2017-12-11: Broken
- Log: Broken
- Cast: Riesenlied, Jack van Burace, Noeline, Hanpan, HORSE
- Where: Wayside
- Date: 11th December 2017
- Summary: Riesenlied faces the consequences of her proclamation, yet an inquiry comes from an unexpected place...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's proclamation has caused something of a stir in Wayside village, understandably. Amongst the Tainted that were borne through battle wounds, there's understandably more resentment, more confusion and anxiety, and she's had to steel herself to be ready for it. For the most part, this has just manifested in some hurt feelings and the occasional barb, typically tempered by cooler minds, but sometimes, tempers do flare.
A group of two Metal Demon soldiers are confronting her in front of the tavern, one of them trying to dissuade the other. "Hey, hey, calm down, Arvid, you're not gonna get anything doin' this..."
Arvid -- who is a soldier missing an arm -- looks less calm, hissing, "Y'took us in thinkin' we'd all follow you along like good little soldiers, didn't we?!"
"This circumstance did not predate my desire to take the wounded and the needy in," Riesenlied speaks -- firmly, but with gentleness as she places her hands at her lap. "I am sorry I was not able to--"
"Spare me your 'sorrys'! What kinda Hyadean fights with words?! Why I oughta--"
"Arvid, stop!" his partner pleads.
Arvid picks up a rock and rears back, as Riesenlied winces and readies herself...
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
There is a soft chink of metal.
Almost too soft to hear over the shouting and the flaring of tempers. A rush of breeze that tugs on clothes and the tips of the hair. One not created by any natural wind. Then that metalic click comes once again.
"Enough."
The word echos from a man, sitting on a placid looking horse. It echos even as the rock falls in to equal halves. The stone itself severed cleanly in a blow that few could even follow if they wanted to.
The man with the pony tail and the dirty blonde hair leans low over the horn of the saddle. The expression on his face bored almost. In one hand dangles a slightly curved blade, sheathed and seemingly entirely innocent. His entire manner is lazy unless one would look into his eyes to see waves of dead nothingness and firey rage and a thirst of possible violence.
"I need to talk to her. Go. Drink it off. Its what always helps me." A slight smirk at that as the Wind Mouse perched on Jack's shoulder just sighs and shakes his head slightly.
Those eyes slide towards Riesenlied. A quirk of a brow arching up in question. "If you have time to talk."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's slower than she'd like; her body feels too heavy, too stressed after her stunt down in the caves. Channeling a Guardian would be hard enough for a Metal Demon, even with an Original Medium lodged inside of her - giving enough of herself to allow a sealed Guardian's power to manifest for that length of time could only be more taxing still, and her strength feels like it's left her for the time being.
Not that she's going to let that stop her from trying, at least. She'd seen the situation coming, but the imminent threat is enough to pull her forwards more quickly, and a sharp voice rings out from behind the pair. "... what kind of Hyadean turns to bite the one that's supported them?" she asks in turn, her eyes alight. "What part of this nulls the support she has given you? ... if you wish to leave - if you cannot abide by our stance - you are free to," she adds, some of the initial fire leaving her. "We won't force you into anything. But the point of Wayside is that we are not simply soldiers."
If she's tense, it's kind of understandable, what with Jack suddenly there - but she studies the man for a quiet moment, and something in his bearing makes the tension go out of her shoulders as she crosses to Riesenlied. "... thank you for the assistance," she admits with a rather rueful chuckle.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There is a faint look of alarm -- at the sound of that metal; her senses have been sharpened too fine over the centuries to miss what she feels is the cutting of a blade in thin air--
--and the rock splits in half.
There is a look of surprise from Riesenlied as she looks towards where Jack sits on his horse. "... Mister Jack..." she whispers gently, tucking her head down.
The two soldiers look at each other, Arvid looking like he could say something else-- but his equally wounded friend, walking on a hobble, hisses, "Come on! You're shaming yourself," with a bit more urgency and beration in his voice.
Arvid's friend turns his head to Noeline to say, "We're really sorry for this, Miss Noeline..."
The situation, even amongst the younger Tainted, is not that clear cut. People aren't black and white, not on clean sides of the fence. And some have their emotions to work out.
As the two leave, she turns and bows her head gently. "... yes, of course. And thank you..." she gestures towards the nearby inn, 'V4L-H4LLA' and slowly motions towards it with a quiet weakness in her movement. "Please, this way. Or would you prefer somewhere more quiet?"
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
"I didn't do it for you." He grunts towards Noeline and her thanks, the swordsman blunt and grating as usual, perhaps even more so tonight. His eyes watch the pair of soldiers as they edge away with the same aspect as a lion might use when tracking wounded prey before they go back towards Noeline and Riesenlied.
Slowly there is a breath. Steading. Calming. His eyes close as he makes an effort to be something other than the instincts that coil within him. Hanpan touches his shoulder in a claming gesture before he swings off his horse.
His boots crunch into the gravel under them before he turns and looks at the animal.
"Stay."
Then back towards the pair of Wings.
"I'd like to talk to you about one of your kind. So after the ruccus you've caused with this announcement." An announcement he still seems slightly disbeilieveing of. "I'd think you might want something more private."
The wind mouse clears his throat and Jack sighs again. "Please."
A beatpause.
"And you've both met my concionce Hanpan havn't you?"
The wind mouse bows.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline shakes her head at Arvid and his partner both, that wan smile remaining on her face. "... it's alright. Take some time to think it over, hm? We'll understand either way." She says that, but-- the sigh she makes immediately afterwards, watching the two go off, certainly makes it seem like she's had to deliver that line a few times today.
"Nonetheless," she adds rather lightly as she turns back towards Jack, crossing the rest of the distance to Riesenlied's side to help her up. "... it was assistance, so I'll offer some thanks for it regardless. Things are certainly going to be rather volatile here for a while, after all, and the littlest things do help," she picks at a little of her hair as she says it, before offering Riese a shoulder to rest against.
The reply as to where they should go gives her a little pause, her eyebrows raising; she looks to Riese for a moment, then puffs. "I suppose one of the caravans... though the bar does tend to be rather quiet," she considers after a moment.
Talking wind mice are not nearly as surprising as they could be when Hiro and Ruby count amongst your friends, but Noeline dips her head in greeting either way. "... I apologize in advance if Janey attempts to capture you," she notes - the joke is a little lame, but she seems happier trying to clear the air with it.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied nods curtly, and instead gestures towards the array of caravans nearer to the centre of the village. There's still a bit of a limp in her gait as she steps towards one of them and lets them both in -- it's something of a planning and war room for, it seems, the Wayside wellspring, including hand-drawn charts and an impressive collection of desert maps... someone's been keeping tabs on the area for quite a while.
They need to. They won't be ready for an ambush otherwise.
"... one of my brethren?" Riesenlied asks, a hand to her chest gently. She shakes her head in regards to Hanpan though, and looks at the wind mouse--
--a tiny little Riese in her head kinda twirls and goes 'kyaa, cute~!' and falls over--
--and smiles warmly, saying, "It's nice to meet you, Hanpan."
"Now then, how may I assist you, Mister Jack?" Riesenlied asks. She was... largely incapacitated during the battle, but she feels like she has an inkling of who he's referring to...
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
Jack follows at a sedate pace. The man never seems to do anything fast outside of combat. Saving up that blistering speed he can exibit for when he needs it it seems. He says little though, simply walking, sword remaining gripped in one hand. That wrapping of cloth fluttering just softly in the light breeze as they pase into the interior of the war room.
A quirked brow at the maps. "You've been busy." He makes the combat even before there is a smirk towards Noeline. "No one captures a Wind Mouse unless they want to be captured. But its fun to watch people try."
Hanpan? He just smiles a mysterious smile as he stands on Jack's shoulder. The knowing look on the little figures face says that he knows quite well what is going on in Riese's head though he doesn't make mention of it.
"A pleasure." He pipes up towards the both of them.
The question though causes that smirk to fall from Jack's face. "The Quarter Knight that was here. Who was it--" A pause, as he bites his words off even as he feels Hanpans eyes on him. "--she. Who was she?"
He knows he's being abrubt, but the set of his shoulders. The tension in his entire frame. Just being here without shouting seems difficult for him. There is much anger, much hate, all whirling around inside him as he stands there examining their maps.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline takes up a position at the entrance of the caravan, holding the flap of fabric open for Jack and Hanpan, then closing it behind them. She does seem to share in Riesenlied's lack of surprise, at the very least, glancing at the other Hyadean before puffing out a breath.
"... we knew we would have to explain our situation to the others eventually - and what it would probably mean for us, once the Quarter Knights learned of it in turn. We're going to have to defend ourselves for a while, not to mention find some decent transport - and a suitable path - to allow for evacuation." Noeline pauses, and looks rather glum. "I was hoping for a little more time to sway people, but..."
Shaking it away, she sighs. "... Lady Harken. Alhazred's-- favorite, I would say, though that isn't exactly a title anyone should aspire to."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"We have to be," Riesenlied quietly speaks. "We would not survive the desert otherwise, hidden in plain sight or no." There were much more than just the Metal Demons, after all -- the recent infestation of Wels, Hellions and Malevolence, Aveh and Kislev's fighting... the list seems inexhaustible, and one had to have a good eye on their surroundings.
"... she... is a bit of an enigma, to most of us," Riesenlied admits. "She appeared-- shortly after the..." She hesitates, casting her eyes aside. "The fall of Arctica."
She hesitates as she places her hand to her chest. "They say she had been in torpor for a longer while, but... you do not live in the Photosphere for hundreds of years without thinking that story has inconsistencies."
She looks towards Jack, in turn. "... and it did not escape me that she used the techniques of Arctican Knights, in particular the Fast Draw."
She bobs her head. "Noeline and I actually have... lived around the region for a long while. So that detail did not pass by us. Noeline moreso than I -- I largely lived in the northern steppes, with tribesfolk that do not exist anymore."
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
That feeling of hate and anger spikes though Jack at the name of 'Alhazred'. The grip on his sword turns his knuckles white. The sounds of his teach grinding for a moment echos in his ears before he once again draws a deep breath. Tries to actually force those feelings down once again so he can talk at least somewhat rationally.
"There were seven of us." He finally says as he looks back at the maps. "Seven that could be said to know those techniques. I saw five of them die. Alhazred killed most, Sigfried and Beserk the rest. Including the man who attempted to surrender the Kingdom to them."
He half turns towards the two Demons, because he still thinks of them as such. No matter what name they give themselves, the'll always be demons to him. Of one kind or the other.
"I never found all their bodies." He adds. "After the Quarter Knights collapsed the caste."
The words are quiet, said with a strange lack of emotion. But that is simply because he is trying not to lash out at the pair of them. Not when they agreed to talk, not when they migth have information he needs.
There is a twitch of a pained smile. "The fall of Arctica. So few words for something of such a massive scale." A shake of his head then before he goes too far down that track.
"She does not simply use the techniques of the Arctican Knights. She uses specific techniques, known only to the Fenrir Knights. I would know."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The twintailed woman watches Riesenlied's answer, as if looking to it as a cue, and then picks lightly at her hair once more as she listens to Jack's. "... when I left the Photosphere, I came to Arctica - that would have been some three hundred years or so ago - and stayed for a few decades. In many respects, it was the city where I actually began to learn about myself, rather than simply learning whatever I was taught," she admits under her breath, and then shakes the topic away, well aware that it's a sensitive subject.
"... it isn't uncommon for Photosphere soldiers to study martial disciplines they come across. In truth, that's about the only way that some of them even know to pass the time," she points out instead. "Trying to emulate the Fast Draw on its own would not be unusual, but-- the Fenrir Knights..." she mutters, and shakes her head sharply.
"As far as I know, no other demon entered in Arctica the same way I did, and certinly couldn't have gotten close enough to that Order to learn such things. Not that they're a particularly unified army in any way, but--" she hesitates, and then sighs. "--well, Lady Harken is not exactly one for stealth, let us say that much."
She looks back to Riesenlied, her brow furrowed, already not fond of the implications. It would be unpleasant enough on its own, but then add on everything else they've learned. "... the Lacour Tournament..." she mutters.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
That was something she didn't know... though she can understand Jack's feeling of hate at the mention of 'Alhazred'. It was not as if she did not harbour the same misgivings... she'd brought it up to Siegfried, how distasteful his methods were.
The Dragon's Tear ebbs just a little, as if reflected upon the sensation of his anger -- a fluctuating emanation from red to purple. Then it softens.
"I see..." Riesenlied quietly says. "I was-- not in contact with any of them, I am afraid. ... my assignment was at the castle walls, near to the town square. ... even when I allowed civilians to run, spared the noncombatants... it didn't change a thing. It doesn't change my hand in it."
She shakes the feeling of guilt that weighs on her away for a moment, beacuse it's not useful right now.
"Specific techniques... her swordplay is definitely without peer, even compared to Lord Siegfried. Do you believe that she might be--"
She frowns.
"I'd suggested similar theories to Lord Siegfried, but he dismissed me. But nonetheless, nothing sat right with me -- especially when she had that outburst in Lacour, months back. Because something about her went -- astray. A darkness that enveloped her..." She furrows her brow tighter. "A subjugation of her will, in some way."
She hesitates a little... then resolves herself.
"If you are to best Lady Harken, then it may not be your blade that will do the task -- but rather your words, and her memories."
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
There is a low chuckle from Jack. "The Guardians must hate me." He says wryly as he glances up towards one of the maps. "When I'm gone, likely dead at the hands of one of your people, the only ones to remember my kin as they were are the ones that destroyed them." The threads of painful irony works though those words as his eyes close for a moment.
"No one can sing the songs. Forge the steal. Hell no one else can even get Arctician bread baked right." The swordsman murmurs as he shakes his head slightly. Bitterness is there hidden behind the anger, and no small amount of despiration.
Again he draws a deep breath to try to steady himself. "No though. They were not ancient techniques. They were once that were developed in the past few years. Before the Fall. I would know since I helped develop them. The attack Harken used...I used it myself before."
He shakes himself slightly though as he starts to turn towards the pair of them. "I will fight her again." There isn't a question in that tone. He knows he will. "And I will find out how they stole memories and skills from the Knights. Then I will kill her, or she will kill me." A twitch of a smile. "That would be a fitting end for me I think."
He pauses to look at the pair of them before his eyes fix on Riesenlied. Watching her carefully, seemingly to go over the minuite details of her expression before he slowly blows out a slow sigh.
"I want to hate you and your kind." Again that blunt and unvarnished truth. "But you. I can't quite hate you." And that somehow annoys him. And it annoys him that it annoys him.
There is a sharp nod though as the turns towards the flap. "I should go, before I wear my welcome thinner than it already is." He mutters as he takes two steps forwards...
And Hanpan hops off his shoulder and onto a desk. The swordsman looks towards the mouse, and the mouse shoos him away. "Go on if you wish. I wish to talk to them as well."
The swordsman just rolls his eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"I imagine there are still some who would be sad to see you go, you realize," Noeline offers with a quiet chuckle. "All Riesenlied is suggesting is that you stay your blade against her just a little, if you can." Her voice tightens, and something flashes in her eyes; she's not one to show anger, but there's a light there. "Alternatively, if what you've told us is true, bury it firmly in Alhazred instead. He truly is the worst of them."
The words are short and curt, hugely clipped in comparison to her usual tone - but she shakes the feeling away with a sigh. "And... rest assured, Mr. Burace - you'd have to do a great deal more to wear out your welcome here, especially after your defence earlier," Noeline responds with a soft and very rueful chuckle, her head lightly bowed in a mixture of apology and respect for the swordsman's lament.
She looks to Riesenlied again - obviously wondering if the other demon's Tear might be able to amplify her powers, give them some kind of way to reach whatever might be in the depths of Harken's mind - but she's not even close to knowledgable about these sorts of things, and simply closes her eyes as Jack begins to stalk out.
So it's a bit of a surprise to her when Hanpan stays behind instead, and she has to blink for a moment. Perhaps it's a good thing that Jack's stalked out, because the first thing she can do is chuckle quietly. "... he's rough, but-- well, there's still a knight in there somewhere, isn't there?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's some measure of that resolve that Riesenlied knows she can't deter. If it were her, she'd try to appeal to her better side... to reach into those memories. But these two... it's just as Jack said. It would only be resolveable at the conclusion of the duel of two swords... ...
...
That she helped perpetuate the cycle more and more is something she weighs heavy upon, time and time again. Though every soldier must come to understand that they are part of it... breaking the cycle is exceptionally heavy work indeed.
"... you would have every right, but..." Riesenlied sounds just a little exhausted. "... I appreciate it." She doesn't quite say 'thank you'. She thinks it would hurt.
She watches him go, bowing her head again... and wearing a sadder smile for Hanpan.
"... what is it that you wished to speak to us about?"
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
Hanpan watches the knight go before he sighs and looks towards Noeline and shakes his head. His eyes hold a wisdom of centuries, centuries of livng out in the world. Seeing the world. Experiancing life and all the problems that come with it.
"He isn't rough, Miss Noeline. He is broken. He will never be a knight again, not like he was." The wind mouse says as he shakes his head. "And I do not know if he will ever be whole again." A glance between the two. "I...would like you to be patient with him. The Guardians..." Now he sighs again. "...they have placed this trial upon him. That trial, what he saw, what he experianced. It broke him, and I have been trying to help put him back together again."
The mouse glances back towards the door. "The Guardians, they work in odd ways. Creating paragons of virtues at times. But the only way to become a paragon is to be broken down and remade into something else. It is not an easy thing to live though and he is still brittle. Fragile. Easily broken again. Whatever Harken is, and I am sure you both have suspicions of what. Make sure you are careful if you find out more and if you talk to him of it."
He glances towards Riesenlied. "It cost him much to admit that he doesn't hate you. I do wish you to know that."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline picks up at least a little on Riesenlied's expression, walking over to rest a hand on the other woman's arm. "... bit by bit, inch by inch," she reminds gently. "You have reached him, even if just a little. Given how much anger he started with, I would place that even over managing to talk with the Guardians," she huffs softly, echoing Hanpan's statement - at least, in a way.
She turns back to the mouse, and slowly the metal demon nods her head. "Of course. We will be careful - at present, I don't believe we have much choice /but/ to be. ... that said, I don't think I would call the hubris of the Quarter Knights something you can blame the Guardians for," she mutters to herself.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has a quiet sigh, as she listens to Hanpan thoughtfully, finding it too difficult to stand at present.
"... of course, I do not want to agitate him or be anything but patient..." Riesenlied speaks, and pauses in turn. "And... to that end, we are no different."
"I do not know if you have heard by now, but we ourselves met with a Guardian in the flesh, when we fell into the depths of the Temple. And where they sought to strike us down, I... pleaded. Requested that they gave us a chance, for that is what we sought. And now, in this form... my body degrades further since my contact with Equites, while my senses seem to keep wandering from me."
She places her hand to her head again. "... in my own way, I too have been broken by the Guardians. Perhaps, to be remade, if I am not to fall. From my birth, from my circumstance, and how that has led to my place in our culture, I have been trapped. And yet now-- in my desire to break away from that cycle, to see a future for my people..."
She presses her lips. "It is as you say. It is a fragile hope, brittle and easily dashed."
She nods towards the little wind mouse and holds her hand out softly, saying, "I know how difficult it is... to even say something that... in turn, I did not have the courage to say 'thank you' to him. ... even if... I truly feel that way. Perhaps we can, someday. I will keep that hope alive."
She bows her head again to the wind mouse, in deep respect.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.
There is a slight smile. "Courage is a strange thing." Hanpan replies quietly. "Most think that it is a thing of violence and ferocity in the face of danger when it is actually something much more profound. You may yet find it. And he may yet wish to hear it."
A glance towards Noeline before the mouse nods. "Very well. I am glad I asked." A touch of a smile. "Keep your eye on him if you can..." The smile fades. "...fragile things are tempting targets to those that just wish to make the world burn."
But then the mouse is hopping up, a few bounds towards Riesenlied before he touches his little paw to her finger. "Guardians watch over you, and your own trial. I hope you find what you seek."
There is a nod that includes Noeline in that hope before he is bounding away, out the door and after the swordsman and Horse.
...yes. He named his horse, Horse.