2018-02-06: If You Take Flight
- Log: If You Take Flight
- Cast: Riesenlied, Lydia Seren
- Where: Wayside
- Date: 6th February 2018
- Summary: Lydia visits Riesenlied to speak of a traumatic event the children of Wayside have experienced.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren loves Janey and Mikaia as if they were her younger siblings. They might see Lydia differently but they hit a lot and we mean a lot of Lydiabuttons. So many Lydiabuttons. The engineer has been hesitant to approach the topic of child abuse because it is kind of a personal and difficult subject to approach in the first place!
Still.
Lydia has been back to Wayside since Rosaline became Thornaline and has been working on the ship. She has been helping particularly with the whole boat half aspect because she has a vague idea on what kind of stress tests are necessary to keep it from falling apart in midair and an even vaguer understanding of the engine output required to keep it afloat in the first place.
But now she is too distracted to keep working. She can't get the vision of Janey turning her head so that she doesn't touch her scars out of her head...so she nails a letter to Riesenlied's door.
'YO RIESENLIED' it says. 'Meet me behind the bleachers at 4 pm. Come alone! No kids >:O!'
Underneath that: 'Having a blast working on the ship^^! <3upeeps.'
Lydia is chilling behind the bleachers. She has wrapped some of Cyre's special medicinal herbs in paper and is smoking them and she is in Black Ties wear because that's what serious business attire is.
Periodically she snaps her fingers like she's a member of the Turks or something!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied can't help but be a bit scared of the Black Ties outfit; it's silly, since it's just a black tux, but visiting El Pazzo has kind of... made it a sore point. How much El Pazzo was a reflection of Wayside, of how much it could go wrong... a reminder of how much influence she has over the villagers, and how heavy that responsibility can be.
She steps towards the bleachers, huddled in her capelet and blanket as she brings a small basket of cookies with her. Several cuccos are attempting to trail her steps, but she waves them away to go, "I'll feed you in a bit, Cucco..."
There's a cucco-pout, and then they bobble away as she smiles to say, "... Lydie, you wanted to see me?"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia, to be honest, looks great in this kind of outfit and she doesn't care that it belongs to a gang of criminals since, all told, she probably has a vaguely positive view of the Black Ties (she's FROM the Badlands and is aware they give prospects to people who would otherwise have none). The subtle appreciation may have dried up a bit upon learning they smashed a statue and all but style transcends morality.
"Yo yo Riesenlied!" Lydia looks over her shoulder towards Riesenlied. "I gotta dress serious because I gotta serious inquiry about a serious topic, so that's why I'm dressed serious, y'dig?"
Come on Lydia we know you just wanted to look cool for once.
She leans against the underside of the bleachers and asks, "So it's about Mikaia and Janey, you know? Y'know what I'm curious about. What happened to 'em? This is even more abuse to beastfolk than I expect outta Filgaia. You know who'n did this to 'em?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"U-um... yes, all right," Riesenlied doesn't appear to be hip or cool enough with Lydia's lingo, but she's kind of used to people like Lydia outspeeding her so she just sits down and hands over some cookies.
"... we did learn," Riesenlied expresses a little more darkly, holding onto the Dragon's Tear. "Back when I accidentally exposed them to the Tear's light... we were pulled into a landscape of our memories..."
She glances aside. "Their orphange was in Little Twister. A red-roofed house... belonging to an old, devout woman of Granas."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Cookie!" Lydia says. "Thanks Riesenlied!"
So much for that cool persona. She scarfs one down. "Om nom nom nom!"
She licks her hand off and says, "Dang I don't think I had a cookie in months." She pats her stomach and frowns. "Ugh... I should behave."
She looks a little green as she suddenly remembers what ELSE she bit.
Swallowing faintly, "I guess they're closelipped about it huh? Guess I would be too."
Surely she should respect the privacy of these two children who have already suffered so muc--
"Did that lady do that to 'em?" Lydia asks. It might not just be about those two children. Little Twister, she thinks, ain't that where Gwen's from? Again, she focuses on this rather than on the Dragon Tear itself, which shows clearly where Lydia's priorities are.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied sucks in a quiet breath as she says, "When I first met them, months ago... they wouldn't tell me where they'd been from. I thought that it was because Janey had to do some things she wasn't proud of to survive, but..."
There's a tired little sigh, tilting her head to one side. "... she... has an extremely strong belief that has shaped her views... such."
She gestures up with her deformed hand. "She thought the children were 'precious', and 'worthy of being saved by Granas'... but that..."
She looks pained as she expresses, "'These little bits of Valmar have to go'..." she shudders, still recalling the memory as they experienced it.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Don't act out of anger, Lydia reflects. That's what Granny Halle told her. But she has to act somehow doesn't she? You can't just listen to a story like that and do nothin'.
"Yeah, Granas is like that sometimes. Can't imagine what it was like for Rosaline, but I guess I'm not really her friend or anything so I dunno if I can really do much for 'er,"
She shakes her head slowly. "Anyway, you hear stories like that but for something to go that far, that's pretty unusual. Figure you usually pray the beast away. So--"
She tilts her head. "That lady still operating out there, in Little Twister?"
This is not especially subtle but she can't be allowed to be near kids again, Lydia's sure of that much at least.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... to be honest, I don't think Granas is what matters," Riesenlied shares. "I think that any kind of faith taken to its extreme, such that you lose view of reailty..."
The image of Lord Siegfried flashes in her mind for a moment, and she winces.
"... I've given Gwen the heads-up, since she wanted to look into it. I asked Elena and Rosaline as well, since it seems fair that they resolve a dispute within their church, but..." She bites her lip. "Yes, I imagine she still is."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"I guess so," Lydia admits to Riesenlied, but she doesn't seem to quite buy it. She isn't particularly extreme in the Baskar religion as far as shamans go but she IS a shaman and so far the universe seems to be panning out, like, 90 percent in support of her theories. She figures that's pretty decent for religion.
"Cool. I guess you don't know where she is in there, but it shouldn't be too hard for me to find 'er. Little Twister isn't big enough to hide an orphanage of fear if you ask around and grease some palms."
Of course this doesn't answer what Lydia plans to do upon finding her.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied knows that Lydia is probably not someone she can convince of that, and perhaps that's not a topic to harp upon -- what's happened is a bit more urgent and dire than how it came to be. There's a faint sigh as she looks to Lydia, expressing, "... be-- careful, if you do go there. Less because of the caretaker herself, and more what the children would be further exposed to..."
She seems hesitant, glancing aside as she responds, "I think Gwen says she knows where it is. I heard her say the rooftop was distinctive."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Of course Lydia still thinks Granas is better than Althena's which, by all accounts, bans liquor, dance, and singing--all of which Lydia likes! Well she assumes she likes liquor. She hasn't really tried it much and not at all since getting her head back. But singing and dancing? Banned? That's crazy.
"...I don't exactly wanna hurt 'em anymore than they're already being hurt." Lydia says, looking back to Riesenlied. "But a place like that can't be allowed to operate. Maybe she treats the human kids all nice but beastmen are way more likely to be orphans than humans are. Janey and Mikaia probably ain't even the first folks she's done that nonsense to. It hurts real bad to remove yer parts. Trust me, I tried."
Her horns don't quite droop, rather they seem very sharp still. "...I guess I'm bein' kinda hardcore about it. I don't really know what to do to be honest, but they can't keep operating. I know that much."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... it's why I haven't had the confidence to relocate the children that are still here," Riesenlied shares. She shakes her head and says, "Even kind caretakers and matrons... they look at me and the beastchildren I bring, and though they try to be polite, I can sense their fear and suspicion..."
A soft sigh as she stares into the air. "But yes, you are correct. It should not be allowed to operate." Her lips thin softly. "The children deserve kindness and care, not cruelty..."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Yeah I getcha." Lydia tells RIesenlied. "I mean, obviously. I'm not some rich bitch like Ida. I know what life's like for folks like me so you don't gotta make excuses for Mikaia and Janey or anything. I mean, obviously, I can just look at 'em and see how much happier they are. Sure it's dangerous considerin' what you're aggroing, but so far you haven't gotten 'em amputated so I think, like, maybe not act all high and mighty over folks y'didn't save in the first place."
She puts her hands in her pockets and adds, "I dunno how to do that. I mean, I'm smart, and sure I can be clever, but I'm not exactly the kinda person who knows how to get people to do what I want except by being real annoying about it. Maybe I'll hook up with Gwen then."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied pauses for a moment, flinching a little at Lydia's language but not really saying much about it. She remembers when Ida told her about how she put the children in danger... of how she could possibly take them away from her. It rattled her, to think of having the children be spirited away by force...
"... we've explained the situation to them," Riesenlied expresses. "Janey and Mikaia are both smart children, and... I don't think there's much to be gained from pretending Filgaia is not a terribly harsh world at times."
A sigh, and she squints quietly to say, "Thank you. Miss Gwen is from Little Twister, so I think she'd know how to handle the situation better..."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "Sure." to Riesenlied though she does wonder if a courier knows enough about orphanages. Lydia sure doesn't. "If nothin' else I can thow her out and find another old lady to drop in there."
Lydia it's probably harder than that.
"Yeah," She adds. "I dunno." She sighs, looking down. "I'm never gonna get over this, I don't think, Riese. It's just too awful. I don't think I'd seen anythin' like it. I mean you hear stories, but t'do it to kids like that..."
She sniffs once, briefly.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied swallows nervously, but... nods as she reaches out and holds onto Lydia, with her deformed hand. Somehow, despite it being a contorted mess of scales and metal, she makes the handholding gentle.
"... that's why I want to make it right. And I might not be much for vengeance... but... I can only hope to deliver kindness and care where there was once none," she expresses gently. "Because this happens too much, to everyone, around Filgaia."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Gwen is really cool though. She used to come by the colony and share stories." Lydia says. "Like this one time, she got--I'm pretty sure stole--a SIGNED novel by Nightburn Acklund. That's probably gotta be worth a fortune right? but you can't sell it obviously. It'll go up in value. Collector's item."
Lydia looks down as Riesenlied holds onto her. There's a brief push up of her shoulders, just as instinctive in its own way as Janey's twisting of the head. It's like petting Rocket. You know you almost risked being bit but much like Rocket, she just ends up taking it anyway even though there's a distinct sense of Lydia's hairs being on end.
"I'm kinda for vengenace though." Lydia says. "So why you always so nice to me? I bit you."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied pauses for a moment, then lets go gently as she says, "... and it hurt, but I forgive you. I hope you won't bite me again. And it isn't like..." She glances aside, remarking, "It is not as if I have not done my share of things I am not proud of, so I could not fault people for disliking me."
A sigh. "... but I suppose if you pressed me for a question, it's because I... well, it's what I wish to do. It feels... good, being who I want to be. That is why I'm nice to you. It is not anything more complicated than that."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "Huh. I guess I shouldn't think of it as that incredible if you're just being who you are, but I guess being who you are is pretty incredible with everybody tryin' to make you be someone you're not."
She looks away for a moment. "...But I am sorry I bit ya. I wasn't even mad /at/ ya. So um-- I guess even though I'm not really a nice person in that way like you are, I'm glad you're okay. I promised Granny Halle to not act outta anger, but--I've got way more emotions in on this than anger. But thanks for clearing my head too, it's uh--easier to work when this isn't hanging on my mind."
She is quiet before adding, "But t'be honest, you've treated me as well as my own people, if not better, so I don't see myself forgetting that anytime soon."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has a patient smile as she listens to Lydia, bobbing her head to one way as she says, "I understand. Many things weigh heavy on our mind, and I know the importance of being able to let it out and sort one's thoughts out..." She scratches her cheek. "I've helped more than one friend sort their thoughts out in all too literal a manner, after all..."
She sounds a bit bashful about that. "To not act out of anger... there is a lesson there, even for me. Action and intent, as she says."
She nods as she adds, "And of course, Lydia. You're always welcome here... even if we may have to take flight soon."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "Huh--Oh yeah, she said that didn't she. Yeah. That's how she is. When I become an old wrinkly butt like her, I wanna be just like 'er."
She has the language down at least. Lydia's starting with the important stuff right? Ha ha...ha.
"Don't worry. If you gotta take flight...there's no way I'm gonna miss it."