hadriel_logs | Event Log: The Hope of a Child

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Event Log: The Hope of a Child

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the The Hope of a Child event
Where: All over the city!
When: January 23rd-Feb 1st
Warnings: Youths

By now, the gods have probably done enough weird crap to you while you're asleep for you to be a little suspicious- but it's not like you can just not sleep, especially when there are a few supernatural forces making your eyes droopy and your body feel heavy.

And now, when you fall asleep, you'll wake up somewhere else and you'll likely have quite a different temperament- you'll be younger, maybe a little more naive and innocent, and you won't exactly remember all the wild stuff that's happened to your adult self. Maybe now you'll be a little more trusting and emotional, hm? The gods could definitely use a little boost in power, and what better way to do it than to harness the power of overemotional kiddos!

Or maybe you aren't affected at all and find yourself surrounded by youths. What are you going to do when your best friend doesn't know how to cook for themselves? Or your bitter rival is throwing a temper tantrum because they broke their favorite toy? Nobody asked for this kind of responsibility, but think about what would happen if nobody was around to take care of these babies...

► This log covers January 23rd-Feb 1st.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you trip over a kid and die, please let us know here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How strange. One second she was eating dirt, the next, Yehudit is staring up at the clear sky and Atem bearing down on her. She squints, brows furrowing as she brings her hand over her eyes, shielding her vision from the midday sun.

"Mmm, I am sorry," the girl mumbles wearily, trying to manage a strained, reassuring smile. "I must be pretty tired."

Sleeping here may not be the best of ideas, however.

Atem helps her sit up and makes her lean on him; with his own cape, he cleans her face.

"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to tire you further. Will you be okay? How can I help you?"

She ducks her head, her chin tucking over her sternum as Yehudit avoids making eye contact with the young prince who has been so generously helping her.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" Yehudit asks, too tired to even cry but her voice cracks all the same. People didn't pay her any mind before, let alone help even when she was hungry and weak.

"What do you mean?"

As he sees it, he's not doing anything different than he would with any other person. Why wouldn't he be kind to her?

"People like you are not supposed to notice people like me..."

It sounds so pitiful when she says it aloud, but that's just how things have always been for her. And how she always preferred, when she can hear so loudly what other people think of her. What she has should be a gift from God, but... it doesn't always feel that way. It feels like she came from somewhere else, and where she'll be going won't be where the God her people love so dearly is.

"People like me...?"

All right, he's not dumb, he knows what she means, she made it clear earlier, before passing out, she asked him if he was royalty, and she's not, that much is easy to see.

It's not relevant to him. Of course, he has never suffered from being ostracised because of his status, but all the opposite.

"You and I are the same, Yehudit. We both have a heart, and red blood flows through our veins, does it not?"

He takes off the small crown he had put on, "Here..." And offers it to her.

There are so many ways that Yehudit could dispute that they're not the same. They're not. That's what she's always been told -- she's not like them. In fact, she isn't like most people who dwell in the dust and squalor, but for entirely different reasons.

She stares at the crown Atem's offering to her, as if she might explode if she were to touch it. Her head shakes slightly.

"No, I... I can't," she presses, her eyes welling. "I am... different. I am strange. People say I tell them things that I should not know."

What a pitiable sight she must be, and before a prince no less.

The urgency for food has been forgotten for a moment, and little Atem observes at the girl before him with a bit of an unreadable stare. He cannot see anything different about her, except maybe yes, she's terribly thin, maybe even not very clean, but he doesn't care about that stuff. She also looks so unhappy, that is something that does concern him.

"Then... maybe you are different. But that doesn't make you strange, it makes you special." As he speaks, he places the golden headpiece on her head, carefully fixing her hair around it.

It's all so weird to her. Being treated so kindly, and by someone who Yehudit believes wouldn't even pay her any mind under normal circumstances. Though these times aren't so normal, are they?

"Some would say 'abomination' is more correct-- ah." The girl stops when the crown is placed over her head. Her eyes squeeze shut for a moment, almost out of trepidation of what someone passing by would think if they saw a dirty abnormal like her donning a royal headpiece, even if it were not on her own volition. Her dark face reddens a bit as Atem smooths out her black hair, frazzled a little from the water and lack of care. She doesn't want to admit that she's insanely nervous by this, though it's etched all over her visage.

Atem seems to ignore what she says and focuses on fixing the shiny on her head instead. He can be a little selfish at times too, despite of the grandiose displays of kindness, they are very real, but he also is human and he's set on making things fun rather than difficult. He stands and takes a look at his well done job as smiles at her.

"It looks good on you." He wonders if he would get scolded if anyone knew, maybe, but no one will. "Now..." He gives a tiny bow of sorts, "Princess, stay here while I look for something to make a fire and cook you that fish." Right, the fish.

If anyone knew...

No, Yehudit doesn't even want to fathom what someone would think if they saw someone like her wearing such a beautiful piece. That they might believe she stole it and do something much worse than scolding.

But defying Atem might be just as bad. And he's being so nice to her, calling her 'princess' like this is a game to him... and perhaps it is. So she ducks her head, unable to hide her flushed complexion or the slight hint of a smile on her mouth.

"Y-yes." Gently, she lifts her hands to the headpiece Atem had placed on her, not to remove it but just to touch. "Thank you. I... I shall wait here."

Both to get her bearings and rest. She's still feeling a little dizzy.

It is, unfortunately, nothing but a game. But, is there truly some harm in that? Maybe, if the circumstances were different, if Atem had the chance, he'd still pursue a way to help her in some way, to help her family. But, they are here, stuck in a place without time in which their encounter has been made possible against all odds. He sees no harm on making her smile while it lasts. She looks so miserable already.

He goes get some more clothes on himself before he wanders around the pool and those other scarce trees, there is but a few twigs and leaves, but, it should be enough, right? At least they are very dry.

Atem brings back all what he can carry and places it in front of her. He wasn't lying when he said he needed her to do this, because...

"Yehu-- I mean, Princess? Do you know how to lit a fire...?"

He's might be a little useless like that.

While she waits, it doesn't take much time for her clothes to dry. Well, dry enough. Her robes are still damp, but thanks to the dry heat of this climate, her thin underdress is at least wearable. Yehudit slips it on before Atem returns, wrapping the cape back over her shoulders again for comfort.

It's hard to forget the crown still on her head. It's heavy, but not unpleasantly so. She even crouches over the water to sneak a peak at her reflection for a brief moment when Atem arrives with burning material.

"Oh. I... I think I do. I saw my father make fire before..."

She glances to the waterside again, searching for a couple stones suitable to strike sparks with for flame.

In truth, he's never seen a couple of stones being used but, he will have to trust her. How come he doesn't know so much stuff? He should know everything!

Giving her a small nod, he looks with her, showing her his findings, tossing away the ones that might not work and bringing more.

Now that they may have collected a small collection of rocks, he sits kneels next to her, waiting for her to do her magic. This is so much fun, he can't wait to get back home and tell Mahad all about it, maybe he can even take her with him.

Some time later, Yehudit returns with a couple dry stones and some other material she had seen her people use to make fire with. There were many methods, but this one will have to do.

With their little setup prepared, Yehudit crouches on her knees and leans leans over a slab with some powdered wood chips she had chipped off a tree with the sharp edge of a rock. She is nothing if not resourceful, when she begins to strike the stones together over the powder and slab.

Something like this takes time. One would almost wonder if she knows what she is doing. However, any attempt to communicate with her goes unnoticed. This is her task right now, and she will finish it if it kills her. The only occasional distraction is the crown sliding a little down her forehead, which she promptly pushes back up before she continues.

Several minutes pass between striking the stones and fanning the heat. Thanks to the dryness of this environment, however, it isn't as long as she expected before she notices a spark of ember catch on the powder.

"Ah!" She fans it some more with her hands, the tiny spark glowing as she does so. Finally, she looks to Atem, nodding her head at a round up bundle of dried up dead grass she had also collected from the area.

Pass the grass, please.

Atem look at her with such interest as a cat would be observing its little prey, his eyes wide open taking everything in. He's marveled at all the things that seem so strange to him. How come he never wondered how they turned on the ovens in the kitchens, for example? He should probably pay more attention to the things he's given for granted, they seem so interesting to learn.

But just as time passes and there is nothing happening, the young prince starts growing a little impatient. His hair might be still a little damp, and it only makes it feel so damn hot, maybe he should go for another swim, the water was cool and nice and--

It's not until Ravine makes a sound that he notices the very subtle smoke that comes from the tinder. Oh, he missed it!

A little more excited, although a little confused, he reaches for the grass and gives it to her.

"How did you do that!?" Is it magic? No, of course not, magic would have been faster!

Yehudit doesn't answer right away, taking the dried grass in one hand while retrieving a sharp-edged river rock to scoop the ember up with the powder. This takes concentration, okay?!

Sliding the glowing powder into the grass, she cups her hands together and begins blowing into the bundle, a task that takes all of her focus now. A little bit of smoke rises from between her hands, and then more, and then a lot with many more sparks of ember. Atem might catch some of that smoke in his face in the slight wind shift, then--

Pwoof!

Flames burst in Yehudit's own hands, as she calmly places it into the pile of twigs and leaves. She waits for the fire to catch and spread, occasionally blowing into it some more until they have an effective cookfire going.

"I, ah... I wasn't even sure that would work, to tell you the truth," Yehudit finally says with a broad smile. Yay, she did it!

Atem coughs and moves away from the smoke that so rudely got on his face! But he cannot keep his frown for long, not when he sees the fire in Yehudit's hands! There is worry and excitement washing over him.

"Are you okay? Did you burn yourself?" He tries grabbing her hands and looking at them, but he also has to stare at the fire. It's such an awesome feat.

"Yehudit, you're so talented... Can you teach me? After you have eaten?"

Oh, right! The fish! He goes grab the shawl, which, thankfully, is not moving anymore. He is tempted to let her cook it, since, he's never done something like that either, but, she looks so tired. It must not be difficult. Surely, he can do this alone.

His concern for her is flattering. While Yehudit wasn't entirely without companionship back home, kindness isn't always something she inherently expects from people. Sometimes she'll get a flicker of a thought or a vision she's not supposed to see, but her abilities are only budding, and that scares her a lot. It scares her more that she can't share her secret with just anyone, for fear of being deemed mad or possessed...

"I can, if you want..."

After everything he's done for her so far, how could she tell him no?

Yehudit hesitates when Atem goes to retrieve the fish in the shawl, as she reaches for the sharp narrow rock she had collected from the riverside. "Do you know how to gut these? I can do it if you don't."

She is tired, and the hunger doesn't help, but she's had to push herself through pangs like this before and she managed to survive.

Gut... Gut? For real? Gut the fish?

Gut.

Ew.

"Just guide me through it." He gets the rock from her — a knife should be better but this will have to do — he unfolds the shawl and... oh dear, look, a dead fish. This should be nothing.

For real.

Yehudit thinks, though.

"There may be a better way." She takes a narrow stick and hands it over to Atem. It's probably a good thing that he's helping her now, for many reasons. "Here. Use the rock to sharpen the tip."

Atem does as told, making the tip as sharp as possible. It might not be too hard to guess what he will be doing with it, but he still waits for her guidance. He doesn't want to make a mistake and disappoint her.

When he believes the task is done, he lifts it proudly for her to see.

"What now?"

She makes a face, clearly not favoring this part of the process.

"You must... run it through, with the pointy end." Yehudit gesticulates at the sharpened tip of the stick. "Starting from the mouth, then out from the... tail end."

At this point she almost wishes they had set the fish free before leaving it to suffocate on land. She can't help but feel guilty for its suffering, but the only thing worse they can do now is to waste what precious life it gave them.

That sounds a thousand ways better than gutting the thing, it's not the first time he's seen fish served whole after all, and it wouldn't be the first time he's eaten it that way either. It's better for him, maybe not so much for Yehudit.

It goes smooth at least, fish are squishy even in this world and thankfully they are mostly bloodless too. He doesn't need to be told what else to do, he could probably look for suitable twigs to put the stick on but he instead holds it over the fire as close as he can, all his attention on it. There isn't much else to do but to cook this fish, is there?

Sooner than later it starts smelling different and looking different, it'll be done soon.

Even without the blood, Yehudit could stomach watching this better. She should have made something so Atem wouldn't have to keep holding it the whole time, but he doesn't seem to have any complaints.

Instead, she goes and searches for some large leaves or flat rocks to set the fish on once it's done, and carve it up with the stone Yehudit had given to sharpen the stick.

By the time the meat is cooked, she's gathered what she could find and sets everything down so Atem will have someplace to transfer the fish onto. She decides to use her shawl to cover the flat rock.

It can't get any dirtier than it already is, anyway.

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