calderosea

[calderosea]

Briefly, Petra's face scrunched, certain that she was misunderstanding what Leif was saying to her - had he not made her smile, warmed her heart in the way that home might have? Was this not the charm of a leader? Was it not diplomacy to find the threads of similarity in a foreigner, and to weave together the beginnings of a friendship?

She might have thought on it deeper, so used to the duplicity of nobles here in this land and certain that it was perhaps that he did not think her worthy of being charmed, if he had not continued - so it was simply that he did not see himself, and so could not acknowledge the qualities in himself that he saw in others, whoever they might be.

Her brow pinched in sadness but only for a moment before she nods at him, the smile back on her face.

"Yes, I will be seeking you - our time is almost ending for this event, but not at this Academy. We will be training together, soon," she promised as the bell marking the end of the round, and the event, sounded, eager to see what strength of body this boy carried, if he came from a home that seemed so similar to hers. Would he fight like her, or would there be something to learn for the both of them?

- fin.

running, jumping, climbing trees

[calderosea]

Petra listened, head cocked - it was a longer speech than she was used to hearing, but she found that she needed less time to absorb and understand, each sentence clearly stated. This Leif did not seem shy or uncertain of what his heart wanted, and not for the first time in the conversation she found herself glad that she had met him, eager to learn from him as he seemed eager to learn from her.

"You are saying that you are not so good at diplomacy, but I am thinking that you have its understanding within your grasp. It is the wanting to learn and to reach out to other people which is having importance."

It was the foundation of telling a story, she thought, of passing down and sharing those important histories that so many in positions of reverence did without care in Fodlan, but that she treasured herself. It seemed, too, that Prince Leif also treasured this - hearing these different sides, learning the different stories so that they may all come together in a colorful tapestry, rather than repeating the same lines by rote.

Her smile warmed, and she leaned forward. "Yes. I am believing also - I would like to be learning of Leonster, and in turn I will be sharing with you stories of Brigid. We will not be able to see the ocean, but perhaps hearing of it will bring calm to the wildness."

running, jumping, climbing trees

[calderosea]

"No, it is not the same." The ocean was a force that could not be imitated, just as the sky could not be imitated, nor the jungles, nor the volcanoes. No matter if there were mountain rivers of freezing snowmelt to swim in, or the fishing pond put there by man.

She felt a pang for home, looking down at her hands, only for a moment before his next words settled in.

"I am not knowing House Leonster - " the word felt thick and uncomfortable on her tongue, much the same shape to her as the Alliance, Leicester, but with more rounded turns to travel, " - is that in Fodlan?"

She frowned. "I was thinking that I had learned many names of territories, but I am seeing now that I must study with greater hardness to learn about your home. This is part of diplomacy that I am lacking, is the knowing of many places. It must be settled near the ocean, for your memories to be living there."

running, jumping, climbing trees

[calderosea]

Like a Mage in Headlights

[calderosea]

"The ocean has much wildness," she agreed with a solemn nod, "but she is always there to be comforting. Even though reaching the ocean is difficult in the mountains. I have not been finding anything similar in Garreg Mach," she added, a touch sadly.

Though this Leif spoke a mite quickly for her liking, it was easier, she thought, that he was so direct. He didn't speak in many of the flowery tones and turns of phrase that many of the nobles she'd spoken to had, or use much of the jargon that many commoners did - he got to the point, an arrow hitting true.

"I am studying all things since coming to Garreg Mach," she replied, cocking her head. "The same battle formations, to be strategizing for future combat, and history." Fodlan history, she didn't say, but the thought pinched her brow.

Shaking her head, she continued, "I am having to study all things with hardness, because I will be queen. I will be knowing how to stand on the same ground as the leaders in Fodlan. This is my duty."

running, jumping, climbing trees

[calderosea]

His energy was high and infectious, and Petra could not help but laugh as he demonstrated with his hands the sort of trees he was talking about.

"I am not knowing willows, but mangroves are not moving in this way." She thought for a moment, deciding that although they did not sway, there was perhaps a similarity, and she curled her own fingers, spiderlike, one hand atop the other to mimic the massive, gnarled root colonies that lurked in the water. "They are growing like this, and emerging from the water like serpents - you must be careful, or you will be getting trapped.

"You should not be wiggling," she confirmed with a solemn nod, drawing her hands back.

At his claim, the end of the round sounded, and she assessed him carefully - his bluster and energy seemed to mark him as the sort of easy companion she might have liked to spend time with, even if it also made it perhaps hard to follow what he was saying with any consistency.

Still, she liked this Edward, and she smiled to show it. "If you are having to fight a crocodile, then I will not be leaving you to die there, either."

haha bro noooo don't leave me to die in a pit of quicksand haha

[calderosea]

More alike than not, then. She recognized the uncertainty of feeling small in a situation much larger than yourself - though guardian certainly had a different connotation than master, she thought that perhaps his discomfort still may have been telling.

Petra smiled in return, nodding once in affirmation. "Yes. If you are trying, then you may be succeeding. Trust is hard, but you do not have to be trusting in yourself at first - you can be finding to trust in your heart on your behalf."

The signal for the end of the round sounded, and Petra stood, bowing her head in acknowledgement of the new friend she'd made. "Please be finding me if you are lacking in faith."

- fin.

Like a Mage in Headlights

[calderosea]

Like a Mage in Headlights

[calderosea]

topic: preferred ways to pass the time.

This was a rather easier topic to discuss than some of the others she'd been presented with, and Petra had her answer prepared, rehearsed in her head before her newest partner had even sat down.

She greeted him with a polite nod, eyes assessing his face. "I am Petra," she said. "I am princess of Brigid, and we are liking greatly to be outdoors. To be giving some examples, hunting in the trees, or swimming in the ocean."

It was different for many in Fodlan, she knew - though her home had its share of learned people, they were not the scholars and politicos of the mainland. They felt the spirits around them more starkly and basked in the abundant nature, and she had tried her hardest to retain these habits, even here.

She cocked her head, then, almost in afterthought she added, "But I am also studying with much perseverance to be learning while I am at Garreg Mach. This language is still new to me, so I must always be...applying myself, with hardness."

@diadic

running, jumping, climbing trees

[calderosea]

@justices-blade, continued from here

Jerking back, Petra shook her head firmly. "No," she said, tone quite serious. "We will not be pulled into the sand together. We would fight," she insisted, bringing one hand up to form a fist, as though this would demonstrate her own determination.

She liked this Edward - his energy shone forth from his spirit and kindled her own, and though he could not have been any less a foreigner than she, she felt the call of something comfortable in speaking with him.

Even if he spoke rather quickly, though he had slowed down his speed considerably since she had first spoken. She recognized the instinct, in the way that many do with struggles of language. Far from feeling patronized, as another might, Petra felt grateful - for the effort, for the attention, for the acknowledgement, even though she would have preferred he not have needed to to begin with.

"I am not having been trapped in bog or sand, but I am understanding your meaning - we have forests of mangrove trees which one is needing a strong trusted companion to be navigating with. You should also not be wiggling there," she added, thoughtful, "for the crocodiles will be hunting you then."

haha bro noooo don't leave me to die in a pit of quicksand haha

[calderosea]

topic: how would you save your current conversation partner if you were in a sandpit together, getting slowly pulled down into the abyss? or would you prioritize yourself?

Upon deciphering the long note Knoll and Hubert left the two of them, Edward barely gives his eyebrows only a moment to reach his hairline before shoving the note back to Petra, eyes alight.

"I've never been in a sand pit before, but bogs aren't that different, right?" he asks, before clenching a fist enthusiastically. "I'd never let you sink! I'd get both of us out of there, no problem!"

When Petra had signed up for this event, she had not necessarily gone in blind, the doe-eyed creature some might have expected. She had known that courting was an odd thing in Fodlan, having watched those with and without Crests grapple for attention in the Imperial Court. Here at the monastery, it was little different - it was merely that the scale was smaller.

It fascinated her, the lengths that the Fodlani would go to, to manoeuvre a connection where previously there had been none. Hubert did not seem the type, his lot already cast, but the other host, their quiet, dour little librarian...

Petra blinked at the note that had been provided for them, and she parsed it after a moment, her brow furrowing at the young man's voice - though she didn't have trouble putting together what was written on the note, she struggled for a moment reading and listening at the same time.

It wasn't that his sunny disposition didn't charm her, it was merely that he spoke so quickly.

Finally, after a moment of somber silence, Petra agreed, "Yes, I am never having been in a pit of sand, but if we were to being trapped then I would not be leaving you to die."

[calderosea]

With the coming of peace, it allows people time again to enjoy leisurely pursuits. Art appreciation and games return. One noble re-introduces an old deck of cards, each painted with a monster, spell, or trap, to the people of Garreg Mach and the game spreads like wildfire again. Everyone scrambles to dig out their own decks, or gather new ones, and become the most powerful summoner on the continent. Merchants and artists even begin to sell new sets, breathing life into the game for those who had played it the first time, and providing a fresh entry point for newcomers as well. Care for a game? [Grants Authority +1]  (starter for @hresvelged)

"Bet you never seen nothing like this in Brigid." 

The vendor winked at her, and Petra blinked at him in return. His smile faltered, before he scrambled to display a series of cards before her. It wasn't unusual for people to direct comments of these kinds to her, as though every sight and sound in Fodlan was brand new to her, but it was not as though the people of Brigid did not play games. 

She looked at the presented cards with a discerning eye – it was clear to see why the vendor had thought that she would like them, depicted with towering golden brown women or lush junglescapes or prowling feline beasts. This seemed to be what most in Fodlan pictured when they thought of Brigid, if they thought of her at all. 

Petra found she did not mind, at least in this instance. Leaning forward to take in the words on the cards, and piecing together what she could decipher of the rules from this limited information, she felt herself pleased that her people would have such a fearsome reputation, to be compared with such mythical power. She nodded at the vendor, and she allowed him a smile. 

"I will be taking them," she confirmed, digging into her coinpurse, pausing as she noticed the other presence in the shop. 

"Hello Lady Edelgard. Are you also here to be purchasing the Dueling Monsters? It is a game of great skill - " here, she turned to the vendor for confirmation, who nodded, eager for the idea of two sales for the price of one. 

"Would you be liking to play the game with me?" 

amazoness • empress

[calderosea]

She nodded once at his acceptance, brusque, but ultimately pleased that he had so willingly agreed to follow her into the dark wood. Trusting Hubert was something that came with practice, and when she had first arrived at the Imperial Palace all those years ago she had feared him just as everyone else did, taking the cold gaze of a predator at face value in this land where everyone looked as though they wanted to devour her, for good or ill. 

But with time, she remembered that she could be a predator as well, and his circling felt less like being hunted, and more like being assessed. A protector in his own right, for Lady Edelgard. 

She led the way into the forest surrounding the monastery, strides confident as she followed the tromp of old footprints – careless, these hunters, to leave such deep tracks – into the center of a dense copse of trees, a small opening cleared for the statue itself. 

It did not seem old, the cracks in the stone fresh, more dirtied by exposure to the rains of the last week than eroded by age. There remained little sign of activity around the statue to indicate what it might have been monument to, and the damage done had scoured any sense of purpose or identity from it. Footsteps light, Petra approached, placing the palm of her hand on a small patch of smooth, undisturbed stone. 

If she closed her eyes, would these supposed spirits tell her their names? Would she have been able to hear them, if she listened? 

Turning back to Hubert, her brow pinched into a sad frown, she said simply, "I am not thinking that this was done by spirits." 

mm, freaky man-baby

[calderosea]

Seminars are encouraged at the monastery. They help others learn from their peers while strengthening friendship at the same time. Well… most seminars. This seminar, on the other hand, is on… the basis of keeping one’s composure? That’s what the paper says, after all. “Learn how to withstand interrogations that may test your emotional and physical strength.” What wasn’t included in the description was that the instructor would attack you the moment you arrived at the meeting place! By their words, they’ll chase you and your partner through a booby-trapped forest to raise the tension, but if you’re caught… Well, they only smile at you and count down. [Grants Sword +1]  (starter for @beholdenning and @fangedjustice)

The lands in the territory surrounding Garreg Mach – the timbered Oghma Mountains, and the river valley towns that lay nestled safely under watch of the Fodlan Goddess – were quite different from her homeland. Where there her lungs felt flush with the air coming from the sea, here it was thin and tight, as though her lungs were perpetually reaching but could not quite grasp. The sunlight, too, when it shone in Brigid it hit her cheek as though the cupped hand of a friend, of family, the warmth seeping into her heart immediately – whereas here it was bright and distant, filtered through the clouds until it took on a silvery quality. 

Even the woods, though she felt comforted by the surrounding trees, fell still and silent, bereft of the clamor that the lush, dense jungle of home provided. 

Even so, as she moved through the underbrush she measured her steps, each footfall silent but for the barest shift of fallen conifer needles. 

Hunter, now hunted. 

It was a lesson in composure, those in attendance had been advised – to test not only one's ability to keep their wits about them in the blind tension of the chase, but also to remain calm when captured. 

She did not intend to be captured. 

Petra knew that she did not need to worry about her composure, of keeping her head cool in the face of danger – every day in this land was a danger, to her, to her people, and so she learned through experience quickly – and so instead took the opportunity to exercise a different skill she was well-practiced in. 

Wind from the south – birds silent. Laying in wait? 

She cocked her head, squinting through the blanket of fog that had settled heavily in the area, before turning back to the companion that accompanied her for the exercise – a knight, handsome, and with the wary gait of a swordsman. 

She shook her head, jutted her chin in the direction she believed their pursuer rested, unwilling to give the slightest sound. 

if it is bleeding, then we can be killing it