2018-11-29: Something to Look Forward To

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  • Log: Something to Look Forward To
  • Cast: Riesenlied (playing Janey and Mikaia), Noeline, Jack van Burace
  • Where: New Arctica
  • Date: 29th November 2018
  • Summary: Jack and Hanpan visit Noeline and the kids in the midst of their practice, and enact some of their own...


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied had been kidnapped.

And worse yet -- she had come to New Arctica, just a few days ago, clearly under the influence that had been visited upon her by Alhazred. Bearing a like mask to the Quarter Knight, with a clearly edited mind... and her freshly-found Medium, which Jack and Noeline saw her struggling with when she tried to purify and bless the graveyards in Arctica and it burned her, fused forcibly onto her.

A terrible fate indeed, yet...

The Fereshte has been busy as part of the preparations to siege the Photosphere. This is the Outreach's ultimate, original goal -- to rescue the Tainted that were still trapped in the Gutter, at the bottommost reaches of the Photosphere. The disenfranchised and impoverished of the Metal Demons that never had any wish or to be part of the war.

And in the midst of this? Janey's grinning as she shows off, for once -- she's got what looks like a long staff with slightly curved blades on each end, which interlock in the middle. "Hwa-- hwaa-- hwaaa!" She's doing figure eights and even does a flip with it at one end.

Mikaia's staring at her, with a mix of admiration and... suspicion. "Why... why do they join at the end?"

"Well, if you have two swords--" "I'm going to smack you if you say you get double the attack power."

Janey hesitates and corrects, "I--I'm not that dumb! It's an off-hand, so I clearly get fifty percent more power!"

"......"

<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.

"Suprise," Comes a voice from the edge of the little square where the two sit and practice. "That would be one reason to have two weapons. At least if you don't have a dominant hand to bother with. Come at someone from different angles and they have a harder time actually stopping you."

The owner of said voice is sitting in the corner, eyes closed. Stretched out on a broken piece of stone and masonry that serves to edge the square. Lying on the flat part, one hand tucked behind his head and the other loosely circling the sheath of the long curved blade that rests across his chest.

On said chest sits a little mouse who is just now opening his eyes to peer up at the world.

Jack has been helping of course, but even a former knight needs a bit of rest sometime.


<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

This is probably all Noeline's fault, in the end. By and large, the crew of the Fereshte are very capable of taking care of themselves and understanding what to do at times like these. Understanding that Riesenlied's capture is likely to be harder on Noeline and the children than anyone else, they've been working to ensure that Riesenlied's family can take some time to rest and recuperate and reassure one another. The Hyadean appreciates it more than she'd ever say...

... but it does leave her with a little too much in the way of pent-up energy she'd like to burn off. Besides, one of the promises she made to her children was that if they wanted to come with her into the Photosphere, she would accept and honour that wish, and that means making sure that the pair of them can look after themselves. Part of her is already well aware that they can - they've lived this long on the streets, and Noeline would put money on Kislev's alleys being worse than the Photosphere's. Still... she feels she's allows to fret a little.

The look on her face suggests she wasn't expecting Janey's show, though, her eyebrows soaring in surprise. "When on Filgaia did you learn that, exactly?" she huffs out of sheer amusement and more than a little impressed pride, folding her arms as she watches the dance at Mikaia's side. "If Jedan's been teaching you, it would have been nice to know."

One hand plants itself at her hip as she glances towards the swordsman; despite the worry and fear over Riesenlied's condition, she can't help feel a little satisfied at the defence of New Arctica. As if it were a concrete step towards a little redemption. "Only two weapons? She's got elbows and knees. And teeth." ... ... right. Despite her looks, Noeline's quite happy to recommend brawl tactics if necessary...

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Um, actually, a Kislevi captain taught me some martial arts moves in exchange for a pack of ciggies and an Aveh map," Janey sheepishly grins as she locks the two parts of the double-sword and sets it down on one side. "I just kinda improvised the rest from there, 'cause it's not like we didn't get into some scraps then and there wandering the desert."

Heck of a backstory, that...

Mikaia's the one to perk up at Jack's appearance as she waves and exclaims, "Mister Jack...! And--" she's the one to super perk up at the sight of the wind mouse. "Mister Hanpan!"

"Heya!" Janey waves, then grins and shoots the swordsman a finger. "That's totally right! And of course I'll throw everything I got, Mom, I'm not Lord of Calamity for nothin'."

She pauses as she settles a little, adding some context, "We're gonna go chip in when everyone's rushin' into the Photosphere. We're... we're gonna get mom back, no matter what. Not gonna let that no-good jerk Alhazred run all over her!"

<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.

Hanpan yawns and waves back towards Mikaia as the old man stretches slightly to work the kinks out. He's been moving what he could with his own magics, but a little wind mouse can only do so much. "Mikaia, Janey, Miss Noeline." He says with a slight nod in their direction. "I hope we wern't intrupting, Jack and I were just catching a touch of a rest."

Jack, as quiet as Hanpan is the opposite just nods slightly, not even quite opening his eyes yet. "What he said."

The mention of Alhazred though causes his posture to change. Tension slips into his limbs, the fingers around his sword clench just for a moment. The knuckles turning white as he twists his hand against the wood. Slowly he relaxes even before he sits up. "No, I suppose we are not."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline has to pause at Janey's admission; for a moment, she's honestly not sure how to respond to it, and it reminds her again that her kids are a lot tougher than even she ever recognized. The sheepish grin makes it easier; she's quick to pat the girl on the head, offering her a smile. "I'm impressed," she notes again, genuinely this time, and her voice softens as she adds: "Just be careful, and don't try to get drawn into a contest of sheer strength against anyone."

Straightening up, she encourages Mikaia forward a little with a hand, figuring the other girl could use a bit of 'round and fluffy' time with Hanpan. "Not at all," she nods her head back to the wind mouse. "We've all been catching rest where we can. Still, you'd think you could at least use a /blanket/," she adds with an aggreived and completely fake sigh. "What exactly are you going to do if you roll up to the Photosphere with the sniffles?"

Like Jack, she too tenses slightly at Alhazred's name, but she's had time with her children to process everything and it isn't quite as fierce a burn as it has been at times over the last few days. Her nod in return to Janey is solemn, but her voice is carefully measured as she adds: "... Alhazred's control is far from complete. We've reached her once - we will reach her again, together, and save her. ... and I get the feeling that you might have to beat Siegfried if you want first shot at Alhazred," she adds towards Jack with a moment's grim satisfaction.

Whether she said all of that for Jack's sake, or her own, or her children's - either way, she lets it go at that, and lets out a huff of air. "I was trying to show these two a Fast Draw earlier," she snickers quietly. "I think it might be a rather pale imitation, however. Peeking in on the Knights decades ago didn't really teach me much."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Aw mom, you've seen me before. My role's to tell people what's up--"

FLASHBACK

Janey tells Id what's up.

FLASHBACK

Janey tells Heldalf, the real Lord of Calamity, what's up.

NOW

Bonk! Mikaia does give her a very light smack, though she does move a bit closer towards Jack and Hanpan, clearly charmed by the very intelligent mouse. Perhaps she can relate better, as also the more reasonable and less reckless of her own duo with Janey.

Janey might not be intelligent, but it's also not to say she isn't wisened-- so when she senses the difference in Jack's body language, she lets that slack just a little bit. "He's made of much tougher stuff than that I imagine!" she grins, then looks back towards Noeline.

"... heh. You think grampa Siggy'll come around? I hope so..." A pause, as she thinks to how Siegfried reacted in that last battle, though nowhere close was she in that moment.

"Aw, it's all fine. It's your own spin on it. S'like you said, right? It's your own way to keep Arctica's memory alive..." Janey points out.

<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.

Hanpan bounds off of Jack's chest onto the stone and the snow. He shakes himself a moment before bounding over towards Mikaia. Onto her foot. Wrigling his nose at her with a twinkle in his eyes and scampering up to her shoulder.

The antics of the wind mouse seem to ease Jack's tension at least somewhat as he shakes himself. That strange white hair of his seems to be turning its actual blonde color again after his time on a different planet. He still keeps one hand on his sword though, a talisman to stave off madness or just a precaution against ambush. Perhaps both.

There is a chuckle from him though. "There was something wrong with Siegfried. With Harken too. They both seemed...strangely resigned. Changed. Harken was downright coherent."

There is a pause. That name seems so strange to say. Strange to rest on his tongue. He knows who she /was/ at least, and clings to that like a drowning man.

"Of course maybe I was just in a better mind to listen." He adds with a shake of his head. "But...if you three /want/ to see a fast draw..." Something to distract himself might be the best approach for him to take.

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"All of the Arctican Knights used to say they were oh-so-tough, and I still used to keep track of which of them didn't show up on particularly cold mornings," she puffs out a breath back to Janey, her expression kept deliberately glum. The way she says it, it doesn't sound like 'Metal Demon spying', so much as an overeager and rather dazzled spectator - and perhaps that's exactly what she was, when it came to the Arctica of old.

Janey's question about Siegfried mixes with Jack's own comments, and Noeline allows herself a sombre moment as she looks back towards the swordsman. "... it was a look I'm familiar with. The look of someone who has had reality catch up to them - of someone whose hopes have been dashed. I think some of them may be learning of Mother's true nature," she adds, closing her eyes.

"From what I heard, Harken was all but telling us to defeat her. And at the end, when Riese protected Siegfried..." she trails off, and looks back to Janey as she pats the girl on the shoulder. "I hope that reached him, at least a little. Out of all of them, he cares the most about his actual people, rather than just a fight."

"It is something in the spin of the hand. Or maybe it's the composition of the sword?" she grumbles afterwards, forcing herself onto lighter topics and the faint mists of nostalgia. "Arctican swords were always light, but I never figured out how. All the weaponsmiths were famously tight-lipped." It would definitely be a marked difference from her usual slab of metal.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"You were a regular fangirl, huh," Janey muses as she places her hands behind the back of her head. Then again, it just about rather fits in with what they've heard of Noeline's time in Arctica. Maybe better that than the beggar-like way in which Riesenlied moved through an even more ancient Arctica than before...

Mikaia seems all the more enamored as she gently takes Hanpan to her, looking up at Jack for a moment to stroke at his head and smile as she gives her lavish attention. She doesn't want to spoil him entirely /too/ much like a pet, given how intelligent Hanpan is, but...

"... we'll beat it to his skull. I know you will, and Riesemama too," Janey encourages with a grin to Noeline. Then raises an eyebrow.

"What? Naw, it ain't somethin' that's so rote. Sure, a sleight of hand or the proper sword, maybe, but... 's somethin' in the chi, the way it moves, right?" Janey tries to sound impressive, but comes across as someone who's maybe read a bit too many novels... well, she might've picked that up from Noeline too.

"Still, sure! Hold on a moment--"

She whistles, and who comes out of the starboard of the Fereshte but--

"Muniii!"

Boinggg, the world's roundest yellow blob-Dragon bounces onto deck, curiously wearing something that looks like a boxer's headguard jammed onto her head and with a big slab of metal that reads 'HIT ME' and has several slashing and stabbing scars on it. Boing boing boing.

<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.

Jack stands slightly, smirking a moment as they all give their own thoughts on just what a Fast Draw is. It defiantly /is/ something that distracts him from the darker side of his thoughts. About just what has happened to the Metal Demons he hated so much. About the changes over Harken and Siegfried. Over the machinations of Alhazred.

"We can hope he comes to his senses, and if he doesn't. Like the Mistress of Calamity here said..." A smirk towards Janey. "...we can always try the more direct route to his skull."

It is Harken that he wonders more about. The change has been so dramatic. It is almost as if she wished to die at the end of all this and...Jack still isn't sure what he thinks of that.

He wasn't lying when he said he didn't want to watch her die again.

But the questions of swordwork and the bouncing yellow dragon completely distract him from such thoughts as he laughs in surprise. A deep, rich, warm laugh that is not heard very often anymore. After all he doesn't have much to laugh about...

..but that /dragon/...

"What did you even put that poor thing in!" He says as he looks towards the yellow blob as it bounces around. He shakes his head a moment before drawing a deep breath.

"It is...a combonation of multiple things. Nothing quite /magical/ as most could put it, just a passing familiarity with the ice and winds of the mountains is how it was explained to me. A light touch of the wrist, a special curve of the blade and..."

Then he moves, the weapon in his hand suddenly singing free. The pressure wave, not full strength of course, slashing from the drawn weapon towards the bouncing target.

"Practice. Lots. And lots. Of practice."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Muni has the magical ability to create hitsparks that look comical, from the starburst with puffy dustclouds and the cartoon-font 'BOING!!' as Jack's sword strikes her armour--

--and ends up sending her going a little upright, though punching bag-like she does seem to be bottom-heavy and gets sprung up again. Her eyes are swirls as she goes: "Oyoyoyo...."

"Good job Muni!" Janey hands her a literal manga meat. It's tube-like with a bone handle at each end. She gobbles it up, immediately healing from calorie intake and culinary glee.

this... this is worrisome pavlovian training isn't it

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline snorts, and throws a glance at Janey. "... ... I was," she admits after a moment too long and with a moment's silence right afterwards, as if fully prepared to pretend she didn't say anything at all. She only elaborates after a moment, puffing out another breath. "Everything was new to me. I drank it all in out of sheer curiosity." She steals a hand to Mikaia's shoulder as well, letting the other girl spend some time in her own little world; over one shoulder, she catches Hanpan's gaze and offers a quietly amused smile.

"I wonder about that," she says back to Janey afterwards, planting a hand back at her hip. "Or perhaps I'm just bad at recognizing it? It's a lot easier to tell whenever Fei decides to set himself abruptly on fire," she adds almost conversationally-- but stops dead out of sheer surprise when Muni comes bouncing and rolling into shot, her mouth opening and then closing again twice.

"--I am /really/ not sure I should approve of this part," she says after a moment, actually sounding aghast for once. "Riese is going to be /very/ upset at us! Surely a sandbag would work?!" she adds.

She sags her shoulders theatrically as Muni rocks from the impact and receives some food for her troubles; even that feels somewhat off to her, but she huffs out a breath as she makes sure to reach over and pat the poor dragon. "Good work, Muni, but... please remember to take care of yourself, yes?" someone has definitely taken a temporary page from Riesenlied's book while she's missing, because it's difficult to imagine her lecturing anyone with kindness on her own initiative.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... you don't have to be ashamed of it. Admitting that you're a learner's the way we all grow, yeah? Don't wanna become a snob who's like, 'I seen and done all I want', and shut your mind's doors," Janey natters on with a grin, even though she's kind of just mixing up metaphors and railing onward in the way that she does.

"An'... y'know, hearin' you tell your own stories about the identity you made-- I mean, d'you think I just call myself Lord of Calamity for funsies?" Janey admits.

Mikaia does gawk a little when the fast draw comes out, however-- "Wow..." she looks to Hanpan with a smile.

"S' awesome to watch. An' even if it's not the same practice... y'know, you carry a whole bunch of inspirations with you, mom! You're a regular traveler of the world," Janey grins up to Noeline, ever seeking to inspire her at a time like this.

Muni just gives Noeline a happy squeal, though a 'munununu...' as she chimes in her concern for Riese being missing too. Still, it doesn't dampen her spirits.

<Pose Tracker> Jack van Burace has posed.

Jack's blade returns to his sheathe as he shakes his head at Muni's reaction to being smacked with a wind blade. He can't even make this up. "Where did you even /find/ this one. Or figure out what Muni can do?" The swordsman asks with a shake of his head as he looks between the three of them.

Hanpan just winces slightly. "...ah..." The wind mouse speaks up even as he is perfectly happy getting every single cuddle. "...perhaps it isn't the best thing to teach that Muni gets food when they get hit? I mean..."

"I'm sure its fine, old man." Jack's casual words are angled towards the Wind Mouse even as Hanpan sighs.

The swordsman though pauses a moment. "I tell you what though. If we all survive this next little bit." Which is by no means guaranteed. "I'll see what I can do about teaching some people some moves. After all...if I want it to continue I'll have to teach someone won't I?"

There is a pause as he realises how compleately insane this sounds. That he is offering to teach Metal Demons sword techniques.

...but to go along with this plan they all have to be a little crazy...so its fine.

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline puffs out again, and offers a rather wry smile downwards. "I am not /ashamed/ of it, so much as it's a little embarassing to admit after coming back here, not to mention right in front of Jack," she sighs in amusement, letting out a much more free breath. "Besides, that goes both ways - I've got my own image to keep up as well. Just as you get some strength being the Lord of Calamity, I get some strength being a Crimson Noble. I'm allowed to try to be a little cool, surely?" she adds with a fanged grin.

But she can't deny what Janey's saying, and she closes her eyes with a much more peaceful smile. "I certainly hope so. And, of course, once we get the chance I am dragging the both of you around to some of those inspirations, and Riesenlied as well. ... that much is something I never, ever expected to be able to share, and I'm glad for it."

A chuckle, and she raises her eyebrows, eyes still closed. "Really, out of the two of you, I don't know that I would have ever originally pegged you as being the one to pick up her pep talks," she adds playfully, poking at Janey's side.

When she straightens up, it's with a theatrical sigh. "I don't honestly begin to know, myself," she adds as she pats the big blob of dragon, letting out a fonder chuckle. "All I know is that Muni is as majestic as all the rest." Somehow, she manages to say that with a straight face - though she can't hold it. "At least, in her very unique way."

She falls silent for a long moment at the offer; it is terribly tempting, but at the same time something makes her lift her head to look around the main cavern of New Arctica as it is now. "... there might be other things to concentrate on first," she eventually decides, her voice quiet. "And, of course, only if you are comfortable with it. But-- I would be honoured to take you up on that. Call it something to look forward to after all this, hm?" she adds wryly.