2018-03-21: Staying Safe
- Log: Staying Safe
- Cast: Riesenlied, Neriah Parringer
- Where: Pearloats Pasture
- Date: 21st March 2018
- Summary: Riesenlied comes across an old friend while trying to get herself back to Meribus.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied... Riesenlied is in Glenwood.
She didn't /mean/ to be, but the voices of the world are particularly gripping on her when they choose to be -- and that was how she wandered halfway across Lunar and took a boat in a trance and ended up at Tintagel Ruins. That's over now, but she's still got the ephemeral question of: How do I get back to Meribus??
The cloaked Hyadean is heading through a light patch of forest on a merchant's trail, arms together as she glances around with her travelling companion Odjn. "I heard," she comments, "That there're bears around here. Hellion Bears. Brr. That's just the -worst-. That's like..."
"... if only they could be purified..." Riesenlied softly laments. "Riese I don't think empathy works on a bear!" "You'd-- you'd be surprised! I've heard the voices of nice bears before..." "I'd ask if you're insane, but ursine-ity is definitely in question..." "That's rude, Odjn..."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Sometimes walking alone in the forest in Glenwood can be dangerous.
The forest seems quieter than most forests - there are, truly, few copses of trees like this on Filgaia, even at a lighter density. The treetops cast long shadows across the Tainted woman and her little dragon companion. A slow breeze rustles through them, boughs shuddering softly together with a siss of leaves.
There is no hint of sound other than that to let Riesenlied and her companion know they are being watched. Only a white shape looming just ahead, in the middle of the path, unmoving. Feminine, perhaps, but cloaked and garbed all in shockingly ethereal white, standing out like a phantom against the trunks and the hint of rainy sky beyond.
From beneath the hood, something stares at the twosome. Ominously. Slender hands begin to rise.
They push the hood back - and reveal not a ghost, but a smile, and eyes twinkling merrily in an orchid shade they do not usually hold.
"Riese," Neriah says with obvious relief, starting forward towards the woman. "I'm so glad you're alright...!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied-- starts just for a moment, at the white cloaked figure. But empathic senses do tend to tell you of what's coming on ahead, and her eyes widen -- even if she does catch that orchid shade in Neriah's eyes. "Neriah...!" she hurries forward and puts her hands to her chest. Her own hood falls back. "Goodness, I--" she bites her lip. "With everything that's been happening, I couldn't check on you after you left the Feresthe..."
She lowers her head.
"You were still unconscious then, when Jay brought you onboard... and before I knew it--"
She shakes her head. "Nevermind. I'm-- I'm glad you're healthy..."
Odjn floats on behind, looking just a little bit more curious and wary, but that's maybe her natural state.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Whatever might've happened to Neriah in the Pleasing Garden - and indeed, the last Riese saw of her, she was hanging in the air, inhaling insane amounts of dark energy and then disappearing, amid the rubble of half the Ge Ramtos tower - she seems to be more or less in control of her faculties here. Her smile is wide and genuine. Her eyes even gleam with little tears that stand at the corner. She quickens her pace as Riese does, half-holding out a hand.
She stops short of hugging the other woman, though, instead stopping close to her and folding her hands. A soft blush colours her cheeks. "I'm sorry if I worried you. There was something I had to do in the Garden. But I think the worst is over now, and I'm alright."
Neriah glances at Odjn for a moment, her lips pursing. But she forces it to pass, smiling once more, before reaching for Riese's hands to gently clasp them - if allowed. Beneath the cloak, she's wearing a simple white one-piece dress, the cuffs coming over her hands a bit like lily petals.
"I'm glad you're alright, too... I was so worried after the attack on Wayside. When I saw that Gebler had attacked you guys too, I feared the worst.
Her eyes widen a little. "...Did Mikaia make it alright...?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a pleasant, soft smile as Riesenlied expresses, "She is. She came with us to Lunar... she's back in Meribus with Noeline and Janey..." She drapes her arms and-- admits, "... a voice called me out here. I'm trying to find my way back to them..."
Neriah mentions the Garden, and Riese tilts her head to say, "I was there too..." She lowers her head. Her head is still profusely bandaged. "Berserk nearly killed me when he attacked the statue of Odoryuk. If it weren't for the Guardian of Life, I may well still have died..."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"Meribus?" Neriah repeats with a slight frown. "I haven't been to that part of the world yet."
The dark-haired excavator - if that's what she is, still - bites her lower lip as she realizes how many bandages are wound around Riesenlied's head. She leans a little closer as if to inspect the woman for dents. "The Guardian really came to your rescue, huh," she says with a faint smile, her voice a little smaller. "I didn't think they had much time for Hyadeans... but then, maybe I don't know much about the Guardians."
Pressing her lips together, Neriah clasps her hands and bows her head. "But I'm glad you lived," she admits. "And I'm glad so many of the others did, too. Jay especially. Especially after that Lord of Calamity appeared."
The young woman looks up again. "...What's it like?" she asks a bit wistfully. "To have the Guardians sticking up for you, I mean."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is quiet for a moment as Neriah comments about the Guardians. Her bandages have mostly been there, by this point, to not allow for further infection or wounds to open -- still the presence of rents and cuts where the crushing pressure was high enough to allow for wounds to open are present. "... Odoryuk pulled me back from the brink, and I..." She bites her lip. "Using the energies from where his Statue broke, I Materialised him to help drive Berserk back."
She sighs softly...
What is it like?
"... it's... I can't quite describe it. I've lived my life in fear of Odoryuk's wrath all this time," Riesenlied answers truthfully. "The last time we met, it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. But to hear him say we can eventually overcome such boundaries..."
A pause, and she says, "It... gives me renewed hope of what I want to do. What Wayside has come to symbolise for me."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Slender hands knit together more tightly as Neriah listens to Riese telling her the tale of what she did. She closes her eyes slowly and breathes out a longer breath, her shoulders sinking ever so slightly beneath the crisp drape of that white cloak.
"I envy that," she admits. "I can relate to the first part, at least. I lived in fear of the reaper in my nightmares for such a long time. I wish I understood why the Guardians embraced you but I always felt rejected by them."
Deep in the ruins of the Guardian Temple, on a world that is not silver nor even really blue, a Medium of Moor Gault sits, unnoticed and untouched.
Back on this planet, Neriah smiles a quiet smile. "But I'm glad you have hope. You deserve it. With the kindness you show everyone...." She trails off, then clears her throat.
Her expression falls again, a tinge of sadness colouring that smile but not fully erasing it. "...Wayside," she murmurs. "I'm sorry I wasn't more help to you. I wasn't strong enough to stop the Red Demon. I thought I'd learned to control my powers better... but he was right. I was just bound by the chains of causality."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks back towards Neriah, with a strong and empathic expression as she steps closer. "Thank you... I hope to be able to shape this hope into something that can really benefit the world. Because... well, I still firmly believe in that. That we shouldn't have to leave in fear. That people should make an effort to understand, and we should make it easier for them to."
She tilts her head as she senses that sadness, softly. "You did all that you could... you helped the children evacuate to the airship, did you not?" She lowers her head. "We did the best we could given the situation..." A pause. "What do you mean by... 'the chains of causality'?"
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The orchid colour of Neriah's eyes seems to have something more to it, when one looks closer. Subtle sparks of something deep red whirl behind them, almost circling her irises. They weren't that colour when she walked into Wayside during the attack.
"Something the Red Demon said to me," she says with a rueful smile and a shake of her head. "But it made sense. And a lot of it is because of you - how you helped me in Ash Hare, when that thing went into my memories and came out with that Shaman. It helped me figure out a lot of why I am the way I am."
Neriah's eyes lower to her right hand. "...I think that Shaman was someone NUMBER ONE knew. And the Chains of Arius was what was causing me pain. I saw seven other people in my dreams... in the memories, even. The nearest I can figure, that Shaman put a curse on NUMBER ONE that would kill him if he used the kind of magic I have, and it lasted for seven generations."
Closing her hand, Neriah looks up again, with a faint smile. "But it didn't kill me since I was NUMBER EIGHT, so I had the chance to break free.
"And I have."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied draws in a quiet, shallow breath as she gazes into those eyes for a moment longer. "Number One... the figure that I saw when I brought Laevateinn upon the darkness." She furrows her brow very quietly as she places her hand to her cheek. "Seven generations..."
She pauses, biting her lip very gently. "You... broke free?"
A pause, as she looks optimistic. "Are you free of your curse now, Neriah...? Goodness..."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah closes her eyes and bows her head. Sometime over the past several weeks, she started letting her hair grow out into a rich natural curliness that spills down around her shoulders and cheeks. The simple dignity of her expression lends her an almost doll-like delicateness.
"Yeah. It's not gonna try and kill me anymore," she admits. "There was a lot more power there than I ever thought there would be... I think the death curse kept me from being able to handle it. It's why using my powers a lot would make me... y'know... go crazy like I did a couple of times."
Clearing her throat, Neriah moves a hand up to rest at her collar. "For all that the Red Devil really is some asshole," she says a little more slowly, "he made me realize something. That I'd never be able to help the people I care about if I'm just a scared, out-of-control monster. So I fixed it."
"I thought it would take destroying the Statue," she admits with a blush. "But it didn't after all!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks towards Neriah and nods very softly, expressing, "... that's understandable. And... I'm glad you've come to that resolve. Is that woman -- Milennia -- still helping you learn how to further refine and control your powers...?" She isn't certain what kind of power it is, and why it was sealed in the first place... but there are many who hold forbidden power and are trying to use it for the better.
"And--" Riesenlied tilts her head. "If it was not the Statue... what released you from the curse?"
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"You know, I haven't seen Millenia since I arrived here. I wonder if she's still back there on Lunar," Neriah muses with a frown. She crosses her arms, touching delicate fingers to her chin. "But she did help me a lot. I think her power's a little different than mine, but I know for sure now that we draw on the same kind of source. She's sort of a different piece of the puzzle is all."
Neriah exhales through her nose. "Uhm. I would say probably a combination of things? Millenia and Rosaline helping me control myself better. The fact that I was really, really determined." She grimaces. "The amount of power I had to put out to fight through everyone trying to stop me."
A flicker of regret crosses her face. "I wish I hadn't had to do that. I don't think I'll have to again, though. The chains are gone and I think I can take care of people who want to hurt me and my friends now."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's expression droops a bit. "Rosaline... I saw her in Krosse that day..." She drapes her arms around each other gently. "... with Ida and Garrett too. They all became Hellions..."
She chews on her lip and tries to not dwell on it for too long. "That's a very noble ambition. Don't ever lose sight of that, Neriah..." she smiles a little warmer. "That heart of what you do with that power is truly what matters. Not what has been painted by history, separated from the stories that it first came from..."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"Ida I'm not shocked," Neriah admits with a lowering of her lashes. "She was so full of bitterness and hate. I saw the way she used to talk to you. She always acted like you were scum beneath her boots. She always acted like /I/ was scum beneath her boots. Like I'd somehow /asked/ for Valmar to be in me."
She shrugs slowly, then sighs. "But yeah... Rosaline I knew about. She honestly seems to be more content. She was always sad and scared before... maybe that's why she needed Malevolence to feel like she was a strong person. Who knows...."
/Or am I speaking of myself,/ an inner voice wonders with a tiny whisper of doubt.
Neriah doesn't dwell on it. She just clasps her hands again and nods. "Yes... all I know is that if I stayed the way I was, I would just continue to be a weak, out-of-control danger to everyone around me. I want to be strong enough to fight back when people do my friends and I wrong. When people do you or Mikaia wrong."
Straightening her shoulders a bit, she looks up towards the sky, half-obscured by the treetops. "...If we ever get to Filgaia, maybe someday I'll figure out who NUMBER ONE really was. I have a lot of unanswered questions."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied presses her lips gently, and-- holds her hand to her chest. "... Ida believes she is free now, now that she has been gifted by the powers granted through her by Malevolence. But... I have seen how that goes -- Lord Siegfried suffers from it too... as do so many of my brethren. They will never be free, for the moment something greater than them appears... they will be drawn into that vicious cycle again and again."
She shakes her head and-- lowers her head. "I won't fail them again. I will help them overcome their dissonances... no matter what it takes."
She looks towards the skies as well, sighing. "We have a lot to do here, let alone to understand how to return. I... have deep fears my brethren will reproduce what they did with Berserk and shatter the other statues."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah's brow furrows ever so slightly. "Ida seems like she's crazy, mostly. Maybe it's just her fate to be a constantly-striving witch who never finds satisfaction. But I don't know. I just hope she doesn't drag Rosaline down with her. Rosaline never trusted me before she became a Hellion, but I think now I'm starting to understand her a little bit."
The woman brings her lips together firmly as Riese suggests she'll try to fix Rosaline. She doesn't say anything, just nodding along with the Tainted one.
"If it means anything, I don't think I have any reason to try and smash Statues anymore," she admits. "I wanted to do it because of vengeance. But that Shaman is long dead, and Ge Ramtos was only there because of him. There's nothing left to get revenge on." Her voice softens, a little less certain now. "...It's a little unnerving. I'm almost at a loss for where to go next."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is quiet about Ida... perhaps, as she is optimistic and hopeful with Neriah, she is in turn hopeful with Ida, no matter how bad it gets. "... my own battles will still continue ... I still have not found the Fereshte -- it has gone somewhere and we have not located it yet. I can only hope the rest of the villagers are doing fine." She sighs.
She does look towards Neriah to say, "There seems to be a great war embroiled here, between Rolance and Hyland. I..." She bites her lip. "The Althenan Guard have put my posters up here as well, so I am as much a wanted woman on Lunar as I am Filgaia. It's best if I do not incite any further conflict with my presence here in Glenwood..."
She tilts her head. "Do you think you'll remain here? Meribus seems the more quiet continent, but the Guard is everpresent..."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah presses her lips together, brushing a lock of hair back. "The Fereshte is missing? That's not good."
She furrows her brows. "Yeah, there is a war. I'm surprised you got a wanted poster so quickly. I don't think I'm on one, but most people only know wanted-me as a crazy monster with white eyes, and I don't look like that anymore." Shrugging, Neriah smiles faintly back at Riese. "I don't think I'll go to Meribus... maybe to check it out a time or two. But I think I've found a place to stay in Glenwood where I'm at ease."
Neriah tilts her head to the side and admits, "I met some people in Pendrago. I'll see if they've heard anything about the Fereshte. If I hear anything, I'll try to contact you as soon as I can."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"I think they transferred all the Hyadean bounties as soon as humanly possible," Riesenlied muses. "Mine included. If Lady Harken and Lord Siegfried came here... I suppose they have a right to be concerned..." She lowers her head. She nods very softly and says, "And--"
She furrows her brow. "I think you've met Mister Ambrosius? The man in the long red coat. He told me that Gebler -- the ones who pursued the Fereshte after you left the skyship -- had crashed here. Be... be careful, if you come in contact with them or their officers."
She sucks in a breath. "But... thank you... I'll let you know if I learn of anything important as well."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah's eyes darken at the mention of Gebler. "You mean Thomas and his friends. Or I guess his name is Loren now. Huh. So they're here."
Internally, Neriah makes a mental note on her checklist:
[ ] Make Thomas/Loren pay.
"I'll be careful," she promises. "You be careful too. Do me a favour and tell Mikaia and Janey I said hello."
Neriah hesitates for a second. Then, blushing, she steps forward and holds her arms out. Unless Riesenlied backs away from her, she'll pull her into a warm hug and lower her face to the woman's shoulder.
"And thank you," she murmurs. "You're the sweetest person I've ever met. Please stay safe."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Lo...ren?" Riesenlied tilts her head. "Oh... is that what Mister Thomas'--" she bites her lip. "Then... the Mister Rider that was with them as well..."
She nods. "There is someone posing under the name 'Marcus Rider'. Be especially wary of him... he is more dangerous than he looks."
She's a little surprised, and then gives Neriah a hug in turn, with a soft smile. "... thank you. I'll try to not attract more trouble. I trust you, Neriah. I trust you'll do the right thing."
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"I feel like I've heard that name," Neriah murmurs into Riese's shoulder.
She holds the hug just a little longer than necessary. A little part of her heart compartmentalizes the feeling and tucks it away. A little feeling bubbles up as she processes that emotion:
/I love this woman so, so much./
/I'll punish anyone who hurts her. I'll torture them to death./
When she finally steps back, Neriah clears her throat, pushing the emotion down and folding her hands together in a neat clasp. "Thank you for always being there for me, Riese. I'll try not to let you down. Hopefully I'll see you again soon."
She begins to draw her hood up again.