On the road
8–12 Gingemes, 333
Fate
9 Gingemes
But one night, wakefulness comes at the hands of neither of those things.
(To Aaren)
A hush settles over the forest, louder than the song that had suffsed it before.
And then the hush is broken by a howl. This howl sends a song whispering through the forest. And then it comes alive with that song. It's a big song, overwhelming, almost unbearably loud.
The last time you heard something even close to this loud, the Eggshell split, opening up the purple crystal pass.
(To Daina)
The quiet is so loud it spurs every limb to wakefulness.
And then there's a howl. A lone, distant, but powerful howl that spreads over the earth and sky, spreads through veins and heartbeat.
(To Slavina)
It's no mere wolf's howl that wakens you. Indeed, it's not even the howl that slams consciousness into you to begin with. No, it's the silence, the sheer reverence of the silence, that goads you to wakefulness.
Aaren
Aaren is up and out of the cart, singing Daina awake and pulling her skittles out of their bag.
She closes her eyes and listens to the song, trying to recognize the god, trying to learn anything to prepare them for what's coming.
Daina
Daina sat straight up at the howl and rose from her bed to lift her face to the air and scent it. "who's there" she murmurs "Thinking I might wolf" she warns anyone in earshot of her.
roll to scent ?
Fate
Well it may not be necessary, depending on what kind of information you want/questions you have.
Slavina
Slavina is not quite so quick to leave the cart as Aaren. First she checks to make sure Janin, Kelly and Esta are awake. She exits the cart and, keeping a posture of reverent submission with lowered head, Slavina searches the reflections of puddles for revealing patterns.
(To Fate)
- is the presence that prompted the silence still here?
- has it noticed us?
- is it likely to do us harm?
- what is an appropriate way to show respect to this entity?
Fate
(To Slavina)
-
Yes.
-
It's aware of every inch of the forest. So yes, it's noticed you.
-
It's a god, which means by default it's very likely to do you (unintentional) harm. But there are no omens of anger or displeasure or malice, so...
- Offer it food and drink and do not harm anything.
Daina
how far and who is it.. any thing wolves might get from scent.. are they fertile ? XD
Fate
(To Daina)
And then there's a howl. A lone, distant, but powerful howl that spreads over the earth and sky, spreads through veins and heartbeat.
It's... a little bit of everywhere. And no, she's not in heat. :P
Slavina
I would like to take an average on a Wayfinding+mystery roll, I'll PM you my questions?
Fate
Works for me!
Aaren
I wanna know: Is the god coming toward us? What do I know about it? Who is its big song making us into? is it doing something? Can I roll perception singing or singing priest for that?
Daina
Daina hmms "Frankie.. do you know this scent?"
Fate
Sure!
Frankie offers no response.
Aaren
Aaren got a 7 on Perception Singing.
Fate
(To Aaren)
It's hard to strictly say that the god is coming towards you. The god is all around you. The god is also the one howling, somewhere distant (in the very middle of the forest, in fact—you can tell because you can hear the entire forest), and not moving as yet.
You don't know who they are. This is not a song that's familiar to you, at all.
There's a thing happening. But you can't tell what it is. It's too big. Everyone's song is harmonizing with this song to some degree or other.
Aaren
(To Fate)
Since we are harmonizing, who are we becoming? What song is the god singing (I mean, i know its the god's song, but like... is it doing something to us? Is it making us happy and welcomed like the Swan Maiden's song, or see-through-to-the-mortality-around-us like the Skull Witch Song?)
Fate
(To Aaren)
It's... making you a part of the forest. Sort of. Like... nothing is overtly changing, but everything feels bigger than you. And it's watching. Not in a creepy way, just in a vigilant way, the way someone would examine their own flesh for new/worrisome blemishes or spots that need extra caring for.
Slavina
Slavina holds up her skirts in one hand to keep them out of the mud as she pads over to the caravan-master. She says, "A god is watching us. We should show our respect...." She glances meaningfully at the supply cart where the caravan's food and drink lives.
Daina
Daina speaks up. "It's a female .. if that helps annnd Frankie is .. busy maybe?... not talkin' to me at the moment anyway." she pauses "hey ..I'll catch up guys.." she wolfs out and goes hunting to bring back a tribute to help with the show of respect.
Fate
The caravan master glances in tandem with her, then looks back to her as her gaze returns to him. He simply offers a nod, then begins barking orders.
Slavina
"Daina! Be careful not to harm anything!" Slavina shouts over the thunder.
Daina
can I roll something to see how big of a creature I catch and bring back? I wanna bring a big thing! Flex
Fate
Janin, Kelly, and Esta are indeed already awake and already hopping to.
Except Kelly's gaze is flicking about all around, his eyes wide and face slack with awe. He fumbles for his spear, but forgets it midway, his fingers almost numb with the wonder that's filling the rest of him.
Aaren
Aaren sits with the song for a while, listening. Then she listens to Kelly's song to try and understand what he's seeing.
Fate
Sure, you can roll, Mel. What kind of roll were you thinking?
Daina
maybe uhhh Search+Animal?
Fate
Okay, go for it!
Daina
6 succs two tens and two legend
Fate
Dicebot says 8 successes?
Daina
dorp my bad I'm a bit frazzled sorry
Daina
Daina lifts her head to the winds and her ears perk as she races towards the scent of a stag, she howwwwwls an invitation for the goddess to join her hunt! "Awooooooooooo"
Slavina
She had to have been loud enough, she must have been loud enough (or had her voice really diminished so much in these years? Perhaps?) but Daina doesn't so much as slow. And the way she's running... the lowered head and purposeful stride... Slavina's eyebrows inch up and she catches a breath. She could run after but- no, all that's left is muddy pawprints and even at her best (and goodness knows she's not in that kind of condition now) Slavina couldn't outrun a wolf.
"Oh stars. She's hunting isn't she?" She says to Aaren, definitely not panicking nope nope. "Please tell me she's not hunting..."
Aaren
"She is." Aaren sings, delibertly calm. "But she just invited the god to join her."
Slavina
Slavina nods, sending a few drips of water off her chin and nose and ferns. It's a stoical sort of nod. Slavina positions herself just behind and left of Kelly, next to Janin, in a nice spot mostly covered by the cart's awning and tucks her coat around herself a little tighter.
Fate
The great howl goes silent, but it's as if there were some inaudible echo in its place. This gives pause to the caravan workers scrambling to get their offerings ready.
Then the energy of the forest shifts. It's something that feels very much like movement—as if the whole forest were reshaping itself, bunching up and taking off into a bounding run—but nothing actually physically moves, not as far as anyone can tell, anyway.
Except maybe Kelly, who spins, looking around, his eyes growing even wider. He stumbles backward to keep up with whatever he's seeing and nearly trips, but is caught and righted by Esta. Thus returned to some of his other senses, he snaps a look in the direction of Daina's departure.
Fate
(To Aaren) The music is loud and overwhelming, consisted of many parts, a complex symphony of the world (and beyond?). But, at least from what Aaren can parse, there's no telltale tension of anger.
Aaren
Aaren holds herself still for a moment, listening. Then her shoulders loosen. "Well, I don't think she's angry. The god, I mean."
Aaren turns to the caravan and gets to helping set up.
Slavina
"That's good." Slavina says. She watches the forest and sky for a bit longer, then follows Aaren to help unfurl the rain-awnings. Being tall is helpful, right?
Fate
After staring at Daina's trail for a while, Kelly's trance is interrupted by Janin's gentle hand on his shoulder. Distractedly, and with Esta's assistance, he moves to help.
Meanwhile, as Daina bounds through underbrush, weaves through trees, passes bush and leaf and bramble, the foliage begins to hiss and the mulch to grind as if a pack were gathering at the very edges of her awareness. The forest continues to whizz by beneath Daina's paws; the quarry remains ever at the edge of Daina's perception.
Then a great breeze pulls in all in one direction, flicking at her fur, carrying away her scent. The forest seems to grow bigger and spread farther apart and then contracts to normal size, as if the world itself were breathing. This happens again, and again, each "inhale" bigger than the last.
And then everything settles, and the forest stills.
YOUR SCENT IS FAMILIAR TO ME.
It is not word, nor expression, nor intention—rather, it rests somewhere between all these, clear and yet intangible.
YET YOU RUN PACKLESS.
A pause, then
HAS SOMETHING BEFALLEN YOUR SIRE?
Daina
Daina slows and ... stills. Alert and looking around herself despite the feeling of the pack being everywhere. She makes a slightly confused sound. Her body language reading "I do not think so... I'm on a mission for my pack!" Her ears having pinned back a moment at the stillness and the communication are now perked and alert despite the sound not sound nature of the 'voice'. She walks into a clearing and sits on her haunches. 'You know my sire and dame?'
Fate
YOUR SIRE FREQUENTS MY DOMAIN, ALWAYS PACKLESS HIMSELF. OF YOUR DAME I KNOW NOTHING.
There's another whole-forest sort of silence, watchful and pensive.
WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?
Daina
Daina makes a faint wuffle sound based on her human speech and confusion. Her gaze moving around her. "We're passing through on a quest, we saw your power and wished to offer tidings and respect"
Fate
Another silence falls, taut but not tense. And then it eases, further and further, pressing tighter and tighter as if withdrawing into itself, not quite disappearing, but feeling much the same way.
And then, shapes move, dark shadows weaving through the trees.
A figure emerges before Daina, a large, powerful she-wolf who pads with the unparalleled confidence of one whom the forest hides not even the smallest of secrets, her scent complex, overwhelming, an infinite, ever-shifting mix of musks and flowers and saps and soils. The shine of eyes in the night surrounds Daina, but even the combined attention cannot match the scrutiny of the she-wolf's unreadable gaze.
Then she turns.
Come, pup, says the twist of her ear, the flick of her tail, the ripple of her muscle as she bounds away. We will hunt.
Daina
Daina straightens a little and her nostrils flare and then clamp down, overwhelmed. She then bounces to her feet and her tail gives a couple wags before she goes into hunting mode. She had to put up a good showing!
As the wolf pack moves out and they all take up places Daina finds hers as naturally as breathing. Her heart races at the prospect of a hunt! She feels an overflowing of bittersweet emotion at having a pack for a little while.
She remembered little of the hunts of childhood at least specifically but the feeling of it was a familial one, a purposeful one. She enjoyed that and the usual reward of completing a task.
Following the lead of her hostess she is on the heels of the large stag as they work to run it down.
OOF... a hoof barely dodged flicks her ear. She growls softly and then is back in the chase. With such harrying the Stag stands little chance and Daina backs off a little to allow the kill to the one she is trying to honor, moving around to halt the stags retreat as it moves towards what he though was an escape. The She Wolf makes the kill quick enough and the pack moves in to feast.
Daina gives a howl of triumph, and then a lower pitch howl of thanks to the ascending spirit of the stag.
Fate
Sky accepts the last breath. Blood seeps into the soil.
The She-Wolf steps forth to the carcass. Her snout descents, and, with a great CRACK! her jaws close over the base of the antler of the fallen stag, snapping it free from the rest. Then she settles couchant, gnawing at the trophy, stripping the velvet in great, bloody swaths to reveal not ivory but amber.
Then, the pack feasts.
After a brief time, a space is left for Daina to take her share of the hunt.
Once each has taken their fill, they weave back into the shadows of the forest, one-by-one. Soon, only the She-Wolf remains, the antler laid bare between her paws. She regards Daina directly, then rises and turns, leaving the trophy for her guest with only the barest fluttering of her tail.
Daina
Daina indicates her thanks for the space and eats of the kill, she looks up curiously at the antler and then as the wolf turns her direct gaze upon Daina she makes the proper show of respect and thanks. A happy human smile on the Daina wolfs bloody maw as she picks up the neat gift and trots on back to the others. Prancy once she's in sight of the group. Like look what I got!
Slavina
Since the caravan finished settling down for the time being, Slavina has tucked herself away in the back of the Hometown cart to do her daily priestly-practice (today's homework: listening for the voice of the goddess). So she doesn't notice right away when Daina makes her grand re-entry.
Aaren
Aaren has been standing near Kelly, listening to the fluctation of the song of the frorest, and to Kelly's song as he watches.
When she hears Daina on her way back she sings her relief. "How did it go?" She asks, upon seeing Daina's trophy. "What's that?"
Aaren
(To Fate) Can I have a 'what's weird about this amber antler'?
Fate
(To Aaren) Well... it's weird. It carries a small fragment of the goddess's song. Rather, everything in the forest does, now that Aaren's heard the goddess, but this is a little different. This portion of the song is more than just the antler. It's got a certain power to it.
Aaren
(To Fate) Hmmmm..... iiiiiiinteresting.
Daina
Daina sets the antler down and resumes her human shape. "it's from the stag, never seen an antler like it though!" she beams as she wipes at her face. "The Forest knows my dad, go figure right?" She looks between Kelly and Aaren. "Huge stag though, was pretty great" she postures a little. "It almost got me with a hoof but then I was like Woosh" mimics dodging.
Aaren
Aaren smiles, both at the clearly positive reception by the goddess and Daina's enthusasim. "It's made of amber." Aaren explains. She crouches down to hear the antler better and sing its song for Daina. "Did she say anything about your dad?"
Fate
Kelly stares at the antler, eyes wide. Then he puts a hand out towards the antler, hovers it a good distance away, and looks up to Daina, humming inquisitively and unobtrusively as if asking polite permission.
Daina
Daina nods a little "Oh sure go ahead" She says to Kelly and then to Aaren she grins "cool right... " pausing "umn ... well he hunts here often it seems and ... uh I guess I smell like him a little?" she gives an uncertain little chuckle and goes to get some water to wash up. "I'm so thankful for that trophy, how nice was it for her to leave it to me?"
Slavina
Slavina breaks herself away from her practice as she approaches the edge between meditation and trance-state. She exits the cart and dumps out her bowl of water over her candle, every motion terse with frustration. "Oh, hello Daina. Welcome back." She sizes up the scene carefully, taking in the amber antler and daina's dishevveled but unharmed state. "I'm glad you had a good time."
Fate
Kelly handles the trophy very delicately, turning it around in his hands, swallowing every last inch of it with his eyes. Janin stands somewhat back from the gathered group, watching from the sidelines. Esta simply leans against the nearby cart, trying to piece fragmented translations together and fill in the rest of the blanks.
Aaren
"It has the goddess in it." Aaren sings, sitting back on her butt as Kelly takes the trophy up. "More then the rest of the forest, I mean."
Daina
Daina looks over and her brow furrows some at the words. "Oh ... thanks... uh yeah it was pretty nice..." Not sure if Slavina is mad at her or something. When Aaren speaks Daina's eyes widen slightly "Oh... that is ... quite a gift then isn't it!?" distracted from her concern at Slavina's mood by the news.
Aaren
Aaren furrows her brow, singing her thinking song for a bit. "I don't know." She eventually answers. "Maybe she's keeping an eye on us?" Aaren looks to Slavina.
Fate
The caravan master makes his way over, as purposeful as ever but subdued, no longer seizing space among them so much as carefully working his way in. He doesn't speak, though, just waits.
Slavina
Slavina stows the empty offering bowl and candle in a storage-leaf-pouch near the cart's entrance and sits down in a little crouch on the front running board, under the awning. She pulls her hood-scarf foreward more so it will deflect the drips better. "I don't know. Can I take a look?"
Daina
Daina hmms softly and considers that. Meg, I didn't get a sense that she was doing it to keep an eye on us, would wolf Daina have sensed something like that?
Daina is clearly ok with anyone admiring her trophy. A little bit of posturing.
Fate
Hard to say. It's not out of the question, but Daina probably wouldn't particularly feel like that's the case.
Daina
Daina shrugs "maybe... I don't object to it though if she is... do any of you?"
Aaren
Aaren turns to look at the caravan master as he comes in, since he is kinda in charge. She sings to indicate she's prepared to listen to him, and then realizes he may not actually know what that means.
"Good evening." She sings, after a moment.
Slavina
"Of course not. How could one object to the attention of a god?" Her tone is a shining pool of respect and reverence, but beneath the surface lies understated depths. Slavina picks up the antler and examines it, turning it over in her hands and holding it up to the firelight to search the occlusions for meaning. As she does so, she says, "Tell me about the hunt Daina..."
Daina
Daina hums and then gives a recounting of the tale. Noting how she'd done her best to show respect and everything.
Fate
The caravan master nods, half an acknowledgment, half a bow of deference. „Good evening." His eyes flick to Daina and the trophy, and then drop as if he'd just been disrespectful. „Do you..." He hesitates, unsure of how to articulate himself. „Do you know whether... whether we should move, or give more offerings, or... ?" He trails off, deeply unsatisfied (and even a touch ashamed), but lets it stand.
Daina
Daina hums a little and shrugs looking to Slavina for that knowledge. "She seems ok with us passing through so I don't figure it's a problem if we camp or keep going..." another uncertain expression as she scratches the back of her neck with a slightly canid like tilt of her head.
Aaren
Aaren nods to him. „We're good to leave whenever you're ready."
Can I roll insight + notice to get more infor about his discomfort?
Fate
Kelly readily surrenders the antler to Slavina, but eyes it with unabashed curiosity.
Sure!
Aaren
4
Fate
(To Aaren)
His song whirls this way and that, a mixture of confusion and concern and puzzlement and awe—he's overwhelmed. What happened was way over his head and he knows it, so he's consulting the goddesses about whether or not the forest goddess accepted their offerings or is displeased with them or what. The musical strain of practicality is strong in his song, though, and he's a little ashamed of that, because it seems vulgar and crude in the face of the spiritual experience that he and his crew just faced.
Slavina
May I do a insight+wayfinding roll to get some info on the situation?
Fate
Sure!
Slavina
8! I will ask you questions in PM
(To Fate)
Questions:
- will this encounter have a positive, negative, or overall neutral impact on the lives of the caravaners? How about on ours?
- is it appropriate/a good idea to give more offerings to the goddess before departure? If so, what woul dbe most appropriate?
- any obvious omens of direct consequensces to the Hometown gang?
Also, I'd like a general empath ping on the caravan master please :)
I'll take an average for that one, so 6
Fate
(To Slavina)
- This is unequivocally a blessing. Of course, a deity's blessing is always a tricky thing. Still, this is a gift given with some measure of fondness.
- Yes. The first thing that comes to mind is feeding the goddess from one's own plate. (As in, everyone does this, leaving a portion of their food from their plates/bowls with each meal.)
- No.
The caravan master is awed and overwhelmed and uncertain and a little scared so he's consulting the goddesses/priests about WTF just happened. Also he's a little ashamed because his concerns are largely practical but it seems crude and vulgar to him in the face of the spiritual experience he and his crew just had.
Slavina
Slavina sits in silence for a minute after Daina's done relating the events, still staring at the patterns of firelight in the antler. Then she hands it back slowly, with both hands. She peeks up at the caravan master from beneath her hair. She responds to the things he hasn't said first. "It's natural to be most concerned with worldly matters. We're human, with a human perspective."
She tucks her hair back behind her ears and dabs a drop of water off her nose. "This is a token of Medeinė's blessing. We can go or stay as you prefer. I'd suggest everyone feed the goddess from their own plate until we've left her forest to show our thanks."
Aaren
Aaren smiles at the caravan master and stands up. "Speaking of wordly matters." She sings, drily, and pulls out some dried fruit from her pancho. She buries some in the ground for the goddess, eats some, and offers some around.
Fate
The caravan master eases, then bobs his head again, grateful. Then he takes the offering of dried fruit and politely dismisses himself to conduct matters around the camp.
Meanwhile, Janin holds onto his silence for a while, a little uneasy. Finally (after thoughtfully smushing around the dried fruit with his thumbs and forefingers) he breaks it. "If... uh... if you don't mind me asking... who's your father, Daina?"
Daina
Daina hums a little "Nice. I thought she was very chill. Medeinė?" she questions for further knowledge and then waves off the offer of fruit. "So full" she pats her belly. "I woulda brought you guys back some but that seemed like... not quite a ... sacred offering thing to do?" she looks over to Janin at the question and shrugs a little. "I dun have a papa I've got a Bogulya" she smiles with only a hint of uncertainty about it. She was curious but she wasn't going to mess up things for her Mom and whoever her dad was. Having a seat someplace and looking over to Janin. "I'm pretty sure he's a god but sides that " shrug
Slavina
Slavina helpfully chimes in, for Janin's sake, "'Bogulya' is chlovak for 'widdle goddy-woddykins'."
Fate
"Oh." Janin stifles a potentially-blasphemous smile and considers another moment. "It may not be important but..." He nods to the antler. "That's... a significant gift. I think it speaks to something between... um... Medeinė and your father." Uneasy again, he offers a one-shouldered shrug. "I mean. If you don't know then there's not much you can do. It just... seems to me like the sort of thing that would come up again."
Slavina
Slavina says, "Since your bogulya fills the role of father, could she have been talking about him?" She lifts one shoulder in a semi-shrug. "That would tell us more, since we know who it is."
Daina
Daina hums a little "like you think they mate?" she questions "or just hunting friends... I mean seems likely she said he hangs out." she nibbles her lower lip "I guess I could ask but that'd be kinda weird... like oh hey we just hunted and all but ..." she pauses "Oh yeah that might make sense, since he's the one that showed me how to wolf."
Fate
"I'm not sure," Janin answers to Daina's question. "I suppose it could be as likely as anything. There's fondness there, anyway." He spreads his hands, indicating he's letting the idea go. "I'd rather not speculate about a goddess's sex life."
Daina
Daina snort laughs "are you kidding, how fun is that well ok fun for some gods I guess" she pauses "some are probably really boring like ohh that stone faced guy... I bet he never gets laid"
Slavina
"I speculate about it frequently." Slavina says. "If I'm going to be seeking out a god, you bet I want to know if they're likely to be interested, in what, and if they'll take no for an answer."
Aaren
Aaren hands Slavina the last of the dried fruit and brushes off her hands. "Kelly, what are you seeing? Can you explain any of it?"
Fate
Kelly thinks about this for a while, his eyes fixed on the antler.
When he describes, it feels like an otherworldly narration, all vivid colors and abstractness and grand feeling, and it evokes a sense of power and virility.
"I suppose we don't need to speculate after all," Janin mutters, after the reverent quiet becomes just a touch too much to bear.
Daina
Daina chuckles to Janin's silence breaker. "so... it's cool and all but like... is there something I should... do with it?" she questions as she examines the thing from afar. Scratching her cheek and wearing a thoughtful expression.
Aaren
Aaren sings the thank you song quietly to Kelly, once Janin has broken the silence.
Slavina
Slavina takes the fruit and (after placing a piece on the ground) shoves the other piece in her mouth all in one go. She chews thoughtfully. When her mouth is free again she says, "Well, do you like masturbating?"
Aaren
Aaren purses her lips in thought. "Clean it first." She sings. "And those points around the edge, where it lodged in the skull, look a little sharp."
Daina
Daina blinks. "ow... just ow" shaking her head "Not gonna risk cutting that up nope" she shifts in her spot and still has a faintly pained expression.
Fate
Janin winces, then says quickly, "Yeah, don't. For all we know it might get you pregnant."
Kelly barks a laugh, then attempts to translate for Esta's sake.
Daina
Ponders "huh... wolf babbin's or stag ... though I'm not finding out that's for sure."
Aaren
Aaren laughs. "I didn't think of that."
Daina
Daina pauses "Oh hey we can put it on the cart like a ... uh... figure head... you know like ships do?" ships still do that right?
Fate
Yes.
Slavina
Slavina laughs a little too, covering her mouth so she won't get fruit-bits everywhere. "That sounds good. It's not disrespectful to cut it up either, so we could make jewelry or something out of it."
Daina
Daina brightens "Oh that could be cool like... a necklace for each of us like ... uhmn a ... group thing?" she suggests "We can be like a Fellowship... there were... rings involved or something..." can't quite recall.
Fate
Soon, things settle down enough for the travelers (caravaners and pseudo-Bogatyr alike) to seize what was left of the night for further rest. The next morning dawns bright and only slightly drizzly, the whole forest alive with activity and daysong.
So comes the day that Aurika is ready for awakening.
10 Gingemes
IIRC, Aaren was going to wake Aurika—the lady in the torture dungeon with Kelly and Ilvers—when she was well enough. Is that correct?
Aaren
..... uhhhh, yeah. I think it was going to be well enough to eat and drink on her own though, so not neccesarily all that well. So like... if Kelly is up and walking around and fine and stuff, she... was probably up already?
Unless I decided something different in the past for some reason.
Which I might have.
Although if she tried to leave before Aaren was ready to let her go, Aaren would have put her back to sleep.
Fate
The impression I got was that Aaren wasn't going to let her wake up until she was sure to be able to function on her own.
Aaren
Oh. Okay! :)
Fate
We can change that, if you like. I just need to know so I can direct us properly.
Aaren
The only reason I can think of for making that decision is if Aaren knew the woman would want to leave as soon as she woke up.
Or if we were completely forfitting her right to make decisions about her own care? But that seems like a bad idea, since she's a torture victim.
So, if it works for you to ret-con it so Aaren let her wake up once she'd reached a certain level of functional (probably eating for herself, which would take a while with that broken jaw) then that would make more sense to me. But I think I remember deciding to keep her asleep, so I am fine with that if that is easier for you.
Fate
Okay. Let's say that she tried to leave after she initially woke up and so was put back to sleep. Does that work for you?
Aaren
Yeah. Aaren's all for agency, but not to the point of letting people wander out of her care and die.
Fate
Okay! Sweet! Would you mind writing an opening post? Alternatively, I can start with her waking up and we can go from there.
Aaren
Okay. How long has it been total since we left?
Fate
This is the seventh day after having left.
Aaren
When she woke up, did she express an opinion about having her severed body parts grown back?
Fate
Yes. This is a thing she very much wants.
Aaren
The wagon is dim inside. Grey light, made greyer by the rain, filters through into the stuffy air. Aaren opens the back and urges a breeze in with a gentle song. She sings with it the song of the road, the song of the caravan, the song of their group as they travel forward through the great forest.
The breeze brings in the sound of the rain gently patting on the deep green leaves, and the thick smell of the wet mud paths.
Aurika is looking much better. Her palms and the soles of her feet are completely healed, and the internal bruising has faded. Aaren scoots over to where the young woman is laying, on a pile of cushions and blankets. She's been like that for about seven days, although Aaren has been rotating and flipping her every couple of hours.
Today, her jaw is healed. The bone is still weak, but it would hold for normal use. Her ear and pinky are still reforming, but that would be at least another week—especially because Aaren was taking her off warmth the moment she woke up.
Aaren sits there for a bit longer, singing Aurika's song. Then she gets someone to bring over some clear chicken soup.
Then she sings Aurika awake.
Fate
Her heartbeat quickens. He breathing grows a little less even. Her eyes open.
Fear digs its claws into her right away. The deja vu is powerful and unsettling. She sits up, eyes darting wildly around, hands searching over her body for anything out of place.
Kelly hangs onto the soup for now, waiting patiently at the very edges of Aurika's space.
Aaren
„Good morning, Aurika." Aaren sings, in a continuation of Aurika's wake up song. „We're still working on your ear and pinkie. We're seven days out of town. Would you like me to calm you down?"
Fate
„What?" Aurika asks. This is quickly overtaken by her rapid-fire, „Who are you? Where am I?" Then, after a pause as it sinks in, „Oh." But the air is still tight with her other questions.
Aaren
Aaren waits a moment, to make sure Aurika remembers, and then continues. „You are healthy, but your jaw is going to ache a few days."
Fate
Her eyes flick between the two strangers, the only movement besides her quick breaths. After a moment spent mastering herself, she asks, „What happened?" It's a much more careful, more deliberate sort of question, her reluctance and fear songs strung through her.
Aaren
How much of this did we cover last time she was awake?
Fate
I imagine a general overview, but enough to cover the important things.
Aaren
„Would you like soup while I tell?" Aaren gestures to the bowl Kelly is carrying.
Fate
She eyes it warily, considers, then says, „O-okay."
Aaren
Aaren settled into explaining, as best she can, what happened and the current situation while Kelly hands her the bowl and the spoon.
She also lets Aurika know that she has companions who speak much better Kalba, and they can be brought over if she wants.
Fate
Aurika's fear song only seems to grow stronger and embed itself deeper as she hears the explanation. Then, at the suggestion, she shakes her head and says, „Thank you." After hanging onto the conversation for a moment longer, she swallows, hard, and asks, „What do I owe you?"
Aaren
Aaren smiles. „I am already taking what I owe. I have learned about regenerating body parts from you." She gestures to Aurika's half formed ear. „I have covered with the caravan for you because of what you have given me." Her songs are reassuring.
Fate
Her gaze drops. Though she says nothing, her music twists and tangles on itself. Relief mingles with fear mingles with memories of intense pain mingles with overwhelming gratitude mingles with horror mingles with a longing for safety in a confused and entirely too big jumble.
Then the tears begin, sudden and powerful. She curls on herself as if the soup bowl was the axis.
Kelly climbs deeper into the cart, gently taking her hand and sitting down beside her.
Aaren
Aaren sits there, singing healing songs quietly. Just being calm and present.