Words on Planar Winds

This forum represent casual roleplay within the Sigil streets, its bars, and other "walk-in" roleplay avenues.
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Bleuception
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2020 11:38 pm

Posted by Bleuception »


Doubt. This nagging uncertainty quietly and slowly gnawing at the back of one’s mind, making every decision an agonizing process. It’s what stalls patrols on the streets, halts due process in their tracks, causes a warrior to take a fatal blow in battle, or even that which makes pancakes too salty.

And Linnea hated salty pancakes. They’re supposed to be thin and easily roll-able, or thick and divinely fluffy in texture. Sweet, with an additional of maple syrup of fruit-based jelly. Maybe with a bit of chocolate and whole berries, even.

Doubt didn’t taste good. And right now, Linnea was eyeing this little, glassy green stone set upon the table of her inn room. Doubting. What words should she pick? Who should she reach out to? Why did using a Sending Stone purchased from Yllia have to be such a conundrum?

The huldre sighed and shook her head. Worse is, the aforementioned pharmacist did have a sit down with her just now and she had given some very good advice and pieces of insight, and yet she found herself hesitating. Perhaps, in this case, the best thing to do in this case, was just to go ahead and do it. Twenty-five words limit. She could do this.

She picked up the Sending Stone, brought it closer to her mouth, closed her eyes… And thought about her father. Häkon. The big, bearded huldrekall whom she knew to be a bit laconic, but who was one of the main links that kept her family together. The kind and loving giant of father.

“Hallo, dad.” Two words. Twenty-three remaining.
“Walked through a portal. In planar city, Sigil.” Fifteen left.
“I’m okay. Took me a while to find a way to communicate.” Only three left.

She opened her mouth to say more, but she pauses for a brief moment. There it was. Hesitation. Doubt. Her whole face clenched before she ended up finishing on the only three words she felt came naturally:

“Love you all.” She told him, quietly. Longingly.

There was a pause. Then, a deep rumble of a voice shook the metaphorical foundations of Linnea’s mind with the surprise and deep relief she discerned in his reply.

“Linnea! My little snowdrift. It’s good to hear your voice again. Where’s Sigil? How did you end up there? Should’ve warned us before you left--”

The Sending spell ended abruptly, and the huldre, back in Sigil, blinked her eyes a few times. “Oh, uh, right.” She cleared her throat and activated the Sending Stone again. Now that she had this going, she found that her doubts and hesitation all but vanished. Now, it was replaced by longing. She just wanted to hear her father’s voice more, and if it meant using more than one charge of the Sending Stone, then so be it.

“Dad, you have twenty-five words with this spell. I left on accident. Magic portals are weird. Are you all safe? How are mother and brother?” She asks, a brief smirk on her lips, albeit short-lived.

“We’re okay.” Said Häkon in return, now sounding a bit more careful with his words. “Can you come home?”

Only six words, by her count. She waited, just in case her father had more to say, but… In a moment that was classically Häkon-like, he kept his question short and to the point. She couldn’t help but fin herself smiling, rubbing a hand over her face. She kind of wanted to cry. This distance that separated her from her family for months, if not maybe a whole year, had been the first time she had been away from them for so long. Her throat knotted as she willed the Sending Stone to work again.

“I can’t. Not yet.” She swallowed her own saliva, before adding; “Need to know the name of home. World’s name. Break isolation, find it, please. Will check in again later.”

This time, his answer came quickly enough. “Okay. I’ll tell your mother, she’s on better speaking terms with humans. I love you, child.”


And that was that. Without having to say anything more, there was a certain feeling of finality to that last exchange. And understanding that, for this anti-peak, it would be the last message she’d sent, and the last reply she’d gotten. She felt relieved, now that she had done it. No, she hadn’t been forgotten or assumed dead by her family. They didn’t feel betrayed. All of this, these doubts, they had just been in her head. None of the scenarios the played out in her head did come to happen, and she was glad for it. She exhaled a long, long breath, before she slowly and lightly deposited the stone on the table, almost as if afraid to shatter it… Then she crawls onto her rented bed and curled up into as much of a sphere as she could, tail coiled mostly around her.

That night, she slept easily. A dreamless, restful sleep.
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Bleuception
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2020 11:38 pm

Posted by Bleuception »


Certainty. It had a way of energizing. Of driving people forward. It’s one of the things which made great leaders. Because if you had certainty, presented your cause with conviction? People would follow you. It’s what makes patrols on the streets catch the bad guys. Causes warriors to deflect a fatal blow at the last moment, and that which makes pancakes just the way you wanted them.

And Linnea loved well made pancakes. Fluffy, thin and rollable. With jelly or chocolate or syrup… It’s especially great when she knew what kind she wanted even before she started making them. And that, was certainty.

She picked up her Sending Stone and focused on the image of her father, activating the stone once more. No hesitation. She did so as soon as she was in the privacy of her rented room at Chirper’s. She didn’t even take off her armor.

“Hallo, dad.” Two.
“Did mom come back?” Six.
“I may have found a way to come back home without needing the extra information.” Twenty-one words.

She then went through the process of removing her planeswalking equipment while she waited for a reply, depositing the stone on the nearby table and setting aside her dagger, shield, pouches and packs. She got her reply just as she was about to remove her brigandine. Once more, her father’s deep, but warm rumble came to mind.

“She’s back. She misses you. Humans call it Farlenst, in the Northern Beronea. That’s good news.” There was a pause in his reply, but before long he added: “Be safe.”

She smiled a bit to herself, and nodded her head. She had a name, now, and a region even. That would narrow it down should she need to hire somebody to cast Planeshift for her, but she did find a better method… Possibly more direct. Treading paths once visited, forever familiar. She hoisted her brigandine on the coat rack and left it there to air out a bit, then she picked up her Sending Stone anew and spoke through it.

“Thanks, and thank mom too for me. So, I’ve made a friend… She might be able to re-open the path in Arborea, near our home.” Exactly twenty-five words. Nice. She couldn’t help but find that a little amusing, seeing as she wasn’t quite used to this spell yet. Taking enjoyment in this of yet barely familiar spell.

“Good. We’re eager to see you home.”



---



And there she was. Home.

She breathed in, deeply, and exhaled in relief. The familiar earthy scent of the evergreen forest. Even amid these thick trees and untamed northern vegetation, it was easy to see how uneven the terrain was. Gnarled roots peeking up from the ground in places, small mounds and sudden drops. If one were to stop and peer out at the right angle, they might see not-so-distant mountains looming over them, capped in ice and snow yearlong. Thankfully, it was summer here on Farlenst, snow hadn’t yet blanketed the area.

Linnea turned around, looking at the portal. It was a great, coiling root of a similarly great tree, which rose and curled, before plunging in the ground again. Curiously enough, during the growth cycle of this tree, old stone debris – perhaps belonging to a previous inhabitant of this forest – had been scooped, grown around, and made to be one with the roots. And beneath it, reality seemed to transition from northern forest to a much more colorful grove, with a blanket of flowers arrayed nearly like a rainbow, and surrounded by standing stones.

On the other side, the arch was of stone, and standing by it was the lanky figure of a tiefling. The gatecrasher who opened the portal from Arborea and to her home… After a few tries, trial and error, that is. Raena admitted herself she hadn’t yet fully mastered gatecrashing, but the huldre trusted her. And, this moment justified the trust she’d put into her.

“Thank you again, Raena! I’ll see you when I see you!”

Linnea could see her smile on the other side, as the bespectacled tiefling worked her powers to make a parting gift for the huldre. Raena cup her hands together, manifesting something between them before she stuck her upper torso through the portal to give her what she created through her thoughts.

"Here... A little something to remember the Planes by, aye? Believe well, Linnea."

The tiefling smiled. Linnea accepted the gifts, and soon found herself laughing upon realizing what they were. Sandwiches, except that they looked like they were sculpted out from rock, but in reality, were soft and edible. A callback to the one the Fey had created in Limbo, during an outing with Danae and Raena.

Of course, Linnea grinned back widely at her. “Likewise! I’ll keep fond memories of you, Raena. The Signers are better for having written you in on their collective story.” She winked, then she distanced herself from the portal. This was, after all, a goodbye. A homecoming for the fey.

She didn’t look back.

And when she encountered her brother, Theron, on the way home, collecting fallen branches and other burnable bits, the huldrekall’s expression was priceless, and precious. Like a balm on her heart. The first thing she did, in her return to the home she had longed for, was hugging it out with her brother.
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Bleuception
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2020 11:38 pm

Posted by Bleuception »


With a rustling sound, the hay dropped down in a pile in a pile within the pen. It didn’t take long for the bleating to start as the goats waiting nearby realized that their food had been replenished. Linnea shuffled out of the way of the eager animals with a chuckle. Although one of them kept bleating at her eagerly instead of showing any interest to the hay, and so the huldre set the butt of the pitchfork on the ground and reached in her apron’s front pocket to produce a small handful of oats to feed directly to the goat in question.

“There you go, you greedy bastard. Keep this between us while the others have their backs turned, eh?” She said, quietly, as though the animals could understand.

After chowing down on the oats, the goat stuck around and got right up against her leg. The gesture prompted the fey to pet the animal almost out of reflex, running her hand along its head and neck. There was joy in the simplicity of the interaction.

“You know, I think they missed you, too.” That composed and smooth voice belonged to her mother, and it made her turn her head to glance over. “Goats are very affectionate after all.”

She was collecting eggs from the coops and placing them in a basket, smiling to herself. Brennea was unmistakably Linnea’s mother; she had very similar features, including her eyes, if visibly older and more mature than her daughter. Her hair, though, was slightly off-white as opposed to snow white. Almost like a very pale blonde. Though, she was taller, and didn’t braid her hair. It instead fell in a voluminous, wavy cascade that came to a rest past her shoulders. She kept a necklace of sylvan trinkets and baubles that had some manner of significance to her, though Linnea realized in that moment that she never actually thought to ask before. She’ll ask… Eventually.

“They’re only being nice because I have food! Yesterday I didn’t, and I got a headbutt for my trouble.” She responded with a quiet huff, eyeing a particularly burly goat that now slowly munched on hay while keeping its eyes on her. Some might even say, menacingly. In response, she said: “Just you wait. When you grow too old, you’ll be a roast in my plate.”

The goat stopped munching, its ears raising ever so slightly. Almost as if it understood… And Linnea decided it was a good time to get out from the pen and close it instead of risking more bruises. That made her mother laugh.

“I assure you, we’re all glad you’re back. Even Chase noticed you weren’t around, and he lamented that very fact every time he made a stop here.” An amused smile hung about her lips even as a she spoke, but the tenderness suggested she truly believed what she said.

However, Linnea knew better than to think Chase was fully genuine. The satyr in question traded with her family for as long as she could remember, exchanging alcohol he brewed and acquired for food, clothes, and other little things the small homesteader family made. Likely, he just wanted something from Linnea, or he was being his idea of polite. That is, dramatically bemoaning every bad thing that might happen to others in an excessive display of sympathy. It was certainly a way to get in the good graces of the people he traded with.

Still, he was fun art parties and trustworthy enough if you could get him to actually make promises, which he tried to avoid when at all possible. He wasn’t a bad person overall, but he did usually have ulterior motives to make himself profit.

“Oh, sure! Chase. That’s a reliable measure of how much I’ve been missed.” She said, clicking her tongue and shaking her head, but it only made her mother chortle some more.

“You don’t give him enough credit, sweetie. He does try to pass for a shrewd merchant and maker of deals, but he did help me and my father before while we were in a rough spot. Chase and Hakon fighting off a whole—”

Linnea cut her off: “—Scouting party of goblins and hobgoblins on the way to beseech the help of the Naiad healer so that she could cure your unnatural illness, I know. You’ve told brother and I that story many times now. It’s just, hard to imagine! He’s far from being the fighting sort…”

“Neither is your father, technically. He’s a hunter, woodsman and survivor at most.” She said with amusement in her voice.

“Well, yes, but even for a huldrekall, dad’s pretty big. So that counts for a lot. It’s just that after seeing what I did see while out there… These Planeswalker, and what they can do. It’s hard to imagine Chase doing anything comparable.” She said, finally, nodding firmly as she formulated her idea.

Her mother went inside the family burrow without responding, with her basket of eggs. It perplexed Linnea for a moment, thinking she might’ve offended her. But then, the window of the kitchen opened, which was nearby the chicken coop, and Brennea stuck out her head from it, saying; “It still happened, though! I was there.”

It was Linnea’s turn to be amused, shaking her head with a grin while her mother leaned on the window sill. She set the pitchfork aside and went to stand in front of the window, looking at her mother directly.

“I believe you, mom. I just think that dad probably did most of the work.”

“Hmm,” the older huldre hummed pensively, before nodding. “That’s not untrue.” She leaned just a bit closer to smooch her daughter’s forehead. “But don’t tell Chase I told you so.”

Linnea’s face scrunched up as though she ate something sour, but then she relaxed her expression and capitulated. “Fiiiine, I won’t tell him.”

“Good. Now, tell me, you miss being out there, don’t you? In the planes. In Sigil.”

Linnea stammered. She should have expected something like that, but somehow it slipped her mind. Brennea, her dear, loving mother, caring and sweet, also happened to be an excellent ambush predator. She would get people at ease and then suddenly drop a question on them. It was certainly a good way to coax honest reactions out of people, more often than not anyway, and her daughter folded her arms defensively, furrowing her brows.

“No! No, of course I don’t. My life is here, mom. With you, father, and my brother. What else matters?”

She extended her arm out the window and tilted her head searchingly as her fingers coiled along her cheek and chin. A gentle touch which came to a rest along her cheek.

“My daughter. I know you. And I can see it in your eyes that you’ve left a part of you behind, unknowingly, somewhere that isn’t here. It’s not a longing, but… You’re not feeling quite as much home here as you did before, don’t you?”

As she kept talking, Linnea’s posture relaxed, and eventually she sighed and closed her eyes, leaning against her hand. “… You’re right. It sucks. This is what I wanted, returning home, and even something as simple as that I can’t have. It’s not that I’m not happy here, but there’s something nagging at the back of my mind that keeps bringing me back… Out there.”

The older huldre reaches her second hand to cup Lin’s other cheek, and caressed the sides of her face with her thumbs. “I won’t lie… I will be sad if you decide to leave. But I also can’t keep you here if you choose to have a life beyond this forest. Do know that we’ll always have a place for you here. You can come back whenever you want, even if just for a few days.” She paused briefly. “In truth, I already spoke of this with Häkon, and he agrees. We both noticed. We also can’t know for certain what it is that you’re feeling, nor why you’re feeling it.”

She smiled softly, comfortingly, albeit with a pinch to her features. A bit of emotional pain. “I just want you to find your place. Here, or elsewhere.”

Linnea nodded her head unconvincingly. Uncertainty flooding her head once more. Those godsdamned salty pancakes.

“Now, daughter dearest. I’ll stop consoling you, because the window sill’s really digging into my ribs now.”

Linnea’s eyes blinked opened, and she eyed, briefly, that indeed, her mother was leaning her weight against the opened window to reach out to her. Her eyes lifted again to meet her. “Right! Uh. That wasn’t the brightest idea hanging out like that, wasn’t it?”

An amused smirk painted Brennea’s lips and she nodded, releasing her and slipping back inside the burrow. “Nope. It really wasn’t.”
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