ANOMALY DETECTED

[indigo_league]

Who: ANYONE AND EVERYONE
Where: ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE
When: NOV 25TH to 27TH
Summary: GET IN HERE AND MINGLE
Rating: BUT PLEASE MARK YOUR THREAD CONTENT ACCORDINGLY
Log:






Need a reminder of our Fourth Wall Rules or what is going on this weekend? Want to check what locations have been made available? Find all your answers here!

Comments

[tearsofademon]

Well, if Shrike is heading uphill, Ryner might as well follow. He's the one who knows the area, after all. And aside from the risk of getting lost in any other direction (including back the way he came from), it would be cool to see a bit more of where Shrike is from, right?

[fayblood]

It's somewhat rough going, this is pretty much the middle of nowhere in the mountains, but before long Ryner might notice that there's something resembling a vague path that Shrike's more or less following. Not any sort of properly made trail, just the sort of track one wears from following the same route time and again.

And while it's definitely a bit of a hike (and at times almost more of a climb) it's not too long before Shrike reaches his apparent destination. Which is to say, he's paused in front of what looks like a small cave, looking really not much more than a crack in the sheer stone.

[tearsofademon]

A small, hidden cave, huh. That's... somehow lonelier than Ryner expected, honestly. Even given what he's picked up about Shrike's life.

"Here?" It's more of an observation than an actual question. He doesn't make to enter, though. He's not about to go in without an invitation from Shrike, if this is his home. That would be rude.

[fayblood]

"Inside, yeah."

It's been, what, a year and a half? since Shrike's seen this place, so he's actually quite curious to go inside. He does pause immediately before doing so, however, as something occurs to him.

"Oh... I don't have any mage lights right now, so it'll be dark at first."

Which isn't a problem for him, mind, but Ryner's another story. Even if it didn't occur to Shrike to actually outright invite him to follow.

If Ryner does follow anyway, however, he'll find that the 'cave' is really a somewhat narrow but clearly fairly deep cleft in the rock. It quickly becomes narrow enough to require people to pass through it single-file, but not so much so that one would be likely to bump into the walls if walking in the center of the path. It's definitely not straight, either, instead jogging irregularly from one side to another and, as Shrike warned, quickly rather dark as limited light can penetrate inside.

That said, at least the floor is mostly fairly flat; this isn't the natural state of the cleft, and a close examination would reveal that it's been filled in with various-sized rocks, branches and pieces of wood, and the gaps smoothed with pebbles and dirt. Also fortunately, by the time the natural light from outside is cutoff, there's some faint cracks of it coming from ahead. A little further and Shrike pushes aside a kind of curtain--actually an old quilted blanket hung over a branch wedged high into the rock walls--and more light promptly spills through.

Beyond that it's just a short distance before the cleft abruptly widens a bit, forming a small room. It's perhaps three yards across at its widest point, and a third again as deep before the cleft narrows to being impassable. A rudimentary floor is formed again from rocks, branches, and boards, and above the rocky cleft opens high and narrow into darkness. A bed that's little more than a pile of straw and assorted blankets on top of scavenged boards sits along one side, and across from that is a simple stove. Natural ledges in the rocks have been added to in order to make shelves, containing things like assorted tools, a few books, and of course the mage lights providing light for the whole room. Above the stove an old spike harrow has been wedged into the wall, its tines facing outward and being used to hold strips of meat to dry and smoke them.

Cozy, isn't it?

[tearsofademon]

The invitation is implied when Shrike apologizes for the lack of light. Ryner mostly just doesn't want to go ahead of him.

But he follows after Shrike into the cleft in the rock, making sure to watch his step - even if the light is low, he's done enough skulking around in his day to be able to not crash into the walls at least. (It only occurs to him just before the light starts getting brighter again that he could see if using his own light magic would work, but by that point there isn't much reason to. Learned helplessness, it's a thing.)

When they reach the room, he stops in the entrance (there isn't much space, he doesn't want to cause things to get cramped) and takes it in. It's impressive, just how much Shrike has built for himself, how much he's done to make the most of such a small cave. Ryner'd never be able to do something like this himself (he'd be too lazy to, first of all). It also doubles down a bit on the loneliness, though.

All Ryner can really say in the end is, "Nice place." And his tone is genuine. He's impressed.

[fayblood]

For his part, Shrike's poking around a bit at the books. It's been what, a year and a half? since he's last seen most of these. He wouldn't mind if Ryner came in, though there's... well, he could probably sit on the bed if he wanted. There's definitely a distinct lack of chairs.

"Ah, you think so?"

He's a little surprised by the comment. Then again, only one person besides himself had ever actually seen this place before.

[tearsofademon]

"Yeah. Ahh, you built all of this yourself, right? I wouldn't know where to even start."

Granted, if Ryner was in these shoes, he probably would have only bothered with a single blanket on the ground, but that's just because he's lazy.

[fayblood]

"Oh, most of it is things I found and brought here..."

Like the stove. Which, for all it's definitely small, also appears to be solid iron. That somehow this kid managed to drag halfway up a mountain and into a cave.

[tearsofademon]

"You've got a good eye for what you need, then."

And the resourcefulness to get it where he needs to. Ryner can think of a few potential ways to transport a heavy iron stove - a cart, a levitation spell, maybe the kid is just stronger than he makes himself out to be - but that still takes a plan, and executing on it, and finding the item in the first place.

(Please accept his compliments. He does mean it when he says he's impressed.)

[fayblood]

Shrike is pretty strong, but he tends to be shy about that because he tends to see the negative side of his unnatural strength more than the positives.

"Like something to cook with and sleep on...?"

Though honestly, he considers those obvious important firsts. Kid had a rough several months before he made his way to and found this place.