He hadn't been expecting an answer this time - and, in his heart, had been hoping for no more than the lovely acknowledgment he'd received before. A sense of Yes, we're listening, without any promise to actually act on it. Sometimes it just felt good to put a little kindness out into the universe, a wish for others to be healthy and happy for a little span of time.
It was strange, really. In his youth he had been devoted to no single deity but Knowledge itself. In his adventures, growing from naive scholar to hardened lorekeeper, he had found a god he believed in, but to say he worshipped her? After all they had been through together? No... and she had not spoken to him in the last three years.
So to have something - someone? - appear before him on the altar's steps was a surprise. Her appearance matched no one he knew, though the mask... Remi had mentioned a mask, on a god of rags and power and an unfortunate penchant for tricking the boy into dangerous situations. But this was a girl, lovely and blonde and with her face bared. Ludo, then? Or... someone else?
Jigano took a slow breath, folding his hands very carefully over the strings of the harp though he didn't let weight rest on them. The instrument was a touchstone for his courage as he stayed seated, watching the spirit - god? demon? something else? - play with the candle.
"Hope," he said quietly. "And good luck, for my friends in this dark season. That the gods of this world look gently on them." He raised a brow - old habit, that irreverence - as he found a smile for the young-woman-who-was-more. "Would you like me to play another song for you? And perhaps you might grant me a name to call you by?"
It was strange, really. In his youth he had been devoted to no single deity but Knowledge itself. In his adventures, growing from naive scholar to hardened lorekeeper, he had found a god he believed in, but to say he worshipped her? After all they had been through together? No... and she had not spoken to him in the last three years.
So to have something - someone? - appear before him on the altar's steps was a surprise. Her appearance matched no one he knew, though the mask... Remi had mentioned a mask, on a god of rags and power and an unfortunate penchant for tricking the boy into dangerous situations. But this was a girl, lovely and blonde and with her face bared. Ludo, then? Or... someone else?
Jigano took a slow breath, folding his hands very carefully over the strings of the harp though he didn't let weight rest on them. The instrument was a touchstone for his courage as he stayed seated, watching the spirit - god? demon? something else? - play with the candle.
"Hope," he said quietly. "And good luck, for my friends in this dark season. That the gods of this world look gently on them." He raised a brow - old habit, that irreverence - as he found a smile for the young-woman-who-was-more. "Would you like me to play another song for you? And perhaps you might grant me a name to call you by?"
