Now collapsing like the rain (Open)

[stormcalling]

Who: Valamia and open
What: Trying to shaman, now with rain showers
Where: All around the forest
When: A week around the beginning of August
Warnings: None

The Elements didn't respond to her the same in this time. Valamia had the same trouble when they first crashed into Azeroth. What little she knew at that time regarding shamanism felt like it was thrown out the window. Since arriving to this time on Azeroth she felt she same as she had then. It made her decision on what to do feel all the more strange. She was not the first person who wanted to jump up and make herself useful but she did need a distraction. That distraction was ultimately going to come in the form of attempting to keep the land and elements a pure and untainted from the Legion as possible. It may not be the boldest choice. It wasn't running headlong into the army or even removing a few imps. The task was however, was one that she truly believed she could manage. That was all that mattered to her.

And so she wondered the forest to a spot she felt or believed a pack of lowly demons had been slain. In each spot she set down two totems and sat between them. She would whisper briefly in Eredun and call upon a rain to cleanse the land. To answer her, the elements granted her that cleansing rain. It didn't encompass the forest, no it only stretched out around her for a couple yards at a time. Isolated showers weren't ideal but it did work. In time black smoke would rise up from the earth and begin to dissipate. Once the smoke stopped rising it was a sign to her that it was as close to pure was she could get it. The rain would come to a stop and she stayed seated. Considering that she was both wet and frustrated, she wasn't in any rush to get up. Her distraction wasn't leaving her to feel any better. Maybe the feeling of accomplishment for doing something for the greater good would kick in...eventually.

Comments

[seesbosscrotch]

The black smoke brought attention, as it probably should have -- one paladin, hurrying through the forest at the lope he could maintain for a surprisingly long time even in heavy armor. It wasn't particularly subtle, but nor was it particularly noisy, either. When it came down to it, Mar was in his element just running around poking into things.

And speaking of those things, he came to a halt outside the ring of water the rain had deposited, out of concern that he might interfere with some shamanic process.

"Shaman business?" he said by way of a curious hello.

[stormcalling]

She almost groans when she hears his voice. She doesn't turn to face him and almost considers ignoring him. Valamia didn't hate him quite as much since the redsworn meeting but he wasn't anywhere near her favorite person...or top five favorite people. She picks up her totems before she turns towards him. It was weird but a part of her almost expected to see a pack of demons behind him. Hm.

"Yeah. Someone has to do it, right?" She would say more but it's hard to. On one hand, it's him and on the other hand she doesn't want to admit to not having the same connection to the elements she had in their Azeroth.

[seesbosscrotch]

Hey! He wasn't running that fast...

"What's the specific 'it'?" Considering the extreme versatility of shaman totems, which he could personally attest to -- having been handed dozens of them to accomplish various tasks over the course of his career -- he could imagine any number of things that needed doing.

[stormcalling]

Ugh, does she have to try and explain herself to him? She almost opens her mouth to try and switch the subject to something else entirely. With how she seems to notice he likes talking about his accomplishments she could go to that. Wait no. That's a terrible idea.

"That's really that hard to figure out? You must have picked something up about how shamans work and how maybe someone as old as me might want to do with the Legion being around." No she's not spelling this out for him. He frustrates her. He can figure it out.

[seesbosscrotch]

Did every discussion they had have to come down to a conflict? Mar knew perfectly well what she was doing by putting it that way, but in the interest of promoting harmony through the flight, he kept civil.

"The first thing that comes to mind is soothing the elements, but I'm used to seeing an elemental or two actually appear when that happens. Though it is possible I just missed them."

[stormcalling]

"You also need a physical manifestation to talk to the elements." Granted she hadn't gotten clear messages from the elements yet. Honestly she didn't expect even after this she would. It was better then nothing.

She sets her totems in a little bag and stands up. She really does need to consider having a towel or something with for this. "I don't." a beat. "I would assume keeping the elements on our side would a understandable desire."

[seesbosscrotch]

"Yes, but I can imagine it might be difficult, when the ones who have been doing the most talking to them would be the trolls." Plus the elementals likely could sense the upcoming devastation, much as they had when Deathwing had caused so much trouble in his own time... but he still wasn't sure he should talk about that. "Definitely something we'd like though! Any luck?"

[stormcalling]

She'll repress a shudder. Of any race she didn't like associating with it was trolls, right alongside orcs. Not the best attitude for someone of the earthen ring. Vala shakes her head. "I...don't know." She's unsure. She doesn't know for certain if she's doing a single helpful thing. She isn't sure what hurts her pride more. Not knowing or admitting to Mar that she doesn't know.

[seesbosscrotch]

Oooh. He can guess exactly how much she didn't like admitting that, and the fact that she had warmed him up a bit. Carefully, the paladin stepped into the circle the rains had left behind, kneeling down to touch the grass. Not that he could tell anything about its feel through his armor, but... well, he had experience in any number of situations, who knows what he could tell?

In this case, nothing.

"Well, not that I have much talent with this sort of thing, but if there's anything I can do to help..."

[stormcalling]

She has to try hard not to make smart remarks at him. She had a feeling he wasn't going to pick up anything from whatever he was doing. She didn't bother to ask and Light help her, she didn't care. Valamia wanted some sort of normal communication with the elements. The lack of it was bothering. The Legion was bothering. Where was a cave to hide in until this was all over?

"I doubt it. I can't grant you the ability to hear them nor do I have any bright ideas on how to handle this."

Time to meet the other spacegoat.

[theshadowkissed]

There was a good chance that Rose was responsible for any number of the demon deaths that the draenei had been searching out. The dhampir also tended to pass through similar areas of the forest looking for the scouting parties that might be sent out to search for the missing demons. Little did she know that the Legion had such numbers and their leaders cared so little about a few lost imps, satyrs or felbeasts.

This time, Rose wasn't actually on patrol but the pattering sound of rain when she didn't see or even smell any caught her attention. Tracking it down wasn't hard, so there she stood outside the circle of showers watching the draenei... meditate? She'd vaguely remembered Vastania mentioning another of her people being there, but she hadn't actually seen the older draenei before.

When the smoke rose from the land, Rose's eyes widened and she made herself not interrupt. What was happening here?

"O...kay. So that was kind of weird and kind of cool," said the dhampir, clad not in her armor but black leather jacket, jeans yet still sporting her large sword across her back. "But mostly weird."

The old, not at all like Vas spacegoat

[stormcalling]

Valamia did intend on trying to zone out for a few more minutes before addressing reality. Seems like that wasn't an option. She sighs and grabs the totems, placing them back into a small pouch she had with her. She finally looks over at Rose and raises a brow. What she was doing wasn't that strange, was it?

"It wasn't much. Talking to the elements, trying cleanse the land of any corruption." She shrugs as she talks. She would go ahead and stand up to properly address her but she wasn't to that point yet. "I haven't heard of anyone trying to do it. I thought I would get a head-start."

[theshadowkissed]

The lack of standing wasn't bothering Rose at all. The draenei were so damn tall that she was okay with not being towered over by a foot and a half for the moment.

"You were doing..." Rose tilted her head a bit. "Is that some kind of draenei magic thing that someone from Earth doesn't get kinda like the Light thing Vastania says chose me or a nifty Redsworn thing?"

[stormcalling]

She stares blankly at Rose. She wants to remark about how of course she's chosen by the Light. Her and almost everyone else she's ran into in this Light forsaken event. She exhales slowly and regains her composure. Although being put in the situation of trying to explain anything wasn't ideal.

"Shamanism is an art spread across various races. The Draenei have learned it during our stay on Draenor. Other races have been practicing shamanism far longer then we have." She almost sounds bored with it. She is terrible at explaining things though.

[seesbosscrotch]

He dropped his hand down, the better to push himself back up to a standing posture again. "Well, how about, if there's anything I can do to not make it worse? If there's one thing I've learned about the elements, it's that they're harder to placate than they are to irritate. " He'd done both in his time, after all.

[stormcalling]

She can scarcely believe it. An offer to help from him. Maybe she was hearing him wrong or started daydreaming. "Aside from the general stuff, that I'm going to assume you have a general idea of...hm." Vala does consider telling him not to do anything stupid. That seemed like it was covered in the whole circle talk. Which did leave her wondering what would keep Azeroth's elements from becoming irate. "I suppose burning the corpses of demons would help. Less chance that the corruption in them starts to effect the world around them. It's an idea."

[seesbosscrotch]

Mar didn't hold grudges. To really get on his bad side, you had to be... Garrosh Hellscream, really. Beyond that, business was business.

"We should see about getting some reliable fire-starting materials from Silverglen, and making sure everyone knows." As usual, by 'everyone' he meant all the Dragonsworn across flights. The colors were one more artificial distinction. "And then probably teach some fire safety classes, because the last thing we need is an accident," he added with a little laugh.

[stormcalling]

Vala didn't normally hold grudges but once annoying, possibly always annoying. At least she didn't feel like she wanted to punch him. She also didn't feel like standing yet either. Talking to him might take all the effort required to do so.

"I suppose not everyone is going to be able to burn the bodies themselves. It might be difficult to convince people to carry around supplies like that all the time." She shook her head. Mar was...weird. She refrains from commenting on that last part. She wants to but she won't.

[theshadowkissed]

"Huh." That didn't jive with what Rose knew of shamanism. "On my world, shamans usually do this trance thing to talk to the spirit world, not the elements." They also tended to get high as hell, from what she remembered in her history books.

"At least among ancient humans. Elements are more Moroi. They're magic is exclusive to to the five elements, but I don't remember any of them commenting on the element they've declared actually talking to them." A beat. "They probably wouldn't share that info with us dhampir anyways," she added on with an annoyed frown.

[stormcalling]

If she had expected her to have any reaction to all of that beyond confusion, she would be sorely disappointed. Not a single word she said clicked in her head. The only part of that which was remotely true was the part of talking to spirits. It wasn't exactly something Valamia was keen on doing.

"You do realize all of that could be spoken in another language and make the same amount of sense, right?" Even exhausted she can't avoid smart-mouth commentary.

[theshadowkissed]

Rose gave a little snort. "And yet everyone that's familiar with Azeroth prior to coming here does the same thing to the rest of us that aren't. Funny that."

She shook her head a little. "Moroi are another race on my world. They possess a connection to the elements which they can command as magic. Whereas Moroi can use all the elements, they have a special affinity for one over the others. For many Moroi, not declaring a magic is like not going through puberty." It had been hard on Lissa.

"Until recently, it was thought there were only four elements - fire, water, earth and air. But there's a fifth one called spirit that very, very few Moroi can use. Because Moroi are all magicky, they're kind of shit in a fight. That's where my people from in. Dhampir," she pointed to herself, "are defenders of Moroi. Well, most of us are. We train to become elite bodyguards called Guardians. We keep the Moroi safe from evil immortal undead assholes that try to kill them. Unfortunately, there aren't enough dhampir, so only the royal bloodlines get Guardians."

She raised an eyebrow. "Make a bit more sense now?"

[stormcalling]

She could retort to that little snip. After all she was no native of Azeroth. It wasn't her home. She likely thought of it as strange and weird as Rose did. The only difference was she had a few years to try and live on it. It gave her a tiny advantage.

She does figure that answering with no, it all sounds weird to me may not be the best choice. On the other hand she didn't get this concept still of nobles and bloodlines being so important. Plenty of races on Azeroth had that mindset. Valamia had yet to get that concept. The idea of connecting to simply one element didn't make any sense either. How does one be a shaman and not hear all the elements? She wasn't curious enough to ask about it or express her lack of understanding. "About as much sense as anything else does when considering the situation." She shrugs. Why the woman cares if she understands is beyond her.

[theshadowkissed]

Really, Rose didn't care much about bloodlines and the royals either other than her best friend being the Dragomir princess. She'd been mouthy enough toward Queen Tatiana that it had been easy enough for people to believe she'd killed the woman. She hadn't, but the evidence against her was strong as she'd been setup very well. Hopefully, her friends would find the way to clear her name.

"So, is it working?" She gestured at the stuff set up around the draenei.

[stormcalling]

She stretches out and ponders whether or not she wants to get up yet. "That depends on what you call 'working." Valamia did feel like there was obviously some sort of corruption seeping into the land, by it the blood of demons or something else entirely. The problem was she still couldn't speak to the elements like she could. It wasn't entirely her fault and she knew it. It didn't help settle her uneasiness about it.

"What you saw means there is some form of corruption. It may not be grand but it does exist. It also poses the problem of figuring out what exactly is causing it, how to stop it and making sure it doesn't cause the elements to abandon us." Or if the worst were to come to pass, turn against them.

[theshadowkissed]

"Wouldn't corruption be caused by something unnatural to this land?" It might have been a simple way of putting it, but it's what made sense to Rose.

"Which would mean it's either the Legion... or us."