Somewhere in the Preserve, Sunday Morning

[not_of_the_nora]

They had given Aloy a room number - somewhere in that big castle to sleep. She hadn't trusted it; no sane person would immediately trust some strange place that they wandered into, where people she didn't know seemed to know her.

So she had set up camp for the night in the middle of the woods. She'd made a fire, and her clothes were warm enough to sleep in. Now, she was awake, alert, and hungry.

She should be working on finding a way home. Not that she was aching to go back; it was... nice, walking around somewhere where people didn't shun her on sight. Where she could have a conversation, no matter how strange, about something.

But Rost needed her. The old man would never admit it, but she could see the sadness in his eyes sometimes. He'd be frantic right now, tearing through the Embrace trying to find her. Aloy sighed. "Going back the way I came hasn't worked," she mused to herself. "Maybe I should go looking for another arch..."

[[ open! ]]

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[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still not much for the concept of sleeping in. And like her brother before her, she'd taken to spending a lot of time in the preserve, not really searching for a way back to where they'd come from, because he'd said it was useless, but... It didn't hurt to spend time in an environment that was more familiar to her, anyway.

She felt like she could breathe, here.

Though usually she didn't come across anyone else. When she spotted the girl, it took her a second to remind herself out of her first instinct to hide and observe. Fandom wasn't like that, for the most part. (And anyway, her sword was at her back. She was fine.)

Instead, she made sure to step loudly on a branch on the ground, before getting too close. It snapped in half with a loud crack.

[ooc: Majorly SP-y for the next couple of hours, butI couldn't resist.]

[not_of_the_nora]

Noise.

Aloy's head shot up immediately - and her fingers were at her Focus within a moment's notice. Rabbits, birds, a few animals she didn't recognize... and there, in the shadows, a human shape.

No machines.

"Who's there?" she called, reaching for her bow. Wishing, again, that she'd had her spear with her when she left home yesterday.

[okteiviakom]

"Okteivia kom Trigedakru," Octavia called back, stepping more plainly into view, her empty hands held up, palms out. Not that that actually meant anything when it came to whether she was dangerous or not, but it was the gesture that counted.

"I live in town. I don't mean any harm."

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy's grip on her bow relaxed somewhat. "Going for a walk?" she asked dryly.

[okteiviakom]

The reply was about as dry.

"That is what most of the island seems to think this part is for."

Octavia herself was more prone to thinking of wooded areas as a resource, but also that didn't change the fact that 'going for a walk' was a relatively apt description of what she'd been doing.

[not_of_the_nora]

"It's the forest. It's for food and a place to sleep," Aloy said dryly.

Why would anyone go for a walk here for fun?

[okteiviakom]

"Not for the people who live inside buildings and trade food for money at stores."

Finally, she started moving again. She still kept it slow, though.

[not_of_the_nora]

"Then why would you even come out here?" Aloy said, tilting her head.

[okteiviakom]

"I have my reasons."

Well, she'd never said she was included in 'most people'.

"Are you new?"

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy rolled her eyes. "Temporary," she said.

[okteiviakom]

"You're not alone in that," Octavia drawled. "Might not work out quite the way you want it to."

[not_of_the_nora]

"So people keep telling me," Aloy said dryly. "Apparently I'm going to like it."

[okteiviakom]

Now that Octavia had come closer, she could take a better look at the girl. She could've passed for Trikru. The hair, the braids were similar to the style Octavia herself wore. And they were both in their leathers, too.

Octavia felt homesick. But then, when didn't she?

"Guess you've been talking to optimists, too."

[not_of_the_nora]

"I don't know how many times I've been told I'll come to like it here and I won't want to leave when I can," Aloy said. She shook her head. "So yes."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's lips twisted.

"Actually, I'd switch that from 'optimists' to 'probably well-meaning idiots'."

She... maybe had personal reasons for that assesment. Maybe.

[not_of_the_nora]

"Agreed," Aloy said, tilting her head. "Not a fan either?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia paused to inhale through her nose, considering her choice of words. It was a struggle between her usual guarding of her privacy and faintly recognizing something in this girl.

She settled on, "Not really." She shrugged a shoulder. "I don't think people understand not wanting to leave isn't always a good thing."

[not_of_the_nora]

"Like being here is supposed to be some kind of gift we just have to learn to enjoy," Aloy said, and exhaled loudly.

It reminded her almost of the regular Nora. Or Odd Grata, with her endless litany of thanks for a Goddess who was doing her no favors.

[okteiviakom]

"Like gifts that are forcibly given are still gifts," Octavia replied. Dryly.

She glanced around. "I assume you slept here."

[not_of_the_nora]

"Yes," Aloy said, looking at her fire. "I didn't feel like taking any gifts."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded.

"And do you have everything you need?"

It was a perfectly neutral question. She was just checking.

[not_of_the_nora]

"I have food, water and a place to sleep," Aloy said. "I can hunt more if I need it."

[okteiviakom]

"Good." Octavia nodded again.

Then she reached into her pocket. She'd taken to carrying a small notebook and pen with her during her time here, for writing down unfamiliar things she wanted to look up later.

This time, she scribbled down what she'd learned was her and Bellamy's address.

Then she tore the page out, and held it out for Aloy. "It's not a gift. But just in case."

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy took the paper gingerly.

So far, this one had given her the least reason to be distrustful - not that she wasn't - and had seemed the most familiar. That was the entire reason she took it at all.

"Thanks," she offered, searching Octavia's face for... something.

[okteiviakom]

There wasn't much there. Octavia's face was just... kind of severe.

(Had she seen herself right now, she would've been reminded of Indra.)

She would've acted more openly empathetic if the girl had come off as needing it, but this didn't feel like that kind of conversation. Didn't make her offering any less genuine, though.

"I'm Octavia, my brother's Bellamy," she said, and nodded at the note. "That's where we live. In case you need something the forest doesn't provide."

[not_of_the_nora]

"I'm Aloy," she said, letting out a breath. "And I hate to repeat the 'thanks', but thanks for not telling me to just get over leaving."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia responded with a slight shrug.

"I don't plan to get over leaving."

So she wasn't going to be advising anyone else to do so either.

[kenselvren]

Jalian, meanwhile, was in the reverse situation. She had no dorm room anymore, and was heading home shortly enough that paying to stay someplace seemed pointless, particularly as she was completely comfortable outdoors.

It wasn't until she was heading back into town in the morning that she noticed the other person, and nodded and waved to her, her eyes instantly taking in everything about her.

"Well met."

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy was still wearing her light hunting leathers, dozens of bead necklaces resting around her neck. Her red hair was part tangle, part braids; her bow laid by her side, her Focus a small but obvious triangle right by her ear.

"You know, for a forest, this place seems awfully busy," she said.

[kenselvren]

"Is it?" Jalian shrugged. She was wearing white leathers to match her chalky skin, her white hair braided back and her knives at her waist. "It's pleasant enough. You are new?"

[not_of_the_nora]

"Hopefully just visiting," Aloy corrected.

[kenselvren]

Jalian nodded soberly. "This island likes to grab people. Sometimes it lets them go, sometimes they stay. I must leave now, but I stayed for several years after it took me. It is not a bad place."

Belatedly, she held out her hand. "Jalian d'Arsennette y ken Selvren."

[not_of_the_nora]

"Aloy," Aloy said, and reached to clasp Jalian's lower arm. (That was what she was offering, right?) "...Of the Nora, I guess."

[kenselvren]

It was, as it happened, and Jalian was pleased that somebody here did it right, although this girl looked enough like a Huntress maybe she shouldn't be surprised.

"I do not know the Nora," Jalian confessed. "But you probably do not know ken Selvren. Nobody here has yet."

[not_of_the_nora]

"No one here seems to know anyone," Aloy said dryly. "It's very convenient."

[kenselvren]

Jalian thought about it and gave a little nod/shrug. "Sometimes. Frustrating sometimes. Here you can be who you are, and most don't care. But sometimes they forget to speak of things they think are obvious. Like meat and always wearing clothing and money."

Money would never not be funny.

[not_of_the_nora]

"Money? You mean shards?"

No, Aloy. Not like shards. Shards were at least useful for something.

[kenselvren]

"I don't know your shards," Jalian said. "Here, things you need or services are bought with money. You are given money for doing other things." She dug in her pocket and pulled out a small roll of large bills. "It looks like this. Just paper, but it is what they value."

[not_of_the_nora]

"So like shards," Aloy said. "It's small pieces of metal taken off machines that we use to trade with, though they're also useful when you're making armor."

[kenselvren]

Jalian snorted. "This is useful for nothing except in the trading." She held the roll out to Aloy. "I am leaving and will have no use for it. Would you like it?"

[not_of_the_nora]

"If what you say is right and I might be stuck here for a while longer, it might be useful," Aloy said, nodding. "Thank you."

[kenselvren]

"You are welcome," Jalian said. "It is not a bad place to be, if you don't need to be elsewhere. I wish you luck."

[not_of_the_nora]

"Thank you again, I guess," Aloy said. She was frowning at Jalian, though. "What made you decide to stay here?"

[kenselvren]

"At first I did not have a choice," Jalian said. "Then, I thought, this is a good place, a mostly safe place, to learn about this timeline. The place I go now is similar to this one, and I knew very little about it. Now I know much more."

She thought about it for a moment. "The people here are mostly soft. You don't look soft. They carry no weapons, and many cannot even defend themselves. But they have their own things to teach."

[not_of_the_nora]

"I don't need to be taught anything here," Aloy said. "I need to get home and finish my training. I've got some answers of my own that I want, and they won't be here."

Unless someone here mysteriously had a line to the Nora matriarchs.

[kenselvren]

Jalian shrugged. She had no vested interest in it; she did not know Aloy, after all.

"I wish you luck in returning, then."