abraxaslogs | • OPEN •

[ It is sacrilegious and Wanda is usually willing to indulge her ego a bit. That's enough for Himeka to turn away from the stove entirely, resting a hand on her hip as she looks the other woman over from head to toe.

She does look like she's just out the door, all dressed up for...well, being not in the house for a while. ]

An appointment of sorts?

[wanda shakes her head.]

No, I just… [for someone so short, himeka does manage to make wanda feel bad for doing something she knows she ought to not be doing. wanda knows that she should be staying in, resting, and yet—] I was going to Soris’s shrine.

[whatever is happening with her, maybe it can be fixed with some prayer and meditation.]

I don’t want to just stay in bed all day.

[ Both of her brows raise then. Ah, yes. She thinks she understands. Though Himeka hasn't made a pact herself, she does visit the shrines regularly. With Wanda, it must feel even more important to keep her relationship with Soris in good standing.

Her suspicion softens a bit as she motions to the table. ]

I'm sure Soris wouldn't want you with an empty stomach. Let me pack you up something to bring with you and for Soris.

[ As an offering. ]

[when himeka puts it that way, it’s insanely difficult to argue with her; she would definitely benefit from eating, and an offering would always be a welcome thing from any of the gods.]

—if you have any bones, [she starts, by way of acquiescing to himeka’s terms] those are usually more in line with what Soris is about.

[they always have a pile of scraps lying about for one occasion or another. wanda moves to sit down at the table, setting her bag down on the floor.]

What are you making?

[ Of course she does. She's been making it a point to save some from her cooking rather than burying them outside. (Back to the land, is the thought.) What she doesn't use for bone broth stock gets packed away or cooked and dried out. ]

I saved some from the roast the other day.

[ Himeka will grab those in a minute. Her attention is now on finishing up her bake. ]

Baked oat and rye porridge! I got the recipe from Geirny in the Secondary Settlement. She said it's an old family secret of hers. I can set you up with a few jars for the road.

[ She opens up the oven to give a quick smell test, poking the surface. ]

Mayhaps a few more minutes.

[ With that, she goes to fetch from where she's been keeping her own little bone collection. ]

How have things been for you and Soris?

[a few jars…

well, this is what’s normal, isn’t it? wanda is used to this kind of thing from himeka, and so she decides—for now—to just relax and let herself go with the motions. it’s far from being a bad thing, and perhaps she herself had been rushing towards leaving.

she leans heavily against the counter, hands on her cheeks, pressing down.]

Not bad, actually. [it’s funny that her roommates never ask about her and matt, her actual boyfriend, but she’s had this conversation about herself and soris plenty of times.] She seems happy with my offerings, and I’ve even gotten her to let me try and commune with other gods for some insight on my — scrying.

[the divination practices she’s trying to get a hang of.]

It’s just this blood stuff. [getting in the way] When I sit at her shrine, I feel myself thinking. Like I’m on the edge of understanding what’s happening.

[ Wanda isn't the kind of person to share her woes unless pressed, Himeka learned that very quickly. But truth be told, she trusts Matt to be kinder to her than some mysterious god of necromancy. Just, you know. By default.

She should ask more about Wanda's relationship, though...

Himeka nods as she listens, sorting out some bones and wrapping them in cloth for the journey. ]

She has? That's good. I know that we all pray to all the different gods, but I wasn't sure how different it was if you'd entered a true agreement with them.

[ Wanda is kind of testing that out for everyone, isn't she? Himeka sets the bone bundle in front of the other woman. ]

What do you think you'll find...?

Like a voice at the back of my head, but not always.

[there were limits, parameters, and it's fair to think that soris had more on her divine plate to do than to just hang around wanda. she listened when wanda needed her, and that much was—strange as it may seem—comfort enough. wanda moves the bundle closer to herself, but shows no impatience in needing to leave right away.

a light frown on her expression, she looks back at himeka.]

Right now? I think it's... understanding. How my magic differs from the one she gives me. There's something else, too, and that might be what's making me sick.

[she quickly raises a hand.]

I'm fine right now. Don't worry. I won't be passing out on my way to the shrine.

[ But not always. So she's not always listening, always watching? That seems good. (Himeka does know a bit what that's like, even if it's somewhat in hindsight.) Having the help of another is important but privacy is just as, especially for someone like Wanda who keeps things so close to her chest.

She begins to set out the jars that she'll be using to dish out Wanda's rations as well as the offering to Soris. Everyone gets some tasty porridge this morning, even the old gods.

She does pause, of course, at Wanda mentioning her own condition and offers a wry smile of her own. Himeka would offer to help however she can, but she recognizes that's an attempt to assuage her worry and magical intervention before it's presented. ]

Well, if you do start feeling off, just let me know. I'll always be happy to come and fetch you.

[ And it's even easier now that they have some faster mounts at their disposal. ]

I have been wondering about that, though...for the most part the magicks here just feel like different methods of application, but...is it different with the gods? Where does their power come from?

I will.

[there's a light smile as she agrees to letting himeka know if she needs to be fetched. it's unlikely that wanda will ask for the help—mostly because she hopes she won't need it—but it's reassuring that there is someone who'll be waiting for her to come home.

it's a nice feeling that solvunn has given back to her.

at the latter questions, wanda's brow furrows. more questions, more curiosity, about how this world works. what, if anything, will help them achieve the goals they want to achieve? have the answers they need to not succumb to any of the perils in this land?]

The only thing that makes sense to me is the Singularity. Perhaps — the magic just exists in nature, and it takes on a vessel for it to be used. The gods could represent something like it.

The will of the magic made concrete.

[ She'll take Wanda's promise at face value. While Wanda certainly doesn't need the help in terms of power, strength, or determination...she knows that support comes in many different forms.

In her mind, magic does just exist in nature, but what is the nature of that magic? Her experiences no with aether and dynamis makes her wonder what other types may be out there and how they shape the universe as they know it.

Grand, big thoughts...too big for her. (She always feels that way, no matter how far she's traveled and what she's seen. She's not a thinker, you see. She's a doer.)

But Wanda's thoughts do put back in the front of her mind what she'd always wondered about the gods-- ]

Do you think they take the forms of what they want to be? Or what the people who worship them want to be? Or are they just...as they are?

[thoughts too big for all of them, truth be told. it gives wanda a headache to think about—if she were to ever think about it. even if she thinks she understands how the multiverse works, it still gives her trouble to understand the nuances of it.

mysteries of the world that one isn't meant to truly hold, and all that.]

I'm — not sure. I think we'd have better luck figuring that out with the newer gods, if the old gods come from generations before the one currently living here.

[a wish, a prayer, that takes shape...]

I would imagine that their thoughts about the matter are less concerned about appearances. Like most things supernatural, at least from my world, they dictate their lives and experiences different from our own. Why is baba yaga? Who knows— she just is.

[baba yaga being a story wanda's retold the members of her small family, here in the treehouse, given the similarities with the chicken-leg house roaming about.]

[ Himeka nods in agreement. There has to be some validity to the story of their creation, even if it's not quite literal. The differences between the cardinal gods and the old old gods--she feels there may be more consciousness and purpose in the former, but she's not sure. As if the eldest are forces of nature. ]

What is baba yaga?

[ At the very least, Himeka has always been a fan of stories. And if this is something from Wanda's world, whether it's helpful to them or not, it's one she wants to know.

The jars assembled, she wraps them together into a little cloth bag--something easy for Wanda to slip into a sack of her own or onto a mount if she wishes. ]

—is this your way of keeping me home a bit longer, Himeka?

[asking her about baba yaga and all. but there is no accusatory tone in her voice; rather, she is amused. wanda knows how much himeka likes a story, and in a place like solvunn where technology is lacking and things to do are scarce in a long day, there's a chance all of them are fans of stories.

wanda reaches for the cloth bag, but keeps her hands atop it, making no effort to move yet.]

She can either be a ferocious old woman who fries and eats children, or someone who helps lost travelers. We have a lot of stories about her where I'm from and there are variations in the countries nearby, but what is the same is that she lives in a house with chicken legs deep in the forest.

sounds familiar?]

'Baba' means grandmother or old woman, and 'yaga' is something similar to 'witch'.

[ She smiles a little bit--it wasn't exactly the entire intention. Maybe just a little bit of it, at least because she does want to gauge how well Wanda is doing. They can be open about things now, but Wanda herself is still someone to hold things close to her chest if she can. And, maybe, Himeka just enjoys their little talks.

That's not too bad, is it?

The description of the woman in addition to her very particular house, however, is one that gives Himeka considerable pause. She blinks, magenta eyes widening. ]

She's--they're like the Haggard!

[ There's absolutely no way that's a coincidence. How many houses have chicken feet? ]

Are you able to make deals with a Baba Yaga as well?

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you mean *FOR SOMEONE SO TALL

my b

i forgive

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