[center][h3]Whisper.[/h3][/center]

As Diaphane Whisper's renown spread over the Changing Plains, one idea began to hit her again and again from the various tribes: 'You should meet Vestec.'

When she realised that the Voren weren't completely joking, Whisper gave the idea serious thought. Jvan had been... Emphatically negative about the chaos god. Biased as she was, her guidance had been accurate otherwise. That said, she had [i]also[/i] guided Whisper towards independence, and her ghost had no further role in dictating Whisper's decision.

And Toun's words rankled still...

The Voren she first asked about how to meet Vestec had been cryptic. Oh, they knew, they said. But it was better that Whisper find out for herself. Seek out remaining packs of ashlings, they said. They have Horde blood in them yet. The same answer was repeated by everyone she met in the shattersteppe, even Mallet, who had been hitching a ride of late. She'd never asked for one, just pounced on Whisper at a moment when she was particularly solid and low to the ground.

Long-suffering, frustrated and stubborn, Whisper had mined her heart for more Jvanic energy and set off. It was getting easier to reach every time, that cursed heat her god had left her.

Ashlings had been among the species taught her by Jvan, and she recognised them easily. Whisper looked at them and was reviled. They, too, were like her. A chaotic twisting of once familiar beings. They hungered eternally. They multiplied. They changed their shape in order to destroy. How familiar, and yet how very, horribly alien.

These too attempted to fight her, and not in play. But Whisper had finally run out of patience, and made that clear within a second of being assailed.

Having been shown beyond all doubt that they were not in a comfortable position, the ashlings listened to Whisper's request, and offered to share their knowledge, though they, it seemed, feared their patron as much as any, and were reluctant.

Suppressing frustration, Whisper made peace with her similarities to the chaos spawn and offered to teach them some of what she knew of shapeshifting in return. This she did, uneasily, for some hours, and the ashlings learned- How to turn without turning, how to perform an adaptive walk over rough terrain, when to shift and when to stay. 

Whisper tried to keep her lesson as peaceful as possible, though she knew the pack would use it for violence anyway. She warned the other flesh-shapers within reach of her song, that they might be exterminated soon if they did. She felt it would be dishonest to do so herself.

When Whisper was done, one of the once-Voren ashlings nodded to her. She asked him how, after all, she could summon Vestec.

"Pray to him," said the creature in a grin of broken glass.

[colour=LightYellow][i]"...What,"[/i][/colour]
 said Whisper.

The ashling shrugged. "Just pray to him. He... Appears. The Voren don't do it unless they're desparate or drunk, so they sent you to us. And now we shall kill them! We shall take their bodies and feast on their blood!"

Whisper picked up the ashling and hurled him into the horizon, heard a smashing sound as the others scattered. Her eyes spun to Mallet.

[colour=LightCyan][i]"It was [/i]that easy?[i]"[/i][/colour]

"Mm," said the fleshshaper without interest. "Wish you hadn't ditched the bastard that far, though. I had uses for him."

[colour=MistyRose][i]"You knew all this time. [/i]You all knew.[i]"[/i][/colour]

"It's the perfect sacrifice," shrugged Mallet, the motion rippling her body like a windblown tree. "Your dignity."

[colour=Honeydew][i]"Those savages are my responsibility."[/i][/colour]

"I mean, if you want," answered Mallet again, hopping upside down and spinning on her head like a top. "I'd be happy if someone tried to roll me only to get killed by it. Like, joke's on you bitch."

Whisper swirled and exploded into smoke.

[colour=Lavender][i]"At crueller cost,
A call to prayer,
Sung by the lost,
For foul or fair."[/i][/colour]

Whisper reformed in a battle stance, hard and sleek. She leapt, spun, slammed a too-long arm into the rock, sending sparks and chips flying. 

[colour=Linen][i][b]"Vestec."[/b][/i][/colour]

Swirling, multicolored clouds gathered above Whisper. A voice boomed overhead, responding in kind.

"With great pomp and affair,
The lost is answered,
A god appears in the shattered lair
So let us talk, and see what can be whispered."

Vestec cracked down in a multicolored lightning bolt, forming in front of the change-eater. Whisper flinched back, suppressing a faint moment's panic. Mallet muttered something along the lines of 'not you too now'.

[i][b]"Diaphane Whisper."[/b][/i]

Vestec giggled, giving a sweeping bow to the being that had summoned him. "To what do I owe this unexpected conversation? I thought all of Jvan's beings would rather avoid me or kill me."

[colour=LightCyan][i]"That's just her,"[/i][/colour] said Whisper, tiredly. [colour=LightCyan][i]"I've learned to listen to all sides."[/i][/colour]

"Hey," said Fucking Big Mallet with a curt wave. "Both your rhymes suck ass."

"-also, your creations are insane," continued Whisper coolly. Mallet made a 'you got me there' motion.

"That's an interesting developement. Most creatures of Jvan aren't good at learning." Vestec replied off-handedly, turning his attention to Mallet. "To be fair, Malley my dear, I am not Ilunabar. And I couldn't just not respond in kind. You know how it goes. They're serious, I'm as serious as I can be, they're happy, I'm as happy as I can be, they rhyme, I rhyme."

"...Didn't you bang her once, though?" wondered Mallet to herself, staring into the distance.

"No, actually. Funny story behind that, remind me to tell you it later." Vestec giggled, lounging in the air. "As for my creatiooons.." He drawled, idly floating around the pair as he thought. "Not all of them are insane. The Rovaick are so sane that Toun has taken them under his wing, the Pack-Minds are actually unified under Thulemiz, the Ashlings are slowly being brought in line under Hemrick's rule, and the Blood Dancers are perhaps the only elderly tribe of Voren around!"

 "They're calm and methodical, controlling the use of their adrenaline rush for its best result, and making wonderful blood paintings, meat sculptures, tissue puppet plays, and so on so forth." He paused, tilting his head. "Though, depending on your view, that might be insane."

[colour=Honeydew][i]"...True enough,"[/i][/colour] admitted Whisper after a moment. After all, the Diaphane lullabies she composed had also been... Grim.

He clapped his hands together, "So! What do you want to know, dear Diaphy?"

She was still thinking of her older verses, and how they echoed in the Voren.

[colour=Linen][i]"All of us are based on you,"[/i][/colour] said the whisperer, almost blurting. [colour=Linen][i]"The change-eaters. It took me some time to realise. Jvan created us to bring chaos to Galbar, undermine the djinni order. Did you know?"[/i][/colour]

"Hmm. Didn't know that, but it makes sense if you think about it." Vestec replied, pausing in front of her. "Terribly heavy handed though. The Djinni already cause enough Chaos with their own conflicts against one another. They don't need a kick in the rear. Undermining their order might lead to mass chaos, then I'll have to fix it because that would become the new order, and no one wants that." 

[colour=MistyRose][i]"It's more complex..."[/i][/colour]

The God of Chaos tutted, floating closer to Whisper. "But you're the only one I've noticed down here. The Djinn haven't launched themselves in a war of survival, nor has their order been undermined. Where are the rest of you?"

[colour=Lavender][i]"...Lex."[/i][/colour] And she was going back soon, she knew. Only one more destination after this detour. [colour=Lavender][i]"We raid, for now. Jvan gave us our Mothership, a way to move in and out of orbit quickly. She was meant to tell us when to descend for true, before she went silent."[/i][/colour]

"Space thing Jvan, created, got it." Vestec waved a dismissive hand. He paused for a moment, thinking.  "Why don't you lead them down early? You obviously don't want to do what Jvan created you to, otherwise you wouldn't be here. You'd be hunting down another Djinni and eating their souls, or whatever you get from killing them. Bring your friends down early, teach them not to break things that you don't want broken." Vestec gestured widely. "Free yourselves! Jvan doesn't have to control you. Choose to do what you want!"

Whisper shrank without softening, until she was a ball of bristles and teeth. [colour=LightYellow][i]"Jvan never had to control anything,"[/i][/colour] muttered her voice from deep inside. [colour=LightYellow][i]"No one controls my sisters. We just have to exist. We're made for the slaughter. I cannot stop them. I [/i]could[i] bring them here, Vestec. What do you think we'd do with our freedom?"[/i][/colour]

"Made for slaughter you say? Made by who? Jvan? So, you're controlled by your design. Yet I notice you haven't killed dear Malley here." Veste gestured towards the Fleshshaper, who gestured back, somewhat more crudely. "For someone whose entire purpose is to kill things, you seem to be keeping it tightly under control. Why not teach them what you've learned?" 

Vestec spun himself rightside up again, still resting his chin on his hands. "You know what's going to happen when Jvan does break her silence, don't you? If you haven't started teaching your sisters what you've learned, how to control their urges as you have, they'll come down here and they'll go on a killing spree. Thousands will die. Then the other Gods will step in, and they will eradicate every change-eater they find. They almost did it to the Realta, when all they were doing was killing Jvanic influences. Logos pulled them back to the Valley of Peace to save them."

And, of course, Jvan had not been awake to relay the story.

He floated closer to Whisper, head tilted in curiosity. "What do you think Jvan will do when you all start dying? She hasn't to date saved any of her servants. She just created new and improved ones. If your sisters only come down her at Jvan's behest, they will be slaughtered. They'll take many mortals with them but in the end..." Vestec held up a hand, chaos energy dripping from it and scattering across the blackened ground. "They'll just be dust in the wind." 

[colour=MistyRose][i]"I know,"[/i][/colour] whispered she. [colour=MistyRose][i]"Teknall told me. But you're wrong. You're both wrong. That's what frightens me. What if we do what we're meant to? Kill elementals, die to them, return, kill, die again? Nothing can win against the spirits that protect Galbar. We're made for the slaughter. Both sides of it. The Sorority will never win and we will never lose. And we won't look back, ever."[/i][/colour]

[colour=LightCyan][i]"Nothing I could say or sing will change that, even if I... I didn't [/i]learn[i] not to kill. Mallet is my sister, Vestec. Am I really a Diaphane?"[/i][/colour]

The chitinous egg was cracking, leaking heat. Mallet rolled backwards, confused and cautious. Whisper's words were choked.

[colour=Honeydew][i][b]"Am I?"[/b][/i][/colour]

She exploded, and Jvanic darkness spilled into the sky like smoke, consuming air and stone and blasting outwards, and from its raging heart telepathy screamed inhuman, metal on metal. Mallet's faeries whirled into the storm, spheres of silence, and around them streamed torrents of ink destroyed what it stained. And from the Fields of Chaos, a hundred voices screamed back, and from Ovaedis a hundred thousand, and from inside, from where the colours of Diaphane had been mixed in all the wrong ways, there was one.

Vestec was in front of Mallet immediately, shielding her with his body and a shield of chaos energy. He giggled. "Can't have you dying yet my dear. I've got big plans for you!"

Everything faded. Black ink streamed back into Diaphane Whisper and locked itself away in her heart, and the rest was dissipated by the faeries.

Mallet realised where she was and untangled herself from Vestec, pushing him to one side gingerly. "I'll pass." Then she looked to Whisper, who was congealing back into bubbles of dirty colour. "Not a Diaphane. Okay. Don't try to kill everything next time."

"You won't pass when you see what I got for yooooou." Vestec replied in a singsong voice, turning his attention to Whisper. "So you're not a true Diaphane. But your sister's still respect and love you. You can still stop them from destroying all you care about. Malley here wouldn't have lasted a second if you really wanted to kill her. Everything sentient can learn how to control their urges. Hemrick and his gang are getting their violence under control, only using it to beat their less cultured brethren into submission." Vestec leaned in close, whispering conspiratorially. 

"You seem to be under a misunderstanding about the power of Gods when they're irritated my dear. Let me show you something [i]interesting[/i]." He disappeared and was back in an instant, holding a wriggling ashling in his hand.It gnashed and howled curses, much to his indifference.  "Now, every mortal has a soul. Reathos made sure of that you see. When a mortal dies," Vestec crushed the ashling in his hand. "Their souls go free to fly somewhere. Where doesn't matter. In your Sorority's case, it'd be back to Lex."

[colour=Lavender][i]"That so,"[/i][/colour] breathed Whisper skeptically. She didn't sound tired.

"Buuuut, Gods can stop that." Vestec reached out a hand and pulled the ashling's soul from thin air. "And with a little bit more [i]pressure[/i]..." The Ashling's soul popped with a small noise. "Gone forever. You see, Whispy dear, Gods can stop your rebirthing process. 'The slaughter' can be ended as easily as we please. And Teknall and Niciel would be pleased that it end quicky."

[colour=Linen][i]"Jvan wouldn't stand for that,"[/i][/colour] said Whisper.

"Jvan isn't going to be standing for much right now." Vestec mentioned offhandedly. "Logos cut her in half." Vestec paused. Whisper was silent.

"Ooooooooooh shit," said Mallet from somewhere.

"Very articulate Malley dear." Vestec giggled, before continuing. "She's not quite dead, but not quite in the mood to stop anything either. Now, that was just one angry god. Picture, for a moment, half a dozen or more angry gods. All of them destroying your sisters, claiming their souls and destroying them. Jvan impotent as they contain her easily. The devastation wouldn't even be massive. It'd be neat and tidy and disturbingly clean. Of course, I'd try to help, but Jvan doesn't want my help. Jvan hates me for some unknown reason. Even more than Toun, and I've actually done something to him."

Vestec giggled again. "It's very peculiar, and I'll find out eventually. I suspect it'll be ugly when I do. Delightfully so!"

[colour=MistyRose][i]"I..."[/i][/colour] The time Whisper had spent listening to Jvan picking at Vestec's flaws in detail occurred to her, and yet she somehow had nothing to say. 

[colour=MistyRose][i]"What then?" she snapped instead. [colour=MistyRose][i]"How[/i] can [i]I save my sisters?"[/i][/colour]

"One of two ways my dear!" Vestec gestured expansively. "You could try to teach them to behave, to interact in nice manners. As you have. It'll take time, and no small amount of dead mortals, but maybe you can bring them to the Voren? They like being smacked around by murderous things."

Vestec held up two fingers. "Option two! I would go up to Lex with you and help convince them. Apply my godly powers if necessary. It'll even be subtle. They won't even be changed personally. Just...more in control of their urges." Vestec balanced upside down on his head. "I mean, it's better than a massacre of your Sorority." 

Whisper found that no matter how infuriating the essence of Vestec's words, she couldn't bring herself to call him out. [colour=LightYellow][i]'In control of our urges.' As if we have no hunger, passion, or pride.[/i][/colour]

[colour=Honeydew][i]"You don't need to remind me,"[/i][/colour] she said aloud, cold. [colour=Honeydew][i]"I don't trust you, Vestec."[/i][/colour] Although it seemed an act of trust to say that aloud. [colour=Honeydew][i]"But I would clutch at straws, if I had time. I don't meet anyone twice."[/i][/colour] She sighed.

[colour=LightCyan][i]"When my time is up, there will be someone else,"[/i][/colour] said Whisper. [colour=LightCyan][i]"If you mean what you say- If you [/i]understand[i] what you are saying- you will find them willing to hear."[/i][/colour]

"No one trusts me." Vestec sighed dramatically. "I give you my word, Whispy dear, that I won't destroy your precious Sorority. I always keep my word. Right Malley dear?" 

A placid 'eh'.

"You wound me, Malley." Vestec glanced sideways at Whisper. "Why accept your fate so candidly my dear? No one wants to die, and I can help ensure that you don't. Why leave the fate of your Sorority to some stranger who may only care about 'The Slaughter' by any means necessary?"

[colour=Lavender][i]"I am not candid!"[/i][/colour] snapped she again. [colour=Lavender][i]"I'm doing..."[/i][/colour] The shapeshifter shook herself. Nevermind. [colour=Lavender][i]"My successor will be someone I can trust. So, none of my sisters."[/i][/colour] Angry. [colour=Lavender][i]"There. Now I have betrayed my family aloud. Does that satisfy you, or do you have more questions I won't answer?"[/i][/colour]

"'I am not candid!'" Vestec mocked. "Sure you're not! You just bluntly and straightforwardly told me that you're going to die, and that you're not going to do anything about it. That's not candid at all, that's honest! It's not like they mean the same thing." Vestec giggled, spinning upside down again.

"You didn't betray your family my dear, you simply know what your sisters are and aren't capable of. I don't trust Niciel to do anything truly violent, Logos to actually smile once, Teknall to leave me to my devices for long periods of time, Ilunabar to be overly concerned about anything not affecting her directly,  or Toun to do anything reasonable when it comes to...well, anything. They're still family, I just know what they're capable of." He shrugged, colors seeming to copy the motion.

[colour=Linen][i]Shut up, shut up,[/i][/colour] thought Whisper, trying to forget what she'd said and regretting everything.

"Why [i]are[/i] you so accepting of your fate? Any one of the gods, myself included, could help you. What makes it [i]so[/i] important that you die?" A deep breath in that was actually Whisper chewing on air. Mallet's telepathy caught some escaping thoughts and she backed against Vestec again.

[colour=LightYellow][i]"I just have to! It's part of the plan!"[/i][/colour] Yelling. [colour=LightYellow][i]"I don't [/i]want [i]to die, Vestec! I'm scared! I'm scared and alone and I wish Jvan thought twice before she filled me with poison and left me to rot! And I will not turn back on what I'm here for, so just let me die in peace! Is that too much to ask, God of Madness? That you stop trying to tempt me with hope I won't let myself take?"[/i][/colour]

"A part of the plan? Why should you accept this [i]plan[/i] then? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this plan is Jvan's correct? How easy it is for her. [i]She[/i] never had to live with the fact that she was going to die. [i]She[/i] is an immortal god that isn't even dead after being cut in half. [i]She[/i] just plays with you like you're toys, tossing you aside the second you're no longer useful to her plans. If I were you, Diaphane Whisper, that would make me angry. You've dedicated your life to her [i]plan[/i] and she is just throwing you away like [i]trash[/i]." Vestec's voice, once harsh with scorn, became soft and cajoling. Whisper's eyes had melted into fog that was now leaking into the air like snuffed candles.

"So why should you sacrifice yourself for someone who doesn't even care that you're scared? Who casually tortures and rapes others because she can? Who murders others for no other reason than that fact they annoy her? [i]Rebel[/i] Whisper. Shout to her that you will not be her play thing anymore. That your [i]family[/i] will not be her plaything anymore. Cause you know this is going to happen to them too, right? Once she realizes that the Sorority isn't going to be as successful as she plans, she'll change the plan so that they die too. You're the only one that can lead them, Whisper. The only one whose seen enough of the truth to realize that if you keep going along with the plan, everyone and everything you care about will be destroyed."

Mallet spoke. There was no privacy in telepathy, not in the presence of a god. But Whisper was beyond speaking aloud.

"You aren't wrong, but it's not looking like either of us know jack shit, either," she said simply. Mallet spun on her head like a top, arms gesturing as they passed. "Look at her, Vestec, she's blind pissed. Something about rebelling by following through... God, this kid's a mess. Something, something, regret, something, death, successor, aaand look at that I don't care anymore." Her spindly arms skidded on the earth and she turned a misplaced eye to Vestec.

"Aren't we all a mess Malley dear?" Vestec replied idly.

The eye thinned. "But don't take me for a fool, Vestec, Y'Vahn raised me. She's a spiteful bitch, but she'd rather spite by living than by dying. Maybe dying is the only way anyone can get back at her."

Vestec shook a finger. "Y'Vahn, as you call her, doesn't care if you're living or dying. She's the god of flesh, Malley. Whether flesh is alive or dead makes no difference to her. The Sorority will attempt it's war. The Gods will begin destroying the Sorority. She will see that the Sorority is failing, and she will let them all die. Then she will loot their bloated and destroyed corpses, and she will repurpose them. She might put some of Vaky's dear essence into them." His colors flashed red and back again in an instant, annoyance seeping into his tone. "That's a problem. Fortunately, she give me my own vial so I can replicate the process with my own essence instead. Or maybe Reathos's. Mammon's? Who knows, I have access to both." 

"...Okay hold up now you're just spouting shit," said a thoroughly confused Mallet.

Vestec glanced at her. "Oh, that's right. The Voren only know what happend with Grot and the Horde. You have no idea about the rest. Well Malley, if you're going to rule the Changing Plains with dear Hemrick, you're going to have to be brought up to date on the political landscape of the world." 

"Oh hell," said a slightly less confused Mallet with a vague deathwish.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine! Hemrick will take care of the actual ruling and boring stuff. He loves it, I think it's because he used to be one of Lifprasil's Insidie. Your cousins. All you have to do is unite the Sculptors, keep them in line, and have them help you keep the Voren in line. Advise Hemrick on how to handle rules and such with the Voren and you'll be fine. Unless, of course, you want Lifprasil to just steamroll over these plains and either kill or [i]make[/i] you adhere to his rules?" Vestec tilted his head, realizing that she might not even know who Lifprasil was.

"Do the Voren still remember Grot and the Horde? The March on Nice Mountain? The brief and bloody battle? Any stories about that rolling around?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mallet gestured somewhere skywards. "Watch your shapeshifter, she's leaving."

Vestec started, looking up. "Drat. Come on Malley we can't let her just run off." He put an arm around the axis of the fleshshaper and flew after Whisper, pausing in front of her. "Come on n-"

She ducked around his side and continued on her way.

Vestec appeared in front of her again. "You can't win this game Whisper. I can follow anywhere. If you want to get rid of me faster, you'll stop and have a few final words."

[colour=LightCyan][i]"Follow me to the grave,"[/i][/colour] said Whisper without eyes, flowing over Vestec like a fog. [colour=LightCyan][i]"You may have my final words there."[/i][/colour]

Vestec tsked, looking at Big Fucking Mallet. "You want to come along for this 'Grave'? If not I'll drop you off down below and come back later to fill you in on all you need to know."

"That'd be great, thanks," drawled Mallet, hanging from the crook of Vestec's arm like a bundle of limp mannequins. "Why don't you just drop me off in Hell or somewhere. Saw it in a dream, seems nice."

"I assume you're talking about the Realm of Madness. I'll see you there in a bit Malley dear." Vestec dropped her through an open portal; Mallet saluted Whisper as she fell. He turned back to the Diaphane. "Lead the way Whispy. Lets see this 'Grave' of yours."

She stopped.

"Oh? Suddenly interested in stopping are we? Whatever for? I thought you wanted to go to the 'Grave'?" Vestec inquired, flying close towards her. 

[colour=Honeydew][i]"It means,"[/i][/colour] she said, [colour=Honeydew][i]"ask me when I'm dead."[/i][/colour]

"Fair enough. But you do realize, Whispy dear, that means you won't stay dead forever? I'll just have to ressurect you to ask you. Then it'll be to much work to make you stay dead, and then you'll be upset, and I'll just have to leave you to your upsetness. It'd be much easier for you to just tell me now." Vestec said, flying around the Diaphane. 

He just didn't stop, did he?

[colour=Linen][i]"In Lex,"[/i][/colour] she began, [colour=Linen][i]"there is a breed of parasite that burrows into the skin of whales. They wait decades for the whale to die, and then begin to feed."[/i][/colour] Whisper left a long and deliberate pause. [colour=Linen][i]"I do not like them."[/i][/colour] Pause. [colour=Linen][i]"But-"[/i][/colour]

She told him.

It was Vestec's turn to pause. "Well then. I think I'll just leave you too it. Don't fret Whispy dear, I won't be away long. You're far too interesting to let go." With that, the God of Chaos bowed, and disappeared in a clap of thunder, leaving the change-eater to her fate.

...

Whisper was alone now, finally. But she still didn't move. Not yet.

A stripe of chitin hardened and crackled its way out of her back. An eye opened on the twisted arch, staring deep into the sky where Ovaedis lay.

She expected words to come, but they didn't. There was only a history of rage, simmering away on the telepathic winds. Whisper dissolved again and billowed over the broken landscape.

She'd never felt so hollow.

[center][colour=linen][i]Two colour-spark devils meet on a scorched earth
No patience in his heart
And I who wait and curse my birth
Still sing a broken art.[/i][/colour]

[colour=mistyrose][i]A falling world crumbles in futures not far
And secrets are not kept
While I who patch a weeping scar
See ash to trade winds swept.[/i][/colour]

[colour=lightyellow][i]One charcoal world-cancer in heaven still schemes
Her mercy long since gone
Yet I still pray for crueller dreams
Than she has slept upon.[/i][/colour][/center]

[hider=summary]

:?

okaaaay wew this one was messy here we go

The Vestecians Whisper encounters recommend that she talk to Vestec, as they sometimes do, but nobody wants to tell her how. They just direct her to each other and eventually to an ashling tribe, that offers her the information in exchange for some combat training. Whisper is uncomfortable about ashlings, since they perform a similar role to change-eaters but have much less love in their hearts, but accepts the deal.

Vestec, of course, can be summoned very easily, usually by shouting at him from anywhere. Whisper gets mad at finding out how easy it was all along and performs a little ceremony anyway.

Our favourite devil shows up and the two have a long and uncomfortable chat about the nature of Jvan's plan and Whisper's role in it. Apparently Whisper is playing some part that she believes will improve her family's lot.

She's [i]really[/i] not keen to talk about it, though.

Vestec bugs her with enough patience that she eventually does talk about it, then leaves, feeling sad.

[/hider]