It had escalated quickly, but just as quickly subsided as Oliver's apology soothed the bard's ruffled feathers. "Thank you for the apology," he said, a little gruff but also sincere. "It is appreciated and accepted." And with that, hopefully, moved past to more productive things. The warning system and stalking goat idea were better received, and Jigano pondered Oliver's suggestion for a moment before shaking his head regretfully. "There's more than one, I think. They only eat once a year, but we've had several rise in any given year, and they seem to treat the entire Outskirts as their hunting grounds, though especially the fields. But that's a lot of area to cover. Still, if there was a way to get an arrowhead or something embedded in one... a magical alarm tied into a stone arrow point, for instance, that had a counterpart up here that someone kept nearby and that would glow or make noise when the shark was active... at least we'd know to be on the lookout." The idea came from the warning system that Sam and Remi had once shared, though it would first require being in the right place and time to shoot a risen Landshark without getting eaten themselves, and as rarely as the sharks surfaced that was indeed a daunting prospect.
He listened to the younger man reveal more memories, simply nodding acceptance that an orphanage didn't feel right. Oliver would know what was right or not in his own memories better than Jigano ever could, so he trusted the clues that the blond had uncovered and focused on trying to make the puzzle pieces fit. "A door you could only enter when you reached a certain age?" he guessed from the context. "Perhaps a place with delicate or dangerous instruments that couldn't be trusted with younger children? Some sort of boarding school, perhaps?" He paused, feeling as though he was missing something important. "Do you remember how many children were with you, that you took care of?" Were there few enough to all be related? Or so many that it was more like a boarding house or school?
They paused by the dried-up old fountain and Jigano's quirked a wry grin at Oliver's curiosity. "Back there a ways, where the homes were? You can go check them out if you like! I've found things in the basements before... though that's where you also tend to find Stone Golems, hiding away from the light." He padded over to one of the empty warehouse plots, beginning to pace out the perimeter, sharp eyes noting how the grass grew and where the stones had tumbled. "I'm hoping we might find a cellar underneath one of these old places. This is where items would have been stored in bulk... especially useful things, like iron or coal or fabric, and wouldn't have owners to mind if we bring it back to the Settlement to share out. With the houses you tend to find smaller, more personal things, but it can feel more like looting the memories of the dead when you take from them... well. For some people it does, at least." He shrugged, a little uncomfortably. He could see both sides of the argument for and against pillaging those places, and he wasn't so saintly that he wasn't tempted by it, but today, at least, he had more benign intentions.
He listened to the younger man reveal more memories, simply nodding acceptance that an orphanage didn't feel right. Oliver would know what was right or not in his own memories better than Jigano ever could, so he trusted the clues that the blond had uncovered and focused on trying to make the puzzle pieces fit. "A door you could only enter when you reached a certain age?" he guessed from the context. "Perhaps a place with delicate or dangerous instruments that couldn't be trusted with younger children? Some sort of boarding school, perhaps?" He paused, feeling as though he was missing something important. "Do you remember how many children were with you, that you took care of?" Were there few enough to all be related? Or so many that it was more like a boarding house or school?
They paused by the dried-up old fountain and Jigano's quirked a wry grin at Oliver's curiosity. "Back there a ways, where the homes were? You can go check them out if you like! I've found things in the basements before... though that's where you also tend to find Stone Golems, hiding away from the light." He padded over to one of the empty warehouse plots, beginning to pace out the perimeter, sharp eyes noting how the grass grew and where the stones had tumbled. "I'm hoping we might find a cellar underneath one of these old places. This is where items would have been stored in bulk... especially useful things, like iron or coal or fabric, and wouldn't have owners to mind if we bring it back to the Settlement to share out. With the houses you tend to find smaller, more personal things, but it can feel more like looting the memories of the dead when you take from them... well. For some people it does, at least." He shrugged, a little uncomfortably. He could see both sides of the argument for and against pillaging those places, and he wasn't so saintly that he wasn't tempted by it, but today, at least, he had more benign intentions.
