2017-08-08: Brooching The Subject
- Log: Brooching the Subject
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Siegfried
- Where: Photosphere
- Date: 8th August 2017
- Summary: Riesenlied and Noeline come to speak to Siegfried about Harken... and a particular brooch she found.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Ever since the unusual presence of Lady Harken at Lacour, Riesenlied and Noeline have both had... questions -- and even speaking to Lady Harken, it was rather clear that there was one persona that clearly had some of the answers, or at least could shed light on the answers: Lord Siegfried.
Not long after their venture to seal the Sorcery Globe, Riesenlied has moved to find Siegfried with a lot of questions in mind -- even pushing aside theories and suspicions, there were things that needed to be asked. What happened to Lady Harken? She seemed fine now, but...
"Lord Siegfried?" she calls out gently -- she's perhaps expecting him to be at Mother's cocoon once more, or... someplace else?
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Siegfried is, today, walking into the domicile level. His arm having healed -- and having recovered after the Sorcery Globe mission -- he now spends a fair amount of time training, to get his skills back into shape after he spent time convalescing. He is in his usual armor, with his blade slung over his shoulder. Glumzambor's eye flickers to Riesenlied before Siegfried even turns.
"Ah, Riesenlied," he says. He turns on a heel, head tilted to the side. He nods, once. "Is there something I can help you with?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has been forced to spend some time licking her wounds after their trip out to the Sorcery Globe. Her natural ability to heal is not as great as most Metal Demon's, especially given the particularly thin and pliable metal that makes up her face and provides her disguise - and the way that she'd rather not submit herself to a full Photosphere medical, in case Alhazred has something to say about the apparently technological Medium she has fragmented inside of her. Facing down the dragon required a certain amount of rest, and she still looks a little cowed by it, one arm and part of her back bandaged underneath her dress.
Clearly, the /absolute best/ time to go ask about something sensitive like this.
For now, she keeps silent, respectfully at Riesenlied's side. She's torn; by any rights, approaching this situation so bluntly is a dangerous one given the position that she and Riese are in. Even if Siegfried is a longstanding friend of the winged woman, it's hard to say what his hatred may have permitted - and how much of a hand he may have had in what happened to Harken, even if it's just tacit approval.
On the other hand, the spy is not used to feeling actually, genuinely incensed. The attack on Adlehyde - even if it left her disheartened about the future - could at least be traced back to a clear motive, a clear history of events that led to that point. By contrast, the apparent subjugation of Lady Harken's will... ... seems almost a needless cruelty, and not just to the humans she went up against.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is no less injured, really, rather distinctly struck head-on by the wintry winds of the Dragon -- but there's no time for rest. She lowers her head with a respectful bow for a moment, before she expresses, "I'd like to inquire about Lady Harken's..." A pause. "Outburst in Lacour."
She glances to one side, rather indicating that they'd like some privacy to the training grounds keeps, who bows gently and steps away.
"We have spoken to Lady Harken, and she speaks of losing control throughout the event where she surfaced at the Coliseum. We and other human Drifters saw it firsthand -- her voice was warped, oscillated by some unknown force, and she was emanating a dark energy that I am not used to seeing her manifest."
She sighs very faintly, then presses on.
"When we last spoke of Milady, you mentioned Alhazred's methods, Lord Siegfried."
She looks at him directly in the eyes. This isn't a question of suspicion or wariness -- it's one of concern.
"Do you know of what may have happened?"
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Siegfried, for his part, bears no obvious injuries. His armor has some new scratches, though those -- through the strangeness of the living metal that makes them -- are mending on their own. But, he did not fight the Fell Dragon himself. He had stayed back to insure that the barrier was in place and ready to summon. The Quarter Knight looks over them both, eyes moving to regard Noeline for a moment. Always in Riesenlied's lee, as he would expect.
He frowns for a moment, though, at the question.
"Outburst?" he asks. His eyes narrow for a moment. This may be the first that he has heard of it. He largely ignored the tournament as a show of human folly. Besides, Harken -- he thought -- had it in hand.
His frown deepens at the description. "I... see. What you say is troubling. Would you say that it affected her ability to do her duty? Her judgment, perhaps? This..."
He frowns, a little more sharply. Alhazred's methods had always been troublesome. They didn't always put efficacy first -- to say nothing of honor.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
As the guard files out, Noeline moves away from Riesenlied's side just a little to man the doorway instead; the fact that she's silently taking up position there, even glancing out past the door for a moment to ensure that they aren't disturbed, probably betrays how serious she expects the conversation to be. This is confirmed when Riesenlied begins to speak - when she comes right out with the rather dangerous question.
The fact that Siegfried calls it 'troubling' is a relief, to say the least; her shoulders don't sag at all, because they're not out of the woods just yet, but it is at least an encouraging start. "From her reports, sir, Lady Harken states that she-- rather than 'affected', she did not have any sense of judgement at the time whatsoever. It was only afterwards that she even remembered what had happened, if dully," she reports quietly.
'Negativity', Cecilia had called that blackened mist, but not Malevolence. And for all that Harken was quiet and blunt, that kind of raw negativity had never seemed to be one of her traits.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied nods at Noeline as she gives her report, shifting just for a moment. "It is as Noeline says. Milady had no recollection of her actions at all..." A pause. "And this was a most troubling outcome, as you imagine. Milady went to Lacour under disguise to reconnoitre and observe the humans, not--" She frowns. "Further rally them into action. Though I do not blame her, it was an incident that our adversaries will no doubt use to rally around."
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
It isn't, really, about subjugating a human's will. Siegfried accepts that as a price of doing business. But the idea that Alhazred may only engage in cruelty for cruetly's sake, rather than to advance the cause -- and compromise one of their greatest champions, in so doing -- is disturbing. His eyes remain narrowed.
"No recollection... and no sense of judgment. Our field commanders must be better than that. Alhazred would do well to remember that," the Quarter Knight's commander rumbles. "Yes. We need not give the humans reason to act -- though I scarcely blame her for seeking to fight them. There is honor in fighting them. But..."
He frowns. "...I shall speak with her. And, I think, with Alhazred."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"That is appreciated, sir. ... how-- would Alhazred have even managed to pull off a feat of that nature, if I may?" Noeline ventures after a long moment, her brow furrowed in thought; she doesn't quite have Riesenlied's fuller grasp of the backstory here, after all, so much as a general suspicion and a natural inclination to distrust the scientific Quarter Knight. More than that, it's an opportunity to see what Siegfried will say in return - to pick ever so slightly at a suspicion that builds in the back of her mind, and to ensure for good that it isn't something that could be turned on anyone else.
She sighs, though, leaving the question hanging as she picks at some of her hair in thought. "Fortunately-- I have reason to believe that her actions may have been somewhat masked by the Tournament itself. I spoke to some of the townsfolk in the wake of it all, and a few of them - in that muddled, human nature - had already started to think that it was some special event the sponsors had put on for the occasion. Certainly, it was not a repeat of Adlehyde - and if we are lucky, the repercussions from it may be minimal in comparison."
Especially when you've been running around asking people what the hell happened, especially when even the heroes who fought Harken had to admit to an unnatural and unusual difference in her nature.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied nods in turn to Noeline, and to Siegfried as well. "Indeed. Above all, agency and control is what each of us need. If we are robbed even of that, then I am afraid that we cannot possibly start to plan contingencies around that. As we venture deeper into western Ignasian territory, we risk stretching ourselves thinner -- and precision and care is exactly what we need if we are to successfully locate the Guardian statues." She knows Siegfried knows of the risks of heading west, after all -- there are even more enemies there, and they go even further than Adlehyde. It is Gebler and Aveh's strongholds, not to mention Kislev and the aggressive nature of the Badlands themselves...
There is a pause, as she looks to Noeline. "There is another matter... a curiosity, if you will--" She takes a handkerchief out and reveals a brooch from it, slightly bloodstained from a battle. It has a symbol of an unfurling lotus with three open squares atop it, along with Galadian imagery -- industrial partitions, gears, and what look suspiciously like Metal Dragons sustaining it.
"Lady Harken found this icon from a Drifter she fought, and..." a pause. "I recognise the lotus symbol upon it -- it is the Raye Clan, a clan of warriors that dwelled in Arctica. I last encountered their kin centuries ago when I mostly dwelled in the Steppes amongst the tribes. They purportedly are descendants of the 'Demon Fist'... do you know anything of the sort, Lord Siegfried?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO
Fafnir lies on a cot in the infirmary, armorless, lips peeled back in mid-tirade. "'Demon Fist'. Is /that/ what the humans call her?" He seems to take a moment to properly process this, as if it were so ridiculous he couldn't afford to do otherwise. "It's as insulting as what they call us--no, more. To compare a human to one of us... is that what it means? Or--" Fafnir trails off. The painkillers are making his thoughts turn in circles. The regenerative chrysalis clings to what's left of his right leg, regrowing a functional limb from damaged tissues. An Ash Legion lieutenant sits by his side, a blonde woman who is the very image of patience. "No matter what they call her, I will always remember her cowering."
The door opens. Fafnir looks up, his face brightening ever-so-slightly.
"Lord Siegfried--?"
AT DEUS EX MACHINA
"It's HER!" Fafnir screams, his fury pouring into the Metal Demon local tightband. Anyone with high-enough command privileges can hear it, though most of them have other worries. "This--this ends here! Lord Siegfried, I regret to inform you I won't be able to kill Valeria like I promised, but that's because I leave that honor to you! The Demon Fist dies here!"
They never found his body.
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
"We do. We will be further from the Photosphere--but such actions are necessary. Many of the Guardian statues we seek are supposed to be concentrated in the Badlands." A frown crosses Siegfried's face. "I wish that I knew why... nnh. It matters not. I will tend to this matter, rest assured."
He shakes his head. He quiets, as the brooch comes out. The emblem on it means nothing to him -- something he stares at for a moment, uncomprehending. Human families mean little to him -- save that sometimes, he sees the faces of the dead in their descendants. But, then Riesenlied says the magic words.
"I do," he says. "A warrior, known as the Demon Fist. He fought against us in the first war. A friend of mine, from back then... he almost cut her down. But, in the end, I believe she killed him. There are no reports that she escaped with her life. Yet..."
He frowns. "Human bloodlines can vex us so, at times."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
For Noeline, at least, the idea of moving into the Badlands is a welcome one. Paradoxically, despite the increased number of enemies, it's also quieter, and harder to come across settlements - which means more of a chance to provide a new home to the Tainted, to maybe continue the work they started in Old Petra of giving the Metal Demons a home rather than a base.
Or perhaps, she thinks to herself with a quiet and private chuckle, she's just in a bit of a maudlin mood. Speaking of which, her eyes track the brooch as Riesenlied unveils it; looking at the piece of jewelry brings a spike of nostalgia to the fore of her memories, unexpectedly hard to ignore each time she sees it.
"... I remember them as well. Or rather - I remember the name and the symbol, from my time in Arctica. I do not honestly remember how active they were, nor how extensive the family was at that time, but... certainly, the name survived to some extent." The spy lightly tilts her head in Riesenlied's direction, letting out a soft huff of air as she does so. "More than that, that is not the original crest - it has been added to, and suggests they have moved as far afield as Guild Galad."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Yes... it is a different insignia than the ones worn by the ones I met," Riesenlied expresses in tandem with Noeline's assessment. "Guild Galad... that is the city out west that purportedly thrive on the bones of our ancestors." She brushes a finger over the symbolised Metal Dragon on the brooch for a moment, feeling -- for a moment, a mixed emotion. Nostalgia, but at the same time, a bit of fear. The idea of a city built on fossils is a terrifying one to her, after all.
"A powerful human warrior, then, if they are able to take out our kin..." she murmurs. She sets the brooch aside respectfully and bows her head. "... I will continue to make plans for our venture out west. I am employing a lighter touch this time -- it is my belief that with so many unknown enemies that we need to reach a hand out to the locals, if only so that they will enrich us with their knowledge. We cannot afford to be blind to our surroundings."
She bows gently. "Please do keep us in touch with what comes from Lady Harken's malady. We would like to see her be of sound health, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
"A thousand years... it is a long time for a human family to change. I have heard of this Guild Galad. I suppose their family must have spread there." He shrugs his shoulders. "The Demon Fist was, yes. But... he is defeated and dead. If any of his descendants yet live..."
He doesn't want to say it won't matter. Siegfried knows it could.
He nods, then. "I shall, Riesenlied. Take care, as we venture west -- the Seed Cities are there. They are like any humans, in many ways... but they do see this world differently. It will be interesting, to meet with them. And... yes."
He frowns. "I will speak with Harken soon."