Xaviers!

"Like perching on top of Cú Chulainn's still hot corpse, because Medb's beardless pawns were so afraid he'd have another warp-spasm and slay them all."

She smirks rakishly, though her body language seems to convey she's still in the trance.

"Is that what you want me to say, you silly dead thing?"

"It's certainly an evocative image," Melody says. She sips her tea calmly. "Now, tell me. What's your name?"

"Oh, you couldn't guess from the context?"

"Badb Catha. It means 'battle crow.'"

"I try not to make assumptions. It's rude," Melody says. "It's lovely to meet you. I'm Melody Malcolm. But I'm sure you already knew that."

"You're lucky I can't move. Then we'd see about rude."

"Let's get to the point of things," Melody says. "How are you involved with Sam?"

"Involved? Oh, no. The hen is involved. The pig is committed."

"Well, you've done a wonderful job of making Sam feel like she should be committed," Melody says. "Excellent work there."

"Bah. I don't have to answer to you. In spite of what she'll tell you, she likes being me."

"I'm sure she does. On some level," Melody says. "You represent something primal, powerful, and very tempting for her."

"But whatever she is, she's starting to wake up, isn't she? I might not understand the specifics, but I know that feeling of to be just on the edge of realizing what you are. I see it a lot in my line of work," Melody says. "And I will guarantee you right now, no matter how much of a thrill you might give her, if she can't understand you? She will retreat. She will do everything she can to shut you away and she will tear herself apart to do it."

"I don't do deferred gratification. You want one of the other two."

"I'm not looking to manipulate you one way or another," Melody says. "I'm interested in Sam's development. And for that, I need information."

"Can you blame me for being greedy? I haven't gotten to stretch my legs in ages."

"And when was that?" Melody asks.

"When dearest Samantha decided to get friendly with a girl she's still trying to figure out whether to call 'girlfriend.'" She grins.

"Very post-Freudian of you," Melody says. She seems a bit more comfortable and confident. This was weird stuff. She was good with weird stuff. "And before that? How long has it been since you last walked the Earth?"

"We've always been among you. We didn't retreat into the Sidhe like the other cowards. Granted, that blasted missionary made it... difficult for us to express ourselves, but there was still enough of the idea of us that you weren't rid of us. Mankind still venerated us, even if they didn't know how or why."

"Samantha is just the first one born that has a chance of expressing us in full. Like the grand old days."

"So, Sam is some sort of medium? A vessel for your expression into the material plane?" Melody asks. "Or does the connection run deeper?"

"The seed of us is in the blood of these people. We've been reborn before, but were thought mad. The flesh fell short of what we are."

"And do you mean the girl any harm?" Melody asks. "Will she be left to be herself? Or are you looking for a hollowed out puppet so that you can play goddess again?"

Damn it. Don't taunt the scary magic lady, Mel.

"And you would know hollowed out, wouldn't you? Or would you like me to cure you of that gnawing, maggot-like thing that's perched where your soul used to be?"

"Keep your cure, Carrion Queen. I know exactly what kind of monster I am," Melody says. "Still not sure about you."

"If you must know, she's us. She's the sum of us, whether she knows it or not. She was born in the usual way, so right now the sum of us is a girl from a sleepy little town near Dublin."

"But everyone has to start somewhere, aye?"

"True enough," Melody says. She considers Sam for a moment. "How can I help her? In your opinion."

"Oh, you want the opinion of the monster you don't know?"

"Oh, I fully expect a self-centered manipulation that gives you more time out and about in the world," Melody says. "But I like getting all the different perspectives on an issue before I act. Monsters need advocates just as much as anyone."

"Well if you want what I think, the other two waking up was premature. But of course I'm always the one you silly apes think needs to be contained."

"And what would the others tell me?" Melody asks.

"Macha would probably tell you some faff about balance, which is what she trots out when she's holding me back from Nemain. Nemain meanwhile would probably go along with whatever you wanted."

"And what do you think Sam wants?" Melody asks.

"She doesn't know what she wants. Case in point how far down she had me crammed."

"So bloody concerned with not scaring people that it hasn't occurred to her that a fair number of people need to be scared."

"Or maybe she knows better," Melody suggests. "Maybe the world has moved on. It might not need you anymore."

"You've got all sorts of clever little machines to wage war for you now, don't you?"

"And that's progress, aye? When a man can push a button and rain fire on someone half a world away. Feels nothing. Often doesn't even have to look at what he did."

"Exactly. It's very different from the past," Melody says. "Do you plan on trying to change it? Or will it change you?"

"If you really think you're better off than when a man had to weigh whether he could stomach a woman and children wailing before he drew a blade, then perhaps we have been away too long."

"I don't have an opinion one way or another," Melody says. "I'm just curious how much influence you can really have. You're no modern goddess of war, that's for sure. You're too emotional, too attached, and too close to nature. Modern war is detached, clean and sterile machines."

"Can you really change that?" Melody asks. "Or are you going to just be another cranky old god scrambling after scraps of existence?"

Melody smiles. "It's been a pleasure. We'll have to talk again sometime."

"Ceased to amuse you, have I?" She smirks.