Lady Halea: Like them?
She extends her hand out to Pavel, the glass orb resting unobtrusively in her palm. Her nails are perfectly manicured with their striking blue.
Lady Halea: My favorite artist on St. Gourami made them specially for me…
Pavel is unbothered by the nature of the item, he even leans in a little to look closer. In the end though, he focuses back on the head priestess’s face, distracted from the bauble by his curiosity.
Pavel: Creepy… But beautiful! But if you’re blind, how can you see that I’m seabitten?
Lady Halea: Our Mother Goddess gave me a thousand gifts, child…
She lifts the eye back to her face, holding it between her pinky and ring fingers as though it is little more than a pretty coin. Her face remains impassive, her empty eye socket covered, tastefully, by her lax eyelid.
Lady Halea: All in exchange for two orbs of ephemeral flesh, sacrificed to the scalding heat of the Crucible Caldera. I assure you, boy-- I am less blind than most. But just in case these eyes ARE deceiving me… This is your Fracture Day costume, yes?
Pavel: Yes, Ma’am!
Behind where Halea has knelt to speak to Pavel, a swooping statue of a bird cranes its neck artfully, sculpted from a bright blue stone- or perhaps it is simply cast that way in the light from the braziers. At Pavel’s confirmation, she looks to Vanna, and Pavel looks up as well, perfectly content with his blasphemous headdress held out so that Halea can inspect its detail.
Lady Halea: What a unique and eye-catching outfit! Did your mother make it for you? Assuming that this beautiful woman is your mother?
Vanna blushes and clasps her hands together in front of her, blushing at the compliments.
Vanna: OH! Y… Yes, your grace. It’s… based on the bone shaman artifacts over at the Shieldfort Anthropology Museum. One of the few sets that survived the Fracture.
She imagines the replica at the museum, a costume in tatters laid carefully on the frame of a mannequin with its arms spread wide. Its pedestal reads BONE SHAMAN: 300 - 100 BF. The edges of it are frayed and the colors muted by age. The boots have pointed toes and fringed tassels at the opening mid way up the shin. The skull headdress has cracks running all across it, is missing the ends of some of the fin-like attachments, and has a jaw full of broken teeth. In front of the exhibit, Pavel is leaping into the air, face contorted into a fearsome expression as he roars, with his arms spread wide and menacing, like a boogeyman looming out of the dark. He is clearly having the time of his life.
Vanna: My son… LOVES things like that…
