This is a summary of Greyashe Episode 27.
OP: OUTRUNNER.
ED: Chime
Chapters Covered: 58 & 59.
A single text message. A single text message is all it takes for a revolution or movement to start. It can launch or sink a career. Amazing the power that words have.
As such, the Rock metal rock!! Concert at the Regal Royal, (Or the R and R to it's patrians.) Is an event that requires the burning screens of cellphones to pack it's corridors. Like a spellbinded butterfly, a message flits to metal heads and rock jocks alike. The Rock metal Rock!! Concert is on, and if you were anyone special you would be there.
On a nightstand in an undisclosed location, a cellphone buzzes to life. A young lady knocks it over in her haste to turn it off, and curses when she has to lean over her bedside to retreive it. After the curse is uttered, she suddenly hops back and glances around the room. Her hands are to her mouth, as if that would stop the word she just uttered from leaving the room. Satsified with silence's monotone answer, she scoops up the phone and stares into it. One of her pals had graciously texted her to remember the Rock Metal Rock!! concert. Of course she would remember something like that though! She's both grateful and mortified to receive such a text. Placing the phone back on the night stand, she hops out of bed and makes a beeline for the bathroom. Her hair is an aqua blue, which for some reason annoys the girl. She's quickly out of the white jersey and boxers that make up her pajamas, and into the shower. She takes a special shampoo, and while humming a deth metal ballad, squirts it directly on her hair and scrubs viciously. Surely if someone were to look closely at her, you could see smoke coming out. Smoke that isn't at all related to the steam vapors that the shower produces.
Her curvy features wrapped in a towel, she stares at the mirror again. Now her hair is a mixture of the aqua blue from before, and a ruby red. The Aqua blue now comes through as random streaks, while the red claims victory for most territory covered. She's satisfied, but not happy with this. She adorns black makeup around her eyes, a small round piercing in her nose, and rings in her ears. Her eyes are a briliant green, which is accented even more with her makeup and accessory choices. She dresses in a black jacket and skirt; fishnet stockings and black work boots. On her way out of her room, she picks up a white umbrella with black skulls randomly placed around it. She smiles and then heads to the kitchen for a quick snack. A young man wearing a tan suit is already there reading the paper. He mumbles about the fall of a certain jail, and now a certian collector being knocked around....all by the same party of people. The girl asks him if he's ready, and he quickly says that he doesn't intend to go anywhere. The girl stops and glares at him, asking if he remembers their promise. The young man mentions that he has no reason to honor any promise with her, and that she shouldn't be going ANYWAY. The girl smiles and agrees, but also states that someone will be upset if she's gone without her familiar. The young man arches an eyebrow. She wouldn't rat him out would she? 'Cause that would mean that she'd get in trouble too. She shrugs and says that she's the baby, so she's always forgiven. Him on the other hand....
The young man scowls and folds his paper over. Death threats are made. None are carried out. She then tells him to assume his 'cloud' form, calling him 'Cloudy' in the process. He growls that his name is Cumulus Stratus, but she ignores his complaint. He asks why he can't follow her in his huminoid form, and she quickly states that she doesn't want anyone to think that they're going out. He shoots back that a cloud following her around is suspicious, and she replies that he'll be following from a distance.....as in where normal clouds normally reside. Stratus grits his teeth, and stops himself from going off the deep end. She checks her watch and prods him to hurry up, before the others return home and keep her from going.
The two are outside. One is floating, and one is on foot. They reach the end of the house's front yard, and find themselves surrounded by more clouds. The girl opens her umbrella, and jumps downward. She reminds Stratus not to use her 'Government' name when they're down below. Her name is Ai to her friends. Like the letter. Stratus scoffs and says he'll call her whatever he wishes. Besides, Aimend is a wonderful name for the Goddess of spring.
Van and his group have just reached Luxar, nicknamed 'the city of entertainment.' For on every block there's at least one club, one resturant or one place to get tossed and sleep off until work the next morning. Most of all, the crowning glory of the city, the R and R. Kani's directions to head west have lead the group here, and it is here that they've decided to stop and get more information. Guy's interested in finding out where a man can get hammered, and Kani wants to replace her incantation cancelers, her magic rebuffers and of course a new staff. Van is torn, as he doesn't want his newly rescued friend to travel too far on her own, but at the same time, he does want to explore the new city a bit. He bemoans the fact that his arm is still broken, since he would like to have use of both again soon. Kani apologizes for her inablity to use magic, including healing type magic and reccomend Van comes with her to find someone who can use healing spells right away. Van is all for this plan until Guy realizes that 'short stuff' hasn't said anything at all. The reason for this being that Claire has disapeared.
Van of course handles this with his normal panicked exlamation. He turns and tells his friends that he'll be right back. Kani reminds him about the healing magician, and much to her chagrin, he tells Guy to watch over Kani for a bit until he returns with Claire. Guy agrees, and Van is off promising to return with Claire right away. Fustrated that she lost the chance to spend time with Van, the witch walks past Guy sadly and tells him to keep up with her or become lost.
Ai (as in the letter) has arrived in Luxar, and checks her watch. She's still got a few hours until the Rock Metal Rock!! conert. She decides to stroll around a bit, hoping that perhaps she'll find a suitable date to accompany her to the event. Stratus in cloud form follows a few hundred feet in the air, amusing himself with her cellphone's game settings. He asks what's the point of dating a mortal, as they usually are too nervious once they know what she is to pursue anything serious. Ai replies (Via shared thoughts) that guys are just fun to be around. Besides, she can't look for something serious when there isn't a guy that can keep up with her age. They'd just die leaving her alone again, so can't she just have the thrill of the hunt? Stratus shrugs, (as well as a cloud can shrug anyway.) and nearly drops the phone when it begins to ring. Ai catches it and smiles as it's a close friend of hers. She chats with the person for a bit, and when they ask who the person with male voice is, she says that he's not a boy friend or friend for that matter.....more like a pet.
With this Stratus goes around a building and runs over to her in his humanoid form. He grabs the phone and angrily declares that he is himself and hangs up. Ai chuckles that she was just kidding, but Stratus is no one's pet. Ai saunters away from him not impressed, hoping that a boy who's a little less stiff would appear. The cloud-man reminds Ai about her 'legend' and how she has to watch what she does around the cityfolk. If she messed up and ended up revelaing the legend, theyy'd be in big trouble. Ai waves this off and begins to walk.
Claire on the other hand comes to herself on a park bench. She felt like she had been swimming in a far away ocean for a while, like something on the other side of the ocean was calling out to her. She could remember coming to the city with Van and the others, but once they had arrived, everything else is hazy at best. Shaking off the unsteady thoughts that try to claim her, she decides the best thing to do would be to try and find the group.
Kani arrives at a run down shop and proceds to enter. Guy stares at the entrance for a second, and then follows her in. Kani asks him why he's still following her when it's obvious he'd like to be doing something else, and his response is that he made a promise to Van. Any promise he makes to Van goes double for his woman too. Kani's eyes twitch, as she still really doesn't like that title. She makes her way to the back and through a door in the back shrowded by hanging beads. A dark skinned man in a meditation pose glances over at the two who have just made an entrance. He grabs a pair of small glasses, and gives them a second look. Kani beams and asks how Kingston is doing. He returns her smile and remarks in a thick accent how she's grown. Kani jokes that's only been a year since they last met. Smiling he says that women are always changing in one way or another. He asks about Guy, and Kani dismisses him as mere 'scenery.' Guy facefalts and asks if his value is really that low to her.
Van darts back and forth, using his eye to try and get an idea of where Claire could be. He happens to cross Ai and Stratus's path, and the girl noticing that Van stands out from others and their lesisurely pace, decides to play devil's advocate. She asks Van where he's going as he runs by, and the flustered boy replies that he's looking for a friend. Against Stratus's advice, she decides to lend a hand to Van's search. Van thanks her, and the two begin looking for Claire together. During their search, Ai tells Van about the Rock Metal Rock!! concert. It goes without saying that the boy hasn't the foggiest idea how a concert works, so Ai invites him to go with her once they've found Claire. She can of course come too if she wishes. Van thanks her profusely, but then decides to use his eye on her when she isn't looking. One thing that Jail and Raferty have taught him is that you can never be too careful. He looks at her with his eye activated and sees....
The overwhelming sight of spring. It's sights, sounds, smells, and tastes solidify in his eye to make one beautiful dischord. Van may have cried. If he didn't, he probably should have. He comes back to himself, and wonders what just happened? Ai glances back at him genuinely confused as to why he had stopped walking. Van waves his feelings off, and thinks they should continue looking for Claire.....who suddenly turns around upon hearing her name. Apparently while they were talking about concerts, and Van was visually violated by images of spring, Claire had walked over. She asks what's wrong, and Van chides her for walking away. He then happily informs her that they have been invited to a concert by his new friend Ai. Claire takes one look at her, and stands back in fear and anger. She asks Van what his eye says about Ai, and he admits that he didn't quite get what happened. Claire slowly tells him that he is in the precense of what could be considered royalty. Ai is short for Aimend.....the goddess of Spring.
Kani and Kingston talk a bit about the WITCH organization. He had retired before she was born, and now sold trinkets to those who know nothing about the craft. For those that do....he is an invaluable resoruce, selling all kinds of high and low level magic distruptors. After the Savior had passed, Kingston is one of the few people that doesn't loathe her. Even now he's happy to see that she's doing fine, and has already heard of what happened between her and Peter. Kani realizes that she's out for now, but she is optomistic as she has started a Journey to find the answers. Kingston reveals that Peter has been causing a stir with the higher ups, claiming that WITCH needs to change from the bottom up, and that they cannot simply become overreliant of magic and magic technologies. Kani is shocked to hear that Peter actually understands and wants to aid her cause. Unfortuantely, the old guard is stuck in it's ways, and chainge is not easy to get. Right now the WITCHES are divided as those who support a new age, and those who do not. Kani stiffens up at this news, but shakes her head and states that she cannot go back now, as she has someone who depends on her, as much as she dpends on him. She tells Kingston to prepare a new staff and other weapons that will allow her to enter the game once again.
Claire wants to attack Aimed directly, as she has a bit of a grudge against her. What surprises her is that Van blocks her advances despite his broken arm. He reprimands her saying that 'Miss Ai' hasn't done anything wrong, and was in fact helping him find her! Claire glares at Ai who is sitting on a bench. Van goes on to state that he doesn't care if she's the spring goddess, and that Claire should calm down. He then turns to Ai and shakes her hand, thanking her once again tof helping with the Claire search. He then adds 'No Rain No Gain' as a quick bit of humor. While Stratus and Claire roll their eyes, but to their surprise, Ai begins to chuckle and then all out laugh. Claire facefaults, but Stratus takes his cloud form and rains upon Van. Unsure what is going on, Van asks Clare, who says that the legend behind the Spring goddess is that if you can make her laugh, you recive the gift of eternal rain. Unfortunately Ai didn't pay attention when Ancasta had been explaining how to turn it off.....
Van asks Cloudy to stop, but he reveals that legends are a form of strength for goddesses and deities above. Breaking a legend is like lobbing a goddess's arm off. She'd still be able to fight, but not as well as before. Once a legend has begun, the only person who can stop it is public opinion forgetting about it or something. Ai seems less than worried though, as after a moment of thought she promises to help Van....after Rock Metal Rock!! Is over. Cloudy and Claire yell at her lack of priorties, and Van begs her to please help now, as he'll catch a cold at this rate. Aimend apologizes and promises to be back for real. Claire stops her with a well timed fireball. Aimend blocks this with a well timed water gyser. Although she had a hunch, she's more than sure now. Claire is the goddess killer she's heard so much about. Claire states that she's thrown away that title, but still wouldn't mind testing her ability against an actual factual goddess. Aimed tosses Stratus her phone, and asks who's on Rock Metal Rock!!'s program first. He notes that it's a group called 'Right wrong turn.' Aimend says that they're an unknown band as of now, so she can spare a few minutes to put Claire in her place.
Claire cracks her knuckles and Aimed readies a battle stance. Claire releases a concentrated flame blast, and Aimed dissolves it with another water spray. The ensuing steam hides Claire long enough for her to sneak in and hit the spring goddess with a flying left hook. She stumbles, and Stratus asks if he should take care of this. Aimend stands up straight and rubs her temple. She states that she too is a goddess, and despite that she is the youngest can take care of herself.