abraxaslogs | [OPEN] november/december catchall

( Remembering the way to Zalyshyty's shrine comes easy to Haelva -- though she can't say if that's because she is meant to know it by heart or because it pulls at her like each coin does. She visits it weekly; more when she's given a coin to follow to the forgotten dead. That someone else is there this time, watching her, has her taken aback -- she spins, tense, but then relaxes as she sees the other woman. Aloy, wasn't it? From the welcoming party. )

Why? I am simply returning what they gave me. ( She holds up a small brass coin, easily flipping it up into the air before catching it again. ) It is the least I can do for Zalyshyty.

[Aloy is aware that more Summoned are venturing out into the woods--both out of boldness and curiosity. It's not lost on her that because she has a compound out here that others think they might be able to accomplish the same. All the more reason to keep an eye on these kinds of activities.

Haelva does seem to have an offering, which has Aloy's hackles up. So far, no good has come from drawing the gods' attention, and the fact that this one is already known by name is not comforting to her.]

Yeah? Who are they the god of?

( Haelva opens her mouth to respond, considers, and then shuts it. That hadn't been something it had imparted on her, though she could make a guess. Instead she shrugs with one shoulder before crossing her arms in front of her chest. )

That never came up in conversation. ( Sorry Aloy, it's a bit more than just visiting the shrine. ) Though if I had to make an educated guess, it would be a god related to funeral rites, or the forgotten dead. Rather benign on the whole.

( Comparatively. )

Uh-huh.

[She puts her hands on her hips--that kind of seems like a recipe for disaster, but Aloy also has to tell herself that the norm for other worlds might seem uncomfortable and dangerous to her. That does not, however, mean that her instincts aren't right, so her expression is one of suspicion.]

And how did you...connect? With this god?

( Is she being cross examined by the woman who lives in the woods? It's not the weirdest thing to have happened to Haelva, so she goes with it for the moment. There's nothing that she feels like she should hide from anyone, especially considering what she's seen in her time in Abraxas. )

I was drawn towards their shrine and found them there. Surely it's not an uncommon thing to happen here in Solvunn, judging by the way both locals and Summoned frequent the shrines with offerings of their own.

And they spoke to you?

[Admittedly, she might be a bit curious about how that came about--how it works, really. Aloy has spoken with entities that some might consider gods, but she's well aware of how they work. What they really are. She might not be convinced there isn't something behind the curtain here.]

They asked you to return those coins?

They did.

( Though if Aloy asked, Haelva would have no idea what it made it talk to her, other than its vague insistence on her potential. Still, Haelva's egotistical enough to want to see where that goes. As for the coins, well. )

Not quite. Every so often a raven will give me one, and if I follow it I find the forgotten dead. Nothing humanoid. ( If that helps. ) I put it to rest, and that is that. I'm returning the coin because, well. It only seems to make sense to return what was given.

What was that like?

[The only thing she's really seen of the gods was at Josselyn's execution, and that hadn't exactly been a pleasant experience. Every other brush with them has involved some kind of unfortunate event, but although she's certainly skeptical, she manages to sound a bit curious.]

Is that all it wants?

[And what does she get out of it?]

Interesting. As far as I can recall, my experiences with gods are always through their Chosen rather than the gods themselves. It was a privilege to be witness to one here.

( This is a lie, though Haelva doesn't know it. There are two gods she's had direct dealings with -- one of death and one of murder. As for the question of 'is it all it wants', well. Haelva has a little practice with this, considering Astarion's distaste of the idea as a whole. )

For now. But I'm not so foolishly led, and can hold my own should I need to. There is no harm in seeing what happens, wouldn't you agree?

No, actually.

[She does not agree, which is why she's out here policing the shrines in the first place. At the same time, she knows Haelva is recently arrived, so maybe she doesn't know this, not yet.]

If someone does something they don't like--or tampers with something they shouldn't, they lash out. And that affects all of us.

( Aloy's response makes Haelva scrunch her face up in a comical manner -- could someone really be so uncurious as to cut off a whole avenue of exploration or knowledge? Unfortunately for the both of them, there is a certain amount of pride in Haelva that lingers from before her memory loss. )

Then I will simply have to make sure to avoid doing either. ( A small concession: ) I've no wish to harm others, especially those uninvolved in my dealings. But nor am I going to turn a blind eye to the forces that govern the natural order of things here. We can't guess at their motives, or their truths, if we simply ignore them.

There's a middle ground, between ignoring and provoking.

[Aloy wouldn't say she's ignoring them, but she certainly doesn't go out of her way to agitate them, either. She's learned, in her time here, that the gods are not something she alone can fight, as much as she'd like to--so she's operating with more patience than she might, ordinarily. It's important, when it comes to protecting the people here. ]

Just...be careful, okay?

( Haelva can sense that she's being generous from her perspective, and so she nods. )

You have my word. ( Somewhere Astarion disapproves. Aloy seems capable enough, and experiences Solvunn from a very different perspective, and hard to track down if she doesn't want to be. ) Have you seen anything unusual in the woods that would have been missed by those of us living in the settlements?

[Well, Aloy doesn't know if Haelva's word is worth anything, but she'll leave it there for now. What she can speak on more specifically is the things she finds out in the woods.]

Nero covers it pretty well in his brochure. [But she understands what Haelva is asking.] The monsters out here, they're real. And people get lost, trying to find the shrines. I escort a lot of villagers back to the Commune.

( Curious. Haelva places the coin on the shrine -- not as devotedly reverent as perhaps the villagers might, but with a certain amount of respect for the god that finds her holding promise. )

Do you think that there's a relation between the monsters and the villagers getting lost? Cursed lands are not uncommon where I'm from, nor is using magic to lure the unsuspecting to their deaths.

I think a lot of people just don't know their way around.

[Or they see something, and leave the path, or they're trying to find a shrine and aren't as familiar with the woods as they might think. It's easy, to get turned around out here, even without the dangers of local fauna.]

But you can get hurt out here. Easily.

( Easy enough to do, Haelva supposes. It's strange to think that there isn't anything else at play out in the woods, but since Aloy seems to make her home there, she'd know best. )

How long have you been out here, then, to know the woods so well?

More than a year.

[Which she doesn't really like to admit out loud, because it reminds her of just how long she's been away. Aloy frowns.]

I came out here right away. Didn't want to be dependent on the Commune.

( Hmm. Haelva is silent as she considers this before pressing -- though she will take silence as enough of an answer. )

May I ask why? From what I understand, the yoke of our hosts is quite loose compared to say, Thorne or the Free Cities. ( A pause, as she admits: ) Beyond the whole... cult feeling the place gives off.

I do better on my own.

[She bears the Arcana of the Hermit for a reason, after all. Aloy has always valued her independence--that said, she knows she has specific talents that are valuable to the villagers, and she doesn't want to leave them in danger.

As for the whole cult thing, well.]

Yeah. That's another reason.

I think I must have thought the same, once. ( Of doing things alone, of being alone. Not that Haelva has changed that much, considering that if they were to get close to her she would kill them when gripped by the Urge. ) But the companions I have managed to find are a welcome change.

( Ah, cults. )

It's not all that different from my home. A cult there is seeking to manipulate a great many people for an unknown goal.

[Disappointing, of course, to be reminded yet again that extremism seems to be a constant across universes. She'd taken care of the Eclipse, even hunted their remnants into the West, only to find a new kind of zealotry in Regalla's rebels and the Quen. Even Solvunn has shown their religion has a darker side. Haelva is right to have these concerns.]

Were you trying to stop them? Before you came here.

We were. More by chance than anything. ( Which isn't to say she doesn't care about keeping the Dread Three at bay or not becoming a brainwashed member of the cult. Just that she hadn't set out to do that at all. Just to get rid of the worm in her head and understand who... what she is. ) But now we're the only ones who can, and so we will.

Sometimes you don't go looking for that kind of thing.

[Sometimes the cult is just in your path, and you have to do what it takes to get past them, and keep them from hurting anyone else.]

Who's we? Your friends?

( One day she'll remember that the cult was her idea. But that memory is locked safely away, and for now she's focused on stopping it without any awkward conversations. )

Companions. Though I suppose they're friends now. Going through things together tends to do that to any group, even if some would deny it.

( Lae'zel. Astarion would probably agree to the moniker through great duress, but he would, she thinks, eventually concede the point. )

[OPEN] november/december catchall

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