The reddening October trees, that hardly sway before a breeze

[baldrshand]

Who: Ethlyn and open
Where: Around Aldrip
What: September was a hell of a month, and it's time to recover
Warnings: None, probably thinking about her death and stuff


A. Taking it slow

[Her son, fifteen years going on fifty. Her daughter... who looks all the world like Travant's handpicked successor.

Ethlyn hasn't slept all that well since seeing those things, since having to relive her fate around so many other people. Earlier in the summer she would have thrown herself into her work, ignoring her mounting internal distress until it hit a breaking point. But she's already tried that, and it didn't work.

She's not one for taverns, but she is one for walking about town and the fields--sometimes practicing her sword drill by herself, sometimes simply sitting and watching the clouds on a bench. And often, now, watching the children of Aldrip as they run about at their daily chores or play.]

B. An unexpected chill

[Something has changed in the weeks since the labyrinth. As the temperature of the air begins to drop with the coming of autumn, Ethlyn notices that the temperature of the townsfolk seems to be going down as well.

She's been hearing the rumors about angry garden vegetables, which before this summer she would have taken as stories from those who came through home through their gardens the worse for drink, but after the enormous plant-beast of May... well.

And yet, here she is knocking on a resident's door, having an argument with the muffled voice from within.]

Please, I'm not here to do anything but help you, your son said you got badly bitten--no I'm not here to take your whiskey, what a notion!

C. Those Who Were Sus

[Ethlyn pushes open the door to her favorite little bookshop, but instead of the friendly greeting that typically accompanies the sound of the bell, she finds a dark room and silence.]

...Hello?

[With no answer, she'll start looking around. What if the owner is ill today and couldn't make it downstairs? What if he suffered some fit and is lying on the ground in the back rooms? Leaving the door open in case she needs to carry anyone through it, Ethlyn starts methodically searching through the place. Only when she returns to the till does she find the note lying there: a time, a place, a signature from "Those Who Were There." That's how anyone else walking in will find her. But if no one else does, she will walk outside to flag down the nearest Chosen and investigate.]

D. Wildcard!
[Got another idea? Toss it in, or hmu via PM/game discord/compassinks to plot!]

Comments

[baldrshand]

[Ethlyn smiles, stroking Venture's neck affectionately.]

He's earned it. We've been through a lot of things together. [There are things Ethlyn can't ask of him, of course, like riding down the hellish spawn of a plant colossus. But he's ridden through Pessira Forest with her, and to and from other various emergencies.] As for me, I've been here for as long as we 'Chosen' have been. I arrived with the very first wave back in January.

So, if you have any questions about what it's like here or what we've all been through, I'll be happy to answer.

[izanagis]

[Watching her with Venture, it's hard not to think of those types of fantasy stories and games. To think that there are some places where things really do work that way... It's interesting, to say the least.

His eyebrows lift at her assertion.]

January? [He does the math. No wonder she says they've been through a lot.] That's a long time.

[That said, he's grateful for the opportunity. It's a good way to pass the time while they travel, too. There's a lot he wants to know, too. Where to even start?

... It takes him a second to think.]

What was it like here when you first arrived?

[baldrshand]

[It is a long time... getting close now to an entire year. That's a sobering thought. It was time she never thought she would have.]

It was different. We were so confused about how we had been brought here and why. There were different people--many of them have been removed from this continent now, but a few, like me, have hung on.

The people treated us very differently. Very welcoming... surprisingly so, given that there were a good few dozen of us. They accepted our presence as the will of Those Who Were There and built statues to us after we helped them with some problems.

[izanagis]

[Yu absorbs all of this information with a thoughtful expression. Different people, all confused about why they're there...that much doesn't seem to have changed, not entirely. But it's true that the locals used to feel differently about them, isn't it? That was how things were when he arrived, too.

That said--]

Statues? [Wait.] I think I've seen those, in the garden in town. They're all Chosen?

[baldrshand]

Yes, all of them. It was... quite awkward to learn that they had decided to honor us in such a way. [Ethlyn's more used to statues being for--well, for people who have died long ago, like Baldr or Heim. People who did truly great deeds... and who don't need to worry about being embarrassed or living up to expectations anymore.] So it feels even stranger to be worried that they aren't doing much to keep them up anymore.

[She never wanted one in the first place, but it's still concerning that the people who made them now seem to agree.]

Still, just because their mood has changed is no reason not to be good neighbors. If they're in trouble, I want to help.

[izanagis]

I can imagine.

[He offers a small, sympathetic smile. Statues...that sort of goes too far, from appreciation over into adoration. Almost like being worshipped... Yu can understand why that would be a concern. To go from worshipping to wary almost overnight is pretty strange.]

But-- I agree. Not that I'm interested in statues or anything, but...we should help however we can. We still share their home.

[Besides...whomever took the locals might start looking to them sometime, too.]