View source for Log:Hacking Out A Hollow

{{ Log
| cast = [[Alonso]] and [[Gisa Cohen|Gisa]]
| summary = Isn't your date night hacking through the Hedge? 
| gamedate = 2017.05.20
| gamedatename = 
| subtitle = 
| location = [[H08]]
| categories = Changeling, Dawn
| log = So, Alonso had decided that what the pair need is a hollow. Or, rather, Alonso wants a hollow and it makes sense that Gisa would join him on this enterprise. Her book store isn't precisely the most spacious place for one person, nevermind two. And so, Alonso's idea of date night is a trip into the hedge to scout a possible spot for them to set up shop. Dangerous? Well, yes. But the ringtrod isn't as dangerous as the rest of the nearby hedge. So he's fairly comfortable coming out as just the two of them, accompanied by his eagle and riding his horse.

This of course gives Gisa an excuse to ride behind Alonso and basically cuddle atop a horse for most of the trip in. Sticking to the trod, it's a safe trip for the most part. As safe as such things ever get, that is. Once they reach the bloodsap grove, however, Alonso steers Rojo towards the edge of the trod and helps Gisa down out of the saddle before swinging off, himself. He pats the horse's neck in gratitude, then visits his saddle bags to begin pulling out his bow and fighting gauntlets. "I thought here might be the best place to look. Plenty of local hobs which will be predisposed to the local Freeholders. And if they're here, some of the worst creatures to be found in the Hedge are less likely to be. If we can stake something out on the edge of things, we've some close proximity to hobkin and trade and an excellent early warning system."
 
You kidding? Hedge Date To Find A Hollow To Make Together sounds like an excellent use of a Saturday night. Gisa is ''all'' about that, in the 'I can do havdallah when I get back' way. She is ''all about'' increasing Alonso's investment in a) hanging around b) her c) hanging around with her.

She's just a little bit shorter than he is, so that works perfectly for essentially upright in-the-Hedge snuggling. Goylomim do not necessarily get to like... lean on others, and Alonso is on the very short list of people who get to see even the smallest bit of vulnerability from her. So for the whole ride out, she leans her head on the back of his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his stomach. Content golem is both content and a source of warmth against the gathering evening chill.

Once he helps her down, Gisa wiggles her toes against the hedge earth, and slowly nods her head, a thoughtful little gesture. "Yes, this is all true. And it's not too far to walk up the mountain. We can sort of be backed up against the mountain, which is nice for security." Her eyeflames slowly scan the area, her hands prop on her hips thoughtfully. Yes, yes, this will do.
 
"Precisely," he concurs with a nod. "I had considered something closer to the summit, but the wind is brutal at that altitude. And while the vista is grand, and you can see trouble coming from a long way off in theory? You're also horribly exposed, and equally visible. And with all the cutbacks on the trod leading up and down the mountain, your vision isn't as good as it's cracked up to be. Either way, it's a bit of a trade off. I simply thought you might prefer wood and stone and shadow to just stone and the cutting wind. A little something for the both of us." Alonso takes a moment to bend his bow around his calf and string it up, then heads to the back of his saddle bags to lift his bard onto his left arm. Its claws grasp his gauntlet in a manner that makes it very apparent why he put them on beforehand. "I thought a tree house might be different. Leave the hobs the ground, so they can expand around us if they so choose. Give us a good view of the surroundings, plus hide our hollow in the branches. Harder to spot from the road. I'd prefer to give the locals little cause to object to our moving into the neighborhood."
 

"I am made of earth and stone equally, and fire in my heart, ''motek,'' it is not stone alone for me. And no, I spent enough time exposed to wind without protection from it, I do not want that for a home." A subtle shudder passes through Gisa from scalp to soles, and she turns a little bit. "Do you intend to find something extant and shape it, or to make a new thing entirely?"

Gisa thinks about what he says, and then answers, "Yes, this is true. But also, I am stronger when my feet are on the earth? Literally, not... not figuratively." The golem taps one of her heels against the toe of her other Hedgespun boot, lest he forget that she literally has no soles on her shoes for a reason. "Perhaps if we can find a way to do both? I am not averse to being up in the air, to some extent. But... " But she is ''literally'' stronger when she has her feet on the Earth.
 
"Well, we could always build something at the base of a large tree and then up into the tree and so on. If we find a sufficiently large tree. I'm not sure how practical that will end up being, however, Gisa. The actual ground is rife with hobs, here, as noted. But if you're set on it, we can head off the trod and search for a suitably large tree." Alonso slings his bow around his shoudlder, then draws his saber with his free hand. They'll have to hack their way off the trod at first, and the saber is rather uniquely suited to this particular task. "I am not averse to being on the ground, either, but I am more agile and quick when up in the air. So we're at a little bit of cross purposes in that regard. Building up the middle of a hollow tree might just be the answer."
 
"I know, I know. I am just saying, it would make me stronger if we were ever attacked. If we can find that, I would be much happier," explains Gisa, rolling her shoulders. "It is to be wished, it is not to be essential." She absently reaches a hand out and touches his shoulder as he starts to head to the edge of the trod, both affectionately and such that she says, without saying so, 'I am right behind you, I have your back.' "If we can make it work, I think that would be perfect. I am content to put in the work." That ''should'' go without saying, but she says it anyway, keeping a lookout behind them while letting Alonso take the front edge of hacking into the Hedge. "My family made the desert bloom. In comparison to that, shaping this Hollow should be ... well, it might be a comparable task, I do not know!" This, she confesses easily. "Oh. Sid Spokes is on the spare couch perhaps. He is also staying at the Wayhouse. But he came from Israel, and he stopped in when you went out for more wine last night." She sounds delighted -- undoubtedly she has spoken of the young Satyr before, affectionately, as she might a young cousin. There's another Jew around, and one she can dote on.
 
"Oh? Well. All the more reason to construct a hollow, then. We'll be crowded out, soon." Alonso gives her a sidelong grin, rakish under that moustache of his. "Well, then? Let's see what there is to find. Stay close to me, the last thing we need is to become separated. You still have your brumebulb, yes?" Alonso turns back to the briars and begins hacking his way through the thicket, piercing the wall of briars and entering the forest beyond. It's rather immediately darker under the boughs of the trees than it was on the trod, even accounting for the gloaming of the evening. Alonso, of course, is as comfortable as anything in the shadows and the dark. Even allowing for the surreal light emenating from his saber blade. He advances slowly, as much to give Gisa time for her eyes to adjust as to take stock of the lay of the land once they're even so short a distance from the trod's boundaries. Time and distance can be fickle in the Hedge, after all. "I suggest we edge around the settlements, here. Look for some of the larger old growth trees. We can shape our surroundings easily enough, but it will be easier with a superior canvas to start from."
 
"Hmph.  ''Boychik'' does not know enough about his heritage. I am glad he is here. Israel is all fine, but there are not many active goylomim there at the moment." His rakish little grin gets him a smack on the ass with one clay hand, and then Gisa nods. "I have my brumebulb, ''motek,'' it is all well. And my healing fruits. I do not know all the names." She turns her attention back toward the trod, making sure they don't get totally boxed in. Once he hacks down a chunk of dry thorns, she bends, picks it up, and pulls a zippo from her pocket. Zippo plus dried thorn plus Fireheart equals a small, perfect ball of flame that she can direct almost like a flashlight; she keeps the flame down so that her eyes can adjust a bit, but the fire on hand so that if need be, she can set it on things and conceal their footsteps or, well, light things on fire. "This is a sensible plan, yes."
 
Once he's taken stock of his surroundings, Alonso tosses his bird upwards with a twitch of the arm. It wings up and away, scouting the way forward for them from the relative safety of the canopy. Once it comes to rest in the branches, Alonso points forward with his sabre, marking the location of the perches raptor. "We make for him. Keep him as your marker. If we get separated for any reason, just eat the brumebulb. I will do the same. It's not worth the risk trying to link back up again. Both the horse and my bird will find their way home again, never fear. This is their home, not our own." Alonso then takes a few moments more to prepare some contracts to make their travel both safer and easier, and starts forward once again. Creeping his way through the shadows and between the trees, moving from cover to cover.
 
She is silent in response, mostly, anyway: her affimation is a rumbling sound something like rocks being tossed down the side of a tin house. As he continues to hack into the hedge, however, she queries: "How did you find your raptor? Why does he stay with you?" It's not a rude question, just a blunt one. "I have thought about trying to find a companion of that like, but I do not know what I would have or why a hedgebeast would consent to stay with me." Gisa keeps watch behind them so that the opening won't close back up, shifting her gaze between the path behind them and the marker of the bird ahead of them.
 
They reach the tree where his eagle is perched and nothing seems wise to their presence as yet. Even the hobs in the huts not too far from where they're linking up seem oblivious to their comings and goings. While his eagle is taking flight again, and winging it another distance off, heading for a taller, thicker tree than the one they're hiding behind, Alonso attempts to explain the matter for her. "Generalissimo Aguila and I? Well, he is an Iberian eagle and I am a spaniard, so it only makes sense. More seriously, I offer him protection. Safety. Glamour, when he needs it. He doesn't have to hunt for his sustenance, or risk coming to ground, really. I get an extra set of eyes, his contracts, and so on. He's very useful, overall. The trickiest part is locating an animal you'd /like/ to get on with. Someone like you, tough as you are, you've quite a lot to offer in the way of safety." Alonso once more points out his raptor in the branches once it comes to roost. "There. Be careful, now. We're about to put the settlement between us and the trod. Circling around the outside. The bigger growth should be there." Alonso starts off again, quiet and fleet of foot.
 
Funny thing: now that they're not around anyone else, and now that they're in a situation where quickness and fleetness of foot and quiet are necessary, Gisa no longer moves like a large thoughtful rock. As a matter of fact, exactly how light on her feet and how swift and dexterous she is... well, it's probably not much of a surprise to Alonso at this point, but it's certainly extremely notable, as if, perhaps, she makes a point of making people think that she is ponderous and slow most of the time, hiding how quick and light on her feet she actually is. Sneaky golem. She keeps up with him, and the branches of the Hedge seem to reach out and lend her their shadow so that even the open flame she holds doesn't make her seen. "Ah, I see. Yes, that seems like a good relationship," Gisa agrees, "Or at least a mutually beneficial one."

She is quiet for a time, and then confesses, "I had been thinking about it. Something small but sturdy seems to appeal. Or something capable of taking care of itself most of the time, if need be. Something mutually beneficial means that it should not be dependent on me for survival, I think." And then they're starting to circle around the settlement, and she falls silent, briefly touching his shoulder with one hand, an affirmation that she's still there as they lose direct sight of the entrance they carved from the trod. This? This is where things get kinda dangerous.
 
From this new vantage point, it's rather easy to spot a large tree that would suit their purposes. Growing out of a rise of earth and stone a bit further away from the settlement. It ticks most of the boxes they listed upon arrival. It is a large tree, it commands a good view of their surroundings, it's near enough the settlement to be convenient, but far enough off not to be crowding its borders. Moreover, it rises up out of good earth, which was something Gisa herself requested. The eagle does not head off in that direction. Instead, it glides down to alight on Alonso's wrist again, only to be rewarded with a murmur of praise. He doesn't send the bird off again.

"That's a little ''too'' good a position, isn't it? It might be the hedge laying a trap for us, or otherwise occupied. So let's be careful, and keep your head eyes and ears open. If anything comes for us, let's try to keep the resolution of the problem as quiet as we can." And with that, Alonso begins creeping off through the underbrush, seeming to very nearly slither through the shadows on his way to the tree in the distance. 

"That seems like an awful lot of effort to go to just for a trap," Gisa observes somewhat drily. "To grow a tree just to trap us." Granted, the Hedge can move relatively quickly when it desires to do so, but... She sounds skeptical that it is, or could possibly be, an actual trap. All the same, though, she follows carefully behind him, tapping him on the shoulder again to assure him of her presence, and also that she's not a disembodied fake Gisa-voice or something idk.

Her eyes narrow a little bit, and she points out, her voice lowered to a gentle murmur, "Mind the vines up ahead, and to the left, there, they run up the trunks there." Not everything that is deadly in the Hedge is, you know, an animal. The flora can be just as deadly as the fauna.
 
''TBC''

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