2018-07-23: The Dragons' Promise
- Log: The Dragons' Promise
- Cast: Riesenlied, Hiro
- Where: Taben's Peak
- Date: 23rd July 2018
- Summary: Riesenlied and Hiro reconvene after recent events, with Odjn and Ruby talking of Lombardia and what she learnt there...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It has been a while since Hiro and Riesenlied crossed paths -- and much has happened since then. Noeline had unleashed the power of Duras Drum and acquired the Guardian of Illusion's blessing -- and they'd met Lombardia, Nall's erstwhile ally that'd rescinded into the Earthenspire Mountains... and... Riesenlied has also met almost certain death at the hands of the Faces of Valmar.
All in a Drifter's week worth of work, really.
Riesenlied is nursing herself on a bench as she overlooks some children play at Taben's Peak, knowing that's the best way she recovers. Nearby, Odjn's wanted to talk to Ruby again...
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
With the children around - and at play so loudly. It may be difficult for Riese to detect the exact cadence of change into snickering. Like they're in on some open secret of something that's about to happen.
And then it does. It starts with the color of orange entering into her upper field of vision.
Then the youth dropping down further into it upside down.
He's not going for the jump scare or anything though so he doesn't 'boo.' He just raises a hand(lowering it from her perspective) and waves in a slow rhythm. "Yo Riese. You look like you've seen better days." Smiling upside down it would still be hard to mistake it for a frown, "Rough fight?" He questions - because their lives are just one rough fight after another.
It's what they've chosen.
What is Hiro hanging on? Why it's an empty cord for hanging up things. Which can range from drawings - to poster announcements - to can alarms - and laundry.
Laundry is boring though.
Unless someone is upside down /in/ their laundry that is. His feet are hooked around the rope line - indicating he probably shimmied his way the whole distance.
"Sorry I couldn't make it for that trip you took. Something..." He looks momentarily chagrined, "... unexpected came up."
Meanwhile Ruby doesn't do anything quite so dramatic. Instead she just flies into Odjn's field of vision. "Odjn! You doing okay? I heard the news! And wow..." Ruby wipes a pawsie across her brow, "I mean it must be a huge relief isn't it? To know a little more about where you came from."
At least she hopes so. She hopes it cheers Odjn up because frankly, that story of her origin was super depressing and she just wants good things for Odjn now to help her get over that dark time in her life.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a sudden gasp that sounds a little bit too frightful as orange enters her world. Oh no she's become Orange Tang, Instrumentality has commenced--
Wait, that's just a shirt.
"Ah, Hiro, goodness, you surprised me," Riesenlied expresses as her horns pull back up from where they just wilted. She must've been very much in thought to have been -that- startled.
She hesitates, and says, "Yes..." she looks to where bandages are covering a rather major wound that looks like it might've pierced her side. "Fights with... people I do not wish to give up on. People I consider friends -- even if the evidence starts to surmount..."
She hesitates further. "It rather reminds me of what Lombardia told me about Lord Siegfried too. That he had been... betrayed."
Hiro apologises for not being able to make it -- and she shakes her head. "No, that's more than all right. Is everything all right? Were you able to arrange passage to Pentagulia yet?"
Odjn flinches a little at Ruby, bobbling up and down as she expresses, "Hey, Ruby... yeah-- you heard, huh?" She deflates and sits on one of the railings. "I'm-- I'm kind of still-- trying to digest it. It's heavy... and-- it hit me a lot harder than I expected it to? Even if it's not that surprising... something I think I knew?"
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro crosses his arms. And looks sideways, This looks strange again from his upside down position. "Siegfried is a guy who's been hurt again and again until he just gave up on everyone - gave up on the world."
Hiro sighs softly, "That you brought him up though means it's bothering you in regards to this... friend. Right? That you're worried if you gave up on them it'd be this slippery slope until you got to a place that's... somewhere close to him - right?"
It's only then though that he answers, "Well we've got a lead on something in Azado - can't leave yet though. We've got that offer from Lunn and..." He looks back towards Riese, "... the cult is targetting Jean. They came after us in Meribia. One of their best - and we barely got out with our lives."
Letting go with his legs, he does a small inversion in mid-air - the flip taking him to land on his feet. "They almost butchered this guy on the street just because he was there. Not even to prove anything. We only barely got him out of there."
-=-=-
Ruby nods and keeps making that nodding motion. "Well I mean - you kinda already knew but - confirmation is different right? It kinda takes your mind from..." She takes her pawsies and puts them in one place, "... uncertainty to..."
And then to another spot just over to the opposite end. "... confirmation. When before maybe you had this uncertainty of 'Well this is it. This is all I can guess. And I'm never gonna get anything else.' And then 'bam'! It's just all different."
Ruby gives Odjn a long look, "So I guess - what I really want to know is. What do you need right now Odjn? There anything I can do to help you get... to where you want to be?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... so many of the people who threaten the world now started like-- us, in a way," Riesenlied looks uncomfortable. It's a bit curious to have this conversation while Hiro's upside down, but he's so natural and agile it must be second nature to him. She'd have a headache getting held upside down.
"Yes... the thing is -- they fell into this path because no one believed in them, everyone ostracised them. But if I decide to take a stand one way or another... I exacerbate that pain and belief," Riesenlied murmurs. She shakes her head. "It is difficult, to -- have belief and faith in someone, yet to resist what they do because people are hurting because of them..."
There's a weak look in her eyes as she tries to muster a smile. "It -- makes me wonder if I am trying to have it both ways. Like I was, with Lord Siegfried."
But then there is news of the Shadow Dragon Cult. Riese's eyes widen. "Oh no..." her face drains a bit of colour, as she whispers, "That is horrible to hear, I'm sorry. How... is Jean taking it? To-- harm someone on the streets just because... it's-- they won't stop at nothing, will they...?"
-=-
Odjn nods and says, "Yeah, you're right... I-- I mean, she told me so bluntly. She said that I was basically someone she didn't expect to exist -- the last of her breed, something she called the last of the 'True Dragons'... what makes me more true than, say, Muni-Muni, y'know?"
She shakes her head... "I felt like I was ready with all the pep talks we had. Like 'no matter what I hear, we'll be together', all that...? And I should-- I /should/ know that, logically! But my brain, no, my heart can't help but feel so hurt and lonely by... well, being told I'm the last survivor of our kind, and Lombardia's kinda just... checked out completely. Like she's just really gonna curl up and die on her own, and I can't do a darn thing about it..."
There's a soft sigh, as Odjn looks to Ruby. "I--I'm just hoping I'll be okay, in a bit, y'know? Once this settles. Once I can start remindin' myself, Riese's protected my life and shown me how to live... how much of a family I have with the Waysiders... and, y'know... our friendship. That's dear to me... and I wouldn't trade it up for nothing."
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro gives this sort of protracted nod, "In the tournament back in Lacour I fought this guy named Fargo who... well..." He gives Riese this sheepish look, "... he was terrified of me. And I didn't get it at the time when he meant in what he told me but... he said that everyone like us breaks eventually. And when we do we become the worst scourges the world has ever known."
He takes a deep breath, "Sure sounds familiar now right. With Siegfried. Everyone telling us that we're just naive and... none of us stand a chance coming out of this as remotely the same people."
And Hiro shrugs, offering her a smile, "And well - what of it? We're all gonna change. Who says we've gotta become jaded cynics? Maybe we'll just become more worldwise optimists." Giving her this light pat on the shoulder, "Look - maybe you are trying to have it both ways. But there's no perfect answer Riese. There certainly wasn't for me and you right? I believed in you and I still stood in your way."
Giving her a chagrined look, "Doesn't mean I did things the right way though. I mean my eyes were clouded with vengeance at the time - right? I just saw you standing in /my/ way against Siegfried. Anyhow - the point is. Just keep thinking about /an/ answer... and eventually I know you'll find it."
It's only then he goes back to the cult. And Hiro releases his hand, "She hasn't said much but... I bet not well."
It's a guess because... Jean hasn't really spoken on how she feels. And he's too respecting of her privacy to press an answer. "The cultist just kept going on and on about how weak she'd become. It reminded me of Berserk really... his way of might making right. Except more with... technique than raw strength." He gesticulates a little with his hands as if trying to explain it. "Fei fought a few of them in the sewers too but... he couldn't catch them. It makes you wonder - how do you stop people like that?"
Hiro exhales long and hard, "Jean feels like the exception because..." He gets quieter, "...we sure couldn't convince Berserk to quit."
-=-=-
Ruby inquires after a moment, "I don't get it? Does that make Muni-Muni more 'fake' or like the 'tainted' kind of dragon? Not that I think 'tainted' is a good word... I'm just trying to understand."
Ruby though listens, and her mood just seems to fall after a moment. And then a thought occurs to her, "Odjn you don't feel... guilty... because you're one of the last survivors right? I mean... you didn't know them - but I just thought - you know - 'if it were me I'd feel bad because I made it and they didn't.'"
Ruby then puts up both pawsies, "Because you know - if you do - you shouldn't! You absolutely shouldn't. Because wow - it wouldn't be your fault at all."
But she tries, "And well sure you wouldn't trade Riese and Wayside as your family but... you just learned you lost a family you could have had and... that doesn't feel great. And you wonder what might have been - and that makes it hard to see that you're in the place you ought to be. Because... the place where we choose for ourselves - is the place where we should be.
Ruby takes a pause, her wings flapping as she hovers, and then she gives this sigh, "But you still can't help but wonder if there wasn't some other place that you never got to know - and it feels like a missing piece to your life." It sounds like she definitely knows this well. "And it's hard to get over that when it feels like you're missing something that important."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... I don't know if I've told you, but I've been planning on resuscitating the spirit of Wayside with our newfound wings for when we return to Filgaia," Riesenlied whispers, as he gives her some comfort in the form of a hand on her shoulder. "I think..."
She looks up to the air, then to the children. "I think that if I can at least help people be more empowered... to help each other, to have better lives, to overcome the harsh conditions they live in -- then over time, we'll see less reason for the kind of extraordinary and traumatic circumstances that so often make a Drifter."
She looks bashful as she says, "So I agree. Let's keep an optimistic view... and--" she scratches her cheek softly, avoiding the scales that are still creeping up over her face... ever so slowly. "Yes, you're absolutely right. It's like Dean says, often -- so long as we don't give up..."
A pause, as she expresses, "I guess -- with regards to the cult -- what I just said... might be part of it. If we can equip the people to fight them on a cultural, social level -- starve them of their ability to feed off their fear... Because those cults thrive when people are made to feel isolated that they overlook what happens to their neighbors... right? That's how those children disappear... that's how communities fray."
Berserk, though... no, there was no convincing him. The purity of his ideals is part of what makes him frightening in the first place.
But perhaps, in a world where such thinking didn't become a necessity...
-=-
"I don't get it either..." Odjn shrugs, looking a bit defeated. "I'm not a scientist or anything, and to my knowledge we still have some Dragons around -- maybe there was some knowledge the Hyadeans lost during the Day of Collapse?"
She opens her mouth just a little, as Ruby speaks about survivor's guilt. It... hits pretty close, though she didn't want to voice it. "I--I--I know it isn't my fault. Other than what I think was my mom? Yeah, I didn't know them at all. I don't even think most of them were /alive/ by the time I was conscious."
She listens intently to Ruby with a soft nod. Her eyes tear up a little as she gasps and goes, "G-gosh, yeah.... yeah, Ruby..." She wipes her eyes. "I'm-- I'm gonna face my fears and go back in that mine, when we go back to the Blue Star. Just-- if nothing else, find some closure, y'know...?"
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Oh yeah? You're thinking of making it some mobile place - in the air? Well it's way harder to catch an ideal that's... up there." Hiro grins and nods along in acceptance but then he becomes thoughtful at some way through. "Oh I see - you're thinking of taking a proactive approach. Sort of like rather than treating a disease - preventing it at the source so it doesn't get spread in the first place."
Letting his arms fall lax at the sides, he looks at the children at play. "It's an impressive thought I think. Not wanting to give up - most people when they say it are thinking of it like trying the same thing over and over until it works - maybe making tiny changes. When it really means needing to tackle a problem at new angles."
He gives this wide smile, before looking at her, "I think it's a real admirable solution. I can't wait to see what you have in mind."
Hiro however then gets quiet when it comes to the cult. "Huh. Well I think you're right - I just think we don't have enough information to start doing that yet. I think we have to defeat them as an enemy first - before getting to where we have enough information where we can tackle the problems that create them - and they prey upon. I mean Jean was like - their top member other than their master and - even she has trouble figuring out how to go after them."
-=-=-
"Maybe? I mean I don't even really know how you're made. On our world it just happens when a boy dragon and a girl dragon love each other very much."
It does occur to Ruby though, "Wow that is pretty depressing though - to rely on... someone else knowing how to create your people."
Ruby does start to nod slowly as Odjn says she knows it wasn't her fault. "It still sucks though knowing... you made it and they didn't. And thinking it was maybe just luck or... coincidence or... you know... something like that. It's like you wanna give meaning to your existence - meaning to why you survived and others you should so... how about we go there together?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"H-hehe..." Riesenlied sounds bashful, though she admits, "Well, we have got a long way before it will truly fly. I think we managed about ten minutes of flight to escape Gebler and..." she points. "I think you can still see the singe from where the engine caught on fire. But we're getting there -- I have all the faith in Lydie and the others..."
She chuckles, sounding a bit bashful as Hiro says he wants to see what she has in mind. "But it is worth striving for. The Wayside Outreach -- an aid and relief force that can reach difficult and remote areas that are affected by Filgaia's desertification and constant strife... and other areas too, such as investigating the diseases that affect the Veruni and our kind."
On the topic of the cult, though, she nods. "... they're elusive... if even Jean cannot track them down--" she furrows her brow. "Are we at the mercy of a wait-and-see approach, I wonder...? But the more we wait, the more children are exposed to their operations..."
-=-=-
Odjn flushes just a little. "D-don't ask me, I don't know either! I don't think an egg was involved, uh..." Oh no, Odjn is shortcircuiting a little trying to think of the Metal Birds and the Metal Bees.
She shakes her head. "... Ruby... that'd mean the world, thanks. I know Riese's coming up for a tough time when she goes back to Elru, visiting that Baskar village that's so close to her heart..."
The little Dragon bobs her head, then says, "So I wanna make sure no one has to face their past alone! And that goes for you too!"
She holds up her little... pinkie, which is more red than pink. "That's a Ruby 'n Odjn promise!" Aww, her cheer's slowly returning!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro crooks a finger by his chin as if in consideration, "Just checking but you didn't mean for the engine to catch fire right? Because I could sure see Lemina lighting one on fire to see if it would make it go faster..." He seems to gradually realize it was definitely not intended, "A-Anyhow I'm sure your faith in them is well-founded."
Hiro rubs his nose after a moment, just after Riese spoke on the Veruni, maybe he's thinking of Kaguya and her scenario. "Worthy causes all. I agree. I can only hope that when... all is said and done here - that Althena is willing to lend a hand back to the people of Filgaia." He says quietly, "Feels like maybe that while she can't solve all those problems that... she could at least sure help with buying you time for your Outreach to get a good head start."
Hiro winces when she mentions wait and see and just ends on... "I sure hope not. Right now though it feels like it though."
-=-=-
Ruby too is flushing about it. "And it probably has nothing to do with no-no parts." Do Metal Dragons even have no-no parts!? Ruby might be short-circuiting on /that/ one.
Thankfully she recovers. "Definitely - you say the word - and I'll be there with you when the two of you go back to Elru." Ruby looks momentarily abstracted, "Aha... well Odjn I don't even know where to start when it comes to me. The truth is..."
She sighs, "You remember even more than I do. I don't even remember... a voice telling me to stay put or run away or anything - just nothing before Hiro really. And he was a baby - he sure doesn't have any answers."
She does straighten up though, as she looks Odjn in the eye, and puts her pawsie up against hers. She can't really jut out a pinkie finger so instead a claw hooks on Odjn's pink claw with the pawsie at a haphazard angle, If I get a lead though - you'll be the first to know. That's definitely an Odjn and Ruby promise!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's horns wilt as she comically sweatdrops. She's in a Lunar 2 area, she's just blending in, okay? "I am not sure if I should be worried that the prevailing mantra amongst the flight crew is 'I'm sure we didn't need that'... but yes, I do have faith in them!"
She smiles a bit sweetly and says, "I'd love that. I'd love to meet Althena too, hearing of all the stories when she used to live amongst the people... but, I understand that's not possible nowadays..."
She nods a bit more discerningly, though, at the news of the cult. "I'll keep an eye out if I am around Meribia, but I do have to keep a low profile there..." what with the Guard and all.
-=-=-
"H-hey, it'll be-- I'm sure it'll come back to ya... and even if not, well, things have a way of bein' written down in Ruins, right? I'm goin' down to one for me, I'm sure there might be one out there for you too!" Odjn tries reassuring her, though the claw and pawsie hooks awkwardly and she gets pumped. "You helped me through some of m'darkest hours, Ruby, I won't forget that! Promise!"
She floats forward to give her a big hug.