Fletcher Posted April 16 Clone Share Posted April 16 Kjersti Volden AC: 20 | Fort: +9 | Ref: +7 | Will: +9 HP: 36/36 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero: 0/3 | Perception: +7 ConditionsNone On bare feet, Kjersti slips into the room she shares with Maria in the Long Roads Coffeehouse upstairs, years of rising early for chores lending her surprising agility and stealth to avoid waking other people. The purple of the sky is just starting to turn deep blue with the coming dawn and their bedroom is now completely inundated in the aroma of baked goods. It is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. For a moment, she contemplates returning to the warmth of her covers and letting the rest of the sunrise come before pressing on with the million things that are fighting for presence and purpose in her mind. Instead, she looks across to the other bed in the room, still with a peaceful Maria shape under the covers. Settling down on Maria's bedside, Kjersti leans back far enough that her head is against the wall above the headboard and she reaches out to stroke through the other woman's dark hair, a gentle attempt to rouse her without alarm. It takes a few more tries before she successfully annoys her out of dreams and into the dark pre-dawn. "Hey," she murmurs quietly to her mentor and practically-sister. The latter of those felt more appropriate, now that they were older and no longer teacher-and-student. That had all fallen mostly to her youngest siblings in recent years. She waits until Maria turns and looks with (mostly) aware eyes up at her and smiles, offering one more stroke through her hair. "'m sorry to wake you," she continues. "Y'know I can't sleep worth a damn, even when we ain't at the farm..." The bed creaks as she shifts lower and props her head up on an elbow and hand. "I... I needja to talk me down. Or talk me... up? I guess? This... all'a this... it's crazy, right? Am I crazy?" It's not unheard of for these bouts of insecurity to strike the second-eldest Volden, no matter what kind of tough or competent face she might muster during the light of day. Maria has heard this before. "Am I actin' too big for my boots?" @ccanary Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccanary Posted April 16 Clone Share Posted April 16 Maria Callus Maria Callus — Human Monk (medic) Why we fight It doesn't usually take much to rouse Maria, but she's sleeping deeper than usual this morning. Soon Kjersti's touch stirred Maria from the depths of dreams, coaxing her into the realm of wakefulness. Her eyes opened and she gave Kjersti a loving smile tempered by wisdom and affection for the woman who was practically her daughter or her baby sister or well, something like it. "Tell me about it. The sounds of the city. And the smells. Not nasty once but I usually can't sleep through the first loaves going in. The rumbling tummy gets me up sure as anything." Maria listened, her presence a steady anchor amidst the storm of Kjersti's doubts. "Kjersti," you could hear the smile in Maria's voice. "Of course you're crazy. We all are, we'd have to be. Revolution? Against House Thrune? When we know what happened to the last ones who tried it? We're all certfiable! But it's not always bad thing. You might be crazy, but you are also brave, and strong, and capable beyond measure. Able to put this whole rebellion on those great broad magnificent shoulders and carry us along with you. That's how I raised you." With each word spoken, Maria's conviction rang true, a beacon of unwavering certainty. "You have faced trials that would break almost anyone, and yet you stand tall proud and strong, so strong. I'm proud of you." Maria's smile, a radiant affirmation, illuminated the room with its warmth. "And no, you aren't too big for your boots. Quite the opposite," she replied, her voice a gentle melody of reassurance. "Your boots are too big for you, and you are simply growing into the boots you were always meant to fill. But that's why they sometimes feel like the don't fit." Mechanics Action 1: Action 2: Action 3: Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletcher Posted April 16 Author Clone Share Posted April 16 Kjersti Volden AC: 20 | Fort: +9 | Ref: +7 | Will: +9 HP: 36/36 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero: 0/3 | Perception: +7 ConditionsNone A soft sniff of a laugh escapes Kjersti when Maria confirms that she is, indeed, crazy. But it sobers when she elaborates the depth of the gall they have, challenging a powerful House of Cheliax. Their forebears had fought Thrune time and again and were eventually crushed. While it's hope that they have to carry them forward, it was going to need to be so much more. She stares up at the ceiling as if the patterns in the wood might offer some magical answer. In the months since her friends and comrades had been murdered, it had been hard to really hear from Milani, though she religiously drilled herself and pushed her body in ways simple farming could not. The bite of the rose against her forearm had been the driving force, her reminder of that silent piety. And now everyone knew her most dangerous secret... the secret that had cost her dearly the last time it was revealed. "...that's how I raised you.... I'm proud of you..." Sighing, Kjersti settles in closer to Maria and takes her hand. "I know," she murmurs with a smile. Maria had been the mother figure in her life for longer than her own, especially during the tumultuous years of sibling after sibling after sibling. Kjersti had been the adolescent hen, clucking the younger children about until Toki had been born and her mother had passed. Admittedly, the freedom that a new nanny brought helped Kjersti stretch her wings - and certainly come to emotional blows with the one trying to exert order and education over them all - but in the end, when she had wised up to the new presence in her life, it had been so much better. "I don' ever wanna make y'feel like I'm f'rgettin' you... or tellin' you orders or... whatever. Y'know I love an' respect you, even when.... especially when... it starts gettin' rough. It's the things you taught me that steer this ship." She gently taps herself on the sternum, the heart, and smiles and chuckles softly. "An' Temp'rance these days, too. But that's the tough love part I know I gotta hear, too." She pauses and traces a finger across her eye. "An' Moonfeather... cause dammit he got a bite if I get outta line. Y'all're lucky you got the mild birds..." Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccanary Posted April 19 Clone Share Posted April 19 Maria Callus Maria Callus — Human Monk (medic) Why we fight Maria's heart swelled with pride as Kjersti's laughter, soft and fragile, a fleeting moment of levity amidst the weight of their shared burden. A burden that came from other memories. "I know," Maria nodded, speaking softly as Kjersti pointed to herself. Maria's heart swelled with a fierce motherly love, pride, admiration and respect, a bond that connected them forever, unbreakable. "You could never forget me, Kjersti," Maria affirmed, her voice a steady anchor amidst the tempest of uncertainty. "You carry the lessons and the memories, guiding your path even in the darkest of nights. But those other memories, you can't escape them either. They're all in there, under the breastplate in the same place," tapping her sternum right where Kjersti had tapped it herself moments before. "Temperance might be tough, but no one's love is tougher than your own. We'll get there. Just, I know meeting that tiefling that Rose, what was his name? That's stirred some stuff up in you I can tell. Just, it's all part of who you are, memories, lessons, some more painful than others. They're never going to go away. When we came here, our mission wasn't exactly a noble one. But now, with these Ravens? Maybe it is growing into something like that? I don't know. Your brother, well," she just sighed and shook her head. Mechanics Action 1: Action 2: Action 3: Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletcher Posted April 21 Author Clone Share Posted April 21 Kjersti Volden AC: 20 | Fort: +9 | Ref: +7 | Will: +9 HP: 36/36 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero: 0/3 | Perception: +7 ConditionsNone Kjersti sighs ans nods. "We'll deal with him when we have to," she quietly agrees. There was no telling where Erick was, what he was doing. And journeying to a huge city like this in search of one man - especially one who might be traying not to be found - was a fool's errand. If nothing else, Maria had saint-like patience for coming along knowing it was going to be this hard. "Still... no promises I ain't gonna wring 'is stupid neck. With sisterly love." Her friend can tell her heart isn't truly in the violence she has declared, especially when it's just a distant dream. Giving Maria's hand one last squeeze, Kjersti shifts herself up to sit and stares off at the window where the dark blue of the sky is starting to lighten. "I won't keep y'any longer, if y'want to get some more sleep," she announces, though she doesn't yet move from the bedside. "Just needed a little sense-talk... like I always have in the past." With that, she turns a smile to her, stands, and limps over to her own bed to slowly change out of bed-clothes and into regular clothing. "It's gonna get better," she murmurs after a long silence, almost to herself. "...cause it must." Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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