I can only bear the scars
Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
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#1
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
She did sleep, though fitfully, and for little more than a few hours. When she wakes a few hours later, she feels almost worse than she did before, but at least her head is slightly clearer. She takes some time to clean herself; a bath, new clothes, a freaking hairbrush. Though there are dark circles under her eyes, when she leaves her house to make her way back to the Kraai, she looks like the woman she needs to be. Strong and fierce, her black cloak on over clean clothes, her scythe on her back and her knives glittering along her waist. She’d kept Loren’s unicorn horn as well, just in case it could be of some use.

Weaver makes her way into the Kraai, checking on the kitchens to make sure they had enough food to feed the people as they woke. She takes a few minutes to send some of her staff home, as many of them had not slept at all, making sure there are others to take their place. Despite everything that happens, it warms her heart to see Halo come together.

With the help of a few nearby, reasonably rested people, Weaver has a table and some chairs moved into the cellar. There’s not much room down there with all the barrels of cider, the bottles of liquor and wine, but they move things around until there’s at least a place for Weaver to conduct business till the Palace can be built. She’d rather just operate out the Kraai, but that was probably unrealistic. With that done, she sets to work on whatever needs doing, waiting till Morgan has a chance to come.
WEAVER
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
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#2
MORGAN
It seemed bizarre that not that long after the violence and destruction of the Palace that Morgan was now heading for a bureaucratic meeting with Weaver...but life had not been normal for some time now, and she was becoming acclimatised to it, the constant way things changed and moved. At least this was a victory of sorts, even if it felt hollow.

Arriving at the Kraai she headed down to the cellar where she had been told her new Warden was. Tired herself, barely having had an hours sleep and emotionally drained from the loss of her guards, Morgan looked dreadful, hair a mess around her head and armour lopsided and dirty. If any of the staff at the Kraai thought anything of it, no one dared to say anything, probably because of the fierce fire in her eyes.

Entering the cellar she walked before Weaver's desk and nodded, looking over the little improvised set up. "...Warden."
There will come a time, you'll see
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Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 4 - Strg: 10 - Dext: 13 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 22 - Int:
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#3
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
It’s not long before Morgan arrives, and Weaver gives her a nod. ”Gods, that’s weird to hear,” she says as Morgan addresses her as Warden. Despite the early hour, there’s whiskey on the desk, a small bit in Weaver’s glass. Not enough to do anything besides burn, but it was about all she could feel lately, and she just needed to be reminded she was alive.

Weaver grabs another glass, sliding it toward Morgan and nodding to a chair. She holds the bottle of whiskey, an unspoken offer if Morgan would like something to take the edge off. Weaver will pour if the Captain wants some, or will sit the bottle back down if not. ”Thank you for coming. I am sorry about your guards. If there is anything you need for their funeral, please don’t hesitate to ask.” It feels so weird to sit here as Warden, to be able to offer such a thing, and yet she is glad she can offer something for those that had given their lives to save so many others. Even if it is only a tiny thing.

She pauses for a moment, letting Morgan settle in. ”I know there’s a million things to be doing, but I did want to talk for a moment. You’ve been by Neron’s side for a while, so please, is there anything I need to know that I might not?” Though there was so much to clean up, the truth was, she doesn’t know what’s been going on in the walls of the Palace, and before she can do anything, she needs to be informed.
WEAVER
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#4
MORGAN
A distracted half-smile reached Morgan's lips; she supposed it would be odd to suddenly hear yourself addressed as Warden. It was a position she had nearly been in herself, and she knew she'd have found it uncomfortable too.

When the drink was offered she hesitated. She did not like to dull her mind and senses often, only drank with a meal when it was socially appropriate...but right now, something in her was feeling rather 'fuck it'. She nodded, and when the whiskey was poured she took the glass and downed it, knocking her head back and putting the glass down with a definite bang on the desk. The burn was pleasingly bright in her throat, if nothing else.

Anything Weaver needed to know? Oh, there was a lot. Leaning forward, elbows resting on her thighs and hands clasped together, Morgan nodded. "I'm sure you know Neron is an Ascended. ...I must let you know I was planning a coup of sorts after the Deepfrost to dethrone Neron anyway: this was simply...fortuitous. After that, I was planning to work to push the Ascended from our lands. I believe they are a threat to our Citadel."
There will come a time, you'll see
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 4 - Strg: 10 - Dext: 13 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 22 - Int:
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#5
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
Morgan takes the drink. Weaver understands that burn of whiskey, how it brings something back to you. There is little else she can offer, because nothing will make it better. Nothing will undo what has already been done. They cannot bring back the dead. They can rebuild, but they cannot remove the memories of this night. She will never forget the faces of the dead and dying, the screams of children and cultists alike. She will never forget that burning the cultists alive had been easy, that she felt no remorse. Her brother had been more right than he realized, when he’d started calling her The Scythe.

Weaver leans back, kicking her boots onto the table, listening as Morgan talks. She does not react to the news Morgan shares, though it is news, for Weaver hadn’t been quite privy to the level of distrust Morgan holds for the Ascended. Add that to the list of things to consider. Weaver only nods at the mention of Neron being Ascended. He’d told her as much when they first met, and perhaps she ought to have thought more about the implications of it at the time, though she had not. Well, she is considering now. ”Is there a reason that you believe they are a threat to the Citadel in particular? I admit I am not inclined to bring the wrath of the Ascended community down on Halo without good reason.” But, she is willing to listen if there is a reason.
WEAVER
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#6
MORGAN
While Weaver apparently wasn't convinced of the threat the Ascended posed, she was at least willing to listen; Morgan nodded and settled back in her chair, ready to present all that she had discovered in the last months.

"At first, I was willing to wait and see what these Ascended were like. After all, our world has undergone a lot of change very quickly...I have accepted that the Outlanders are as good or bad as any Natural." She shrugged her shoulders: she still felt Naturals were better suited to ruling due to their presumably more in-depth knowledge of the land, but Outlanders were not inherently any worse than Naturals for all other walks of life.

Morgan took a breath and shook her head, looked off to the side. "It was when I met one of the Ascended that I first became concerned. Wessex, her name was: she seemed completely, fanatically devoted to The Voice, even when this Goddess strips from her followers their pain, their sensations, the need to eat and drink: she makes them..no longer human. I saw the same fanaticism in Neron. It's like once they're in her grasp they become something else, something only devoted to her." This had clearly unnerved her. Morgan rarely spoke in tones less than completely confident but now she sounded wary, almost scared.

"Already I was worried about this devotion to a Goddess we could not know the motives of, but then it grew considerably more concerning. I met people from the Hollowed Grounds, where the Ascended have been active for some time. They told me of the Blight, a disease the Ascended caused that ravaged the land and which they do not seem to be particularly apologetic of." Morgan had not heard all the details of this event, but from what she knew many had been seriously ill and there had not been only a few deaths. She would not have the same happen to the Citadel.

"Then I learnt that they have made a shrine in our mountains." Her teeth gritted together. The mountains and tundra had always been her sanctuary; the thought of the Ascended coming to claim it as their own sickened her. "With their promise of power and resistance to the cold...I worry they will be very well set to stage a slow takeover of our people if we let the situation go unchecked."

So, now to the action she was planning to take: Morgan met Weaver's eyes evenly, wanting this to be very clear. "I am planning to destroy this shrine at the beginning of Flowerbirth. I have the backing of a general from the Hollowed Grounds as well as that of a well respected woman in the council there. I know there are people in this Citadel that will assist too. ...Would you stop me?"
There will come a time, you'll see
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Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 4 - Strg: 10 - Dext: 13 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 22 - Int:
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#7
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
Weaver doesn’t interrupt, letting Morgan tell her everything she has learned. A slightly different take on Wessex than Weaver has, but not vastly so. It is clear enough that Wessex was made a demi-god for a reason, and she’d found that Sam was rather devoted to his ‘Lady’ as well was being the key word. She has heard of the blight too, though her understanding was that The Voice had been the direct cause, though that didn’t leave her children guiltless. She knows too of the shrine, though has never particularly cared. Still, she does listen, and she doesn’t simply dismiss Morgan.

At the question, she meets Morgan’s gaze just as evenly. ”No, though I am going to ask you to wait. I would like to challenge you to dig deeper before making any decisions. This is not a war on a battlefield. This is a game of chess, and stakes are the people of Halo.” She pauses on those words, making it perfectly clear what she thinks of that. They cannot act rashly.

”I am friendly enough with Wessex, and I do not get the impression that takeover is what the Ascended truly want. Not specific to any one land, anyway. I think the threat is larger, and not solved by bringing down one shrine that they will simply rebuild and retaliate against us for. I believe The Voice likely wants to replace our Old Gods, and perhaps turn all of us into her followers as well. I have no particular issue with them becoming non-human. That is their choice. I do take issue should that choice be forced on me.” After all, she really likes sex and booze. She likes to bleed and feel the pain of those wounds.

She shifts in her seat, reaching for her glass of whiskey to take another sip. ”From what I have heard, the Blight was caused by The Voice herself. What I am not sure of is whether or not she started it because the Fae resisted her or simply because she could. Regardless, to show aggression to her by destroying her shrine is to ask for her to do the same, or worse, to Halo. And what have we gained in all that? Nothing but more pain, which we cannot afford.” They have no guard but untrained hunters right now. They have no gate, no real fortifications.

”So this is what I would ask of you. Wait. Learn all that you can. If you have not spoken to him, Jigano from the Hallowed Grounds is a good place to start. Do not continue to tell people what you plan to do, or even how you feel about the Ascended. At least, not too much. Find out if destroying a shrine is really going to do any good at all, or if there is something bigger here that we need to consider, with the help of others. Once you have done that, bring what you learn to a cabinet meeting and we will discuss. If we do choose to destroy the shrine, I would prefer we make it look like an accident, which should be easy enough. What I suspect is that we need to think a little larger, and prepare ourselves for a potential war. Is that an agreeable plan?” If not, and Morgan chooses to ignore her, there would be yet more people to consider exiling. Weaver would really rather not.

”Besides, I have recently learned that we know the location where the cultists found mage glass. A wall of it, apparently. I would like to bring you and Loren, and likely one other, into The Fangs to investigate. I believe this is a more important task, as we do not need so much mage glass falling into the wrong hands.” Those hands might include the Ascended’s, though without Neron or Zariah, they may need Wessex more than Morgan will like. Perhaps Jigano wants to go on another adventure.
WEAVER
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#8
MORGAN
If Weaver was expecting Morgan to storm out at the slightest hindrance, she would be very surprised. Morgan was in fact thrilled, happy to find that someone was finally taking her seriously, even if Weaver did want to take a different approach. At least she saw the possibility of the slow takeover Morgan feared, the replacement of their bodies with the Voice's machines over time.

"I can try to discover more. I have already spoken to Jigano, though..." She hummed and shrugged. "He did not tell me anything too new about The Voice herself, just some worrying facts about the abilities of this Wessex. We stopped talking when he tried to ask about our battle plans...I would not share that with an outsider." What Jigano had said about the Demi-God womans abilities had been particularly concerning and Morgan did not really have an answer to it yet. It was unlikely she would be able to face her and she struggled to think of any others she had full confidence could either.

While Morgan had always been a supporter of taking time and planning, that was what had lead to her 'following' Neron when she had so openly hated him for too long. "...I would however, take some small action now. Ask for the Ascended to make themselves known to us when they enter the Citadel. We need to keep track of how many enter...and if there are any more by the time they leave."
There will come a time, you'll see
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Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 4 - Strg: 10 - Dext: 13 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 22 - Int:
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#9
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
Weaver doesn’t know what to expect, but she knows what she hopes. She hopes to find a Captain that will put the safety of Halo first. She hopes to find a reasonable woman who can see the value in gathering information, in planning, and in strategizing. Weaver has certainly never fought a war, but she knows they are not won simply by brute force. They are won by outmanoeuvring your opponent. So then the question is really, are they capable of outmanoeuvring? She can be a crafty and clever thing, but on this scale? It is a daunting task, and one she does not know if she can live up to.

Thankfully, Morgan does not disappoint her. ”I have sparred with Wessex once, so I am not unfamiliar with what she can do. Or at least, some of it. Some sort of disorienting energy pulse, which is probably stronger had I been closer at the time. The ability to mimic our magic. Teleportation. The obvious perks of being Ascended.” Speed, agility and the like. ”Are there other things I do not know about?” She only nods as Morgan says she did not share her battle plans with Jigano, a silent ‘good’. Though she knows Loren and Jigano are friends, and though she suspects the Sage would be on their side, she does not want to give away all their secrets.

Morgan continues with a more reasonable ask. ”I’d like the entire cabinet to meet, and for you to make your case. So long as they do not have a good reason for us not to do so, I have no issues with that. Come Flowerbirth, once we are able to rebuild the gate, I will leave it to you to set up a system for tracking the Ascended in our Citadel. Can I also leave the rebuilding of the gate to you?” Who better to rebuild their fortifications than the one sworn to protect them, after all.
WEAVER
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#10
MORGAN
Morgan nodded along to the abilities that Weaver mention, a quiet sigh leaving her at the reminder of just how formidable their opponent was: if Wessex was just one of the Ascended, did that mean there were others as strong as her? They could hardly take on one person with so many powers, never mind an army of them. "Not that I specifically remember. It would be good to start a file of all the Ascended abilities we hear of. Of course, since they can take abilities from other races.." She trailed off, shaking her head. The possibilities were unfortunately endless.

"Yes. I have an idea to make it more fortified." Morgan agreed, eager to prove herself able to save their Citadel. "A double gate would be a better system. While we have the chance to rebuild, we should try to build better."

With that business done, there was a moment of quiet, where Morgan considered leaving, stared at her feet...and found herself speaking before she had the chance to fully think it through. "...This still feels like a dream. I suppose you did not expect to be Warden now when you woke up yesterday."
There will come a time, you'll see
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 4 - Strg: 10 - Dext: 13 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 22 - Int:
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#11
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
Weaver nods. ”I suspect they have a rather limitless amount of surprises.” The Voice simply created, after all, so she could create things they would never even dream of. ”We may have to try to be a little more clever here. I suspect we don’t stand a chance if we think we can overpower them. Though we still have numbers on our side.” She’s simply musing aloud right now, not really sure what they would need to do about this. For now, it was just more into the list of things to worry about.

”I agree. The gate is yours to attend to.” She nods, content to leave the fortifications to Morgan. She does not doubt that the Captain will handle this task well.

At the next comment, Weaver can’t help but chuckle. ”It does not feel free at all. I keep expecting to wake up and find it all a nightmare, and I admit, I would not be sorry if that happened.” She sighs slightly, looking at Morgan with resolve. ”But I will do what I can for the Citadel, and should I ever fail Morgan, you have my full permission to kick me out.” She gives the Captain a rueful smile, but she means it too. ”If there’s nothing else I need to know right now, I will let you go attend to your duties.”
WEAVER
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#12
MORGAN
"An enemy we cannot predict..." Morgan shook her head, sighing; it certainly felt like they were defeated already, but she couldn't let herself think like that. "I know they are weak to fire and sunlight. That might be the key here." They'd likely need the Gods help to use those things on a big enough scale though, which made her want to groan internally. Perhaps it was best she was not the one to ask.

The gate would be completed as soon as the weather was warm enough to expect workers to manage it; for the moment Morgan would put the few guards she had left in groups around the entrance.

"Do not worry. After Neron, I have new resolve to end leaders before they become too much trouble." Morgan reassured Weaver in her usual deadpan tone, though there was something of an amused spark in her eyes, a hint she might be teasing Weaver. Only a hint, though. At the dismissal she nodded and stood. "I think...I should..sleep, first. I have not rested since the attack came."
There will come a time, you'll see
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
Weaver Hale
the Scythe
Warden of the Citadel

Age: 33 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 4 - Strg: 10 - Dext: 13 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 22 - Int:
Played by: Kyra Offline
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Posts: 903 | Total: 918
MP: 0
#13
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
Weaver nods at the mention of sunlight and fire. ”Weak, but capable of surviving it.” Still, she lets fire burst to fire in her hand with a grin. ”We do have a magic school though. Maybe there are books that could teach us how to expand our own skills. Or a god willing to provide some sort of protection.” She could talk to Ludo when she returned to the shrine, and see if there was something to learn.

The fire goes out and she drops her hand. ”Good,” she says simply, content to let Morgan stop her should she fail and be too stupid to stop herself. Though she’d like to think she would give up the position if she truly cannot do this. Hopefully it would not come to that. ”Get some rest. We will need it in the days to come.” She gives Morgan a nod in farewell, letting the Captain go on her way.

(finished)
WEAVER


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