+- Court of the Fallen (https://cotf-rpg.com)
+-- Forum: Out of Character (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=26)
+--- Forum: Important (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=27)
+---- Forum: Archives (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38)
+---- Thread: running away and towards (/showthread.php?tid=2428)
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-17-2020
"No, that's not neces-..."
Quanil stopped as memories came to them:
Trying to explain a complicated concept they'd read in a book; it had made sense then, but trying to explain it to their parents (and why they'd liked it so much) had been a garbled mess.
Trying to ask someone to dance and the babbling that had ensued. Year after year after year, every time they tried to ask anyone.
Trying to warn one of Freina's potential suitors, which had been a difficult concept in the first place, as Quanil wasn't very intimidating. Trying to explain to this fellow why he should treat Freina like a goddess or, better still, just walk away had ended up in the guy laughing until he'd cried, and Quanil had just walked away, far more chastened than their target had been.
Trying to explain to their parents why they wanted to be a Loreseeker in the first place.
"Uh, actually, that... might be a good idea. Thank you, sir." Something occurred to them. "If Loreseekers help each other, then is there any way I can help you, sir?"
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-17-2020
He waited for the inevitable dismissal of the idea, considering ruefully to himself the nature of teenagers and why he never wanted children. Quanil surprised him with their reflective pause, however, and he waited curiously to see which way the wind would blow. He was pleasantly surprised indeed to find the young Seeker accepting his suggestion, and he finished his cup of tea with a slight smile curving his lips. "I can get you paper and writing utensils, then, and you can use the space here if you wish," he offered, nodding back towards the great table where so much of their work was done.
The next offer earned an appreciative chuckle, the first real sound of amusement he had made since the tragedy of the festival. Quanil was proving to be one hell of a distraction, for good or ill, and he nodded again, though he doubted the answer would be what his guest wanted to hear. "First, make sure your parents aren't going to raise torches and pitchforks against the guild, claiming we kidnapped you," he requested, voice dry and gently teasing now that the quest had already been agreed to. "Once you've done that, though... there may be some things, yes." He tilted his head to the side, considering this newest colleague. A farmer, like Maea, with knowledge of agriculture and animal husbandry, but with a solid foundation in reading and writing already... "There are some older texts, journals and family histories and the like, that are becoming dangerously faded, but no one has had time to try and salvage them," he suggested carefully, watching to see how Quanil would react to this idea. "Sam used to do that kind of work, but since he's not been around as much, we've had no one else to really take that over. Having someone who could copy those texts in fresh ink would help a great deal, and you might learn something more about the history of the Hollowed Grounds that we haven't discovered yet while you're at it."
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-18-2020
Quanil looked down the length of the great table as the provost gestured to it. To work here, even on what was essentially a punishment... Loreseekers work here, they thought.
Quanil stood ready to defend the Loreseekers against all comers, especially their parents. Well, okay, they weren't much of an obstacle to a true opponent, but they could handle this. Hopefully. They were grateful all over again for the ability to take the time to write out what they wanted to say first.
Provost Silversmith had barely gotten the mention of the texts out before Quanil's eyes lit up and they sat up a little straighter in their chair. "Oh yes! I'd be glad to! That would be gre- ...fine. It'd be fine." Rein it in, don't get too weird about it.
They could learn things and help the Loreseekers - as well as future generations - in the process! This was exactly the sort of thing they'd been hoping to do, in part. Sure, go places, learn new things, but they had, when they weren't letting their excitement run away with them, assumed they would be set more menial tasks to begin with. Like copying texts.
"Oh! Maybe I could use that as a way to help my parents accept this. That one of the first things I'll be doing will be staying here, where it's safe...-r," they added, because they weren't convinced anywhere in the world was truly safe. Not anymore. Maybe it never was? Focus. "I'll just be here, copying texts, not going anywhere they don't know."
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-19-2020
It wasn't exactly hard to miss the way Quanil jumped at the task he offered. It wasn't the most glamorous, but it was a necessary one, and one that a senior member, the official Chronicler, had done for a year. He wouldn't necessarily call it 'menial' but it was certainly safer than exploring Halo at the moment. Quanil was eager and enthusiastic, but that wouldn't help much against a hungry Ursur, nor would it help dig them out of an avalanche, or regrow frost-bitten toes and ears. The trek from the portal in the Fangs to the Citadel was now well-marked, but it was still a walk of quite some distance, and the trail was far from safe, even if there wasn't a blizzard onoing at the moment. He hoped that the first time Quanil went to Halo it would be with someone able to protect them, until they were strong enough to protect themselves.
Their idea of softening the blow of their ongoing rebellion brought a wry smile to the provost's lips, and he nodded in acknowledgment. "For now, at least, yes. There's plenty to do within the Atheneum and the safety of the Hall. Beyond that, we have much still to explore within the Hollowed Grounds itself; all safer than a trip to Halo. As you learn more and train more you can stretch your wings further, and test your abilities as you go. From what we talked about earlier you seemed most interested in delving into what's been lost between the pages of the collection here, over the past three centuries, so for now this seems like it will be a good place for several reasons." That, and keeping Quanil close enough to hand to receive backup if problems should arise.
"Can you tell me a bit more about your parents?" He shifted the topic back to where it had been initially, tapping a thoughtful finger on the arm of his chair. "So I know what to expect if I should meet them in the Infirmary?"
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-20-2020
Quanil considered the question. They weren't sure where to begin in explaining their parents. Not that their parents were strange, complex beings; quite the opposite, which was actually why it was difficult to pick a starting point. If something was unusual to their audience (and almost everything Quanil tried to explain to their family was), they'd start with something basic about the topic, something that they could relate in some way to something the listener already knew. Or maybe start with the most dangerous aspect, and work back from there (that worked great when talking with Freina and/or Kedran; not so much Mom and/or Dad).
But with people who were, themselves, so basic and foundational?
Quanil thought about what might be most important for the provost to bring up when it came to healing them and Kedran, because that would be the context under which they'd talk to them. Even if the provost was nearby as silent support during their explanation (and justification), he would be SILENT, leaving Quanil to do the talking there.
They're pretty typical farm folk, but would that help? Provost Jigano Silversmith was an Outlander. Even though he'd been here for a few years, made a name and a title for himself, was it really likely he knew what a "typical" farmer was like? Very little about him was "typical."
So Quanil started with, "They prioritize survival over everything else. Even living, and they don't really get that there's a difference between the two." That sounded a little too negative, perhaps, but it was the truth. "I've tried to explain Living vs. Survival a few times, and it doesn't seem to click with them. I think Freina and Kedran get it. Kedran, at least. But they're also pretty happy where they are." That was getting off-topic.
They shifted back to talking about their parents. "They're... um, I don't know if I'm saying this word right, and only mostly sure I'm using it right, but, they're very pragmatic?" Quanil looked to the provost for verification.
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-20-2020
Putting the things you were closest to into words could be the hardest sometimes, Jigano knew. Things that were as much felt as known, that never needed to be thought about because they were always there. He waited patiently for Quanil to turn over what words they wanted, and which ones to discard, curious as to what the newest Seeker would say - and how they would say it. It might reveal much about them and how they thought, to see what descriptions they prioritized in describning their family. He already knew that there was a tension and growing estrangement there, but also that their parents valued and loved them enough to want to protect them, rather than letting them run off into the world to make their own way. At least, until now.
He nodded slowly in understanding as Quanil pried apart the difference between surviving and living, something he'd seen far too much of in the Hollowed Grounds, but which he also didn't blame people for. He might be an Outlander, but he had arrived before the Barrier had fallen and he had seen the conditions then, which were only now just starting to ease up a little as seeds and animals from the Greatwood began to creep across the border and revitalize the weary region. But Quanil's parents had spent decades living in that mindset, with nothing to compare it to. "They might yet change," Jigano said quietly. "Given time enough and some improvement in their lot. They might come to see the value of living for something beyond being alive tomorrow. But it will take time, and an improvement in the Hollowed Grounds so they have time to do more than find enough food to eat." And safety, so that they weren't living in fear of what new catastrophe each new season would bring.
He gave the newest Seeker a small smile of encouragement and a nod at their use of the word for their parents, the description fitting neatly in with what they'd said before. "What are their names?" He probed gently. "Do they have any skills beyond keeping the farm running? Music or storytelling or knitting or wood carving... anything like that?"
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-21-2020
"They're Argha and Algot," they said. "Mom - Argha - sews. Mostly for mending though; as far as I know, she's never made clothes from scratch before. She embroiders our initials on our socks though. And she taught me my reading and numbers at first, before I started buggin' merchants about them. So she knows that much. I think she's a good cook, but I guess everyone thinks that about their moms.
"Dad can do figures well enough for farm work. Only stories he tells are warnings about what we shouldn't be doing." They thought; it was hard to think of Dad doing anything that wasn't farming. "Mom said he used to be a good dancer, back in the day? And he's taught all of us how to punch so we don't break our thumbs, if it comes to a fight. Taught Freina how to go for the balls, too, in case someone gets an idea in their head that she doesn't want to go along with."
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-21-2020
Slowly the parents began to take shape as more than just amorphously overprotective figures in Quanil's life. A woman of some skill, but not really outstanding at any - except, perhaps, cooking. A man who had no time for fripperies, stern and perhaps even dour, but protective of his flock and determined to see them safely through to the next day, the next season, the next year. Jigano nodded thoughtfully as he assembled the images along with the other things that Quanil had told him. Parents who worked hard to give their children a life - not necessarily a better one, but the safest one they knew - but who didn't know what to do with an offspring who excelled at something not immediately related to their farming livelihood. An owl being raised by ducks, who didn't understand why their child wasn't happy swimming with the rest of them, and wasn't content feeding off water weeds and bread crumbs.
"You know your family best," he said, after a time spent in contemplation on the new information. "And whether they will best respond to logic or confidence or emotional pleas. If they try to force you into staying by saying they need your help on the farm while their injuries heal, you can tell them that you know someone who can heal them before the day is out, if they'll allow it." He nodded and then rose, setting his tea cup aside to wash out later. He gestured to the great table with an inviting nod before going to collect the paper Sam made for the guild and both pencils and quills and ink to set before one of the chairs.
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-22-2020
Quanil rose, tea entirely forgotten as they stared at the great table, at writing utensils and paper brought out for their use. I'M GOING TO SIT AT THE GREAT TABLE OF THE LORESEEKERS! To work out how to tell their parents that they were leaving to be a Loreseeker, and they'd just have to accept that.
They approached the chair, feeling excited and annoyed at themselves for their excitement over a punishment, over something common and everyday - sit down in a chair, write at a table - and still a little disappointed in themselves in the first place but also still nervous and...
I wonder if this is partially a test of my handwriting skills?
They sat and eyed the utensils put out for them. Ohhhh, how they longed to reach for a quill, to feel Official and Important, but the truth was they'd only had a little practice with ink, and they still tended to smudge it more often than not. After staring longingly at the quills, they bowed to their own pragmatism and picked up a pencil. They sat their Loreseeker pin down where they could look to it, touch it occasionally, make sure it was still real.
What would their parents respond best to? They leaned back in the chair to consider it, but a question distracted them. "Provost Silversmith, sir? Does the guild have somewhere to put its members up at night, or do I have to find my own lodgings? Either is fine," which was something a polite lie, but Quanil would have been happy falling asleep in this chair if they had to. Or that other chair, or even on the floor. Perhaps if they were forced to find lodgings on their own, they'd find a way to make some coin on a regular basis to pay for them, and that would help with the other expenses of being a Loreseeker.
All of this made them feel unqualified for the post all over again. They had no money, the very barest bones of an education (and even those had had quite a lot of marrow scraped out of them), nothing to bring to the great table except their own self.
But the pin sat there, gleaming in the candlelight, still warm from how long they'd held it in their hand. That pin and what it represented meant that their entire life hadn't been and wouldn't be a waste, that they weren't useless, that everything they worried over at night didn't matter.
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-22-2020
Spoiler alert: it was not a handwriting test.
Jigano sat down a chair away from Quanil to give them space and not feel like he was looking over their shoulder. He was impressed to see them chose the pencil, appreciating both the pragmatism and the conservation of scarce resources when the points of discussion they were writing down might need several drafts. The question that came next was as unexpected as it was pertinent, and he paused thoughtfully as he considered it. Maea was leaving her farm behind as well, and would also need a place to stay in town, and with Quanil joining her, and Outlanders who didn't always have their own lodgings ready and waiting for them...
"We don't... yet," he said slowly. "Though you bring up an important point. We're going to need something of the sort soon, ideally attached to the Atheneum itself, or perhaps nearby..." He shook off his musing, smiling at the new challenge through the sadness of Fiat Lux's losses. "I have an arrangement with the owner of the VlamVloed, though. He has a few rooms there, and one of our other Loreseekers is already staying there. Maea Valair, if you've heard of her?" A fellow Natural farming family, the Valair farmstead had been attacked by monsters last LongNight and the family decimated. Only Maea now remained, and she had disappeared for a year, only recently returned.
"I can take you over and introduce you to Sunjata, the VlamVloed's owner after this, if you'd like?"
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-23-2020
Oh, there was a familiar name. Familiar-ish, anyway. "Maea's alive? I mean, she was gone so long, we all just kind of assumed... I didn't know her, just knew of the family, and..." Well, everyone knew what had happened to the family. Better not to go into it. Quanil never liked talking about LongNight anyway.
"I'd appreciate the introduction very much, sir, thank you."
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-23-2020
"I did, too," Jigano admitted, some of the sadness returning to his voice. It was balanced by relief, though, that just this once (well, twice, counting Ronin) the presumed-dead had not stayed that way. "She has no memory of the time she lost. She was sick, and then she was feverish, and then... then she came back to herself in the snowy waste of Halo. She survived and made her way back here." His smile was softer, glad to be able to recount at least one survivor after the recent tragedy. "She's back on active duty, though... I believe she intends to sell the farm and orchard," he admitted more soberly. A clean start, no anchors of her past weighing her down; he thought Quanil could appreciate that. Perhaps Maea could serve as something of a mentor to the newest Seeker? She'd been out of the loop for a long time, but it would require some thinking over. Sam was already Maea's mentor, or had been before her disappearance.
"I'll have to see about arranging a meeting with the whole Guild, now that we're up and running again," he said, smile returning, at least faintly. "A chance for everyone to get to know each other, or as many as we can bring together all at once." Amalia, stuck in the Infirmary... his heart twinged with pain for her, but his Healing wasn't enough to return the use of her legs to her. Not on its own, at least. It was in Deimos's hands now.
RE: running away and towards - Quanil - 01-23-2020
Quanil latched onto the happier subject. "I'd like to meet everyone. I'm not real used to being around people who actually enjoy learning new things. And it'd be good to know the senior Seekers."
The glint of the pin caught their eye again. "I should probably get to figuring out what to say to my parents." But, of course, another question caught their mind. "What would you say to yours, had you the chance? Uh, if you don't mind my asking, sir."
Quanil only knew that the provost was an Outlander, come through a portal. But surely he had folks back... wherever he'd come from?
RE: running away and towards - Jigano - 01-23-2020
"With the influx of new recruits, it would be good for everyone to at least recognize each other," he agreed, hiding his smile at considering that everyone
He nodded silent agreement that they should get on with the writing, but the unexpected query in return brought the sadness back to his face. It was not the recent pain of Fiat Lux and those lost to the mud and ice; it was an older and softer thing, more cherished and packed carefully in layers of guilt and regret. "Given that they are dead, I suppose I would simply say: 'I'm sorry,'" he said quietly. "My friends and I had gone out into the world to learn about something that had befallen us, to rescue my mentor and save our town's livelihood... then to reclaim the heritage of a pair of my companions, and in so doing, discovering a threat greater than we could have imagined... but as part of that, we came to the attention of some very powerful and very cruel people. They sent a warning to our town, an 'example' of what would happen to us if we didn't stop meddling in their affairs." He grew silent for a moment, but the story was not a new one, and he shook his melancholy off to finish the tale. "They didn't know it, but my parents had taken shelter in the building they destroyed. That was... hmm. Seven years ago, now." He finished with a slight shrug. "I had no siblings."