His smile tilted wryly at Harper's proselytizing, not expecting the moral pontificating from a man so recently bleeding out in the woods. "Did your gods have a habit of showing up when you prayed to them?" he asked curiously. "In person, I mean. Popping by the altar for a chat and a consideration of whether they'd give you what you wanted, or what they think you needed, or just to smite you a little for being arrogant in asking their favor?" To be fair Caido had different gods, but as far as religion went? As far as Jigano considered it, there was only one. The were eight gods known, and even if they were absent, or bickered, or fought, well, no one who'd been around for a season or two doubted their existences. People might not like one (or several) of the gods, but there was no question that they were gods.
He chuckled at Harper's teasing as he used some leaves to scrub the blood from his hands. "'Paid' in compliments and vegetables?" he offered back. "Though you'd have to volunteer yourself, I'm afraid. Unless a building is getting moved into, people don't usually bother to repair the unused ones. Too much else to do and not enough time or willing hands, alas." He kept his tone light, but there was simple truth in his words. The Hollowed Grounds were a harsh land that would take years to recover from the barrier's effects.
Mention of the trapeze earned a flash of a grin again as Jigano rested to recover from his use of magic. Like any muscle, he could overdo it if he wasn't careful, and taking a few minutes to recover - and let Harper recover as well - would harm neither of them. "Never had a chance to try trapeze,"he mused. "Circuses were things of stories, mostly. The more civilized lands to the south had them, but my own country was, ah, less appreciative of such luxuries," he admitted with a wry grin. "Entertainers tended to travel in smaller groups or solo, rather than in grand spectacle. Was yours a traveling troupe, or did you have a commission in a city?" Given Harper's physique, he could certainly understand why the other man liked to show off!
"Just the usual weakness of trees," the bard explained on the subject of Wicker Women. "Fire burns them, steel cuts them - but if you're close enough to cut them with an axe, you're close enough for them to try and grab you with a branch. It can be a bit of a dangerous dance, but they don't seem to be particularly smart, just reactive. If you brush against them, they'll curl that limb around you. But you can throw a stick at them and they'll curl around that instead. If you walk close they seem to be able to sense the vibrations in the ground. But they can't see or lay traps, at least not in my experience." Jigano was more than happy to slake curiosity, always glad to meet a fellow scholar of the world with a bright and eager mind that wanted to know more.
He chuckled at Harper's teasing as he used some leaves to scrub the blood from his hands. "'Paid' in compliments and vegetables?" he offered back. "Though you'd have to volunteer yourself, I'm afraid. Unless a building is getting moved into, people don't usually bother to repair the unused ones. Too much else to do and not enough time or willing hands, alas." He kept his tone light, but there was simple truth in his words. The Hollowed Grounds were a harsh land that would take years to recover from the barrier's effects.
Mention of the trapeze earned a flash of a grin again as Jigano rested to recover from his use of magic. Like any muscle, he could overdo it if he wasn't careful, and taking a few minutes to recover - and let Harper recover as well - would harm neither of them. "Never had a chance to try trapeze,"he mused. "Circuses were things of stories, mostly. The more civilized lands to the south had them, but my own country was, ah, less appreciative of such luxuries," he admitted with a wry grin. "Entertainers tended to travel in smaller groups or solo, rather than in grand spectacle. Was yours a traveling troupe, or did you have a commission in a city?" Given Harper's physique, he could certainly understand why the other man liked to show off!
"Just the usual weakness of trees," the bard explained on the subject of Wicker Women. "Fire burns them, steel cuts them - but if you're close enough to cut them with an axe, you're close enough for them to try and grab you with a branch. It can be a bit of a dangerous dance, but they don't seem to be particularly smart, just reactive. If you brush against them, they'll curl that limb around you. But you can throw a stick at them and they'll curl around that instead. If you walk close they seem to be able to sense the vibrations in the ground. But they can't see or lay traps, at least not in my experience." Jigano was more than happy to slake curiosity, always glad to meet a fellow scholar of the world with a bright and eager mind that wanted to know more.
