burrow within

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

Perhaps it was a rare thing for her thoughts to be churning, revolving, without intonations or characteristics of bitterness; but the youth had truly been thinking. There might’ve been some frustration cast into their wares, and simply due to the fact that she’d yet to surmise an easy solution for their dilemma at sea. She’d already heard other stories and tales of encounters and run-ins with the creatures, and twice now had seen it for herself – a menacing foe and adversary within the ocean.

She sought out the shrine, the rock, wading into the undulations of salt and brine with her dress knotted at the end, Fangorn along her shoulder, and the bag of offerings nestled in her grasp. It’d become habitual and routine, for her to wander into its midst, for her hands to grasp hold of the rock and stone, for her to try and find some sense, some way of solving a dilemma with her favored herald’s assistance. It could've been foul luck with arrows or cannons, but the Ark couldn’t manage, maintain, or survive out there in the midst of so many other fathoms, without a semblance of a solution.

So she reached into her satchel, retrieving several Ludo dolls she’d fashioned from the latest event, each with their own distinguishing height and rags, and placed them along the statue’s legs. While the gourd grumbled, the honeybee bowed her head, hastening a whisper on the breeze. “Ludo, I was wondering if you could help me find a way to overcome the ghost whales.” Maybe, maybe not – and while this wasn’t a last resort, it might yield a method they’d yet to attempt.

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Ludo "Have you tried staying out of the water? Or jumping over them? Or playing fetch?" Each of the Ludo dolls offers a suggestion of its own, the raggety god mimicking their voices from behind the statue, where it giggles and snakes its rags around it like a scarf. A porcelain mask peeks around to look at Melita, as the Ludo dolls begin to march jovially up the statue's legs that they might disappear into the void of the real thing's rags. "What do you want to do with them?" it asks. "The ghost whales, I mean. Are you looking to kill them? Deter them? Catch them and ride them?" Clearly she has caught it in an energetic mood, and it will likely continue to offer ever more outlandish suggestions unless Melita steps in and stops it with her actual request.

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

The voices, the flickerings of decibels between the dolls, caught her shaking her head, but never quite muffling her laughter. Oh, they could’ve stayed out of the water, but then there wouldn’t be a point to their sojourns and travels – sailors and smugglers without work. So she giggled, intertwined and entertained amongst the notions, the images of playing fetch or launching over massive whales, any measure of apprehension stifled to nothingness – content and comfortable within the silliness, the movement and motion of rags, of things and notions she’d strived to understand.

As for what the youth wanted to do with the irritating creatures? She’d strived to siege and assault with no such luck, and in all honesty, she wasn’t out along the seas to mutilate and desecrate those who belonged there. Just to give the Ark a chance, an opportunity, to do something other than become their victims time and time again. So it didn’t take long for her brow to unfurrow in thought, lifting her head back up to address the herald. “Deter them.” Though the notion of catching and subsequently riding them made her eyes widen (because she hadn’t thought of that, and despite the deadly, treacherous danger and likelihood of anyone attempting it posturing to a certain death, the suggestion still had an air of enticement). More inquiries, more questions, more possibilities ran rampant instead, the blossom of a grin angling along her mouth. “Would there be a way to shield the Ark from them?” So they weren’t known, seen, heard, or noticed?

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Ludo "Hmmmmm," says Ludo, and a tendril of ragged cloth comes up to tap at its porcelain mask, as if it's thinking. "Not to shield, really. But... perhaps... yes." It floats up into the air, rags clapping together, no dolls to be seen. Swooping down until it's nose to nose with Melita, it nods enthusiastically. "You you know what ghost whales are afraid of?" it asks, before its voice lowers to a secretive whisper. "Bigger ghost whales." Bobbing back again, its mask lights up into a grin. "If you go out there and kill a ghost whale, bring me a bone back. The biggest bone you can find! I will make you a deterrent." Melita has received a quest from Ludo! - Run a PQ scavenging for a ghost whale bone along the beach - Complete a thread washing the bone in the Miana Pool for luck - Complete a thread leaving the bone overnight at one of Ludo’s shrines (do not post in the Shrine sub board)

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

She watched, incapable of speculating beyond these ventures and points; any guess would’ve sent her spiraling in another direction. Nose to nose, her eyes widened, listening like some rapt, riveted child, and perhaps that was what she was – instantly beleaguered by actions, by motions, that might be too much for her. For all her audacity and brazenness, for all the emboldened designs and defiant splendor rankling down her spine, the youth had managed. Had survived.

This time she might’ve bitten off more than she could chew, and the world was going to make her choke on it.

Her gaze remained in its shocked position as the words ricocheted back and forth in her mind. The syllables and phrases had to immerse themselves several times through the thickened skull before finally making sense to her - kill a ghost whale. When they hadn’t ever mustered a hit on one.

Really, the opposite of what she’d been aiming for.

And what else did she have? Probably other options. Would she think of them in these moments? No. The ambitions for the Ark outweighed anything else in her mind, save for the dread, the apprehension. “Okay,” she swallowed down, a firm nod that she didn’t feel in the rest of her body.

Wasn’t this how Maea died?

“I’ll try. Thank you.” On shakier limbs she waved, striving not to admit the terror, the fear, building in her soul, wandering back towards the shoreline, attempting to puzzle out the next round of antics and stupidity.

{FIN}

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me