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RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 01-27-2020
It was perhaps more of an answer than Maea had really asked for, but she was not one to decline ny information, especially not one so willingly offered. Her attention was rapt as it was respectful, realizing these were deeply personal matters indeed... and she was honored to hear of them.
In the end, she shook her head a little, eyes damp from hearing about the loss of a mother - she could relate to it - and of learning such intimate descriptions of Mort.
[say]"I think family is what you make opf it, who you choose, just as much as what you're born into,"[/say] she assured, [say]"and sometimes even more so. I loved my parents and my brother, all of them, but now that they're with Mort, I have to find new connections on my own."[/say]
Pale eyes, almost entirely void of color save the darkness of the pupils, took in the eyebrows Delphia hinted at, and searched her face. Wondering, what other traits were more like Mort's, and which were her mother's. Not that it mattered, but... [say]"What is he like? Your father?"[/say]
A shy question, wistful and longing; perhaps her devotion was more scattered than Circe's, less focused on just one of the three, but there all the same, somewhat stronger in affection than for the others. She'd always been more drawn to the dark and the shade, the night and the end of things than their beginnings and beings.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 01-27-2020
Delphia tilted her head towards Maea as she spoke, noticing the gleam of tears in her eyes. [say]”Why are you sad?”[/say] she asked, unsure what in her story had brought about such emotion. Death held no sadness for Delphia, nor mourning or sense of loss. But as Maea described her own past, her family and future, she smiled again with her eyes lovingly at the pale young woman. [say]”Humans are silly, I think, considering connections old or new, current or broken, depending on which phase of life their companion or loved one is in. They are not new connections, simply more connections, for death does not break that bond. Our souls are evergreen, and so are the strings of love that bind us together.”[/say] she said in a soothing tone. [say]”How miserable Mort’s realm would be were that so. Millions of souls, sobbing discordant. He would be very upset indeed.”[/say] she said with a light laugh.
She hummed low at her question, looking up once again. [say]”Mort is love incarnate. He is warm and compassionate and ever understanding. He is honest as well, aware of and vocal of the faults of the gods where they lay, empathetic to the failures of man. All that Vi creates he holds dear, and wishes us all to live full lives, however long they might be.”[/say] she said, the love she felt for the god clear in her tone. [say]”Of all the gods, I believe he is the one who understands most the depth of feeling humans have. But he also has the most difficult of tasks, the one people spurn the most.”[/say] she sighed and shook her head a bit. [say]”I am biased, I know, but I believe Mort is the one who truly maintains the balance of this world. Vi would never see a life end were it his way. Rae would not care either way, whether anything lived or died. But such ways would wreak havoc upon the land, and so Mort is disciplined in his vigilance over order.”[/say] she said.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 01-28-2020
Humming in thought, she considered this view. It offered a new perspective that was entirely new, and took some thinking to wrap her head around. [say]"But there's still a sense of loss for the living, when what used to be there can no longer be seen, or felt, or heard? I never knew my mother but feel the lack of her still. If someone passes, there is still a mourning, a loss of the life they had... Though it is a comfort to think that nothing ever truly is lost."[/say] Or that anything was ever really completely new. Was it a cycle then? Of all that had been, that was and would be, that ever spun like a wheel? If time was a circle, and not a straight line with a beginning or end...
But intriguing as it was, it also made her balk at the sheer complexity. Not something her mortal mind was fully equipped to understand, even if she did consider it.
[say]"It sounds a challenging task indeed,"[/say] she admitted. [say]"I wish there was anything I could do to... I don't know. Help? Not that they need it, from someone like me. I did ask Ludo if the spark could be removed, but the answer was not good... They seemed to appreciate my willingness to give it up though."[/say] She touched the shawl with a smile, indicating it to be the reason for the gift. Somehow, she thought that if only she could attune, become less removed from the divine... then perhaps she could be of more assistance. However it might be needed.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 01-29-2020
Delphia nodded slowly as Maea spoke. She knew this if course. She was even sympathetic towards it. But it didn't change her view of grief. [say]"Life is hard though, and dying so easy. I cannot help but be filled with joy when one passes from this world to my father's realm."[/say] she said with a slight shrug. Life was as difficult as Vi was stern. Death was as peaceful as Mort was loving. But she had a view of the world Maea did not possess.
Delphia raised a brow at the pale young woman as she turned a warm smile on her. [say]"Though the gods do not bring those with magic into their fold so easily as the Accepted or Attuned, that does not mean they would see you remove a piece of you."[/say] she said, eyes crinkling at the corners as though she might laugh. [say]"That you are sympathetic to those who do Mort's work is gracious of you, and Ludo must recognize this. To wish to help even greater. Sometimes though, the recognition of a tasks difficulty is the best support one can offer."[/say] she said.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 01-29-2020
From any other person that would sound both morbid and a little terrifying. But Delphia radiated such love and warmth when she said it that Maea found herself smiling back, quite hoping she would be able to say the same next time someone passed. That she could share the sentiment, should that time be her own.
"Would they really prefer to see that nature flowered to its full potential, though?" she countered again, smiling at this discussion. Perhaps they had moved a little far away from the topic at hand - chasing off Cat Sith - but Maea didn't mind in the slightest. Talking to Delphia was fun, far easier than she'd feared.
"Either way, being of help to those who need it is what I've always wanted. Not that Ludo actually need me, mind, but I still appreciate the gesture of offering this task. I don't want to let them down."
Dragging her fingers through the white hair, she pushed it away from the face and regarded the demigod with bright curiosity. "Do you usually get requests like these?" she asked, with a rather feline tilt to the head.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 01-31-2020
Delphia was quiet for a time, considering her question. She knew well the reasons why Abandoned were Abandoned. And while it was hard for her to defend when one on one with those like Maea, from a broad sweeping view she understood the logic. [say]"It is not so simple as that."[/say] she said softly, at great length. [say]"It is not that magic at its fullest potential angers the gods, it is what people do with it, how they use it to upset the natural balance. Not everyone would do that, and I believe that is the case for most. It is this goodness Ludo sees in you. Perhaps even, they would not take it, for they see in you the opportunity to redeem your fellow Abandoned in the eyes of the gods."[/say] she said distantly, speaking allowed but her mind seeming far away.
[say]"Humans fail occasionally, and disappointment fleeting. Do not fear mistakes."[/say] she said with a small smile at her, her focus coming back to the present. [say]"Ludo has asked that I care for the Greatwood, so thet can focus on the other places in Caido, as I have been the steward of souls in the wood for the recent years."[/say]
RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 01-31-2020
Did Delphia know how much hope her words instilled in Maea? Just that small, thoughtful suggestion that there might truly be a way to repair the mistakes of the past made her chest squeeze in suffocating relief, all the more precious because of how cautious, how tentative the hope was.
[say]"I hope you are right. If it's so, then I'll do what I can. Even if I stumble along the way."[/say]
If she could change anything at all, even a little... then Maea would do whatever it took. To be the best person she could be, to live up to that suggested hope and expectation. If it meant coming even a little bit closer to the gods she loved so much. To give others that same chance.
[say]"What do you think of the Hollowed Ground, then?"[/say] she asked, curious. [say]"What does it look like, from your perspective?"[/say]
She'd asked the same of another person, at some point, but could not quite recall whom. Jigano, maybe - he was as good a guess as any.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 01-31-2020
Delphia smiled at her, shrugging a bit. [say]"Even if I am wrong, it is a worthy dream to strive for, is it not? Mort would certainly love to hear how you tried to mend the rift the Voice created."[/say] she said. That much she knew would be true. A life dedicated to something so altruistic? What better sort of life was there?
She hummed low, sliding back until she was laying down, arms outstretched to either side, eyes closed. She remained that way for a very long time in silence. [say]"Hollowed Ground is Hollowed no more. It is a scar, twisted by magic and malic and death, kept trapped for centuries without release. It is an unnatural thing that happened here, and it may never fully recover."[/say] she said softly, thinking of the words Frey had said about the monster's of LongNight.
[say]"I am sure near the end, Ludo must have been so very tired. The energy of this place is so draining. I cannot imagine Frey and Safrin were any more at peace here."[/say]
RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 01-31-2020
Maea nodded, her smile wide in the warm shade. It certainly was something to keep in mind when her path grew more difficult to see, and she started to doubt herself. The idea of pleasing Mort even just a little made her want to try harder; to the extent that she began to itch with the urge to do something. Right now.
The description Delphia offered was not unlike what she'd been given before. A dying land, faded and spent, all but lost and sure to perish. But now? The barrier was no more, and those... 'energies' were free to flow again.
[say]"Is there a way to help release those heavy feelings? Make it less draining? Even if it's not the best place, it's still very much my home. I'd hate for everyone to leave and never come back."[/say] Did not want to think that she too might choose to never come down, if she were given the choice of flying away.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 01-31-2020
She was quiet again, her mind once more wandering to the LongNight monsters. [say]"It can never be fully healed. There are things that have changed Mort himself cannot undo. Nor Rae. Nor Vi."[/say] she said softly, a sad sigh escaping her lips, the first hint that she might have the capacity to feel something other than love and adoration. [say]"And that which can would take a long time to heal. A long, long time. If given the choice...I am not sure I would recommend any live here honestly. Not right now."[/say] she said quietly, finally turning to look at Maea with a sad gaze.
[say]"When I left my family's home caravan for the first time, I felt similarly, that nothing else could ever feel like home."[/say] she said quietly. [say]"But I have learned that home is wherever your heart is. Home is with those you love most. It is not the land or the building or the things, but the people."[/say]
RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 01-31-2020
[say]"That is... difficult to hear,"[/say] Maea admitted. Sat quiet, for some time. Mulled it over, turned the concept over and over. [say]"But... I can't say I don't feel it. It's been there, ever since the barrier fell. The urge to move, to leave... doesn't even matter where."[/say]
Dragging a palm over her face, she tried to shift the heavy mood that settled on her. Looked up, to the blue sky and the clear light above. Breathed in the scent of stone and dust, old incense and melted wax candles - scents of the old shrine, still buried.
[say]"Was it wrong?"[/say] came a soft question, once she couldn't help herself anymore. Turning to look at the girl on the floor, Maea asked her what she'd been unable to ask Ludo at the time. [say]"Letting the barrier fall... was it really wrong of us to want out?"[/say] Of me?
The world beyond was so beautiful. So vast. Yet, if the magnetic field had remained... they would not be sitting here now. Would never have met, on this side of death or any other.
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 02-02-2020
Delphia nodded slowly, confirming what Maea said. As hard as it might be to hear that one's home was twisted beyond repair, it was not the worst fate. Caido was large, and there were many other places where people could exist and grow and live in peace, without the threat of spirits and creatures twisted by being left too long to stew amongst the dead; and vice versa. [say]It is natural, an instinct, to sense where places are safe or not. Humans are not as intune with this as other creatures, and so it is not unusual to not understand these impulses. But I always recommending listening to your gut."[/say] she said with a smile. So much of her own time was spent chasing down spirits and ghosts, based solely on a gut-feeling; and usually it led her exactly where she needed to be.
She considered her other question for a time, mulling it over. But like with most things, the answer she landed on had much to do with what her gut told her. [say]"The desire to be free to explore as many paths of life as you can before your time to join Mort arrives?"[/say] she said softly, turning her head to smile at Maea, eyes crinkling at the corners. [say]"I should not think Mort could fault you for such a desire, and neither can I."[/say]
RE: so familiar a gleam - Maea - 02-02-2020
Listen to your gut. Sound advice, and something she would definitely keep in mind. As a consummate overthinker, it was not always easy for her to listen to her instincts, always busy drowning in 'what if' and 'maybe'. No doubt she would need to make decisions based not on logic but on that gut feeling in the future...
And as for the rest? Perhaps Mort might not fault her, fault them all, but... it didn't necessarily make what they did right. [say]"I suppose... that's all we can ask for,"[/say] she said slowly. [say]"Even if it might have been better if we'd all just... endured, without unleashing her."[/say] The her she spoke of should be obvious, considering for what purpose the barrier had been raised in the first place.
Maea sat quiet for a while after that, mulling over the gloomy subject like she so often did. But after a while, the girl reached up to rub her face with pale hands, took a deep breath and turned back to Delphia, with a new smile.
[say]"Sorry, that took a gloomy turn. I did not mean to make this any kind of interview... Truth be told, I was really looking forward to meeting you. Hoped we might get along, beyond the task at hand."[/say]
RE: so familiar a gleam - Delphia - 02-04-2020
[say]"Better for who?"[/say] she asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling again. [say]"For those outside, maybe. But I doubt the gods were truly content, separated from their closest kin as they were. Those inside the barrier were clearly discontent. And enduring is not the same as living, it is simply not dying."[/say] she said with a bit of a shrug. [say]"I wouldn't burden yourself with worry over it. What's done is done and your reasons are more than understandable. Do not fret."[/say] she said kindly.
But her next statement brought a hint of that same, haunted laughter bubbling up. [say]"Is it gloomy? I found it intellectually stimulating."[/say] she assured. Delphia was very difficult to upset and even more rarely did she run out of patience. That Maea had so many questions and worries she had wanted to air did not bother her in the slightest. She was much the same when she managed to speak with her father on the rare occasions she saw him. But she was surprised by her final statement, a brow raised and a smirk daring to glimmer on her lips. [say]"Well I should think of no reason why we would not have gotten along, and it would seem I would have been correct in that assumption."[/say]