2017-02-21: The Nature of Filgaian Saloons

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<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

After a successful foray into the Sacred Grounds of Linga -- and giving her share of gella to Lemina--er, pardon, Sasha Nash -- Alisha Diphda went ahead to Adlehyde. Word spread quickly about Adlehyde's Ancient Culture Exhibition. It seemed like as good a solution as any. She learned two things in short order. First, they certainly weren't in Spira. The stars weren't right.

The second was that the land was dying. She hadn't seen anything like this. The /good/ farmlands here looked like the ones fallen upon hard times on Lunar. The ground was dry in a way she had never seen before.

It leaves her, as she walks into Adlehyde, feeling a little depressed. How do people live?

She decided some food was in order. In Linga, Alisha hadn't managed to see a Filgaian saloon. Oh, she saw their modest pub -- but it appealed to scholars and farmers far more than Drifters. Conversely, the Starfall Saloon is at the heart of Adlehyde's appeal to Drifters. Thus, as she walks up, she hears, sees, and smells in short order:

1. A bawdy song about a dancer's legs. 2. A man spit a glob of concrete mix-thick chewing tobacco into a battered copper pot. 3. The house special, triple-fried fatback.

The princess knight draws to a stop and stares at the interior of the tavern, where one Drifter shouts at another about the fact her poker hand has five aces in it. Her jaw hangs open, before she finally asks a question -- to herself, to no one, to Althena.

"But why?" 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise had slept uneasily in the caravan last night. She'd felt awfully unsure of herself after running into Kalve and his weird arm glove... thing, saying nothing of Claude practically calling her an idiot for not seeing she wasn't even on Filgaia to know existed.

She'd shaken herself off and gotten back on the caravan. That's what she does. Her spirits never stay down for long.

It's perhaps why there's something else Alisha can hear from inside: The strum of lute strings.

"You wouldn't /believe/ the number of dancers," Talise laughs heartily from a seat not far from the centre of it all, where she's actually sitting on the edge of the table, a couple of tankards of ale beside her and her lute resting against her shoulder. She's grinning from ear to ear, giving her lutestrings a couple of strums as she gets a little crowd of onlookers in the mood. This is a natural setting for her, after all. Taverns come and taverns go, but drunks love bawdy songs and travelers love adventure stories and songs, and they like pretty ladies - and she's always been in a position to deliver on all three.

With a grin for her traveling companions, she leans back heavily and gives her lute strings another twang, then a couple more, a shivering note spilling from them before she cuts it off dramatically. Her eyes twinkle.

"Now let me tell y'all the story," she drawls lyrically, "of how Natto the Singing Swordsman saved the lovely maidens fair...." o/` 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Talise has a friend.

Lyn mostly stands out by being cleaner than the average saloon-goer in here, because she's in a civilized town again and by the Guardians, if she can't presume upon her family for soap, what are they good for?

She was aware Talise was a musician, of course - you can't travel that long with her /without/ figuring that out - but she's never actually seen her play for a big group. The caravan, sure, but not just everybody in the tavern. She fits in. She seems at home here.

Lyn doesn't, because her native terrain is libraries, the Symbologists' convention at Marze, and ruins. Sure, she likes taverns well enough, but they're not home to her in quite the same way... though this doesn't stop her from having a drink and politely dissuading someone from trying to pickpocket her, something they failed at because of the fact that her pants don't actually seem to have pockets.

She looks up at the door when it opens. She does that every time. 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

Lemina's daily routine has been, of late, riding between towns, villages, and cities, throwing up posters looking for her magic carpet. ... and, for that matter, checking them for people actually having /found/ her magic carpet. Sadly, no one has.

So her quest, naturally, brings her here, clad in a thick cloak and hood. She does her best to be unrecognizable -- but Alisha will probably recognize her in /this/ mode from the other day, so can that really be called success?

Her whole face scrunches up a little when she enters. To call her 'not a fan' would be an understatement. Her response to the whole situation is one word: "Yikes." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The third member of Talise's trio has a bottle of whiskey, and a stack of hoecakes. The hoecakes are mostly there so that she's not drinking on an empty stomach, because that's generally a one-way ticket to drunktown.

Ida did not have an easy night either, but you couldn't tell just by looking. She's put enough dirt and wear on her expedition clothes (a button-down shirt, breeches, and a jacket with cuffs and collar) that she doesn't stand out too much visually. She is earnestly interested in everything Talise plays, mostly so she can gather cultural context about this bizarre place where dragons are things worth admiring. It doesn't match up with anywhere she's familiar with, but Filgaia is a big place.

"Lyn, may I offer you one of these cakes? I wasn't expecting so many, and they're denser than what I'm used to." Ida slides the plate a little closer, though she sees Lyn looking at the door, and follows her gaze. Another Drifter? This one looks strange, though after yesterday, Ida has no idea where 'strange' begins and 'suspiciously out of place' ends. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Sorey had traveled with Alisha as well, although he had not been quite as depressed as she had been by the countryside. This seemed like a much more difficult land to be sure, with farmers working harder and everyone living a bit closer to the edge... but there were differences as well.

For one thing, the amount of Malevolence here was almost negligible - a fact that Sorey had taken a while to even recognize. It seemed strange that there was so little in a place where people apparently had harder lives - and *that* was a mystery.

One that Sorey felt he needed to solve before they returned home.

But as Alisha stops at the entrance to the saloon, Sorey looks over her shoulder and grins. "This place seems exciting," he comments, although he waits for the princess to head inside first, rather than trying to push past. "Although it's very different from Linga - I guess people aren't quite as stuffy as all the scholars there?" 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

A couple of things give Alisha pause.

The first is that she sees and hears something entirely out of place, yet familiar: the sound of a lute and a song she knows, has heard before in the camps of Hyland's army, about a Dragonmaster. She draws in a soft gasp, as she sees the beastwoman. "That's..."

The second thing that she notices is who walks in a little after her. She looks to the left, peering at Lemina -- and then her expression brightens, but there is something a little guarded to it. "Oh... Miss Nash!" she calls out. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

She sighs, and then she turns her head to look back at Sorey. She nods once at him. "Yes, I don't think they are. They appear to be... rougher," she says. Then, she looks back at the bar -- and starts walking forward. She will doubtlessly stand out to Lynnai: her white and pink tabard is /not/ something common to Filgaia, her plate mail gauntlets and leggings look archaic, and her hair is especially styled.

Her eyes fall on Talise, though. "I know that song," she says. Then, she sings a few bars, out of the blue. The princess knight, it seems, has a lovely voice: "...because Natto travelled wide and far, where he found a bride and stopped a war. o/`" 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

She doesn't say so in so many words, of course, but seedy dives are like a second home to Talise, for reasons.

It hasn't occurred to her that Filgaia's dragons are different.

She gives her lute another brisk strum, tilting her head towards the door a moment to glance, then grinning towards Lyn and Ida both. Having the two of them close at hand is a good thing, at least. They seem to know what they're talking about, after all.

Not that it stops her from singing. Fingers plucking over her lute strings, she sings a few bars of the song. Something about a brave, singing man, a creepy ogre, a bunch of damsels in distress with really nice legs and heaving bosoms --

That's not part of the regular song and Tal threw it in there to keep her audience riveted, apparently. Her fingers dance over her strings. Her voice isn't the heavenly siren song of the gods or anything; it's a little rough and throaty, but strong and from the heart.

Another voice suddenly cuts in on the song. "...because Natto travelled wide and far, where he found a bride and stopped a war, o/`" she sings along in time, letting her last note hang in the air. Her eyes glint with dawning realization as she gazes at the lady in pink and white platemail. Slowly, she lowers the head of the lute to rest against one thigh, her smile wry and knowing as she gives the pink princess knight a steady look.

"...You look like a lady who knows her stories," she says, curling her hand. "C'mon over and have a drink. 's on me." 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

Lemina takes a second to react to her name being called; it's hard for her to internalize that she needs to respond to her cover name. When she /does/ realize that 'her name' is being called, though, she looks up and over, saying, "Oh, uh, hi," a little dazedly.

It only takes her a few seconds to come back to herself, though. "I didn't expect to see... /anyone/ I knew here!" crap crap crap "You know... your clothes are, like, mega-unusual for around here," she says, doing her best to deflect attention from herself as the pair head in. Casually, she adds, "What's up with that?" with a cant of her head.

Glancing over to Sorey, she adds, "/Hey/! Not all scholars are stuffy! Some of us just like to not go out and get, you know, mega-covered in /garbage/."

When Talise invites the princess over, Lemina -- sorry, 'Sasha Nash, veteran scholar-adventurer' -- can only scrunch up her face. Where's /her/ free drink? 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai Albrek sees Alisha and thinks: foreigner.

But by 'foreigner', she thinks 'Arctican', because Alisha's armour reminds her of a picture she saw of the Arctican knights once. But that sketch was fifty years old, so it may nonetheless be kind of archaic... Lyn has never been to Arctica to look at them herself. "Hmm," she says to herself, considering -

But Ida gives her a hoecake. "Thank you?" she says, sounding slightly confused. It takes her a moment to have it register so she can respond properly instead of on automatic. "Oh, it's appreciated, thank you." Not that she makes any great movements to help herself to one. She's listening. And watching. Her eyes slip over to 'Ms. Nash', and also Sorey, while she does.

"Making friends?" she asks, raising her voice toward Talise and the others. She's smiling, though. "And you're right, not /all/ scholars are stuffy." 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Neither Sorey nor Alisha are doing that much to blend in - Sorey is still wearing his white embroidered mantle, although the rest of his clothing shouldn't stay out too much. But the mantle... that is probably going to stand out everywhere. And he doesn't mind if it does - even if they are in some strange land, people should recognize the Shepherd easily if they need help.

But since Alisha seemed to be interesting in whatever the bard had to sing, Sorey decides to go bother Lemina - 'Miss Sasha Nash' - instead. He takes a seat at a nearby table, leaning back slightly as he looks at their recent adventuring companion. "Well, I appreciate that you were willing to go out and get dirty in the name of exploration," he replies with a broad, friendly grin. "There's always going to be some scholars who prefer just to write books, but I think the more exciting part of learning is going out and finding the new and unusual so you have something to write about."

He orders a couple glasses of something mild, and when they arrive sets one down in front of himself, and one in front of the chair next to him. "So what brings you here to Adelhyde, Miss Sasha?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The strange foreigner is singing along. Ida goes ahead and pours herself another shot, adding a little extra in a most unladylike fashion. Part of her feels like she needs it.

"It's good to see you getting recognition," Ida says, making a note of the strange man in the spotless white cape (?!) the armored woman walked in with. She drinks about a fourth of the shot in one go, and manages to get the liquid down her throat before coughing. Talise and Lynnai might recognize this as an improvement, though whether or not it is for the better is still unresolved. She takes an anomalously fine handkerchief out of a pocket, and wipes her mouth, a red tint rising in her cheeks. "The exhibition draws all sorts, it seems," she says, trying to make conversation again. 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

"O-Oh. We, um, are from... some place far away," Alisha tells 'Sasha Nash.' The princess looks down, a frown on her face -- and a brief look of thoughtfulness there. "No one I've spoken to seems to know of it, as of yet."

She smiles, though, when Talise speaks to her. The princess nods her head, once, before her eyes fall on the drink. She has had a drink before -- but usually only wine, at the formal events. Beer very occasionally, when the army served it. But... it would be rude to turn the offer down.

"I would love to!" she says. "Thank you so much. My name is..." She considers. She would know where she is from -- she would also know her last name. "...Alisha," she finishes, with a smile. "A knight of Hyland."

Not Arctica.

She smiles at Lynnai. "They certainly aren't! Sorey didn't mean any offense, Miss Nash. He is quite the bookworm!" Then, a little more hesitantly: "I haven't encountered many who know those songs since I came to this land." 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"Sounds like it," Talise says with a broad smile cast Lyn's way. "There's no better place for it than a place like this! Everyone comes here lookin' for someone, even if it's just the fairy at the bottom of the tankard."

As Ida downs the shot, Tal just grins at her, her eyes alight. "See, you're getting there," she encourages. "And hey - I'm glad to be recognized too. I haven't gotten to sing in a tavern in a long time - some people had a problem with it."

(Some people with power,) she laments inwardly.

The big white mantle guy is impossible to miss; Talise tilts her head as she spots him scooting over to speak to someone she's sure wasn't here a minute ago but probably came in with the pink princess-knight in front of her now.

'Hyland'

Tal's eyebrows shoot up with immediate recognition. "Heard of it," she says, her voice lowering slightly, her smile a little more intent as she slips off the edge of the table to drape herself in the chair she'd been sitting in earlier, one arm draped over the back of it. Her eyes search Alisha a moment before she shoots Lyn another of those knowing glances - yep, it's another one.

"I'm Talise," she says to Alisha. "From up in the Salyan." She feels safe dangling that much, at least; it's not /quite/ admitting she's from another world.

"And c'mon and sit," she invites Alisha, gesturing to a seat near herself, Lyn and Ida. "I've got a lot more songs where those came from. I learned all of 'em growing up - all the old stories. I can do the whole bunch - I was gonna do Lady Chloe next, but there's always the song of Alex and the Four Heroes, or Nike and the Four Dragons of Vane." 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai Albrek does not sing along. This is for everybody's benefit. Lyn is really bad at singing... not that anyone here would know, since she doesn't do it in public.

Also, she has a mouthful at the time and it would certainly not end well.

Lyn has managed to misidentify Alisha as possibly-Arctican, but she's still not sure about Sorey and his cloak. Who wears something like that? It would be hard to keep clean - and given Lyn herself wears light-coloured clothing, she knows /all about/ trying to keep clothes clean. And she doesn't even shoot for pure white! She can't identify Lemina at all other than as someone who is clearly trying to not be identified.

Sorry, Lemina, you aren't that good at subterfuge.

Lynnai finally reaches over to snag one of those cakes that Ida offered her. She's not sure she trusts cutlery that comes from in here, so she uses her own knife to do it; while her pants don't have pockets, her coat apparently has all sorts of concealed items, because that's where it came from. She catches Talise's gaze somewhere in there and looks momentarily surprised.

"So, not Arctica," she says, before explaining to Alisha, "Your armour. It looks Arctican. Or I thought it did, anyhow, but... Hyland." At this rate, Lynnai is going to have to add some notes to her book of maps. Places I Can't Go, maybe, or Places On The Godsdamned Moon. Maybe she could spot them if she got a very large telescope... no, that's nonsense, who could make a lens that clear? "Are you all from Hyland?" That includes Lemina. 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

"I think it's important to be practical," Lemina replies to Sorey, with a firm nod. "Plus, mega-big paydays don't show up when you just sit in your room all day!" Her eyes sparkle like the gold she's thinking of as she says it.

Rather than push forward alongside Alisha, she sticks with Sorey for now -- he's shown her a fair bit of respect, and accordingly, she feels pretty good right now. "As for what I'm doing in Adlehyde... well..." She pauses a moment. What can she say that won't give her away? This is a tricky prospect. Eventually, she settles on, "I'm looking for some equipment that will let me explore more unique locations. My research mostly deals with magic, and no one is that interested in funding me..." She frowns at that, perhaps because it's a little /too/ close to the truth. 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai Albrek suddenly brightens.

"'Magic' isn't what most actual scholars call it," she says. "Perhaps that's why you're having trouble with funding. It sounds like superstition when you put it that way; the Symbologists who trained me would never stand for it. But please," Lyn says, gesturing, "what are you intending to study? I'm a Symbologist myself, so I might know who you need to talk to."

oh no you set her off, Lemina 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Strangely, Sorey's mantle is usually in good shape. Perhaps its just some special material that was blessed to not get dirty? That might be interesting.

In reality, Mikleo thinks Sorey looking respectable is important, and occasionally just brushes it off to make sure it stays clean. After all, who's going to respect a Shepherd with rumpled, stained, dirty clothing?

But he grins as Lynnai asks her question, and chimes in, "Actually Mikleo and I are from Elysia. Although I wouldn't be surprised if you've not heard of it - Alisha was the only person to visit us in quite a long time." As in... ever. Although the name itself may ring some bells for the Lunarians in the room - it is, after all, one of the legendary abodes of the spirits.

But Lemia makes a good point. "It sounds like you must have someplace in particular you're wanting to explore," he observes, resting his chin in one hand in a pondering sort of posture. He pauses for a moment, and looks to the empty spot with the glass in it.

And then he nods. "Yeah, I agree. A lot of the ancient ruins tended to be inaccessible because they were built with people using the ancient magics in mind - flying cities where people used flying carpets to travel around really didn't need stairs." 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

Alisha glances over her shoulder, quickly, at Sorey. She trusts him to take care of himself -- but she talked to Lailah, and if he dies, their world has a problem. She can't protect Hyland down here, but she can protect him. It's a brief glance, to be sure that he is fine, before she looks back at Talise. She smiles, then, and steps a little closer.

She extends a hand to the half-beastwoman. "I've never had the pleasure of traveling there," she says, "but I always wanted to."

She walks over, then takes a seat -- with a few careful motions, suggesting her noble birth. She sits with care and etiquette, rather than plopping down. She looks sideways at Lynnai and hesitates a moment.

Then, she shakes her head. "No, I am afraid not. We only recently arrived... ah... here."

Her eyes drift back towards Lemina after that. "You were actually one of the first people we met, after we did, Miss Nash!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"Is that what Arctican clothing looks like?" Ida says. "It's so exotic. And that armor, too." Ida scoots out the offered chair so that Alisha can sit down--it must be so hot and uncomfortable in all that armor! After a moment's thought, she slides over the still-substantial tray of hoecakes as well. "But listen to me, speaking to you as though you're furniture--my apologies." Though she's more than a little red in the face (thanks to the alcohol, and not embarrassment), she is still the image of civility.

"Oh, /Elru/," Ida says, at Sorey's mention of where he's from. She is hoping this will suddenly make everything make sense. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Curious eyes track towards the back as Talise gives Sasha Nash another pensive look over. She bites to the inside of her cheek for a moment-

'Elysia'

Tal fixes Sorey with a look. She bites down to one knuckle for a moment and just squints at him as if he's messing with her somehow.

"...Feels like I'm running into a lot of people from places I recognize," she murmurs, before raising her voice again. Her smile returns as she covers her surprise, reaching out to clasp Alisha's hand. There's nothing dainty or delicate about how she does it: She's got a good half a foot on Alisha, and her handshake is quite strong, a firm, brisk pump. "If we're ever in that neck of the woods again, I'll show you around," she promises, flashing another of those smiles that shows off the points of her incisors, seeming to draw out the ears and the cheekstripes - as if they weren't obvious enough already. When she draws her hand back, she drapes her arm over the back of her chair, leg tucked up with her heel on the crosspiece of the chair's legs.

"I only got here recently too," she admits as her eyes flick to Lemina, then to Alisha once more. "My friend Lynnai here was kind enough to pull me out of a cave after I got, uh." She makes a face. "Got turned around somehow." 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

Oh no! Attention!

"I'm interested in studying --" Lemina pauses here, considering. "Well, everything that constitutes magic, really! Symbology is just one of many treasures out there, and I think constraining the focus of your research is... unnecessary!" She waves it off with a hand, trying to figure out how not to expose herself here.

/Sorey's/ comment is considerably more interesting, and gets her to give Sorey a bit of a Look. "Yes, exactly -- there are a lot of old magical locations where such things would've been really common, so I'm interested in having the chance to look at them the way they were meant to be looked at."

She tugs at her collar on reflex. 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai Albrek is not sure who Mikleo is. She looks at Sorey for a few moments, and then mentally assigns that name to Lemina because she only heard a surname. Mikleo Nash is a perfectly acceptable name, right? "I'm Lynnai," she clarifies, when Talise gives her name. "Lynnai Albrek. I'm from here - Adlehyde, that is - though I've lived in the Krosse kingdom more recently. And I travel a lot, in any case. But I've never been across the sea." Yet.

Lemina objects, which gets a frown from Lynnai. "I'm not taking anything away from Crest sorcerers," Lyn says, "or anything else - but /I/ have studied Symbology, so that's what I know best. That doesn't mean I run around and call it 'magic'. Maybe back before it was a well-studied discipline, but nowadays - "

Lynnai realizes she's doing it again and bites back whatever else she was going to say. "Well, what are you trying to research," she asks instead, more directly. "You must have a specific goal? 'Everything' is kind of broad, and you'll never get anywhere without some focus, even if you don't stay focused on the same thing forever. But if you're looking for archaeological finds..."

Lyn smiles. "That's my specialty. I was apprenticed to, and studied with, archaeologists - people who investigate ruins. So I do both." 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

See, Sorey was never told that being from Elysia was kind of weird. Because it was home, and what was wrong with talking about home?

But Lemia is a FELLOW EXPLORER OF RUINS, and that makes Sorey much more interested in the conversation than he would normally be. "But the chances of being able to actually explore a location as it was is extremely small - the real challenge is finding a way to be able to explore it despite the challenges. Why, half the Celestial Record wouldn't even exist if the last Shepherd had tried to find the 'right' way to explore rather than overcoming all the obstacles that he did!"

And then Sorey pauses, and there is a faint whisper that Lemina can hear. Alisha of course can hear Mikleo's comment clearly. "Yeah - but charging right in has gotten us in trouble a time or two Sorey. Don't act like being prepared isn't also just as important."

The brown haired young man chuckles. "Yeah, yeah. Like that one time we got stuck on top of that pillar until Gramps came out to find us. Okay, so preparing is important, but I think that preparing too much means you'll never set out and find what you're looking for, you know?" 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

"Oh, I see... it is good that you were there, then, Miss Lynnai. Was it one of the ruins in this place?" The princess looks at her and smiles, before she looks back at Talise. She nods her gratitude, before tilting her head to the side as she considers for a moment. "We found ourselves in Linga. We came in the middle of a fight, and a pair of local adventurers were of great assistance."

Her brow furrows. "Though I duslike the idea of troubling others with our problems. Still..."

She shakes her head. There wasn't any helping it.

And then Sorey talks to Mikleo -- who Alisha can hear, but not see. She makes a face before she looks over her shoulder. "Ah, Sorey," she says. "Remember, they can't... um..."

The princess hesitates, then her nose wrinkles. She doesn't know a polite way to say this. 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

It takes Lemina a second to respond to Lynnai -- mostly because she hears that whisper. It feels closer than -- no, it's definitely just pub noise. She dismisses it with a small wave of her hand, mostly for her own benefit. She's made note of Elysia, too -- though she thinks it might actually be an Elysia of /this/ place. Surely there can be two -- especially with such a pretty root word.

"Of her two nominal conversation partners, though, 'Sasha Nash, Veteran Scholar' ends up a little more drawn to Lynnai. Magic trumps archaeology. "Well... where I come from, only symbology and natural magic are practiced," Lemina says, which... really /should/ throw a red flag. Fortunately, most of everyone here is foreign. ... mostly. "So I never really had to think about it very hard..."

She purses her lips a bit, trying to figure out what she's actually trying to say... and ends up coming to the truth of the matter. "Really, I'm just interested in whatever area of research will make me the most money." Honestly, it's the /least/ suspicious thing she could say. "And the mega-bucks seem to be in archaeology right now!" 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"It was somewhere around here, yeah. Lyn knows the lay of the land better than me; I was just cave-diving," Talise explains to Alisha with a sheepish smile, realizing for a moment that she sounds incredibly stupid when she puts it that way. "And yeah, I don't like to trouble others either... but I like to think of it this way."

She reaches out, and rather gruffly drapes an arm over Lynnai's shoulders, grinning at her before nodding back to Alisha. "I can help Lyn out with a bunch of things. I can help Ida out with a bunch of things. And they've helped me get used to-"

(to another /fucking planet/)

"-Adelhyde," she finishes the sentence after a brief beat. "And to be honest, I'd rather roll with friends, anyway, you know? It can be lonely on the road by yourself."

Talise opens her mouth to say something else - only to find herself trailing off and staring at Sorey in utter bafflement as he talks to open air.

"...Are you okay there?" she asks him, furrowing her brows. "You didn't get whacked on the head or anything, did you?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida keeps sitting there like the politest statue. Eventually, she realizes that something's got to give--either she engages with the crazy people and/or foreigners and/or crazy foreigners, or she's going to sit here until whatever the hell is going on smacks her upside the head. "I've never been to Linga," she says to Alisha. "Was it pleasant this time of year, or--" She pauses, and lowers her voice. "Is your friend all right? He seems a bit--" Someone no one else can see?

Ida gets about half a polite smile on her face. The rest is a twitching rictus grin, all frayed nerves. "Excuse me. It's been a rough week." 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

"Yes," Lynnai agrees with Alisha. "Some distance from here, but closer than where you're from." Talise apparently has a lot of ... not friends, but people in the same boat as her. It actually gives her some hope. If so many people came from there, maybe Sara -

Well, that's not pub talk. Also, she has Talise's arm around her shoulder now. "I agree. I wouldn't want to go exploring by myself," Lyn agrees. "You can do a lot more with a group. I wouldn't even have made it through the Berry Cave without Talise here."

Sorey is talking to thin air and that's the sign of someone a little addled. Also, responding to it. She squints in Sorey's direction, then shifts her gaze slightly toward where whoever he was addressing would be. There is nobody there, so she looks back to Sorey. Well, Talise has /that/ question covered.

So she responds to Lemina, despite everything. "I understand that," she says. "Honestly, if you /have/ found anything, you could probably sell it to the Ancient Culture Exhibition staff, depending on what it was - unless you wanted to study it further yourself, it's best to get it into the hands of someone who will." Lynnai does not object to selling artifacts - as long as they go to people who will pay attention to them. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Hmm, well Alisha is making a good point. It would be hard to explain what is going on here without going into far too much detail. And so Sorey just whispers, "Sorry man, I'll try and make it up to you later." After all, being rude to his best friend isn't something he wants to get into the habit of doing.

And then of course people are staring and asking him questions, and Sorey just laughs and rubs the back of his head. "Don't mind me. Just talking to an... ah. Invisible friend. Very persistent one - he's been with me since childhood, never really went away. He's very shy though. Doesn't like other people to see him."

...he doesn't really want to LIE about it but man the whole explanation is complex and would take like an hour. And might end up Lemina running off to get Hiro and Lucia, 'The Shepherd can help us out, he's a super nice guy' and then things would just get really, really weird...

"Anyways!" Sorey takes his drink and just throws the whole thing back to avoid more questions for the moment. Yes, let's not be awkward by...

"GRRRAAAK." Which is a weird noise followed by Sorey coughing some. "...that's a big harder than I was expecting."

"Wuss." 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

Alisha just makes this face: @_@ 

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

The revolving doors of the saloon suddenly swings aside, slapping on the hindges they are attached on. In other words, doing the work they were supposed to do. In the entrance, a tall man stands there, his figure blocking the light coming in. He stands there a few seconds, looking around inside the busy night in the saloon, giving a scan around the place. Lots of people, as expected. A large part of him is pretty giddy at this. It's exciting, in a lot of ways, despite how unknown things are in here. It rewards him by recognising a few visages around, notably the people that were in the caravan with him before.

Particularly the ones in their not-so-legal foray into the Berry Caves. The man takes off his hat in their general direction, whenever he's seen them or not, before making his way to the bar, smacking a few gella on the counter, sliding them around.

"Anything strong, barman. Thanks."

Honest Tom, in his usual silent demanour, delivers. A whisky, it seems.

Arleph sits for a moment, turning around to take on the drink. To be honest, he don't drink ALL that much, so it takes him a lot to not just sputter at how strong it is. It's a good, honest grimace and wince. The creak from Sorel attract his attention admist the pain, twisting his head to the side, then at the people he's talking to. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Tal doesn't keep her arm around Lyn for long. It's a strong arm, though. She slides her arm back, slouching forward in her chair as she peers at Sorey a moment longer. Her teeth close around her lower lip, one fang digging in ever so slightly.

"...Your invisible friend," she echoes him. Her eyebrows shoot /up./

She glances towards Alisha. The eyebrows do not go down. There's a question there but she doesn't put it into words.

Once Sorey hacks up his liquor, she finally gives herself a shake, managing an awkward sort of smile. "Hey, don't force yourself, bud. Maybe you've had enough," she suggests.

(He must be hammered. That must be it. Yup.)

Then the saloon dors swing open, and Tal looks over sharply, her jaw setting slightly - but then she recognizes who it is. Her surprise is replaced by a broad smile, and she sits up and waves with a big sweep of an arm. "Hey! You!" she calls to Arleph. "C'mon over! Have a drink!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Speaking of strong drink, Ida's shotglass emptied itself, and there's a little less whiskey in the bottle. How odd.

"All right," Ida says. She passes the empty shotglass to Sorey, the momentary lapse completely gone. See, she's charming again. Very charming. "An imaginary drink for your imaginary friend, so he can drink with you. Tell him to be careful, though! It's very strong, and I don't want him to get sick!" See? She's engaging! And possibly enabling an unwell person's delusions, but she'll have plenty of time later to be horrified.

"Talise," Ida adds, picking up a thread she didn't follow up on earlier. "You had a song about dragons? What's the--ah--context of dragons where you're from? What are they like?" 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

"Well, mostly what I've found lately is /actual money/," Lemina replies to Lynnai, with a somewhat awkward laugh. Unfortunately, before she can inquire about the Ancient Culture Exhibition -- which would /really/ ruin her cover -- Sorey offers a comment that snaps her attention /right/ over.

"Your invisible what." Lemina blinks a few times, looking Sorey over as if she expects to find signs of a plague. "Yoouuuu... you're okay, right?" On the other hand, she did hear that whisper... the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she begins to realize something's off here.

"Uhhh..." She purses her lips, before eventually asking, "Uh -- maybe it's time for the mysterious Sasha Nash to slip out," she offers, hesitantly. "Before things get /mega/-weird." 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Alisha says, clasping her hands together in that overly sincere way of hers. "That you made so many friends here! I'm very happy for you, Miss Talise."

And then Idea leans over -- and those leaf green eyes of Alisha's widen fraction by fraction. Her mouth opens, then closes, and she nods. "It's fine," she says. "Sorey is just... Sorey. It isn't anything to be concerned about. I swear it on the honor of Hyland!"

And then she hears Sasha Nash say that it's time to go. She stands up, then clasps her hands both together, and bows a little formally. ...Entirely /too/ formally. "Oh, I understand, Miss Nash. It was wonderful to see you again. If we can do anything at all, please don't hesitate to call on us!"

Mega-weird indeed. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Sorey coughs a few times, and then grins weekly at Ida. "I... appreciate the sentiment," he offers, pounding on his chest for a moment to clear this throat and head. "Sorry for being so strange."

This is part of why having Seraphim around make your life somewhat weird. Sorey does what he can to cover for making some weird comments, but at the same time it's... not like it is making the situation much better. Well, Sorey has gotten used to it, especially since coming to whatever this land was.

Kind of.

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, I'll be able to get along. I mean..." And he grins. "You're the one who's traveling with a guy who has a baby red dragon for a pet. That's AT LEAST as weird as an invisible friend, right?" But then it seems that Miss Sasha is going to take off, and Sorey stands up as well. He isn't anywhere near as formal, but he does feel that he should offer some degree of respect to a departing colleague of ruin exploration. "Please tell your friends that we appreciate the help you gave us with those ruins. It would have been a much greater challenge without you." 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise just blinks as Ida tries to charm the pants off a man's imaginary friend. She just sighs, stretching her arms behind her head for a moment. "Hnn."

As Lemina kips up, the tall half-Beastwoman tilts her head and smiles wryly. "See you around, the mysterious Sasha Nash," she says with a simple wave. "Maybe we'll get to talk more some other time."

With a clunk of chair legs, she turns her seat slightly to better face Alisha and Ida. "Sounds like you've made some friends too, Alisha. And you don't have to be formal with me - we're all friends now, right? Just call me Tal." She punctuates it with a wink, smile broadening again.

Ida puts in a question. Talise meets it with a whimsical shrug of shoulders, shifting her lute to rest the neck of it across a bicep. "What're the Dragons?" she asks. "Well, I've never seen one. But the legend says that the Goddess we believe in created four Dragons to watch over the world. They're supposed to be giant lizards with great big wings and hearts of magic." She's falling into a slight storyteller's cadence. "Four of them came to be: One white, one blue, one red and one black. Every generation, it's said one brave person surpassed a great trial put forth by each dragon, and earned the right to call themselves the Dragonmaster." 

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

Arleph, still admist the grimace of the strong stuff, looks up when Talise calls out his name. He smirks, pushing himself up and making his way over to the tall woman after whispering a few more things at Honest Tom, sliding a few more coins before making his way to where her group are seated at.

"Howdy, people!" The be-hatted man says after a few minutes, bringing along another glass, grinning wide at the half-beastwoman -- and the others that he knows there. Which seems to be a fair handful, at that. "I reckon' I'm surprised t'find you fine folks in this here establishment."

He lands the second glass in front of Talise, tipping her hat at him. "That's for saving me life, lady. Thanks yee kindly."

Unceremoniously, he takes himself a seat, to listen to the tale she gives, taking another sip of his strong. Another grimace. A good grimace. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

What, Talise? She's making a joke! She's playing along! Nevermind that Sorey seems... rather less enthusiastic than Ida hoped he'd be, and again, there's that nagging insistence that something or someone is just screwing with her. "Baby red dragon," Ida murmurs. She cannot picture baby dragon anything, dragons don't work that way, dragons don't...

...work that way as far as she knows, at least.

Ida musters up all the attention she can spare, listening to Talise intently. That... settles it. Unless there's some level of allegory or cultural interpretation going on, it's safe to say that 'dragon' refers to something entirely different. Code?

"Very interesting," Ida says. "When we go to the fair, I'm going to show you what dragons are--I mean, the dragons /I'm/ familiar with. They were weapons, and they were used in a war a long, long time ago, and their metal skeletons are buried in the earth. Now. I'm fairly sure they have Dragon Fossils down in Elysia, or Elluria, or Elesium, or whichever of those the touched young man said he was from, so that raises questions, don't you think?"

Ida shakes her head, and lowers her voice. "I don't mean to impugn your honor, Talise, or the honor of your friends. But perhaps as new traveling partners we should be a bit more forthcoming, hm?" 

<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.

Lemina -- sorry, 'Sasha Nash, veteran scholar' -- elects to slip out before she answers the question about Ruby, because there's no real nice way to say 'I think it's dumb too' without getting bogged down, and she has had about enough of the local color for one night.

She /does/ give Talise a friendly wave on her way out, though. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Oooh, legends. That's something interesting. Sorey turns his attention to Talise, as she explains the legend of the Dragonmasters. This was one of his favorite stories - especially when his Master and Gramps told him about the adventures of the Dragonmasters in the old days. He doesn't cut in at this point, because he's enjoying hearing the story.

The ones HE has heard are very interesting of course, but... well. The folk version of the tale was also very interesting to hear as well, besides the version he got back in Elysia. Gramps and Master both had very... specific views of certain things that had made the stories very different than the ones Sorey heard from the bards and minstrels during his travels.

He does wave goodbye to Lemina as she leaves. Their talks were nice - hopefully they would meet again soon. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise pauses, then, as she realizes what Sorey had said a minute ago. "...A baby red dragon," she says, her eyes widening slightly. "That's... that's different."

Ida gets further into dragons, pulling in Tal's attention again. She bites down to one knuckle, brows furrowing ever so slightly. "Yeah, but he's drunk," she points out for Ida's benefit, her tone a little quieter as she starts to realize that dragons mean something else here.

She resists the urge to flip a table. (How are dragons not lizard?! Dragons are supposed to be lizards! Or at least giant cats!!)

Then Idea throws something else at her. Her eyes narrow.

For several seconds, she's quiet, before finally letting her breath out through her teeth and leaning forward slightly to put herself in whispering range of Ida.

"I didn't want to scare you," she mutters for Ida's ears alone. "And don't freak out. But. Let's just say you're not gonna find where I'm from on a map of /this/ world."

She lets that hang there. 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

There's some bustle over by the front door. The tavern has just traded a blonde for a blonde, as a young woman with waist-length blonde hair and a white dress pushes her way inside.

She looks approximately as lost as if she were, for instance, suddenly stranded on a foreign planet, which is odd because she's one of the apparently few people in the city right now who isn't.

Several patrons immediately bolt upright, most notably the barmaster, because that's the god damn Princess of Adlehyde what the /hell/ is she doing here?

She squints in the dim light, looking for.........something? The board? Maybe? 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

Alisha looks down, a little, when Talise says that. She doesn't feel too surprised by that conclusion -- it's the one she had. After all, she couldn't see the Blue Star hanging in the sky. The princess furrows her brow for a moment, though she waves with Arleph enters. "Oh, hello," she says.

Then, she pauses, as another blonde-haired woman enters -- right after Lemina left. Alisha blinks, before she looks up at her.

Then she smiles.

Nevermind that she wears a pink and white tabard which, with her plate armor, makes her look /terribly/ out of place. "Oh," she says, "Hello!" 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia peeks into the tavern, then, spotting Talise, slips inside quietly. Something is clearly bothering the young girl, her usually cheerful expression seeming a little forced and her arms holding much more tightly to Chauncey than usual. She nervously approaches as if not quite certain she's going to get the reception she hopes for.

"Hi, Talise, and Arleph, and Ida, and...bunch of people I don't know..." she says, tone cheerful but a little bit of a quaver evident. 

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

Arlpeh tightens his grip on his glass, having kept silent for most of the conversation that he just stumbled himself into.. The drink have been something of a power play, anyway.

Talise then says the words. 'Not from this world'.

The Symbologist suddenly sputters out, having swallowed some of his whisky in a very nasty way. In fact, he keeps coughing wildly, slamming his glass on the table as he smack his chest out wildly, his eyes buldged out for a few moment.

It last a good ten seconds or more, before he calms down, gasping in some air. In this time, Cecilia comes up, peering through with squinted eyes at Cecilia coming through. AND THEN THE 15 YEARS OLD COMES IN.

It almost make him forget what Talise said. Not because what she said was shocking, more to the fact it's hitting far too close to him. "Oh! Uh, hi, Sephilia! You... seem well!" He then twist to look at Talise again. "/What/ do you mean?" 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Hmmm, it... might not be best to mention Ruby too often. Although that certainly would be a common identifying feature at some point soon. Either 'Baby Red Dragon' or (as something people would likely recognize more) 'Flying Pink Cat'.

But yes, let's just go with Sorey being drunk. DRUNK ON LIFE.

He doesn't catch any commentary about this being a different world, but he and Alisha had hashed this one over and had come to the conclusion that if they didn't see the Blue Star in the sky anytime soon that they had probably been moved to another world. Given the brilliant silver moon in the sky here... well. It just made the trip even more interesting.

But Sorey sits back and thinks for a moment, and then comments, "Well, there are different sorts of dragons - not all the dragons we know about are nice, as some of them are terrible creatures created by malevolence. But they didn't *start* as dragons, so I don't think they count."

Meanwhile Mikleo is just sipping at the glass of liquor that Sorey had purchased for him, although it will take someone very observant to note that the level of the glass is going down very slowly as the Seraph himself is invisible to most people. Just evaporation, right? But he also looks up as Cecilia enters the room and mutters quietly, "Surprising amount of unusual blondes around here I guess." And then he takes another sip.

Sorey just chuckles, but doesn't respond. Because he doesn't have an invisible friend here, because that would be weird. That's what everyone had been saying, right? 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Half of Ida's frustration is due to the fact that she feels like she's been given pieces of several fossils all mixed together, except they're from dragons with nonsense physiologies. Every time she tries to put things together, she ends up with parts that don't fit, or parts that are left sticking out. Sometimes she wonders if she's secretly ended up traveling with a group of malcontents or miscreants who are just that bad about keeping their covers consistent with established knowledge. That's a possibility, and Ida was prepared to go with it, but then Sorey and Alisha showed up and that theory went right into the garbage.

Talise's initial admission gets... absolutely no reaction, partly because Ida is too busy trying to decide the proper course of action. And partly because she's a little drunk, and it's taking a while to register. "All right," Ida says. "I will take you at your word." Her voice is hushed as well. "I don't know how that's even possible."

Sorey gives Ida a quick jump back to the previous topic, and she seizes it. "I--well, I don't have a fossil /on me/ because they're priceless, but I do have a drawing of one of our dragons. Would you like to see it?" When Ida finally notices Sephilia, she seems more concerned than anything else. "Sephilia, what-- I thought you were with the others!" 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Honestly Talise isn't some magical expert on planets. But she can navigate by the stars, and she can basically deduce what it means when the stars are basically in the same place but the giant blue orb in the sky has been replaced by a smaller silver orb in the sky.

And then things get worse. There's a slight hush as Cecilia arrives. Talise pauses before saying anything else, biting to her bottom lip and half-rising as the woman slinks her way in, looking somehow more alien than Talise does despite only one of the two women in question being a literal actual alien.

Then Sephi. Tal bites her bottom lip, hard.

She looks over to Ida, reaching out for a moment to touch her shoulder with a hand. "I don't know either," she says, her voice very hushed. "I'm as confused as you are."

Sephi matters take over her concerns. She heard that quaver. Leaning forward, she smiles and rests her hand on Sephi's shoulder, as if to try and steady her now. Her eyes are about as warm as she can make them right now - still pretty warm. "Hey now, Sephy! Just call me Tal," she encourages, giving a squeeze. "What's wrong, huh? You look kind of glum." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia looks sheepish. "I got bored and went off to explore on my own a bit," she says in response to Ida, waving absently at Arleph. "Um, know how I said I didn't know the way home? I /really/ don't know the way home."

The girl begins to tremble slightly, hugging tightly to Chauncey. "Tal," she begins, "I know this may sound weird but I don't think we're on Lunar at all." 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia didn't hear shit, she's a focused young lady.

But she is hailed!! She slows to a halt as she's called to, looking at Alisha briefly before opening a smile. "Good evening! I suppose I must look lost..." she laughs--

And then looks down at herself, and then directly at Mikleo, or to an untrained observer, straight-up empty-ass space. "I should hope I'm not /that/ unusual. This is my hometown, you know." 

<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.

Alisha pauses. Did... she just talk to Mikleo? Her eyes widen a little.

Then, she sighs, and glances back at Sorey. "I better make sure there are rooms for us, Sorey," she says. She stands up, but glances at Tal and Ida. "It was a pleasure to meet the both of you! Please give Miss Lynnai my regards, too."

The princess nods -- and waves at everyone, before she makes quickly for the exit. 

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

Oh. Right. Urchin, Arleph muses, admist the haze of nearling choking himself. "Right, right. You did mention that, you're correct." He says, smiling at the young girl. Well, at least she's still safe after everything. He takes his hat off, laying it on his lap to look up at Cecilia. Ah! And SHE was in the caravan as well. The Princess, wasn't she. He looks in the direction she talks to, giving a nod. This is about when the booze start hitting in. He's not light weight, sure. But this thing? This thing was hard.

He squints blinking rapidly as the room is starting to double a bit. Yeah. Yeah, there's someone there. Was he there, before? Whatever, he nearly choked to death a few seconds ago. If he squint haaaaaard enough, that blue guy is becoming hazier. It's supposed to be the other way around, if you focus. It's supposed to be clearer.

Whatever, he heard him.

"Yeah. Lots o' blondes about. I'm surprised at the blondiness of this here place!" He says at the completly empty space to mostly everyone, turning looking at Cecilia with a grin. "Hey, feel free to kick up and join, m'lady. Especially if it's your hometown. You liked Cecilia, right, for how to call you?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida's face is burning. There is probably at least one person in the background talking about her, and if she were sober, she'd worry tremendously about what everyone else thinks. As-is, she's still worried, but... a little less than normal. Enough to keep talking with Talise and Sephilia instead of excusing herself immediately. "Lunar?" she asks Sephy. Mercifully, she's missing out on Cecilia's hilariously one-sided conversation; her nerves couldn't take it. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Sorey does open his eyes a bit wider as Cecilia talks directly to Mikleo. And he looks at her for a long moment. He couldn't be sure, but there was something to this lady, wasn't there...? But Alisha is taking off, and Sorey nods to her. "I appreciate it - let me know once you find out if you would, Alisha!"

Mikleo himself is a little shocked by Cecilia's rather direct question. Rather, he coughs and takes a drink to cover up his rather awkward question. "My apologies. I didn't mean anything bad by it." Does... she not realize that its weird that she can see him? The Water Seraph decides to play it cool. Clearly they'll just think that - woah. And the other guy heard him.

"Sorey - I'm a little worried that something weird might be going on the longer we're here. I probably need to go find Lailah and Edna and see if they're attracting any... additional notice."

Sorey just sort of nods with a grin fixed on his face because he CLEARLY not acknowledging someone who isn't there after all the commentary earlier. After all, they already think he's crazy. But now other people are acknowledging his invisible friend. He's not crazy! The rest of you are crazy, apparently! So, nice lady in front of him. And then another young girl who... is also apparently from Lunar.

Sorey takes a sip of what little is left of his drink. "This is your hometown?" he asks curiously. "Is it usually this lively?" 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

All of Talise's awful secret-keeping goes to pot: The urchin outs them all.

The tall woman bites down to her lower lip and sighs heavily, closing her eyes a moment. "I know," she says as she takes a step forward. Her arms loop around Sephilia's shoulders as she pulls her in for a firm hug, as if to ensure her that at least someone's here for her. "I know. It'll be okay. We'll stick together and find a way to get you home. Promise."

Over the top of Sepilia's head, she nods to Alisha in passing, making eye contact with her for a moment. 'Drinks soon,' she mouths soundlessly.

That's about when she catches Cecilia talking to open air.

"...Okay," she mutters, before hugging Sephilia tightly once more and slowly rocking the girl and her stuffed fox against her, as if it'll help. Realizing Ida is fixed on her again, she offers her a small, sheepish smile, catching her eyes. A hard blush burns across her cheeks.

"Like I said," she says softly. "She's from my neck of the woods." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia (and Chauncey) cling tightly to Talise for several moments, being rocked back and forth, then gently pulls away, looking up at Talise with wide eyes. "I found out this world's called Filgaia though! An' I figure, if I could get here there must be a way back. Promise we can see all the interesting stuff before we go? Oh and I need to get some maps so I can show my Dad when I get home where I was, he loves maps and adventure and stuff. An' my Mom'll make dinner for you, she makes the absolute best meat pies ever an' I'll tell her how much you've helped me an' stuff!" She pauses for breath.

Of course, that's when her tummy starts to rumble, a low, rippling roil that can be heard even over the noise of the tavern. "Um. Do you think they have meat pies here on Filgaia?" she asks, then adds, "Chauncey's hungry!" The doll is made to nod agreement, his button eyes revealing nothing.

They never do. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"I gathered," Ida says. She fumbles the cork back into the whiskey bottle, and puts the bottle back into her knapsack (she paid for it, it's hers now). "I--I don't know how I'd even start, but-- you remember where you were when you got here, right? Maybe if--if we just go back there we'll find out more." 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Tal'd believe someone is crazy and talking to an invisible friend, sure.

She keeps a tight hug around Sephilia and Chauncey; her eyes close for a moment, but soon opens again as she feels the girl pulling away. Meeting that gaze, she smiles back at her surely and steadily. "Of course," she says. "We'll see as much as we can and collect a lot of neat things, and we'll do everything we can to look for a way home while we do it. We've got friends here too. I'm sure they'll help us out."

She smiles widely down at Sephilia at the last question. "I think they have some," she says. "At least, I hope they do. If not, you can have some--"

She glances at the plate of triple-fried fatback sitting on the table where she was seated a moment ago.

"--Some pork! You can have some pork."

Ida gets a lopsided smile from her, and she gives her head a shake. "I tried just going back to where I started... it didn't work. That's when Lyn found me. But I'm sure there's another way." 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia tips her head. Gosh, that young man seems startled to be, like, addressed. The woman who hailed her departs, which is curious in its own way. She looks between the two, uncertain whether she should just take her leave - but Sorey inquires at her. She giggles a little, awkwardly. "Not really," she admits. "The Ancient Culture Exhibition is soon, and Lacour's Arms Tournament isn't so far off either. Drifters and explorers from all over Filgaia are gathering here. It's..."

She trails off, distracted by something unseen, eyes seeking and easily finding a direction that sees her staring through the walls for a moment. Only a moment, though, before she shakes it off. "My apologies. Something on my mind. It's a fine time to come to Adlehyde. There may never be another time like it!" 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia grins and nods in agreement that they have friends here. "They can come tooo! I bet Mom and Dad would be happy enough to feed EVERYBODY! Meat pie for DAAAAAAYS!" She frowns, getting back on topic. "I don't really know if I could get back to exactly where I appeared here after the flash of light," Sephy says, tapping her nose thoughtfully. "It was dark and I couldn't see much."

"Oh yeah, are we gonna see that festival stuff you guys were talking about?" Talk about your sudden subject change! "Only Chauncey really wants to see it. He's a Lord, remember!" 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

It seems clear that whomever this girl is, her resonance is so strong that she probably would have more trouble not seeing the supernatural. Sorey finds this to be rather interesting, but he watches as Mikleo slips out of the room after a moment. Probably if there were people like that around here, they should let Lailah and Edna know that they shouldn't just assume they would pass unnoticed.

But then Cecilia says something SUPER INTERESTING, and Sorey just perks up and grabs Cecilia's hand. "Did you say *Ancient Culture Exhibition*?" he asks in the most excited voice Cecilia's probably heard in a long time. "What artifacts are going to be on display? Is it a general overview of ancient cultures or is there going to be a specific focus? I know these sorts of events are focused more on the general public but will you have any research papers available for perusal?"

Sorey's eyes are probably sparkling with little stars of excitement at this point.

"How far back do the records you'll have for the exhibition go? How long is it going to be open? How..."

And so on. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"I could get back if I had a map, maybe," Talise says with a crinkle of her nose. "But...."

Trailing off, the tall woman lets the topic shift to the festival. Her smile is wide and full of cheer. "Yeah! I can't wait to see the festival, too. I love festivals," she says. A grin then touches her face as she brings a hand up to lightly pat Chauncey between his plush foxy ears. "Well. We'll have to make sure Lord Chauncey has a good time. That's what a Lord deserves!"

She can hear bits of what Cecilia's saying; the mention of an arms tournament leaves her eyebrows rising slightly, but she doesn't say anything yet. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"Is that what that is?" Ida says, squinting at the triple-fried slab of artery-murder. "I thought it was just... grease." She shakes her head--figures the easy option is off the table already. "I suppose if you're stuck here, you might as well make the most of it, hm? Can't say I haven't felt that way myself, Tal. Just--keep your chin up and stay hopeful and everything will work out." The crazy guy is now talking about the festival. "Artifacts from all across Filgaia, ARMs, Dragon Fossils, ancient Demon specimens." She leans in a little. "I think the Doctor timed the expedition just so he could see it himself, if you ask me." 

<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.

Arleph is still having most of his attention. In fact, perhaps in the increasingly higher buzz, Arleph watches Mikleo slip out of the room, blinking his eyes a little blearily. He scratches his chin, pondering on this mystery. He was talking as if he wasn't supposed to see him? Or rather, as if there were strangness going on? What? What.

The Symbologist slowly shakes his head to clear it, refocusing on Cecila as she speaks up. "Now, THAT's something I'm interested in. Is there any central piece on that that we should be aware of?" 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Sorey's IMMEDIATE ENTHUSIASM takes Cecilia somewhat by surprise.

...she assumes she's welcome at this point and takes a seat. Also she's the princess and is always welcome, deal with it. Ida offers the blanket answer, but Cecilia's still smiling at Sorey's excited, rambling questions. Eventually she holds up a hand to stem the tide. Arlan turns his eyes on her, too, getting her attention momentarily. (He looks kind of dazed? weird.)

"I suppose you'd say it's the history of the world," Cecilia says with a light laugh. "But most of the local artifacts will probalby date back to the war with the Metal Demons. I believe we have a mostly-intact Dragon Fossil from within Aldehyde's borders," Cecilia says, counting on her fingers. "A few ARMs, an automaton of the same type as those peculiar little Memory Idols the Ark of Destiny maintains..."

"But the highlight will be several excavated War-era Golems. Dr. Emma Hetfield has been doing the restoration work herself." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia has soon got a meat pie (and a slice for Chauncey, too, of course.) She tucks in with enthusiasm. Her eyes widen at the mention of dragon fossils. "ragon pfoffils?!" she exclaims, through a mouthful of pie. "I wanna see!" she adds, after hurriedly swallowing. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"No, it's pork! It's just from a different part of the pig," Talise explains to Ida with a jerk of her chin towards the offensive plate of fat-fried fat-fried fat.

"I really want to see some of those ARMs for myself," she admits. "I've always gotten by with my sword - and, I mean, it's a good sword, and I haven't hard a problem before. It might be interesting to learn how to handle a weapon like that, though."

Dragon fossils come up. Talise smiles and folds her arms across her chest, rolling her shoulders. "I think I'd like to see that! All this talk about dragons and I've never even seen a Dragon Fossil before." 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

As soon as Cecilia takes a seat, Sorey is already back in his and has a small notebook out and spread on the table. He writes quickly in a shorthand that looks nothing at all like normal script, but clearly allows him to keep up as the Princess summarizes the upcoming events. The brown haired young man nods each time she names one of the upcoming exhibits, clearly excited to be able to take in this sort of upcoming event.

He sits back after a moment and considers. "So I definitely need to visit the library before the Exhibition starts..." He circles a few items in his notes. Unknown words that he needed more background on - ARMs, Dragon Fossils, Metal Demon War that sounded exciting...

"How long ago did the Metal Demon War occur?" he queries. "Is it modestly recent history, within the last few hundred years, or are we talking about more than five hundred years to a millennia ago?" Wait what? 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia leans over eagerly. "I wanna see the dragon fossil can we see it what is it like where is it?" She probably only finishes asking questions in a rush because she has to breathe. 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia's happy to discuss this because it is distracting her from the terrible portents of imminent destruction that the land whispers to her at every waking moment.

Don't worry about it.

Her eyes track to the excitable young woman, only really noticing her now as she babbles excitedly. She holds up a hand for calm, laughing lightly. "The Exhibit isn't open yet! I'm afraid you'll have to be patient."

Cecilia has no strong opinions about ARMs, but she does almost start when Sorey asks The Question. "You don't--"

...pause. She shakes her head a little. "No, of course. I've been studying the Guardians and the War for years. It can be hard to remember that not everyone does." She settles her hands in her lap. "It was about a thousand years ago. The Metal Demonscame from nowhere and attacked this world. Humanity could not defeat them alone, but to save Filgaia, the Elw, the Guardians and mankind joined together to finally defeat them, using the power of the Guardian Blade."

She laughs, shyly, and looks to the side. "I'm afraid I'm not as much of a storyteller as I'd like. I'm sure the library will tell it better than I." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia's eyes widen further. "What's a Metal Demon?!" she asks with awe in her voice. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Ironically Sorey had been commenting earlier that while this land was not doing well, it also was not being choked by the miasma of hatred and darkness that was consuming Lunar at this point. Which is interesting because if this counts as doomed to Cecilia... he doesn't want to think what that implies for his own home.

But that is why he became the Shepherd, after all.

But Sorey is still writing that information down, and he grins broadly at Cecilia's commentary about the library. "You can't ignore the context that personal experience can give, though. While scholarly pursuits are certainly good for learning the basic facts, it's the color that people's personal experiences give to those stories that make them meaningful. Gramps will tell a story a very different way than Master will, and they both tell stories differently than a bard or minstrel will.

"Still, it sounds like a very interesting story. The Guardian Blade, eh...?" Sorey sits back, tapping his pen on his chin for a moment. "That sounds like there's a really good story there. Probably missing for a long time as well? And I expect the demons vanished without a trace." He wants to pull out some of his own books and CROSS REFERENCE! Was there anything back home that corresponded to these Metal Demons during that timeframe? CROSS WORLD EVENTS could have been occurring and NO ONE NOTICED because they didn't have the perspective he did...!

Of course from Cecilia's point of view this is Sorey going through multiple excited and determined facial expressions in rapid succession, which probably looks a little weird. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise has mostly slipped into listening at this point. She sits in her chair in reverse, legs splayed to either side of it in a fashion that'd be unladylike if she weren't wearing men's trousers and combat boots, or folding her arms over the back of the chair and leaning heavily on it to rest her chin on her crossed forerms.

Tal doesn't /do/ ladylike, or even feminine, all that well.

"I've always been a rotten student of history," she speaks up, tilting her head to one side and flashing Cecilia a light smile. "But I like to think I can tell a good story. Maybe there'll be some new stories there that I can tell." Then, "I'm really looking forward to seeing the Exhibit."

That's not a lie; Tal loves old crap like that. 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia's head slowly tips to the side.

She'd written off his ignorance of the Metal Demon Wars as simply not being educated in history, which was a stretch to begin with for such a definitive event. But this man sounds learned. How could he not...

Well. She shouldn't judge, she decides. His enthusiasm helps her mood a bit, and Sephilia's as well. "Demons made of metal," she says, quietly. It sounds tautological but the fear in her voice is too real to be sass. Maybe too real for something that hasn't existed in a thousand years. "With living metal for bodies and Mythril for blood. Their bodies and those of their Metal Dragons are the source of many of the ARMs we see today."

...she looks up to Sorey. "Disappeared since then, yes," she says, of the Guardian Blade. "Maybe you know this story better than you're letting on?" she titters, trying to laugh. "As you say, the Demons haven't been seen for many years. Although..."

Her eyes cast down, quietly. Her hand lingers at her chest, gripping a glimmering jewel. The moment causes her to not entirely spot Sorey's manic emotions. "...I should go," she finally says, and pushes away from her seat. "I have something to take care of. It was good speaking with you."

She turns then, and starts off to further in; remembering the purpose that brought her here. 

<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

There's something that passes over Sorey's expression as Cecilia decides that it's time to head off, and he pauses to stand up as she turns to walk away. There is just... something there. He isn't sure what, just yet. But he smiles and says, "The name's Sorey. I hope to see you again sometime soon, Lady Cecilia," he states politely.

He has the feeling that someone with that strong a resonance will inevitably cross his path again - and they might well be important to his own journey. But Sorey grins at Sephilia and Talise, and looks in the direction that Alisha had wandered off to. "I'm sure we'll need to talk sometime soon as well, but for now... stay safe you two." Given Sephilia's comment about this not being Lunar, it seemed a great many people had been brought to this area of late. There was clear investigation to be done, not to mention finding a way back home.

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