2017-06-25: Belief Relief

• Log: Belief Relief
• Cast: Kourin, Ethius Hesiod
• Where: Silver Coast
• Date: June 25th, 2017
• Summary: Kourin struggles with loneliness and uncertainty, the foundations of her faith shaken as she must now live in a land far from home. A certain strange man seems to take interest in her plight, for reasons unknown.

=============================================<* Silver Coast *>=============================================

The Silver Coast is the name given to the northeastern coastline of Ignas. The origins of the name are lost to history, but residents of the area tend to assume it reflects either the famous white-sand beaches northeast of Lacour, or the region's distance from the desertification slowly spreading out from the continent's heart.

The Coast and its surrounding territories are claimed by the Kingdom of Lacour, and contain a wide assortment of biomes, from plains to rocky hills and mountains to rolling beaches. Major roads between Lacour and its next two largest settlements - the Port City of Hilton and the Academy City of Linga - are heavily patrolled by the kingdom's soldiers, and are generally safe. The hinterlands, however, are plagued by monsters of all types; researchers in Linga can find a variety of uses for the body parts of monsters, and do a brisk trade with Adventurers seeking to protect the population and make a little coin to boot.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYbFnoRSW6M

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin's feeling a little isolated these days.

She's been camped out on the Silver Coast, out of the sphere of influence of Adlehyde and, more pertinent, the reach of Althena's Guard. She's waiting for word that her companions will be ready to embark on the journey they plan to take, but the construction of Jacqueline's machine takes time, and so Kourin has largely been left to her own devices, with - aside from the occasional visit from one of her friends - only Spirit for company.

Right now, she's seated before a small campfire, preparing a simple meal, with Spirit laying next to her, tail occasionally thumping the ground as he looks forward to the deliciously spicy smelling food.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Spirit will hear it before they see it. People come and go throughout the popular roads that go between Lacour and elsewhere. There may have been no shortage of things to see, to smell, to bark loudly at while Kourin rests and collects herself for the impending journey ahead.

There is an oncoming shadow. A tall shadow, bearing a long quarterstaff that has been repurposed into being a walking stick in the short term. Their stride has something of a disciplined air to it. Like... someone, or something, used to walking such distances. Kind of like a soldier, in a sense?

Is it a soldier?

The campfire's light gives color to the shape of the approaching figure. White hair. Darker skin. The poncho that starts at maroon and goes to ash further down. That yellow bandanna over the lower half of their face...

It's that strange man from before, just outside of the Sacred Grounds of Linga.

He says nothing.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Spirit raises his head from where it rests on his paws, tail thumping a little more rapidly. He barks, once.

Kourin looks up and spies the strange man. For a moment she tenses, then she relaxes. She knows this man, and while he is an enigma, thus far he has not demonstrated himself to be a threat.

"I...it seems this time it is your turn to stumble across me making dinner," she says, not looking the man in the eye. "Would...you like some?"

The food smells...quite heavily spiced.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"You are by your lonesome." Ethius states, matter-of-factly, in that kind of chillingly neutral tone of voice of his. Those eyes... neither those of one who seems to invite companionship, nor exude the language of one with imminent ill will. He just... is. A human(?) presence that seems to see it fit to maintain the bare minimum asked of existing.

"Your offer is appreciated, but I am satiated." Which is probably to say he ate some gross burnt thing. Spirit might pick up the scent of something having been burned, not long ago, but there's that element to him - the sense that he seems to have stepped out of somewhere that has been comprehensively burnt to ash, left to dust.

He remains standing. Is he meaning to ask her something? Is he looking for something? It's not clear, but some seconds later he breaks the ice.

"Has something happened?"

He may be referring to when they first met - how she was looking for distance from her friends.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin shrugs as he declines her offer of food--just as well, she hadn't prepared much extra. She scoops it out into a bowl and sits back, mixing it slightly as she thinks about the answer to his question.

"You might say that," she says, finally. "I am no longer...what I once was."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"Was it the Metal Demons?" Asks the man, unsolicited, uninvited. There's something about the way his colors reflect off the light cast by the flames which bring Kourin and Spirit both warmth and sustenance. His posture has not shifted noticeably since he ceased walking to stand there.

He seems almost as though a living statue, with how still he is as he asks this.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin frowns, then shakes her head. "No. They...they did not have to do with the decision I made to leave my former life. I could...I could no longer stand alongside those who did not act in accordance with my faith..." The woman trails off, fidgeting with her food.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

As Kourin trails off, Ethius sits down on the ground across from Kourin with the campfire between them, if not chased away by Spirit. He'll find a seat somewhere.

A man who appears inflexible, almost separate from the world around him entirely, seems to undergo something of a transformation in what body language he appears to allow himself to communicate.

The way he crosses an arm over his knees, the way his head lowers downward in order to look Kourin in the eyes as she nervously regards her meal.

The arm that crosses over his knees reaches out towards the fire, as the arm holding the quarterstaff goes slack, allowing it to be lowered to the ground. Is he warming his hand? A sign of vulnerability, of weakness, when he seems so guarded as to never show such a thing?

"It can be difficult to maintain one's faith through everything that happens in one's life." Ethius says, closing his eyes. "You sound a most pious observer of traditions."

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Spirit does not seem to object to Ethius's presence. He sniffs, then rests his head on his paws again.

"I...owe everything to my Goddess," Kourin says. "I...would have given everything for the Guard, had the others stood for what the Goddess teaches. Taught. But..." Again, she trails off, this time pausing to take a mouthful of food; she closes her eyes to savor the taste.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius allows Kourin time to take a bite of her food. If anyone at all likes spicy, the scent wafting into the sky is intoxicating! Amazing! People should be coming in droves begging to have a bite of some of this stuff! Exotic, tasty, good stuff for traveling camp food.

Ethius seems unmoved by this, but he also has a bandanna over his face. Why would he keep one on, anyway? He waits for her to be able and/or comfortable of speaking again, before he deigns to speak.

"I am certain your Goddess smiles upon your decision to hold strong to your convictions." How would he know, though? He doesn't look like anyone Kourin would recognize. He doesn't have a discernible accent suggesting he'd be from any part of Lunar she'd know of. (Then again, in some ways, he seems an ill fit for the surrounding environs of Filgaia, too...)

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin sighs. "I no longer know. I will do what I believe is right, what her teachings said when I learned them, but those teachings have changed. The claim is that she herself has set down the new laws, but...they make no sense, they cannot be what she intended us to do. And...bringing the worship of Althena here, to those left behind on the Blue Star when she brought our ancestors...it seems...inappropriate."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius withdraws his hand back from the flame to come up to his forehead as Kourin shares her doubts, and their very origins. The angle of his hand hides his gaze from view - and with it, effectively, his face, giving nothing to read underneath. What would he make of it all? What... is even his interest in speaking with her about this, so candidly?

Even with the more inviting body language, there's that remaining stiffness to his tone of voice and word choice, and yet...

"Would it bring you peace if I were to join you in one of your prayers to the Goddess?" He asks, removing the hand from his forehead. His eyes are closed. "Even before great uncertainty, of answers that appear beyond one's grasp... I find a security in taking hold of what familiarity yet remains."

Is he really from Lunar, then? Could he actually be one of the Gu--

"I must apologize if my offer is in poor taste. I would not know the hymns nor rituals, but I am willing to assist."

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin glances up, momentarily meeting Ethius' eyes, before she glances away again. "I...thank you for the offer, but...that will not be necessary. It is...it is something that is personal to me, and...well, somewhat private. But, thank you all the same."

She finishes eating her food, then sets the bowl down for Spirit.

"Our faith is somewhat different from the religions here on the Blue Star, I believe."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"I understand." Ethius' eyes open up again. There's that same weird quality to it, the eyes of someone who is simply... there. Taking in everything, but giving little back in turn. "It is quite all right." He doesn't sound dejected, or sad, or anything of that matter. The offer might have been made in kindness, but that weird, almost emotionless tone of voice is there even now.

The quarterstaff is taken in one hand, used to help give himself some balance as he stands anew. His hands go behind his back, a noted shift from rest to... business? He casts a shadow that seems reminiscient of an authorative figure, rather than some strange traveler that he is (at minimum).

"I will be on my way. May your Goddess continue to light your way." That's also probably not the exact greeting those of the faith say in greeting or parting, at all - it seems an educated guess on his part, but he appears to speak that confidently enough, as he turns to leave towards... whichever way he was going, to begin with.

<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.

Kourin nods. "May you walk in Her light as well. Or the guidance of whatever God or Guardian you follow." She smiles, shyly. "I believe there is value in all faiths, after all."