2018-11-12: Remembrance
- Log: Remembrance
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Lydia Seren, Jack van Burace
- Where: The Ruins of Arctica
- Date: 12th November 2018
- Summary: Riesenlied, Noeline and Lydia come to Arctica to pay their respects and meet a local...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has... had a rough time in Elru.
She visited Garlyle and was reminded of when she nearly died to the Demon of Elru from a chance encounter that first her empathic senses off; she visited New Arctica to supply them with goods and supplies to help sustain them through the unrelenting weather, only to discover survivors that she spared during the invasion; she visited the Lost Village of Fereshte and... well.
Nearly was killed by a literal manifestation of her own guilt, and then discovered the Medium of Life. Which... appears to have a penchant of burning her when she focused upon it. That's something she'll have to investigate.
That aside, she's here, now, to fulfill a promise she and Noeline both have made--
To visit the ruins of Arctica... to pay due and proper respects, and to, hopefully, be able to move on. As an individual, as a people, with the stand that they've made more than a year ago in Wayside Village.
Riesenlied breathes unsteadily into her palms as she moves up the footpath towards the ruins of the city. Being back here is triggering, in many ways. The various moments she tried to spare and relent against civilians begging for their lives, knowing Berserk was on the other side of the wall...
She carries with her a bouquet of Arctican flowers, a selection from a grove that she knew survived. She's quiet as she paces towards the square, her expression forlorn and wounded.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's been doing her best to keep up enough cheer for the both of them - along with Lydia and their children she's been doing her best to keep Riesenlied moving and distacted, not letting her partner dwell on recent events too heavily for fear of further wearing herself down.
There's no space for such levity here, of course. The sight of Arctica draws a quiet exhalation from Noeline's lips, a saddened sigh the only thing that cuts through a silence that is part respectful and part horrified awe. Having only watched the attack a year ago from afar, she never quite understood the sheer scale of the destruction - didn't want to, in fact, shrinking away from the idea wherever possible.
Her steps are careful as she makes her way down the street, her eyes misty with nostalgia. At one point she nearly trips over some rubble, as if she was expecting the road to be clear; at another, she swerves to one side as if avoiding the presence of a cart or stall, despite its wreckage having long-since been scavenged and blown away by the cold winds.
It takes her an effort to shake herself out of it, her gaze clearing only a little as she sucks in another breath and looks out across the square she's found herself at; she pauses for a moment, then quietly steps forwards in turn, reaching Riesenlied's arm to steady... both of them, really.
"... the fountain, perhaps," she mutters, glancing towards the remnants of the stone structure. Not trusting her voice nor the hard lump of regret in her throat, she keeps her suggestion muted. "It was a focal point. A gathering place. It-- would be appropriate, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren is always happy to distract Riesenlied. This has little to do with Riesenlied being depressed and is just a constant state for Lydia. Of course, she does AMP IT UP when Riesenlied is feeling the blues. Going through a mystical ghost village and facing your past memories and inner demons is always rough. Lydia hasn't done that in a while so who knows what her own inner demons are up to.
Lydia really isn't sure how visiting the ruins of Arctica is going to help cheer Riesenlied up--and honestly it would be kind of weird if it did--but Lydia is also curious as to what exactly the Metal Demons did to the place, to see it with her own eyes. It's history, after all.
Lydia places a Schrodinger on Riesenlied's hands, in between the horns. "Meow." She says to Riesenlied.
Schrodinger stares at Lydia judgementally. Lydia visibly shrinks.
<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.
Life carries on even among the ruins. Beasts of the mountains reclaiming the stone from the humans that once dwelled there. A hawk cuts the air overhead. A fox peers out from the intruders from the ruins of a doorway.
The hawk suddenly gives a cry and darts away as a new beast darts though the air above the ruins. The snap of leathery wings, the shine of light off blue-white scales. The young wyvern isn't native to these parts.
...it isn't even native to this world...
...But Noeline and Riesenlied have seen it at least once before. Of course it was accompanied by one...
"What are you doing here?"
Jack van Burace. He stands in the shadows of a ruined building. Once a tavern, its stone ways reduced to rubble and its roof long sense caved in. His seat is the remains of a bar that once was hand polished wood, now fire blackened and cracked. Drawn over into the shadows of the rubble to give himself some cover from the snows and wind. His back rests against the ruined stone and his guitar sits in his hands, not touched for the moment. His eyes are on the little troop of three that march down the ruined streets, even as Bitey Jr arcs back though the air to land on the rubble near the swordsman. Claws shifting weight from one to the other as he too watches the three of them.
Hanpan? He is there, and very still. Watching Jack. Trying not to be worried.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied does her best to keep a smile in company, of course, but even Mikaia and Janey -- or perhaps exactly because it is Mikaia and Janey -- can tell that her spirits are dampened, her shoulders heavy as she carries herself abound. She's trying to not drown in worries, and to simply proceed with what it is that they must do, but...
It's difficult, sometimes.
Noeline nearly trips, and she helps her for a moment as she nods as she moves to the fountain. She yelps a little as Lydia hands Schrodinger to her, looking up at the cat as it sits on her head.
Somewhere on some elementary level, Riesenlied's superimposed photons reach out and commune with Schrodinger's, and spooky action happens at a distance.
Weird.
But that's not the only pet she notices-- she blinks as she hears the hawk, then the appearance of a little wyvern. "A-Argent?" she calls out, looking and--
What are you doing here?
She looks to Jack. They haven't talked since New Petra, when he visited them on their airship. It's been a while, and... well. It was good to see him, but... to say that this is the most painful place, perhaps... she's happy to see Hanpan, though.
"Hello, Mister Jack... Hanpan," she bows her head. She reaches out to Bitey Jr and tries petting him for a moment. "I... came to--" she bites her lip, looking at her flowers. A bouquet of Arctican lillies and carnations -- a traditional flower for funeral services.
"I wanted to... remember the fallen. Perhaps I cannot say I deserve to honour them. But... I want bear remembrance, to reaffirm where Noeline and I have come since Wayside..."
She lowers her head. Everything is difficult right now.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is thankful for Lydia's presence; there have definitely been times on Elru where even she's been lost for wods, and there's only so much she can do when there are so many reminders here of a past she'd tried to ignore for a long, long time.
For a moment, she glances towards their daughter, letting out a sigh as she tilts her head towards what appears to be the remains of a sidestreet. "I lived that way, about a few doors down. ... a couple of centuries ago, I suppose, but the Arctican streets never really changed much. The problem with a walled city, I suppose," she mutters to herself.
She looks up to the wyvern, and her eyes glimmer with recognition. The feeling she gets isn't a sinking one, per se, but certainly she's suddenly forcing herself to be more on the alert, pulling herself up to her full height. She wouldn't begin to blame Jack if he chose to be angry to see them there, and perhaps more angry than he's ever been, but-- she can't let anything happen to Riese, not when they've come so far.
When Jack addresses them, she gives the man his space, remaining at her partner's side in a burst of protective instinct. Instead, she bows her head in quiet respect towards the Drifter - and then raises her head, staring off down the length of the long avenue that leads to the shattered castle.
"... I wanted to see it again. I wanted to say my goodbyes to the place where I learned who 'I' was," she stresses quietly, but with a fierce sort of determination in her voice. "I wanted to remember why we have chosen to follow this path. And I wanted to-- just lose myself in old memories, just a little bit."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia's gaze travels towards Jack's guitar. "You play?" Lydia asks. She doesn't really have her own reason for being here so she doesn't end up answering the question. Sure, she wanted to see the ruins, but it's hardly for any emotional reason beyond, you know, watching out for Riesenlied after facing her past memories and inner demons and such.
"Music is pretty mathematical," Lydia saays. "But I never got too good at it myself. The hand eye coordination is a thing, sure, but it's just hard to keep track of all the notes and keep them in my head. They always flutter away the moment I start thinkin' of something else."
She says, "There's some good songs, too. Maybe I just wasn't focused enough then, maybe I can do better now if I put my mind to it."
She looks over to Hanpan and smiles at him. "Hope you're not having too rough of a time there."
Noeline tells Lydia more of her own past. Lydia looks to her, "Where you learned who you were?" She asks. This is a genuine question but also a distraction so she can give Noeline a quick handsqueeze to reassure her.
<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.
His answer doesn't come right away, those cold blue eyes just regard the three for a long time. Emotions are difficult for the swordsman, lock them too much inside and you become ice. Let them out to much and you burn yourself out. Either way you go mad and he seems to have had enough of madness to last a lifetime.
"I did," He chooses to reply to Lydia first. "Right here. In happier times." His voice is soft but not angry.
Bitey leans into the pets though, murrrring happily enough to blow out soft gusts of icy breath. Hanpan slowly relaxes though as she feels Jack try to release some of the tension in his shoulders. The little wind mouse smiling back and nodding towards the trio.
Jack though shifts slowly, sweeping his gaze over the trio. "You shouldn't get closer to the castle. Something, or someone, has taken residence in the ruins. Its dangerous the closer you get." He says slowly as she shifts to his feet. "Bitey and I have been hunting." He adds as he trades the guitar for his blade, loosely held in one hand.
He glances towards Noeline a moment before taking a deep breath. "There is nothing here left but memories, and ghosts." He murmurs. "So you'll be in good company." Then those eyes cut last towards Riese.
"If you want to pay your respects, follow me."
And he turns towards a ruined side street, angling towards the edge of the city. An area they can see from here that the once mighty wall was shattered and breached in the assault long ago.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied blinks very softly, though she finds her eyes shying away once Jack cuts her gaze towards her. There's guilt there, still; threatening to overwhelm her. The knowledge that nothing she can do will ever be enough. And yet, knowing that she can't fall underneath it, lest more people suffer.
Jack beckons for them to follow him, and she blinks once as he heads down the passageway.
He advises that something has taken residence in the castle. What could've...? She was never in the Castle during the invasion itself -- that was the domain of Alhazred and Siegfried exclusively. But she knew Mother was in there, for that was where they procured her...
She looks to Noeline, then. "... I was a street urchin, back then. Nasrin took me here, on occasions, but after she passed away... after I fled from the village... often I would just spend time in the lower districts, amongst the less able."
A pause, as she looks to where Noeline said she lived. Then to Lydia. She squeezes Noeline's hand as well.
She's never thought of music as 'mathematical'... maybe some part of her knows it, but it's always felt instinctual to her.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline doesn't reply to Lydia's question, not immediately - it doesn't seem right to do so until Jack has at least indicated his assent, and though she does her best not to show it, there is certainly an instant where a little of her tension bleeds out of her at the man's reply. It might not exactly be terrifically supportive, but it's more than they could ever ask right now - a quiet moment of acceptance that has been rare here on Elru, and comes as as a welcome surprise.
She rests her hand on Riesenlied's back, helping guide the other Hyadean forwards. When Jack turns, she already has a good idea of where he might be headed - after all, where else to pay rememberance than the spot where it all ended - where the battle lines were drawn, Arctican honour versus the horde of Metal Demons?
"... when I first left the Photosphere, I knew very little about the world outside. I was supposed to be a spy, but I had no real knowledge of how to fit in amongst humans. So I came to Arctica," she tells Lydia - but glances across at Jack for a moment before she continues. "... what I found was the chaotic bustle of a city, hugely different to anything I'd ever experienced. I adored it - soaked it all up in my curiosity."
She pauses, and actually looks lost for words briefly. "It is hard to explain how bizarre it felt at the time, but-- here is where I decided I wanted to know more about this strange race called 'humans'. Here is where I decided that I would be 'Noeline' rather than a soldier, whatever 'Noeline' turned out to be."
Bittersweet memories in mind, she chuckles quietly. "I think she turned out to be a little strange, myself, but those are the risks you take." When she pauses again, it's to look across at Riesenlied with a soft frown. "If I'd only known you were here..." she wonders quietly, but gently shakes her head. She's lamented quite enough about what-ifs.
News of the castle makes her frown; she does slow her step ever so briefly, looking towards the castle with uncertainty. "... I--... Elru is not exactly the most hospitable place, of course, but... that is surprising. ... perhaps I might join you, at some point."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
For Lydia, math is instinctual.
"It's okay. I like strange." Lydia says to her. And she seems to mean it. "I guess I didn't act like it before though. But I met some great people who taught me that weird was beautiful." Her grin widens enough that she shows off many sharp fangs. Not a soldier, but whatever Noeline turned out to be. "It's a nice story. I'm glad you two get to be you now. It's always sad when you don't get to be you as soon as you'd like, but the second best time is 'now'."
She follows after Jack, thinking about happier times. Lydia can't imagine what it'd be like to lose everything like Jack has. Or even mostly everything. Not for real. She had thouhght she had, before, but she was wrong.
"Bitey managed to stick around, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.
The wyvern takes wing as Jack walks, soaring above the group. Every so often there is a cry from the scaled one and the Swordsman looks up. Somettimes he continues on his path, sometimes he ducks down a side road as the wyvern scouts ahead.
"Bitey is a...new acquaintance." The man says with a smirk that touches his lips, even if he doesn't look behind for the moment. "He's a friend...and a reminder that there are some lengths you should never go for revenge."
They move on though the ruins, sometimes Jack stops at a corner to look at the rubble, a sad expression on his face. Once he pauses to stoop down and brush the snow away from a angled piece of roof, on which is placed a shattered bow, the symbol so much like the one on his own sword still bright as he clears it off.
There is a sigh as he glances up towards where the breach is. "...we made them pay for every inch. I suppose that is some comfort."
Then he's moving again, leaving the small shrine to someone's bravery behind him.
"Every street corner created heroes at the end." This again angled over his shoulder. "You should remember that." He lets them talk among themselves, quiet in his own memories as they go.
"If you wish to join me, I won't stop you." Again angled over his shoulder. "I can't promise it'll be easy, or that others will be as accommodating as I am."
Up ahead the broken wall looms high above, the houses trampled flat. Massive chunks of stone rise up like beasts in the snow from the tumbled defenses. Further ahead though it seems the rubble clears into a more open space, and obviously where Jack is heading.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied doesn't voice it, but she does tremble for a moment as she hears Noeline speak about her experience of learning, becoming, how her curiousity drew her to discover this race of 'humans'... and how everything funneled through from that. It makes her wonder how her own journey started, and she's not certain. Nasrin was her norm, and in many ways, her mannerisms, her catchphrases, her values and beliefs...
Did she ever figure out who 'she' was?
Or is she still the little Dragon Unit deep down, ever susceptible to just wearing masks to fit the situation?
The lost village of the Fereshte is in many ways shining a light in the dark, and many things about it are indeed uncomfortable.
The way she kind of-- catches up to Noeline's explanations, throws a distressed smile and says, "I think I would have no other 'Noeline', myself," feels distracted, as far as Riesenlied goes. "And that's... okay. I found no small amount of kindness here too."
She sighs very softly, smiling towards Lydia's comment that weird is beautiful. "We get to be... us," she chimes.
She pauses at that small shrine for a moment, looking towards that bow... then moves past as she walks towards the open space that Jack's leading them towards.
She sucks in a breath... then steps towards the centre. "Here...?" She slowly sets the flowers down, lacing her hands together in prayer.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline tilts her head just a little bit towards Lydia, the ghost of a smile on her face. "... not so say I'm at all sure of who I am just yet. I am still learning a great deal about myself, even now. In the past year, I've managed to do a lot of things that would absolutely surprise me, so I suppose I must still be getting somewhere," she chuckles quietly to herself.
Does she say it in response to Riesenlied's worries, to point out that she's not nearly as certain as she makes out sometimes? It isn't really clear - Noeline isn't a mind reader or anything, but she does know about her partner's fears, and her instincts have only gotten sharper since establishing a link via their rings.
The smile she offers in return to Riesenlied's worried one is gentler than it might otherwise be, and she pauses their walk long enough to fuss with her partner's hair in an attempt to call her back to the scene in front of them. "I would have no other /you/," she quietly stresses, careful in her wording.
She too pauses at the little shrine, regarding it for a moment before she bows her head to it, her hands clasped at her chest. "Rest well," she mutters, and almost draws her hand across her chest in a salute before she thinks better of it. She was never one of this city's guards, and taking that from them and making it hers feels like it would be disrespectful.
The thought of it leaves her pensive for a few seconds, furrowing her brow as she considers that. For all that she calls Arctica her home... she shakes that thought away, and instead levels a quiet huff in Jack's direction. "I wouldn't expect it to be easy, no. That wouldn't stop me from offering."
Then she's fallen silent, because they're at the rent in the city wall; she stares at it in silence, her gaze complicated, and then bows her head.
<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.
"There," Jack says as he gestures slightly further into the breach.
The swirling snow clears for a moment and what is revealed is a field of...well...cairns. Graves. Dozens upon dozens of them, all the way out to the wall. Some marked by rubble, some by simple stones, some by just mounds in the snow.
"If you want to pay your respects," Jack's voice is quiet, his sword resting on his shoulder as he looks out over the monuments to the fallen. "This would be the right place."
The knight is silent then, lost in his own thoughts and only the quiet nod of acceptance to Noeline's words really proves he's still listening.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Hero is starting to sound a lot like 'corpse' to Lydia but she decides not to mention it. For a nation that fought the metal demons for so long, in the end it feels like the Metal Demons just walked through them. You wouldn't be able to tell they fought so hard by looking at the Metal Demon army. Was it even larger before than it is now? What was purchased with those sacrifices? Anything? Lydia thinks she's prefer to live. What could she even accomplish with her death that wouldn't do more harm than good? Especially since the hopes of the Filgaian Space Program are on her shoulders.
"After we beat the Metal Demons, whatcha gonna do?" Lydia asks. "If you start up a band, can I join? I promise I'll practice."
Maybe not the most respectful dialogue, but Lydia doesn't seem to mean any offense.
Her hands fly up to her mouth when she sees them. The cairns. Yeah, she thought she had a tough life. She lowers her hands and looks down at the floor.
She crouches down onto one knee. She gives Noeline a small smile, but doesn't tell Noeline who she is or anything. Who really knows themselves all the time? Scary people, that's what.
"She isn't sure what to say to them. Eventually she says, "Thank you for fighting so hard. I hope it gives you peace that your people survive."
And that's it.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied takes the time to look through each and every single one of them. The cairns, the graves... dozens of them. All the way out to the wall. Sometimes, it feels like something might lurch out and claw away at her, or perhaps it's just her head imagining something unreal, something she designed just to torment herself.
"I would help too, if I can... but for now..."
She procures a Medium from her pack. She bites her lip and looks to Lydia again, then to Noeline, and then expresses, "I'd like to... do what I can as a new Heritor of the Fereshte."
Her prayer complete, she gathers that Medium to her chest as if she were holding the Dragon's Tear. Her eyes closed, she draws herself in and lets her feelings loose, focused entirely upon the connection that would allow her passage to the Ley--
"Mmaah--"
--the Medium erupts again, as flames start to lick at her hands; there's a haphazard and sharp wince, showing clearly that it's not just a kind of effect. Her arms wither a little, her scales warping...
"Mahht..."
But she continues onwards, as it erupts over her; her throat is hoarse and agonised, her voice cracked and drying. The flames threaten to consume her, but she remains in that posture, in service of the fallen.
"Mahh...terial..."
A bright flash-- and just for a scant few seconds, the serene atmosphere of life shrouds the area around the cairns as the Guardian of Life, in the semblance of a blue and white unicorn with butterfly wings shrouding its legs, ethereally steps through a veil of the Ley.
Odoryuk pauses to gaze towards the Drifters for a moment, before genteely marching forward... and once those few precious seconds are up, it all vanishes in a weave of Ley, as if it were just an illusion. Save for the feel of the land, consecrated by life to allow for what she can only dare to pray would be a gentle repose.
Riesenlied drops her arms, singed as they are, the Medium sinking into the snow.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
In a private, quiet little moment, Noeline sinks down onto one knee at the edge of the sea of graves, heedless of what the snow might do to her clothes. Perhaps it still isn't her place to take their culture as her own, but under her breath she mutters a little prayer regardless. The words hardly even matter - she's not sure where she dredges them up from, a snatch of rememberance poetry she'd picked up from the church one day a couple of centuries ago - but the feelings behind it are genuine enough.
"... I am sorry," she finishes solemnly. "And... thank you. Your legacy will go on."
When she rises again, it's to let out a slow breath, glancing across at Riesenlied's quiet conviction. There's a light of concern in her eyes, and worry - but she can only answer it with a nod, offering a hand at the other woman's arm to try to ground her. Even when the Medium erupts into flame she maintains that contact, wincing against the pain of it as she marks the Guardian's appearance.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren does end up saying something else, largely out of TOTAL SHOCK when Riesenlied starts speaking. She looks perplexed, then her eyes widen when she realizes what she's doing.
She summons a beautiful unicorn. Even Lydia has only seen pictures, of Odoryuk, carvings. They don't do it justice.
Her jaw drops, she points at Odoryuk, she stammers incoherently for a moment before she finally manages to spurt it out. Not the name, of course, but...
"U..u...unicorn...!"