EVENT | SETTLING IN

[historiadores]

SETTLING IN

Initial quarantine period is over, but the newest arrivals in Llave, known colloquially as “Los Aparecidos” (The Appeared), remain largely restricted to the shelter for two primary reasons: one, as they are currently stateless, meaning they have no rights to citizenship anywhere, what to do with them continues to be debated; and two, it has become rapidly obvious that many have zero knowledge not just of the nation they find themselves in, but of the wider world around them.

The former has been explained to them via the lawyers who have taken their collective case, and further clarified by the prime minister, Rosario Alonzo de León, when she and several members of her government return to speak again with the arrivals. A highly intelligent and capable woman in her late forties, she makes a point of sitting with each newcomer to Llave to converse about their experiences thus far and what concerns they have.

As for the lagoons in characters’ knowledge, steps are being taken to address these.

Classes are being held now, in order to prepare the arrivals for whatever happens next. Characters will be taught a variety of skills, including but not limited to communication methods such as mail, phones, television, radio and the Internet; use of appliances, including basic lessons on modern utilities; and general safety rules both inside and outside the home. Characters can request specific classes or volunteer to help teach their companions. (And for anyone learning or helping to teach how to read and write, a reminder that the Spanish alphabet consists of 27 letters: ‘ñ’ has its place after ‘n’. And ‘ll’ and ‘rr’ have their own sounds.)

The woman organizing the classes has become well-known to the arrivals: Evelyn Burgos Peña was a clinical social worker before leaving her previous work to assume the duties of First Lady when her wife was elected. Aside from spearheading the new education efforts for the arrivals, she has also been working diligently with the Bajari Bara to establish the second change in the daily routine.

Due to the generally acceptable behavior during the Day of Heroes, characters are now sometimes permitted to leave the shelter to visit Old Nona. These group excursions are not every day, and last only a few hours. One of these excursions is tied to a class to which all are invited. Rather than make learning more about Llave itself a tedious lecture, on the week of November 22nd, the museum characters arrived at has opened its doors to them for a special exhibit on the island's early history. Characters are accompanied as they were during the Day of Heroes by a guide and an escort of Bajari Bara.

Characters are reminded being permitted outside is a privilege. Until the matter of their legal status is resolved, they have few rights and fewer legal protections. Behavior and curfew are both strictly enforced, and violations will result in the loss of this privilege.

Otherwise, the routine in the shelter remains the same. Caseworkers still check in daily and will refer those who present a need or who request it to the appropriate mental health professionals. Hot meals continue to be provided three times a day along with snacks. A projector was brought in and a different movie is aired every night (General Audiences only—remember, there are children present), with the shelter staff providing snacks to make it a movie theater experience. Entertainment items—books, games, sports equipment, art supplies, etc.—are available and can also be requested (though no promises are made that characters will get exactly what they want, especially if the item can double as a weapon).

Possession of weapons remains strictly prohibited and any visible weapons will be confiscated. Any who attempts to flout this rule, starts fights in the shelter or in Nona or attempts to break out will be swiftly separated from the rest by the Bajari Bara. Further violence will result in consequences according to their actions.

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THE MONTH'S HEADLINES

• Red chickcharney seen celebrating during the Day of Heroes.
• Tombs found disturbed in Nona's Old Cemetery.
• Santa Cecilia cattle farmers on high alert after cows, sheep found mauled.
• Unidentified flying object spotted off the coast of Bimini.

OOC PLANNING POST • NAVIGATION

Comments

[aionc]

[ the laugh that leaves him is forced, awkward, eyes flicking towards some other spot rather than the girl. it isn't difficult to put the pieces together and guess who she is talking about, after all there are only two children on this island that claim to have the god of the dead as their father. ]

Not exactly. [a heavy exhale. ] It's complicated, I am the god of the dead but I am not that boy's father.

[wolfchild]

[ the girl frowns. many names, many faces. they may share a name, but not a face. the gods are powerful and they are strange.

she picks up a sapphire this time. she taps the gems lightly together in a little tune. ]

You’re the first god I’ve spoken to here. I don’t think mine have eyes in this place. So they can’t see.

[ she looks up, and her expression is different this time. less suspicious, more inquiring. there is a faint glimmer of hope that lightens her strangely heavy eyes…that makes her look painfully her age. ]

Do you know…all the dead? If I gave you names, would you know them? Could you tell me if they found one another?

[aionc]

[ at some point he settles on the ground before her, legs crossed and hands resting neatly in his lap, watching with a curious gaze as she picks up the gems and taps them together. maybe it is her immediate belief in him, the lack of fear the unseen one usually brings out in mortals, he isn't entirely sure what it is but something makes him curious.

unafraid of wolves and gods alike.

ah, but that look. the recognition hits hard and fast, his body tensing as memory of the tape flashes quickly before his eyes. kore wore the same look when they first met, when she asked if he could bring mortals back from the underworld. hades face softens, absently organizing the collection of sapphires into the pattern of a moth. ]

As much as I would like to, I can't promise you I will know their names or if they found each other. And I don't want to lie to you.

[wolfchild]

[ it’s another no. she knows them. but this no is not so harsh. it’s truthful; it’s possible.

arya has near forgotten the taste of hope, but it spills from her lips like a torrent. ]

My mother’s name is Catelyn. She’s beautiful. She has blue eyes and high cheekbones and she has the longest, reddest hair, as red as a sunset. She is always a proper lady, and a good mother. She loved me even when I wasn’t proper.

[ she ducks her head. her hair goes to her short hair, growing out again. she would shave it again, but that drew more questions. her hair was always long and tangled and her mother would sigh and tell her how pretty she could be if she only tried. arya never much believed she could be pretty, but she liked those moments when her mother, not the septa, patiently ran a comb through her hair and braided it and coiled it behind her ears. often, her mother hugged her in the mirror and kissed the top of her head and arya was happy.

the memory feels like it belongs to someone else. a child long gone now. the feeling of her mother’s arms is fading now. the feeling of being safe is illusory.

her hands ache and it is only then that she realizes she closed them tight around the gemstones. her fingers uncurl slowly. the imprint of the stones lingers on her skin. red rubies, blue sapphires. red mud and blue water. and a silver trout pulled from the river. ]

They threw her, [ she confesses quietly. her eyes look at the stones unseeing. her eyes see the reeds again growing out of the slick red mud. ] In the river. I found her. I pulled her up on the muddy banks. I told her to get up and run with me.

[ her terrible secret. she told only the hound before, though he never asked how she knew. on bad nights, it is the scene she returns to. the stench of bloated corpses. the waters thick with corruption. the mud underneath her paws. the cold stillness of the body she stole from the river.

when she looks up again, her eyes are huge and grey and terribly sad. how can she fear the lord of the dead? death has been her most constant companion. it dogged at her heels; she carried it on her back. even here, so far away…she holds one of death’s hands in hers.

the god may not know her mother. but mayhaps…he can find her. ]

If you see her…can you tell her I tried to reach her? I tried; I swear I did. But I wasn’t a real wolf. I was only a little girl. [ and little girls have no power to save their mothers. ]

[aionc]

[ he doesn't have the heart to stop her as she tells him of her mother, of how beautiful she was, how much of a proper lady she was, how she loved her even when she wasn't proper. a story he has heard before, read before and judged accordingly. so many of the spirits that came to styx's shores had tragic tales such as hers, some were mundane, and others perhaps even a little amusing. it reminds of him the tour, of the dead souls reaching out with desperate pleas for the fertility goddess in their midsts, and the surge of panic that had welled up in his chest.

focus.

hades exhales as she continues to speak, looking at the imprints of stones in the palm of her hands, listening to her speak of her mother's fate. another memory comes, unbidden, of rhea, large and beautiful, her voice a balm to the fear he could not help but feel each time kronos tried to take him from her. for a moment, a brief moment, the world around him vanishes and he feels a lump of old fear form in his throat, echos of a voice calling out from the dark. but the moment passes quickly leaving behind a small pink gem in his hand. ]

If I see her... [ he begins softly, clasping fingers around the new gem in his hand. ] I will tell her that her daughter tried as hard as she could. I am sure she already knows, but I will tell her.

[ slowly he reaches out for her hands, for the marks the gems left but does not go so far as to touch them. his brow furrows slightly, gaze flicking back up to meet her's. ]

I can fix those if you want, but you will have to close your eyes for me.

[wolfchild]

[ not a no. as good as a promise. the hole where her heart once was aches. but when arya breathes, air fills her lungs more easily this time.

looking down, she glances at her hands. ugly, hard things. the skin is tough from handling a sword, scrubbing the steps, touching poisons. what's one more line? but she does as asked and closes her eyes. ]

[aionc]

[ in truth he didn't expect her to agree, given the state of her hands, so when she nods and closes her eyes he is stunned momentarily. all at once, he feels a nervous energy dance across his skin, looking over his shoulder to ensure they aren't visible to anyone else. only when he is satisfied he turns back to the girl, taking her hands into his own (putting the pink gem down beside them), inhaling deeply.

alright, alright.

his hair and skin darkens, hair lifting until it floats upward unnaturally, energy surrounding his hands as he extends it out to her hands, to the marks left by the gems he made. it doesn't take long, a mere moment before the lines vanish, leaving behind a faint tickle that only lasts a breath. he wonders if he could reverse the rest of what marrs her skin, only to decide against it, letting her hands rest nicely in her lap with the small dog. ]

There, all done.

[ when she opens her eyes hades is as he was before, only his hair is a little messed up. ]

[wolfchild]

[ arya blinks her eyes to see hades staring back at her, expression a bit more…nervous? what would a god have to feel nervous about? his hair in disarray.

when she blinks at her hands, she finds them as they were. still tough. still hard. (good. better than useless, soft hands.) she experimental curls and uncurls her fingers. the dog arcs her head toward her hands, and arya rewards the pup with a scratch behind her ears. ]

Thank you, [ she says, looking up at hades again. less for the hands than for the promise. the corner of her mouth rises in a shy, little smile.

seeing his hair again, she snorts quietly. ]

You have— [ she holds her hand out to his head, hesitating once should he move away from her, before attempting to comb his hair down again. ]