Free City, Truce - Fountain
A tiered fountain marks the center of Truce, water gushing from its
summit and trickling into a deep, wide basin, wrapped by a ring of benches.
Roads flow like rivers away from the fountain, and houses sprout like weeds
all around them. Not far to the east, the ocean roars in the harbor.

Kyuubey is sitting on the rim of the fountain, tail curled about itself, head held high in his usual manner of do-no-wrong haughtiness. The cat-creature seems to be scanning the immediate surroundings for something, ears perked in obvious attentiveness.
Action forced.

Kyrk is sitting closeby on one of the benches, fiddling with something that looks like a comlink radio. His manner of tampering seems idle at best, as if he were just wasting time while in wait of some larger task.

With a final pulse from her Soul Gem as she leaves the Carousel Boutique, Rarity's slowly trotting in from the west, not looking too enthusiastic about the meeting. She's carrying the Grief Seed, however, in front of her.

With a soft sigh, the amethyst encasing erupts from the ground once again at Rarity's command, surrounding her long enough to provide cover for her regression back to her 'normal' form, as her body once again crystallizes and shatters. Only a moment later, the larger amethyst also splinters into small shards around her.

Kyrk looks up at the moment of someone sighing, and, to say the leats, raises an eyebrow. A horse? Kyuubey was dabbling in non-bipedal species now? He almost smirked, but decided against it. Whatever worked, he supposed; it wasn't really his business.

Kyuubey's ears flatten somewhat as he senses the Grief Seed incoming before he does the one holding it, and promptly turns around, now on all fours. "Goodness, that thing's been let loose for far too long. Did you really have no means to absolve it of the remaining corruption?"

Nervously, as she stops, Rarity's pawing the ground with her right forehoof, looking off to one side. "I've been far too focused on my job, but no longer. I've got a lot to make right, and this is the start of it." Despite her nervousness, the unicornista is levitating the seed close to her Soul Gem to cleanse the corruption from it thoroughly. "It's a good thing, at least, that I didn't go to the point of letting it revive."

"It is, at that." Kyuubey seems to be watching Rarity carefully, as if gauging for something. "You realize this is not the first time you've become wrapped up in other things. If you didn't want the task that came with your wish, you should not have asked for one. I seem to remember making this quite clear."

Kyrk just sits there, watching Rarity as well, perhaps even a bit more scrutinizingly than Kyuubey. He makes no moves otherwise, sitting on the bench as if an idle man taking a load off. The hardened look in his rose-colored eyes tells a different story, however, but that's for another time.

"You did, yes. I had plenty of opportunities to back out, and yet I chose to forge a new duty for myself." Rather quickly, Rarity's nervousness dissipates, with a resolute expression taking its place. "I cannot desire to undo my own complacency in the past, at this point. I can only work to ensure that it does not occur again, both to prevent my own demise and prevent the rise of more Yoma and Witches."

Kyuubey elects to have a seat again, at this point waiting for the drained Grief Seed. "I've heard these words before. From you, and others. More times than not, they hold empty meanings. They ring of excuses, deceit, and unintended ambitions. You walk a fine line at this point, Rarity, especially knowing that at least one of these corrupted beings was right under your nose at one point, and yet you chose to remain dormant. Is this how you value your friends?"

Kyuubey says 'Far be it from me to judge the values of mortal men and women, but I daresay that if anything had happened to them, you would not be as steadfast in your resolution as you now are. Your lack of foresight will be your undoing, and I fear yet that it may come sooner than later. Fortunately, I have ways to prevent a catastrophe from arising in such an occasion. Needless to say, I was not sure what to expect upon meeting with you again, Rarity. At the very least, the fact that you yet '

Kyuubey says 'live holds a bare grain of promise. But. Those who prove to be on the path of decline will find their lives short-lived, in order to avert the impending threat they pose. This includes you.'

Kyrk merely folds his hands in his lap, both listening and watching. The rose insignia on the back of his gloves reflects off the sunlight overhead, apparently patterned on with some trace of lustrous material into the stitching.

With a heavy sigh, Rarity levitates the cleaned Soul Gem back into her saddlebag, moving closer with the Grief Seed cocooned in her magic. "Mm... I'm having to learn, with my own experience, that the choices I've made thus far are no doubt bringing my end closer, and very well making it possible that Sweetie Belle will lose her only sister through carelessness and avarice."

Rarity says 'To say nothing of the people I promised - and have failed thus far - to protect.'

Kyuubey turns partways around, flattening himself somewhat as the red ring on his back begins to glow, the strange portal there preparing for the incoming Grief Seed. "Are you, though? Or will we be having this conversation again next month? If you truly have no desire to remain one of the contracted, you need only say so, and the annulment will be swift. There is nothing more pointless than a gifted child who wastes not only her own time, but everyone else's."

Kyrk coughs slightly. "I think you've made your point, Kyuubey. Though I don't know for certain she realizes the graveness of her current situation, we must give her time to show, if she indeed will. Unlike the other that will currently remain nameless, she at least is not willingly forfeiting herself."
The sun slowly disappears in the west.

Kyrk looks up at Rarity, then, one hand on his lap and one hand idly scratching the side of his face. "What he says is the truth, however. We do not take sloth lightly. See that you follow your own words, for your friends' and loved ones' sake, if not your own."

It's only once she's got the Grief Seed levitating close enough to Kyuubey that Rarity dispels the cocoon of magic, looking to Kyrk with a rare grim expression. "I will certainly have to, for the sake of those I hold dear to my heart, and the existence of the Elements of Harmony. I can't keep being complacent about the duty I hold, so it's high time I get serious."

Kyuubey accepts the Grief Seed as it drops into the portal emanating from his back, which is quickly sealed off and ceases glowing once the deposit has been made. Before the cat-thing can say anything else, however, Kyrk rises to his feet, taking a moment to idly brush off a pantleg. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the sound of things, I take it you still have an affiliation elsehwere. A loyalty to other things. A duty to other entities. Is this assumption correct?"

Kyrk stands tall after speaking, folding his arms across his chest. 'Tall' is relative, of course, since it's only barely 6 feet or so.

Rarity's grim countenance doesn't fade, as she nods. "On top of the duties I hold as a contracted, I am also duty-bound to the Elements of Harmony, by way of being the bearer of the Element of Generosity. But perhaps my fellow Element-bearers can handle themselves, since I have a far more critical task to focus on, one that involves the world of fashion in no way. My priorities, to this point, have been horribly wrong."

Kyrk allows himself that smirk now that he witheld from earlier, but doesn't say anything for a moment. Letting it sink in, he nods instead. "Though I can't forcibly hold you to your words, this is sound advice and pretty much exactly what I was going to say. You need to drop everything else and focus on the undertaking you have brought upon yourself. If you don't, and you continue to fail in the expectations set before you, you will lose it all."

Kyrk says 'And this is not a threat. This a promise. I've seen it happen too many times to count in the nearly-nine-years I've been under the contract. Though I care little for youe whims or wiles, I would hate to have to be the one that says 'I told you so' in the end.'

Kyrk says 'Forget your 'elements'. Forget your 'fashion'. You have a new lot in life, and it needs your attention. Disregard this at your own peril.'

Rarity says 'Perhaps the best way to manage this is to pass the mantle of the Element of Generosity to Sweetie Belle, and leave her responsible for the Carousel Boutique.'

Kyrk says 'Perhaps. This could be the end result anyway if you wind up slain or corrupted, so it is likely best to pass those responsibilities along now while you are able to, manually.'

Kyrk hasn't removed the arms folded across his chest this whole time, watching Rarity with the look of someone who was enlightening a small child who needed the guidance, whether she actually thought she did or not.

Rarity nods, her face once again settling into a resolute one. "No more distractions, indeed. I'll speak to her, and announce my intent then."

Kyuubey says 'See that you do, then. Your desires to uphold your duties likely burn strong, but you need to find a way to bring them to the front. People count on you, and if you continue to remain absent in times of need, people will perish. Maybe not people dear to you, but I would think it important for those of similar flesh-and-blood builds to want to keep each other safe. Or perhaps I am mistaken.'
Action forced.

Kyuubey hops down from the basin, tail in the air as he continues to address Rarity. "I do hope that our next encounter does not reek of a broken record's stale tune. Show us that you mean what you say, and I will look forward to your better news."

Kyrk looks from Rarity to Kyuubey, then Rarity again, and merely says nothing. Still, that gaze is... stiff, to say the least. Almost like there's nothing there.

Rarity nods, storing her Soul Gem as she heads north to prepare the 'passing of the torch', so to speak, to her younger sister. "Agreed."
The sun rises in the east.

Kyrk watches her go, arms still folded. "I don't see the same threat in her that we established in the feline reploid. Still, it never hurts to be on guard for the worst. You make it sound like this is a recurring theme with her." Though he doesn't lower his voice at all as Rarity departs, it is obvious he is talking to Kyuubey.

Kyuubey lets out a soft little sigh. "Indeed. Let us hope that she does not opt for the proverbial 'strike three'."