abraxaslogs | [Open] A Star In Hand Lit His Way

Rinwell. [a beat, before there's a soft hoot from her tiny companion.] And he's Hootle.

[ The name doesn't ring any bells, but given how familiar the man is with the kitchen, and the fact he's, well. Cooking. Means Rinwell isn't quite as on edge as she might otherwise be. (It's been a very strange couple of weeks.)

The undead pet has yet to be noticed; probably for the best, at least to start!

She does hesitate before relinquishing one of the bags, letting him handle the legumes and spices, before giving him a bit of a smile at his question. ]

..Ciri. Though I think Jaskier's been forgetting too, even when he loudly exclaims otherwise. [she understands, however; if it had been one of her close friends.. She winces away from stray memories, and shifts the milk churn so she can hold it more securely] I didn't have enough for fresh meat in the market, so I just went for jerky, but I'm not sure which of the sellers to trust for that yet.

Yes, for a man so skilled with words in songs, you'd think he'd be better at lying.

[He takes the bag and deposits it on the table, which is thankfully free of monster parts today. The first day Hector had come here, it had been covered in giant scorpion corpses. Simpler times, those.]

Between your supplies and mine, there's enough here to see them fed for a few days. Whether we can actually get them to sit down and eat it is another story.

It can be hard to think on your feet when you're worried about someone, I guess. And given how long he spends on some of his songs..

[mind you, that's her going by the one song he'd been fiddling with prior to everything going topsy turvy since she moved in. Hector seems far more confident in his assessment - a longer time friend, perhaps?

A burden shared is a burden halved, and Rinwell makes up her mind to relax - at least for now. She looks over to the stove.]

Making it one less thing to worry about does make a risk of them forgetting entirely.. But things like stews and soup at least keep for a while. And they can at least drink it on the go! I have some other plans for the milk, assuming the cold box works as well for it as I hope it does. But everything else is good to use right away!

What have you done so far?

[Hector nods toward the pot.]

Mostly this. I started the bone broth a few hours ago, and the meat and vegetables I put in are cooking. Toss in anything you like. I'm not following any particular recipe.

[Hector's medieval, and he's used to keeping a pot on the hearth and just constantly adding to it for an easy meal.]

I probably should make some bread or something, but I've never been great at that. Dough is the thing I can't seem to raise.

Ahh. Pot luck.

[ The best kind, honestly. And no Alphen here to add too much in the way of explosively hot spices to it (not that she'd ever admit to missing that too). ]

Where I'm from, it's freezing all the time, so having a soup or a stew always available on the hearth is a mainstay. Is it like that where you're from?

[ Hootle flips his wings and resettles on her shoulder, cuddling close to her neck, and Rinwell starts setting her remaining groceries on the table. The churn is parked next to the coldbox, for now. The fox's tail is noticed, and gets a blink, but Hector's comment distracts her from getting a better look at the creature. ]

The wrong kind of yeast, maybe? [the 'raise' pun has definitely gone over her head] Though I haven't seen anyone using the oven here for bread. I think they usually go to the bakery at the end of the street for those.

No, I come from somewhere warmer than that. I lost many a day to my studies, though, so I learned to make something like this to keep myself fed.

[His lips twitch into a quick smile at the owl's antics, though he's no time to study the bird as closely as he'd like. A plump little specimen, though not any breed of owl he recognizes.]

That could be it. Well, the bakers have it figured out, so we'll have to keep relying on them.

[Hector's more than willing to accept that solution. The important thing is keeping the household fed, not where the food comes from.]

Desert hot or rolling green hills hot?

[ The lands that extend beyond Cadens seem to suggest a bit of both, but Rinwell is thinking of home when she asks; really, Dahna has become a place of such extremes of weather, it's probably not fair to try and compare. ]

Ah, that makes sense. And a really sensible way to keep yourself fed when you really get stuck in with studying! What sort of studies did you do?

[ smol nerd cannot resist asking tall nerd, what can you do? Hootle, meanwhile, notices Hector noticing him, and face is shyly hidden in Rinwell's hair at once. ]

Do we have enough bread for tonight at least? If not, I don't mind running back out to get some.

Not quite either one. I spent most of my time on islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Hot, dry summers and warm, rainy winters. I never saw snow on the ground until a couple years back, when I was called to Wallachia.

[He's not a fan of snow. Cold, horrible stuff, and the risk of frostbite still haunts him from a forced barefoot march through it.]

Biology, and alchemical rituals. My work involves transmuting biological matter into new forms. Creating life.

[The owl is charming, but he's been around enough skittish animals to know not to approach something so shy too quickly. He turns his attention back to the girl.]

We'll get by. There's the better part of a loaf left in the pantry. It's a little hard, but it won't matter if you dip it in the stew.

[Gourmet, it is not, but full of medieval practicality, yes.]

The snow never really melts back home, but there are times of the year it gets milder. I'd never seen the sun until.. [a pause, as Rinwell first counts back in her head how long she's been in the Cities, then further still to her first steps into Calaglia.] About maybe seven months ago? So I kind of understand that.

[ That's...not quite in the same ballpark, Rinwell. ]

Really? Alchemy can do that? [her eyes go round in surprise] What sort of life, exactly? As in, zeugles?

[ She hasn't used that term in months, but it slips free now, before she shakes herself slightly and nods. ]

That should be more than fine for tonight, even between four of us. Five if.. [if a certain missing monster hunter is found] I'll make a note to get more in the morning.

The sun's nice, isn't it? I took it for granted until I moved somewhere I couldn't see it for long stretches.

[Now he sometimes finds himself curling up like a cat in front of a sunny window, just appreciating the feel of warmth and light on his skin.]

It can. It's a rare talent, but I've been doing it since childhood. [He frowns over the term, though. Is this how others feel when he says 'forgemaster'? What the fuck is 'zeugles'?] That would depend on what a 'zeugle' is.

It's nice when you're not burning under it, for sure. [her head shakes ruefully, thinking of Calaglia] I've since been to a few places since that are pretty idyllic under the sun, though. I was a little envious of how nice it was..

[ Setting aside the entire occupied state of Dahna, anyway. But they'd been working to fix that! ]

There's very little alchemy back home, and the alchemists in this city don't seem to do that. Then again, they..they sure have their opinions on magic. [TO PUT IT MILDLY]

I'd say..the closest thing on my world would have to be what the Renans do. [she hesitates; it's clear from how she says Renan that they're not viewed positively, at least in her book, but she doesn't want him to think she's saying he's like that. (..unless he is, in which case, uuuuuuh..)] Zeugles are man-made monsters, conditioned to obey their commands. In the past, they took native creatures and changed them, warped them into the ones we have now.

Are they obsessed with gold and immortality? That's all the 'true' alchemists on my world cared about.

[Hector's opinions are strongly colored by his father's view on the subject, may he burn in Hell. Anyways.]

I suppose so. That's part of what I can do, make creatures that can fight for me. The other side of it is giving new life to dead creatures, like our friend here.

[He gives a little whistle that draws the fox out of hiding from under the table. It circles again around Hector's feet, sniffing the air in Rinwell's direction but not yet approaching.]

Making money from their inventions that are "superior" to magic seems to be the priority. They haven't mentioned immortality. But.. There are some alchemists who make medicine, according to Ciri. That seems a more practical thing to be doing.

[ Given the number of healing gels they'd use on their travels back home, being able to make your own? Sounds like a godsend.

She probably wouldn't even begrudge the science side of things, especially since magic is a rather exclusive club (you either can or can't do it), but everything about this city seems determined to rub Rinwell the wrong way lately..

Any worry that might flicker across her face when Hector confirms he can indeed make fighty creatures vanishes, replaced by both shock and curiousity when he confirms he..can bring things back to life? And here's a fox to prove it. Peering down, she slowly crouches to its level, though Rinwell doesn't reach for it.

Hootle, however, chirps curiously, before hopping down to the floor; he is a baby, so hardly a threatening size compared to the fox, but he tips his head this way and that trying to assess the dead thing. ]

That's...woah. You do that with magic?

I wish our alchemists would focus their talents on medicines.

[That would be too logical and helpful, though. Instead, the alchemists of Hector's world horded their power and hid it from the world at large.

The fox tiptoes forward towards the owl, then deciding he's ventured too close, leaps back like a startled cat. It's playful. Hector isn't as familiar with this desert variety as he is with those he'd found in the forests of Wallachia, but he thinks his little pet is young for its kind. He ducks behind Hector's boot and pops out on the other side.

Hector gives the creature a fond shake of his head.]

Yes. I get the body back in working order, then use magic to recall the spirit and rekindle it into life. Animals don't have souls the same way people do, and often enough if the body is in good repair, they can be called back without being changed.

It certainly sounds like they'd prefer to be selfish with it.. But is immortality really possible?

[ And why would anyone want to live forever? That sounds incredibly lonely..

There's a startled hoot as the fox leaps back, Hootle flapping his wings to stay upright, before the little bird looks up at Hector, then back to the fox, before deciding he's just a little too small for this and flutters back to hide behind Rinwell instead. At boot level, of course, since she's still crouched. ]

That's...honestly amazing. And a little scary. [perhaps that's too honest to say, but she does at least smile up at Hector while she says it.] But if the astral energy answers when you call, I guess it can't be all bad. Especially if they get to live as they did before.

[Hector shrugs.]

Not if you wish to remain human. Vampires can, in theory, live forever, but they lose something in the exchange. Nobody is meant to last forever.

[Nobody knows the inevitability of death better than a necromancer, after all.

The fox tiptoes closer, now more curious than scared, to try to catch sight of Hootle again. He has no need to hunt, but his instincts still call out to stalk, if only as a game. Hector can intervene if needed, but he prefers to let his pets do as they will unless it threatens them or someone else.]

It's not good or bad. It just is. [Rinwell's honest answer doesn't bother Hector. He can appreciate that being the laws of nature would be, to most people, 'scary'. But he doesn't think of his work as falling on either side of the scale of morality, although the church would certainly disagree.]

In nature, things die and are reborn. I just do it faster, for creatures that could use a second chance.

What's a vampire? And..what kind of things do they lose?

[ Living forever? That sounds like something made up for stories...things Rinwell is all to familiar with, thanks to her love of books. She's never read about vampires on Dahna, but fact has proven a lot stranger than fiction since she was pulled out of that well portal not so long ago.

Her attention is turned up and focused on Hector, while owl and undead fox play peekaboo around her legs. Hootle doesn't seem particularly worried about the stalking behaviour, though he does tilt his head this way and that to get a better view. ]

It just is.. That's like all magic then, isn't it? The magic itself isn't inherently anything except itself.

[ She's not entirely sure she's comfortable with the idea of messing with the cycle of life and death that way, but how he's explained it to her at least makes it..not better, but has lifted some worries from her shoulders. Besides, if he's friends with Jaskier and Geralt, he can't be that bad a guy. Right? ]

What other sort of animals have you brought back before?

[Hector raises an eyebrow. Really, there are people who haven't heard of vampires?

He wipes his hands clean on a towel, leaving the cooking so he can focus on Rinwell. The stew can keep simmering while he talks.]

Vampires used to be humans, but ones who have died and been resurrected as something else. They do not age or get ill, but they must drink human blood and avoid sunlight to survive.

[Hector used to think that their advanced age allowed them a wiser perspective on the world, but it turns out, it made them lose more than they gained. Go figure.]

Yes, morality is largely a human invention. In nature, there is only survival and adaptation.

[Of course, he's also responsible for a lot of death, so maybe his opinion isn't the best one to listen to on the topic.]

Oh, back home I had dogs, cats, hawks, foxes, anything I found dead near my home. They made delightful little pets. Here, so far, I have this one and a frog. He came with me from Thorne.

[Open] A Star In Hand Lit His Way

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sorry for the late, it's been a Week (and not even over yet lol)

no worries!

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