Mooncalf

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

It kept raining. Skies that ought to be blue and smiling had drawn in on themselves and kept shedding tormented tears onto the people below. Maea sympathized, but also felt disgruntled every time she looked out the window to the persisting gloom. How do you pick yourself up from ingrained habits when the weather doesn't do anything to help? It was supposed to be different this time. She was different - new, refreshed, reborn - and so the rest of the world should be too. Unreasonable - but hadn't she always been that?

Part of being new, she had decided, must mean shaping new habits. With more determination than true conviction, the diminutive woman bundled herself into a cloak against the elements and left the relative comfort of her shelter for a walk. The door to Amun's pottery groaned as she shoved it close behind her, the timbers swollen with damp and unwieldy; fixing it would have to wait for some other time. Wrapping her arms around herself, Maea set off down the street, lost in thought.

Too many things had changed in the year since she had last roamed these streets. Houses she had known since childhood were gone, others had changed shape or colors, gained and lost stories or grown together with neighbors as families grew and evolved. It struck her that she, for all the changes wrought to her both physical and otherwise, had failed to grow with the world around her. For a long time all she had done was cling to the past, to all the wrongs done to her, to misery and guilt, despair and shame until her eyes grew blind to all else. And while all those things remained, unresolved luggage yet to be sorted through, perhaps the most profound change in her was a renewed... spark? A sense of impatience with her own grief and depression. It was time to move on, do something new.

Or so the newly awakened Ancient told herself. But as she trundled aimlessly past rain-soaked houses, the cloak gradually soaked up damp until cold water permeated her clothes. The spring faded from her steps. Aching feet and burning spine unaccustomed to walking dragged her down. It wasn't uplifting, or refreshing, or even challenging. Just miserable. When a gust of wind dumped all the gathered moisture from a tree onto her, she sought shelter in the roofed arc of a house's entryway, and slouched onto the step with a sigh.

"You have to stop doing this, Mae," she murmured to herself, and let her head fall sideways against the wall. Or intended to - the hollow thunk as a horn catching the plaster echoed unpleasantly between the houses and Maea jerked upright again with a hiss of annoyance before bone could chip or scratch. She couldn't even mope properly anymore!
"What the fuck am I supposed to do, then!?" Asking the empty air, her frustrated demand met only with the rush of wind and water.

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on

set a fire for tomorrow
set it to your woes

Returning from Halo was as easy as breathing in regards to the actual travel with his compass, but the emotions were also light and airy within him. Coming here didn’t hold the same feeling of impending doom as it had before. Having the freedom to traverse the world returned to him was relieving, but his resolve to continue to spread Vi’s light to this broken kingdom was strong.

Bouncing about the Grounds, now, though, was because Noah spent the last few days helping his wife get everything packed up to send them home to Halo on a sky boat. Gathering and bundling his children he had kissed them and his wife good-bye, and left them with a promise that he would return to them before the end of the week. There were still a few loose ends he neede to tie up before he could make the move final, and one of them was preparing the house to sit empty, but not leave it in a state as to draw critter invaders.

Rounding the corner of his street, Noah was a shadow among the wind and water, and he certainly heard her exasperated cry (as well as the way the horn sounded as it slapped against the house and echoed out). ”Do you want some tea?” Noah asked, ”Or coffee?” because what else was there to say when a very sad looking ancient slumped in your entryway? Glacier eyes looked out from his hooded face down to the woman, soaked and wet from the rain just as he.

feel defiance burning through my teeth
it's not enough to drag this blade across the day

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

Looking up when she found herself adressed, Maea stared blankly at the man. Tea had never solved any problems for her, and it seemed a strange thing to offer a complete stranger out of the blue. Then she glanced behind her at the door, realized where she was seated, gears grinding into motion and forming connection between the man and the house and -

She was on her feet in a heartbeat, staggering somewhat with the sudden shift of balance. Color flooded her face and she shook her head quickly, splaying scarred hands wide as if to bat the offer away.
"No! No. My bad. I'll just... go." Pointing awkwardly in one direction while her feet began to walk in another, she really wanted to simply disappear. Sink through the ground, perhaps, or teleport away so that all that remained of her was a faint memory of embarrassment.

But she didn't have that kind of power anymore. Left to rely on her feet alone, she made a move to round the blue eyed giant and slink away into the rain.

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on

set a fire for tomorrow
set it to your woes

Noah's glacier eyes softened as they met Maea's stare, a silent recognition of the emotions playing out in her troubled gaze. Raindrops danced around them, "My wife makes really good tea, mixed with herbs from both the Hollowed Grounds and Halo." Noah acknowledged gently, his voice a calm counterpoint to the stormy atmosphere. He turned his body to follow her as she staggered up, letting his gaze roll over her. She seemed rather troubled.

The scarred hands that waved away the offer hinted at a history etched with its own storms. "You don't have to stay," he said softly, reaching out metaphorically for the umbrella of understanding. "but you can at least take a cup to go." The empathetic undertone in his words conveyed an understanding of her unease, and the deepening etch of his forehead laid the platform of his ignorance to her state. In the midst of the downpour, he stood as a shelter, extending a quiet invitation to weather the storm together, even if for just a moment.

Of all the hardness that the man carried, he couldn't help but wish that this woman with whatever demons and nightmares raged in her, could be at ease before him.

feel defiance burning through my teeth
it's not enough to drag this blade across the day

(If this thread takes place at night...)

Glancing up, something catches your eye. Not the moon, or at least, not that moon. Faintly, just off to the side where the moon hangs bright and clear, seems to be another moon. Or at least, a very large star.

Is it...getting closer?

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

Maea had already weaseled her way out of the doorway and was half a pace from gone as the man kept speaking. Tea, family, homes and character; nuggets of information bombarding her with options to not care, options to shrug and be off. None of her business, nothing to do with her.
Except, the mention of Halo froze her mid stride. For a heartbeat she hesitated, and when she slowly turned back, a wistful look beneath the rainsoaked mop of hair suggested that he had found a soft spot.

"... it's been a lifetime since I had Halo tea," came a hushed admission. Closing her eyes, memories welled up, images aglow with the rosy tint of nostalgia. The frozen landscape, the deep dark and blinding lights of bonfires and snow. They beckoned her like a mirage in the desert.

"But I shouldn't bother you. I should go..." Hiding her hands away beneath the cloak, Maea managed a weak smile, thinking it would convince them both that she really was fine. She didn't know that her eyes betrayed her, or that the lonely curve of her hunched shoulders made her seem even smaller than she already was.

She considered herself done with relying on others. This was no time to start.

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on

set a fire for tomorrow
set it to your woes

"You won't be bothering me. You'll be helping me, with less things for me to take back with me." He offered his own smile, soft blue eyes trying to offer a spark towards the woman. Noah stepped sideways towards his door and grabbed the handle, but he didn't take his eyes off the stranger. "My name is Noah, by the way." He said, turning the handle and letting the door ease open. Inside, his griffin roused. While his unicorn went home with his wife to help carry their luggage, Eira had stayed behind to keep the demigod company.

Noah stepped inside, leaving the door open to see if the woman would follow him or not. If she did, then Noah would leave the door for her to close and begin filling the tea kettle with water from the large basin on the counter beside the fireplace. Should she step inside, she would find a mostly empty home with only furniture left. It wasn't totally empty, but any semblance of a personal touch (a wife's touch) were packed up and gone. They would only be using this house as needed, so it made sense that their belongings went with Cordelia to Halo.

Eira stood and shook out her body, stretching her wings before clicking her beak towards the newcomer. "This is Eira." Noah said and dipped his chin towards her, just as the kettle started to hiss with boiling.

feel defiance burning through my teeth
it's not enough to drag this blade across the day

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

This all had a familiar cadence to it that she knew from before. A sensation of riptides pulling at her feet and the dizzying notion of traveling, though where and how fast was beyond her power to control. The mere act of pausing her stride was enough to suck her into the vortex of this person's flow, and before she knew it Maea was hovering just past his threshold, the door slowly snicking shut behind her.
"Maea." A pause pregnant with hesitation followed, then a wary "Pleasure" followed the host as he made for the kitchen.

The rooms beyond smelled of home. Not hers, obviously, but it was ingrained in the walls; scents of cooking and cleaning, of children and easy laughter. That most of the furnishings were gone did little to erase the comfort of the space, and swallowing against a lump in her throat, Maea tried to recall when she had been to any home. Amun had lived in a pottery workshop, and there had been inns, taverns, damp caves and wilderness, but... nothing like this. She felt out of place in this space, dripping rain and mud onto cleanswept floors. Like some wild thing gone astray.

"You are moving," she noted, redundant in her discomfort. "To... Halo?" Logic suggested it, though she didn't dare to ask why, or whether it was a forever move. That would be nosey.

Companions had always been easier than their bonded. The griffin earned a warm smile as Maea crouched down to balance on the walls of her feet, hands opening for Eira to inspect if she so desired. "Hello you. Sorry for waking you up."

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on

set a fire for tomorrow
set it to your woes

Eira, ever kinder and softer than her bondmate, welcomed herself easily to Maea's outstretched hands. She didn't take time to sniff them before rubbing her face against one, and pressing her side in the other. Noah smirked as he pulled the kettle from the hearth. "She likes to be scratched right under her wing." He said, pouring hot water into each mug and setting the kettle down on a piece of stone.

He moved the mugs to the table, where in the middle of it was a sealed jar with some crystalized sugar. Noah pulled back one of the chairs, angling to towards the fire, and hung his coat on the back of it. "Yes, kind of." He said as he replicated the motion with a second chair, for Maea's cloak. "I'm from Halo. My family and I have been here for two seasons, however. I've been doing some work here." The list included cleaning and updating the barracks, cleaning and restocking the hospital in the Temple, helping build a courier station, and helping to fortify the lands in the wake of this unusual weather. " There are some...developments in the world, though, that my family being in Halo will make me feel more secure."

feel defiance burning through my teeth
it's not enough to drag this blade across the day

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

"Ah, do you now. Well don't mind if I do..." Warmth bloomed in Maea's hands and chest alike as the companion leaned into her. Willingly the Ancient one obliged, offering scratches and admiring whispers for the duration it took for water to boil. With Eira pressed against a knee it was far easier to relocate herself to the table, almost like she already knew this Noah fellow and not so strange at all to join him for tea. With her cloak added to the drying rack of chairs, she could be mistaken for an actual guest, not just random passerby.

There lay a sort of reverence over the young woman as she made a cup for herself. Adding tea leaf and sugar crystals to the mug, she cradled it in one hand, the other scritching Eira - ah, what bliss. So warm. How could she not relax, just a bit? Just a little bit must be fine.
"I see. That must have been difficult. I remember it being hard to leave Halo after spending time there... and for the Grounds of all places?" Maea shook her head, nose wrinkling. Her homeland didn't have many redeeming qualities in her eyes.

"Developments? Of what kind?" Curiosity got her tongue and ranaway with it. Freshly woken, she knew little of what passed in the world. Admittedly she had not done much to educate herself either. Taking a sip of the steaming brew, the heat curled her tongue pleasantly, and a soft sigh issued forth as nostalgia danced across her palate.

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on

set a fire for tomorrow
set it to your woes

Noah lifted his brows towards the woman, but then explained. It seemed that many Grounders, in particular, were leaving themselves in the dark on purpose. He couldn’t blame them, not with having lived beneath the shadow of the dome for so long and for all else they endured. He had no idea that she, unlike those that chose ignorance on purpose, had been stone frozen. ”Over Longnight there were two meteorites that crash landed in King’s End. Ever since, there have been strange and dangerous fauna and flora that have popped up.” Noah started, taking three small crystals of sugar and stirring them in to his mug.

”Whatever is causing it definitely isn’t trying to make it for good.” Noah said, then adding tea to the hot sugar water. Hotaru had noted that there were plenty of dangerous flora and fauna in Caido, but there was something different about these that didn’t point towards Rae — and the unease in his deity was enough to solidify that point for him. ”So I think there is something out there, something we need to prepare for as a world at large.”

Eira crawled in to the chair beside Maea, leaning her head across the gap and resting her beak on the woman’s leg as she continued to welcome the idle scratches.

feel defiance burning through my teeth
it's not enough to drag this blade across the day

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

Sipping her tea, Maea took a moment to process the issue. She caught Noah's look at the question and almost snorted out loud - yeah, she was that behind, so sue her - though she realized how serious he was and cocked her head aside thoughtfully.

"Whose good?" she wondered, playing the devils advocate for a moment. "Once, people here questioned the arrival of outlanders in the same way. They ate our food and broke our rules, forced us to go where we never had before. The barrier was erected for a purpose, and yet... due to the arrival of these foreign entities, it was brought down." Stirring the tea, Maea watched the Halovian under her lashes. Knew that Halo too had felt the touch of outlanders, for good and for bad.

"I wonder... if we had erased the new things as they appeared, perhaps the barrier would still be standing. No war, no blight, no Voice - of course, everything IN here would still be slowly dying, too. For the greater good."

It was hard to keep bitterness away, and equally hard to remain neutral in an issue she knew little about. Of course, she wouldn't be the one deciding anything. But as a born Abandoned, it did rankle that anything different automatically got labeled as bad and problematic just because it wasn't directly benefitting everyone.

Slender shoulders rose and fell, softly shrugging off whatever point she might have been making. Maybe it really was bad this time; she couldn't know.
"Is there something commoners like me should bear in mind? I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to actually help..." Even if she had been so inclined. Which... Truthfully, Maea wasn't sure she was. What did she owe the world? It had rejected her many times already. Abandoned. Ascended... But that certainly wasn't Noah's fault, and she didn't want to take her problems out on him.

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on

set a fire for tomorrow
set it to your woes

Noah wasn’t afraid to be partial. He stood in the strength of his deity and confident in his position. If Maea wanted to be the impartial one and ask the questions, Noah would field them. But he wouldn’t play the other side. He knew what Vi had told him, and he would cling to that.

Even if it was the same confidence and idea that brought down Wessex, Nate, and their goddess.

Noah tilted his head some as he listened to the woman’s questions, any temper at all that would have been stirred by them immediately quelled by the warmth and roses-red hues across his bond with Eira as the griffin purred in the woman’s lap. ”Not our good.” Noah said. ”Seeing first hand what some of the plants could do, there is no good in them.” Maybe some sort of ambition in the heart of their creator, but no good. Not in Noah’s mind, and not in Vi’s. His head tilted the other way and he took a sip of his tea, just now cool enough to his liking. ”I think I would have liked that, once upon a time. It was difficult, letting outlanders in to Halo.” Noah chuckled, for as difficult as it was, his most beloved friends were outlanders.

”I think the best thing for people to do is keep themselves strong, and to lean in to their regions. I am going to try and meet with Danta to see if there is anything we can do to strengthen the Hollowed Grounds.” Even if that meant going to Dygra for it.

feel defiance burning through my teeth
it's not enough to drag this blade across the day

Maea

And it feels like fear
Like I'll disappear

Once upon a time, Maea had been certain, too. Full of confidence in the righteousness of her beliefs, and she had recklessly thrown herself into causes before thinking them through. Back then, she would have argued every point with a passion; but the years had frayed her conviction until she felt nothing but thoughtful consideration at Noah's response. If anything, she admired his calm.

Stroking Eira's head where it rested in her lap, she nodded agreement - even if she found it ironic how easily he said such a thing to one who had lived beneath that same barrier. Would she be alive still, if it hasn't fallen?
"Rather selfishly, I am still grateful to have seen the world beyond. Even if I often don't feel like I belong in it... I wouldn't blame anyone for trying to preserve it." It would be a waste of energy anyway, since she was powerless to either help or hinder. Best just to keep her nose out of it - trouble was the last thing she wanted.
.
"Ah, I see. Well, I saw Danta a few days ago, so he's probably around somewhere." Maybe at his establishment. "It's kind of you to consider the Grounds... It must be difficult to split your attention between two regions this way. Is it not tempting to focus your efforts on your heart home?" Why he would go out of his way was more than she could fathom. Was her heart just that narrow? Was this man one to make mistakes from taking on too much?

Then again, she couldn't think of anyone else that would help. The Hollowed Grounds was a haunted place, too full of bitter memories for most. A place to endure, not thrive in.

Gets so hard to steer
Yet I go on