[PQ] Ashes and dust

Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck

She had really only popped into the old Loreseeker headquarters to look for pen and paper. Maea's head was spinning with the amount of information she had absorbed over the past season, and before it faded she wanted to write it down. Maybe dig up some of Jigano's old research papers, too, and refresh herself on how proper experiments were performed.

But instead of a neat desk and clean book stacks, she found that the office once again had fallen into disrepair. The old common room was dusty and left just like it was after her latest attempt to set it right, and someone had cleared out most of the literature from the shelves. What remained was only dust and cobwebs, and the chewed up remnants of anything that hadn't been deemed worth salvaging.  

Maea wasn't one for cursing, normally, but seeing what had become of her old guild was beyond painful. A string of foul language punctuated her path as she strode through the rooms - the sitting area by the fireplace, the archive, and the office - and she decided right then and there that this was the last drop.

If no one else was going to use and care for this space, she would do it herself.

---

This is a PQ to clean up the old Loreseeker Guild rooms and establish them as a base of operation for Maea's proffession checkmark. (Loreseeker)

Open, no post order. Please describe your character arriving.

1. Kiada
2. Talyson

Maea

your battle worn tongue doesn't say the truth anymore;
/// that you are ruined ///

If she’s being completely honest, Kiada very rarely frequents any place that harbored books or information, unless she was searching about a creature (like when she’d ran the Monster Hunter’s Guild back in the day). These days, however, she finds her time spent elsewhere – taunting Dantalion or doting on Fox, with hardly much left in between.

Today, however, strolling through the inner quarter, wearing something tight that accentuates her curves, Kiada spots a pale figure step into a building and has a moment of reflection to realize it could either be a ghost she’s seeing or Maea, whom Kiada hadn’t seen in gods what felt like forever. (She doesn’t yet realize that they’d hunted not that long ago together).

So, figuring that paperwork could wait a bit longer, Kiada approaches the outside of the establishment, peering in through the dust to after hearing Maea’s rampage through the rooms and the curses that leave her tongue. She gets an idea of what exactly is going on before she steps into the threshold, the light behind her casting a shadow as she tilts her head (horned much like a ram’s, where ruby veins spiral through the black material), her tail idly waving behind her. “Need some help?” She calls into the room, remaining at the threshold just in case.

kiada

and you wonder why he lets you, the butcher ///
touch him, the sun ///

Well, it wasn't the answer he'd wanted, and he wasn't keen on the quest he'd been given, but Tal had a sinking suspicion that Nature Frey would never answer him again if he didn't do his best for the deity's other self. So after his ill-conceived prayer in the Celestine he'd headed back to the Hollowed Grounds to do some asking around.

And though he maybe should have sought out Danta first, Maea was a lot easier to talk to. He figured she might have some insight into her fellow Grounders that could be of use, so he headed to the Atheneum, hoping he could get directions to her house from one of the librarians there.

Instead they'd send him downstairs - and he'd swallowed hard and squared his shoulders before descending once more into the small, spiraling stairway leading into the earth. His fingers tapped a syncopated rhythm against his thigh as he followed the twisting descent he'd been sent down to a door that was, at the moment, filled with another Ancient he didn't recognize. He cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to peer around the strange horned lady to see inside the rooms beyond. "Uh... s'cuse me. Is Maea in?"

Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck

Turning at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Maea found that it belonged to a woman who looked vaguely familiar. And before the could answer the question, Talyson's unmistakeable voice sounded behind the woman.

"Yes please! If you have the time. Tal, I'm in here - would you mind lending a hand too?" Gesturing to the rooms, there was frustration in her motions but also determination. "I would like to clean this place up so it can be used as an office again. With three of us it should be quick work. There is a broom cupboard just outside the door there - if you could fetch some brooms and a mop, we can start with the floors."

A grateful smile flashed their way; this space meant a lot to Maea, and she knew it would be easier to get the job done with more hands.

"Perhaps introductions would be nice too - my name is Maea."

---

Round 1.

There are two brooms and one mop, and three rooms; the Common Room, the Archive and the Study. Pick a tool and a room to begin cleaning the floors! Maea will pick what's left.

Maea

"Uh... sure?" Tal wasn't the most well-mannered person on the planet, but he wasn't going to turn down a request for help from a... was Maea a friend now? He wasn't real clear on how that worked, but she was close enough that he wasn't going to just walk away. Besides, he needed her help, too, and it might take him a little while to figure out how to frame his own question. "Cleanin's easier'n buildin' shelves, at least."

Conveniently, he didn't actually need to try and push past the lady lingering in the door since the broom closet was beside him on the outside. He opened it up and grabbed a broom, and only after Maea made her introduction did he realize he should probably do the same. "Um. Talyson Seawright, courier," he mumbled to Kiada, shuffling out of the way so she could pick her weapon of choice.

He peered back into the old guildhall and started heading towards the Study. "So, uh... d'you both live in the Grounds?" he asked the two Ancient ladies hopefully.

---

Tal grabs a broom and begins sweeping the Study!

your battle worn tongue doesn't say the truth anymore;
/// that you are ruined ///

A shuffling of sound from behind her captures the harpy’s attention rather quickly, shifting to take up a bit less space, her tail curling around her leg to try and keep her as small as possible so that Tal can get a look around her. “Yeah,” she starts to say before Maea’s voice interjects and Kiada’s iceberg gaze drifts back toward the other Ancient.

Shuffling further in so that everyone can stand and figure out what’s happening next, she nods and pulls her hair back out of her face, pausing when the introductions are made and Maea’s name sinks in familiar points of her mind while Tal’s doesn’t – so she focuses for a moment on the courier with a soft smile. “Kiada.” She offers to the group, before looking toward Maea with a small twist of amusement to her smile. “It’s been a long time since we last saw each other, Maea.” She doesn’t know of course that they’d hunted together not that long ago – but the last time she’d seen the pale woman had been when she was still attuned.

Yeaaaaars ago.

But there are tasks to pick and the harpy drifts toward the broom closet, picking out her own broom to start sweeping up in the Archive, hearing Tal’s question as she gets to work. “I do, yeah. Just became the Registrar, actually.” She offers the information easily and without a second thought, sweeping up dust and debris left behind.

---

Kiada grabs a broom and starts to sweep the Archive!

kiada

and you wonder why he lets you, the butcher ///
touch him, the sun ///

Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck

Maea had to look both once and twice at Kiada before any recognition sparked. When it did, it was with a faint recollection of preparing for a Fiat Lux festival together - years and years ago.
"A very long time indeed! I almost didn't recognize you," she replied, offering the other woman a warm smile. "I heard from Danta about your promotion - that makes two of us! We'll need to talk once we're done here, if you don't mind. It seems our work might overlap a bit going forward."

Arming herself with the mop and a bucket of soapy water, Maea followed after Kiada in the Study and scoured the floor she swept. The  musty air soon filled with a scent of citrus and green herbs from the soap, and she was pleased to see that the work proceeded smoothly enough. The only real hindrance that slowed them down so far was the lack of cleaning supplies.

Looking up when Talyson asked about their citizenship, it took Maea slightly longer to add her "Yes" to Kiada's; feeling rather strange about reclaiming the Grounds as a permanent home after all these years. "Why do you ask?"

Looking around at the rooms and checking how the others were faring, Maea flagged down their attention. "Once we're done with this, the Common Room needs sweeping too, and the fireplace could use a cleaning up. I'll make sure to mop the rest of the floors so that's done with."

---

Round 2: pick one and proceed!

Sweep the Common Room,
Clean the Fireplace;
Maea will continue to mop the floors.

Maea

He nodded at hearing Kiada's name, filing it away for future deliveries, and then they got to work. He swept his chosen room with an attention to detail that slowed him down as he struggled to shove the broom as deep into the corners and under the furniture as he could go. He was thorough, however! Scruffy the courier might be, but he took cleaning seriously. He might not have joined the task with enthusiasm in his heart, but now that he was doing it, hail if he wasn't going to do it right!

And hey, as luck would have it, two of the people he needed to talk to were conveniently here in the room with him! Tal cleared his throat self-consciously as Maea gave him the perfect opening, if he could manage to get the words out right.

Since he was on a roll with sweeping out the Study, he moved to the Common Room next as he tried to explain himself. "So, uh, I was wonderin'... I helped set up th'Dygra shrine here a while back... but I couldn't find a shrine t'the Old Gods in th'Grounds. Would y'be okay with someone puttin' up a shrine to 'em around here? Maybe... I dunno... out in th'Glade or someplace like that?"

---

Tal sweeps the common room and asks permission to build an old gods shrine in the Hollowed Grounds!

your battle worn tongue doesn't say the truth anymore;
/// that you are ruined ///

Kiada gets to work while Maea comments about the promotion, and the harpy flashes her a warm, fanged grin. “Thanks.” News of both of their positions overlapping has her grin flashing a bit more roguish, something playful and sharp, not unlike Dantalion’s own grins. “I don’t mind.” She refrains from mentioning anything about her unnamed position in the council – mostly just being an annoying thorn in Danta’s side.

They have work to do, anyway.

So she continues to work, sweeping through the study and ensuring everything was cleaned up while Maea came behind with the mop. Once she was done, though, she sets the broom aside while Tal asks his question and she heads for the fireplace, immediately beginning to collect any debris within it and a cloth with some water to clean up the soot, hand stuttering slightly at the mention of the old gods. She’s glad that her back is to Tal with the way her nose scrunches and she works her jaw for a moment.

“Do we uh… Really need one? I’m pretty sure everyone here’s Ancient and some of us,” gesturing to Maea with the soot covered cloth, “were Ascended before that. Not exactly sure the rest of the gods would be huge fans of us.” Let alone her, with her devastating failure to Ludo that had prevented her from seeking a shrine again up until recently.

---

Kiada cleans the fireplace!

kiada

and you wonder why he lets you, the butcher ///
touch him, the sun ///

Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck

While she didn't say anything at first, she agreed with Kiada's reservations. Frowning softly at the trail of cleanliness that followed in the wake of the mop, she chewed on the question for some time and managed to clean her way across both the Study and half the Common Room before she could find the words to say anything at all.

"I have nothing against the Old Gods," she told Tal, expression unusually serious, "but I'm not sure... Why do you want to build one?" There were too many uncertainties lingering to even answer right away. "Are you planning on moving here?" Maea couldn't help but brighten slightly at the prospect; she liked the Messenger and wouldn't grieve over having him around more often.

Neither Kiada nor Talyson ran into any troubles and with combined efforts the floor looked much better, just as the fireplace emerged from old layers of dust looking good as new. Feeling better about the state of the rooms already, Maea took a stroll around the area and checked what else would need tending to in order for the space to work as an office.

"It's looking good! Now, if one of us could go over the shelves in the Archive and make sure that they are solid and clean, and another can do the same for the Study that would be great. And we need to stock up on firewood, and fetch writing materials - paper, ink, quills, that sort of thing - from the main storage... Once we're done with that, I think the only remaining thing will be to fill up with books and make a sign for the door." Nodding contentedly to herself, she offered the chance to the others to pick their preferred task first.

---

Round 3: pick 2 each! Completing these will take up the next 2 rounds.

1. Check shelves in Archive for stability and clean them
2. Check shelves in Studyfor stability and clean them
3. Fetch logs for the fireplace
4. Fetch writing supplies
5. Stock the shelves with books
6. Create office sign

Maea

As they worked on their tasks, conversation flowed and while it wasn't the rousing support that Tal was kind of hoping for, it wasn't an immediate rejection of his idea, either. He held his breath while he finished sweeping the dust in the common room into a pile that was easy to collect, and it kept him from answering Kiada immediately. By the time he had breath again, Maea was adding her reservations and he was glad he'd waited before opening his big mouth.

"I'll take th'shelves," he offered, with a wry grin towards Maea at the memory of their last venture together in the Atheneum. "Dunno where t'get t'other stuff from anyways." He headed for the Archive first, raising his voice so the ladies could hear him from whatever rooms they ended up in. Starting to check the shelves in there for stability gave him a chance to try and organize his thoughts, anyways.

"Didn't realize there weren't any non-Ancients here anymore," he admitted first to Kiada, before wading forward with all the charm and tact of a whale belly-flopping onto a china shop. "But, I mean... No one's gonna make you pray at it if y'don't want to. But d'y'not want anyone else livin' here? Or is it gonna be only Dygra followers?" Back to the segregation of the War, and the 'us vs. them' mentalities all over again; a thought that had the courier's dark brows beetling together in concern.

He shook his head, trying to clear it as he started wiping the shelves down and calling back to Maea. "Dunno about movin' here, but I've been here on work a lot lately. An' t'be fair, I'm half-nomadic as it is, deliverin' all over Caido all th'time. It's just... comfortin', havin' a place I can pray when I'm out on a run." He chewed his lip fiercely before he drew a deep breath and admitted: "I know it's pretty selfish o' me. But I don't think I'm th'only one who feels that way. I guess... it depends on what kind o' place y'want th'Grounds t'be?"

---

Tal chooses shelf duty and wrestles with difficult theological concepts!

your battle worn tongue doesn't say the truth anymore;
/// that you are ruined ///

Kiada admittedly knows very little about Talyson, having avoided Halo since she’d had to leave it when she was Ascended – distrusting of Noah and the rest of them before the war had begun. Now, though, she’s returned to the Grounds, claimed it back as her home amongst others who had been pushed out of their homes from coming back as the Voice’s own, only to come back again differently.

Her and Maea certainly have the ‘coming back from the dead’ in common, at least.

So as she works on the fireplace and it cleans up easily, she stands to wipe her hands on her pants, listening for the next instruction and the explanation from Tal. She listens while she drifts toward the main storage, loading up her arms with logs for the fireplace, ones that she stacks beside it.

“A lot of people left briefly before the war.” She informs Tal with a small shrug. “It’s not that I don’t want other people to live here, it’s just that the Grounds have been through a lot from people that don’t really trust us.” Not the grounds in particular, of course, something she reflects on as she shakes her head and snorts at her own blunder.

“I mean to say that I used to be Ascended and this was the only place that was… I don’t know, safe from everything. And the war happened and so many of us died and some of us became Ancient and there’s still those out there that don’t trust us because of it.” Her nose wrinkles as she finishes setting up the logs, turning back to hear Tal’s explanation to Maea.

The question of what they want the Grounds to be is something that she hasn’t entirely thought of until right this second, but she knows the answer as inherently as anything else. “I want the Grounds to be a safe place for us where there aren’t going to be people coming in to push us out.” And maybe there’s some deeper fear of the old gods doing just that – drifting in from outside because a shrine was back here, only for the next war to start against them with them not having anywhere else to go.

---

Kiada collects the fire logs and will fetch the writing supplies!

kiada

and you wonder why he lets you, the butcher ///
touch him, the sun ///

Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck

Taking it upon herself to make the sign and stock the shelves with any books she thought might be helpful to her in her self-appointed role as Loreseeker, Maea listened to Kiada's arguments and found an answer in them, to a question she'd been asking for a while now. Of why she kept returning to the Hollowed Grounds even though she couldn't claim to love it, why no other region truly felt like an option.

Safety. Pure and simple. Such a basic thing that she never realized it, until now.

"Stormbreak would kill magic users simply for going there. The ward might be lifted now, but how many would lift a hand to help any of us if something were to happen?" Maea's spoke quietly, but with a matter of fact tone that said little about her own thoughts. "I hear Torchline put a curse against the Ascended on the Skyport docks. Up until the outbreak of the war, the general consensus among the Old God's followers was that the death of all the Ascended was an acceptable byproduct of defeating the Voice. And before that, those who lived in this region were sacrificed for the 'greater good' of containing the Voice in the barrier."

The scratch of her quill against snowy white parchment filled the pauses whenever she quieted. "Some certainly chose to put their lot in with the Voice, and I won't defend her actions in any way. But I agree that this region still carry the trauma of their treatment under the hands of the gods, and while the sentiment of inclusivity is nice... is anyone trying to include us? Will you build shrines to Dygra in all the other regions so that we will be comfortable? Are you going to take responsibly if a shrine of the Three ends up being used as a platform of bigotry against the Ancients who come here for refuge and a new start?"

They were not the same as the Ascended, but was there any guarantee that resentment wouldn't spill over just because of where they chose to live? Maea didn't know. She had no answers; only a gnawing sense of unease she couldn't quite phrase into words.

"I'm not saying no," she continued, making sure to catch Talyson's gaze. "But I would like more assurances before agreeing. Above all, I want to know that this is about more than self-gratification on your part. There are plenty of other shrines across the other regions - and like you said, you are half nomadic anyway. Why do you need one here?"

---

Round 4: Final round! Finish up your tasks. <3

Maea

He wanted to scratch his nose but his hands were busy with the dusting cloth and so he settled for wrinkling it in thought instead as he listened to Kiada’s words. It was a mirror of her own expression, though he didn’t realize it as they worked on their separate projects.

”I mean… it sounds like y’don’t trust other people, either,” he said slowly to Kiada ’s statements, brow furrowed in thought. ”An’ from what I heard, sure, I figure y’have good reason for that.” He hadn’t been too fond of the Ascended, either, after hearing what a group of them had done to the Tower in Stormbreak. As far as he knew, everyone involved in that raid was dead now, though, and there wasn’t much point staying mad at ghosts. ”But…look. I guess y’don’t really know me an’ I get that maybe my word doesn’t mean much t’you, but I haven’t met anyone else wantin’ t’keep livin’ in th’War ‘til today.” He tilted his head towards Maea to include her. ”Even Stormbreak. They’re workin’ on bein’ more inclusive o’ Abandoned, yeah, an’ still got a ways t’go. But I’ve been makin’ a lot o’ deliveries there an’ keepin’ an ear out, an’ I haven’t heard anyone bein’ weird ‘bout Fae or Ancients or Mer.” Something about those races being ‘natural’ probably, with gods-given magic that stayed neatly in a box instead of the custom wild magic of the Abandoned.

Or maybe he was just listening to the wrong conversations.

He shifted his attention to the shelves in the Study, testing their sturdiness with careful pushes and pulls until he was satisfied that they would stand up to whatever burdens Maea placed on them. ”I was getting’ th’sense that the old gods aren’t really comfortable with Dygra, but they’re not lookin’ for a fight with her, either,” he said slowly to Kiada. ”Kinda like Safrin an’ Ludo aren’t real comfortable with each other, y’know? Only, maybe less personal than that,” he added, remembering some of the stories he’d heard about pranks the Ludo had pulled on the goddess in recent years. ”But at least there’s peace ‘tween all th’ones we got now.” Give or take whatever was going on with the void stuff and whether there was some alien deity involved with it…

Then Maea got personal and Tal scowled at the dusting cloth he grabbed to begin scrubbing the grit off the shelves with. It was frustrating, feeling like he had to prove himself over and over again. But it wasn’t anything new, at least. ”I mean, yeah. I’ve already helped build a Dygra shrine,” he pointed out. ”Am I responsible if someone with a screw loose decides t'sacrifice a human at it tryin’ to get in good with her?” He shook his head. ”There’s crazies an’ assholes all over Caido. Every region, every race. I’ve had t’deliver stuff from or to a lot of ‘em. Shrines don’t make people dicks. They do that all on their own, with or without ‘em.”

He balled up the dusting cloth, meeting Maea’s gaze squarely and jutting out his chin. ”’Cuz you’re not Ascended anymore,” he pointed out bluntly. ”Th’War ‘tween th’Ascended an’ everyone else is over, an’ we’ve got new problems now. An’ I know it’s not fair, askin’ you t’move on when you’re still hurtin’, but this Void shit? It’s not waitin’ for people t’heal. It’s everyone’s problem. Ancient, Abandoned, Accepted, whatever. Every race. Every region. Yeah, I want th’comfort of havin’ someplace t’pray for help when I’m out on a run for myself. But I also want someplace a non-Ancient can pray for healin’ here if they get bit by a void spider. An’ if you want t’do th’same with Dygra shrines in other regions, I’ve got no problem helpin’ with that, either.” He scowled down at the dusting cloth that he’d twisted while he’d been talking before throwing it in the bucket with the other used cloths. ”I gotta bad feelin’ it’s gonna take all o’ us workin’ t’gether t’deal with this shit. But if you wanna cut yourselves off again, well… I don’t think it’s a good idea. But I'll respect it."