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The unsettling presence of Kanonushi overhead, the physical presence of its domain casting strange lights and shadows across the grounds of the Empyrean's Throne, made rest the next thing to impossible - to say nothing at all of sleep. It was the sort of night that begged for mischief and quiet conversations, preferably both. In other words, Magilou's personal favorite sort of night.
"What are you going to do once we all come back alive?"
Watching Eleanor blink in surprise at the question was at least half the fun, and Magilou grinned at the exorcist's obvious confusion. It shouldn't have been that unusual a question, but it seemed to surprise the girl anyway.
"I--- What?"
"After we all come back alive, which we obviously will. What will you do next? You have an entire life left to live, you know."
She enunciated each word slowly, almost as though she was singing a song, and Eleanor's confusion grew before it finally receded.
"I'll go back to helping people, just like I have been."
A sigh passed Magilou's lips, and she shook her head rather than attempting to banish it fully. "No, no. What will you do? What do you want to do?"
"I--- I'll take care of Laphicet. Just... just as Velvet asked."
"Oh, is that all?" Magilou teased coolly. "You don't really want very much, do you? Must be all that noble self-sacrifice flowing through your veins. How very Reasonable of you."
The girl had the decency, or at least the sense of shame, not to meet her gaze upon hearing that. Not that Magilou would have minded, with a mockingly sour look prepared in advance.
'It wouldn't be right to want more," Eleanor said after a brief moment. "But if I had to... No."
"The boys are all a lot better at this than you are," Magilou commented sharply. "Eizen wants to keep the crew going, Rokurou wants to redouble his training, Laphicet, well... You should probably ask him that yourself, but I'm not above spoiling it." Her lips turned up into a full grin, with malice a-plenty. "He'd rather stay with you. ... and Velvet, of course. Little wonder, you've both been mothering him outrageously all this time."
She let a cackle fill the air, marred only slightly by the fact that her words had actually cut deeply enough that the ex-praetor was crying. Which wasn't all that unheard-of, but still, crying was crying just the same.
"He... he said that?"
"Oh, the 'mothering him' part was all me, but you have been, you know. And Moana, too. One nurturing and one tyrannical mommy, though I couldn't say which one's which on any given day." Magilou finished with a slightly more dignified giggle and observed her handiwork.
The hint of a smile shining through past the tears was perfect. Exactly what she'd been hoping for, in terms of Eleanor's reaction.
"Just think abou---"
"MA-GI-LOU!"
She found herself caught unceremoniously by the scruff of the neck, lifted bodily from the ground, and hauled away. With the warning of the voice, she didn't even have to wonder about who it was - the irritated tones of Velvet Crowe were blatantly, she might even say brutally, clear.
"There's no reason to treat me quite so roughly as this," she replied serenely as she was carried off. It was a good approximation of her usual tone, for being literally in the clutches of the most feared daemon in the world.
Velvet carried her about two pillars distant - out of sight, if not necessarily out of earshot - before slamming her none too gently against the carved stone. It hurt, if not badly, and Magilou felt her breath whuff out of her in response to the sudden impact.
"Eizen," Velvet began without explanation or apology, "is busy doing that stern stare into the middle distance that he does when he's conflicted about something. Rokurou has been staring at the same small dish of sake since I laid eyes on him. Phi practically started blubbering as soon as he saw me. And then I find you standing over a crying Eleanor." She paused with a glower twisting her eyes. "I trust you too much to think that you've suddenly decided to betray us, but I am looking for an explanation that doesn't make me want to squash you like a rotten grape."
Not, Magilou thought, the most appealing of comparisons. Still, she could explain, and Velvet might even think it wasn't entirely unreasonable. 'Good' might be a stretch, but she hadn't said it had to be good. Not in so many words, anyway.
"That's easy," she replied glibly. "In fact, I'll ask you the same question. When we all come back from our inevitable victory tomorrow, what will you do next?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
Magilou shrugged. "That's what everybody else is worrying about now." And, she added to herself, it was a much easier and more mundane worry than how to go about fighting the next best thing to one of the world's gods. "This whole revenge kick of yours isn't going to last forever, either. So why not start thinking about what comes after?"
"That's an awfully positive outlook, coming from you."
"And when has my outlook ever not been positive? I've always left the dour moping and the doom-and-glooming to you," Magilou teased with a grin. "Just think, you could take up the pirate's life in truth. I'm sure Eizen and company would be happy to make room for you. Or you could travel the world sharpening yourself until you inevitably clash with Rokurou as one of the finest swordmasters in the isles. And if neither of those interest you, I could always make room for you in the Menagerie. There's a good dove impression in there just cooing to get out, I'm sure of it."
Velvet's face had gotten progressively stonier with each suggestion, just as Magilou had suspected it would. Well, it wasn't as though she didn't know how difficult it was to maneuver the Lord of Calamity around, which was why she'd saved her best for last.
"Or, if none of that suits you, you could always take Laphicet with you to some small village and help rebuild. Though you'd still have to take Eleanor if you did that. Not that that would be a problem for you, come to think of it. She's totally your type, after all."
"Wh-- what?!" Velvet spluttered.
"Just judging by your first love, who she was curious about, by the by. Slender redheads, totally your type."
Velvet grimaced and growled Magilou's name in a lovely display of frustration.
"I'm not hearing a denial!" the self-proclaimed witch sang happily.
"What has denying it got to do with--- No, first off, what are you even implying?"
So, the most feared daemon in the world could flush in sudden, maidenly embarrassment. It was rather cute, Magilou thought. That, and it might even be the push she needed, though that remained to be seen.
"Implying?" Magilou asked with a certain impish innocence. "And here I thought I'd stated it plainly enough. Should I try again? You, and Eleanor---"
"Enough!" Velvet's face was full-blown apple red by that point, and she had lost her grip on Magilou's collar entirely. "Of all the... You think I should... but there's no way that..."
Magilou watched with idle curiosity as the girl stammered out a half dozen or more partial thoughts, suddenly all but oblivious to her own presence. It was a far cry from her usual decisive demeanor, which made it interesting, and Magilou found herself regretting not pushing that particular line sooner, for her own amusement most of all.
"Before you say it, now's exactly the time. Tomorrow will be nothing if not dangerous. Do you really want to be weighed down with 'Maybe I should have...'? Do you really want anyone who's supposed to be watching your back weighed down with them?" Magilou shrugged extravagantly. "That's up to you, of course. And it would be entirely in keeping with the whole 'Lord of Calamity' persona of yours to ignore it until it's too late and make her miserable in the process."
That earned her a frown, albeit a thoughtful one. Magilou shrugged again, then turned on her heel as though she'd had her say and was entirely done with it, but she glanced back over her shoulder and added an almost certainly unnecessary, "Your choice.", just to drive the metaphorical dagger a little deeper.
-----
"You sure know how to put a witch to work," Magilou teased Laphicet a while later.
The two of them were studiously not looking at the results of Magilou's handiwork, more or less covered under Velvet's cape and leaning together shoulder to shoulder as Eleanor nodded off. Maybe Velvet had as well, but surreptitious glances, rarely stolen, weren't enough to tell. The leader of their little band had the knack of being still without actually sleeping, and Magilou for one would not have been surprised if the girl wasn't in any mind fit to rest.
"Thanks Magilou," Laphicet said softly, his voice pitched not to carry though the night air. "For... meddling."
A wide grin split her lips, her teeth gleaming in the strange light pouring down from Kanonushi's final preserve. "You shouldn't thank me for that. I should've done it a long time ago, just for the fun of it!"
"I know. But thanks all the same."
"My pleasure, boyo. Now, to see if there's any rest at all for the wicked..."