abraxaslogs | [OPEN] july catcahll

i. inadvisable camping

[Aloy is, for lack of a better word, settling. She’s still not a fan, and recent events and the subsequent ritual has her on edge, but by now she realizes she has no choice but to make the best of the situation. Working on a farm is not at all her style, so she does enough to not anger the villagers, but otherwise spends her time exploring, doing small expeditions out into the woods, and, perhaps, working on the feasibility of an escape plan. She's brusque, if you run into her around town, but not necessarily impolite.

That said, astute observers might notice that Aloy has not actually taken up residence in the settlement itself. Although she’s willing to lend a hand on a day-to-day basis, following her to the outskirts of the farmlands at the end of the day will reveal that she’s trying her hand at a little off-the-grid homesteading. It’s not pretty, and it probably isn’t entirely safe from local fauna, but Aloy doesn’t appear to care about that very much. She has a little lean-to, and a campfire, and various projects percolating in the general area—the skin of an animal, stretched and drying, tied-up bundles of plant material, and what looks like the beginning of some homemade weaponry. She seems pretty busy (she talks to herself, too), but at the first sound of someone or something approaching, she’s quick to turn all her attentions to the trespasser.]

Who’s there?

[You better not be sneaking up on her!]

ii. monster hunting

[She still doesn’t have a bow or a sling, or anything that might let her put some distance between herself and a hostile entity, but the good news is, there are no machines here. Surely killing something that’s flesh and blood will prove to be easier than a horrible amalgamation of metal fine-tuned by a hostile AI to murder anything that so much as looks at it the wrong way. All things considered, monster hunting should be a breeze.

She has her improvised spear, and finds that doing patrols along the outskirts of the settlement is vastly preferable to farm work. Ordinarily, she might be a little more brazen in her approach to this kind of situation, but there’s still too much about this world and the creatures that inhabit it that she doesn’t know. A stealth tack is probably best.

Aloy has tracked some questionable footprints out past the perimeter of the larger settlement, and has currently settled into some tall grass, eyes scanning the surroundings for a potential livestock-snatching culprit. Maybe you’re out here, too? When she notices you, her immediate response is to offer a look that very clearly says what are you doing, and a gesture that indicates you'd better get close, and stay low.]

Stay down.

[wanda would never consider sneaking up on aloy, which is probably obvious in the way that wanda does not hide herself away in stealth. her approach is born of curiosity, the woman looking familiar to wanda—was it a while ago, when they met? she certainly has a way of keeping to herself, wanda thinks, as she glances around at this campsite.]

I didn't receive an invitation, sorry.

[she tries for an easygoing unspooling of conversation, stopping on her tracks long enough for the other woman to see her face.

only then does wanda continue to approach her, a tilt of her head denoting her intentions.]

The kids were saying something about wanting to go camping, too. Said it wasn't fair they weren't allowed.

—we've met before, haven't we?

[Sneaking up on Aloy is difficult enough as it is, but she's been distracted, as of late, barely adjusting to her new situation before the Singularity unleashed nightmares on them. It's a waste of time and energy to be hostile to people in the same situation as she is, though she can't help but notice that Wanda seems to be visiting her in the flesh, this time. That's an improvement.

Still, it takes her a moment for her to lose some of the tension in her shoulders. Force of habit.]

It's okay.

[No sense in getting into a fight about territory in the woods that isn't even hers. Aloy isn't opposed to being found, necessarily. As long as said kids don't try to follow her out here, she's fine entertaining the occasional fellow Summoned.]

Yeah, I was--one of the villagers lost their goat. You [mind controlled it?] brought it back.

[it's at aloy's words that her memory reconstructs from that one time. it was a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it? wanda traversing around in her astral form, not really looking to do anything but test the limits of her magic within the singularity's influence. there had been a goat, and aloy had been there too, hiding in some bushes for it.]

I remember.

[she offers easily enough, taking a couple more steps into the campsite and—after looking around it for a moment—takes a seat on the ground.]

I'm Wanda. [she doesn't remember having exchanged names.] Have you managed to make a bow yet?

Aloy.

[She seems much more amenable to conversation now that Wanda is (presumably) here in person, as opposed to some kind of projection that reminds her too strongly of what Sylens used to do. Here, however, she needs to adjust her expectations from technology to magic.]

I'm working on it.

[Both the bow and the aforementioned adjustment, but she nods her head over to a makeshift worktable, where it's clear she's been crafting a simple survival bow. It's not the more robust piece she's used to, enhanced with machine parts and using a compound structure, but it will be better than nothing.]

Not much metalworking around here, though.

[aloy. she does seem different from when they met before, but even then wanda wasn't quite entirely herself, wandering about without her physical form. the realm of the spiritual and physical have a different effect on a person's perception of things.

she turns her gaze towards the makeshift worktable, looking over at the bow. it's not like anything she's seen before—lacking that modernity that she has seen in the weapons of her world.

thoughtfully, wanda returns her attention to the other woman.]

No, Solvunn tends to be very... rudimentary. [but wanda has used her magic to turn natural resources into more complex items that facilitate the construction of modern instruments.] I could help you with my magic, if you wanted.

Rudimentary is one way to put it...

[She says that almost under her breath, not wanting to be insulting, but totally wanting to be insulting. The tribes of her homeworld, as primitive as they are, still have metalworking and crafting and even the ones that don't use machine parts in their weapons and armor and ammunition.

If there were machines here, she could make use of that--but there aren't. Only monsters. Maybe they'll have something useful, if she goes hunting, but she can't do that with a farming sickle she's repurposed as a spear. So, of course she's intrigued by Wanda's offer, at least a little.]

What do you mean, help me with your magic?

[If she sounds suspicious, it's because she is. Magic is entirely new to her, after all.]

[aloy should allow herself to be insulting in front of wanda, for she holds no real loyalties towards solvunn other than the gratitude for being given a home amidst all of this. both women are pretty guarded, and it seems that it will take a while to realize that their thoughts are on similar wavelengths, unaffected by criticism of that which surrounds them.

either way, wanda focuses on her question. it sounds all too suspicious.]

My magic lets me shape things into other things.

[as an example, she grabs a rock from the ground by her foot. a pebble, really, which gets surrounded in layers of scarlet exuding from her hand. it shifts, changes shape, and is now a small lock. wanda hands it over to aloy for her to take.]

It depends on what I'm transmuting, but I've made some complex things for a friend in Cadens. What kind of thing are you looking to have with this metalwork?

Edited 2022-07-24 23:35 (UTC)

[Aloy is still having a hard time swallowing all of this, so she tries to think about magic the way she might think about the Caludrons churning out machines, or the nanotechnology of the Zeniths. To the untrained eye, unfamiliar with such a level of technology, the transmutation of an object from one form to another might look like magic. It's easier, she thinks, to simply understand this as a force so advanced that it appears supernatural.

She turns the lock over in her hand. It feels real. Has weight. Maybe Wanda is on to something after all.]

I used a compound bow, back home. [She raises her eyebrows a little, as if asking whether or not Wanda knows what it is.] Easier to pull, and more powerful. More efficient.

[technically, aloy, wanda is a mind reader. however, there is so much she can do about terms that—to her—are exceedingly vague. 'compound bow'? what is that supposed to mean? is it like what clint uses? should... she have paid more attention to clint talking endlessly about the difference between his bows? (that was a long flight to germany.)

aloy gets a look appropriate to how she feels: a confused knitting of her brows.]

Can you describe it, or... draw it? I don't really use weapons.

[Aloy is not necessarily good with words, or much of an artist, so she frowns a little as if puzzling out how to go about this. What she does know is how her own weapons work, and how to cobble together machine parts to enhance something ordinary.]

It's like a pulley system?

[She'll do her best, grabbing a stick and drawing the arc of a bow in the dirt in front of them. It is more-or-less what Clint uses.]

[a pulley system. wanda leans forward, forearms on her knees as she looks down at the bow that aloy is drawing on the dirt. would it be unkind to say that it seems like a very simple drawing with just a few lines...?

granted, the best artist in this whole damn place that wanda's aware of is nero, and it seems like their slight increase in numbers hasn't bettered their chances at landing an artist.

and so, with this, wanda reaches for the bow on the worktable, holding it in both her hands before setting it on the ground.]

I can always change it back if it's not right.

[she reaches for some of stones and rocks nearby, setting them close to the makeshift bow. now, she puts her hands over the top of them, and scarlet magic starts oozing from her hands, ribbons that coil around the materials, wraps and molds, glow carmine, the materials blending until they become one. in the end, the result, is something closer to what she remembers clint's bows to be: modern, sleek, with metal components drawn from the stones and rocks. it follows aloy's drawing.]

I can — change it if needed, especially any specifics.

[she pauses a moment, before supplying,] A friend of mine is an archer. He uses a bow and arrows as his weapons of choice. I'm basing this a little on that.

[Yeah, Aloy can tell that they're not exactly working on the same mechanical level here--the good news is that she's more than used to upgrading and altering her own weapons, so even creating the metal she needs, in the general shape it has to be, might be sufficient. She still regards the actual act of transmuting stone into metal with some suspicion, but perhaps she shouldn't be ungrateful when Wanda is effectively doing her a favor.

And, given the fact that Solvunn is not exactly up to date on metal working, and there are no machines to scavenge parts from, saving her a lot of work. When the magic subsides, she reaches out for the weapon, feeling the new heft in her hands.]

No, I think I can work with this.

[And it does sound like Wanda has some experience with the weapon he's talking about. Aloy thinks she might like to meet this archer friend, but of course understands that it's unlikely.]

Um. [She still isn't quite sure what to think.] Thanks?

[wanda's a little amused at the uncertain thanks? that aloy throw her way, smiling light at it.]

Don't mention it.

[for her part, wanda is satisfied that she was able to give the other woman something to work with. it might not be perfect as she may have envisioned, but it's a start.]

I can change things into raw materials for you next time if that's any better. [she offers, placing her hands flat on her knees.] It sounds like you like working with creating your own things.

Well, I'm not a smith--

[Though she's good at piecing together machine parts and enhancing her own weapons, actually forming metal into the shapes she needs is an expertise best left to her Oseram friends. With that in mind, Wanda has actually been a very big help to her. She's confident she can take it from here.]

--but I know how to make modifications. I'll let you know if I need anything else.

[This was generous, all things considered.]

Edited 2022-08-07 22:07 (UTC)

[OPEN] july catcahll

solvunn

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im laughing, two redheads failing at communicating

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