eulalia | Veridia Round 2: Midwife (Reply)

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I think Diseta’s round came after Shep last time, but since she’s already gotten absorbed into the Seax household, we’re bouncing straight to Helenet and Angus.

Summer is prime time for harvesting Helenet’s herbs, so she and Angus spend their mornings in the garden; many of the herbs are most potent when they’re harvested before the sun hits its peak. Angus quickly loses interest in picking apples and prefers quietly playing with his blocks.

At the public well/green/whatever, Helenet checks in with Norweni to see how she’s feeling after Sun’s birth, and chats with Dinn about Faro. Angus is very shy, and he prefers to lurk behind Helenet and wait for her to be done talking rather than play with the other kids.

Helenet: Elmet, you seem to have acquired a shadow.

Elmet: These dogs won’t stop following me around lately.

Helenet: Maybe they want to form a pack!

Elmet: Oh, spirits forbid.

Helenet: I really did appreciate you sticking up for me the other day.

Elmet: Kinda had to. I mean, anyone would, right?

Helenet: No, not anyone would. Trust me. But I heard a rumor that there were wolves howling outside that man’s farm a few nights ago—you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?

Elmet: If I’ve gotta turn into a wolf-man every night, might as well put it to good use.

Helenet: Speaking of... when you go to the forest at night, have you ever met anyone else there?

Elmet: No. I mean, I stay away when people are using the hunting camp. Those nights suck.

Helenet: If you happen to see someone there who isn’t a hunter, you should speak to him instead of running off.

Elmet: You’re being annoyingly cryptic now.

Helenet: Just trust me. And if you need somewhere else to go on those nights, you could come by here again.

Elmet: Thanks… I’ll keep that in mind.

This is just as annoying as it is in my regular game! Thanks, Angus!

Angus got a bug in his ear about fishing from someone (probably Elmet and his fishy tall tales), so they head over to the pond for the day. Helenet doesn’t have much interest in fishing, so she just enjoys the sun and spends a while spotting shapes in the clouds. Huh, that one looks like—uh, something she probably shouldn’t say around her son, actually.

Angus: Ma, look!

Helenet: Hm—oh, great work, Angus!

Helenet: Focus on the otherworld… well, it’s no cave, but there must be magic in these woods if he lives so nearby. Let’s see...

While Angus admires his fish, Helenet tells him to not to wander while she goes behind a tree to take a wee—by which she means attempt to tap into her magic the way Arturo instructed her to. The alleged not-god, not-fairy man is less helpful than he seems to think himself, but when she tries hard enough to listen, there’s a shimmering current of something she can feel like heat against her skin.

When the sparkles (they’re sparkles, not energy, shut up Arturo) dissipate, there’s a flock of butterflies fluttering around Helenet. That’s not exactly helpful in her everyday life, but it does seem like progress. Unless butterflies are just attracted to sparkles.

As if magically drawn by the mere thought of him, Elmet is there when she returns to the pond.

Angus: Ma, Elmet says he caught a fish as big as me once.

Helenet: Elmet is exaggerating, love.

Elmet: Am not! There’s some huge fish in the water down by Evervale.

Helenet: Where’s your dog pack today?

Elmet: It’s not a pack! Anyway, I’m not here for that yet. I was hoping to catch something for dinner. Eisu keeps talking about grilled perch.

Helenet: Well, that’s kind of you. Have you, eh, met anyone here yet?

Elmet: No?

Helenet: Hm. I told him he should speak to you, but I think he’s a bit shy.

Elmet: Really loving this bit where you don’t tell me who I’m supposed to be meeting.

Helenet: Listen, if I had to be surprised, so do you.

Mum and Elmet from the farm next-door are talking about boring grown-up things, and fishing is also getting boring, but Angus found some butterflies!

Speaking of Eisu, he drops by that afternoon so Helenet can check up on the baby and gift him some tea, and catch up on the latest gossip, of course.

Helenet: Hmm, I wonder if I could do Mum’s rejuvenating spell like this...

It... seems to work? But she can’t really prod Eisu for detail about how refreshed he suddenly does or does not feel without letting slip why she’s asking. She's still reluctant to confess her magical abilities (or lack thereof) to others.

Helenet should really introduce Angus to Wulfric’s son.

I am ignoring that Helenet’s herbalist station has books attached to it. I am trying So Hard to ignore it.

Helenet took Angus with her on one of her hikes to gather ingredients in the forest, and she got a wee bit overheated. You okay there, girl?

Helenet senses someone arriving to annoy her, but this time it’s not Elmet.

Helenet: What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t leave the grove during the day.

Arturo: Why would you think that? I have a charm that temporarily allows people’s perception to glance off me, so sometimes I do come walk through the outer village. Though it doesn’t work with magic users, as you can see.

Helenet: Please tell me you’re not going around looking through people’s windows.

Arturo: I am not going around looking through people’s windows. I heard you walking through the forest earlier and I thought I’d... say hello? That is what people do, I believe.

Helenet: You were bored. Got it. Well, if you’re here, watch this—oh, I hope I can do it again.

Arturo: Very good. See how the wands hold you back?

Helenet: I’m not convinced it’s the wands. Maybe Veridia just sits closer to the otherworld than my home village does.

Arturo: Whatever you want to believe, I suppose.

The boss drops by on her way home to check in with Helenet. Norweni has been very kind since Helenet moved to Veridia, from arranging her housing to making sure all is well. Helenet convinces Norweni to take home some of her contraceptive tea, and suggests that Diseta should probably drink it too, in case the spirit’s gift works a little differently than they thought.

Norweni: That’s probably best. One surprise baby is quite enough, thank you.

Helenet: That’s the spirit!

Elmet decided to take Helenet up on her offer of company, although he seems to also have found another wolfy friend to follow him around.

Helenet: Can you at least make the pack be quiet? People are starting to talk about a wolf hunt if they keep coming into the village.

Elmet: I’m not doing it, I swear! But I guess I can try to tell them to keep it down? I don’t know how much they understand when I talk.

Meanwhile, Xiang, lagging a little behind Norweni on his way home from the village warriors’ training session, spies his brother-in-law speaking with Eisu’s friend the midwife, in wirokū form. Interesting; he was under the impression that Elmet refused to reveal his curse to anyone. (He is, of course, going to gossip about this with Eisu immediately.)

Helenet has warmed to Elmet since the first time she met him; alright, he’s a little argumentative, but so is she. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. She thinks that the thing with Elmet is that he’s been lost for what to do since the incident that caused his lycanthropy. He wants to connect with people but holds them at arm’s length at the same time because he doesn’t want to be shunned for his condition. If you get past that, he’s honestly kind of sweet.

Also, he’s weirdly comforting to hug in wolf form. All warm and fuzzy.

The next morning, it’s time to put on their nice clothes and head out to the festival square for a day of fun. Of course, Angus immediately wants to strip down to his shift and try out the log rolling pit Norweni and a few of the other stronger Veridians laboriously set up.

Angus: Elmet! Do you want to fall in the water with me?

Elmet: Wow, that sounds great, kiddo, but I think my brother will get mad at me if I get this tunic wet and he has to wash it again. Can I watch with your mum instead?

Don’t worry, Kinet has no qualms about getting his fancy outfit wet!

Elmet: Um, can I...

The kiss takes Helenet a little by surprise, but she’s definitely not opposed to it.

Angus is gonna eat so much honey cake.

Angus greets Kinet’s aunt and tells her all about his and Helenet’s hike yesterday.

Angus: And then Ma’s friend came by to visit too. He has antlers, like a deer.

Norweni: What? Angus, it’s not nice to tell tales like that.

Angus: But he does.

Norweni: I think you might be mistaken.

Kinet, on the other hand, is happy to entertain Angus’s tales and tell a few of his own.

Helenet spots Wulfric, not looking especially happy to see her and Elmet dancing together, and heads over to speak to him when Elmet leaves to get home before the sun starts to set.

Helenet: I know we did have fun together, but you know that’s all it was, right?

Wulfric: Sure. If you prefer Elmet Hill over someone who can actually provide for their family, that’s your prerogative.

Helenet: What? Please, even if I was that interested in you, I know you’ve refused for years to move into the village proper. It’s not as if I could keep seeing patients from all the way out on the bay. Have a nice night, Wulfric.

Wulfric: Hm. And you, Helenet.

Helenet: Did you have fun today?

Angus: Yup. I like playing in the water when it’s so hot, and Kinet told me a story about ogres! You spent a lot of time with Elmet.

Helenet: Sorry, love, I thought you were having fun on your own.

Angus: That’s okay, but you might get cooties from kissing him. Just so you know.

Helenet: Oh! Uh, in my professional opinion, cooties aren’t real.

Angus: Uh-huh.

does no one in this neighborhood move slowly

When Elmet passes by her house that night, Helenet gives into the urge to grab him by the hand and drag him to her bed. Elmet is pretty amenable to it.

Elmet: Not that I’m complaining, but… doesn’t the fur bother you?

Helenet: Not really, no. Does it bother you?

Elmet: Not when I’m with you.

This is definitely better than running around the forest at night. But they agree that Elmet should slip out after Helenet falls asleep, rather than Angus finding him there when he runs in to wake Helenet in the morning.

And then the fricking burglar shows up! Before I finished collecting my NPC defaults!!

He stole Helenet’s herbalist bench AND the chicken coop. >:(

I hate all of you, why couldn’t you wait for me to finish my defaults.

Helenet is disturbed by the whole thing, even if a strangely dressed warrior took away the thief and told her something called an ‘insurance payout’ would replace her stolen goods. Her dreams are unsettled, and in the morning she can’t help but think that if only Elmet had still been there, he surely would’ve scared the thief off.

Meanwhile, another random wolf is trying to scare Angus into the well.

Helenet: Shoo! Out of here! Eisu, tell your brother to keep his dogs out of my garden, please.

Eisu: He doesn’t have any dogs, but okay?

Not sure what Angus was drawing, but it’s cute so it gets posted up on the wall.

Luckily the only late night visitor after sunset today is Arturo, wandering out of his grove again.

Helenet: Oh, good, it’s just you. Can you teach me how to make wards like you have around your home?

Arturo: That is very advanced magic, little mortal. Why do you want to learn that?

Helenet: Someone broke into my home to steal. Xiang and Norweni are only a shout away, but I worry about what could happen if no one hears...