2022-09-24: Aftercare

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  • Log: 2022-09-24 Aftercare
  • Cast: Lan Lilac, Hicalu Wilwisp
  • Where:
  • Date: September 24, 2022
  • Summary: Taking care of Hicalu after a disaster is second nature to Lan.


<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    It's been a little while since Xander managed what he needed to do to survive. Shooting Beau, who was sneaking up behind the Fang with intent to stab-- it's hardly 'in cold blood', if she thinks about it (and Lan does. Think about it).

    It wasn't something she'd wanted Hicalu to see. She should have insisted that he run. She should have picked him up and kept going and left Ida and Lily and the others to clean that up.

    ...That's not fair. And it wouldn't have been right.

    She takes the kettle off of the burner, steam wafting hot and moist around her as she pours water into a pair of stoneware mugs. Herbs and flowers swim in the water; they'll release their relaxing properties in the heat and make everything feel just a little bit better. (Hicalu's got a big spoonful of honey as well - the taste is already going to be kinda medicinal.) "Here," she tells her brother, and presses the mug into his hands. "Careful, it's hot."

    Lan looks tired, because she is. Their own wounds still need addressing, and neither of them has eaten. Her clothes are dusty and bloody in spots.

    But at least she's not Beau, sacrificed to the Fangs of Valmar.

    Xander...

    What do you hope to do?

    "...Do you wanna talk about it?" she asks, settling down beside him with her own mug of tea.


<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    The deepest of Hicalu's lacerations were frozen over by Lily's healing magic -- it's too bad that all he could offer her in return was a muffin from his pack. It's not precisely healing magic. It's... an effort.

    It means that the scratches over his tattoos are -- not nearly as grievous and life-threatening as Xander was clearly trying to make them. They could still, certainly, use some band-aids, but the worst damage to Hicalu isn't carried in his spilled blood.

    Though, certainly, it winds through his heart.

    He blinks, as the mug is pressed into his hands -- a touch dazed, but he wraps his decorated fingers around the handle with care, as Lan instructs. He's been... not really quiet, he's been crying an awful lot... but he hasn't spoken much about it, on the way here.

    "I... I'm sorry," he sniffles, after a moment. "You were taking a long time, so I was worried you got in trouble on the way here, since you said you got hurt... I thought, you know, maybe you'd gotten outta bed too quick, so I was goin' to meet you... but, but all that happened, y-you, you got stuck there 'cause I was wrapped up in it... right?"


<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    Of course Hicalu cried. He's a softie. Lan cries too, when she feels like it. There's no shame in that. Lan feels a little like crying right now, but if she cries then Hicalu will start fretting and crying again and it'll spiral into a weepathon and they'll both be exhausted. (It's happened before.)

    "There's nothing to be sorry about," she reassures him again. "You didn't do anything wrong! I took a long time because I had to walk from the train depot, and I was going kind of slow because I thought it was just nice to be back outside traveling again. If I'd stopped to think that you'd be worried, I would've gone faster - I would've skipped taking a peek inside the church, for sure."

    Of course it's easy for Lan to say it now - she probably would've been unable to resist taking a peek at a giant crimson tree where it's not supposed to be, even if she had a strict deadline. It's just how she is.

    She shakes her head no, the tails of her old silver ribbon drifting in her pale hair. "No, I would've stayed to help Lily and the others anyway. I wanted to watch out for you too, but that's 'cause I'm your big sis." She reaches out to pet his fluffy hair, and blows on her mug to cool it. "I couldn't have left, the moment I saw what was happening to him."


<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    Hicalu's ears twitch with a little self-effacement, as Lan insists that her essential Lan-ness would have made this happen anyway. "Yeah, you're right..." Of course, Hicalu knows about her essential Lan-ness, which means --

    ... he's in the sort of mood where he's looking for a reason to blame himself.

    You know. One of those moods.

    He puffs breath over his tea, and sips, grateful for the honey added to the herbs. When his head comes back up -- there's a hand! Pat, pat. His ears flick, again. "Lily?" He asks, unfamiliar with the name. "Was she one of those scary people you were fighting with?" Hicalu doesn't include himself as a fighter. He's never really had that impression of himself.

    He doesn't ask what was happening to Xander, though certainly his mind lingers on the question.


<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    Lan knows those moods. She hates them. Hicalu blaming himself for things that aren't his fault is just his way of coping with them, she thinks - it's easier than acknowledging that some things are nobody's fault, and couldn't have been prevented no matter how hard you try.

    If it's all his fault, the illusion of control remains. Lan doesn't think of it in so many words, but she has the gist of it. (Her mother explained it to her once, when she was a teenager and whined because Hicalu was whining first.)

    "Lily was the creepy witch," she explains, unable to help a little smirk. It's not the first time anybody's called Lily either of those things and it won't be the last - and Lily seems all too happy to live up to her reputation. "But she's a good person! She's helped me before. You remember Ida, of course." It's easier to talk about things like this - about people. About friends.

    About allies. "I saw someone else there too, the woman with the rifle. Her name is Ruth." Lan's voice no longer has any of the friendly familiarity from before - in fact, she sounds and feels a little uncomfortable. "I think she's a good person, or trying to be one. So if she's scary sometimes, it's probably not meant for you, okay?"

    Lan has no actual idea who Ryoko was. Oops.


<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    "Oh... and that other elf who was trying to protect me, I guess she just got wrapped up in it, huh..?" Hicalu remembers Ryoko, even if he didn't get her name.

    His ears wilt, a little. "The witch..? She was almost as scary as that murderer... she, she t-turned into a shadow! A-and did some, some stuff with, space... i-if you say Lily's a good person, I believe you, but... this isn't like one of those things where you make friends with someone who's like, going to destroy the world or something, r-right?"

    Lan makes friends with everyone. It's a valid concern!

    "And -- and I heard stories about the four knocks of Death's Door when I was in Guild Galad," Hicalu says, still quite nervous. "A sniper who killed a whole lot of people... s-she said she wasn't gonna hurt me, so I guess you're right, but isn't it scary how someone can just hold up a rifle that big? I know she's got a lot of muscles, but..." Hicalu, as it happens, was not Resonant enough to see the horns or the tail. He's never even been to Lunar!

    Hicalu sighs, taking another sip of his tea. "Even Ida's pretty scary, in a fight... is it just, like, all Drifters are scary like that? I mean, Tristan was really cool, but... but most of them have scared me!" This is, being fair, not difficult. Hicalu is frequently spooked by his own shadow.


<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "I know Lily looks scary. She definitely spooked me the first few times we met. But she's a good companion to have - she'll fight as hard as she can to protect people she cares about. Just like Ida." Her smile takes on a slightly strained quality, but it's heavy subject matter. She can be forgiven for not keeping her whole upper lip stiff, right?

    She didn't exactly... make friends with someone...

    She takes another sip when he does. It warms the body, slowly loosening muscles. Mana used to make a version of this, back in Little Firelight, if someone was having a bad night.

    But she smiles again, and pulls him in for a comforting hug (careful not to spill). "You saw them when they had to be scary. Because of Xander, and the curse." She's figured out enough by now, just from inferring and listening to the others talk. Lan is simple, but she isn't stupid. "Even I can be scary when I have to! But then it's just me underneath it all, normal old Lan. It's the same with them, too."

    "I want you to meet my friends someday. Gwen and Loren especially. Gwen's a courier with a really cool metal arm, and just the sweetest person ever - plus she's really great in a fight and super brave. Loren's... a little less brave, but he's really sharp. And dutiful... responsible. He taught me a lot. He was the one who took care of me when I was hurt." Maybe she can distract him from feeling bad!


<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    Oop! It's time to hug! Luckily, Hicalu is well-versed in this, so he leans against Lan without spilling his tea everywhere. (He's taken enough sips that it's not so precariously close to the lip of the mug, anyway.) It means she can feel him shiver, rather than just see it, when Lan mentions a curse.

    He says nothing.

    "Loren and Gwen, huh?" He asks, instead, tail curling about Lan's knee. (His hands are occupied with his tea, so he has to hug her back this way.) He takes another sip, and sighs. "They sound nice... I'm glad you made so many friends, Lan, even if some are, uh..." terrifying?, "... a lot to take in." He's trying to be diplomatic!

    Sip. "But you were always shining, so I guess it makes sense, yeah?" Of course Hicalu uses star metaphors. Star metaphors are at the top of his ladder.

    "Wow, I bet Gwen's seen the whole world though, right? Delivering stuff... that's really cool. What's Loren do?" It's an innocent enough question, as Hicalu looks up to Lan.


<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    He's still shivering. It's not from cold, she knows. Poor Hicalu...

    Tailhugs are extra special. Lan doesn't know a lot of people who can give them, much less would. (Seraphita totally would, but cannot. The tragedy of the bunnygirl.) "They're kind of amazing," she chuckles, wrapping both hands around her mug. "If it weren't for them, I'd definitely be dead. --Uh, but I've saved them a few times too, so it's not like I was in any more danger than anybody else! It's just, being a Drifter is... well, danger-ous."

    Which is a dumb thing to say in front of worrywarts, but it'd be insulting to Hicalu to not acknowledge it.

    Shining... if anything shines about Lan, it's her good intentions. "Sure you're not a magpie?" she teases gently, rocking her shoulder against his. "But, I understand what you mean. --Oh, and I met another shaman of Rigdobrite, too! Her name is Lydia. She's--" Weird, tragic, wonderful. "She's really strong, and kind of funny, and she's Beastfolk too. She has these really beautiful horns that curve, like this." Lan mimics a ram's horn with one hand at the side of her head. ...She'll just not mention that when she met Lydia, Lydia had an asteroid for a head. Lan tries very hard not to think about that.

    "Gwen's been all over the world, and even to the moon. ...Loren..." she trails off, this a little harder to answer. "He's a medic in an army. I traveled with him for a while. It was a little complicated, but we became really close friends. ...Have you heard of Solaris?"

    Because Hicalu, again, deserves to not be kept in the dark anymore.


<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    Being a Drifter really sounds dangerous! It's a good thing Hicalu isn't one. Please don't hit +finger and tell him what his role is, he'll be very upset.

    "Warble warble," Hicalu warbles, to Lan's magpie teasing, which must be a good sign, because at least he can still joke a little. "But -- oh wow, another Rigdobrite shaman? That's great!" He grins, and grins a little wider, when she mentions she's a Beastfolk shaman. His ears perk up like little radar dishes.

    He probably can't get radio signals from those things, but it's a valid question.

    "What? The moon? Does... does Gwen got some kinda spaceship she uses to deliver stuff to space?" Hicalu would believe anything, at this point. "What do moon folk want delivered, anyway? They're like... magic people, right? Aren't they all super magic on the moon? I heard a rumour in Guild Galad once that moon people are like, children of a God, or part God or something, and they've all got magic without even needing to pray to the Guardians or get tattoos or crests or nothin'."

    Hicalu pauses.

    "Uh, sorry, I got off track," one ear quirks down, and his tail flicks. "Anyway, I ain't never heard of Solaris. Is that like... the sun? Are there people living on the sun, too?" Hicalu fixes the taller woman with a queer expression. "You need to tell me if there are people living on the sun, Lan."

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "Close," she informs him with the air of a big sister with a Juicy Secret. "She has a Gear called Halcyone, but you get to the moon by traveling through these special gates left by an ancient people called the Elw. They were here even before us Baskar." Hicalu is included in 'us Baskar', of course, because he grew up in their village and lives their way of life - nobody could call him otherwise now. At least not how Lan sees it!

    "And the people on the moon use magic way differently than we do. They have something called Althena's Blessing, which means they can use magic if they want to learn it. It's kind of weird stuff - I heard they can only use healing OR destructive magic, unlike people from Filgaia." Lan will admit she was more concerned about the ban on drinking and carousing than the School of Magic in Vane. Althena is someone else's goddess, after all.

    But, Mission Distraction is a roaring success! ...He'll have to deal with it sometime, of course, but first he can get a mug of tea and maybe some dinner into himself. That'll make the rest of it easier to bear when the time comes.

    She makes him wait a few seconds before she answers him about people living on the sun. She doesn't even break eye contact! "...There are no people living on the sun. That I know about," she finally capitulates. "Solaris is... it's a secret nation. They live in a city in the clouds, way up where you can't see it easily. The... technology they've got is unbelievable. Electricity everywhere, lamps that turn on just by touching them, if someone loses a hand it can be replaced by one made of metal that's nearly as good as the real thing. But... it's not perfect or anything. There are a lot of people who are basically slaves there. I want to save them. And I think Loren wants to save them - he wants to fix what's wrong with his country. But it's a big job, and we don't... really know how."


<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    Hicalu is definitely a Baskar. Mana would vouch for him, and Hicalu can't imagine a person on this world or any other who could contest Mana. He's pretty sure Mana could even stand up to Lily 'just straight-up turned into inky blackness' Keil.

    "Huuuh... so... what's an Althena?" Hicalu presses, ear twitching. "Are they like, a Lunar Guardian, or..." oh no.

    At least he's now too baffled to be crying!

    Anyway: they're not living on the sun, but there is a cabal of secret people out there. Up there! Hicalu blinks. "So... did Gwen get her metal arm from Solaris?" That's the first connection he makes. Being fair, it's reasonable to assume Lan's made more than one friend from Solaris, right?

    Hicalu frowns. "But... I don't get it. If they've got all that fancy technology, what'd they need slaves for? You don't gotta do farmwork in the sun if you have, I dunno, electric scythes, right? So even if they're the kind who'd force people to do stuff they don't wanna do insteada drawing straws like decent folk... like, there's nothin' to take care of if you've got a sky city, is there?"

    Hicalu, who is a very good boy, takes quite a few moments as he tries to unweave the logic.

    "Like... it wouldn't just be cruelty just so they can be cruel about it, would it? They wouldn't just wanna hurt their own people like that, right?" Hicalu's ears pin down. "Right...?"

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "She got it from her aunt who's a scientist. It's a capital A-R-M kind of arm, with lasers and stuff, but Gwen lost her own arm when she was little, in a fire. So her aunt replaced it with the metal one, a relic ARM called the Mockingbird." At least that's how Lan remembers the story from Gwen - Gwen did a much better job of telling the story. "She's from a place called Boot Hill, north-ish of Little Firelight by a few hundred miles."

    Hicalu is a very good boy. The kind that Lan would have been totally okay with staying home, and being safe and loved, but he left the village again even after completing his journey. He's making his own choices, and even if Lan worries about him...

    Hicalu has a right to experience the world too, doesn't he?

    "...I wanna think it's not just for the sake of being cruel," she sighs, looking down into the leaves at the bottom of her mug. "I want to think it's... maybe they just don't know any better. I know that most places aren't like Little Firelight. They don't share as easily, and not everybody is family. But it's the worst I've ever seen there." Even the First Class, living their luxurious lives, snipe at each other for reasons Lan can't understand.

    "But because of that... if you meet anybody from Solaris, except for Loren or a girl named Seraphita - you'll know her because her hair is pink and she's got bunny ears and she's really strong - be polite to them, and then get as far away as you can."

    Lan will storm Etrenank to take her brother back, but she'd rather he not get made a Worker Bee in the first place.

<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.

    "And that's... what's out here, huh...?" Hicalu looks down, at his tea, and his ears wilt. "People are killing each other, and there's a kingdom in the sky who take slaves... towns need soldiers to protect them, and I gotta get tattoos which don't do anything but hurt people..." Even his pet demon from hell was originally put on his skin to eat table scraps.

    Hicalu sighs, and drains his mug, putting it aside. "Not gonna lie, that's kind of a huge downer." Now his hands are free, he can shift around so he can wrap his arms around Lan's midsection and hug her the normal way, too.

    "But... you know, if you never took me to Meria, I woulda never found the Irington bakery? And they've got some really good ideas about bread, like -- I never even thought about what they gotta be doing with their yeast and stuff!" Hicalu's tail swishes, as he looks up at Lan. "So it's not all awful, right? I mean, you're even sayin' these scary ladies are all right, so..."

    His head cocks one way, and his ears cock the other. "Y'know, it's kinda cool. I can see why you still haven't got your journey done yet. And you got us out fine, right? So, it's fine." With tea like this, they'll be all patched up soon enough!

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    The world is a scary place. But it's also full of good people, who will do anything to save others. Even if the good people are pretty scary-looking themselves.

    Lan has a little more tea left than Hicalu does and holds her mug-bearing arm out of the way when he comes in for a real, proper hug, squeezing him good and tight with her other. "Mm! No, it's not all awful. There are so many beautiful things out there, stuff we never could have dreamed of back home. Things that can save people's lives, and technology left over from thousands of years ago." She ruffles his hair again, smoothing it back in apology afterwards. "If you stay out here in the world with us, you'll see all kinds of things, and you'll get stronger too. You'll learn a bunch of new stuff and make new friends. It's scary sometimes, but I like it out here, even if I miss home all the time."

    But for today she's here with him, and he's here with her, and that's enough.