So Close, No Matter How Far

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So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Wanda Johansson » Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:53 pm

The run up to the holidays had been really confusing Wanda. People kept referencing a girlfriend that she didn't clearly didn't have and that got particularly old. Her parents were confused when she called to discuss flight plans for her to come back to Uppsala. They seemed to think that she was going somewhere with her girlfriend.

Something about all this made Wanda angry and she told herself it was all just some strange misunderstanding and it was just the frustration of the school year and that strange situation with the vampires. She sighed as she boarded a plane for Stockholm.

Maybe the university was a bad place for her. Maybe she just needed a simpler life. Isolde had said that people like her tended to put down roots somewhere and get away from it all. Her time at the university just felt so temporary. Something was making her drift and she felt like she needed something more. On the other hand, if she hadn't been at the university, there wouldn't have been anyone to come save her when she needed it most.

She was still brooding when she got off the train in Uppsala. Her parents were there to pick her up. They talked to her all the way home, a litany of conversation that Wanda barely heard. Christmas morning was quiet and her parents looked worried as her as she opened presents mechanically and stared into her morning coffee.

Later that day, family was visiting, including her great grandmother. The old woman just sat in the most comfortable chair in the house, staring hard at Wanda. The tension in the room was thick enough that the rest of the family naturally migrated to other places in the house to avoid it, leaving the two of them alone.

"What is wrong with you, girl?"

"Nothing, mormor. I'm just tired," Wanda said, looking over at the woman.

"Don't lie to me, child. I know tired. I live it every day."

Wanda sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "It would sound insane if I told you, mormor."

"You talk to the wind, child, and the storms listen. I'm not so set in my ways that I can't appreciate that."

Wanda sighed and it all came spilling out. All the semester's weirdness, all the difficulties, and finally the strange cap-off. Her great grandmother listened quietly, never asking questions, but occasionally offering encouraging noises. Finally Wanda had exhausted her story. At some point, though she couldn't remember when, she'd migrated to sit at her great grandmother's feet. The old woman patted Wanda on the head, "How long have you been talking to the Earth, child?"

"My powers started around 13, mormor. You know that."

"No, child, I asked when you started talking to the Earth. My father used to desribe it as a quiet whisper when he was out on his hunts. He said it warned him about the dark parts of the woods and led him to the best places to hunt. My mother always thought it was just his way of talking about the woods, but I could see in his eyes it was something different."

Wanda bit her lip as she listened. She knew it had been a voice at times, but she had filed it away as an expression of her powers. She could sense her great grandmother studying her face, seeing the truth written plainly on it.

"Maybe you've done too much talking to the wind and not enough listening, Älskling." She reached down, picking up her voluminous purse and rifled through it. She fished out a small set of keys and held them out to Wanda, followed by a set of directions. "There's an old cabin that's been in the family for a long time. I was going to get rid of it, but a Miss Weaver convinced me that one day it might still be useful."

Wanda stared at the key and the directions. At first she wasn't sure what to make of them, then she recognized them for the life preserver that they were. She took them gently and then stood to hug her great grandmother. "Thank you, mormor."

"Merry Christmas, Wanda. Now go, find what you need. I'll deal with the rest of the family."

Wanda nodded and retreated to her room. She was used to packing light, just the essentials. After a moment's thought, she climbed out her window, gathering the winds around her as she launched into the air and headed away.
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Wanda Johansson
 
High Concept: Storm Druid
Aspect: Child of Earth
Aspect: A Butterfly Flaps Her Wings
Aspect: Putting Down Roots
Aspect: Wrapped In The Leash

Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Narrator » Wed Nov 29, 2017 6:30 pm

The days at the cabin are calm and filled with a tranquility that seems to follow her even into her dreams. At least on most nights. This one too starts serene and welcoming. In the dream, Wanda is sitting in a meadow. She's maybe 3 inches tall, making the grass almost as tall as her with the flowers reaching higher and their blossoms smiling down at her. The sun shines down with pleasant warmth and she feels peaceful. At least for a little while. At the edge of the meadow runs a small dirt road and it is on this road that a figure prances down. They're playing on a flute and behind them rows and rows of rats follow. Overflowing the road onto the nice meadow they start chewing up everything in their path and almost like a wave, pick Wanda up and sweep her along. They don't eat her, but in the fray they do bite at her now and again.

The strange procession carries her away from the meadow and down the road and the landscape changes. Barren fields and jagged rocks begin to appear and in the distance the dark shadow of a mountain rises against the sky. Around it thick clouds are gathered that soon drown out the sun and it's from one of those clouds that a lightning-bolt flashes and strikes the mass of rats, burning some of them to ashes and sending the rest of them into a wild panic. The piper's spell seems broken as they swarm, biting at the piper as well as each other as they scurry towards the mountain. They carry Wanda along until they reach a small house made of rough stone bricks, squeezing through cracks in the walls and under the wooden door.

The inside is a small room illuminated only by a couple of flickering candles, although to Wanda it seems humongous.The air is thick with the smell of blood and every once in a while a loud thwack echos off the walls. On one end of the room a small figure is standing at a table, balancing on a stool to make up for their short stature, although still towering over her by comparison. Around the foot of the table and the stool is where the rats are congregating to fight over the blood dripping down from above. On the table is a cage full of rabbits and the little man reaches in to grab one of them, places it in front of him and raises a big butcher knife before bringing it down with that loud thwack. He takes the partial foot he just chopped off and carefully sets it aside while tossing the rest of the rabbit into a blood-stained chute next to the table as he sings to himself.

"Heute hack ich, morgen bau ich,
übermorgen hat der König seinen Prinz.
Ach, wie gut, dass niemand weiß,
dass ich Rumpelstilzchen heiß!"

Somehow Wanda knows that he can't see her. Even the rats pay her no mind, in fact there's a couple that seem to have been burned to a crisp around her. As the little man continues to chop small pieces off of the rabbits she can hear a whisper coming from somewhere. Too faint to make it out but still sounding reassuring in this dark place somehow. It seems to come from the chute.
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Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Wanda Johansson » Wed Nov 29, 2017 6:39 pm

It takes Wanda a moment to gather her stomach at the gruesome scene, but she manages. Hearing the whisper, she closes her eyes and follows, focusing on the sound and not the awfulness around her. Coming to the chute, she peers down it for a moment before shrugging and leaping, willing a tiny gust to catch her and carry her into the chute.
User avatar
Wanda Johansson
 
High Concept: Storm Druid
Aspect: Child of Earth
Aspect: A Butterfly Flaps Her Wings
Aspect: Putting Down Roots
Aspect: Wrapped In The Leash

Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Narrator » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:05 pm

Lucky for her the dwarf doesn't seem to notice her as she climbs up to the chute. It's a long drop, old brick-work rushing past her on all sides while the light dims until she's just falling in darkness. After what feels like an eternity she can begin to make out some light at the bottom. A greenish glow that feels almost welcoming, especially after the room above. She lands on a soft mound that gives in a little under her. Thick moss covers it and strange plants are growing from it. Bulbous things that emit a faint light, illuminating the cave she seems to have landed in. There's an almost sweet smell in the air. A small vine slowly sneaks up from the moss, tentatively wrapping around her ankle, but then suddenly stops and quickly withdraws again. She can see the walls of the cavern, even in the dim light, yet somehow it feels more expansive than it seems. Thin vines or roots are covering the walls in strange patterns that almost look like letters or symbols, although not in any language she's ever seen.
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Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Wanda Johansson » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:12 pm

She watches the vine curiously as it withdraws before getting to her feet and climbing off the mound, setting foot on the cave floor. She's briefly distracted by the vine patterns before she stops herself and closes her eyes, listening for the whispering that had brought her down here in the first place.
User avatar
Wanda Johansson
 
High Concept: Storm Druid
Aspect: Child of Earth
Aspect: A Butterfly Flaps Her Wings
Aspect: Putting Down Roots
Aspect: Wrapped In The Leash

Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Narrator » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:35 pm

There doesn't seem to be an immediate source, but she can make it out a little better down here.

"Snip..." the whispery voice of an old woman seems to say.

Behind her another dead rabbit comes down the chute and lands on the mound with a wet thud. Vines grow out of the moss again and this time they wrap around the blood-matted fur. Little sprigs and moss begin to sprout from the dead body everywhere the vines touch it and soon there's no discerning it from the rest of the mount anymore.

"Nothing's ever lost." the voice of a young girl adds. "Stolen, caught and butchered."

"All things gathered in the Chamber of Guf as they're cut from the Tree of Life." yet a third whisper goes on.

"Know this, child. Remember it when the night seems darkest." the voice of the old woman adds.

Behind her on the mossy mound another flower unfurls itself, petals peeling back from a glowing bulb. A sense of calm seems to come with it. Down here, hidden in the warm embrace of the earth everything is right. Everything has it's place and it all happens for a reason.
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Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Wanda Johansson » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:52 pm

Wanda sits on the floor of the cave, regarding the mound. Despite the horribleness above, down here the cast-offs could find some new purpose in the cycle. She feels like a cast-off, even if she can't explain why, even to herself. She takes a deep breath, slowly letting it out and decides to just be. It's a thing she's had practice at in the cabin. Walking through the surrounding countryside and just being. Sitting next to the old stove with a warm mug in her hands and just being. Finding that center, that core of... not exactly Wanda, but Wanda's place. It's a concept that she knew people would laugh at her for, even some of her Wicca friends would think she was off it a bit. But when she found it... it just worked and brought her peace.
User avatar
Wanda Johansson
 
High Concept: Storm Druid
Aspect: Child of Earth
Aspect: A Butterfly Flaps Her Wings
Aspect: Putting Down Roots
Aspect: Wrapped In The Leash

Re: So Close, No Matter How Far

Postby Wanda Johansson » Tue Dec 05, 2017 3:57 pm

Finally, she found that core. Sighing in relaxation, she opens her eyes and is a little surprised to find herself sitting up in her bed in the same position that she'd been sitting in the cave. She runs her fingers through her hair and gets up, moving to a small table in the cabin. On the table is her journal and she flips it over, beginning to note the details of the dream. Then, she notes some of the rune-patterns from the vines, imperfect in recollection, but better than nothing.
User avatar
Wanda Johansson
 
High Concept: Storm Druid
Aspect: Child of Earth
Aspect: A Butterfly Flaps Her Wings
Aspect: Putting Down Roots
Aspect: Wrapped In The Leash



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