catch-all open log!

[rebells]

Who: Anyone and everyone!
Where: On the beach, and various other places throughout the hub island
When: Day 80, and the next couple days after
Open/Closed: open log for hub shenanigans!

[This evening, someone has placed an old, rusted-over camp stove on the beach near the coven's row of huts--anyone examining it in detail will see that it's not operational at the moment, but that could potentially be changed, couldn't it? If someone was handy with mechanical things . . . .

Next to it is a crate (which, from the weight of it is empty) and pinned to that crate is a sheet of paper with a map on it, something like a much cruder, black-and-white version of this:



with the following key:

1 - crags. Contain snakes which may be poisonous. Watch out.
2 - ocean, going about one mile out from the coast.
3 - lagoon. Contains thick reeds (could be woven or shaped into tools) and frogs (edibility uncertain).
4 - abandoned campsite.
5 - orchard. Currently, trees are diseased and bare. Plant healer needed.
6 - abandoned house. A family used to live here, from the looks of it. Still contains some useful supplies.

And there should be a 7 north of base camp with the notation "graveyard. Graves unused." but the player forgot and is too lazy to go back and fix it right now. Observant individuals will note that the map looks like a more detailed version of one hanging on the door to a certain coven member's cabin, one that has a note on the bottom: "Have information? Ask for Jay."

Other than that, it's a quiet night on the hub island. We've been here for a couple days; maybe you're getting restless? Want to check out that ocean, or lagoon, or even those crags? Maybe just go door-to-door in the beach huts? Maybe you're sick of shrimp and looking for other things to eat . . . hopefully someone's got a fire going tonight, and thought to kill a boar . . . .

What are you doing tonight?]


((here or here for place descriptions))

Comments

[rebells]

. . . that's a good question.

[One he clearly hasn't thought about before. Will they be visiting the world humans left behind for Melfes? he wonders.]

I do wonder if there's a pattern to the worlds we visit, other than the obvious.

[rootandbranch]

That can be one of the things we ask Qri, if she'll ever talk to us.

[for better or worse, Geir's mind followed a similar track to Jay's-- the allusion to people traveling worlds the way the coven is now in the story Jay told couldn't help but grab his attention and stay fresh in his mind.]

We can't be the only ones traveling from world to world, right? Those people who made the underground stronghold you showed me-- why did they leave?

[rebells]

We don't actually know . . . it was a long time ago. Before recorded history begins.

[It's easier to speculate about the motives of people long gone than it is to think about how far he is from the Legacy, anyway. There's the little matter of what they did to the natives once they got there, but he doesn't mention that for the moment.]

It's possible it was as simple as their previous world lacking resources, although the Quiet Lands seemed rich enough to sustain life. Or maybe they just had wanderlust.

[rootandbranch]

Wanderlust... I kind of get that. Part of me just wants to go somewhere else all the time, too.

[it's awkward to admit that, because he knows that's not exactly what Vern craves the same way. it won't be a problem, obviously, since once they're free to decide again they'll do what Vern wants. but...]

I've never really had a home, though. They must have, if they brought it with them. And their god--?

[he tilts his head at Jay in inquiry; he's not 100% sure where Jay was going with the god-is-a-sea talk, but this is as good an opportunity as any to clarify it.]

[rebells]

Yes. An entity we called the Quiet Nerifes, although if it was their god, they likely called it something else. "Nerifes" is another race's term for the sea.

[He's quiet again, thinking about the Radiant. About Shirley. After a moment, he finds his place again.]

I don't know if the humans that were also worshiped this Nerifes, but it was definitely a god. I've felt its influence, and even been granted its power. And the Radiant--the race originally inhabiting Melfes--worship their version, and follow its will.

[rootandbranch]

You're favored by a god? I never thought--

[Geir pauses in confusion; none of the familiar hallmarks of power he'd normally associate with that kind of status have been present when he's interacted with Jay before, but when he thinks about it, there might have been something...]

...what is the will of the sea, then?

[rebells]

[He smiles a small, lopsided smile; it's a little unbelievable to him too, to have been chosen by a god. But he'd been there, and had better ability than anyone--except maybe Senel--to stop the Cataclysm, and he assume's that's why.]

The will of the sea above was to destroy the land and all the people living on it. [He says this in a matter-of-fact, dry sort of tone, aware that he's being somewhat flippant about it. But they'd stopped it, so--] The will of the sea below was to stop that from happening.

[rootandbranch]

Oh! So which side were you on?

[Geir asks the question in a tone of absolutely nothing but innocent curiosity, without a trace of the drama that the statement deserves. his interest is extremely piqued by the whole thing and its relationship to his own associations with the sea and land, and he's obviously fascinated with the story... but in a conversation where he's not thinking about his own words, he assigns as much weight to a question about whether one's job is to destroy all the lands or save them as one would normally assign to a question about bagels versus donuts as your preferred breakfast food.]

[rebells]

[He's a little nonplussed by that tone, but he supposes to a thirty-five-foot dragon, the question of destroying humanity is a bit academic . . . . ]

The latter. [And given the above, it feels a little safer to say this:] My home is--was--the Legacy, not the lands that were going to be destroyed. But I doubt the Radiant would have left the Legacy alone after causing another Cataclysm. They were very angry.

[rootandbranch]

Oh...

[that makes sense, he wants to say -- and senses it would be appropriate to say. but he hesitates before saying it, anyway. he can't help it. the idea someone could have a home that inspired them with enough feeling to want to protect it that way tugs at him.

is there any place he'd do that for? not his dim memories of Angrboda's domain. not Odin's hall. not under earth or under sea. not really even the lands of Midgard he was just starting to come to know, either, though he thought they were beautiful.]

You must have liked it.

[oh right-- Jay wasn't even defying anyone. defense was what his god wanted. lucky son of a sheepherd...]

Not that-- I mean, you said you were with the god below, anyway.

[rebells]

. . . I would have tried to stop them anyway. The Quiet Nerifes just gave me the power to actually make a difference.

[Because yes, he does like the Legacy, quite a lot. He leaves that unsaid for the moment, though, because it's actually painful to think about.]

[rootandbranch]

. . . that's impressive. I don't know if I could do that.

[that's brutally honest, though it's said fairly unemotionally. Geir's bitterly aware of the yawning pit of uncertainty in his belly about whether he's even enough of a person to make his own choices that way, much less act on them. he was right, back in the meeting they had about whether they'd cooperate with Qri: these humans really do take the ability to choose for granted.

it's admirable, though. it takes a very specific kind of strength. he can acknowledge that untouched by any of his private frustrations and fears, and it's certainly not Jay's fault that Geir was born a tool.]

So, what happened? You won?

[he assumes that Jay wouldn't be talking like this if the Legacy was destroyed.]

[rebells]

[He shrugs; it's not something he particularly wants to be admired for, especially considering what he did right before he left the Legacy.]

Yes. We convinced the agent of Nerifes to stand down and . . . fought the Raging Nerifes into submission.

[This is a fancy way of saying they punched the ocean.]

[rootandbranch]

...I'm glad.

[he is. he likes and respects Jay. it'd be sad if his home was destroyed.]

Did you ever find out why the seas wanted such different things?

[rebells]

[That makes him quiet, remembering everything humanity did to the Radiant to make Nerifes angry and fuel a desire for revenge.]

I presume because they represented two different worlds. Two different peoples. Two different sides of a race war.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir... edges his nose a few inches closer to Jay across the sand for the reassurance of proximity. he sort of wishes that he felt familiar enough with Jay to beg for petting outright, because this is an unsettling conversation, and the best approach to unsettling conversations (in Geir's opinion) is to have them while petting a dragon. but Jay is a very closed off sort of person, and Geir isn't sure about it, so he lets the brief impulse pass.]

It's so strange... I don't think that's why everyone was fighting at home. I guess I don't know much about it, though. I haven't been awake for very long.

[rebells]

No? What were you doing, back in your world?

[He's genuinely curious about the answer--he likes knowing about people, and Geir more than qualifies as a person--but he's half-asking just to change the topic. Talking about the Legacy like this is depressing him.]

[rootandbranch]

I wasn't really fighting. That was the humans. I was doing something else.

[Geir hesitates and considers, narrowing his eyes. finally he cautiously says:]

If I tell you, you have to promise not to put a bear skin on. I don't really feel like getting in fights today...

[rebells]

A . . . bear skin.

[Bemused--he's never heard the term, although he can guess from context.]

[rootandbranch]

[Geir yawns, unimpressed by the request for clarification.]

One of the berserkers. Biting your shield and roaring into battle. That kind of thing.

[rebells]

I don't roar, as a general rule.

[Dry, sardonic. But he's really curious now, if Geir thinks what he was doing would provoke some sort of argument.]

I'll try not to pass judgment on your previous activities.

[rootandbranch]

Sorry. Last time it came up, someone yelled at me. Geez...

[he huffs, remembering, and tilts his head on his front claws a bit to eye Jay appraisingly. finally he stretches his shoulders and wings out, refolding them in a shrug.]

I was supposed to sleep until the end of the world.

[rebells]

[He tilts his head, thoughtful. There's nothing about that that seems immediately objectionable, but--]

But you're awake now. So did your world end?

[rootandbranch]

No. We're still figuring out whether to do it or not.

[Geir really can't beat around the bush.]

[rebells]

[He . . . tilts his head further . . . he's better at being calm about things than Tara-Fay is, anyway.]

Well.

What were the points in favor and against?