2018-03-15: The First Step
- Log: The First Step
- Cast: Riesenlied, Tethelle Cirdian
- Where: Vane
- Date: 15th March 2018
- Summary: Tethelle visits Vane and runs into a certain Hyadean.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The Magic City of Vane, according to ancient history, once floated above the surface of Lunar. Those days... are gone. Today's Vane is a battered, ramshackle ruin of several sturdy houses surrounded by more fragile and battered makeshift homes, along with tents and various ghetto settlements under the kind grace of Miria Ausa, who's providing as much as she can to everyone with the limited resources that she has.
Riesenlied has been staying here with Noeline and her daughters, to recuperate under the watch of the Goddess Statue. While her head wound -- manifesting as a rather large amount of bandages on over her head where the scales don't reach -- prevents her from doing much... the kids have taken to cooking and helping repair buildings where they can!
As such, when Tethelle arrives, she can see a cute 8-year old stirring a pot of soup and humming. She's clearly a beastgirl, evidenced by the crow-like black wings wobbling up and down behind her; nearby, a slightly older girl with gray hair bangs at a sheet of plywood onto someone's shattered rooftop. "Just a bit more..."
Riesenlied calls out softly, "Janey, lunch will be soon, all right? You've been working a while now..."
Janey -- the one up top carpenting -- grins in turn to say, "Aw, okay! It's not perfect, but at least it won't soak the living room anymore!"
The winged girl giggles. "She's really taken to this job..."
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle has never been to Vane before.
As it turns out, it doesn't look anything like the picture she saw of it. It looks... kind of like a dump. In some ways, parts of it remind her of her home; a failing village with a declining population.
She doesn't like it very much. It makes her uncomfortable in a way that terrifying battles don't. There's nothing to hit here, no easy problems to solve.
And it doesn't help that she's heading directly toward talking to someone that most of her really doesn't want to talk to. Under ordinary circumstances, Tethelle would not be going to talk nicely to a Metal Demon... but these aren't ordinary circumstances for more than one reason.
Tethelle took to Lunar fairly well. It helped that she appeared in Meribus with an entire group of Lunarians, who helped her blend in while giving her some helpful suggestions to avoid attracting the attention of the Guard. She is still dressed similarly, though she's gotten some useful bits and pieces: a couple metal armour guards, a gauntlet for her off hand.
But she had always avoided going to Wayside as much as possible, so the young children may not recognize her as she approaches the encampment Riesenlied's group has set up. Riesenlied, though... Tethelle isn't exactly in disguise. Tethelle shades her eyes as she looks up at the roof and the girl on it before her gaze passes down toward the soup-stirrer, and then toward Riesenlied. Good; she's here after all. She'd heard from the citizens of Vane there were strangers here, but she can never be sure.
"Hello," she says, with a smile for the beastgirl. Tethelle has no problem with her. Then she looks over at Riesenlied herself. "You look like crap," she says, and doesn't actually mean that in a particularly mean way. She just has all those bandages!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's eyes rise quietly as Tethelle approaches; the beastgirl smiles and says, "Oh, hello..." she bows her head. "Would you like some soup? It'll be ready in a bit..."
Riesenlied pats her on the head lovingly, before drawing herself to sit up a little more straight on her seat. She's changed her garments since coming to Lunar -- she's dressed in a white and blue gown with detached sleeves spreading out into feather-like ends that evoke the image of a blue bird. There's a healthy dose of Baskar tradition in its construction and look.
"Oh, hello..." Riesenlied speaks very gently. She recalls her from the battle with the Quarter Knight, but--
She holds her hand with a quiet wince.
"Ah... Berserk nearly crushed me when he grasped my head. If it were not for you all..."
She lowers her head further. "Ah-- I... do not know if we've really introduced each other. I'm Riesenlied, and this is Mikaia, and that's Janey up there."
Janey peeks up over the roof with a grin to go, "Whoa, she looks cool! And that sword's huge!! Hey ma'am!"
"I've-- taken to taking care of them as my children," Riesenlied admits, warmly.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
"Thank you; if there's extra, I wouldn't mind some." Tethelle wouldn't take anything away from Riesenlied's group if they were short, but if they're not, she's been travelling and hasn't had her dinner yet. Unfortunately, she doesn't exactly have much to add for her part. Maybe some spices, afterwards...
As for Riesenlied, Tethelle actually recognizes the robe.
Not in particular - she's never seen that specific one before - but some of the style. It bears some similarity to her own half-skirt, in fact, which has a rather feathery construction itself; Tethelle wears it with what appears to be denim shorts (she bought them in Guild Galad) instead of a traditional outfit, but the motif is definitely there.
"I've seen you before, with Cecilia," Tethelle says, "but I don't know if we've made it formal. My name is Tethelle Cirdian." She gives a slight bow - more toward the children than Riesenlied if she's being honest, but it's there. "Hello up there," she adds, with a bit less formality. "Yes, I have a sword; I'm a Priestess of the Sword, I should hope I would have one when I could. Are you having fun up there?"
She lowers her voice a little afterwards, mostly because she doesn't feel like yelling her conversation to the rooftops. Tethelle is still giving Riesenlied a bit of a judging look. "I saw you there," she says. "Fighting against him, even though he's a Metal Demon. I'm surprised you did as well as you did in the condition you looked like you were in."
Okay, Tethelle is still somewhat biased against Metal Demons. But she has to give grudging respect to anyone who stands up to Berserk like that.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Heheh, yeah, helpin' out with repairs is pretty fun. We're kinda low on building supplies here, but we're makin' do with what we got," Janey responds as she puts her ball hammer back onto a small smock of carpentry tools. "Ooh, the Sword... which one's that again?"
"Equites," Mikaia has to lecture Janey. "You never remember which is which!" She does look to Tethelle and pour a bowl of soup for her, handing it over carefully as she tiptoes. "There's plenty, since we're on soup duty for the refugees today!"
Riesenlied nods as she smiles a bit more warmly and says, "It's nice to meet you, Miss Tethelle." Ah, the formality. "... I--" she glances aside. "Yes... I do not know if Miss Cecilia has told you, but I am not what you'd call an... 'ordinary' Metal Demon."
A pause, as she explains, "I am part of the Tainted -- a minority of disadvantaged Hyadeans that have lived in a ghetto back home for a long time. Our village back in the Badlands, Wayside, was our first such attempt to try to flee discrimination and oppression from our peers above..."
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle Cirdian feels much less guilty (that is, not at all) about taking some if there's plenty. "Thank you," she says to Mikaia with a smile. "Yes, she's Equites." She decides not to go into the details of her religion and calling with literally children, so instead she sticks with a simplified version and says, "It's my duty to travel and do what I can to protect people."
Tethelle does not immediately eat the soup, instead letting it cool down for the moment. "I've heard," she says to Riesenlied. "I've even been to Wayside... once." She stopped, briefly, en route to the waterway; she even visited the dojo, though she did not fight anyone while she was there, even in a training match. She'd watched Claude and Ida instead.
She feels awkward; she's not entirely sure what to say to Riesenlied. Tethelle is fighting her years-old dislike; even long before the Metal Demons made themselves known on Filgaia with their attack, she'd been trained to fight them, for that was the original purpose of her temple's sword skills. The Guardians had believed them to be a threat, and she'd internalized that very quickly.
And yet...
"And, from what I understand, you had spoken to the Guardians. Been challenged by them." Tethelle seems... uncomfortable, but trying to hide it. "Or given a mission, or... something. Did you find what you were looking for?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Mikaia nods a few times and says, "Mama... does much the same..." though she turns her attention to several other Vane-dwellers who've come for their soup and bread. She's become somewhat of a sweetheart of the city in a week, it seems!
Riesenlied presses her lips together, and thinks for a moment. "My relationship with the Guardians started... when I was very young." She lifts her robes up a little. "I had been rejected by my peers, and I cast myself out into the Arctican wilderness. ... I was..."
She pauses, squinting for a moment. That head wound is bothering her.
"I met a tribe called the Fereshte, who worshipped the Guardian of Life, Odoryuk. It was there that I first... learnt of the Baskar, and the Guardians. And now... most recently..."
She nods.
"I met with Equites at the base of the Guardian Temple near Milama. It was there that I pleaded for a chance for our people... that some of us do not wish for war. Equites assigned a Geas to me..."
A quiet puff of breath. "... a Geas to show Equites that we are not killers. To show him the fruits of our labour and hopes, with Wayside..."
A bite of her lip. "Well... our village is gone now, consumed by the Demon of Elru and our brethren. But our people survive still... and the rest-- you were there at the Tower of Life, at the Pleasing Gardens."
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle is not familiar with the Fereshte, but this honestly doesn't mean a whole lot, given Arctica is about as far away as it is physically possible to get from her home on Filgaia without leaving the planet.
"Mmm," she says, and lets it sit for a moment while Rieselied finishes gathering her thoughts. Tethelle sometimes comes on strong, but she knows it; she's generally pretty good at controlling herself and helping people with their problems, and while this isn't /quite/ the same it uses some of the same empathic skills. Plus, she noticed the head wound, but Tethelle is not a particularly skilled healer and is not sure what to do about it.
At the geas - from Equites, no less - well, Tethelle's reaction is less measured. Her body tenses, and to avoid saying something she will regret very shortly she jams a spoonful of soup in her mouth. It is still hot, and she regrets doing so immediately, but she forces herself to swallow it despite being pretty sure she burned her tongue a little bit.
She has Opinions.
"I was," she agrees, after she's swallowed. "I was there when you and your friend," by which she means Noeline, "came to fight, and I was there when Odoryuk... responded to you and Cecilia." That is probably the best way to put it. And, slightly more grudgingly: "I was there when you protected me, too."
There's another pause, almost uncomfortable in its length, before Tethelle blurts out, "Why? Why /any/ of it? Why be bound by Equites; why call to Odoryuk; why help /me/? You're a /Metal Demon/. Maybe you're an unusual Metal Demon, if you're one of the Tainted, but... you're still one."
You're not part of Filgaia, is what Tethelle thinks, but doesn't say. Is that what you want to be?
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied chews at her bottom lip as she reaches for the small gem that shimmers softly at her necklet; the Dragon's Tear. It ebbs with a calm blue hue, as she looks towards Mikaia as she giggles when someone compliments her on her soup-making skills.
"I was born here in Filgaia," she answers. "Many of us are. I was borne at a time of crisis, after the disaster they now call the Day of Collapse."
She glances aside and says, "Lord Siegfried... and our other elders still maintain a position of vengeance and difference. But... I just..."
She lowers her head. "I can't help it. I love this world. It's the only one I've ever known in my life. And when I see it suffer so, I..."
She shakes her head and lifts it up, to look gently, if timidly at Tethelle. "I want to... I want to reach out and understand its problems. And help, as a part of it... even if I know our-- our bodies are... rejected by it."
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle watches Riesenlied touch the gemstone, though she makes no other sign she's listening. She does not respond to what Riesenlied says at all until she's done talking; Tethelle doesn't do a great stoneface but she certainly tries to seem impassive.
It's better than letting her actual emotions show. If there's one thing Tethelle does not want to do here and now, it's reveal her own confused emotions.
And then, very slightly, very slowly... she nods. It's just a slight incline of her head, but it's something.
"My village," she says, before correcting herself. "My tribe, my temple - we were founded after the Metal Demon War, a thousand years ago. By a Baskar hero. She had trained with Equites herself; she had fought in the war to protect Filgaians from Metal Demons, and become a great swordmaster." The way Tethelle says that implies a proper title. "We lost a lot of what we had in the Day of Collapse; the old Temple was abandoned when we had to flee elsewhere, and along with it much of our teachings. But we didn't forget our purpose."
"So I, more than others, have trained to fight Metal Demons." Tethelle reaches up, touching the pommel of her sword where the sword-knot is tied on. "The priesthood of Equites was to be a sword that could cut the darkness, a strong arm to defend the people of Filgaia. There aren't many left. ...I am the only student of my temple to take up the sword. We were fading, but despite this Equites gave me a purpose: go to Adlehyde. Fight the Metal Demons. Later, to protect the Statues, to stop Mother."
"And then people like you come along, and say you don't want to fight. I didn't like it. I still am not sure if I do. It's difficult. All the stories, the legends, the teachings say I should be protecting Filgaians from you." Tethelle releases her sword, lowering her hand again. "And yet - if Equites herself wants to give you a chance, and Odoryuk will speak to you, who am I to tell them they are wrong? Maybe they see something I didn't."
Tethelle suddenly yanks her gauntlet and glove off her right hand. It's a sudden gesture, almost aggressive but not directed at Riesenlied. "You stood against Berserk, though it cost you," she says. "If you, and people like you, will fight with us to protect Filgaia..."
Tethelle rises. She offers Riesenlied her bare hand, as if to shake. It is probably one of the hardest things she has done in a long time.
"Of course," she says some moments later, with a very slight grin because she finds it easier to joke to relieve some tension, "that means we have to get to Filgaia again. But I have ideas."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lifts her head up and looks to Tethelle with empathy and interest, as she listens. The tale of a village founded a thousand years ago -- and much like her, they lost a lot during the Day of Collapse. It was a perilous and difficult time for all in Filgaia...
She nods very slowly, and bites her lip. "... I am not about to say I am innocent. My own fear, my own complacence made me complicit in the attack against Adlehyde. I stubbornly clung to the image of a kind, selfless saviour in Mother who would bring us peace -- until I heard her terrible, wrothful voice myself. But..."
She lowers her head. "Even after all that, Equites and Odoryuk gave me a chance. I..."
She looks towards Tethelle's hand, and-- swallows in turn.
Riesenlied pulls her hand up -- her human hand, sleeved in a fingerless long glove as part of her outfit, and places it to the Sword-Shamaness'.
She shakes it, with a gentle nod and a smile.
"... indeed. At this moment, I'm getting by helping Lemina and the city of Vane out -- it does rather remind us of Wayside. We also have to find where our skyship has... er, disappeared to..."
She tilts her head. "You had ideas, you said...?"
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle leaves her glove off for the rest of dinner. It can get back on when she's done with the soup.
Which is actually pretty good, especially given an eight-year-old cooked it, she thinks.
Tethelle has never heard the voice of Mother directly. All she knows of her is the Guardians' fear, and what they told her. Part of her wants to ask... but she doesn't need to know right now. Another time, perhaps. What Riesenlied has told her is enough for now. Unfortunately, she hasn't seen the skyship; if Tethelle had to guess where it was, she would guess 'still on Filgaia'.
"Well," she says, "it's clear that the Elw have been here, to make the teleporter that brought us here in the Pleasing Garden. And they must have had a way to get back, since they didn't live here; none of the Lunarians I have spoken to knew what an Elw is, so it must have been a very long time ago indeed." Tethelle sounds pretty confident about this part.
She doesn't get any less so as she finishes: "Which means that, if we look, there might be an Elw teleporter. If we're lucky, it will still work - but given the Pleasing Garden was still working after so long, I think finding it would be the harder part." She smiles again. "I won't say it's easy. But my mission is there, not here, for now. If the threat of Mother had passed, I would have been happy to explore here."
But it hasn't.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied nods very slowly, smiling patiently as she feeds on Mikaia's soup. Mikaia herself looks pretty proud of it -- soup kitchen duty's been a thing for everyone in Wayside, and to have that skill transferred to a different world makes her feel really good. It's humble food, but hearty enough.
"That's true," Riesenlied nods. "And Lucia knew of the device when she urged us to activate it. I have not run into her again, but... perhaps there is a sister device that connects the two."
She bobs her head to one side. "... and, I agree with you. We have an unfinished mission. Even now, I fear that Alhazred may have created more of that horrifying device to null the statues' protection. Time is not on our side..."
She nods with more conviction. "I will let you and Miss Cecilia know if I learn of anything. We've been working with the people here in Vane, so hopefully we would be able to come up with a solution."
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
The soup isn't the style of food Tethelle makes. She knows stews, which are similar enough, and different kinds of soup, but then again she's from a place an awful long way from Wayside. (Not that she knows where Mikaia comes from, ultimately.)
That was something Tethelle could have gone without thinking about. She scowls when Alhazred is brought up, but she can't argue with Riesenlied's analysis. It would be horrible of Alhazred was making more... even if it cost him a powerful Metal Demon every time, there might be enough involuntary 'volunteers' to be a real problem.
"You have seen Cecilia?" Tethelle asks, because she hasn't. "Could you tell her that I'm here, in Vane right now, if you see her again? I have been travelling with Talise and some of her friends for the moment - you three are actually some of the first Filgaians who didn't appear with us who I'd seen. I don't know how many of us made the trip." That's honestly a bit of a relief.
"If we find anything about the Elw, or any other way to get back, I'll let you know." Tethelle rises again. "Thank you for the soup," she says, loud enough that Mikaia can hear her. But to Riesenlied, she says, "I don't know that we are friends. But we don't need to be, for this... and I think we can agree to cooperate."
It's a big first step.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Mikaia's pretty much only known the style of Wayside's cooking -- and given the kinds of saplings that Mariel gave that were hardy enough to grow in a place like the Badlands, it does mean that a lot of their diet involves starchy tubers like potatoes and tubers. Vane appears to have carried that onward, which means: potato soup!
At least Lunar has a large variety of spices to keep things interesting.
"Oh--" Riesenlied didn't seem to realise that Tethelle hadn't, but nods. "She was here just now, actually -- you may still be able to catch her around the city or nearby, since she said she was going to avail herself around. Perhaps the library -- Miss Miria's selection is awe-inspiring."
Mikaia smiles warmly and says, "It's okay! Come back anytime you want some soup, hehe..."
Riesenlied nods slowly. "Yes, I agree. Thank you for your patience and understanding, Miss Tethelle..."
That first step is so important, after all. Riesenlied has experienced it herself, with Equites back at the Temple.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
"Actually, one of my friends wants to investigate some things in the library," Tethelle says, "which is why I came here. So maybe I will find her." Tethelle is certainly going to try now. It would be nice to be able to catch up with some other people she knows - maybe they can figure out how many people are on Lunar.
How many Filgaians, that is. Tethelle knows there's a lot of people on Lunar. She just doesn't know most of them.
"Perhaps next time I'll bring food of my own to share," Tethelle says; she doesn't have the supplies to cook for all of Vane, of course, but she can certainly make something for a small group, and it's likely to be unusual from their point of view. Hmm. Maybe she should... "But for now, I should see if she is still around."
With a slight bow, Tethelle brings the empty bowl back to the proper place and only then takes her leave, adjusting the greatsword on its carrying strap as she goes.