[X] Buy Riya a leather jacket for flight since she doesn't have one and it's winter
-[x] Get Real with her and give her back her scarf. If you don't do it, it'll eventually result in broken trust, so you should just bite the bullet and confess.
[X] Carve Edgar a wooden mermaid to stick on his plane's dashboard.
[X] Gift for Alex/Dr. Becker/Joli - one thaler, our thanks, and a promise that by next year we'll know them well enough to get them something more personalized.
Thankfully, the topside tailor seemed to not be religious, so he was still open on the Solstice Day. Bunkerstadt was divided between two separate towns in a symbiotic relationship, the aboveground society, which was mostly comprised of Gothic outsiders that had moved to the area, and the actual bunker, a hamlet-sized concrete labyrinth with a vast majority of Rishonim in its population. While walking through town, you saw neighbors exchanging gifts, a small grove of young trees people were working to decorate with metal and wooden painted baubles (weird as hell bringing metal into the mix), and a few people praying within the grove. You considered just decorating one of the trees in town, but the borders of the Wild were open today, and you were going to take advantage.
You passed by Riya on her way out of the tailor's shop, she locked eyes with you and giggled as she quickly walked away with a very packed bag. You decided to get her a heavy leather bomber jacket with a fuzzy interior since she didn't have one and occasionally complained about her heavy clothing not being enough for winter. Oh, Goddesses, the scarf. You still had it. Maybe you could sneak it back... No, you couldn't do that. Well, you could, easily, but you needed to come clean. You loved her and you didn't want to lie. You'd do it when you all exchanged presents. As for what you were getting Edgar, you weren't super sure. You wanted to get him something personal, but he had just about everything a pilot needed. Hm. Maybe something for his dashboard? You'd carved wood alongside your mom as a pastime since you could hold the tools, it was the one artistic skill you had, even if you didn't like it that much. On the walk through town you met up with your three employees, slipping them a Thaler each as a solstice bonus and promising to know them enough to give them a gift when the summer rolled around.
You bought some old woodcarver's tools from the carpenter's shop for more meaningless scrip, found a chunky log by the edge of the woods, and brought it back to your room to start to carve down. You weren't really sure what you would make for him, but you trusted for your hand to be guided to give him exactly what he wanted. The shape you broke apart from the wood was vaguely ovoid, and you started to get the shape of a head in your mind near the top, imagining the weird grooves near the peak as wavy hair. He liked the sea, right? What if you made it a Siren? Pilots like hot art of hot girls on their planes.
You spent the next hour or so with your radio on next to you, listening to that station up in the mountains pumping out old-world music, and realizing you were able to gently sing along to some of the ones you'd heard on repeat at this point. Your favorite singer, at least from the old world, you supposed, had to be Mitzi Weiß, or the "Siren of The South Coast" as her nickname was. Her music had a different style than most other Fokker artists, more energetic and wobbly. It reminded you a lot of Edgar's flute playing.
You gently carved the face, with a combination of magic and careful tool use, in the shape of what you imagined she looked like. You smoothed the details of the scales, carved the tail, and had her hands clasped together over her crotch for modesty (despite the fact you carved her tits out). If he didn't have another way to stick the figure to his dashboard, you could just make him some honey wax to glue it on. By the end, it was alright. You got the anatomy right, the face was genuinely pretty, but you just weren't really sure if you liked it. Eh, Edgar would appreciate it anyway. You wrapped it in brown paper, tied it up with twine, did the same to Riya's new jacket, and left to find your friends with Gunther.
"We're going… into the Wild?" Riya asked, staring into the impossibly dark forest ahead. You gently pulled the three flower crowns you made out of your bag and handed two to the others before putting your own on.
"We're not trespassing on the solstice, especially if we're trying to decorate a tree." You explained while slinging your bag over your shoulder and peering into the woods, looking around for signs of animals or lights. "Alright, ground rules. Fae are not human. A lot of them look human, but they aren't. Some of them are nicer than others but don't count on it. Do not trust anything they say. They can lie to you, despite myth. If they accuse you of something, don't say anything, don't apologize, don't get defensive, I will handle it. We won't be harassed for entering the woods, but you can be harassed for any offense you make to them."
"Why are we even going in if they're so dangerous?" Edgar asked, adjusting the flower crown with his oddly bandaged hand. He must have injured it since this morning.
"It's like… it's like a gun. It's always dangerous, but if you handle them properly they can't hurt you. Also, I want to find the perfect pine tree to decorate." You said while stepping over the threshold and into the woods. "Oh, and, I shouldn't have to say this, but don't try to make deals with them."
"I thought all of them looked like people," Riya said while following close behind.
"Only the ones that matter. Little balls of light or talking animals can't do much. Well, unless they're a wolf. Then they can actually attack you. But a talking bunny is just a talking bunny. Respect anything that looks human, use discretion for the rest." You looked at the trees around you and traced your fingers against one. You hadn't walked through the woods since your trade with Madeline. Stupid in retrospect. Maybe you should have waited until the solsti-… no, no, don't dwell. The woods were more frightening than usual. The darkness felt more encroaching. You tried to push it aside and focus on the task at hand. You closed your eyes and pressed your palm against the tree.
"What are you doing?" Riya asked.
"Talking to the forest." You responded.
"Right. I don't want to spent too long in here, can we just look for a pine tree?" She asked, sounding nervous. You opened your eyes.
"That's what I'm doing."
"How do the trees know where to find a pine tree?" Edgar asked.
"They talk to each other. I know that sounds like bullshit but I'm serious, and it's not a magic thing. Fungi and roots make a network that basically makes the forest a collective consciousness, with every tree talking to one another." You explained, looking out into the dark forest. "To a certain extent, all of Himmelgard is like that." You said, smiling. "Some of the women from my coven theorized the fae and the Wild's more mystical influence are projections of the spirit of a forest's thoughts." You said, again attempting to focus on feeling active life through the root network. "Most of the trees are basically sleeping. I'm trying to look for one that's not." You say as you feel a faint glow to the west, couldn't be too far if you could feel it without too much effort. You pointed towards where you felt it.
"That way?" Edgar asked, walking forward.
"Mhm." You said, following close behind him.
You traveled a significant distance before reaching the evergreen you'd detected, way farther than expected. Riya complained about the temperature a few times along the way, but you assured her it was all part of the experience. The evergreen was almost entirely devoid of snow, in the middle of a small clearing. You hadn't encountered creatures or fae along the way, they were probably off doing their own celebration. The clearing was mostly free of snow as well, it had gotten pretty warm after yesterday's snowstorm, so the grass was mostly visible too. It was a perfect tree for decoration. You gave general instructions to the others as to how to do it but felt significantly less commanding than you usually did when telling people what to do. You hung the wreaths near the top of the tree, the pastry ornaments lower around the rim of the tree since you'd made over a dozen and you asked Riya and Edgar to hang them. After that you used your water magic to create delicate strings of giant snowflakes around and upward, from the base of the pines to its highest peak.
"What did you guys do for the Solstice back home?" You asked while descending from the top of the tree on your broomstick back down to the ground.
Riya looked up from smoothing out the blanket she brought for everyone to sit on. "Alright, so, my caravan..." Riya began, before looking incredibly nervous about something. "We had a cyclical trade route up in Loring down to old Gotha, and it took about six months. When we reached a halfway point on the trip, we'd have a party. Huge bash. It was always in a mountain village up in the Great Mountains and a little farming community in Loring." She laughed a little. "Locals in that Loring town fucking hated the Halfway Party. Anyway, we saw the stars that way too. They'd reach the halfway point of their cycle during the solstices, so we'd have a party for them too. It was also to... celebrate those we lost. Since they had a different cycle to take up there, but they still deserved a party." Riya said, still looking like she was trying to smile as tears started to come out. "Shit... sorry. Today's been a lot" She said in a wobbly voice while trying to wipe her eyes with her dress sleeve. Edgar, who was helping her smooth out the blanket immediately sprung into action and wrapped his arms around her, and just let her hold him while she tried not to look at either of you.
"Well... Ok, so, my tattoos are made from an ink we extract from a kind of squid that lives in the Dark Sea. I don't know if it's just sea currents or something, but we always have a huge amount washing up on shore near the end of the year. So a long time ago someone assumed the G-uh, basically we just paint murals with all the extra ink to show what significant events happened in the last year." Edgar explained, giving a very obviously fake smile and rubbing Riya's head. You were briefly jealous of her, and your face heated up when you thought about the fact that you were.
"Oh, that's cool, how long do the murals last?" You asked, smiling.
"Like two days, until the next rain." He laughed. "But it's ok! It's just tradition, and everyone enjoys it anyway." He said, his smile looking more genuine. It didn't make much sense why anyone would make art that wouldn't last about events everyone had already experienced, but it was his tradition, who were you to judge?
"I'm sorry you couldn't participate this year." You said, lowering yourself onto the blanket across from the other two.
"I can still do it in my own way, don't worry about it." He said, still with a smile.
"Oh, like a painting? Could I see?" You asked, grinning right back.
"It's... kinda private." He said, grin fading a little.
"It's ok. Can I give you two your presents now?" You asked, pulling the two paper-wrapped gifts out of your bag and setting them on the blanket. "This is for you..." You said, sliding the large wrapped jacket to Riya, who had stopped crying by now and was excitedly grabbing for the present. "And this is for you!" You said as you slid the smaller wrapped figure over to Edgar. Riya unwrapped her's first, and gasped at the sight of the new jacket you'd bought her.
"I've been meaning to get one of these! Oh stars, thank you so much, Hilda!" She said, giddy as can be before grabbing you and squeezing you hard. You made a guttural noise from the squeezing and hugged her back. Edgar unwrapped his gift while you two hugged.
"Oh Gods..." Edgar said, laughing when he saw his gift. "This is perfect. Thank you so much." He said, then yanking you out of Riya's arms and squeezing you himself, though clearly not as hard as possible since he'd just crush you if he did. Riya slid the bomber jacket on, grinning, and gave you a quick kiss on the lips.
"You need a new wardrobe, so I got you some new dresses from the tailor." Riya said while pulling four packages out of her bag. "Probably not a good idea to open all of them so you can bring them home, but I think this one can help you." She said while unwrapping one of the presents and pulling out a set of flight leathers for you. A leather jacket, and pants! You'd literally never worn pants before! You hoped you wouldn't be confused for a man with them on.
"Oh, thank you! I should have got a set too a long time ago." You said, wiggling out of Edgar's grip and slipping the jacket on. Your arms finally felt actually warm again. Edgar was great for cuddles, but his skin was freezing in the open air, so you just couldn't handle it.
"So, my gift to the both of you is the same, but I think you both need it." Edgar said, pulling out two identically sized packages from his pack and setting them down in front of the both of you. You picked yours up and unwrapped it, revealing it to be a sheathed knife with a curved handle. You pulled it from its sheath. It was made from steel, but it didn't radiate the ick of industry, this was clearly handmade.
"What does this say?" You asked, pointing at both sides of the knife.
"Well, this rune means "Indomitable". I thought it was fitting." He said, grinning.
"I don't know, you seem to think I'm pretty "Domitable"~" You said, grinning back at him with lowered eyelids. He giggled and gently shoved you off of him.
"The other side is the first lines of the first song I played for you. I know how much music means to you now." He continued.
"Awwwww…" you said, going back to hugging him.
"Every girl should have a knife. Well, I know you two have swords, but a good knife is important too, for more than one reason." He said, rubbing your head, and your ears, making you just melt against him.
"We already discussed what's on Riya's knife." Edgar said, and you could practically hear them smiling at each other. You could hear Edgar take something from Riya's hands, and you looked up from his chest to see him unwrapping Riya's gift to him. Inside the brown paper was a set of binoculars.
"Oh shit! These are perfect! Thank you!" Edgar laughed, immediately putting them up to his eyes and looking around the clearing. "How much were these?"
"Well, we're always doing missions where we need to find things on the ground, so I thought something to make that easier would be nice. It was only… two Thaler…" she said that last part quietly. You didn't care that much. You had a lot of money, even if that was a lot.
"Wow… alright, well, I'm sure they'll come in handy. Thanks." Edgar said, smiling at Riya. Alright. Gift giving was over. You should probably talk about the scarf now. Your stomach was turning, but you pressed yourself up and reached for your bag to start this difficult conversation.
I'm treating this as a Get Real. It's a bit different though. I want you to write in how to broach the subject, how you want to attempt to keep trust with Riya, and how you admit you're wrong (or not!) and that will modify the Get Real. If you speak in a way that will resonate with Riya, you might get advantage, if you accidentally say something that might offend her, you'll get disadvantage, or if it's good or bad we'll just skip the Get Real and move on.
[ ] Write in how you try to preserve trust with Riya while still admitting to what you did.
