"Thanks.." Libbs sighed. "Man, I hope I learn to get as useful as you. I had gone out before, with a friend I made in the Artisan's guild. He's really kind and quiet. Shy. But he knew how to use a sword. Good thing too. We almost needed it. In the end, we were okay, but like.." she paused, standing up and stretching. "I would've felt bad if I couldn't help out." she nodded. "Someone said I should attend one of the Militia marches or something, but I don't know how much I'd pull from that." she paused. "What do you think?" she asked Jigano, looking slightly concerned for a brief moment.
She let the comment go about the fae. Mainly, because she could feel the bit of strain of going too deep into something she wholly didn't understand yet. It was kind of like the electronics in a car. Installing them was easy enough. Configuring them to do things? Ugh. She learned how, but it took a lot of reading. A lot of thinking. A lot of concept organizing. And this felt like one of those theory crafting topics that would have probably given her a migraine without cause. Especially because there was bigger things to learn. Like how to fight.
Libbs nodded though, ready to oblige. "Sure. I can give you a hand. Whaddya plan on teaching, Jigs?" she asked, taking off the hoodie and tying it around her waist, running her hands on her bare arms and prepared to follow along and haul. She may be clutzy. She may be slow. But she had the strength and endurance of an ox.
Someone in the Artisan's guild who was quiet and knew his way around a sword? ..."Deimos?" Jigano asked, trying to fit the word 'shy' into what he knew of the General. Kind? Yes, of course. But shy jarred against the bard's preconceptions of his fellow guildmaster like a bird trying to get through a window - the concept just kept bouncing off, unable to penetrate. "Mm. Well, it wouldn't hurt to try," he offered with a smile. "I recently joined the militia myself. If you decided it's not for you, you don't have to stay, but you might learn something useful if you attend. Deimos is good at matching people to weapons that suit them." From what he'd seen of Libbs so far she was a little clumsy, but at least not lacking in the strength department. Perhaps an axe? A useful tool that could double as a weapon at need?
He grinned at her ready-and-willingness to get a job done, and Isuma peeped gratefully as well as he stood and tied hiw own long sleeves back to bare arms that were leanly muscled beyond his nerdy appearance. "Thanks, we don't have to do it all today, but just getting a start will help. Here, I'll show you where we'll be setting up." He led the way back towards the side of the building that had been repaired a year ago. Once it had been a giant hole in the side of the building and ceiling, collapsed rubble from the wall having shattered the bookcases that had once stood in the area and most of the books destroyed. Now, though, the area was clean - if dusty - and the repairs obvious. Nothing had been done yet to repopulate the space, however, and it lay empty and waiting.
"I was thinking I could do a class on plants and animals of the Hollowed Grounds," he explained while they walked to that side of the large building, Isuma hopping along the tops of bookshelves beside them, leaping from one to the next above their heads. "You're not the only Outlander to come through recently, and a primer on what to watch out for seemed like it would come in handy. It might even help some of the Naturals who don't travel much beyond their farms or shops, who've only heard about some of these things in rumors." He stood surveying the empty area when they reached it. "Let's see... I'll stand in front of the wall there, and we can place the tables and chairs facing it. What do you think?"
"No." she giggled. "To be honest, Deimos scares the hell out of me on most days. I don't know what to make of him. And he's really hard to read. I think I annoy him, but he doesn't really tell me anything, so all I get is this very.. concerned stare all of the time. Like I had committed a crime. It's kind of uncomfortable- really." she sighed a bit. "No, I'm referring to Sascha. He's actually a really cool guy! He makes some really neat stuff, like bowls and art and things."
"That'd.. actually be really useful. Maybe I'll tag along. I accidentally plucked some ivy or something a week ago that.. uh, probably wouldn't have happened if I educated myself a bit first." she commented, as she looked around the room. Her eyes surveyed the walls where the damage had scarred, looking over the repairs like a healing wound. "What happened here?" she asked.
Libbs looked up to him, seeing where he was standing. Yeah, that'd work. You could get a decent vantage point from all points here- and she could still hear him from where she was standing. Perhaps get him a nice little board for him to use as a reference. There we go. "Do ya have a chalkboard Jiggs?" she asked. She then started to lean down towards the ground, reaching into her pockets to pull a bit of chalk that she had been using to mark on items- only now, it was the ground to help plan where furniture would go.
Jigano grinned a little, nodding in agreement that Deimos could be scary. "He's a closed book," he mused, "but he's worth taking the time to get to know. He won't hurt you, but..." Jigano tilted his head, his smile turning wry and self-deprecating. "Yes, I'd say he's concerned about most of us most of the time. There's a kindness in him, though." The name that fell from her lips next had Jigano pausing, shocked until his smile returned, bemused and a little disbelieving. "Sascha? The carpenter? He disappeared... well. Just under a year ago, I think. I haven't seen him in seasons!" Not since before the blight began, as far as he could recall. "What's he doing back? Did he say where he's been?" A conversation probably better held with the carpenter himself, but since Libbs was here and Sascha wasn't, the mechanic got the brunt of his questions.
He chuckled as she tentatively agreed to his class. "You're one of the inspirations for it," he admitted with a wink. "So I'd be honored if you attended. The Atheneum, though..." he trailed off for a moment, looking up at the repaired section as memories returned with surprising strength. He smiled crookedly at Libbs, trying not to get lost in nostalgia for a more innocent time. "Around three hundred years ago there was something... perhaps a shockwave, or something like it, that damaged many of the buildings here and knocked down most of those in the ruins. The Atheneum had this wall caved in. People were too busy recovering their personal homes and lives to get together to rebuild it, I suppose. So last year the Loreseekers called in favors to finally get it fixed. It might not be as pretty as the original construction, but it at least keeps the elements out now." And the LongNight monsters, one hoped.
He watched her get out her chalk, grinning as she began to plan the layout. He was happy to leave her to it as he went to corral the nearest chairs from a reading nook back by the intact line of bookshelves. "No, but that's not a bad idea! Hmm... Or maybe an easel," he muttered thoughtfully. "Drawing on the spot isn't my forte, if Remi were here..." He trailed off, swallowing hard and then shaking his head. "Well, we'll make do as best we can. What were you saying about that ivy you plucked?"
"Pretty sad that it took over 300 years to fix it. Don't get me wrong, this place's huge- but y'know.." she paused for a moment, looking it over. "Where I'm from, we'd sometimes get these catastrophes that would absolutely destroy cities and regions. Things like hurricanes and earthquakes. In those moments, everyone'd come together and fix everything. Even those in other lands." she paused, scratching her head. "But, maybe there's just not enough people in Caido to do that with."
She heeded Jigano's commentary about Deimos. And in kind, gave him knowledge about Sascha. "Well, I can't say for what happened, he didn't tell me anything like that!" she pointed out. "But, he is alive, and well. We made some sun tea for the capturing the sun festivities!" she smiled. "And he sometimes helps me on my projects, and finding stuff. He's really good at that." She paused for a moment. Jigano looked like someone who'd like tea. Huh, she should have probably brought some. Maybe when the next batch is done- she's save some for him.
"Do you know when the class is? Cause I'll totally show up, Jigs." she asked him. "I don't know what a Remi is, but I think I got a large slate of somethin' you could use to draw on." she nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll bring it in a lil' later for you. You could draw in advance!" she smirked. "Or, if you wanna tag along, there's some folks in the Artisan's guild who are really good at that kind of thing. Maybe they can draw what you're lookin' for." she nodded.
With that, Libbs started to move towards the corral of chairs, and she'd just.. pick one up, and pop it down on her little markings. As she did, she would take the tip of her boot, and scuff out the mark, making it as if she had never drawn on the floor to begin with.
He nodded as Libbs explained her world's ways, impressed at how well they had worked together in that distant land. His own had been far less cooperative; nations had to deal with their own problems, by and large, though occasionally enterprising individuals or groups would help with things that threatened them all. The Worldwound, for instance. "Remember that this region was enclosed in a barrier for those three hundred years," he said gently. "No one from elsewhere could come help, and it's probable that many people died when the buildings collapsed. I don't know how many started out in that bubble, but nowadays there are maybe two thousand or so, scattered across the landscape. Getting enough people together to help more than your family and immediate neighbors amidst all that was... well." His expression tightened a little and he shook his hed. "I saw what things were like when I arrived. I don't blame them for focusing on just surviving as best they could." Because in the end, no matter how important the building had become for him, personally... it was still just a building.
Talk of Deimos was welcome, and Sascha even more. He grinned at the mention of sun tea as Isuma stalked a dust bunny across the floor. "I haven't had sun tea since I came to Caido," he mused wistfully. "No, even before that, it had been years. I should try and bake some sun loaves to trade you for some tea," he added with a wink.
The nickname earned a faint wince, though he tried to shrug it off. "In two days, just after sunset. Remi is a... a friend, who was recently... lost." Though the way he said it didn't quite seem to mean dead. "I might be able to make a large slate..." he mused thoughtfully. "I haven't tried. But perhaps I should. Thank you for the offer - and the suggestion!" He grinned, thinking that illusion magic would be perfect for this, but he didn't know anyone who had any strong enough that he could ask. Well. Oia might... he'd seen something going on with the fiery luxere, but he didn't know where to find her so that he could make his request. "Oh? Who belongs to the Artisan's these days - besides you, Deimos, and Sascha, of course," he amended with a lopsided grin for what she'd already told him.
He was glad for the help, and Libbs seemed to have a strong sense of space and an idea for how to set things up, so he was happy to do the heavy lifting and leave the final positioning to her. The only downside was that he started to have to go farther afield for more chairs, which made conversation a little more difficult. Soon, though, he'd need her help to carry some tables over to act as desks for two or three chairs side-by-side.
Libbs fell quiet, looking to the corners of the room, where the repairs were made, lips pursed together. When Jigano explained, it made a lot of sense, it really did. Her heart did have some degree of empathy after all. But on some level, she still felt a level of dissonance regarding the situation. Although she couldn't identify it, it most likely stemmed from her own inner creator, builder, the mechanic that would pride day and night all over her latest project. She would have hate it to see it fall and break. She wondered if the architects may have felt the same.
Either way.
She turned to Jigano, and frowned at his sadness. She scratched her head a bit, as he headed some distance away. She opened her mouth to ask, but thought against it. It was probably too personal, and she worried about offending him. Therefore, she moved on, looking to Jigano and tilted her head. "Eh. That's all I know about, really. I mean- I know some warden out in Halo that I promised to fix some stuff up for.. and I know a romantically cursed bartender with the charismatic finesse of a dying donkey." she commented, referring to Neron and Sunjata respectively. "I have only met the warden once. It.. was an adventure. But he is decent. Though, I think he finds me annoying. The bartender, however- is actually pretty funny! I like walkin' in there and chatting with him." Libbs paused, kneeling on one of the chairs.
She pushed herself off the chair, and started to move towards the other assets that needed to be moved. She looked down at the tables, then back at him. "You got this?" she asked, affirming whether or not he'd be okay. He looked like a tiny guy. And it wouldn't be the first time she hauled stuff around. That was practically her living now-a-days anyways.
The Warden in Halo could only Neron, and Jigano nodded his head in recognition. The 'romantically-cursed bartender' though... Jigano felt his wistful sadness retreat at Libbs's colorful description of the VlamVloed's proprietor. It was hard to remain down with the image she brought to mind of poor Sunjata - and, as an Attuned, having a donkeyshift was entirely possible.
"I think Neron finds almost everyone annoying, in one way or another," Jigano said with a chuckle. "Even his twin brother. How'd you end up meeting him?" How she'd met Sunjata seemed a far more straightforward turn of events; anyone could walk into the bar and order a drink, after all, though she could have run into the Flood any number of other ways, too... he was an active presence in the Hollowed Grounds, far more so than Neron.
"Sunjata is a good man to talk with," Jigano agreed with a flicker of a smile that held something back, a little secret that warned of being too loose with the word 'good' with the devilish rebel. "I keep meaning to get back to the bar more, but time..." he trailed off with a faint grimace, for time was his most valuable commodity, and he never had enough of it. It made Libbs's help with the set up for the class even more welcome, because it meant they'd be done sooner.
He considered the table he'd paused beside. It was a solid hardwood construction; not fancy, but sturdy, heavy, and awkwardly long. It was big enough for several people to sit at - or one person to spread out lots of books on. It wasn't being used at the moment though, and he gave his friend a crooked grin as Isuma hopped up on to the table to look at them both with curious golden eyes, wanting to play this game too!
"I could use a hand," he admitted gratefully, moving to one end to lift it, so he'd be walking backwards once Libbs took the other end. "I don't want to drag it and set up a ruckus if we can just lift it up a few inches and carry it quietly over to your mark."
"I was out foraging for some of the materials needed for the lighters." she nodded, looking at her hands briefly for a moment, before she turned to face him. "I ran into him, and he got curious about what I was making. So I told him, and he tagged along. I promised to bring him a lighter and fix some stuff up in Halo once I got the chance." she asked. To be fair, despite the conversations she had with him, Libbs didn't really understand the depth and ramification of the warden's post, and what it meant. She didn't even see why the interest would be there, to be fair. She genuinely thought he was attempting to be friendly.
"He didn't tell me he had a twin. As for Sunjata.." Libbs paused. "He is a good guy. I have come to that conclusion. I know I rag on him, but he rags on me too. It's kind of like.. a thing we do for fun, if that makes sense. But he always listens, and he always let's me stay around when I'm feeling not too good. I'm grateful for that." she admitted. "I made him a lighter too, but don't tell him." she waved a finger at him. After a moment, Libbs turned to him. "You know, Jigs, if you want, you can always come out to the bar with me. We could have a drink, and have a good time! Then you can catch up with Sunjata, and I can hear all the cool stories you have."
"And if anyone messes with ya, I'll square 'em up."
A geeky smile, she kneeled down, placing her hands underneath the table, and lifted. It was all in the legs after all, and without much difficulty, she started to backpedal, keeping her eyes to the ground as she focused on placing the table right where it needed to be. This was pretty heavy! Her fingers could feel a slight burn from holding it.
"I bet you'll be able to trade those 'lighters' quite briskly in Halo," he encouraged with a smile. They'd be useful anywhere, but the ability to create a spark no matter the weather would be particularly useful in that snow-cursed land. "And his twin brother is Loren Launceleyn. He... used to be quite busy around here, but... he was involved in the tragedy at Fiat Lux. He lost his best friend there, and then recently there was a fire in the Greatwood and his lover died. So he's... taking a bit of time off," the bard explained, trying to be as gently diplomatic as possible.
"Your secret is safe with me," he assured her about Sunjata's gift, offering a wink. "And you can hear my stories whenever and wherever you want! Even here, if you'd like to pass the time. It's the last I can do for your help. What sort of tale would you like to hear?" If nothing else, Caido had given him a plethora to chose from, from adventure to tragedy to romance to comedy.
"You'll be my hero," he assured her with laughter in his eyes and a chirrup of agreement from Isuma as the gryphlet abandoned the table to leap to Libbs's shoulder, balancing with her long fluffy tail as the mechanic picked up her end of the table. Between the two of them they quickly got it moved into place, and Jigano tilted his head thoughtfully. "Maybe... two more tables of around that size? Hopefully we'll get eight or nine people to come, but better too many chairs and tables than too few."
"I know. I plan to bring one to Neron. He looked very excited about them. Perhaps I'll be able to carve my way as a lighter-maker of sorts!" she giggled, before pausing momentarily. "I'll admit, I don't know much about this Fiat Lux thing everyone keeps referring to. All I know is that it scarred people. Bad. You can see it in their eyes when you're talking to them." she commented. "Though, I hope his twin feels better soon. I don't know what I'd do if I'd lost so many important people back to back like that."
In that moment, Libbs nodded. "I might take ya up on that offer." She stretched again. "But first, let's get the rest of the tables moved into place here, that way you have all of the time in the world to tell your stories."
With that, she moved to find the other two chairs. Like before, she'd lift them up, and she'd back pedal the tables back to where they would need to be. It was a small amount of time passed, because after positioning them, Libbs would situate herself at the tables, based on where Jigano was standing to position them a little better. "Y'know, back in my world, I used to read a lot of books. Not with anything useful in them. Just.. stories and stuff. I'd check 'em out from the library. I'll admit, I wasn't very good at some of the super heavy stuff, like Tolkien. Too many big words. But I liked fantasy stuff. And adventures. Actiony things. Some romances too. It was a good thing to do on the bus. I wish I'd remember some of them. I'd tell you those instead!" she smiled.
Afterwords, she would take a seat on one of the tables, leaning her arms back and crossing her legs. "It's up to you though. I know you're a pretty busy dude. Whether it's here or there, I'm down for hearing stories!" she grinned.
"Ah. Fiat Lux is an annual spring festival," Jigano explained as they worked, his own eyes growing a bit more distant with the recent losses. "Before this year it was a time of joy and fun; one of the few times in the year when people could relax and just enjoy themselves without worries or cares. That... changed, this year. There was an unusual kind of mud that appeared this year, 'memory mud', probably as a result of melting memory snow. It was mostly just annoying, or sometimes fun, in small amounts throughout the spring. But somehow a great deal of it came together and created a shambling behemoth. I don't know what drew it towards the festival grounds... perhaps just sheer bad luck," the bard sighed, remembering the terror and the screams around them that day. "Some people tried to stop it - a god, Frey I think, even intervened to cut it down to size - but it wasn't enough. Loren... created a wall of ice to try and divert it." A moment of silence and stillness as he closed his eyes against the brief sight of it - before a flying rock from his own shield had knocked him unconscious. "The mud monster broke through it, sending shard of ice and globs of mud flying to the festival grounds. People were impaled by the ice, crushed and smothered by the mud, trapped under stalls that were knocked over on top of them... A lot of people died. A lot of children died." A lot of the scars were on the inside, from those that had survived.
He was glad enough of the break to move tables and chairs in quiet for a bit, needing it to regain his composure, and more then willing to let Libbs do the talking. A faint smile touched his lips, encouraging through the sadness, at her mention of reading many books just for fun. He didn't know what a 'Tolkien' or a 'bus' was, but her perpetual good mood helped him to work his way past the sadness that Fiat Lux always caused, and eventually he joined her at the table she chose, tilting his head thoughtfully as he tried to decide on a tale to catch her fancy.
"Hmmm. Shall I tell you the tale of how I got the SoulKeeper lantern I received from Ludo?" he asked her with a flicker of a smile in his eyes. It was one of the few stories that wasn't sad that came easily to mind, and there had been enough sadness for one day.
Memory mud? Memory snow?
As the tale started to piece together, Libbs held her pause, handling each menial task in silence as he told her. The thing was; this still didn't dampen her mood. Yes, it was tragic, and she did feel some.. empathy towards the loss, unidentified wholly in it's description, breadth, or what parts of her it encompassed. Almost as if she was seeing the reaction from a third person perspective. And although there was many different contradicting ideas, debating in the depths of her mind, one definitive conclusion came to be.
"Caido's a sad place, isn't it?" she asked him.
In the pause that followed, she sighed. She wished it wasn't- but it seemed to feel true, with each person that she reached out to, that she talked to. And on some level, a part of her wished to change that. On a depth where sadness didn't feel like a normal, day to day occurrence.
Wishful thinking.
However, with a healthy shake of her head: Libbs smiled. "Yes, please tell me! I'd love to hear how you acquired it. What does it do?" she asked him.
Such a simple question that managed to embody so much truth. Jigano smiled at her innocence but nodded slowly, acknowledging what she said and agreeing with it. "Yes," he said quietly. "It is a dangerous, hard, sad place. When you find joy here you learn to hold tight to it, because all too soon... well. Never take moments of happiness for granted. They're worth more than all the gold or riches in the world." He, too, had once thought to make it a better place. So many of them did, when they first arrived. It had taken a goddess's smiting to shove his head out of the clouds and slam him back down into the dirt, and though he struggled to be more, he all too often found himself coming up short.
Still, if he wasn't a hero, at least he was a Loreseeker, a scholar-adventurer, and he would do that to the best of his ability, come hell or high water.
A tale of less tragedy and more adventure, though, even if it lacked in romance, seemed like the right offering for the afternoon. He smiled at her enthusiasm, this time with more warmth, and chuckled as Isuma flopped down between them so they could both reach her for scritches. "It's a lantern that, when combined with a certain, special song, can be used to draw in and protect lost souls. Normally when someone dies their soul goes to Ludo, the masked god, who leads them to Mort and the realm of the dead - a place of joy and rest, where you can be with your family and loved ones who died before you." He raised a cautionary finger. "But sometimes a soul gets lost, or becomes trapped somewhere. Sometimes it ends up some place that Ludo can't follow. So I asked for Ludo to make me something to help collect those lost spirits. That 'something' is the lantern called 'SoulKeeper.'" He winked at his audience, reaching out to work his fingers into Isuma's neck fur until her tail lashed with approval as she tried to arch up into the scritches. "In order to make it, Ludo told me to bring it the scales of a Goldfish, the branch of a Wicker Woman, and the feather of a Spark Bird." He paused for any questions, knowing they'd be coming sooner or later. His eyes were bright as he regarded Libbs, looking forward to what her curiosity would lead her to ask this time.
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