they echo me in circles

Deja, thee innkeeper. Wailing Woman of the Stumble Inn.

[vuldak-juneau]

Marigold sniffed at Deja’s outstretched hand, her little green nose twitching and tiny little clouds of spores floating off of her whiskers and her swishing tail. After a few moments, the moss kitten was satisfied and she sat in front of Deja, verdant chest upright and proud, eyes wide and yellow, as she announced, “You smell strange.” 

“Rude,” Juneau remarked at Marigold. 

“It’s true, and you’re rude too,” Marigold defended herself. But she abandoned the conversation with Juneau a moment later when Deja complimented her. “It’s the prettiest flower, actually.” Marigold did not care that such things came down to a matter of taste, but she flopped over onto the ground and exposed her tummy for petting anyway. 

“Yeah, she’s mine,” Juneau confirmed, though Marigold seemed to have a penchant for sneaking away to meet up with Zagreus at the first convenient opportunity. The Vuldak couldn’t be mad at her for that, though. It was only fair. He’d rescued Marigold from the mountain in Hestia’s Cove as much as Juneau had. “She has to go with me to meet Jul–to meet someone. But we’ll visit… sometimes.”

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Deja did not care that the cat had insulted her, not only did she get that to somebody with sensitive senses that she probably smelled like....Well, death. But it was such an adorable kind of creature, she'd never seen anything like it before. All the mannerisms of a cat but if she wasn't looking directly at it, in the right place, it would disappear amongst the mossy foliage of the moors outside the garden. "It is, it is the prettiest flower." She cooed, reaching down to gently smooth the fur on the creature's mossy floof. And then if she'd have been a little critter herself, her ears would have perked forward. Because as much as Deja considered Juneau family now, the blonde seemed to keep things between them fairly professional. Mentioning a name would mean they were a little bit closer and she tried not to show how happy this made her outwardly. "Sounds like this someone is special for you to go meet them." Actually nothing she'd said suggested that, but Deja was fishing.

[adrianvoll]

Adrian admired her excitement, it was this pure sense of revelry that each of them so desperately needed. Often, the witch found himself feeling great surprise whenever Deja lent herself to her true spirit nature and though he momentarily blinked, the smile still remained. "It'll likely taste more like a cocktail than what Iskaran mead tastes like," there was some sense of relief in Adrian's tone, though he'd always miss what faint bits of history could remind him of home. "I've heard you've bene trying to fix up a garden amongst many things."

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

"I've been trying to get my hands on some of that. Feels like it'd be a real treat for the refugees who showed up." A nice gesture, a little taste of home, it would be the least Deja could do for them. But what she pours Adrian is something nice and honeyed and expensive, a gift from a traveler who'd stayed with her at one point. Going incorporeal again she sneaks through the bar with two pints in hand and promptly hands him one. "I'm not too good with that, or I might be, if I spent more time doing it and less of," She gestured vaguely to the busy tavern. "Everything else. Gardening was more of my pa's thing."

[vuldak-juneau]

Juneau rested her chin on her knee staring at the rose bush. It had a few half decent flowers on it, but it mostly seemed like it refused to flourish out of spite. Juneau nearly found that relatable. It was likely too late for it to really have a true bloom this year, but there was always the next, and with intentional pruning it would probably be worth the wait. “Some flowers aren’t meant to come easy, they're meant to be more of a reward,” Juneau thought aloud. 

Realizing that she had been spotted, Marigold deigned to make her presence known. There was a slight rustling of the lower, dried out leaves in the bush, and a moment later out leap the moss kitten. “Her name is Marigold, she has a big personality,” Juneau whispered behind her hand, but Marigold’s tail still puffed slightly indignantly. “I got her in Hestia’s Cove after–well, it was a whole thing, you don’t want to hear about it. Marigold, come say hello.” 

“Fine, but only because I want to,” Marigold insisted, bounding across the garden before pushing her cheek against Deja’s knee as if to test the woman out.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Something told Deja that Juneau wasn't just talking about flowers, but she wasn't about to pick at the other woman's philosophy, if anything she liked hearing it. Anyways, the thought that Juneau was a lot wiser than people gave her credit for went out the window at the sight of the little critter that came out of the bushes. A cat, but not quite a cat, supposedly covered in moss. Deja's jaw actually drops and her eyes went big before she's sitting up and very carefully offering a hand towards the creature that bumped against her knees. "Marigold huh? That's a pretty flower for a pretty critter." She practically cooed. "She staying with you?" Could she stay at the inn? Could Deja get her any treats? Meats? Fish? She was accommodating!

[adrianvoll]

He's not ever really known for smiling - really it's the opposite; brooding - but for Deja a smile indeed erupts on his face as the hug is easily reciprocated. Adrian pauses to look around before his eyes focus back on the spirit who, even despite their circle of eight bonding them, had become incredibly important to the witch, "I got your letter and got here as fast as I could." It had been more invitation than letter, but it meant the world to Adrian to have even been invited to her Inn.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

"Lemme give you a tour, can I get you a pint?" She's speaking quickly, excitedly, it was rare that people seemed to show up without needing to head off on some grand thing up North. Without waiting to get an answer, Deja phases back through the bar and promptly goes about pouring him some mead from her secret stash. Underneath the right end of the bar was a little shelf full of the higher quality stuff, stronger stuff. "Tavern area's all the rage but there's so many little nooks and crannies to this place."

[vuldak-juneau]

“That’s true,” Juneau agreed thoughtfully, but her nose wrinkled upon being compared to a cockroach. She had been compared to many things before–scavengers, coyotes, but cockroaches? Juneau saw the vision, and while she took more humor than offense to it, it was not her favorite. “If anyone said that but you, I’d be deeply offended,” she deadpanned, but the corners of her lips curled ever so slightly upward toward the end of the statement. “I’ll pack it up in the next few days,” she said of the room. There wasn’t much left, and most of it was Alder’s rather than Juneau’s. But she couldn’t bring herself to leave his things behind, even if she did not think he would be coming back to claim them. “And you can start renting it out again.” 

“The rosebush looks like it had a worse time than I did,” Juneau said looking around the garden. If Deja paid attention, a pair of bright green eyes could be seen observing the banshee from amongst the leaves. Sure, the garden looked like it had had two months of half-care, but it wasn’t a total loss. She would still be able to finish it. 

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Deja doesn't think she's smiled the way she was in months, not since she'd heard news of the Kossith. Just hearing Juneau's usual deadpan is comforting, she'd been afraid that something would finally break the tiny blonde, the world had a way of stealing away hope and spark from people. To know that she was still her usual self after all she'd surely endured on that damn boat was more than a little relieving. While there's a little pang of sadness in her chest at the idea of her favorite gardener not having a room, at least Juneau was alive. "That thing's always been a pain to anyone who loves it." Her father had planted it for her mother and it'd been a labor of love ever since. "Really only seemed to cooperate when my mama dealt with it." And Juneau, but she thought that was somewhat implied. Leaning back on her hands a bit, she nudged the other woman's leg with her foot gently as she looked around and- "Did you bring back a critter?"

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Person: @adrianvoll Location: Yeah she brought him to the Stumble Inn finally Adrian hardly gets to the actual bar before she's phasing through it and promptly wrapping her arms around his broad frame. She doesn't say anything for a second, just let it sink in that he is there, and he is solid and alive. It's only when she steps back does she look up at him and grin, another friend who'd survived the Kossith. "Well aren't you a sight for dead, tired, and sore eyes."

[nylathriasoulseer]

It was endearing to think that Deja wanted to care for her even after all this time. Nyla was so used to looking after everyone else that it made it difficult to release that role to another, especially one she cared for. It was harder to let those she cared for see her cracks because she knew what came with it... pity. She now looked in Deja's eyes, she could only tell the truth and Deja would only see through her evasion "No... No, I'm not." Deja had to suspect as much. "Well... someone already beat you to the offer. There's this woman called Agnes who offered, i can bring her over for dinner, i don't want her eating by herself."

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

"Agnes?" Deja's whole posture changed and she squints in suspicion before she looks to Nyla again. "Dark hair, pale skin, likes to hold hands?" The woman was downright ethereal in nature, spoke wisely, as far as Deja was concerned, Agnes always seemed to have it all figured out. She was another woman she aspired to be like, someone who'd been a pillar of support. And two pillars? Meeting each other? Interesting, interesting.

[agnesisolda]

"I believe you," she murmured in kind; sometimes the motherly role between the two blurred and it was simply two women who understood the catastrophic feeling of what it was to become. She felt great sorrow for who Deja once was, a woman Agnes never knew in life, but a spirit she intimately understood in her death and undoing. "And I believe their fight is not yet finished," she was bonded to Nyla to some degree, etched in a promise of a tattoo, but Agnes was unsure if the Kossith's influence swayed the truth of what her tattoo represented. Would she truly know if Nyla was gone?

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

"Think if I stand in one place and just scream real loud Nyla will hear me?" Deja gave up and let out a huff of breath. There was no hiding it, no subtly to the wetness at the edge of her eyes and she outright picked up the end of the tattered piece of lace around her hips she called a belt to properly wipe at her eyes. No more tears, they were together now, she'd found one of them, recovered a piece of her family.

[veseniya-tqd]

It appeared the additional information Veseniya had shared had piqued the innkeeper’s interest. Veseniya did not answer right away, clearly considering Deja’s offer and interest. It would be uncomfortable to answer questions about her past in the cult, but there was no guarantee the innkeeper would ask. And if she did, she might accept Veseniya’s refusal to answer. On the other hand, two minds seeking out Mimir’s wisdom might yield better results. And the woman did seem open minded once the spores druid had alleviated her concerns. She might also refuse Veseniya a room if she did not agree. 

“You may assist,” Veseniya decided aloud. She set her small bag of supplies she had brought with her on the ground and slid a few gold coins closer to Deja in the hopes the gold and agreement combined would be enough that the woman would prepare a room. “I will explain more in the room.”

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

It's with a heavy sigh that Deja does not hoist herself from her desk but simply rises and walks right through it, ring of keys jingling on the lace belt at her hip. "We can use the one next to mine then." If it turned out they were actually summoning some spirits, at least they'd be company. She nods towards the other woman and begins up the staircase to the right of the desk, leading her to the only set of double doors on the second floor. Her room is more like a living room and bedroom combined and she liked it that way. There's a little bit of a homey aspect to all of the rooms in the inn, but she thinks hers is the most lived in, bigger on the inside than what the outside would suggest thanks to a little magical help, but it's still cozy. It's less of a room and more of a small cottage and Deja walks through her own door to open it for the other woman from the inside. "We can set up in front of the fireplace."

[vuldak-juneau]

If Juneau had stopped to think, she probably could have come to the conclusion that Deja was anxious regarding her homecoming. Juneau had taken her time to make her way back to the Inn, something she might come to feel a tinge of guilt for later. She hadn’t meant to keep Deja waiting; she hadn’t thought about it at all. As Deja approached, Juneau fell back on her behind and crossed her legs waiting for the banshee to come join her. Her eyes lingered on the key that Deja wore hanging from her waist and she couldn’t quite bring herself to feel bad for breaking into the garden, but doing so wasn’t ideal. “You probably need to get me another copy of that key,” Juneau said aloud, “although the lock was pretty easy to pick.” 

Juneau pretended to be perturbed by Deja’s smile, but it wouldn’t take much for the Vuldak to admit she had missed the innkeeper. Things did feel different now, in a way Juneau didn’t quite know how to express, but accepting the connections that insisted on enduring still felt intimidated, but no longer impossible. She moved over a bit  so that Deja could join her if she pleased and leaned back with her weight propped against the heels of her hands in the overturned dirt. Most of the weeds had been pulled by now. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t I?” Juneau asked, playing dumb or possibly just not inclined to unload a new collection of unpleasant memories on Deja. After a brief pause, she glanced at the woman from the corner of her eye. “You rent my room out to anyone else?”

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

"Well you see," She's still smiling as she gathers the tattered lace of her skirts and sits down a couple of feet away from the blonde, her palms against the ground and her body reclining back. "I figured you're the type that can get out of just about anything. Cutest little cockroach I ever did see." There's affection in her voice despite her ribbing, there's relief to be able to do such a thing at all. It'd been difficult without her friends at the inn, the people she'd slowly but surely come to know and care for over the last year since the refugees had showed up in Lysara. Deja's eyes went to the garden while it's not in as tip top shape as it would be if Juneau had been here the last month or so, it wasn't too bad. "I couldn't let all your hard work go to waste. Had some extra hands come by when any of us got a second. I think the rosebush missed you though."

[agnesisolda]

"We are, Deja, and you never needed to tuck yourself away in that Inn," the banshee has always been a marvel to Agnes, something which grew to showing on the surface over time as Agnes began to trust the posse of the Inn further. Where once she'd hesitate or freeze, Agnes is returning the hug, squeezing the banshee, and using her free hand to wipe the tears which fell. "Nylathria, Juneau, we're going to get them back and your presence here is indeed vital for that." A banshee's wail was indeed the true deciding factor of what the wreckage produced, but Agnes was certain they were alive along with many others who'd been taken.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

"I know that now, I think." Deja steps back only to wipe at her eyes with the back of her hands and square her shoulders. No, she was not just someone resigned to be stuck in one place, not anymore. The Lysaran wilderness isn't an ideal place for her sure, but she's there and she'd gone because she had to go and recover what was left of the little family she'd put together under one roof. "You're the first one I've encountered, but I know they're out there, I can't explain how or why, I just...." One of her hands left Agnes's shoulder to gesture vaguely. A gut feeling, a strong one, and she was getting better at listening to it.

[vuldak-juneau]

who: @dejatheeinnkeeper where: The garden at the back of the Stumble Inn when: A little less than a week after the captured folks make it home notes: let me know if you need changes

Juneau had stuck out several days of the celebration in Haven honoring Aurea’s fight against the Kossith, the excitement in the air compounded by the homecoming of those captured such as herself. Haven still didn’t feel like home to her, and as she returned to the grounds of the Stumble Inn, it didn’t feel like home either. Thus far, she had avoided the room she and Alder had once shared. She had no idea if it was still hers so to speak. She hadn’t necessarily stopped to think about it either, instead heading to the garden she had been working on. The key Deja had given her was long lost, but hopping the fence wasn’t difficult for a novice thief to hop to gain access. 

Where she had expected a dried out, neglected weed patch that would demand she start from square one she had found a mostly tended to garden. It took little guesswork to know that any new saplings and blooms had been installed by Agnes, not quite to Juneau’s specific plan for the garden but still well executed and in balance with the work Juneau had accomplished. While most of the plants managed to remain resilient in the time that they hadn't tended to–a very attractive characteristic of a plant in a world that seemed to threaten to end every several months–there were a few patches of weeds and desiccated, dead plants who couldn’t quite cut it. Juneau worked silently to remove them, finding comfort in the work. Her focus on the garden quieted the memories of the Dreadnaught. 

Before long, she heard a key turning in the lock on the gate, and the squeaking of the gate door swinging open. She turned to look, still crouched on her heels expecting one of two people: Deja or Agnes. When she saw Deja approaching, she cheekily raised her hands as if caught by some sort of authority, the hand rake she’d been using falling with a dull thud beside her. “It was like that when I found it,” she defended herself as if discovered in the middle of some sort of crime. She hoped her unserious greeting would ward off any sort of overly-sentimental reaction from the innkeeper to see her there.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

One by one her little band of misfits made their way back home and Deja looked up at the stars every night and thanked whoever was up there for bringing them all back to her door. First she'd found Agnes, then Nyla, and she'd be lying if she wasn't panicking about the little blonde, but in her heart of hearts, she had known she was alright. Still, relief rolled off of her as she entered the garden, the key to it swinging by a loop that was tied around her waist with a thin lace scarf in place of a belt. "Well I'd certainly hope it was like that when you found it." A knowing smile spread across her lips and she knows Juneau is not one for affection, she's down specifically on her list of people that she knows she can't get touchy feely with. Deja still walks right up to her and reaches down to pick up the rake. "I was hoping you'd show up again." I missed you, I am glad you're here.

[nylathriasoulseer]

Nyla isn’t only close to Deja but her acenectors, she remembered when deja’s grandmother had told her she was pregnant. The inn was more than just that to Nyla, it held so many special memories, too many for inaction. More people knew now then back that Nyla was especially savvy with gold, so providing the funds was the least she could have done. Nyla hissed only slightly as the woman smothered her within her hold. “Oh sweetheart, you know I'll haunt the world with you.” Nyla didn’t leave it long till her head was pressed against the others in the hold.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

They stand there a moment and Deja finds herself matching her breathing to Nyla's, a manual thing she has to do. Her lungs don't work, they haven't worked for years, and yet she remembered being young and stressed and running around the inn after taking on more than she could chew. 'Take a second to breathe, baby.' Is what her mother had always told her, and in the moment she is taking the advice literally. She can't feel any warmth from Nyla's body, but she can feel the weight of it and it is there and it is solid against her and after counting down in her head for sixty seconds, Deja sniffles. Leaning back and her brows furrowing, the rest of the inn falls away, responsibilities could be handled by someone else for the evening, this was more important. "Are you alright? I can have a room ready for you in seconds. You must be so tired." The woman who had taken so much care for her and her business, Deja was hellbent on returning it after all of this time. It was Nyla's turn to rest now.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Person: @agnesisolda Location: Touchdown Lysara The moment she'd seen the woman, she was in her arms. Mostly on account of her own small stature. And because she was a step away from just burying her face in the bartender's chest and sobbing. "Hi." There's tears in her eyes and because of that, Deja keeps her mouth shut for fear of anything coming out that was akin to a wail. They're happy tears though as she takes a moment to reunite. "We're a long ways from home." Despite that, Deja had left the inn anyways, hellbent on being part of the recovery crew.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Person: @nylathriasoulseer Location: They're home ur honor When she'd started repairing the inn, Nyla had been the first familiar face to step forward. Someone who'd known her parents, someone who'd been a patron for years, and even with them gone, Nyla had still shown up for her. She'd shown up for the girl who'd been shot in what was essentially her backyard, the one who'd been left just a spirit. It wasn't just the loss of Juneau in the garden or Agnes behind the bar that'd scared her, it was the idea that pillar of support, that shining beacon of hope that she'd had all these years, was gone, that'd gotten her on the road. She'd lost enough family by blood, she wasn't about to lose those she'd found.

Tears tracked down her cheeks, her arms enveloping the woman who'd always been there for her. "I thought you were gone." She says, voice barely above a whisper.

[veseniya-tqd]

“My god is not revered within these lands,” Veseniya stated. At least not enough to have any sort of temple or church that she knew of. Mimir had been a popular entity in Iskaldrik, but she had heard few whisperings of the god of wisdom outside of the orthodox sect she had grown up in. The innkeeper’s question was direct and specific, there was little room to talk about it, and Veseniya was bound by the confines of honesty. “I wish to pray to an ancient god of wisdom, to beseech him for guidance or advice.” There! That was the truth of it, no flashy occult shows, no sacrifices, nothing but a plea and prayer. She laid a few additional gold coins down on the desk. Perhaps that would be enough to convince the woman.  

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Sitting up, Deja looks more clearly at the woman before her and she can't say that she's not looking for a little guidance herself at this point. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she looks to the woman with her big eyes and she sits back behind her desk and she exhales. "Mind some company?" Her brow quirks upwards, the fingers of her right hand gently tapping the oak desk's surface as she tried to think of the risk assessment. Every day since everyone had shipped out towards Haven again, Deja had been looking for answers. Answers or some kind of reprieve from the constant feeling that for as full as the inn was, her home was empty.

[dejatheeinnkeeper]

Person: @blightedmikhael Location: Travelin' "They're all leaving, aren't they?" Mikhael, like a lot of people she knew, was going towards Haven and if Deja weren't on some kind of personal mission, she'd go with. But their paths will diverge at some point in their journey, he'd go to Haven and she'd....Desperately try to get ahold of this Fyren person. It was for the people of Haven though, for all of them in Lysara, if she could find something in a vision or a dream that would help them all, she'd be really doing something.