Gourry Gabriev (gourrygabriev) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-05-20 16:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, gourry gabriev, lina inverse |
Who: Lina and Gourry
What: Lina gets to play with the Sword of Light
When: Today
Where: Gourry's apartment
Rating/Warnings: N/A
Status: Completed.
Today was a day of academia.
No, really. Historical academia, related to sorcery and artifacts and the lores of her world - and the other three that existed on the Staff of her universe. To have two weapons of legend in this world, the Sword of Light and Bow of Light (Gorun Nova and Galvayra, respectively) was an opportunity of study she refused to pass up. Lina lived for this. It’s all her travels were about. Yet back when it was all unraveling, these versions of herself little tits deep in demonic warfare and all things trying to end her life, she never actually had the chance to buckle down and really examine them.
Without all that in the way now was her chance. No way in hell was she passing it up, and when she arrived at Gourry’s doorstep one early afternoon - glasses on her nose, fiery hair woven into a braid - she was prepared. Under her arm was Galvayra, and her purse (enchanted to carry all sorts of things while keeping it light and manageable on the outside), filled with bits and bobs, hung from her elbow.
The obnoxious knocks on the door really showed how eager she was to get this started, you see.
Gourry opened the door, looking surprised before he remembered. “Oh! Right! Hey, Lina!” He chirped oh so happily. He stepped aside and offered a hand to help take anything she’d want to shove at him. “So, what do you want to do first?”
“Lemme see it!” was the first thing that came out of her mouth, yes, before any official greet whatsoever - but it was Gourry, anyway, did he really need a ‘hey, how are you’ sort of introduction? It was unspoken.
All she unloaded on him was her purse; it had everything she needed and then some aside from the bow itself, long in size but the thing seemed fairly light to hold despite her being, uh, not that much taller than it, technically. It was supposed to hold a power beyond that of the Gorun Nova, but the sword was her priority at the moment.
Sentimental value. Nostalgia. Pride, because she was never able to buy it off him? Or all of the aforementioned, who knew.
Gourry blinked at it. “That’s weird.” Yep, that thing in her arms was weird.
He shut the door behind her and went to the kitchen table, picking the sheathed sword up. He handed it over to her. “So, I’m not going to understand anything you might say.”
“You don’t need to understand anything at the moment,” she breathed in absolute freakin’ awe, propping the bow up against the wall so her hands could be freed to hold that, the sword, with the hilt she remembered so fondly. Lina’s eyes lit in unrestrained glee.
Gods, what a reunion. She could nuzzle it, she really could. “I’ve missed this so muuuuch,” she cooed, testing its balance before blinking up at the modern swordsman. “You have tried it out, haven’t you? Your whole ‘Light Come Forth’ moment of heroism?”
Gourry watched her excitement. He sat down on the armchair and leaned back. “Of course. It works just like it does in the dreams.”
Lina wanted to give it a go herself, but opted not to within four walls - and really, she probably needed somewhere a little more open to really study these babies. Somewhere where casualties were alright and someone didn’t get all asswounded about shit breaking, because these weapons weren’t typical weapons, not by a long shot, and could be a little volatile depending on the handling.
“You sound so excited about it,” snarked the sorceress, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ears. The suggestion of ‘if you don’t want it, give to meeee’ was waiting to fall off the tip of her tongue but she refrained, for the moment. “A little backstory here that you can probably process - along the road, after a whole mess of stuff happens, we get sucked into what’s called the Dark Star Prophecy. Turns out that the Sword of Light here’s from the world that Dark Star feuds with Vorphied. You know, like how Ruby Eye feuded with Ceiphied in our world? Anyway, Ruby Eye created subordinates off his own power to carry his agendas, but Dark Star’s subordinates became weapons scattered throughout the worlds, which means -”
Her fingers snapped in Galvayra’s direction. “These two here are some demons of sorts. Not conventional ones, but most of their power’s dormant anyway.” Even a little of their power was enough, and she’d seen how Hellmaster unleashed the Sword of Light’s full potential to know how devastating it could be.
Kinda hard not to, when she’d been on the receiving end of those attacks.
Gourry blinked slowly. “That’s what my brother goes by, Lina.” Out of everything the poor sorceress just said, that’s all he commented on.
Several things ran through her mind, a million miles per hour. How did Hellmaster unleash its full potential, how similar were the two weapons’ patterns on the astral plane, what way could she -
Wait.
Garnet eyes blinked, and she looked over to Gourry with a look of bewilderment. “What do you mean?”
“Dark Star.” Gourry shrugged. “He uses that for ‘work’.”
And like that, things clicked.
Lina didn’t respond immediately. Instead she thought, nibbling on her bottom lip, all the thoughts of the weapons in the vicinity replaced by other things. Actual weapons of this world, that shipment intercepted earlier in the month, the name, a mental list of Shabranigdo’s (not the angry, world-destroying crab of a darklord in their dreams, but the man that had employed and then terrorized her for years) closest ‘allies.’ To put it simply, ‘frenemies’ was more of an accurate description but terms like that didn’t exactly fit in the underbelly of the criminal underworld.
“I know the name here,” she then answered honestly. Less excitement in her voice this time around. Actually, the enthusiasm seemed to have dwindled a lot to the point that she let the Sword of Light go, setting it against the wall next to Galvayra. “Last I checked he seemed to be picking up my ex-boss’ slack of gun running. Is he looking for you?”
Gourry shook his head. “Doubt it, he knows I have no interest in taking up his position.”
That choked little sound in the back of her throat? Yeah, that was surprise. “Gourry, you don’t even have a bad bone in your body.” Guess there was nothing you could do if you were born in it, but she was glad to know he remained who she remembered him being for the most part. Lina saw firsthand how being raised in a family like that could ruin someone. “And no offense, but your memory’s crap to fill in the big bad crime boss role. So what, he’s content with letting you live your life the way you want it?”
Well, there’d at least be no competition.
Gourry rubbed his chin. “Think so. Grandmother didn’t want me to leave, she wasn’t cruel about it, but I knew if I stayed, it’d just cause more and more tension. So I just left after saying I was done and not interested.”
That was a relief, she guessed. Assuming that some disgruntled family members ever pursued him for whatever reason she’d be ready to blast them into the depths of hell so Phibrizzo himself could play ping-pong with their souls. Lina inhaled through her nose, and then exhaled in the form of a sigh.
“I thought it was some old contacts taking the reigns, but a couple weeks back I heard some rumors about a shipment coming in around here, from one of my ex-employer’s suppliers overseas? He’s usually very picky with who he deals it so I thought it was a family member of his, but turns out it’s…” Gods, this was hurting to say. “Something to do with your brother doing business in the area.”
Gourry looked surprised. “Huh… Maybe I should get going, or quit the jobs.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t want to bring anything bad on anyone’s heads.”
“You don’t have to do anything like that,” came her very indignant huff, crossing her arms with those devil-like eyes slanted into a glower. “What’s the point? You can run all you want, something’s eventually going to come knocking on your door - you don’t have to budge if he tries to push. And you know I wouldn’t let this asshole put a finger on you or anyone else.”
Gourry liked to place himself in that protector role a lot, and especially like to flaunt it in the dreams and that was fine, whatever, but she had a habit of taking care of her people. It sometimes seemed like a downfall here for her. Going out of her way had bit her in the ass before, though there were some people that were worth getting bit in the ass for anyway.
There wasn’t any other poetic way she could mentally word it.
Gourry watched her, and a small smile came to his face. “You still get that white hair thing?”
“Gourry, that’s not what we’re -” Hold up. White hair thing?
Lina’s nose scrunched, irritably, unsure if she wanted to make the effort to hit him with something. There were two weapons literally in grabbing distance. Whacking him in the head with the Sword of Light’s hilt couldn’t cause brain damage when the target didn’t have a brain, but. “I didn’t know you dreamt that far,” she grumbled. “But my hair going white doesn’t have to do with anything.”
“I didn’t think you’d appreciate me getting sentimental on you,” Gourry smiled at her. “I’m happy you’re here.”
Oh, that’s it.
Lina reached for the sheathed sword, flipped it around and promptly used the spiked hilt to whack him over the head without little mercy. “You make me so mad sometimes, so shut up and take it! I’m not in the business of sap, but I’m also not the same fifteen-year-old you started following around because you were bored.” Well, she was, technically - she still had the endless stomach, the greed, that thrive for violence and destruction and the knowledge that made her a little stuck up sometimes but she was older here. A little wiser. A lot more grown up than she was when her dreams started, that’s for sure.
But she was happy he was here too, she guessed. It wasn’t something she felt like she needed to vocalize, anyway. It was good to have her best friend around even if he incited the need to punch him.
Gourry yelped, covering his head. He lunged forward to grab her arm gently, but firmly, and tried to pull her into a hug.
Now she was a little confused, but alright, Gourry. Whatever tickled your pickle. Lina’s face was probably one of hilarity, etched in an expression with that same wrinkled nose that translated to what are you doing, you have cooties. “I don’t know what to do with you sometimes,” she sighed, exasperated, and patted his bicep. “Okay, okay. I get it, jellyfish brains - but wait, why didn’t you tell me you dreamt to that point anyway?”
He had to have seen everything that led up to Rezo’s awakening as a piece of Shabranigdo. Encountering Zelgadis, him getting lost while she was held hostage (and then unheld hostage by the same chimera that kneed her in the gut on her period, ow) and everything in between.
But knowing Gourry…
He probably forgot most of that already.
“You aren’t the kid from before, but you’re also a mother now. Last thing I want to do is get you in danger.” He let her go, patting her head like he always did. “And I just dreamed it last night.”
Ugh. Must he pat her head? Lina swatted at his hand, refraining from grousing about the ‘kid’ thing. “Gourry, I can handle myself - and you haven’t met my husband yet but when he’s angry? He’s something to be reckoned with. I’ve seen what he does to people who’ve come after me and trust me, I’m fine. This is your brother though, and there just might come a time where your back’s against the wall and running’s not an option.”
Yeah, she was worried - worried because she’d seen something like this before, but she was also aware that Gourry wasn’t anything like Xelloss, nor would he ever become anything like him. “Anyway, enough of that. I can already tell you don’t like to talk about your family unless you absolutely have to.”
Gourry smiled. “I’m happy then, that he’s that good. And I know you can take care of yourself, Lina. You took out Shababading. Still... “ He let his head fall back against the chair, closing his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m hoping I’m just forgotten.”
Blargh, oh blargh. Another sigh was suppressed this time, and she sat at the arm of the chair and gave his shoulder a light punch. “That’d be nice, wouldn’t it, and I hope so too,” she smiled, sheepishly. “And you know, Gourry, his name was Shabranigdo.”
Lina needed to correct him at least once. It wouldn’t stick, she was sure of it. “Or just Shabby for short, that’d work too I guess - you know that was my old boss here, right? He’s dead.” Really dead. “A lot easier to kill this time around. No Giga Slave combined with the Sword of Light, no white hair...”
Gourry would have to deal with her sleeping for days on end and eating everything for a couple days after that fiasco. And he’d be responsible for piggyback rides, too.
Gourry looked up at her, smiling. “Yeah? Well, that’s good. You look best with your red hair,” he nodded wisely.
From white to blonde to red, Lina would also be inclined to agree that her natural color was the best out of all the possible option she’s faced. It was her turn to give the swordsman a condescending pat on his head, hehe. “How big’s your yard, anyway? I figured I could test a couple things with the weapons outside before I sat and figured out their distinct astral signatures.”
In the scenario either weapon ever went missing, she could scry and find them. Just a precaution.
Gourry blinked at her. “This is my yard.” He gestures to the house. “It’s why I take the dogs out for runs so often.” And said pups stare at Lina from behind the couch, kind of spooked. She’s now the doggy spooker.
Well, drat. Lina didn’t even noticed the fear the pups held anyway - she just scratched her cheek in thought, and then gave Gourry a hard slap on the back of his head. “There’s a kid I used to train when it came to alchemy, we had a spot to kind of let the big guns out so we can take a drive out there.” Magic Guild wouldn’t do, she needed somewhere open and away from things that were easily breakable when it came to these things. “You up for it? I wouldn’t recommend bringing your dogs; they’ll get scared.”
Huh. They must be thinking the same thing, come to think of it.
“Sure,” Gourry shrugged. “Kids, room,” he called. The pups headed down the hall.
Kids. Lina’s laugh came as a snort. “You can carry the weapons, I’ll get my bag.” she ordered, snatching it up by the strap - it was an endless assortment of shit in there, it really was. “Maybe I’ll get you something in a drive-thru as a thanks for trusting me not to run off with your sword and leave you for dead on the side of the road. We’ll see. Depends on what level of dumb some of your words are today.”
Gourry nodded, taking up the two weapons. “Sure.”