Keerith's Journal
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:06 am
(OOC: FYI, any comments in parenthesis and prefaced by 'OOC' are out of character commentary. The rest of this is an in-character RP post. And, of course, information learned OOC is different from information learned IC)
I am Keerith Galeo, and this is my story.
Keerith stared at the single line on the page, and sighed. She scratched behind one of her ears with her pencil and looked over at her sister, N'talya. She had always been the more introspective of the two, and it was only at her insistence that Keerith had even picked up the blank log book to start a journal. Of course, now that she had actually started writing the damn thing N'talya was asleep.
Keerith braced herself against a rail as the boat lurched in the heavy seas, a green braid drifting past her eyes, and then reached over and shook N'talya. She could hear another traveller throwing up on the other side of the hold.
"By the gods, Nat! How can you sleep through this?"
The sleeping miqo'te mumbled and rolled over. Keerith watched her sleep a bit longer, smiling, before she turned back to her journal and tried to block out the motion of the ship, the sounds of others talking, and her own worries about the journey and her future.
---(Keerith's first journal entry)---
I am Keerith Galeo, and this is my story.
I grew up in Hyrstmill, near Gridania in the Black Shroud and like my mother before me I studied the woods and tended to plants. I met N'talya when I was six; she was five, and one of the refugees from Ala Mihgo. We adopted her. I can barely remember those days; everyone was scared, terrified that the Empire would come for us next. Fifteen years later the threat of an invasion still looms, but most of us have adapted or just forgotten about it. Life goes on, after all.
When we grew older, we knew we would have to leave the village. We could barely do enough work to care for ourselves; they already had plenty of botanists, and N'talya's attempts at the merchant business always ran aground in the small community. And, well... I know there is more to the world than forests and gathering herbs. I want to see the world, and travel on the aethyr. There is too much going on in this world for me to be content with a simple life. That is why we sold most of our belongings, booked passage to Limsa-Lamosa, and -
---
Keerith looked up and frowned, her ear twitching. Some lady was singing, a beautiful, haunting melody. She surveyed the hold, but couldn't find any songstress; it was apparent by the looks on several other traveler's faces that they heard it as well. It seemed like most of the travelers couldn't hear it, though, or just didn't care.
A few of the other travelers headed towards the door leading above decks. Keerith shook her head; there was no way to hear a singer through the wood of the deck and over the raging storm outside, but she was curious anyway. She got up, put on her jacket, and followed the others out into the storm.
---(Keerith's entry from the next day)---
Last night was... bizarre, to say the least. I heard a voice singing, over the sound of the storm outside, and I was not the only one. However, we never did find the person singing. When we got above deck, I was nearly thrown from the ship - the seas were violent, the storm was fierce. A mass of deep sea... things were swarming across the deck, attacking crew members.
The other travelers were armed, and helped the crew fight the swam off. It was all I could do to hold on to the mast and watch, but I still couldn't bring myself to go back below decks. One man in particular caught my eye - a Roegadyn warrior who I later learned was named Sthalmann. While other fighters picked off single monsters, he waded into the thick with his axe, clearing large sections of the deck at a time. It was like seeing music in motion, despite the violence contained in each swing.
The swarm broke, flooding back into the roiling seas just in time for us to spot an even larger monster racing towards the boat. It leaped out of the water, arcing up and over the boat; the thing looked like a dragon or a sea serpent, and it was larger than anything I had ever seen before, even the largest of the trees in the forest. A casual flick of its fin would have been enough to reduce our ship to scraps. It was one of the most beautiful and majestic sights of my life.
Today has been calm, easy sailing - almost a let down after last night. N'talya is upset she slept through it, but I think she could sleep through an aetheryte explosion without missing a beat. This afternoon, we will arrive in Limsa.
I am Keerith Galeo, and this is my story.
Keerith stared at the single line on the page, and sighed. She scratched behind one of her ears with her pencil and looked over at her sister, N'talya. She had always been the more introspective of the two, and it was only at her insistence that Keerith had even picked up the blank log book to start a journal. Of course, now that she had actually started writing the damn thing N'talya was asleep.
Keerith braced herself against a rail as the boat lurched in the heavy seas, a green braid drifting past her eyes, and then reached over and shook N'talya. She could hear another traveller throwing up on the other side of the hold.
"By the gods, Nat! How can you sleep through this?"
The sleeping miqo'te mumbled and rolled over. Keerith watched her sleep a bit longer, smiling, before she turned back to her journal and tried to block out the motion of the ship, the sounds of others talking, and her own worries about the journey and her future.
---(Keerith's first journal entry)---
I am Keerith Galeo, and this is my story.
I grew up in Hyrstmill, near Gridania in the Black Shroud and like my mother before me I studied the woods and tended to plants. I met N'talya when I was six; she was five, and one of the refugees from Ala Mihgo. We adopted her. I can barely remember those days; everyone was scared, terrified that the Empire would come for us next. Fifteen years later the threat of an invasion still looms, but most of us have adapted or just forgotten about it. Life goes on, after all.
When we grew older, we knew we would have to leave the village. We could barely do enough work to care for ourselves; they already had plenty of botanists, and N'talya's attempts at the merchant business always ran aground in the small community. And, well... I know there is more to the world than forests and gathering herbs. I want to see the world, and travel on the aethyr. There is too much going on in this world for me to be content with a simple life. That is why we sold most of our belongings, booked passage to Limsa-Lamosa, and -
---
Keerith looked up and frowned, her ear twitching. Some lady was singing, a beautiful, haunting melody. She surveyed the hold, but couldn't find any songstress; it was apparent by the looks on several other traveler's faces that they heard it as well. It seemed like most of the travelers couldn't hear it, though, or just didn't care.
A few of the other travelers headed towards the door leading above decks. Keerith shook her head; there was no way to hear a singer through the wood of the deck and over the raging storm outside, but she was curious anyway. She got up, put on her jacket, and followed the others out into the storm.
---(Keerith's entry from the next day)---
Last night was... bizarre, to say the least. I heard a voice singing, over the sound of the storm outside, and I was not the only one. However, we never did find the person singing. When we got above deck, I was nearly thrown from the ship - the seas were violent, the storm was fierce. A mass of deep sea... things were swarming across the deck, attacking crew members.
The other travelers were armed, and helped the crew fight the swam off. It was all I could do to hold on to the mast and watch, but I still couldn't bring myself to go back below decks. One man in particular caught my eye - a Roegadyn warrior who I later learned was named Sthalmann. While other fighters picked off single monsters, he waded into the thick with his axe, clearing large sections of the deck at a time. It was like seeing music in motion, despite the violence contained in each swing.
The swarm broke, flooding back into the roiling seas just in time for us to spot an even larger monster racing towards the boat. It leaped out of the water, arcing up and over the boat; the thing looked like a dragon or a sea serpent, and it was larger than anything I had ever seen before, even the largest of the trees in the forest. A casual flick of its fin would have been enough to reduce our ship to scraps. It was one of the most beautiful and majestic sights of my life.
Today has been calm, easy sailing - almost a let down after last night. N'talya is upset she slept through it, but I think she could sleep through an aetheryte explosion without missing a beat. This afternoon, we will arrive in Limsa.