2022-09-04: In Shining Armor

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==============================<* Lake Macalania *>==============================

Lake Macalania is a vast, snowy expanse. The lake itself has stunningly beautiful crystalline waters on its south shore. The shore, there, is so calm and warm that it invites swimming at times -- though it can get chilly. But go even a little further north, and proximity to Macalania Temple causes the temperature to drop sharply. The northern end of the lake is so cold that it is frozen over. Snowdrifts are everywhere.

Lake Macalania has the towering Temple at the center of it. Here, it is snowing constantly, and even on clear days, it is shockingly cold -- even more, say some Ronso, than Mt. Gagazet.

BGM: Final Fantasy X - Phantoms

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    The area surrounding Lake Macalania is bitter cold. Snow and ice are almost the entirety of the terrain, and even that has been sculpted and twisted into strange shapes by the lake's eternal winter. Small cliffs and claustrophobic valleys have been carved, either by travelers or the wind, making an already grueling journey even more miserable for those on foot.

    Of course, for those with the means to skim over the top, it's really nice and scenic. That ice formation over there looks kind of like a tree!

    The abandoned inn is has seen more picturesque days. Once it served travelers coming to the temple, but Sin's coming two years ago damaged it - the roof looks ready to cave in here and there, and the few small windows have more cracked panes than whole. It looks like someone has done their best recently to patch holes and stuff rags into the cracks, but this inn won't be hosting paying customers for a while.

    Which is kind of weird, because there are signs of life... footprints in the fresh snow outside, a light shining faintly from behind a window... 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    There's all that, and an incongruous stone pillar out in the inn's courtyard. Even covered in snow, it still stands out among the curving icy hills and valleys of the lake region.
    Loren's been busy. With the inn partially buried in ice, he'd thought the least he could do would be to build a marker. And so he'd done it. If he complained and moaned about the cold a touch dramatically afterwards, well, perhaps he'd be forgiven his sins.

    He's done his best with the inn, too. Knowing a rescue is coming -- eventually, maybe -- meant that he didn't have to hoard the rosesol; he'd turned his attentions towards some attempted patch jobs. And...

    It's not perfect. There are still countless gaps he's still finding and plugging (usually with cloth because he's not made of Ether). And there's the one he needs to sometimes manually reopen because the chimney literally is full of ice and he didn't want them to both die from unventilated smoke.

    It's still chilly inside. But -- and this is important -- it's not as chilly, thanks to the occasional fire and the simple act of two human beings sharing space together.

    ...Seriously, it's not what it sounds like.

    Speaking of fire, right now Loren is attempting to set one! Which means the 'vent' is open, and which also means he's gotten a face full of Macalania air. How did people even manage to live out here, is what he wants to know. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

As it happens, Eleanor Klein is familiar with the cold, and is very good at living in it. Oh, she's still wearing a coat, to be sure--but as her boots crunch into the snow on her way to her destination, she is not miserable from he ice.

But she can see the stone pillar as she approaches. Eleanor is in orange, the soft color nevertheless easy to see in the snow. And more to the point, she sees the 'vent' open, with some small amount of smoke coming out of it, and...

'Lan?' comes a voice in Lan's mind. 'Are you there? This is Eleanor. I think I'm close to you, but.. Is this inn it?'

She is not sure, but it looks inhabited, even if it looks to be in... very bad shape. She tries with her voice a moment later, "Hello?"

The Sage has a satchel full of helpful things! 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    The people walking the roads near the gateway from Filgaia to Lunar will see an odd but slowly more common sight: that of a metal flying machine, a mysterious artifact from the Blue Star, flying to who knows where. Meanwhile, its pilot, Gwen Whitlock, is far less mysterious, bearing a friendly face that meshes well with common life on either planet, even if her accent marks her as from a place called the 'Badlands' on a continent known as 'Ignas'.

    Right now, Gwen is not in as friendly mood, as the delivery she's making here is of an utmost importance. There's blankets, food (including a sandwich for Loren, since he asked specifically), medical supplies, firewood, sleeping bags, just about anything Gwen could have bought in desperation at the general store enroute to the Gateway on Filgaia's side.

    Gwen knows the abandoned inn, and now that she's traveling in Lunar airspace, there's not much she can do but hope she or someone like Eleanor makes it in time before Loren or Lan succumb to cold.

    The courier's hand fiddles with the silken fabric of the yellow scarf, nervously. "Please be okay..."

    ----

    Not long after Eleanor makes her arrival, the alien sound of a Gear can be heard in the crisp air. "... Sin better not get pissed off that I'm here for, like, a day or whatever..." Gwen mumbles as she lands the Halcyone an appropriate distance away, not wanting to dislodge the insulating layer of snow on the inn itself, or worse, damage it with her Gear's thrusters.

    "Okay." The cockpit opens, and Gwen shivers to the cold air that seeps in. "Frickin' cold..." Throwing her fur-lined parka on, she grabs a portion of food, supplies, and blankets, and jumps down into the snow. "And off we goooo!"

    Crabwalking through the high snow to the inn, Gwen shifts her hold on her supplies to politely knock. "Super Courier Gwen Whitlock, at your service! Hope you like rye, Loren."

    If Loren and Lan happen to be at some other mountain inn somewhere else, this is going to be extremely embarrassing.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    They've done everything they can to make the place livable (which is to say that Loren has). Lan... can't really contribute much, because sitting up for a while is currently the limit of her ability. But it's better than having to lie down all the time! She sleeps a lot because there's not much else she can do - aside from eating (thank you, thank you, thank you Marivel) and trying to will her body to hurry up with the 'making new blood' process.

    Since she's alone in the bed for the moment, Lan has drawn the covers up to her chin, ensconced firmly in the middle of the warm spot as if she could maintain its heat if she tries hard enough (she can not). "...It would be nice if we still had the Flame Medium. You wouldn't have to use Ether just to heat water for us." But then Lan would be the one using magic to create heat!

    She's opening her mouth to ask if he'll make her some tea when a familiar voice pipes up in an unfamiliar way. "--Uh. Do you know people who can talk into your head? Because I think Eleanor learned how." She frowns, pushing the covers down a few inches. "Or I'm not doing as good as we thought and I'm starting to hear things Can you look outside?" Taking a deep breath to yell back makes her eyes water, and she thinks better of it.

    Eleanor is treated to a mental response of HI ELEANOR. YES WE ARE INSIDE.

    Lan, so graceful. So not telepathic. Trying her best.

    Knock knock knock, on the door -- and a very familiar, very welcome voice. "Oh gods, it's happening - we're saved!!" 


<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    On the plus side, Loren supposes, he is getting the opportunity for getting the finesse part of his practice down pat. It wasn't all that long ago, really, where attempting this sort of thing would have ended... poorly.

    That it gets them tea and some heat in the bargain is even better.

    So he just shrugs. "It's fine," Loren tells her, glancing back over his shoulder before he rises to his feet. Though it would be nice to not worry about smoke... or firewood.

    That the firewood is largely broken furniture from the inn is a tale for another time.

    "--Uh, no, that's not normal," Loren tells her. "Wait... is that even a thing people can do?" Like, outside some sort of supernatural entity doing it, anyway. He's up and away towards the door, wrenching it open to find--

    His shoulders sag in pure relief. "Thank the Emperor," he sighs, standing away from the door to let them come on in.

    "Rye's a kind of bread, right? Doesn't matter to me," he tells Gwen. There is nothing that can spoil this moment. Nothing.

    A small white bear hops down off the side of the bed, potentially unnoticed in the hubbub. Its nose twitches once, twice, as if scenting something in the air. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor winces a little at the 'shout' in her mind. 'Oh, good,' she replies mentally, and then more loudly out loud, "Hello!"

When the Gear arrives Eleanor looks with some relief to Gwen. "Oh, good," she says, and then smiles as the doors open. "Yes," Eleanor says to Lan, "We're here to get you out of here."

Then she steps up, "...Did what I gave you help?" she wonders. She's not actually entirely sure it worked, frankly. But--

"Oh rye is very nice," Eleanor comments.

"But yes, may we come in?" she asks. "I have a few teleportation stones that we could use to get somewhere safer, once you're ready, but we'll want to be sure we're all set up and established first, it can be a little bumpy. Probably less bumpy than using Gwen's Gear, but only probably."

She pauses. "...I'd give you a hug," she says, looking concerned and relieved, "But I worry I might tear something..."

"And it's nice to see you well as well, Mister Voss."

Eleanor does not notice the little bear. 


<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Laaan! Loren! N'.... Oh, Eleanor! Hehe, I was wonderin' if I was just lettin' a weird dream dictate my actions." Gwen's smile grows a little wan, for reasons Lan may appreciate, as she realizes this may have not been the best joke for her to make. "Thank god you got here before me. Have you been here a while? I couldn't tell each footprints were whose outside." Loren might have been trying to get firewood or supplies.

    When Loren tries to classify the rye bread as 'a type of bread', Gwen momentairely considers if getting a rye sandwich. Ah well, it's too late, and if her past experience is of any indication, starvation is a great ingredient towards making anything you eat absolutely delicious. Gwen presents the sandwich, wrapped in brown wax paper, to the medic. "Behold, somethin' we would've never dreamed of bein' possible a few years ago: a ham and swiss cheese on rye, freshly made this mornin' just outside a general store in Filgaia, aka the Blue Star. I can't say it's the best sandwich you'll ever have, but I *am* very experienced in the art of sandwich makin'."

    Eleanor comments on rye being nice, and Gwen gives one of her wide grins. "I got the ingredients back in the Halcyone! I figured I might need t'make more than one sandwich. Also, got some rations n' the like too. Y'all got a pot or somethin' for boilin' water, right? I got tea leaves."

    .... She really took the two's plight to heart.

    "As long as my stupid ass ain't enough t'bring the wraith of the giant asshole whale on us all, I reckon I can stay here for a bit t'help until Lan is strong enough to move--" Seeing the small white bear from the corner of her eye, Gwen freezes, giving Lan and Loren a look of confirmation. "... there's.... no angry mama 'bout to burst out of somewhere, is there...?" 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    The door is opened, and a whoosh of freezing air blusters right on in ahead of Eleanor and Gwen. Lan shivers a little but pulls herself a little closer to the edge of the bed anyway -- can this really be happening? It's only been a few days, sure, but it feels like they've been here forever.

    In the excitement, she doesn't notice that the cloudbear is on the move. Surely she would notice if it tried to eat the sunstone -- her private nickname for the pretty magical jewel Eleanor somehow gifted them -- wouldn't she?? "It did," Lan smiles tiredly up at her. She's not exactly pale from bloodloss; her skin is too dark for it to show that way, but she looks weak. The stone itself is suspended carefully from the ceiling next to a pair of repurposed spheres. They're what's keeping the inn lit, aside from the weak filtered daylight and Loren's efforts with the fire. "You don't have to ask, just come inside before you freeze!"

    And even if it might reopen her wound a little bit, Lan is sorely tempted by the offer of a hug. They're medicinal!

    "Hi Gwen," she greets the redhead and tugs herself up into a sit near the edge of the bed (with everything from the shoulders down swaddled in every blanket they've got). "I knew you'd make it. 'If anybody can deliver a rescue it's Gwen!'" Repeating that had definitely brought her some comfort

    "I asked the same thing," she smiles, and draws her knees up. "But it's an orphan, so Loren's raising it." Lan apparently sees nothing strange about this statement. 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "Just close the door. It's already too cold in here," he growses, though not ill-naturedly this once.

    "Yeah, a few days," Loren answers, then shakes his head. "They're mine. Lan... shouldn't be moving," he says, glancing towards the bed. After all, her injury was just as they'd brought up in the dream: Azoth had put a hole in her, and Loren hadn't been able to fully patch her without causing complications and had to instead improvise with his Ether and modern (Solarian) medicine.

    Is a ham and swiss on rye a bad combination? Would Loren know a bad sandwich combination if he met one*? He just regards Gwen a touch blankly and then, without skipping a beat, unwraps that sandwich and takes a big old bite out of it. Listen, he's been busy today and he's hungry.
    If he's lost weight during this whole business he's just going to sulk about it later. Being the rangy type stinks.

    "No, it's--"

    Lan's got it handled, which may be for the best.

    "It's a long story," Loren summarizes, shrugging his shoulders.

    "But yeah. The fire's going, and we have a kettle. Help yourself," he says, taking a seat on a nearby stool to eat his damn sandwich.

    The bear meanwhile continues its advance across the floor, inexorably approaching, then half-circling about Eleanor.

    If she suddenly has a small mouth trying to glom onto her shoe, well... the bear isn't particularly known for being too subtle. The good news is that its teeth appear to be insubstantial! ...As are parts of its body.

    *well, aside from an actual sin against god of a sandwich that is. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"So you do remember," Eleanor says brightly to Gwen. "That's wonderful." A beat, "I haven't been here very long. It took me a bit longer than you to get from the outskirts here, since I was on foot..."

She doesn't notice the cloudbear at first--but she does look over Lan, thoughtfully. She is not a doctor, but she is a healer, and she already knew Lan was badly hurt. "I'm glad to see you alive." Then, she considers the ceiling...

"Oh, good," she says, smiling back. "I wasn't entirely sure that that would work." She'll let Gwen handle closing the door. An--yes, well, it's too cold to worry about the smell much.

"This is fairly cozy. I'm glad you had at least this much shelter. Mister Voss, when you think she's safe to be moved, I can take us either to Luca or towards the Shrine where the gate to Filgaia is. It's up to you."

Then--then there is a...

"Oh my word it's so CUTE!" Eleanor enthuses, kneeling down ad moving to pet the cloudbear. "And Mister Voss is taking care of him? I didn't know he had it in him!"

She is absolutely delighted. "Ahahah, he's trying to bite my boot... Are you hungry, little one? I think I have a few things in my pack..." 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Eleanor's bright comment draws a laugh from Gwen. "... Well, I don't remember all my dreams, and some of the ones I do ain't ones I'd want to," Gwen says, her next laugh going uneasy around the edges. "But in this case, yeah. I doubt I could forget."

     Looking over at Lan, Gwen unwraps the yellow scarf around her neck. "Oh, I almost forgot! Can't believe m'self sometimes." She considers the length of it around her fingers. "... I don't think it consumes air the same way real fire does, since it's fed the same way any magic is fed, but, it ain't like I'm a world class wizard or anythin'." When Lan indicates she's alright with it, Gwen loops the scarf around Lan's head, and, after a few experimental flickers of flame to test her theory, Gwen lets the fire extend from the end she holds down the cloth, the magical flame avoiding any contact with actual material or skin, even if she's turned away.

    The parts that are not shimmering with fire feel like the scarf had just been taken from a sunny laundry line.

    A flame that can't burn, smoke, or harm, only radiate a safe amount of heat. Completely useless for so many things, but for the purposes of overcoming a visceral fear of fire and for warming the body of someone that had gotten so close to death, it is appropriately designed.

    "... Thank you again, Loren," Gwen says, stepping back with one end of the scarf still in her left hand. "I thanked you in the dream, but... better it be done here and not in a dream, y'know? I got supplies for you too, like fresh clothes. Same for you too, Lan. Nothin' fancy, and I had t'guess your sizes, so they'll probably run large since I didn't want to make the opposite mistake." Plus, Loren really *is* pretty stringy when he's not wearing the appropriate gear, probably even moreso now. Lan was an easier guess, even if she's taller than Gwen herself.

    "... By the way, Eleanor. Y'seemed... diff--" The cloud bear tries to nom on Eleanor, and Gwen relaxes, hearing that it's an orphan. .... which, of course, she feels a little ashamed of. "...Oh good! They're a real cutiepatootie if I ever saw one! N' Loren's raising it? That just makes this all cuter!" She's smiling wide. "Aw, Eleanor, give him some credit! He takes these things seriously, so I bet the lil' guy's in good hands."

    Rolling her shoulders, Gwen goes to move, but realizes that would deactivate the scarf. "... I think I brought enough for now. There's some tea leaves in the satchel I brought, if any of you feel like somethin' more civilized." Sitting down on the bed beside Lan, Gwen loops the scarf around time around Lan's shoulders. "Let me know if y'get too warm, okay? It can't burn you, but it can still make y'sweat." 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "You both thought of everything" Lan marvels quietly. From food to firewood to magic stones. "He needs to eat more. He was giving me all the nutribars." Giving in this case kind of equates to 'forcing them upon her'.

    But as for the stone... "How did you even do it? I'm pretty good at affecting the Dreaming but there's no way I could just make a thing like that and have it appear in the waking world." It's not that it shouldn't be possible (because it shouldn't) but Lan can't even begin to imagine how someone could theoretically do it! And Lan is pretty creative when it comes to unauthorized uses of magic.

    In their defense, the main smell is 'old abandoned building' and also 'musty blankets'.

    But it's fun to watch Eleanor discover the cloudbear. "It still needs a name," Lan admits. They never did agree on one! Or, Loren didn't agree on one.

    "I don't suppose anybody brought a shirt," Lan ventures hopefully. She did eventually get Loren to cut a broad strip of cloth from one of the inn's sheets, which has been tied around her chest above the dressing. It's better than nothing! But Gwen thought of that too. "Yessssss," Lan cheers softly, a single triumphant fist venturing outside of the blankets to pump once in the air. "He had to cut my shirt off of me."

    Seeing the scarf in real life is a different feeling than in the Dreaming. Such nonsensical things are easy to find there. But here Gwen is with a scarf that wont burn, no matter how bright the flames flicker. The warmth is almost enough to make someone weepy!

    But Lan has cried enough for a few months.

    "Loren's been taking good care of both of us," Lan tells them. "I would have died without him," A sobering thought, maybe. But Lan grew up relying on others. 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    His metabolism can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Maybe it's because he's sort of 'optimized' to use Ether, as a First Class citizen. Maybe it's because he's still young, and because he's a soldier. But the fact is that he's almost always a little bit hungry.

    But there is a pause as something aside from 'sweet, a sandwich' settles in his mind.

    "Wait, teleportation stones?" Nearly, that had zipped right past him without comment.
    No, he is not particularly familar with Crest Sorcery, outside a few of the basics and essentials.

    And then he turns around in time to see Gwen loop a burning scarf (?!?!) around Lan's neck. "Hey--"
    Oh, it is just magic, isn't it. Well now he feels dumb. Sulking a moment silently, he turns his attention towards the fire he'd started himself and scarfs his sandwich.

    "--It's fine," he says, after swallowing a mouthful. "Just doing my... well, er... anyone would have," he finishes, just about in a mumble, hunching his shoulders. Technically, no, saving a wayward Lamb's life isn't his job. It's just what he'd ended up doing, regardless of any official protocols or anything at all. He attacks his sandwich instead with greater vigor, not at all related to some mild self-consciousness.

    If anything, Eleanor and Gwen's effusive praise of Loren -- especially the part of 'him not seeming the type' -- causes him to flush faintly. "Well, it's not as if it had anywhere else to go," he defends his honor thus. As if anyone's buying it.

    It's a strange experience, petting the cloudbear. Some sections of it come off on her hand, billowing away to dissipate in the air. This doesn't seem to affect it -- indeed, it's as if no amount of its mass had been lost in the first place. Whatever's going on with the bear, it's clearly not (entirely) a normal animal. Which might be also evidenced in what Loren says next"

    "Well... the thing is..." Loren starts to say, stooping to try and go pick it up.

    It bites his finger.

    "It doesn't eat. Not food, anyway -- I knew it drank water. But... it seems to eat magic. It tried to eat that stone you sent us," somehow, "and it seems like it's been living off of my Ether for a while. --Well, it doesn't do harm," he adds quickly, as if concerned that this will see their rescue turn around on their heels and leave. "It's just... strange like that."

    It's sure not got anything close to a name. Not yet.

    Thank the Emperor, someone brought a shirt. He was about ready to take some of the scrap cloth from another room here and let Lan have at it with the surgical thread and needle. Not only is it dangerous -- assuming they have to leave -- for her to be shirtless it's also...

    ...really embarrassing.

    Speaking of embarrassing, when Lan again speaks of how she would have died without his efforts, did anyone know his ears turn red when he's really embarrassed? 


<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"it's a lovely scarf," Eleanor comments. But Gwen has supplies and clothes, so that's best. But the question about her from Gwen? "Oh, that's a long story--aaah he is cute, isn't he? I agree!" Then a smile. "This is certainly something to take seriously... I will!"

How did she do it? "I just... passed the Light to your person, I suppose. It's hard to explain exactly how; it might have to do with..." She regards Loren for a moment, "Hm."

She doesn't finish what she was saying!! But Loren was taking good care of them both, and, "Then I'm glad he was with you."

Teleportation stones, though? "Indeed!" Eleanor says. "They shortcut the means of casting a teleporation spell, which is good, because I don't have anything like the supplies for it outside such an item, nor the working space here."

What anyone would have... "Hmmm. I would like to think that's true, but I must say instead that you have done something good here."

Now, Loren explains...it tried to eat the stone. It eats magic...

"Then," Eleanor says, and opens her palm face-up. A little globe of light appears there, shimmering. It is not Ether. "Eat up, little one. You've probably been hungry with all his magic being used to keep them alive, hm?"

"Does he have a name?" 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    There is something different about Eleanor, but maybe she's just settling into her new life? Love *does* change things, after all, but... "... Yeah, I s'pose that ain't a story for today. But man, teleportation stones. The things I could maybe do with somethin' like that..." She rubs her chin. "Though, I 'spose I should be more worried. You could put a courier out of commission if a lot of ya just sat down and really thought 'bout how t'make it work as a business."

    "The scarf?" Gwen raises the other end of it up. "Yeah, Zed gave it to me. Yellow ain't my color, but... I make exceptions for things people give me. I added an enchantment to it t'help me not be so... scared, with fire. Kinda silly, really, since it ain't like I'm scared of makin' a bonfire, but... I think Zed'd approve since it looks real cool in action. I can pretend I'm a real fire mage now, hehe!"

    If she can laugh about it, that's progress, Gwen supposes.

    "Haha, ah yeah, I should've warned ya first." Gwen gives Loren a grin, appreciating just how protective he's been of Lan, even doing the exact thing that preserved her freedom, even if it was the riskier path to take. They could have both frozen out here. "...

    "Huh..." Experimentally, Gwen slips off her right glove and, very carefully, runs a small current of energy between two fingers. Her face is serious as she concentrates, spreading her fingers out in a gentle gesture. She doesn't present it to the Cloudbear, not wanting to appear to be offering a snack when it might instead translate to a shock, but it slowly ebbs as Eleanor gives it a proper meal. "Hey, Eleanor, if it's still hungry after you feeding it, mind if I try somethin'? I'm running a current made from my own energy right now, so maybe, it'll behave like ether for it."

    Her left hand pats Lan on the back. "... Thank you, for reachin' out to us, Lan. In a way, you saved Loren too. I'm sure you two would've thought of somethin', but the longer things went on, the more likely Solaris was gonna go pokin' around and complicating things. Now, we got supplies, n' I can loan myself out t'chop more wood or whatever so Loren can recharge." 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    It's not his job, is it. Spending this much time and so many resources on an 'enemy agent', no matter how useful she once was to Gebler, is pretty much the exact opposite of his job.

    "The Light," Lan repeats, thoughtful. "But what is it exactly - the power source, I mean. It's not from any Guardian, and it doesn't feel the same as Crest sorcery." She doesn't mention that it had felt strangely familiar: like a song she somehow knew the words to, despite never hearing it before. Because honestly Lan's got a lot on her plate at the moment and she figures they've got all the time in the world to talk about the finer nuances between the schools of magic Later, When They Are Not Holed Up In a Frozen Inn.

    Gwen's scarf is a really cool trick, and Lan hopes that maybe this will be something really good for her. Nobody like surprise fire, but for Gwen it's a real problem. When she pats Lan on the back Lan lets her body tilt stiffly against the courier, snaking an arm out from beneath the blankets to wrap around Gwen's hips and give her kind of an awkward but heartfelt side hug.

    "Thank you guys. It was all I could think of, and if you hadn't answered when I called..." But they did. And so did Marivel, and--

    "...Have either of you seen Azoth since the battle at the temple?" Lan asks suddenly, arm slipping away from Gwen. 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    If anyone ever figures out the real reason he vanished for days after the catastrophe at the outpost, he'll catch it for sure. But fortunately (so he thinks) the events make for the perfect alibi. There have to have been others similarly affected, perhaps even caught out elsewhere in the storms of Macalania and waiting for the weather to clear before attempting to make it back to Filgaia.

    "Forget it," he says to Gwen with a mild scowl, before moving to finish off the last of his sandwich. He's had some pretty quality sandwiches the last few days -- though it might just be his hunger acting as the seasoning. Whatever the reason, he'll take it.

    "Yeah... I have agree with Lan. How does that work?" He's not an expert in Crest Sorcery -- and even less so in anything other than Ether -- but that's a real violation of physics, there. Sure, magic has its own rules but doesn't there usually have to be a source of power present to create an effect? To do so across a distance -- across a span of space -- is something else in the altogether.

    The fact that bear had been more or less feeding on him had been... well, a shock, to put it mildly. Not that he felt the worse for wear any, or that he'd noticed his well was dry (so to speak). But it still didn't mean that he was entirely over it, either. "You sure about--"

    Yeah, Eleanor sure is sure. The bear, for its part, gobbles down that blob of magic so quickly that if anyone blinks, they're sure to have missed it. Eleanor's magic is possibly especially tasty for it...?

    "I wonder if it's gonna start growing if it's eating like that..." Loren mumbles, frowning. If it starts getting big, it's going to get harder to hide it... to say nothing of whether it might become a liability if it starts eating noticable amounts of his magic. Or anyone else's. What sort of experiment was conducted on it in the first place, anyway...?

    "--What, you too?! Don't any of you think that's weird?"

    So he says as Gwen kneels to similarly offer it a 'treat' of her magic, which it gloms onto immediately. If it had tangible teeth and she had flesh, she might have felt its bite just now. Loren, for his part, slouches his shoulders and sighs heavily.

    Does the bear have a name?

    "Uh, no. We were, uh..." He trails off, looking over at Lan as if for assistance with this. They were discussing that very thing as a matter of fact! But even with a few options on the table, he can't quite decide. He's still not even sure if it's a boy or a girl bear -- or how you figure that out on a bear, precisely. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Love changes many things!! ...But that may not be what this is. Eleanor laughs a little at Gwen's statement though, "No, you don't have to worry about that. They require enough expertise to use that you're in no danger of being put out of business anytime soon.

"It does look 'cool'," Eleanor agrees about the scarf. But... Hmm. The light...

She can't share the full details here, she's sure, but... "Mm. It's..." She considers, how best to explain. She finds she doesn't have a good one. "It's the energy of the planet, I suppose. I can't really narrow it down any more than that. I'm still somewhat new to using this sort of magic. It's not Crest Sorcery, though, you're right. I suppose it's more like... a precursor to it? It's very old."

Bear!! Eleanor smiles at the bear and gives it another little pat pat. "There you go, isn't that better?" Maybe it'll grow. Maybe it won't. "Of course it's weird," Eleanor says. "That's part of why he's so cute!" She pet pets the bear some more. "What kind of magic made a bear made of clouds...? Is he a little elemental spirit? An experiment gone wrong? Why, I have no idea! And it just makes him that much more fascinating!!"

Wizards: no sense of right or wrong.

"Go for it," Eleanor says to Gwen of her trick, and there... hmmm. "Well, you're more than welcome. I was looking to reach out to you in matters of dreams anyway, so it certainly was good for me to have the chance to help you."

The battle...? Hmm. "Only in the dream," ELeanor says of Azoth. "Which makes me wonder a little."

But she doesn't elborate. Instead, "Well, you should definitely name him. That's part of your responsibility as his new parent!" 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Loren's scowl just makes Gwen's grin wider, though she doesn't say anything. Instead, she warmly returns into that awkward sidehug with Lan, carefully slipping one hand down to support her own weight without leaning onto Lan. "I'm pretty certain you n' Loren would have thought of somethin' else," she says softly, deep into her side hug with Lan. "It just wouldn't be as quick, or would've come with different risks. You're both scruffy in all the right ways when it comes t'survivin'."

    ".... So, somethin' like a direct line to magic itself, huh..." Gwen muses at Eleanor's explanation. "This magic stuff gets complicated! Was a lot easier when the only wizards had t'go to an academy n' get a fancy tattoo." ... so says the person with a flaming scarf, but hush

    Loren objects as they all feed the cloudbear, and Gwen just happily continues doing it. "Hey, I was curious, and besides, you've been feedin' it out of your own pocket, so t'speak. I pretty much am a walkin' battery." Gwen squees quietly as the cloudbear 'feeds' from her. "... As for a name, maybe it'll just come t'you? That's how names've come t'me. You can't force it or it'll be all wrong." She tries to pet it with her right hand, marveling with an open mouth how it's like trying to pet a cloud. "... 'sides. Bein' cute can get you out of a *lot* of jams, Loren." She grins widely. If Loren grumps, her grin just grows brighter. But, thankfully, she never pushes beyond that. "If it grows up to be a problem, maybe all of us bein' kind to it'll help it understand we're kin, in a way. It's how parents nurture their young, right?"
 
    Of course Gwen would think that.

    "I think Azoth appearin' in the Dream shows there's more t'him than he tries to convince himself of. My guess is that one of us is bound to come across 'im sooner or later. He's a hardy lil' guy. But..." Finally, there's a frown. "Don't push yourself if you meet him again too early, okay, Lan? Fear, anger, sadness... There's no telling what will bubble up." And what might come with that, in Lan's case specifically. Gwen nods to Loren then. "I guess I shouldn't say the same goes for you since I ain't saying anything y'don't know, but I'm gonna say it anyway."

    Even if he very well could be commanding Azoth. Such is the nature of still being part of Solaris. But here, at least, she can annoy *and* fuss over him, sometimes at the same time. Multitasking! 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    If it keeps eating, it might grow. But then what's the alternative? "Well it's not like you could starve it, even to keep it small." Which isn't to say that its 'diet' couldn't be kept lean, as it were... but wouldn't that be cruel? "And it's super weird," Lan agrees cheerfully, "But it's cute too." The bear can't help being weird!

    "We tried to think of names for it while we were waiting. I still think Addi was a really good one," she asides to Loren, as if he hasn't already heard her opinion. "Or Runa for a girl." Which is a tacit admission that neither of them has any idea if the bear is male or female. "Though I guess the bear doesn't care whether it gets a boy name or a girl name. How about a name that could belong to anybody? Or name it after a place." You can totally name a bear Adelhyde.

    Something older than their current systems... "It's hard to imagine something like that." It'd be the kind of thing that creation myths are made of! Maybe if Lan goes asking around, she can learn more. ...Of course, that'll have to wait until she's fit to travel again.

    "I'll be glad to help out once I'm a little better. You can tell me more about it whenever you like." She leans against Gwen a bit longer, letting the other girl support her weight. While they've had a chance to recuperate some thanks to Marivel's sent-ahead care package, Lan's injury is still sapping most of her strength. It's... weird, to feel so frail. She doesn't like it, but it can't be helped.

    Admonished to go slow when next she meets Azoth, Lan can really only nod and sigh. "I didn't even try to fight him this time. It all happened so fast. He came out of nowhere, and I was getting ready to try and help him, when..." Lan makes a crude shoving motion, twisting her wrist at the apex. "He didn't want to. I'm sure of it."

    She thinks he touched her face. But then everything went black.

    With a quiet grunt, Lan lowers herself back to the mattress, the cold already trying to make its home in her bones again. "Ugh. Chilly." 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    He'd been thinking of a few something elses, as it happened, but there would have been risks involved. Perhaps he would have finished the job and then done his best with any complications that arose. Maybe he would have chanced it on his own and hoped he'd be back quickly enough. Maybe he would have stayed put and made the best of it until she had recovered enough. But there's no telling how any of that would have ended.

    Or if something else would have happened before he could have gotten any of those plans underway.

    "Yeah," he answers Gwen, shifting on the stool he's seated on. "It might have worked out. But it might have not."

    It's not Crest Sorcery, but instead some... older magic that predates it? Granted, it could be possible that there's something potent here that Solaris has managed to omit in all the education he had in primary through Jugend and beyond, but... he's never heard of such a thing. His expression will speak volumes to this. "Huh," he says at last. "You sure that's what it is?"

    Maybe it's Ether. Maybe she's awoken some talent for Ether -- except he also knows in his heart that wasn't it. The power in that stone wasn't... unlike Ether, but also certainly not Ether. Not as he knows it. Even Veruni artes aren't like that.

    He's had more than a few chances to see Veruni artes up close and personal, after all.

    "Well-- no, I'm not going to starve it," he says, aghast at Lan's remark. What does she think he is! "Anyway it'll just keep feeding off me anyway. Or whoever it can get a snack off of," he adds, grimacing.

    It's fascinating, Eleanor declares, regarding the nature of the magic-eating mystery bear. Given the context of the time, 'experiment' would honestly have been Loren's assumption, but...
    No, he doesn't quite provide an answer in that regard to Eleanor's musings. Not at all.

    Is that horror dawning across his expression, instead, as he receives an understanding as to the sort of person Eleanor is...!?

    "Uh... what?" He looks at Eleanor, a little gobsmacked. "What's-- why does it have to be me?" And what's all this about it growing up to become a problem anyway!
    Even if he's already expressed his worries to Lan about precisely this.

    If he had his glasses on he would have fumbled with them about now. "Anyway, enough! Look, it's just-- I'll take care of it if that happens!" He makes a small noise, as if realizing how that sounded. "I mean-- not, like that! I meant I'll handle it! And I know, you already told me," he asides to Lan. Maybe he should just pick one of those at random so people stop asking him the bear's name already...

    Given Loren's most-recent predicament, he hasn't been in the best situation to know anything about what's going on with Azoth. But if no one else has seen him (outside the dream) then perhaps he's also missing somewhere out here?
    ...Well, that's going to give Loren nightmares, assuming he has to stay out here another night.

    "Mm," is his noncommital answer regarding Azoth's intent and everything else. Even in spite of the dream... he hasn't forgiven Azoth. Not at all.

    "...So you were saying you could get Lan out of here?"

    He pauses.

    "Somewhere that can handle what I've done for her already is best." The grimace he makes here is no small one. But he's about to make no small decision.

    "...Shevat should know how to finish the job. They'll have the facilities. They have to." He's handing over Lan to the people he mistrusts the most -- but it's either that or trusting the doctors of some surface-dwelling nations, some of which barely understand germ theory.
    Or turning her over to Solaris. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Oh, it would be terrible to starve it. Especially with how cute it is!" She does not comment on what could have been; maybe she's busy with the bear? "I think the bear would like having a nae..."

But hard to imagine? Is she sure? "Magic is very complicated," Eleanor agrees with Gwen, and then nods to Lan. "I'll show you more another time," she says, and then looks to Loren. "I learned it from someone very old, so it makes sense to me that it would be old," she settles on instead. "And the standing principles..." She trails off, "Well, if you really want to have an academic discussion about it, perhaps another time? I'm sure they teach you about the paradigmatic harmonies of the elements in Solaris, and the ultimate nature of quasi-referential iconography..."

Loren starts to understand who Eleanor is. Eleanor beams. "Because you found him!" she announces.

To Lan, though, "Once you're better, I'll take you up on that. It's shaman business, and I won't hear of pressing until you are beter, all right?"

Azoth... and trying to help. Eleanor frowns. "...I suspect you're right, Gwen. Even so..."

Well. Loren mentions getting Lan out. Somewhere...

"We'll have to make two trips," Eleanor says. "I don't want to risk cross-world teleportation; we could end up anywhere between here and there that way. But once to Home, to the teleporter back, and then once again to Shevat... I think that would be your best option, I agree."

"Whenever you're ready, Lan, and the two of you have said your farewells for now... I'll take us out. I am hesitant to leave you alone, Mr. Voss, but... I understand if you prefer to go your separate way."

Then she looks to him, for a moment. Thinking...

"...You're very kind," she tells Loren. "Don't argue--even if it's only for those you care about, that's still meaningful. Be careful out there, all right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen nods in agreement with Eleanor. "... You chose the harder option, Loren. If more people on Solaris where like that, all us surface dwellin' types'd be in big trouble." It's half a tease, and half a compliment.

    Seeing Lan shiver, Gwen reactivates the flame magic embedded in the fabric in order to keep her warm. "It's okay, Lan. ... I would've done the same."

    And she probably would have had a better time surviving it, most likely. But not without Loren's help, though, if she could even convince him. But, maybe he would, because of their ties to Lan.

    Such is Lan's power...!

    Eleanor lays out a plan, and Gwen nods. "I think I could probably fit all three of you in the Halcyone," Gwen supposes aloud, tapping a finger to her cheek as she does the rough estimates in her head. "It'll be a cozy fit, n' I'll have to hope whatever supplies we leave here'll still be here when I make a trip back. Ain't worth it t'leave anything that'd go bad or get moldy fast, but I think it'd be nice to have some supplies here for any travelers that get stuck out here. But this way, we'll get you to Filgaia easy, n' Eleanor can do the rest. Sound good?"

    Part of her feels sad to be the one to help ruin this cozy scene. This inn likely hasn't seen such repairs since Loren dabbled in repair. But then, maybe it'll be that much safer for any traveler or pilgrim that has to spend time here?
     

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "I said you couldn't," Lan chides. Not after how much care he's already given it.

    But he suggests something that Lan never in a million years would have predicted. Shevat. His ancestral enemy. (They're actually really nice but she hasn't been able to convince him yet. Especially after that dream about the really really deadly Shevat swordswoman.) She stares after him, something like surprise ghosting across her face.

    It's probably better that she doesn't try to keep up with Eleanor about the Hermetic side of magic; for most scholars magic is a science, but for Lan it has always been a feeling. "I promise, I'll wait until I'm all fixed up to hear you out." She's waited a few days already. Surely a few more won't kill her from boredom.

    The promise of spacefuture medical technology is a tempting prize... but it means that Lan has to get back out of the bed and endure the winter weather for a time. She can do this. She's tough. She's eaten enough nutribar porridge to fuel incredible feats of strength! And Gwen says she brought a shirt.

    Gwen and Eleanor both have more knowledge of how to get there than Lan does. "Whatever route you decide is best, as long as Loren gets back to safety too. And Gwen's right - it'd be really nice to leave some supplies for anybody else who has to use this place after us."

    Another brief pause while she steels her courage. Get up, you baby. It's just the cold and an unknown trip and the idea of a doctor that isn't Loren.

    Lan needs some help getting up, but she's at least ready to not be trapped in an overdone smut story setup anymore.

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