2017-10-04: Give Them A Chance

• Log: Give Them A Chance
• Cast: Riesenlied, Gwen Whitlock
• Where: Wayside
• Date: 4th October 2017
• Summary: Gwen visits Wayside and drops in on the Orphanage.

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<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The village of Wayside is something of a poorly kept secret amongst Drifters -- a two-month old hidden village that has indeed become more lively and bustling in the month and a half since it's founded, since the Tainted marched and risked their lives across the Aveh desert and through the Kislev-Aveh warfront. Not all of them have made it; but those that have have gathered together to form a small community.

Wayside exists on a valley crested by two hills; a large campfire is surrounded by several caravans, and several buildings have been further crafted outwards past the caravans, including an inn and local tavern marked 'V4L-H4LLA', and a larger building out back that has a sign reading: 'Wayside Orphanage'.

Rumor has it that the inhabitants are... odd, and Gwen certainly sees so -- virtually everyone here is a humanoid Metal Demon with some kind of misshape or graft; there's a guy sort of unsteadily walking on accordion tubing for legs, a lady bartender with a refrigerator for a chest and binoculars for eyes, and a guy who's stuck with a Gear piston for arms...

And, in the midst of this, Riesenlied is seated outside her orphanage on a bench with a cute black-haired child with little wings. She looks human... or, at least, beastman. "Aah..." she goes, as Riesenlied spoonfeeds her a meager little bowl of lunch.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

By the time Gwen shows up on Gulliver with her wagon in tow, It's nearly the end of the afternoon hours, where the sun is beginning to make its descent behind the horizon more and more known, casting lengthening shadows across the sands. The courier had heard of the town in various mentions and name drops in idle conversation. At first, the town was a curiosity, it being a new name in a land where new towns rise and fall relatively quickly. The fact that it seemed to be populated by a strange mixture of 'beastmen' and 'Metal Demons?', Gwen quickly clued in as to the town's origin.

Riesenlied was trying again to establish a town, much like Gwen had urged her before that day in Lacour.

People there are likely going to need to get mail delivered, and while Gwen wasn't sure of how she was to keep her business here a secret from those still understandably sensitive to the attacks on Adlehyde, she came anyway.

Pulling up alongside the orphanage, Gwen waves to Riesenlied. "Good afternoon! What's left of it anyway." Jumping off the covered wagon and preparing a feed bag for Gulliver, Gwen adds, "I figure I'd come take a gander at this new town I need hearin' about. Pretty nice one you got goin' here." The cheery Drifter may or may not gain some stares by wary residents; it's one of the reasons Gwen went straight to greet Riesenlied, aside from just to catch up. "How ya holdin' up?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The residents are relatively friendly, at least -- if a bit wary; rumor has it that the man in red that destroyed their previous village had come, though nothing appears to have happened... ... this time. Still, it was a little anxiety-inducing to get a visit frmo your would-be destroyer.

Riesenlied looks... somewhat wan, a bit paler and weaker than when she last met Gwen -- and in some ways, drastically different too. Gone is her regular right arm and leg -- large, chitinous scale-like plates cover them instead, of a similar dark colour as her horns; the scales also are growing on the side of her face on her cheek, down towards the base of her neck. She's dressed in Ellurian tribalwear, much like Gwen's seen her before.

"Miss Gwen, I'm glad you could make it," she smiles warmly, her voice a bit low. "We've been... ah, we had a scare just the other day, but I'm glad nothing untoward happened..."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Those are unexpected additions to Riesenlied's appearance, though Gwen isn't that sure just want *would* be abnormal. She knows little about Metal Demons, and even less about the Tainted.

But she does know Riesenlied would be the one to ask, if only because she'd be the least likely to take offense. "Pardon my rudeness, but what happened to your arm n' leg?" Gwen pauses a moment, moving a finger underneath the small gap between her hat's inner brim and her head to itch there. "I suppose it's hypocritical o' me to ask that, given my own state n' all. At least y'seem to be lookin' a tad bit more healthy." For a Metal Demon, that is. What exactly *is* healthy for a Metal Demon, anyway?

"A scare?" Gwen looks up towards Riesenlied as she hooks the feedbag, now filled with grains, onto Gulliver's eagerly waiting mouth. "Like what? Bandits? Vigilantes? No one was hurt, right?" She squints. "That ain't how you got those new scales, is it?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied looks towards the scales for a moment, as Mikaia -- the child seated on her lap -- bobbles just for a moment, and then hops off as she runs inside with a smile. "Be careful!" calls Riesenlied, as she looks back towards the child. She looks towards Gwen again to say, "I..."

She looks towards her arm. "I'm not sure... but ever since the Temple, I've been-- feeling weak, shifting. These growths happened... as a part of it." A hesitant pause. "And-- ah, we...."

A pause. "Id... came to give us a visit." She quietly rises from the bench as she steps a little closer to Gwen's wagon.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

It's not what Gwen thought it was. Not at all. "O-oh," Gwen says, her gaze sheepishly shifting towards her horse. "I thought it was a, uh, Metal Demon, uh, thing. Like, how us humans get long nails, calluses." They're wan comparisons to the scales growing on someone's body, of course; Gwen knows no one with calluses that structured and large. It doesn't keep her from trying to offer some theory, if, perhaps, to cheer Riesenlied up. "Maybe you're feelin' weak because your body's devotin' energy to growin' and maintaining them? I mean, I get like that with my ARM!" The parallel Gwen draws between the two occurrences seems flimsy in retrospect, a realization that shows on her expression as her mouth twists. "Well, maybe my case is a bit off, but growin' things does take energy. Maybe y'gotta eat more."

Which brings Gwen to an important question: what *do* Metal Demons eat? Do they eat metal? What do Tainted eat, then? Come to think of it, do they drink water? Becayse Gulliver's definitely going to need something to drink, soon.

With Gulliver taken care of for now, Gwen walks over, almost suspecting Riesenlied could fall at any moment. "Did anythin' weird happen to you in the Temple, Riesenlied?" Maybe, the only ones that could answer the most important question of 'why' are the Guardians themselves. "Did you meet the Guardians?"

Id. Id visited them. The brief look of cluelessness on the courier's face speaks volumes. Thankfully, she clues in quickly. "Was that... the guy who tras-" Gwen hesitates, searching for a better word. This wasn't just some saloon. "... destroyed Old Petra?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied places a hand to her lips for a moment, letting a shivering sigh. "Yes, Id was the one who... destroyed our former home. And I'm not... certain, about my body, but perhaps so..." A pause. There's a tilt of her head and a gentle smile as she says, "It... does look somewhat draconic, so my mother-- Cetiri-- has theorised that this might be a reaction based on what my body was... 'meant' to look like, long ago."

She winces at that. Turning into a Metal Dragon as she's meant to be... and failed. It would be an uncomfortable thing to welcome, at this stage in time... and she's still not certain she has anywhere near the amount of power required to do so.

"Ah-- are you hungry or thirsty, Miss Gwen?" she tilts her head as she picks up the bowl Mikaia was eating from. "We have fresh water here... Wayside has been able to sustain itself on a water purifier ARM we fixed up, thanks to the CaraKin."

Another pause, as she welcomes Gwen to come into the orphanage where several adorable children are playing -- one of them's got fingerguns and is going, 'pow pow pow! I'm Calamity Janey, don't you know? I'm the Calamitest!' as another keels over to go, "You got meee~!"

"I met... a Guardian," she answers. "A Guardian sent to kill Noeline and I." A longer pause. "We... ... somehow, we were able to-- reach a frail understanding. I pleaded that we were interested in more than just murder... and Equites asked us to show it. To show Wayside, and our way of living here."

A pause, and a shiver as she shrinks into herself gently. "... I think these reactions were caused by an exposure to the Guardians, to be truthful. It happened last time in Adlehyde too. Something about their energies... causes mine to become unstable."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Id. That's the name. He came, and, for some reason, he left. Maybe that's a good sign?

"Your mother....'s name was Cetiri? That's a pretty name." A vapid thing to say, the courier realizes a moment too late, but how else could she at least give Riesenlied the benefit of trying to hide her initial surprise? Metal Demons have mothers. Not just a Mother, but mothers. It's unclear whether this is in the biological sense or in the familial sense, but either way: it just never occurred to Gwen. She can't even give herself the benefit of 'never thought about it before'; even if it's true, the assumption should have been that they did.

And besides that, there's the other notion. "Is that somethin' that could happen to all Metal Demons?" Gwen takes a moment to rub the back of her neck. "Sorry t'ask you all these questions, but I got no frame of reference. I wanna make sure I'm treatin' you as who you are, not just, uh, what I think you might be." Nodding at the offer of water, Gwen says, "That'd be great, actually. Gulliver's probably runnin' a little low on water, and I'm a bit parched myself. I got reserves though, so if you're runnin' low, I can just use those instead."

Following Riesenlied into the orphanage, Gwen is filled with a big of nostaglia, remembering her own days.

Of course, if there were those with mothers, there would be those without. Like here.

"Equities. That's the... sword Guardian, right?" Gwen says idly, following behind the blonde woman. "That's gotta be a miracle, right there. I don't know much about em', but I wouldn't have suspected a Guardian of that sort'd hold themselves back from a task. They must see somethin' they hadn't seen in a long while." That, or they're desperate, in the same way they regarded the motley groups of Drifters coming into their temple like cracked shells washing ashore the beach after a violent storm.

Reactions. "Like... tumors, maybe." Those were things Gwen knew little about, if she were to be asked; it was exposure to Frea's books that allowed her enough understanding to know that they existed. "Maybe the Guardians can stop em'?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied ponders whether or not she should tell Gwen that her mother is now a dog-shaped Metal Demon that has dog-like habits, but elects not to at the moment. "She was my creator, I suppose you could say," she explains as she looks at the look of confusion in Gwen. "And I understand, and that's very nice of you... very thoughtful."

She moves towards a barrel in the back and pours a tall glass for Gwen, before gesturing to say, "We have plenty of water here -- we've dug out a qanat from a natural water source deep in the mountains, and selling water has been part of what's made this village sustainable. You can find a trough out back for Gulliver."

She also puts some fruits from a basket to Gwen, for her to snack on if she likes. "The Sword Guardian, yes..." A pause. "They are wounded. They bear the scars of their war with my brethren, with Lord Siegfried, long ago. They... hold their emotional wounds from back then too..."

She lowers her head. "It's complicated. Both sides are scarred from what happened and can't let go..." She sighs faintly. "They have old reasons to hate each other." A pause. "I... am focusing on trying to find another way. To find the truth behind what really happened, a thousand years ago..."

She hesitates. "And to that end, I... won't be joining my brethren in seeking the Guardian statues out. Do keep that hushed, if you will...?"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"W-well, in a sense, our moms are the same, really. Creators, I mean." It feels... strange to even think about it, especially since Gwen had never thought the concept, let alone her own mother, in ages. "So you ask your mom for advice and stuff just like we do." How could she even call that twitch deep in the pit of her stomach 'jealousy'? She hardly knows what human mothers are really like. Frea was hardly a good role model in that respect.

Taking the glass of cool water with a nod of thanks towards Riesenlied, Gwen sips the water, then begins drinking in earnest, her initial thirst having taken hold. "... ha... Thank you. It's hard enough finding clean water 'round here. I'm gonna have to remember this place as a pitstop. Some of the oasises I used t'depend on are showin' signs of gettin' smaller. They were probably doin' that long before I started usin' it, but I figure dependin' on them is gonna get too risky in the future. I'll lead Gulliver to the trough in a bit."

"I heard as much," Gwen states softly, her fingers taking a fruit that's offered. "I wish I knew the answers. It's real easy for me to go all 'give em' a chance', but I'm the sort that can afford to say that. If I had a family, or kids, or someone I loved was killed by one, would I've felt the same way?"

This notion makes Riesenlied's next statement very welcome. Gwen bites into her fruit. "I won't let a peep of this escape me," she assures Riesenlied. "And I'm glad. Not just for the, uh, obvious reasons, of course, but I really don't wanna have to ever fight you if I can help it." Which carries with it the added burden of avoiding conflict. Or is it worse to pick a side and never waver from it, or to be the one who never chooses a side at all?

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"That makes me happy, for some reason," Riesenlied expresses, perhaps a bit innocently -- "That we might have some commonalities, in how we look at mothers..." but not Mother, necessarily. Riesenlied doesn't exactly know what a human mother is either, though. "And I do ask her for advice, and she tends to tease me a lot as well."

She places her hand to her cheek to say, "Yes, I thought the same. We've charted some oases out in the Great Aveh Desert, but they'd shown signs of desertification too. And with the trouble with the Reapers in nearby abandoned villages..." There's a sigh. "We're quite lucky we picked this locale out ahead of time." She furrows her brow very softly.

She looks towards the fruits for a moment, then back towards the children as they play. "These children... they lost their parents because of that continuing cycle, because they were caught up in Aveh and Kislev's long war. It's hard to let go of vengeful feelings -- yet it's easy to ensnare others into it."

She scratches her cheek. "I am irresponsible for taking them in, when we're doing dangerous things nonetheless... but... I couldn't just leave them there. Not like that..."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

The innocence of Riesenlied's reply brings some cheer back into Gwen. "I just thought that this 'Mom' some would talk about was the one responsible for being the actual mom of everyone. LIke, a queen bee, if that makes sense. Only, not, uh, literally." Surely this 'Mother' doesn't look similar to one, after all.

"Towns come n' go. It's the nature of the Badlands. Your town has a better chance of survivin', though, because the reason for its existence ain't because of a gold mine or a Plant. It makes things tougher, but there won't be a flash in the pan like a number of those abandoned villages." Taking a bite of her fruit, Gwen beams. "Plus, now you got a courier! .... If you... happen to need t'send or receive mail, I guess. Which I ain't sure you guys would. I can only make deliveries around the Badlands for right now."

Blue-grey eyes reflect on the children, playing and horsing around with a gusto that Gwen could've seen in a group of kids in any Badlands town street.

"You're not irresponsible." The blunt response comes out of Gwen's mouth before she has time to soften her words, but the emotion in them makes it clear what Gwen's true feelings here. Clearing her throat, she continues on in explanation.

"If there wasn't someone who did that when I was little, I wouldn't be here. Sure, the town I lived in had plenty of gangs of kids, but a kid like me was gonna be a liability sooner or later. If the place burned down the next day, the fact that it was there at all for me was something that couldn't be burned away." She looks at Riesenlied. "If you hadn't, they would've gone back to that cycle. It's better that they have a choice of what they want, instead of it bein' made for em'."

Her gaze drifts slowly back to the running children, her eyelids lowering slightly. "There'll be those who disagree with me, and they'll have real good reason to. Maybe... I'm just a little off, but I'm okay with that."

Raising the fruit in her right hand, Gwen reflects on her arm with a frown. "Y'told me that my ARM was made from a Metal Dragon. Would what's happenin' to you, uh..." Would the same thing happen to her own ARM? "I mean. it's not like it could, but, like, it's a part of my body, in a sense, so, I guess... I just had a scary thought, there. A human can't be any sort of dragon, even if they wanted it."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

All Riesenlied has seen of Mother is how she resembles in her cocoon (which this player keeps misspelling as cuccoon...), wrathful, and angered by the Guardians. It still hurts Riesenlied to this day, to know that the Mother she has believed in all this time is... not as kind and merciful as she imagined her to always be.

"I'm sure we'll need it sooner or later... we don't have a Memory Cube here," Riesenlied speaks of Gwen's services, smiling warmly. "We have Miss Jacqueline and her caravan making shipments whenever they comea round as well, but it would be welcome, if you don't mind..."

A pause, as she hesitates when Gwen talks about her responsibility. "I--" she looks to Gwen, lowering her head with a quiet nod. "... yes... I can't-- I couldn't imagine them being picked up by... roving gangs, or even worse." Stories of child slavery and abduction were rife in a place like the Badlands, after all. "We tried our best, to see if they had family in the cities, but... as you might imagine, Filgaia isn't exactly the place where it's easy to track down who is a kin of who..."

There's a bit of a sad smile as she-- slowly reaches, with that draconic hand of hers, and pats it to Gwen's own metal arm.

"I... can't say for certain, Miss Gwen, but-- I hope not, certainly..." Riesenlied sounds a bit tentative. She didn't think that the metal in Gwen's ARM could overpower the rest of her body -- living metal didn't... have that kind of property of encroachment... that she knew about...? The thought scares her.

"And the dragon I saw in its vision was a kind one." She still remembers its vision of flying through the skies, so free... "I don't think it would do that to you, Miss Gwen, when you've been so nice to it."

A pause. "I--I didn't mean to treat your arm like it's another person--" blush!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"The more the merrier, really. I've depended on Jay and her potions before for a buncha things." Gwen takes another bite of her fruit, chewing thoughtfully. "Some villages don't, believe it or not. Maybe the lack of communication'll help give you an excuse if one of your bosses comes in all 'why haven't you got this or that statue'. I mean, maybe it won't be the best excuse, but even that Siegfried guy's gotta understand that."

"People do what they can to get by. This place is as safe as any an orphan can be at; as long as someone cares and thinks about em', that's worlds more than a lot of people have in this world. Besides, maybe one of those families'll come when they realize their kid's here. Gotta be a heckuva lot easier to find someone if they stick in one place. Trust me- there's a reason people don't care to do this courier stuff as their livelihoods. 'specially if they include Drifters as part of their client base." Gwen laughs, the sound full of mirth, before her mind turns to more sober issues.

Looking down at the draconic hand on her own, Gwen clasps Riesenlied's with her own human hand. "It's okay. I mean, at one time, it was a part of another being, after all. I suppose, if it's tryin' its best to work with a human's make-up, it really can't revert or change into anything else, maybe? There ain't the necessary parts for it to work, anymore than a human foot could grow a mustache." Which is... an odd thought. "Besides, can't worry 'bout the 'what if's. Better to worry 'bout the 'what is's."

Still, Riesenlied's words give Gwen more food for thought. If she used this ARM to kill a man, even if that man was someone like Isiris, would that change the nature of it and how she regards it?

What would a man like Isiris do to a person like Riesenlied? For once, Gwen doesn't have a heart to shove the thought away.

"Be careful out there, Riesenlied. Now that we know that blue-eyed man's out there too, there's now somethin' else out there to worry about aside from a person wanting vengeance. If you or anyone sees that guy, run. Chances are, he ain't like Id. He's not for attackin' a crowd. Illusions are probably a lot harder to do when there's more people."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied still harbors a fear of what Siegfried might one day think of Wayside, when he discovers it. What she'll have to be ready to do when that day arrives... the lines in the sand she'll need to restate, though they've long already been drawn.

Does something like a 'self' exist inside of you?

The question lingers in her mind. Yet at the same time... at the very least, for whatever shortcomings she may have... "I care the world for them," Riesenlied answers, feeling -- feeling quite true to that, even if she reasons may well be selfish. "You're very brave and kind to do the courier work in turn, of course, Miss Gwen..." she smiles, laughing a little more softly in turn.

She nods gently at Gwen's assesment of her arm, and what is instead of what 'if'. "It's done right by you, and that's been an important part of who you are... and it'll continue to be."

She doesn't quite know about Isiris, directly -- though Lily's told her about him. "Ah, that man... the one who hurt Miss Lily. We'll be careful, of course..." she nods.

"Riesemamaaa! Janey's pulling on my haaair!"

Riesenlied is nearly jolted as she stammers, "Play nicely now...!" as she apologetically looks to Gwen with a look that says 'I should defuse this'. "Please feel free to use the water as you need," she parts as she waves and looks to where the children are playing. "Really now...!"

It's strange to think of the Metal Demon who, reluctant or not, helped attack Adlehyde being here, holding children in her arms and kindly hushing them as they cry, but... she seems very much in her element now as it is....