend of different teas that complimented each other.


"I won't inquire of things I clearly was not meant to hear, so… What is your particular interest with me? What are you on about?"

Angela stared at him for a moment or two. “No, you are neither of those things. Your scales, on the other hand, are the same color as a Sweetroll.” She hadn’t seen his dragon form from him but from Dalanesca. “You can thank Dalanesca’s subconscious for that one.” There was a mischievous little smirk on her face. 

At his words, her fingers stretched and retracted several times as she thought. “Of course you would know of me. You only watched as Dalanesca blew me up.” He had been there long enough. She didn’t say this with anger, sadness, or really any emotion. It was a matter of fact statement. “What a mess.” It was more to the stickiness that was on her fingers now. She put her fingers in her mouth to lick off the sweetroll’s frosting after handing him the sword.

“I can know a great many things about you,” she said with her hand in her mouth. She pulled it out and stared at him for a long while. “I may be a goddess who can pry her way into the minds and hearts of many but I don’t like to do it. It’s not my style.” There was that adult tone to her. “I also don’t really have the need to. Most people pour themselves out to me and it takes no gift of sight to see what they are after. Mortals are predictable. Near Immortals are more so.” She eyed him at the word immortal. 

She finally went for her tea and blew on it to sip it. “I need sugar.” Her big green eyes looked up at the mute as she held up her cup. “Two lumps please and thank you.” She was a menace but once in a while, she was well behaved as she worked her way. They gave her the sugar and she stirred it in. “Good, to inquire something of a god makes you stupid or just means you like being in debt. A good god will make sure people pay the price for what they want. We call gods who do whatever for nothing door mats.” She said it flatly as she sipped.

“You are old. You have stories. You are older than myself. You are with Dalanesca in her home. Clearly, you make her frustrated. She thinks about you. My interest is for Dalanesca and well… If you can be of use to me…” She let her eyes flicker from the tea and looked back up to Story. “I know you like old things as well. I knew you sounded familiar before dear Dalanesca told me. You’ve met my Oracle and my sister. I’ve been trying to find Bryony for some time but I didn’t think she went back home.”

She tilted her head. “Your love for the unknown has me curious. I would like to hear a solution if you have one.” She knew that Bryony and Sebastian were going to make up but she didn’t know when. “About Bryony and the troubled one. I may know the location of where your sword is. You see artifacts are my specialty. I can create anything. I can mock anything perfectly right down to what it does.” She moved her hand to finger the sword in his hands. A smile came to her face. “That being said, I am utterly useless right now unless I can leave Porta Inferi or The Sundering Gardens.”

She tilted her head. “Help me and I’ll help you. I need a way to seal an entity. I could force it but without it being around me all the time I can’t keep something like that forced. You wouldn’t happen to know how to do something like that, would you? Bryony and Sebastian’s child is going to happen it’s just a matter of time.”

Story regarded Angela with a suddenly stoic, guarded look. The crimson in his eyes flickered, but his mouth did not so much as even twitch. Beyond his initial reaction to walking in on the conversation, he had no intention of revealing his thoughts on the unspoken matter. The Goddess could very well wrestle the thoughts from him if she so desired. She may even be perceptive enough to know why it was that he chose to be so reserved without the use of her divinity. It mattered not, though.

"Well enough that you choose to show restraint in prying. There are pieces that are…particularly unseemly."

The mutes waited on the goddess hand and foot, but they did not so much as give a glance in Story's direction. They knew by now during his stay that firstly, he disliked being served. Secondly, and most importantly, he did not eat or drink. At least to anyone's knowledge.
"Such is my name," the dragon mused at Angela's statements. "I thought I had freed Dalanesca of her of her frustrations. If my presence is vexing in some way, then perhaps it would be in best interest if I took my leave?" his tone was decidedly flat and even.
"I have…insight to the inner workings of things. No more or less than you or Dalanesca would. It is just an awareness of the knowledge that sets me apart. If you were to locate the sword, my purpose for finding is much the same as what you wish for me to do on my end, I assure you. A duplicate simply won't do."

Story's thoughts wandered back onto when he had first entered Porta Inferi. "Certain events have reminded me of the cursed thing, among other objects of concern."
He tilted his head, and scratched his chin. "I know of binding. Not for an Eldritch entity in-particular….but I have performed the rite to contain things…potentially as hazardous. Anything can be bound if you know what governs it. Even a Divine, as you well know."

Angela looked like she was about to have the time of her life with Story but still the joy in her eyes was trying to be kept down. This man likes his secrets. “Your life story bubbles to me. I enjoy it. I enjoy it too much to tell all who are around.” She wasn’t one to spill just anything but Story did amuse the little girl greatly. 

She tilted her head at Story. “Either you misunderstand or you are playing dumb with me. It would not be in the best interests to leave. It would be in the very best interests to stay and keep doing what you have been. Dalanesca has been very sad and if you haven’t noticed it got me killed.” Sad was hardly the term for what Dalanesca had been but still, the end result had been the same. “In a way, you make her happy and I wish that to stay that way.” She played with the fine edge of the top of the teacup in her hand as he spoke. “First, you are correct that even if I could make your sword down to the blood stains left on it… that I couldn’t replace the memories or the sentimental, if I may, value of the sword. I cannot do that. I cannot give it all the bloodshed that it’s done. I could give you a blank slate. A new sword just like how you first got it. That’s it. My powers don’t lie with time Story. They lie with the sentient nature of the Earth and Rebirth Soul-Stream.”

She played more with the soft edge as her finger traced the gold detail on the cup. It was shiny and sometimes it distracted her as the light hit it just right. “I could, however, give you hints to where it is. That is a much more fun game than just telling you outright. Besides, I should be in my adult body before I give something like that away.”

Together they were contemplating the Eldritch Being that inhabited Sebastian and that would inhabit his daughter. “You give you a rite for binding and I can’t make it as strong as it needs to be. Often times ingredients are limited by the very mortal nature of their being. I am Earth, I break those boundaries and make them my own. I was bound by my husband, but I was too tired to fight not that I wanted to.” She took a dessert cake and put it in her mouth as she thought about it.

“I thought about making it a child’s toy.” She gulped the food down after speaking with her mouth full. Her manners were deplorable but that was a child with ultimate power for you. “Something that the child could keep with her until it came time to deal with it. She would need to keep the entity with her, she will be possessed after all. A safe possession is still a dangerous one. My humor makes me want to get a squid toy. All I need is a way.”