The Legend of Gerda

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 1 year, 9 months ago

The lake to the east glitters in the sun, the branches overhanging the road south of Zerhem swaying in a slight refreshing breeze. The shadows cast by the leaves form and dissolve patterns upon the ground with the gentle rhythm of a rolling tide. Ivo idly hops from sunlit space to space, blue cloak rippling with each little jump, whimsically making a game of their little jaunt beynod the city limits. Every time the branches sway and the leaves' shadows approach, it is as though slatted gates open and close.

"At any rate," he is saying, "that's why the prices in the market vary so strikingly. The soldiers in Zerhem only protect certain byways and leave adventurers to exterminate monsters or the elementals in their seasonal peak. You'll thus find Oradian spices cheaper than healing herbs that grow in the forests right here, just because merchants from there can make it to Zerhem easier than the locals can safely gather from their own backyard."

Ivo's good mood may reflect his enjoyment of trivial exposition.

"But I made a note of where the marigold patch was on our first trip to the La Crima manor," he continues indefatigably, utterly unconcerned with how ridiculous his hopping might seem in contrast with his university-lecturer's tone. "So we should be able to forage plenty for poultices, salads, and -- decoration." His smile widens, beaming. "And right on our way to the manor, how convenient."

Or, his good mood might reflect the prospect of delivering an even more impressive bouquet than planned to the lovely Lady La Crima. Who can say?

"Oh?"

Ivo finally stops hopping and shuts up for a second when he sees a hunched figure by the side of the road. An old lady with a bundle of sticks on her back stands in the shade of a mighty cedar, bending slowly in an attempt to collect a spindly fallen branch.

"Unenviable labors," he murmurs.

• Character: Anna
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"I see... I see... Uh huh..."

Anna listens! She listens pretty intently; though she doesn't seem to have much to add. In fairness, the young princess of Suryle has been a bit melancholic since the slaughter of her tribe, but she's been doing her best to make herself useful for the group.

Like face-tanking a wall of flame on sheer fury alone to pass a trial of fortitude. That was kind of helpful.

So here she is, following along after Ivo, axe slung on her back, keeping a casual pace while Ivo hop-hop-hops about the sunlit spaces.

"... Marigolds are nice." She does muse, lifting a finger to tap thoughtfully at her lower lip for a moment, clueless as to Ivo's secret machinations of flower arrangements for the sake of a certain lady.

Only for the her to pause when all the hopping comes to a stop.

She sees the old lady.

"... Should we help her?"

• Character: Priel
• 1 year, 9 months ago

Priel was most certainly not involved in any of these endeavors. Rather, she's been a bit scarce for the past few days after that shopping trip. Something something vanguard business apparently. And it's much the same today. Priel wasn't along with Ivo and Anna, as it turns out. She's walking through the trees off the obvious beaten path, humming a little tune with a large sack over one shoulder. Must have had a nice haul of... whatever she's been up to today. "Hmmmmhmhmhmmhmhmmmmm~" The redhead hums as she steps out nearby the lake and blinks.

"Huh?" She murmurs, squinting her eyes slightly. "...Is that Ivo?" Her gaze shifts to Anna next. "Hm. Don't recognize that one, annnnnd...." Her gaze shifts over to the old lady next. "...No idea there either."

Of course, she doesn't seem to be terribly inclined to make a grand interruption, so she just smirks and leans back agains a tree to watch, after setting her sack down onto the grass and crossing her arms.

Look, either nothing happens, and she can move on and maybe say hi if she feels like it. ...Or something absolutely hilarious will happen and she gets a free laugh. Win win, right? Right.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"They are!" Ivo agrees, turning his beaming smile back to the princess. "Though perhaps not so nice as a toy shadowcat. Cute, wasn't it?" His smile broadens into a grin as his eyes take on an especially playful cast. "If you're interested in it, I could put in a good word for you with Reize..."

He can't help but try to tease her a little. The overwhelmingly intimidating quality of her rage makes this demure persona both more delightful and something of a relief to Ivo. And, just maybe, he can thereby distract her from whatever else might be on her mind.

"Yes, let's."

They're in no rush. Ivo gives up his pointless game and, striding normally, approach their elder with a raised hand in greeting.

"May we assist you, ma'am?"

The old woman slooooowly straightens, lifting her head to squint at the two travelers, leaning to bring them better into view.

"Oh! How nice," she finally says, seeming to have needed to catch her breath. "Don't mind me, darlings, just gathering some firewood. 'Tis a shame I can't reach some of these sturdier branches--" She jerks her head up toward the cedar under which she's at work. "--but I'll make do with the thinner ones that have fallen."

"I see. Well, we could help--"

"You know, Gerda was going to join me today, but she's out today. You know how her hip can be. She used to dance like you wouldn't believe."

"Oh, really?"

"Oh, yes. Twenty years ago-- no, it would have been twenty-three, because that was when Spencer came from the fishing village to the north. Smelled like a fish and danced like one too, we used to say!"

"Ha ha! So--"

"But then Gerda, see, she and her sister Pauline--"

Ivo smiles patiently as his eyes slowly glaze over, seemingly unable to advance the conversation, wondering what he's ever done to deserve being subjected to so much pointless exposition.

Oh, right.

• Character: Anna
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"Ah... The cat toy was cute too." Anna does agree softly, lips pursing as she folds her hands together behind her back. ... Before shooting Ivo something of an awkward look. "A good word with Reize?" She asks, clueless, but distracted as intended. But then on to approaching the haggard old woman in need of firewood.

Poor Ivo gets caught in an exposition loop.

A small bead of sweat forms on the side of Anna's brow as the young man offers their help and the old woman starts... Going on about Gerda and something that happened before she was even born.

Clueless to Priel's presence, for now, the blonde purses her lips.

Maybe she can cut to the heart of the situation.

"Um!" The young Suryle Princess attempts to interject, taking just a second to unsling the woodcutter's axe from her back and hold it up for inspection.

"I think I can help." She ventures stepping forward a pace, takes a breath, raises the cutting implement and...

Heaves it into the tree as hard as she can.

There's a slight *thunk* and...

Anna tugs to free the axe.

"..."

And tugs again.

"...Um."

And tugs a third time to no avail.

It wasn't even that great of a hit and the axe is lodged in the tree to the point where she can't pull it free.

"..."

• Character: Priel
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"........."

"......"

"..."

"Pfft-" Priel clamps a hand over her mouth from where she casually watches, seeing the predicament the two of them are one. One stuck in a sea of pointless exposition, and another who got her axe stuck in a tree and can't get it out. But she's trying her best not to laugh! Really! It winds up becoming a muffled haltering exhalation through her fingers.

Oh lord, this is good.

....Should she help them? ...She /could/, but will she?

She pulls out a coin from her travel pouch and flips it. It twirls upwards into the air, and finally falls down.... to tails. She stares at the result. "Hm." Then, with a shrug, she puts the coin away, and starts forward through the grass.......

.....Past poor Ivo stuck in that that cutscene, and she stops by Anna. "Here." She says casually, wrapping her fingers around the axe's handle with her, and then PULL.

RIP Ivo.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"Right, yes--"

'This scene cannot be skipped' flashes repeatedly in the corner of Ivo's vision as his polite tone grows increasingly strained. The nice lady's narrative made it all the way to events occuring seventeen years prior before jumping further back to detail the backstory of the aunts and uncles of everyone involved (though *what* they are involved in remains unclear). Sensing that Anna has stepped away, the young man attempts a desperate gamble.

"Oh, look, ma'am!" he blurts out during the slightest pause. "I can almost reach this branch myself -- it looks rather strong!" Though not much of an acrobat, Ivo has limbered up with his little hopping game and, more importantly, is motivated to do literally anything else. He jumps vertically and just barely grazes the branch in question, then tries again and catches hold. "Whoa!" But it is indeed sturdy, and simply sways rather than breaking. He drops to the ground, now rather focused on this new challenge, and after gathering himself, leaps with a dramatic flare of his cloak.

Grabbing the branch with both hands this time, with a firm pull, it snaps free with a loud crack. But his triumphant grin soon turns to shock and puzzlement as Ivo, on the way down, has his flapping cloak caught on a different sturdy branch, leaving him suspended about a yard off the ground, broken branch in his hands, swaying gently in that slight breeze.

It's only in that moment of profound bafflement that Ivo finds himself barely feet from Priel, whom he has not noticed until this moment.

"Truly," he says, "whenever I see you, Priel, I feel light as a feather."

He flashes the redhead a winning smile. The branch above creaks faintly as he sways gently to and fro.

• Character: Anna
• 1 year, 9 months ago

To her credit, it was a good hit. The axe bit into the tree pretty nicely! It's just the tiny fact that Anna Primrose is a slight girl who looks like she has absolutely no muscle mass to her body that means she can't get the tool free.

So it's up to the sudden intervention of her savior, Priel.

"... Ah?" Jade eyes peek up as said savior appears, helping her grip the handle of the axe-- and pulls it free with little more than a creaking groan from the tree and a tiny squeak from the girl.

"-Oh, thank you." Anna mumbles, clutching her cherished axe to her chest for a moment before Ivo extricates himself from the 50 minute long cutscene in which the old woman had moved on to talking about the proliferation of nuclear weaponry and something called the 'La Li Lu Le Lo'.

Up he goes.

He catches the branch!

He gets caught on his cloak on the way down.

"... Uhhhhh..."

Something tells her that wasn't part of the masterful plan, there.

Anna purses her lips, before she frowns and looks to Priel with a helpless shrug.

There's not much she can do here.

There's almost nothing she can do to help.

She's not fast like Reize.

She's not smart like Ruidosa.

She's not strong like Priel.

She's not even witty like Ivo.

She's kind of weak. ... Actually it's the thought of being weak that sort of... Makes her angry.

That's right... She was too weak to protect her tribe. She could only watch on as they were killed right before her eyes...

In an instant, red floods Anna Primrose's vision, jade eyes turning a scarlet shade of angry and bloodshot.

"Grgh..." The girl growls, raising her axe high-

"RRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!"

Only to go off like a snarling gunshot, battering into the tree with the force of a jackhammer, hacking away with the speed of a machinegun and the rampgaging force of a typhoon, every impact of her axe sends juddering vibrations up the tree- that might help knock Ivo loose.

That or the fact that in less than a minute the tree is starting to keel over and topple might do it.

• Character: Priel
• 1 year, 9 months ago

Priel helps Anna free the axe, then she just nods when thanked. "Uh huh." She steps back, her work here done. And glances up at the now hanging Ivo. "...." She clamps a hand over her mouth again. "Seriously? How on earth did you- Pfft-!" Typical Priel reaction. Laugh at him. Yep.

But then suddenly that meek girl with the axe blows up in a rage, making the vanguard double take- "What the hell-" SHE HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS NOW. But before that, is the matter of the tree now leaning on the brink of toppling over. ... With Ivo still hanging in it.

FREEZE FRAME

Paragon: Catch him

Renegade: Let him fall with the tree

............................................................

Damn it.

Priel sighs and opens her arms. "You owe me for this, you genius." She says with a roll of the eyes, ready to catch him when he gets shaken loose.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"Oh, no."

Ivo senses Anna's rage before he even sees her face, a prickling at the back of his neck indicating the now familiar presence of a dangerous predator or, in this case, a princess in berserker mode.

"No one even said anything! What-- whawhawhwahwhahwahh--"

It's too late to bemoan his fate, or really to talk at all. Ivo begins vibrating rapidly, his outline blurring, as Anna unleashes the fury of a thousand little blonde suns upon the hapless cedar, before he finally slips from the branch and falls right into Priel's arms. His eyes roll briefly before slowly refocusing upon her lovely, if perhaps disdainful, face, and finds himself cradled by the dragonkin. He flushes a little.

Now who's the princess?

"My hero," he says, with some sincerity, before looking from Anna to the elderly lady. "Ma'am, I think we ought to step back from the tree."

"--and that was the secret of the Star-Crowned, lost to time, or so they said," she finishes saying to a nearby shrub, before blinking and turning to squint at Ivo and Priel. "What's that? Oh! Alright." And she begins to hobble further into the road.

"Wait," the young man blurts. "*What* were you just saying?"

"Oh, about Gerda's nephew? Well, *his* dog had--"

The color drains from Ivo's face.

• Character: Anna
• 1 year, 9 months ago

That's the secret to Anna's fury. No one even has to say anything. It's always there, reddening the corners of her vision. But once the tree begins to topple, the girl manages to get ahold of herself and rein it in; back to the secret place behind her heart where it normally lurks, leaving her panting and wiping the sweat from her brow.

The tree stump is smoldering slightly, the smell of smoked cedar wafting into the air as she doesn't seem too worried now that Priel has caught Ivo in his moment of need.

Phew...

"There... Now she has all the firewood she could need for a while." The girl says brightly, flashing an awkward smile.

Pause.

"A-ah? Star Crowned? What?"

But it's too late. The woman has already moved on to yet another thing probably from before she was born because she was too angry and busy tree-chopping to watch the cinematic.

• Character: Priel
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"......"

Priel stares into Ivo's eyes as she carries him in her arms. For a moment, it almost looks like there are shoujo sparkles forming around them, but then suddenly-

-Thud!

Priel unceremoniously drops Ivo onto the grass.

"Anyway. Looks like my work here is done." She walks off, and grabs her sack of the day's haul, tossing it back over her shoulder and waving a hand without looking back or saying good bye or anything.

Off into the sunset she goes... Never to be seen again. Or probably in the next hour or two. Either or.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 1 year, 9 months ago

"Smells good," Ivo is saying in Priel's arms, as the smoke from the cedar's trunk floats over to them, shrouding the two intimately. "And the cedar does too--"

Whump.

"When I see her, I'm floating," he remarks to the sky, "and when she leaves, I crash down to earth." It was more the other way around this time, though. Groggily he rises, turning to watch Priel go for maybe a little longer than necessary before looking back to the real princess here.

"Well done," he says, matching her smile with a lopsided effort of his own. "Let's gather some so we can bring it back to Zerhem for her. And meanwhile, I--" He takes a deep, slow breath. "--will begin anew." He turns back to the bemused old lady. "Ma'am," he announces firmly. "I'd love to hear your stories again."

"Oh!" She seems delighted. "Of course, darling. The one about Spencer's prize trout? Or Gerda's cousin's new clear study of Proliferation?"

Ivo steadies himself before bravely flashing a renewed smile.

"Let's... take it all from the top."