2018-11-11: Burned
- Log: Burned
- Cast: Riesenlied, Matilda Whitehead, Noeline
- Where: New Arctica
- Date: 11th November 2018
- Summary: Matilda helps Riesenlied out of a difficult situation in New Arctica, and with Noeline, they talk of the village of the Fereshte and the Medium. Riesenlied tries to concentrate upon it, but...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The Wayside Outreach has been spending a lot of its time delivering shipments of supplies to New Arctica, when they discovered its existence. Blankets, medicine, food, building supplies... the kinds of items that the Outreach specialise in -- essentially given the environment is not wholly dissimilar to that of another Wayside.
But Matilda knows that the process hasn't been smooth, with... people recognising Riesenlied from the time of the Arctican assault.
Some of these same people are here because she snuck them out of the slaughter, after all.
She rounds the corner as the caravan approaaches and hears shouting--
"Why? Why do you have to come here again and bring up old wounds?" cries an old woman as Riesenlied lowers her head over them. "Haven't your kind done enough...?"
She pauses, wearily; Riesenlied is fighting back a tear. She doesn't quite know what to say. At least it... hasn't come to blows.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda's involvement with the deliveries has been... incidental at best, and only really gotten started fairly recently. She's spent a lot of her time in Elru thus far holed up in her cabin on the Carakin, really. She's here and helping *now*, though, and that's what matters.
When she spots Riesenlied, obviously stung by those words, though... she decides to -- is it really intervening if you only pull aside one party? She isn't sure what to say for a few moments; eventually, she just settles for, "Ah -- erm... I need a little help sorting out some of the supplies."
She gently takes Riesenlied's hand and starts leading her away, in her... characteristically evasive manner.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has herself been a lot more active, as evidenced by the friction. She bites her lip and looks relieved and glad for Matilda's out, given how stuck and anxious on the spot she has been. The older woman pauses, looking to Matilda. Perhaps the sight of someone else outside the village's reminded her...
"Yes, don't let me keep you," she speaks with weariness. It's a familiar weariness.
Riesenlied gets ushered along as Matilda holds her hand and pulls her away. "Thank you. ... I... really was uncertain what to say." She looks towards the caravan for a moment, then wipes her eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda keeps Riese moving until she is, at the very least, out of earshot of the older woman. It's best for everyone involved, she thinks. "... That's okay. In your position... I don't think I'd have been able to answer her, either. I think it's best if you don't have to, instead."
Matilda shifts uneasily for a few moments, trying to think of something to say. In the end, the bleached-blonde compounder settles for, "Are you... doing well, being -- back here? Have there been many... such incidents?" Matilda's never been good at providing distractions from dark moments. Quite the opposite, in fact -- she's inclined to dwell on them.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... there has," Riesenlied finds it in her to answer truthfully, after a rather obvious moment of hesitation. "I still remember a good number of them too. From... two years ago." She lulls her head in one direction, and lets out a centering, calming breath; it's a struggle, if we're being honest about it.
Matilda asks if she's doing well. She catches note of her hair dye for a moment, given their hair colour's similar for once. "... I... visited the--" A pause. "We went to the valley where I thought the remnants of the village of the Fereshte would be. But what we found was..."
A pause, as she feels a little pained. "Something... deeply strange. It was as if the village was wound back in time. It was standing, like nothing ever happened." She... furrows her brow. "Something about it felt similar to... um-- I'm sorry to bring up memories again, but... it reminded me of the farmhouse. But I can't place why."
She rummages through her pack, and then procures...
A Medium. Octagonal and slightly mechanical in nature -- like the one Avril bears, as the closest point of reference.
"... in the end, I was able to find what I had left behind, so long ago."
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
There's only a momentary wince as Matilda mentions the farmhouse. That feels like an eternity ago, now; she doesn't dwell on the thoughts, though. "... Interesting," she says, her response careful and measured. "... If a miracle has happened, that's one thing, of course. But I'm sure you know by now that... Filgaia's not a world that sustains miracles."
Letting out a long breath through her nose, Matilda says, "Regardless -- that's good, that you've been able to reclaim what's yours. Is this... a Medium, then? Something seems -- different, about it, from the usual sorts... it's the material, but it's not *strictly* the material, either..."
She thinks on that a moment, with a faint, "Mmmm." Eventually, something sticks out. "Wait... can you actually -- use, that?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"No, it was not a miracle. Something was... deeply off about it. I was--" Riesenlied hesitates. "Not... aware for most of it, but Noeline said it was as if the villagers' time were... trapped, in an unending cycle." She hesitates for a little bit longer. She's not sure why she said the farmhouse either, but something about the way something broken down had become warped through some effect...
Or perhaps it's one of those inexplicable hunches.
"... I-- need to check with Avril first. But she mentioned something about the 'Originals'-- much like what Noeline has inside of her. An artificial medium," Riesenlied explains slowly.
Reclaim what's hers...
"I'll need guidance to know if I can or not, but... ...I... do want to try."
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"... If you could use it," Matilda reflects aloud, "*that* would be a miracle. And one I'd find, mmm... almost a relief, honestly." It's hard for Matilda to say *why* that would be such a relief. Maybe it'd just be novel for something to go right, for once.
"I'd like to help, though I've never had the knack for sorcery myself." She offers a slightly strained smile as she adds, "... and the last chance I had at developing such a thing, I, ah. ... Rejected. Enthusiastically." The laugh that follows is just as strained.
After a little thought, she asks, "Is there anything I can do to help you? It sounds as though Avril has much of it in hand, but..." There's a pause, before she adds, "Ah -- it doesn't have to regard the Medium, or the village, either."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Neither... have I, if I'll be perfectly honest," Riesenlied bashfully expresses. "I don't understand the fundaments of Crest Sorcery like Miss Jay does... most of the abilities I've ever brought forth when we have to fight have been--"
She hesitates. "Instinctive? I mostly just feel and... sing."
She blinks as Matilda asks that question. It somewhat reminds her when she asked that question herself. "I want to try. I don't... know what might happen, or what the best way to do about it is, so I might need you to be on... guard? Or to help me if something strange does happen."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is visibly skirting the cave towards them; she is a shock of crimson and black amongst the gloom of the cave, and has evidently picked up enough of a sense of what happened given the way in which she's hurrying. "Are you both alright?" she asks first and foremost as she hurries up, obviously not entirely certain what might have occured but still aware enough to ask that as a priority.
When she can see they both look reasonably whole, she lets out a sigh and moves to Riesenlied's side, offering her presence as a source of support. For want of anything else to say, she lets out a sigh and nods towards Matilda, making an educated guess or two. "... thank you."
Riese has the Medium out, at least; Noeline glances towards it, her brow furrowing slightly. She can feel the slightly off air about it, but... doesn't really have any kind of example to compare it to directly.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda nods to Riese, after a moment's thought. "I can certainly do my best with that." There are, at the very least, many things *further* out of her comfort zone that Riesenlied could ask. "Let me know when you want to try, and I'll do my best to help."
Noeline arrives, and Matilda glances up. "Ah -- yes, we're both... well, physically fine, at any rate. Someone said something -- unpleasant, to Miss Riesenlied, and I gave her a chance to... extract herself from the situation." As Noeline thanks her, she gives a quick, "You're welcome."
After a few moments' thought, Matilda asks Noeline, "Could you tell me a little more about the village you found? Riesenlied admitted to not having been -- fully conscious during the event..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied senses Noeline through their rings before she sees her, looking relieved and smiling for a moment as she steps a half-step closer towards her. "Yes, I was a bit... stuck. I'm really glad for Miss Matilda's assistance," she smiles towards the compounder again. She nods as Noeline gives her thanks.
Matilda asks Noeline about the village, and it prompts a hesitant nod. She shuffles a little away, perhaps finding it to still be a bit of a struggle to digest. Not completely out of earshot though -- as if some part of her tells her she shouldn't keep running away.
She's glancing towards that Medium still, closing her eyes as she experimentally starts to feel it. Something thrums faintly in the air.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Immediately, Noeline's brow furrows at Matilda's question. After a moment she glances across at Riesenlied, and though she doesn't say anything it's absolutely clear that she's more or less asking for permission at the same time as she checks whether Riesenlied could handle the topic.
She's careful to maintain contact with the other Hyadean as long as she can - and when Riese is out of reach, Noeline's free hand gently closes over the ring on the other as she concentrates upon it, hoping to keep her presence a tangible thing for her partner to feel present.
"... the village is surrounded by Ley energy, though it's not something I'm terribly familiar with. The villagers themselves were-- stuck. Some remained focused on their daily tasks; others could speak with us, but could not detect anything amiss, such as the innkeeper who decided we'd been staying there a hundred and thirty years."
She pauses, and looks to one side. "What might have caused it, I cannot say. But the impression I got was that life was determined to continue, no matter what."
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda looks to Riesenlied with just a hint of worry -- she knew that asking the question would be a little rough, but even so, actually seeing it proves to be something else entirely. She seems a little relieved when Riese doesn't retreat *all* the way, though.
She listens to Noeline carefully. "That's a little out of my expertise, too. ... very strange, though, that it'd, ah, reach that far back..." Her brow furrows as she tries to sort through it. "... Perhaps I'll take a look myself, at some point. My perspective would -- differ, given I'd be a complete outsider..."
She remains quiet for a few seconds, still in thought. Then, she says, "I wish I'd been more help up to this point... to tell you the truth, I spent the first week in Elru in my cabin, quietly..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It speaks something, even with Riesenlied not speaking much, that it's enough to get her to shy away; it isn't the usual thing Riesenlied does in the face of hardship. She's hoping she'll come around... but there's not enough time at present for that.
"The date came up again and again... a hundred and ten years," she does admit. "That was when... the Veruni descended down, on Elru. The last moments of the village."
Matilda admits she's been in her cabin a lot, but... she doesn't blame her. There are difficult moments when she'd rather shy away to the Fereshte (airship) too. She closes her eyes.
The Medium begins to thrum... something within Noeline stirs quietly, the Medium within her echoing.
A faint wash of the Ley, nearly transparent, begins to gather around Riesenlied's palm, then--
It erupts.
"Ah-- ahh!!" Riesenlied panics, as the Ley suddenly turns into that of blue flame; it scalds her hand, and she lets go of the Medium--
--and they're gone, as it sinks into the snow. A faint emotion of fear lingers in the air...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... all I would suggest is that you be careful how far into the village you go. We were led by memories of Riesenlied's time amongst the Fereshte - without it, I'm not at all certain how far we might have wandered," Noeline points out solemnly - before she dips her head, and quietly chuckles to herself.
"Elru is an adjustment. I am not about to suggest for even a moment that everyone should instantly be alright with the place, and ready to roll out at a moment's notice. As far as I'm concerned, that is the Princess' job more than anything. I am not even talking about the weather, though that is certainly part of it."
She pauses, feeling the sudden trickle of power. The tang of it is unmistakable, but there's something-- strange at the back of it all, something distinctly off about it. She's about to open her mouth to say something in congratulations or perhaps in warning, and she can't really tell which - but before she can even get that far there's a flare, a bolt of pain lancing in the back of her mind. "--Riese!" she calls urgently instead, sweeping over to her side.
Gathering the other Hyadean against her, she watches the octogan innocently sink into the snow, her lips thinned. "... something feels wrong. ... is it the same as whatever has affected the village...?"
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"I'll keep that in mind," Matilda agrees with Noeline. There's a bit of an awkward pause as she tries to figure out something to say about Elru... but fortunately, that issue is rather aggressively solved by Riesenlied's attempt to experiment with her Medium.
Matilda startles a little, hopping back from Riesenlied as she sees that blue flame erupt. It only takes her a few moments to assess the situation and start to act, however. While Noeline moves toward Riese, Matilda kneels in the snow, hoping to make sure the Medium itself isn't lost. She doesn't touch it yet, despite her gloved hands. "... I'm sorry -- I don't have much of a sense for that. Are you all right...?" she asks, as she watches over the Medium, carefully. ... There's a little fear there.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
A small mercy, perhaps, is that the flame is not physical in nature -- no burn mark remains on Riesenlied the way a natural flame ought to, though the way she reacts indicates there's pain.
Riesenlied's on her knees as Noeline comes to her side; the Medium hasn't pulled a vanishing act or anything unusual, and it, too, is not hot to the touch the way it doesn't sizzle or melt snow in its wake.
"... I do not know, to be honest," Riesenlied admits to her partner as she's gathered up. She nods with a quiet wince at Matilda when she asks if she's all right. "I just tried to feel the Medium -- no, to feel Odoryuk the way I once did, but..." She hesitates. "I felt a great... fear. I panicked, and-- then that happened."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Heedless of the snow, Noeline dips down to one knee to try to help Riesenlied up. She doesn't reach for the Medium, not yet - for the time being, her focus is purely on getting the other Hyadean up and standing again, well aware that her health might make languishing in the cold a little too much for her. "I-- barely felt it myself, except instinctively. ... it's alright," she chuckles towards Matilda with a shake of her head. "We cannot all have a Medium stuck inside us, and it is not something I would wish on anyone else."
She spends a moment looking over the Hyadean, before letting out a visible breath of relief as she quietly sags. "... Mother's presence, perhaps...?" she wonders quietly, but sounds unconvinced. "More likely, whatever... happened to that place, some vestige of it." She pauses, and shakes her head again. She doesn't exactly want to think about the idea of facing down another Primarch, let alone a tainted Guardian.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"... I see," is all Matilda has to say to that. She's skipped several steps ahead and drawn her own conclusion, of course, and it's not especially heartening. She lets out a long, slow sigh, saying, "... It's certainly possible that the Medium may need -- purification? Adjustment? I wouldn't know... the term, exactly. If you're willing to return to Ignas I'm sure that woman could help, but..."
Waving it off, Matilda settles for, "At least we know better than to use it without knowing what's happening, in the short term." She parts the snow around it a little, making it easier for Riesenlied to pick up, but doesn't reach for it herself; something about doing so seems... wrong, almost.
Standing up and taking a step back, she spends another few moments in pensive silence before eventually saying, "... for all we know, it could simply be reacting to how tense the situation in Elru is now..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
A part of Riesenlied flashes back to Kaguya's thoughts of being rebuffed by Lucadia. She can't help but feel that. She thinks back to the incremental progress they've made, from Equites, from Duras Drum... but right now, she's trembling a little at the worse prospects. The cold has gotten to her, as Noeline's noted and as she gathers into her.
"Y-yes... there's no telling what could've happened to it," Riesenlied admits. She looks to the parted snow, and then quietly-- as if afraid-- picks it up.
It doesn't burn her again.
"I'm not certain we're in a position to return to Ignas right now... but I'd like to ask Aunt Halle, if she does know something, yes. And check with Avril again too, since her knowledge of these... artificial ones is vast."
She sighs quietly as Matilda comments on the situation. "... that may also be a factor. I am unsure how much... focus a Medium demands," she looks to Noeline, "But many things do weigh heavy on us right now."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... I think you must be right. I think that whatever happened at the village of the Fereshte has affected the Medium - but I'm afraid I don't know nearly enough to say how. We thought of checking with Avril, but she was there when Riese received it," Noeline sighs, tugging for a moment at her hair. "Perhaps if we gave her a little while to gather her thoughts."
She hesitates as she catches an inkling of her partner's worries. Whether it's instinct, or something via the connection of their rings, she can't say - but her hand rests on the other woman's arm, rubbing there gently. "... Odoryuk accepted you," she reminds the other Hyadean, quiet but solemn. "I watched as you entered a trance, and then summoned the Guardian even without a Medium. I cannot imagine, after going so far, that they would suddenly choose to rescind that so close to the climax."
Focus is another question altogether; Noeline frowns again, but-- can't say anything either way in particular.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"I'd be inclined to agree -- hence the but," Matilda admits, with a strained shake of her head. "It'd take time, and that's a luxury we don't entirely have..." Her expression turns a little sour at *that* line of thinking, so she turns her thoughts elsewhere -- toward Riesenlied's apparent summoning... then toward Kaguya.
"... I'm glad that Odoryuk has -- accepted you," she murmurs softly, chewing at her lip. "We need all the help we can get, in a situation like this. I wish I knew better how I could help, at that..." It's been something she's been at a loss for ever since arriving at Elru -- really, ever since returning from Lunar. It sits ill with her.