"Goatee!" Tamie ran up to the goatee-bearded man who was sitting on a chair and smoking a cigarette, sunglasses covering his eyes, but not able to cover his carefree expression.
"Huh?" he adjusted his glasses and smilingly looked up at her: "What is it, Tamie?"
"Goatee, I... I heard you had a strong muse too, like me, so I had some questions..."
"Ah," Goatee chuckled, extinguished the cigarette into an ashtray, and turned back to her: "Take a seat. Let's have a talk".
Tamie smiled and sat before him on another chair:
"So is it true that your muse came to life?"
Goatee bitterly chuckled again.
"Yeah, she did, when I was like thirty-four. I had mastered my craft and reached Demigod rank of the Builder Class, and then I finished the statue of her, and it looked so beautiful... it portrayed her so well! In each of my piece, be it a simple pair of glasses or a statue full of soul, she was portrayed, with all her elegance, beauty, and spirit, but that statue was something beyond earthly. So, I wished for her to be real, and she appeared before me as a human, just as I had imagined her. She said she would live with me forever. I was so happy..."
"So, it is truly possible?!"
"Ivy was a strong muse. You see my son?" Goatee pointed on Goldmund who was chatting with Erisa at the counter and laughing. "He has the same skills as I, but he requires no muse. He makes things without any muse, and so he doesn't pursue art - the statue-making, I mean. He loves the technical side of our craft more. But it wasn't the same for me - I loved the artistic part of my craft since my early childhood. Ivy first formed in my mind when I was twelve and made my first statue from wood, with my bare hands, as at that time I couldn't utilize my Zodiac Craft. Then, as I grew, I, of course, chose the Builder Class to pursue, as I was already good at making things, both in the technical and the artistic ways.
"Ivy grew and changed together with me. We artists are often counted as awkward by people who know nothing of how it feels to have another spirit live within you - the muse... Even some artists don't understand us, the mused ones, as our muses have faces and clearly appear to us, while all they have is the inspiration and not the muse. But ancient people knew of them - they said muses were goddesses and ruled upon the arts. It is true, as when the muse forms in your mind and splits your spirit in two, you are already seized by it, controlled by it, and so you are bound to serve it and create masterpieces... It is not just we who create muses. They create us too. They form us into who we are.
"Ivy was just like that. She made me into who I am... Zariel realm is a strong dimension. It permits us to use Zodiac Crafts - the gift of heavens and stars - to bring our spiritual crafts to life. So the muses that are strong and live together with us in our dream worlds are able to take human form, acquire a body, and live beside us, sharing our happiness and joy, sorrow and pain, becoming our companions...
"That was Ivy. Not only I wished to see her - she too wished to be together with me forever, to see the real world with her eyes someday. So, with both of our powers, we were able to reunite in the real world. But it is a rare occurrence, Tamie. It happens once in a generation, and even more rarely.
"What is the most interesting, is that muses are often females," he smiled, "Ancient people depicted them as females, and Ivy too was a woman. But you, as I see, have a special phenomenon. As far as I've heard, your muse is male, and it has not just one, but two faces".
"Yeah, that's true. So... might that be a problem?" Tamie got preoccupied - what if multiple-faced muses couldn't be revived?!
"In a way... It depends on which face of your muse is stronger. When you call it forth, that one shall emerge and remain permanently in our realm, so you must be careful. After all, not all muses are benevolent... And since your muse is male, it is unlikely it will ever die before you".
He says that the face which is stronger will be revived, which means... Kokujin...
Tamie fell into her thoughts - was it good to call forth that beast? Then she sighed - Kokujin was the true face of her muse - the one she used in most stories. Byakuya was used only for Kenshin story particularly. And after all, Kokujin did care about her, as he often used to tell her in her dreams... So she clenched her fists and looked back at Goatee:
"How can one revive a muse that has the potential to come to life?"
"Do you have two copies of your story which depicts your muse the best?"
"Um, yes..."
"At midnight, under the starry sky, put up a fire, throw in that story, fuse in your element, and call the muse forth. Once the story completely burns, the muse will emerge. If it doesn't, then it has no power to be revived".
"For real?"
"Yes. I burned my statue like that, and Ivy appeared. She remained forever, until the childbirth..." he sighed and then beamed: "But, as I said, since your muse is a man, there is no chance of him dying in this world before you".
Tamie's heart hammered with excitement - it was worth a try...