2018-09-12: Hammer and the Stork: Difference between revisions

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"I could use your help with a special project," Lydia says.
"I could use your help with a special project," Lydia says.
[OOC] Lydia Seren says, "'i should show up fetching riese to help with hammer' initial plan 'nah lydia would just drag him out against protests' new plan"
==== <Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed. ====
==== <Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed. ====
   
   

Latest revision as of 22:40, 13 September 2018

  • Log: Hammer and the Stork
  • Cast: Riesenlied, Lydia Seren, Noeline, Prissa, Lily Keil
  • Where: The Fereshte, New Petra
  • Date: 12th September 2018
  • Summary: Lydia pulls Hammer out of his funk to get cheered up by the others. A discussion about a stork leads to a terribly unlikely event?!


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied has been trying her hardest in the coming few days in New Petra -- gathering a list of identities of Azadian refugees, taking stock of who's still missing and who still needs to be united, and making sure that everyone's got the necessities that they need: food, water, bedding, shelter, and medicine...

... which is rather difficult when she's still dealing with-- the trauma and the stress of having felt Azado cave underneath the devastating attack Sin visited it. She hitches and gasps, struggling herself into bouts of panic and fits of anxiety that leave her less than functional... but she's trying. It doesn't help that she keeps thinking of Siegfried dying... and the conflict it creates in her that she doesn't want to see him dead.

Perhaps too hard, some would say.

"Mrs... Melinda Auguste," Riesenlied writes the name down as she bows her head to an elderly woman seated at one of the bunk beds within the Fereshte's cargo hull. "I'm very sorry... we'll let you know immediately if we hear from Mister Auguste."

Riesenlied bows again, and continues onward, even as the elderly woman tries to reassure her-- biting her lip as she marks another name on the 'missing' column. Her heart is pounding hard; her fingers trembling a little. She pauses, trying to control the tremors, biting down on her lower lip harder. Come on, come on... just stop trembling...

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Hammer has been quiet and frankly useless since the return from Azado. He saw a power well beyond his ability to just shrug off and got a taste of just how terrifying the galaxy is. He thought it was frightening before, but it was even worse than he expected. Fei has not been paying many visits to New Petra himself. Something has been discouraging him from sticking around there for too long at any one time and instead go on bizzare adventures with the Urthman Claude but suffice it to say he has similar concerns as Riesenlied right now even if he's not sure there's much he can do about them.

Lydia, however, has been an upbeat pleasure to be around. She is all smiles and is encouraging the refugees with her antics and heart albeit there's a limit to how much sunshine and rainbows can fix being marooned on an alien world. She has been hard at work at fixing the Fereshte but also in developing 'facilities' for the refugees to use and she frankly barely has any time to rest. It'd be awfully helpful to have more engineers around but ONE of the mechanics around here is sitting on his butt feeling sorry for himself!

Lydia has tried cheering up the Hammer but has made little progress. She comes stalking over from the Fereshte, "Yooo!" She waves wildly with one arm while dragging Hammer across the ground with the other. "Mom! Do you got a minute?"

It doesn't seem like she has a minute but that doesn't stop Lydia anyway.

"ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Hammer complains and is ignored.

"I could use your help with a special project," Lydia says.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

"You seem to be having some troubles, my friend," Prissa informs Hammer, from whom she has bought a couple of rare reagant items in the past and thus kind of sort of knows. This is the power of retroactive continuity. Believe it!

"Oh, is she your mother?" Prissa then asks.

A moment passes. She considers Riesenlied's anxious, tired, trembly but not particularly old-seeming face, then looks back at Lydia, then back at Riesenlied, then back at Lydia. She raises an index finger as if on the cusp of asking something.

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline still wouldn't call herself much of a logistics officer, but she does at least have a mind for organization when she needs to - she's been doing a lot to try to take some of the work off of Riesenlied's shoulders, helping guide the newly-christened Outreach in setting up New Petra. Not that they need much guiding, veterans at survival as they are at this point.

She does at least realize that Riese needs something to occupy her, though the frown on her face right at this moment suggests that she's not sure this was exactly the best possible way to go about it. She wipes it off her face, though, offering the old woman a bright smile instead.

"Our apologies, madam. We're just dead set on trying to help," she grins lopsidedly. "We'll likely distribute a list to the closest towns for good measure, in hopes of letting any other survivors know. We'll have a roof for you soon as well, I promise," she adds with a bow, making a quiet little note that

Turning to catch up, she slips a hand into Riesenlied's, letting out a slow breath as she squeezes it. "No-one blames you for not being able to save everyone. The fact we got so many out safe is a minor miracle," she points out gently-- but before Riesenlied can dwell any further, she uses Lydia's distraction to tug Riese in that direction.

"Which one of us?" she chuckles at both impending questions, raising her eyebrows at the sight. "Hammer, mind that rivet on the floor-- oh dear."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Occupying a ground somewhere adjacent, somewhere in the middle, so to speak, is Lily Keil. She's been brooding, but not as much as she's been active working. She's not cheerful, but she's showing few signs of strain. ...And part of why that is, of course, is her continued work in propping Riesenlied up, so to speak.

Just now she's dressed in casual military attire, a beacon of discipline and--for some--safety here. ...Now that the refugees have seen that the taciturn woman is mostly just making things more secure, she isn't quite as intimidating--though what she /hasn't/ done is start to help the healers around here. Instead...

She approaches Riesenlied again, coming from inside the Fereshte proper. Her bandages are reduced now; there are still some affixed around where her eye should be, which itself is covered over, but her hair is free. ...Her strange markings gleam orange-red for now.

"Adoption," Lily explains briefly as she steps out after Lydia and Hammer--at which point she watches Noeline for a few moments. ...With Noeline on the task, Lily has a chance to do something resembling recovery.

...While Dog pads along after Lydia and Hammer cheerfully.

...Lily sets herself up, arms crossed, leaning on a pillar.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied clings onto her clipboard a bit harder as she hears Lydia, covering her mouth behind it for a moment but blinking a few times with one errant sproig of hair popping up. "Ah-- yes? Hammer...?" She's noticed Hammer being rather downcast, but she's not sure if she should leave him alone for a bit or...

Noeline catches up to her and whispers encouragement to her. She knows that, of course; no matter how much she wishes someway, somehow, that she could save everyone, the truth is that she's only one girl.

"I know..." Riesenlied whispers, lyrics aside. She bites her lip, but then curiously looks forward as she asks with genuine concern, "Can I do anything for you, Hammer...?"

A pause at Prissa, as she bashfully works through another hiccup-like tremor, and says, "Not... biologically, but--" she smiles a little more warmly. "I consider Lydia a dear daughter, yes..."

Lily comes up on their rear again, and she's happy to see her there. She knows she's hurting on her own, both physically and otherwise, but she's still glad to have her company... they can all help each other recover. Lydia's been of great help in that regard as well!

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Hammer yelps in pain as he is dragged over the rivet. That didn't need to happen, Noeline, you made it happen. YOU THE PLAYER BEHIND NOELINE. How cruel...!

"Uh,"" Lydia says. "Well either, I guess? I did my best...but I am too low level for this challenge." Lydia lifts Hammer off the ground (makes you wonder why she didn't do that to begin with) with one arm and then shakes the poor beastman at Riesenlied and Noeline. "We need all the hands we can get around here, but this jerk is just sitting around on his butt." Lydia is also one girl which is why she wants Hammer to help out so she doesn't have to work so hard!

"I was reading illustrated panel-based narratives!" Hammer protests.

Lydia knocks his hat off with a hand forcing him to pick it back up. "Come on dude. Really?"

Prissa luckily interrupts Lydia before she can harass and abuse poor Hammer any further. Lydia turns to her but by the time she does Riesenlied and Lily already answered the question. "Yeah pretty much." She pauses. "But hey, just because we aren't biologically related, doesn't mean we don't anything in common."

She nods slowly at Prissa, pointing up to her horns. "See? We're both horny."

Hammer looks up to Riesenlied as she asks an important question. Then he sighs and looks away. "...I guess I just don't see the point of it all."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

Hm, Prissa thinks inside of her head: An adoptive family. An alloyed interconnection of an alloyed people. That's...

Rad, but not in a weaponizable way. Not directly. Several components file themselves away in Prissa's mind as she looks towards Lily, saying as she does, "Don't you get hot to wear so much clothing?" After this Lydia hoists up Hammer and Prissa, not without charity in her soul, steps over to give him a buttressing as he is set back on his feet.

"I can see this," Prissa says to Lydia, with a half laugh that may suggest she didn't get it.

Then to Hammer, she says, "Of what all?"

Prissa then torso-twists to proffer a hand towards Noeline. "I do not think we met," Prissa says. "I am Prissa. I am the greatest sword-maker of this generation, so please remember this day."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

At least, to her credit, Noeline doesn't try to press her point - it's not exactly the time to, after all. Instead, she closes her eyes and leans against Riesenlied for a private little moment, squeezing the other Hyadean's hand once more. Lily's eyes are on her back for a while, and Noeline can sense that much, glancing to one side to meet her - and snorting at the single word she offers. "You don't just /say/ it out loud like that," she teases, letting her voice turn more merry. "Think of the children."

She's about to say something similarly upbeat to Lydia, but Hammer's low comment makes her reevaluate herself. "--well-- I really can't say I blame you, after witnessing something like that. Filgaia and Lunar both have their own problems in spades, it seems, and always something bigger," she allows with a sigh. "But I should point out that thing is presently a literal world away. Not to mention, we have managed to claw back some of its destruction, at the very least - not to mention time."

Prissa's off the wall introduction leaves her with her eyebrows raised, but then she snorts - and bows her head. "... I will certainly try, though I fear I may not need your services. The only swords I tend to use are, quite literally, my own."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Hot?" Lily asks. "Sometimes."

Maybe Lily's way of resting just involves sticking close to someone she cares about. ...Or maybe she's got a lot to do here. But Noeline's tease gets a quirk of Lily's lips, "Should I be telling stories about the stork then, Noeline?"

Lydia mentions the challenge and Lily lifts an eyebrow. As Hammer gets harrassed though, Dog wags her tail, padding closer and taking a seat beside the beastman, waiting for pets. She can be patient.

Lily sighs for some reason after Lydia's comments, but she moves on fairly quickly. Her single eye regards Hammer again for a few moments. "...As she says, it's natural to wonder when you're faced with something like that. Normal, even." She doesn't say all she could, though. Instead, she pauses for a few more moments to study Prissa. "Bold claim," Lily answers. "I'd be interested in seeing your work. I could use a new sword."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Oh... I'd been reminded -- there was someone called Dayton who wished to help us with airship repairs," Riesenlied off-handedly mentions to Lydia. "I've met him before, he seems a nice person... and I know you can use the help, since I'm better away from the engine room than I am inside it."

Riesenlied: Menace to Technology.

She smiles at Prissa to say, "I didn't know you came with us to Filgaia... it was at Vane that we last touched base." A pause, as she remarks, "I might need your services at some point, if the struggle we are to face in Elru becomes greater and greater..."

Riesenlied looks towards the beastman, though, and her expression softens gently.

"I'm sorry. I was the one who dragged you into the trouble with Sin in Azado..." she bites her lip. She hesitates and trembles further; what does she say to someone who's similarly burnt-out by such a catastrophic event when she's not feeling full tilt herself?

The answer, it would be, is...

Dog!!

Riesenlied's scooped Dog up into her arms gently, stroking at the adorablest pupper's hair as she expresses, "Yes, no one can blame you for feeling that way. Sin is not an... enemy you can fight with sword or spell -- more like a natural disaster, a force of nature. But..."

A pause, as she tilts her head. "I guess..." She sucks in a quiet breath. "It was... often like that back home too. Whether it's Sin, or Berserk, or whatever latest Metal Beast experiment Alhazred would pitch into the Gutter... we were very used to fearing for our lives and wondering when the next unstoppable thing would come around."

Wow, that's pretty bleak, Riesenlied. "... but it didn't stop the villagers here from-- finding little things. Like the way Val would distill enough liquid to make her own brews... or the way Cetiri'd make life a little easier by jury-rigging things together. And little by little, it became something everyone could find comfort in..."

She tilts her head again, bristling. "It's-- a little like that, maybe? The point is that little things add up, helping us cope in the face of unsurmountable things..."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Hammer is able to at least stand without falling back over thanks to Prissa's timely aid. Hammer, bolstered by multiple comments saying that it's 'only natural' feels like he can clarify his feelings. "Yeah I mean, I know that the giant whale is on a whole 'nother planet, but so was the Lord of Calamity that tried to kill us all before we even went to Lunar." He looks over to Noeline for a long moment and then back down. "And I mean, even with that, 'Mother' is awake too and she is legendarily known for killing lots and lots of people, not to mention an entire kingdom hating us," He means Krosse but then he adds, "And I have to even clarify that one because it's not the only one. Then guys who just blow up cities whenever they're bored are unnervingly interested in what we're doing, not to mention the entire Althenian Church."

He sighs. "I like you guys. I like everyone here. But...I'm a good mechanic, alright? But I know my limits and there's no way I could help against anything of these magnitudes. We've managed to survive so far through a combination of skill, luck, and just their lack of interest in finishing us off but we're literally sitting in the ruins of a place that was blown up this year. What's stopping that demon from coming back? Nothing is."

He lowers his head. "I'm not strong like Fei or Lily, or kind like Elly or you, Riese. I don't understand how to keep going against all this shit that will destroy us for no reason whenever they feel like it. Our weapons sure as hell won't work, and it's not singing at 'em would work."

Lydia looks over to Prissa for a moment, knowing she has perhaps a bit more experience with surviving Sin rampages than Hammer does, but she smiles at her all the same, "Prissa is pretty much the greatest. We're an unstoppable team, but we're unstoppable on our own too." She isn't commenting to Hammer, of course, because she already TRIED talking him out of this and it didn't work. Ugh!

Hammer is told that all they're doing is coping and he says, "I...I'm not sure I can...You've got another mechanic coming in? Then maybe you should rely on him."

Lydia grimaces before mmanaging an awkward smile at Riesenled. "Heh, well, yyeah that'd help. But the more mechanics the better, right? Especially if we're gonna do things our way."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

Prissa wiggles her hand a little but retracts it before she feels too hang-y. "Oh, is that so? You sprout them from your body?" she asks, with a matter of fact curiosity. But then she does hang out with Lydia "Cyber-Nano-Mutant Goat Lass" Seren so maybe this isn't a weird thing.

After this she looks at Lily, winks once, and reaches down to her waist to unfasten one. She passes it over towards Lily. "Take a look. This is a shamshir, I don't know if you have the style. It is traditional for my people, so of course that means it's the best, eh?" She grins afterwards, as if to say: no, ASAB (all swords are beautiful)

Having slightly unburdened herself, Prissa turns her attention back to Hammer.

To whom she gently knuckles on the shoulder.

"Hammer," she says, "my acquaintance, I think this is a very understandable feeling for you to have. I do not command you but I think that it is brave to realize there are limits on what you can do. You have also been through at least five hells, and I think you need a vacation. But I also think you may perhaps not know of this other factor. Which is..."

Prissa takes a deep breath. "The toxin."

Prissa looks towards Riesenlied, because Riesenlied has a 'healer' flag in the HUD. "Sin emits a toxin," she explains, "and they say that it messes with your head. It can cause desolation, feelings of depression and misery. To some it makes hallucinations. They remember some word or story book and they think it is real."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

This is a time for sombre reflection, perhaps, but also a time to try to keep people's spirits up, which is why it's okay that Noeline can't help the grin she gives Lily to go with her sidelong glance. "You can if you like, but then you're the one explaining storks to Riese later," she grins toothily; it's her poker face, in as much as it's more or less impossible to tell if she's lying right now.

She glances at Riesenlied, her expression clouding a little as she takes those stories in. She's all too aware that while the Tainted struggled to survive, she was scurrying around the world and taking it in - Medium or not, she definitely had a much lighter time of things, and she's got a great deal of time to make up for. "I see... I'll tell the guards to keep an eye out for him, and say hello."

Noeline does at least have the presence of mind to hush up and let Hammer say everything on his mind; she doesn't need to be an empath to realize that it's likely been brewing for some time. "... that is the thing," she lets out her breath slowly. "We do not expect you to face down a Metal Demon with a spanner in your hand. We do not expect you to take on the troubles of an entire nation on your back." She pauses and looks around her at the cargo bay; even with some of the shelters up, there are still a great many people huddled together. "We each have our own things we can do. These people are only here today /because/ you fixed the Fereshte up and piloted it to them - something that Riese and I certainly could not have done."

She lets that hang in the air - and then raises her eyebrows at Prissa out of sheer surprise. "... yes, in fact," she admits, and then huffs in irritation. "If I'd known it was so common, I wouldn't have kept it hidden so long."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

"Just because it is common in a group does not mean it is common the whole world over," Prissa tells Noeline with a little bit of a hip-swivel-shrug combo. This is just one of her many erratic gestures.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily stares at Noeline for a moment in the face of that grin, and shakes her head. If Noeline squints she might see the smile before it fades as Lily answers, "I don't think you want me giving Riesenlied /that/ explanation."

Dog spends only half a moment in surprise before she twists around to lick at Riesenlied's holding hand, friendly. ...Her tail wags harder than before. She's getting a little big for easy pickups... But she's happy to stick with them still. Dog is a ball of fur and warmth and simple joy and may be ideal for Riesenlied just now. All this hasn't gotten /her/ down.

Lily glances to the canine once, and then shakes her head lightly, her expression best read as 'indulgent' in the moment. But she returns her attention to Prissa as she unfastens a sword, takes it in both hands, carefully. The strange markings on the backs of her hands, on her fingers, do not extend to her palm or to the pads of those fingers. ...They reflect lightly in the clear shine of the blade's metal, though. She looks over the weapon at first, and then takes it in one hand, extending it to a point /away/ from everyone else, feeling out the balance.

But she is listening. She doesn't bat her eye at Hammer's explanation, at his insistence and at the way that he enumerates both threats and his normality. She is the last to answer.

"...You have alternatives," Lily says simply. "You can turn your back on the cause and do your best to distract yourself--and it may even work. It does, for some. But otherwise... We keep going in the face of hopelessness because the alternative is just to lay down and die. There are many dangers ahead of us; if we do not face them, they will come to us eventually. ...We keep going because the idea of doing /something/--even something that seems small--lets us have something to hang onto in the face of despair."

"...It's harder on noncombatants," Lily admits. "In battle, we can set all of that aside. You, on the other hand... have to wait. I don't blame you for being uncertain--whether you're afflicted by this toxin or not."

Lily pauses, turns to Prissa and offers her the sword in both hands, held up as before. "I tend to conjure blades myself, but there's something to be said for a real blade at your hip. ...I can see the quality in this; even not being familiar with this style it balances perfectly. ...But I'm more used to something a bit heavier."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"That's not true," Riesenlied speaks up. "It wasn't just because of skill, luck and whatever distractions the enemy has had to not finish us off..."

She smiles a little wider as she pulls up Dog closer to her. She needs Dog to help cheer her up too! Eee, dog... Dog's simple joy is indeed what Riesenlied needs right now, because she then expresses, full of cheer:

"It was also because we had the Hammer Information Network!"

A pause, as she blinks a few times with a 'poit, poit' noise as her horns droop a little at the almost uncharacteristic outburst.

"E-er, but I mean... you did find the Fereshte for us. We were stranded in a world we didn't know, and you were brave and hardy enough to seek it out and search for something we had no idea where... that's-- if that's not the act of a hero, I don't know what is!"

Riesenlied is just about melting right now afterwards, feeling incredibly awkward. She looks to Noeline with a genteel nod and says, back to Hammer, "So many of the Waysiders have been asking about you... they want to know if they can help too."

She listens to Prissa, however, eyes widening slowly. "Toxin... it emits a toxin? I wonder if that's part of why I myself have been..." She pauses for a moment, flitting a look towards Lily and Noeline. ... she'd honestly not even considered an outside agent.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Hammer opens his mouth, though, he really does. He doesn't say anything for a while either because Prissa told him that SIN TOXIN might be responsible for his feelings. He doesn't THINK it's Sin Toxin, but then again...that might be what the SIN TOXIN wants him to think. If Sin Toxin had the capacity for malice. AND IT MIGHT. If a whale can hate surely so can a toxin from that whale. Maybe it's like malevolence, he thinks.

"Huh." He says, kind of staring ahead and second guessing his own thoughts. Noeline tells Hammer what HE was able to do, and while it certainly doesn't feel like what people like Riesenlied and Noeline have been able ot do, it isn't nothin'.

And the alternative, Hammer has to agree with Lily, is death. He wonders what it means to face these problems or if they've just been reacting to problems as they occur.

Lydia looks over to Prissa. "I bet the Adelhyde Guard could use some bitchin' swords." She says thoughtfully, looking to Prissa.

"Wait," Hammer says. "It's name is Sin? I thought it's name was Obsession--"

"Prissa's well traveled," Lydia jumps in.

Riesenlied offers more praise than Hammer can genuinely handle and his shoulders slouch, "A...aw geeze, Riesenlied... When you say it like that, I'm embarrassed I even brought it up."

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: YOU HAVE MADE A RODENT BLUSH.

"Miss Riesenlied, Lieutenant Keil...Any of you. If you ever need my 1337 5|==== <1775 again, I'll...I'll do what I can."

"Fer now you should help with repairs!" Lydia complains.

"Arright..." Hammer says. "I'll get to work right away." He bows his head. "Th--thanks." He will scurry off unless stopped.

Hammer will like remember this man.

Lydia seems relieved. "Finally."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

Everyone is encouraging Hammer so much. Even Dog! His tail is wagging! Prissa accepts this as a matter of course. She looks at Dog rather than join in, as the Hammer Information Network comes up. This may just be her way. She also stops wiggling her hips. She accepts the blade back from Lily. "Ah, another conjurer. I see I have many competitors here. I would let you try my zanpakuto but this I broke on a giant evil animal. I have not remade it yet. But I have made heavier swords!"

Hammer is there first. "Sin is what we call it to the east there, yeah," she confirms. To Noeline, she murmurs, "Where did you get this name Obsession from? That is the name of the perfume water my sister uses."

"Take it easy!" she tells the departing Hammer.

THEN! Back to Riesenlied (if with a wordless cocked eyebrow at this proffered business lead from Lydia). "The toxin is one of those things like in shellfish, so I do not think it is a thing you have to worry about as a - you know, like, the people are poisoned, we must treat it. By now you would be fine. The damage is done, whatever damage there is. Even if you have weird effects, you can live a normal life. My sister, the one with the perfume water to hide her farts? She knew a man, who got hit hard by the toxin, but he was still a solid blitzer!"

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"As if it wouldn't be fun to watch," Noeline hums back at Lily, enjoying this new game. "You could get Mikaia and Janey to help." The playfulness is something she's gone without for longer than she'd like, and it feels good to stretch its legs once more; she stands up a little straighter afterwards, feeling better for the brief back-and-forth.

Riesenlied's outburst prompts another spark of surprise from Noeline; she blinks for several moments, then lets out an amused breath as she carefully reaches up to pat Riesenlied between the horns, watching them wilt a little as she deflates. "The key point is 'what you can'," she comments to Hammer just before he leaves, with another lopsided smile. "Do not try to burn yourself out by taking on everything. We only need one person who does that around here," she adds, nudging her companion lightly in the side with a snicker.

That done, he's content to let the mechanic go, offering a glance at Lydia. "Definitely a Riese job, I believe, but a little realism mixed in never hurt either, I suppose. Sometimes, it's just a matter of hearing it from someone new."

She falls silent when the discussion goes back to the matter of Sin, as that appears to be the colloquial name for it; she catches Prissa's glimpse, then frowns slightly at the question. She can still remember the painful stab of Duras Drum's scream - remembering it is like summoning up a headache - and she muses on it for a moment. "We didn't get it ourselves. The Guardians referred to it as such - the Clymsian of Obsession. ... perhaps I need to hit the books some more."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Dog nuzzles against Riesenlied; she seems /very/ fond of the Hyadean, for some reason, more than happy to stick with her. There is definitely more dog slobber because she may be well-trained but she is still a puppy and that's just life with a puppy. ...Wag wag.

Hammer Information... Lily seems to weigh it, and allows it. But with Noeline?

"God, they really would, wouldn't they?" Lily asks, shaking her head. ...She can tell the difference though--frankly, she doesn't mind it so much.

But Hammer seems to be feeling better. He mentions his skills. "I'm sure I will," she answers. "See you around."

...She's not bad at pep talks... in theory. Hers just happen to be fairly grim.

But to Prissa, "The weapons I can make are temporary; they're really just more... weapon-shaped magical effects. In a pinch it's important to have a blade you can rely on." Lily inclines her head down and to the side slightly, to the thick, worn-handled knife at her belt, obviously a well-used weapon and tool both. ...Some might say a sword breaking is a sign of poor quality... but Lily would imagine that people who say such things don't know weapons very well. "I'm interested in seeing once you have--or at your stock generally when there's time."

She too is content to let the mechanic go. ...Also she is entirely unaware of what a 'blitzer' is. Or... Riesenlied's possible infection. "...If you know it well enough then we can take your word for it," Lily says. "It's possible," she says to Riesenlied, "Though a toxin wouldn't be necessary to explain your symptoms."

"...Sin, Obsession," Lily says. "Whatever it's called, we're going to need bigger guns. ...And /some/ way to defend against its..." Lily trails off, and can't find a better answer than, "Everything."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied looks just a little bit bashful in turn, smiling very quietly towards Hammer as he starts to settle a little. She knows, from personal experience, that it's not going to go away in a day... and that she'll keep helping him through his toughest times.

"It's like Noeline said... Duras Drum and Celesdue were familiar with it as Obsession, but... Mihaya and Prissa -- as well as Lunarian scholars -- call it Sin."

She nods gently as Hammer offers his... "E-er... One-three-three-seven...?" Riesenlied asks, somehow parsing the numbers as numbers despite the fact that in the dub Hammer probably says 'leet skillz'. He goes off, though...

She sighs very softly with a smile when he goes, smiling again towards Lydia. "Thank you for helping... I know he values your cheer as well, Lydie," as she goes and gives her daughter a hug.

She listens to Prissa's explanation about toxin... and nods as she says, "I can only hope. I know I'm rather vulnerable to various kinds of illnesses and diseases..." She'll have to keep it in mind. She nods at Lily, admitting, "It just felt like-- trauma and stress... but it's possible it was exacerbated." She wonders what a blitzer is, idly... but...

Only now does Riesenlied faintly, /finally/ cotton on to Lily and Noeline's side-conversation as she turns and tilts her head. She blinks a few times, still with that terribly pleasant little smile of hers.

"What's this about storks?"

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Well I'm gonna be real here," Lydia tells Noeline. "I haven't heard of the Clysmians and I'm Baskar, so I doubt there's gonna be much writing to find in a library. If there's reference to anything like that anywhere, it's probably in a super ancient ruin." She does approach Noeline giving her a quick shoulder hug with one arm. "Thanks for liking the joke, though."

Lydia looks to Prissa and just asks, "What's a blitzer?" What's in her head is completely different from reality.

But then it is her turn to be hugged! This time from Riesenlied! Lydia leans into it because honestly she is putting on smiles to keep folks' spirits up but she can frankly use some of it herself. For a moment, she looks rather exhausted and tired herself.

It's gone quickly. "Heh, well I'm a novice compared to the masters," Lydia quips. "This'll make it a lot easier. I'll try and catch this Dayton guy too. See if he knows his stuff." She pauses. "And is willing to do to tough work. It'll be good times."

She blinks. "Storks?"

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Lily's evaluation of the toxin does at least get Noeline considering that, letting out a breath. "... to be honest, I wonder. Toxin or no toxin, it can't have been a very pleasant ordeal for an empathic person to go through. As such, I hadn't really begun to suspect anything else being part of it," she admits to both the Black Wolf and to Riesenlied, before studying the latter with a long look, her brow furrowing in mild worry. "At the very least, it may be worth mentioning to Cetiri. We should be able to try to take stock of whether something's exacerbating it..."

She shakes the thought away; it's not something to dwell on right now, not with Dog happily in Riesenlied's arms and her own hand on the other Hyadean's back. She doesn't have a lot of spare limbs, but she offers one to Lydia for a moment, even if the shaman offers a puzzle for her. "A Lunarian term, perhaps? If there were Guardian Statues I would have thought there'd be Guardianism up there, but we didn't see much sign of it. Were the situation better, we could just ask them directly, but..." That's not much of an option right now, especially not for idle questions.

She can pick out the signs of fatigue even on Lydia - which is why she steps away, letting the girl have briefly unfettered (Dog aside) access to Riesenlied. Prissa gets a sigh; Noeline rubs at her head slowly. "If it helps, you are far from the first to come here. We already know of one way back, though I imagine it isn't in the best of shape right now. I assume there will be others."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

"I am not clear on all this Guardians business," Prissa says, frowning. "I mean I understand it is the faith of your people, Lydia, but I do not 'get' it. Your Guardians spoke of Sin? Nobody in Lunar away from our lands knew of Sin." Technically not quite true but Prissa did not read the theme files.

Back to Lily. "I can make magic swords too," she says. "It is more expensive. I do not have much, most of it is on me right now. I do bespoke work, for the most part." 5rTo Lydia: "Sports. You play in water. It is hard to explain concisely."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Dog of course /could/ switch to guard duty quickly... but it's not warranted for now.

"The Guardians and humans being in disagreement about what something is called doesn't sound surprising," Lily offers. "But if the Baskar don't know--we could ask your Elder--then I wouldn't count on conventional libraries either. If I had access to Vane's library maybe, but..." She doesn't. It's strange to find something she wants still on Lunar.

To Riese, "Yes, your compromised immune system is important to keep in mind--though we shouldn't lose sight of..." She glances into nothing for a while, single eye unfocused. "It was not pleasant, no."

Lily speaks less of how she feels about what happened--how she felt.

Dog, while Riese approaches Lydia, leaaaans over and stretches her neck a bit to poke her cold, wet nose into Lydia's arm. There is a quiet bark! ...This gives Lily time to put up both hands. "Ohhh, no. I don't think so," she answers about the stork.

"This one's all yours, Carver."

She is quite content to move onto Prissa for the moment so instead, "The Guardians are ancient beings--maybe or maybe not 'gods' in the sense that some religions know them, but they embody aspects of the world... if I have it right. They know many things that humans and others would have forgotten."

"Oh, is that it? I see. ...That's intriguing, a magic sword. I wonder if I could infuse one of those..."

Sports. In water. "That sounds good enough to me."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied blinks a few more times about that stork. Dean... Stork? Wait, no, that's _Stark_.

Riesenlied doesn't seem to terribly mind dog slobber, though, since that just comes with the territory; wag wag, wag wag, Dog's wagging and Riesenlied's horns seem to be wagging... in unison? Are they in sync? Are they achieving dog-Hyadean synchronisation...??

Lydia comments about Clysmians, and Riesenlied has to admit that she hasn't heard the term either. "... it may very well be something we need to investigate in a record from an Elw ruin, judging from what Duras Drum and Celeste said -- that the Elw did not finish the job properly..."

She listens to Prissa's confusion and-- closes her eyes, expressing, "... we don't know the details either -- but suffice to say it seems that our Guardians, ancestral humans, and a now-forgotten race called the Elw have... more history with Lunar than modern knowledge has been able to retain."

She gestures very faintly, picking up the clipboard once more. "That ruin that we went through... to get back here? That was an Elw ruin, as an example..."

She smiles and looks up to her daughter, saying, "Be sure take lots of rest yourself, okay?" because she can't help but fuss. She lets go of Dog gently after a bit, after giving her one more fond and final stroke as she listens to Noeline.

"... y-yes, we'll check with mom later," as Riesenlied throws yet another mom onto the pile for Prissa to ruminate about. It's just one giant chain of moms in this ship, isn't it? "I'm getting lots of rest and working through it, I promise," she reassures for Lily. She knows everyone's looking after her, but self-care is just as important.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Cool, I like sport." Lydia says. "I should teach you about soccer sometime. It's an ancient sport discovered in the anciente ruin of Collisea Arcadia."

Lydia shrugs faintly. She smiles lightly and she decides not to mention that the mom's mom is a dog because that might get a little crazy. It's best to ease people into this whole mom madness as it is. Frankly it's still a little rough on herself sometimes. She is largely used to it now, but it wasn't always that way.

"I'll...yeah," Lydia admits after a while. "Yeah, I should rest soon." She rubs at her eyes. "But if I rest now, then some folks might not get shelter." She shakes out her hands. "...And it's winter soon. I gotta do everything I can while I can, before people start blowing shit up."

She wasn't just overworking herself because it's what she does, but she does have to consider that if she overworks herself, she might fuck up and that'd be even worse.

"I'll take a nap soon." She promises. "It'll be great." She looks to Prissa and adds, "Well I'm heading back to the Colony when I can to talk to Granny Halle. You can visit if you want though she is probably really busy. But there's lots of folks who can talk to you there."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline had been hoping to just kind of blow straight through Riesenlied's question about storks; no such luck, as Lily calls attention to it and makes Noeline snort under her breath in good humour. With the careful precision of someone wondering best how to do mischief, she clears her throat. "We were simply discussing what the storks would bring, and when," she hums to Riesenlied, offering an arm around her with a rich smile. "And whether Mikaia would get jealous."

She leaves it at that, for the moment, if only to see what kind of response it elicits, and instead nods with a warm and slightly relieved smile at seeing Riesenlied's spirits a little higher - or at least tugged sideways to concentrate on something else instead. If anything, she's aware that her partner thrives most when trying to help others - and perhaps it's for the best that Hammer was dragged over to them to air his worries today.

"My advice earlier goes to you, too," she notes to Lydia; she's grinning quietly to herself, but her words are reasonably solemn. "Don't try to burn yourself out - rest when you need to. I'll continue to make sure Riese does, as well." She quietly leaves the issue of herself aside - but, well, she's always been made of relatively hardy stuff, and has had plenty of time to get a bit of a recharge herself. She hesitates at the same time as Lydia does, then lets out a breath. "... I can at least swing a hammer. Let me know if I can help."

With a sigh, she can only shake her head to the Lunarian. "... the Guardians have never exactly been terrifically forthcoming. There is a great deal of history, and very few people know all of it. A lot of it, they seem almost scared to discuss, Sin included."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

"Soccer, eh?" Prissa says to Lydia. "I'll give it a go after the nap. I wonder if I should go market things before I come to visit your family, though. Perhaps this Princess Adelhyde needs a blade herself!"

To Lily, she asks: "INfuse?" She got at least the majority of her own gist.

"Can I sell /them/ a sword? Just so they have a bit of something to lean on," Prissa asks Noeline, raising her eyebrows.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Dog and Riesenlied, in sync...! Probably. Lily is pretending she isn't seeing anything though. It's easy, since now she only has half the field of vision and she can just turn her head a little.

"Finish the job... Destroying something? Or creating something? I don't like that we don't know."

The history--yes, that's a factor, and Lily glances down as she mulls it over. "I know that our histories share a language. But why, I couldn't say." Lily nods along to Riesenlied's reassurance; it seems for the moment that she's willing to accept it. ...For the moment.

"Yeah," Lily says. "Hopefully we can avoid too many explosions here for a while. I'll do what I can if someone makes trouble for us, but..." She shakes her head. "Halle is the most likely to know something, I think." Lily does /not/ comment on storks anymore for the moment--but just for the moment. Neither does she allow for things like /herself/ resting. She's fine. Totally fine.

"They have a sword, I believe," Lily says. "A whole Guardian devoted to the concept." A beat, "...If you can get Cecilia to accept a sword, that would put me at ease about her, but more likely some of her companions might. And yes, infuse--I think if I could... channel magic into the /weapon/, then it might be more effective than conjuring one outright. But it's just a theory, I haven't tried it. It's hard to make magic go into something without destroying it." MAIL: Mailbox purged.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

> "They have a sword, I believe," Lily says. "A whole Guardian devoted to the concept."

Prissa does not pay attention to anything else in that statement. She leans towards Lily. "Tell me more."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"I believe its? his? name is Equites. ...I've met a woman who is a priestess of that Guardian and wields a heavy weapon, but that's about all I can tell you. They aren't my faith, I'm just doing a job for them."

Lily: turning religion mercenary since... 500 or so.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

One of the reasons Riesenlied and Noeline work so well together, perhaps, is how in tune they are at times; how they can finish each other's sentences, and find meaning and comfort in each other's sentiments and expressions that aren't even words... and also...

Sometimes, just sometimes...

"Let's make the stork come sometime together, then!" Riesenlied expresses very, very guilelessly to Noeline. "I'm sure Mikaia will be happy to see it!"

She drapes her arms closer around her clipboard and says, "I think I'll take a nap as well... would you mind helping me back to my room, Noeline?" while having nooooooo idea what she's done.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"I think one of her friends is like a super sword person actually. Hell, I think two of them are? There's Tethelle, she is a Baskar warrior of the Sword." Lydia says. "Equites isn't a Guardian I've even met before." She sighs, placing a hand on her cheek. "And I totally missed out on meeting Duras Drum." Her cheeks poof out a bit but then Riesenlied says words and Lydia starts coughing into her palm.

When she finally breathes again she says, "Yeah. Nap time for me, I think. I'll tell you when I wake up, Prissa! Don't skip town to the Sword Sanctuary! Or the Sword Cathedral!!"

There's a Sword Cathedral!?!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Gently, Noeline squints to herself; she has to kind of mentally catch up to Prissa's speed, and would be much more capable of it were it not for the very rough week they've all had. "One of them is, in fact, completely made /of/ swords," she declares with a huff of confidence, adding it on to Lily's explanations.

Even if that statement isn't strictly true, Equites is probably as good a start as any that the girl from Lunar could get as an introduction. "We have actually met that one in the flesh. Or in the steel, as it might be. He was--" she pauses, and looks rather purposefully glum. "--very upset with us, at the time. I wonder what Equites would say now?"

Glancing aside, Noeline looks rather apologetically at Lydia. "I am sorry. Unsealing Duras Drum was something we had to do in rather a hurry, given the war that was brewing at the time. Rest assured, you didn't miss terribly much from an external perspective." There's a long pause, and she adds: "... he's kind of an ass."

Whatever else she was about to say is completely lost as her brain shortcircuits; she works her mouth for a moment and then clamps it forcibly shut, before a solid blush rises on her face. "--wh--" she blurts, for once utterly lost for words as she finds herself clinging a little to Riesenlied's arm. "--are you--" It takes her a few moments too many to register the innocent smile on her partner's face, and Noeline quietly wilts against her shoulder, not trusting herself to do anything but bury her face against Riesenlied's capelet.

And then abruptly she's scooped Riesenlied up, and cleared her throat, doing her best to hide under the volume of her black hair. "Yes-- /well/-- if you'll excuse us," she blurts, and begins to positively scurry Riesenlied off.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Riesenlied says words, and Lily pauses. No, pausing isn't quite the right word for it. Lily /stills/, just ceases entirely to move save to set her single golden eye on Riesenlied and then Noeline in turn. She watches that /blush/--and that, int he end, is what does it.

"Snk--"

It is an altogether un-Lilylike noise, but it's only the beginning. The sorceress manages to hold on a little longer as they leave before--

"Aaah, hah ha--"

Lily quietly cracks up against the pillar with Dog tilting her head up at her. It... it takes a while before she stops.