2018-10-09: Go Fish
- Log: Go Fish
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lan Lilac
- Where: Adlehyde - Starfall Saloon
- Date: October 9th 2018
- Summary: Loren and Lan play a game of cards; Loren takes the opportunity to grill Lan about Guardians. Lan makes a request. Loren asks after Desire.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
In a way, it's almost an echo of a meeting they'd had months ago, in a cafe of sorts up on Lunar.
It's just that this time instead of a game of chess between medic and wayward shaman, it's a game of cards. A friendly one -- the sort that can be played in a public place like this tavern -- and over a couple cups of uncomplicated coffee at that.
The city's still recovering from a second swing taken at their proverbial jaw, and this is about as good as it gets, tucked into a corner and away from the section of floor still serving as a makeshift medical bay (though less than it had been, and likely by a fair margin).
Loren glances down at his hand, his expression unreadable.
"...Poor shape, isn't it," he comments, as if merely discussing the weather and not the condition of the town. "Still, it's a better sight than it was last year. Those monsters nearly leveled the city."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's a bit like that! There are a few differences. Lan's hair is a little bit longer, and Loren is just a little further into his own personal hell, ie 'other people'. But otherwise it's totally the same.
"What, your hand?" Lan asks, glancing up at him over her cards. (She didn't wait for him to finish...) "Oh! It's not looking too great, no," she shakes her head in agreement. It was such a beautiful kingdom once. There were trees everywhere, and grass, and old stone buildings. She'd only been through once or twice before, but it'd been a welcome respite from the Badlands' endless baked dirt.
She reaches out to the draw pile and takes a card from the top.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
By contrast he's had a bit of a haircut, at least comparatively to where it was at on Lunar (it was never all that long). And then there's the part where his clothing's changed (to what he'd obtained from Festina Lente), and the part where he's been able to relax -- a little bit, but it's something -- and the part where he's trying not at all to think about the future.
It doesn't come easily, particularly not around her.
His gaze turns over towards the draw pile as her hand reaches for it.
"For them, this is acceptable," he says, only to shake his head.
His hand is a bad one, though she will hopefully never know it. A game like this is supposed to be about bluffing. Or at least, not letting anyone know what you have.
"I was reminded recently, though. Guardians can't normally 'exist' in our world, can they? Whenever I've seen one," used one, "it was as if they couldn't sustain themselves long -- they were there and gone again. Is that right?"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"For who, the Metal Demons?" Lan frowns. "It can't be helped, I guess. It's their nature to destroy." It's just something she knows, although Lan couldn't tell anyone exactly where she heard it from. Her mother maybe, or her grandmother? It's something known so wide and true that it doesn't bear talking about. Like the sky being blue, or water being wet.
She tucks the new card into her hand, considering her options carefully. Maybe if she tries... "Huh?" She looks up at his question. "Mmm. Well, if you were supposed to be holding the world up you wouldn't want to spend too long hanging out at some random fight, would you? I think it's like that." ...So basically, they're just too busy?!
"Or you can think of them coming to our plane of existence like us sticking our heads underwater. It's not a good idea to do it for too long. You see?" she smiles at him, and puts down a pair of nines. "Your turn."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Yes. Of course," he says, unable to add much more to that statement of hers -- it still holds, what was done to her. Though, given the state of the world and her role as a shaman, perhaps there wouldn't be that much difference even if they hadn't. ...Still, given how she will be deployed, the more antipathy they can garner for her enemies, the better.
"Of course not. Still, it is strange that they can't seem to manifest, particularly when their effect against their enemies is so potent," he responds, gaze flicking down to his own hand again. It hasn't managed to miraculously changed in the last few seconds since he last looked at it.
He arches an eyebrow when she sets down a pair of nines, as if to silently inquire whether that is all.
But he still has to play what he's got.
And it's a pair of twos that he sets out, his expression as blank as before.
"Hm. So it's not a matter of will but ability, if you were to look at it that way? Interesting."
He reaches over to draw a new card, glancing at it as dispassionately as before.
It's a better card.
"What do you know about the Guardian of Desire?"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"It is kind of strange, isn't it?" she agrees, apparently not nearly as concerned about the whole thing as Loren. Then again, she's been raised in her tradition - maybe she already asked these questions herself at one point.
Then again, it's Lan. Maybe she's always been so copacetic.
Hmm, he's got almost as many pairs as Lan does. Maybe it's time to be a little aggressive in her tactics...! "At least, that's how I understand it. Another shaman might be able to tell you more. Someone who has a good relationship with one of the other Guardians. Rigdobrite is... not really a hermit, like you think of it, but he's a star. He's every star, sort of, even the ones millions of miles away."
That's how Lan has explained the mysteries of the world to herself, usually assisted by a jug full of cactus juice and a boring evening to kill.
"Luceid? I don't know a lot about them, but I know of them. They're a Guardian Lord - one of the rulers of the Guardians," Lan explains. She looks at his twos, looks at her hand, and slowly raises her eyes to meet his over the edge of her cards. "Do you have any eights?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He shrugs, as if noncommittal. "I suppose," he says, in the manner of one discussing faith that most certainly isn't their faith, but...
He's neutral on it. Agnostic if you will.
Meeting one of the Guardians had been a shock. He's still not entirely sure what he thinks -- at the time he'd been shocked, as anyone might when they'd been taught was just a primitive belief was not only real but of some power -- particularly after he'd been more or less tasked with their request and granted an alleged means to channel their power, but...
But it had taken facing Luceid to crystalize and focus his misgivings about the whole business.
Particularly after that moment of pure desperation where he'd called out to a Guardian and after a fashion it had answered.
Use him? No, even if their goals align, he's not theirs to use. They're his. Or, at least, the tablet he still bears is. And if they stand in his way, he...
He thinks again of the barest breath of that power that Luceid had brought forth and has to suppress a shudder. As he is, no, he can't kill a 'god'. Not yet.
He's not as powerful as he'd thought they might be, but they're still more than he can take on, however comforting the stories he might tell himself otherwise might be.
"I can't exactly say I've had the chance to speak with very many shamans," he points out. He's met them, yes, but that's a different story than sitting down and having a talk with one. "Whatever input you can provide is... useful." Somewhat, he thinks, reflecting on Cultural's notes. So far it's in alignment to what he does know.
"Or the concept of a star, perhaps. I've often wondered if Guardians reflect people's concepts of a thing rather than the thing itself, but I suppose that's a matter for philosphy, or something like that."
There's a pause.
"No," he answers.
"I heard a rumor that Luceid isn't well known even among Guardianists. Barely anything at all seems to mention him. It almost feels as if he has been cast out or something of that nature. Made anathema, perhaps."
"...I don't suppose you have a seven?"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
To someone like Loren, who derives some comfort from control of his environment, Lan's lackadaisical approach to religion and philosophy is probably slapdash. "It's a good thing you've got me around then, isn't it?" she grins easily at him. "But yeah, that's right! You do understand! Concepts. Things as normal and everyday as the earth and sky, things as hard to define as love and hope. That's what Guardians are."
But she has to shrug at his mention of Luceid. "Well, it's not like you can summon them. Nobody knows why, or at least I don't." Lan tsks and hands him the seven of diamonds. "Lucky guess~"
"As far as I was told, Luceid left. I think maybe because it wanted something, which seems pretty fitting for a Guardian of Desire."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
That's one way of putting it. Of course, religion is a different thing where he comes from.
The Emperor has endured for long before the founding of their nation. And he will continue on, it is said, until his guidance is no longer needed. There's an assurance in that, to know that the same person has their hand on the rudder, has seen even his ancestors from birth and to the grave, generation upon generation.
...Though, there have been rumors -- there have always been rumors -- about who else may be guiding the nation...
"Yes, I do understand," he replies, more than a little snarkily, but without real rancor in it. "Hm. So there are no shamans with 'a close relationship with Luceid'?" he says, using Lan's own words.
And fleetingly he halfway smiles -- sardonic in and of itself -- when she hands over the card. "Perhaps," he allows.
Sevens joins the pair, neatly stacked and pooled together with his previous set.
"So he 'left'. I wasn't aware that a Guardian could leave."
'Left'.
It certainly had wanted something. Though he could see the shape of it, and though it seemed that the Guardian had no love for the world it had apparently abandoned, the precise reasoning eluded him. Wouldn't it die if the planet were taken over?
Eventually he'll need to explain the Desire Guardian's alliances to Lan. But perhaps, not quite yet. It's no certain thing she might face off against it.
"Here's another thing. I recently saw someone call forth and control a great red horned beast on a battlefield. It didn't resemble any Guardian I'm aware of, and it furthermore was able to remain in the world until dismissed. Have you heard about something like that?"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"None that I know of, but I don't know every other shaman," she reminds him, watching his pile of cards grow. "I don't know how you could. If they've left, and can't be summoned or talked to..." Can a Guardian die? Of old age, or anything else? Not just the destruction of the planet. She should've asked her mother...
Loren is right, in a sense. "Where does a Guardian go when they leave? Where can they leave to? I mean I guess it's also physically left as well as... uh... left their party," she fumbles.
But talk of a different kind of summoned beast makes her frown and lower her cards. "A red horned beast? That's..." That's no Guardian she knows, either. "Was it an object first? Like, was it a stuffed animal or a statue and that object turned into the beast?" She knows about Lord Chauncey of Foxington, but spirit fetishes like that are supposed to be hard to use.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"So it's not so much 'left' as 'refusing to answer'. Hm. That's..."
His brow creases. He's not sure if he likes that. Does that mean he could use that Medium someday and have the Guardian straight-up refuse to answer if it doesn't want to anymore? ...Can they be that selective?
Perhaps it's something to do with embodiment, he mulls, before reaching over to take a card from the pile, replenishing his hand. If Luceid is physically present, he can ignore summons...?
Maybe he's putting too much thought into this. Still, it should make sense somehow. They're not really gods. There should be something to explain this.
Loren shakes his head only to shrug, though. "No. Well, no, I don't know. I didn't see it happen, but it didn't seem like a Guardian, or anything else I'd seen before. It appeared to be fire-aligned, but the only Guardian I know of with fire affinity is Moor Gault, which doesn't look a thing like this."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"That's how it seems, anyway," Lan sighs. To think of the Guardian that disappeared... Surely Rigdobrite wouldn't do that, right? Lan may not be the most responsible shaman, and she's not the most powerful or the most graceful, but she believes in the Guardians and the planet if nothing else. Even ailing and afraid, they keep fighting for the world and guiding the people who live here.
Surely Rigdobrite wouldn't abandon her. If his distant presence is with her, she's never truly traveling alone.
But a red-horned beast... it doesn't fit anything she's ever heard of. "I can't think of anything," Lan has to admit after a few moments of wracking her brain. "Maybe it's a kind of magic that we don't know about. I saw some interesting techniques on the moon. Plus they have that weird goddess cult."
Lan would normally be much kinder to the idea of a goddess-based religion if the Athenians had been a little less uptight about drinking and Filgaian heresy, both of which she's a fan of. Her eyes may be on her cards, but her brain's a mile away as she sorts them by number. "...Any sixes?" she asks a moment later.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"If such a Guardian did 'leave'," he asks, lifting his gaze again from his hand of cards -- half of his mind considering his options -- "Is it possible that it could exist outside the restraints that bind the other Guardians? ...Consider it academic curiosity."
He pauses a moment before launching into his second, more pressing question:
"And would it be possible to injure or slay a Guardian that forsake Filgaia? ...Or any Guardian, for that matter."
...Perhaps he's mispoken, he thinks. He wrinkles his brow, as if to reconsider his question. Then clears his throat. "I suppose it's sacriligeous to you to even consider any of that. Forgive me."
He'll allow the topic to drift away, focus instead on his hand of cards.
And speaks again when she speaks her piece on the matter of the horned beast.
"Nothing you're familiar with, hm? I was wondering if it might be something from the moon. Perhaps Lunar has its own form of Guardians, though no one said anything about them while we were up there. It might be a secret even for their natives."
It might go a distance to explain Luceid, who had also been on the moon. Had manifested in 'flesh' and not been limited to minute appearances. Perhaps the moon holds greater secrets than he'd supposed.
It's all a moot point down here, of course.
"...Sixes?"
He actually has to pause a moment. Lan isn't the only one a million miles off.
"...Yes," he says, begrudgingly, before sliding it over with a sigh.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Academic curiosity? He is a student of sorts, after all. "Well, I don't really know for sure. If a Lunar Guardian came from the same source as our Guardians, then it should play by the same rules, shouldn't it? But if they're just two sets who sprang up in, in the same circumstances or something, then they could work differently." She's pretty sure!
"To injure--" Lan nearly frowns, but he apologizes quickly enough. Still... "To be fair, I'm pretty sure Vin wants to wring Moor Gault's neck often often. It isn't sacrilege just to think about it, it's..." she fumbles for the right word. "...Why would anyone want to?"
Who would boil the oceans just to spite the waves?
Lan sets her cards face down, resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. Her lavender eyes are a bit troubled. "I could see it. The Althenian church was really hard on anybody they thought might not be one of their own. If they've spread far enough..." No wonder they wouldn't have heard of it. She looks at Loren's proffered card with a distant expression. "..."
"...I'm kind of bored of go fish," she admits. "Isn't there anything else we could do?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Two sets, huh," Loren muses, screwing up his forehead as he thinks it over. "Interesting thought. Though it could also be that the state of the world is preventing our set from working properly. Right?"
Or they're nothing alike.
But it still doesn't explain Luceid. Perhaps it might be due to the nature of 'desire' itself...? All people want something, even in a world as badly off as this one. Maybe desire alone is enough to sustain a creature like that.
His other question lands about as badly as he'd anticipated. Or nearly as well. "It isn't? Hmm. Guardianism is different from the Granas tradition," he muses, as if he's not a follower of either.
He doesn't answer why someone might want to. Perhaps on this, it's best not to explain his thinking.
Instead, as the topic drifts towards the red horned 'Guardian', he meets her suppositions with a nod. "Some reclusive sect, perhaps. I suppose it would be easier if we knew who the person summoning that creature was and could ask them directly." He shrugs, though. There's nothing for it but to watch and wait.
She just stares at his card.
He stares back at her, as if to suggest she go ahead and take it.
"...You're bored? You're the one who suggested it," he gripes, closing his eyes and settling back in his seat with an over-annoyed sigh. "Fine. We can settle up here and take a walk around a wrecked city if you'd rather. I doubt there's much to see even after this long, though."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She looks at the card, then looks back at Loren a bit sheepishly. "I know I did, but that doesn't mean it was a good idea all evening." 'All evening'? They haven't even made it three whole games yet!! But Lan's feeling a little antsy, somehow - no, just restless.
"Thanks," Lan sighs, leaning forward to rest her folded arms on the table. "I just..." She trails off after a moment, looking over at him with a shrug.
Would he...?
He wouldn't leave her. People can't really kill Guardians. Not without destroying the entire planet in the process. And if things do end up that bad...
Well, she can't just let that happen.
She sits back in her chair, and starts gathering up the cards into a stack. "Actually, I was wondering - will you help me practice? It's been a while since I was in a real fight and I could use some sparring practice."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He, for his part, fixes her with a weary, withering stare. "Fine, we'll do it your way," he says at last, pushing back his chair and straightening before he stands up out of his seat.
Once she's gathered up the cards he collects them, tucking them away into a small bag and stuffing those deep into the depths of his own shoulderbag.
"There might be something going on even in a city like this--"
She asks him a question.
Will he spar with her?
"..."
In silence, his gaze rests on her for a long moment.
He had once thought that if... he had someone to practice with...
But it had sort of been a naive notion from the start. Now that he's out of Jugend and sparring isn't required for a grade, any requests like that were more likely to be brushed off.
And when it came to the sword... well, he'd already known how that would have played out. He would have just been told that he should stick to his business as a medic.
So in the end he'd had to turn to a Drifter to stop being a laughingstock with the blade.
And now the shoe's on the other foot.
"...Hand to hand, right? Sure," is what he says in the end. "It's not a bad idea."
Better that she doesn't die early because she can't defend herself right.
Better that he take what he can get and hone his skills while he can. If his own won't work with him, then so be it.