12-18-2021, 10:54 PM
They were still talking when she emerged, and she used the opportunity to shut the bathroom door carefully behind her. If either happened to look in her direction, she only smiled. Thalia didn’t know these people, but she suddenly felt a lot like a leak sprung in a previously sturdy boat. Trying not to dwell on how awkward that made her feel, she hitched her bag and headed for the cabin’s exit, pausing to run a finger lightly down the splintered jamb where the door had been ripped free. The day was cold and bright now the sun was up; she could feel it warming her through, and she was eager to step out, eager to go.
Exploring alone wasn’t anything new to her, and though she welcomed the company, if they fell back now it wouldn’t stop her pressing on. She owed them honesty, though. The risks Thalia took weren’t exactly well considered ones, and she’d only ever been responsible for herself before now. She glanced at the palm of her injured hand, thoughtful a moment before she tucked her fingers through the strap of her bag. The pull against her soul was like being called back home. Only it wasn’t home she ever found, just more mystery, more reason to wander. Aylin didn’t understand it, and Thalia had given up trying to express something so utterly intangible. She didn’t expect a pair of strangers to understand any better, whether they knew her life in the dream or not, but she didn’t suppose it’d stop her trying.
“Did you already see the Shaman Rock?” she asked, then paused, shrugging the question away with half a laugh as she turned back to them. “Well, of course you did, you can’t miss it on the island really... But did you know the locals don’t like women to go near it? Old superstition, lots of different folklore about why, and I wouldn’t normally, you know, it’s disrespectful... but there are rumours of underwater caves beneath it. That’s what I was looking for; it’s why I went at night.” Not the brightest of plans, though there had been a touch of desperate melancholy to her motivations after her conversation with her sister. She’d felt tremendously alone. Added to that, the only person she’d ever met who was actually like her, the only person who might have had any idea about what any of it meant or even just how it felt, had set her carefully aside with a warning that she meddled in things beyond her. At the time the quiet, vast waters of the lake had felt like a welcome. She had no way to convey any of that sanely, though, and nor was she sure she wanted to. The emotion just filled her up instead, overspilling into some distant longing that made her sigh.
“That’s where she found me. It was a deep way down in the water, and it’s where I’m going now. But it’s just a hunch, I don’t want to lead you into thinking I have answers for any of this. I really don’t. I just know that my hunches are usually… something. Not always a good something, but not nothing. So I’m going to see it through.”
Articulating proved more difficult than she’d thought; she’d never had to put words to the feelings inside. Maybe it sounded deluded. Did it sound deluded? She looked at both of them, her expression utterly guileless, but tried not to read too much of their reaction. Noctua’s departure was still too fresh in her mind, and it still hurt more than it should have done. Not to mention Aylin’s soft suggestions that this was all a result of psychosis (did you even really meet the Pope, Thalia?). Doubt was not a friend she welcomed for any length of time, but she was still only human. It was far easier to do, and to be, and to live, than it was to think everything through. Neither was doubt something she chose to share. She didn’t want their pity.
Her smile was slow, but it was genuine as she stepped out onto the path, like she really could just let all that worry pass her by. Or maybe she just found the outside air a relief. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was, but by the encroaching trees she figured they were somewhere on the trail between the village and the water’s edge. The sky was bright and mercilessly clear. No doubt the water would be freezing, but the walk would be pleasant and sunny at least. “You were in the dream, and apparently I even told you to come here. Perhaps you were just supposed to save me from the rocks, and this is where we part? Or maybe we’re supposed to find her together, and I can’t even do it on my own. I truly don’t know. But I don’t want to put anyone or anything in danger.” The last was said with a brief and contrite look at Sierra, which she hoped was understood in the way it was meant. Thalia didn’t mean to cause the tension. She didn’t even know for sure she had, but, well, she wasn’t blind either.
“I understand if you might need the chance to, ah, talk before you follow the crazy lady.” She laughed a little, but the label cut a little deeper than she intended to say aloud. “I’ll be down by the water.”
[[Thalia’s plan is to dive back down in the water by the rock, where the guardian attacked her when she channeled. She’s right, there IS access to a cave down there, which she will find. The cave is not quite what it seems.
FYI I don’t plan on Thalia and Soren meeting at this point (although the threads will relate since they both involve the water guardian). Soren and Kemala’s boat is leaving from the mainland.
Thalia won’t be persuaded to search for the guardian by boat if that’s what you guys decide to do. I feel like Sierra will be (sensibly) very anti the “let’s swim down and find a cave that may or may not exist” plan, so I don’t want to assume you guys come (although obviously I hope you do so I don’t have to write the thread on my own, haha).
I’ll start a new thread for it, I just need to know if Thalia spends some time waiting before they show, or if they follow now. You can either reply that IC or let me know OCC, I don’t mind.]]
Exploring alone wasn’t anything new to her, and though she welcomed the company, if they fell back now it wouldn’t stop her pressing on. She owed them honesty, though. The risks Thalia took weren’t exactly well considered ones, and she’d only ever been responsible for herself before now. She glanced at the palm of her injured hand, thoughtful a moment before she tucked her fingers through the strap of her bag. The pull against her soul was like being called back home. Only it wasn’t home she ever found, just more mystery, more reason to wander. Aylin didn’t understand it, and Thalia had given up trying to express something so utterly intangible. She didn’t expect a pair of strangers to understand any better, whether they knew her life in the dream or not, but she didn’t suppose it’d stop her trying.
“Did you already see the Shaman Rock?” she asked, then paused, shrugging the question away with half a laugh as she turned back to them. “Well, of course you did, you can’t miss it on the island really... But did you know the locals don’t like women to go near it? Old superstition, lots of different folklore about why, and I wouldn’t normally, you know, it’s disrespectful... but there are rumours of underwater caves beneath it. That’s what I was looking for; it’s why I went at night.” Not the brightest of plans, though there had been a touch of desperate melancholy to her motivations after her conversation with her sister. She’d felt tremendously alone. Added to that, the only person she’d ever met who was actually like her, the only person who might have had any idea about what any of it meant or even just how it felt, had set her carefully aside with a warning that she meddled in things beyond her. At the time the quiet, vast waters of the lake had felt like a welcome. She had no way to convey any of that sanely, though, and nor was she sure she wanted to. The emotion just filled her up instead, overspilling into some distant longing that made her sigh.
“That’s where she found me. It was a deep way down in the water, and it’s where I’m going now. But it’s just a hunch, I don’t want to lead you into thinking I have answers for any of this. I really don’t. I just know that my hunches are usually… something. Not always a good something, but not nothing. So I’m going to see it through.”
Articulating proved more difficult than she’d thought; she’d never had to put words to the feelings inside. Maybe it sounded deluded. Did it sound deluded? She looked at both of them, her expression utterly guileless, but tried not to read too much of their reaction. Noctua’s departure was still too fresh in her mind, and it still hurt more than it should have done. Not to mention Aylin’s soft suggestions that this was all a result of psychosis (did you even really meet the Pope, Thalia?). Doubt was not a friend she welcomed for any length of time, but she was still only human. It was far easier to do, and to be, and to live, than it was to think everything through. Neither was doubt something she chose to share. She didn’t want their pity.
Her smile was slow, but it was genuine as she stepped out onto the path, like she really could just let all that worry pass her by. Or maybe she just found the outside air a relief. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was, but by the encroaching trees she figured they were somewhere on the trail between the village and the water’s edge. The sky was bright and mercilessly clear. No doubt the water would be freezing, but the walk would be pleasant and sunny at least. “You were in the dream, and apparently I even told you to come here. Perhaps you were just supposed to save me from the rocks, and this is where we part? Or maybe we’re supposed to find her together, and I can’t even do it on my own. I truly don’t know. But I don’t want to put anyone or anything in danger.” The last was said with a brief and contrite look at Sierra, which she hoped was understood in the way it was meant. Thalia didn’t mean to cause the tension. She didn’t even know for sure she had, but, well, she wasn’t blind either.
“I understand if you might need the chance to, ah, talk before you follow the crazy lady.” She laughed a little, but the label cut a little deeper than she intended to say aloud. “I’ll be down by the water.”
[[Thalia’s plan is to dive back down in the water by the rock, where the guardian attacked her when she channeled. She’s right, there IS access to a cave down there, which she will find. The cave is not quite what it seems.
FYI I don’t plan on Thalia and Soren meeting at this point (although the threads will relate since they both involve the water guardian). Soren and Kemala’s boat is leaving from the mainland.
Thalia won’t be persuaded to search for the guardian by boat if that’s what you guys decide to do. I feel like Sierra will be (sensibly) very anti the “let’s swim down and find a cave that may or may not exist” plan, so I don’t want to assume you guys come (although obviously I hope you do so I don’t have to write the thread on my own, haha).
I’ll start a new thread for it, I just need to know if Thalia spends some time waiting before they show, or if they follow now. You can either reply that IC or let me know OCC, I don’t mind.]]
![[Image: thal-banner-scaled.jpg]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/thal-banner-scaled.jpg)