2017-03-23: Cats and Puppy Thief
- Log: Cats and Puppy Thief
- Cast: Rosaline Calice, Catenna, Virginia Maxwell
- Where: Adlehyde - Fairgrounds
- Date: Thursday, March 23, 2017
- Summary: A charity-collecting nun meets new friends/enablers for her bloody vendetta.
Disclaimer: Yes, this set is 80% reused from a previous scene. I know no shame!
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
The Ancient Culture Exhibition!
Gorgeous, delicious, deculture!
As the self-proclaimed authority on everything ARMs-related, of course the Ethos would have some space at the fairground. It has set up an island of several booths that serve as a miniature version of a fantasy gun show. (Where all your dreams come true!)
A few Etones have space to show off some exciting gun'stricks in exchange for charity Gella. There's a booth where ARM-handling safety tips are dispensed with religious teachings in equal measure-- Not that they let people HANDLE them but, you know. Just in case. There is, of course, a recruitment booth for those who wish to hear the Good Word by daylight and fight evil by moonlight.
Display cases are set up to show various ARMs the local branch of the organization has collected over the years. This would be an absolute treasure trove, or more accurately a prime target for bandits looking to ARM themselves, if it weren't also likely the actual most well-defended corner of the fair.
In a less flashy corner of the corner, just out of obvious sight, is a single, nun with her own booth. She's ringing a bell, next to a cauldron meant for collecting donations. Next to her is also a small table with a pair of nearly identical ARMs are laid out, polished to a mirror sheen. It's unclear whether they're actually part of the exhibition.
Rosaline Calice's busk-a-thon enters its fourth day! "Please help rebuild the Calice orphanage!" the nun, who is also a catwoman, shouts out. She's in a bit of an out-of-the-way corner, but a generous donation early on has reminded her not to lose hope even in the face of unsurmountable odds. Even if this means trying to make oneself heard over the roar of ARMs shooting blanks.
"PLEASE HELP reb..." She pauses her bell-ringing and starts coughing. "Shouting a lot is hard..." she comments to no one in particular.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
There are better authorities on ARMS-related matters than Catenna; she's more an authority on matters of the spirit, and even then, she can't help you much unless you share her religion. To be fair, some in Ignas do.
Cloak spilling from her shoulders as always, the woman has her hood down today, her dark hair shaken out to cascade around her shoulders and upper back. Festival set up or not, she's at a side booth making a purchase of shells for her shotgun - an unremarkable arm, currently slung at her side with an obvious safety stopper stuffed in both barrels. The dusky-skinned woman slides a few gella across the booth to the shopkeeper, silently taking her ammo and beginning to move off.
Until she overhears a ringing bell and a woman bawling about an orphanage. Blinking, she cants her head to one side and --
Cat ears.
Catenna blinks. Twice. It doesn't seem to put her off, though, given that she turns with a billow of cloak and skirts, moving towards the busking woman at the little table at a slightly quicker walk than she'd picked out before.
"You are... trying to rebuild a house of orphans?" she asks. She's speaking whatever the regular language is in these parts, but her accent is heavy and she's a bit halting about it.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
THE FIVE MOST RECENT TASKS OF Virginia Maxwell:
- Become convinced that a Metal Demon-era tome she has is a cursed, flesh-eating necronomicon.
- Suddenly become in need of a lot of money for snake oil for curse lifting?!
- Assisted a desert pirate and several hardcore commandos in the extraction of an ace Gebler pilot, supposedly.
- Stolen an Aveh military-use bloodhound and ran off with it and set him off to the wilderness. ('Live free, Ashey! You must live!')
- Found out that she's wanted for 10,000 gella as a Puppy Thief.
It's not a good day for Virginia Maxwell. "Eehhh.... Diary, I'm tired..."
She sags and tries to cheer her spirits up through the fair, glancing about and rather blearily looking about. "No, I know it's my own fault, but having my--" she pats at her cheeks, "You know, is it metaphorical or literal that my head is worth 10,000 gella? So I heard that the head is like, seven percent of my body? Does that mean my entire body is worth like-- um-- multiply by ten, carry the five over..."
A pause.
"OHHH MATH IS HARD DIARY"
She sulks.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
The catwoman snaps out of her reverie when she hears that heavily-accented voice. She doesn't seem to mind the unplaceable foreigner. In a sense, just about everyone here is foreign to her.
"Yes, that's right," she says, putting her hands together as in prayer. "It was destroyed in a fire, and so I'm raising funds to have it rebuilt."
Her ears begin to twitch and pivot on their own accord, listening in the diary-writing girl's direction while the catwoman continues to look at and speak to Catenna.
"We're still far from our goal, but every gella helps. Would you consider making a donation?--"
She turns around, the rest of her body going where her ears were just a moment ago. She holds up a finger, putting Catenna on hold. She steps towards Virginia silently, not particularly looking like she's trying to be sneaky, but with that uniquely feline way of staying just at the edges of one's peripheral vision.
"That would add up to seven hundred gella." Rosaline's hands are joined together once more as she looks down to the strangely familiar-looking girl. She looks worried. "I'm sorry! I couldn't help but overhear. Are you in trouble, young woman?"
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Someone's doing math. Catenna furrows her brow as she cants her head towards the girl kvetching at her diary about numbers. Clearing her throat, she leans over a little to explain in a low voice: "They mean that it applies to all of you. 'On your head' is just a... a turning of the phrases."
Bringing a slim hand up, the woman brushes back a few strands of thick, dark hair, away from her cheek. "At least, I think that is how it works here," she murmurs asher eyes settle on Rosaline again.
The catnun's entreaty is met with a long silence, but it's not an unfriendly one; indeed, Catenna seems to be thinking about it more than anything. She gives Rosaline a quick once-over. The cat ears are cute but she's also wary of a scam. 'Cute catgirl raising money for orphans' hits a lot of people's sympathy buttons in an obvious way.
"I would... consider it," she concedes. "What happened to your orphanage? If you do not... object to my asking the question, in any case." She's still being quiet; it seems to just be how she talks.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Oh, don't worry, Virginia Maxwell isn't so mundane or well-adjusted a girl to be writing in her diary.
No, she just seems to be talking to the diary strapped to her belt pouch nonstop.
Much healthier!
"B-weeh?! Whatever it is, I swear I didn't do it, and I also didn't take any cinnamon twisty rolls!" A pause. She blinks a few more times. "Eh? Um, n-nope! No trouble at all here! Oh, is that how it works? Whew... I was scared someone'd be like, 'eyyy, I'll take a finger off as a warning' because a finger'd still be worth like, 500 gella."
A pause.
"My finger's not worth very much, is it? That barely covers dinner and a stay at the inn!"
A second pause.
"Ughh, sorry, my mind's all over the place... eh? What's this about an orphanage...?" Virginia tilts her head.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline looks at Virginia with a slightly tilted head. Maybe it's some kind of... self-writing diary? You never know, symbology can get pretty crazy sometimes.
She gets the benefit of the doubt. She looks between the two other women, going back and forth a few times but saying nothing. Then, finally: "Whatever is happening in your life right now, I hope it becomes less confusing." By the looks of things, it was the Ethosian's earnest intention to sound encouraging.
But it's time for orphanage questions again! Now that a second set of eyes is on her, Rosaline immediately blushes, because two people is already a lot of people.
"We... We don't actually know for sure. It was probably bandits who set it aflame. Some of us followed the trail but didn't come back." The catwoman's expression has hints of a thousand-yard stare for a moment.
It passes. The nun quickly waves her hands. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! This went to a dark place very quickly! B-But, related to this, we're also looking for tips on arson cases, if you have any."
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna just looks at Virginia. She blinks slowly, then frowns, as if she's trying to process what the girl just said. It takes her a few seconds.
"Please do not cut your finger off," she advises.
Part of her suspects the girl's crazy; she decides to go with that. Her expression doesn't change all that much but there's a certain sympathy behind her eyes as she watches Virginia a few seconds longer, but the girl's attention soon moves in the came direction as Catenna's, and she stops worrying about and starts worrying about orphans and potential scam artists. The exhortation from Rosaline leads her to lower her eyelids ever so slightly, breathing out slowly through her nose.
"That is... a sad story," she murmurs, bringing a hand up to her cheek and frowning as she lowers her eyes to her feet. She's silent again, seeming to gauge whether or not the catgirl is honest.
Then she dips a hand into her cloak, coming out with a handful of gella and holding them out to the woman. "I do not have much," she explains quietly, "but I have little use for currency in any case. I will trust that you will put it to good use."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia's eyes glimmer in sadness as she clenches her hands together. "That really is so sad! Who'd burn down an orphanage like that? Horrible, horrible I tell you!" Virginia... very conveniently just sets aside that she's set a crowd, innumerous amounts of Gobs, dungeon artefacts, a sealed door, bales of hay, several wolves, and an anti-Gear tank machine of Aveh's on fire at this point.
She should probably give the Tindercrest a bit of a break.
"How can I help?! I'm-- well, I don't have a lot of money on me, but Uncle Tesla has a lot! Just write him a cheque and he'll sort you out!" she sounds even more excited.
A pause, as her eyes inevitably glance towards empty air again. Kind of down where the diary is. "I--I know I'm not supposed to abuse that, but this is a burnt-down diary!"
Is she talking to someone?
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
"I don't know," Rosaline says sadly, her ears, arms and tail drooping in unison. "We thought it was monsters at first, but there were hoof prints. Every day I pray and ask 'why', and I get no answer..."
She's threatening to get even sadder about this, but luckily Catenna's donation cheers her up just enough, and just in the nick of time.
"Thank you so much!" she lets out, clutching her bell, which rings with enthusiasm. "For full disclosure, some of it will cover my travel expenses and ARM maintenance, but I'm not a big spender."
Virginia, too, is enthusiastic, but she's saying things that the nun isn't sure how to interpret. She tries to take strange people's quirks in stride, but this is a bit much. The prospect of a large donation definitely has her attention, however.
"Uncle Tesla? Who is this? Can I meet him?" But then the next statement raises even further questions, summed up in one: "Burnt-down diary?"
She sniffs the air. Does it SMELL burnt-down?
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Evidence continues to mount as Catenna's mind builds the case that Virginia Maxwell is a few bullets short of a full clip. "...I see," she murmurs, scratching her cheek slowly and frowning with mild bafflement.
She deposits the gella in Rosaline's hand. The serious expression she's worn all this time is momentarily broken by a tiny smile, faint, but pleasant enough, rather more subtle than the ringing of the bell. "Spend it as you wish, though I should hope that most of it will go towards your cause."
(I feel like I just got scammed,) she reflects.
Taking a half-step back, the woman folds her arms under the curve of her bust, breathing out in a slow rush as she looks Rosaline over a moment more, then Virginia. "...I wonder if it was the gang that is supposed to be... running around this area. The Black Tieds, I believe they are... referred as to," she murmurs. "I believe there was some manner of story about their using fire against a village, some time ago."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"E-eh? Um-- er, sorry, no, I was just-- thinking about my diary," Virginia sighs in turn, rubbing at her head. "Uncle Tesla's a friend of my dad's! He's managing my finances while I'm, well, out here and not back home in Boot Hill. I'll send a telegraph via courier about you, though!"
BOOT HILL, MAXWELL MANOR
Uncle Tesla sighs and nurses his own headache as he reviews the last eighteen telegraphs that Virginia's sent. "Let's see. Junior Adlehydean Football League... Make a Wish Upon a Starfall Saloon Foundation?" A pause. "The Zed Initiative??"
He reaches for his stamp, which resoundingly slams a -REJECTED- on the slips of paper.
HERE
"The Black Ties, huh..." Virginia rubs at her chin and says, "I've heard a bit about them..."
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
"I made a vow of poverty! You can count on me!" Rosaline tells Catenna, fists clenched and cheeks puffed-out in a somehow determined way.
And then the coins clink out of her hands, and into the cauldron. Hurray!
But Catenna has something more valuable than coin, at least as pertains to Rosaline's personal mission. "What, really?" Her eyes go wide.
"This isn't my first time hearing that name," she admits. "I'm quite a long way from home, and how I got her is a long story, but I think everything happens for a reason. If they're in the area, maybe it's providence that led me to this city."
And Virginia seems to know about them too! Rosaline leans towards her, her voice soft but insistent, "Have you? What can you tell me? Every bit helps!"
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The Zed Initiative deserves rejection.
As the cat-nun reacts, Catenna doesn't, really; her expression remains perfectly neutral, cool, almost. A soft breath eases from her. "I am... rather far from my home, as well. I am not really familiar with their group. But they were in the news, and I thought it might be... relevant to you."
She raises her eyebrows, then. "Are you a priestess, then?" she questions mildly, a touch of genuine curiosity springing to light behind her eyes.
As Rosaline's attention snaps over to Ginny, Catenna goes quiet, tilting her head to the side to listen to what the more talkative girl has to say. Perhaps she'll learn something.
(Unless she's just going to talk to her book again,) her mind fills in, cynically.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia frowns and puts a finger to her lip, looking down. "Just-- what I've heard in rumors. That they tried to set a nearby town on fire, Tindus Town. And they're getting popular among some of the young folk..."
She pumps her hands again. "I would fight against these people, they sound mean! And burning down an orphanage is something no one should do!"
Kent Hauch, you just possibly got prematurely blamed for a crime you might not have committed, but will take credit for anyway. Possibly.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
"N-Not quite!" Rosaline answers to the priestess question. Some people might have wise cracked that Catenna really isn't from around here. The catwoman, instead, looks contrite about the fact that she isn't a priestess and might have misled someone into thinking she is one. "Maybe one day. I... I don't know if I'm strong enough to become an Etone just yet."
She still needs to give Sister Emma her answer on that.
But they go on about the Black Ties. Rosaline is laser-focused on the two women's words for a brief moment. These may just be rumors and speculation, but they're also the sole ray of hope she's seen in some time that the perpretators will see justice.
So how could she not latch on to it?
"You would?" Rosaline asks Virginia, taking a step forward but quickly holding herself back from outright pouncing on her. "Y-You really would?" She rewinds just a bit, looking a bit more serious as she does. "I... I want to bring them to justice. But I'm... I'm not very good at handling Esdras and Judith..." She looks back at her table sadly, where her two silver-polished ARMs lie, glinting in the sun. "I'm a healer most of all. I can't do anything alone, much less take on a whole gang."
"Would you be willing to help me do this?"
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"I see," Catenna says, not really knowing what an Etone is but not willing to actually admit that much.
The woman presses her lips together, canting her head and folding her arms a little more tightly. Then Rosaline drops a question Catenna really did not want to have dropped on her. Outwardly, all that shows is a slow intake of breath, then a quiet sigh that rushes slowly out of her, nostrils flaring slightly.
"I would have no place battling those sorts of people," she says, her voice low. "I wish you luck with rebuilding your orphan home, but I would be of no particular use to you in a combat with gangsters... and I would not know where to find them, even if I were useful."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia Maxwell has an extremely bad track record of coming out of helping people in a better situation than she was previously.
And thus, Virginia gives Rosaline a thumbs up and says, "Of course I would! I can't just let something like that slide!" This, at least, feels a lot closer to what being a Drifter is like than hunting down bounties to her.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Catenna refuses. Rosaline gives her a sad look, but shakes her head. "Thank you anyway. Your donation was more than enough, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
But Virginia's reaction draws more enthusiasm from the catwoman. "Thank you so much! I could just k--" SHE IS A NUN. "I... I thank you so much. It means so much to me. We should stay in touch, get a team together. Will you be in town for long? I should be for at least until the end of the festival, I'm sure. Oh, yes! My name is Rosaline, by the way. What's yours?"
It is important that you know someone's name before you vow to recruit them on your quest of vengeance.
Of course, she has little reason to be sure Virginia is good teammate material, but then she's already starting to come to the conclusion that a person's eccentricity is directly proportional not only to their likelihood of being a Drifter, but martial strength as well.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Perhaps if you can... be certain that they were the ones who burned your orphan house," Catenna murmurs, eyelids lowering just a shade. "Whatever they may do to villages, it would not be... just... if we were to simply approach them with intent to fight, not knowing if they are really the ones who did the bad thing." She inclines her head. "You are a holy woman. Surely you would not punish the innocent. And I would not wish to punish them, either."
Sighing quietly, the dusky-skinned woman brings her hands up to her hood, though she doesn't raise it yet; she simply listens for a moment as Rosaline and Ginny go back and forth. Part of her debates just walking her position back.
(No... I can't. I'm not a hero. Only a colossal failure of a human being. And if I took money to fight someone else's enemies, I'd be no better than Piedras.)
She doesn't give her name just yet, figuring that Rosaline's lost interest in her now.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia Maxwell HAS JUST UPDATED HER JOURNAL:
- Be an enabler for someone else's quest for vengeance! Will revengeance be Rosaline's??
"Um-- Virginia!" Virginia exclaims cheerfully, putting her hands behind her back. "Virginia Maxwell. And-- you know, now that I think about it, your ARMs are so shiny, just like mine!" She holds up her two pistols, which indeed also have a polished silver gleam to them. They kinda... look not very used, though.
Somewhere, the Tindercrest and Galecrest are relishing the chance to just be able to rest for a while.
She looks to Catenna with a bright smile. "It's nice to meet you two, miss! You're so much better than maths than me."
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
"Oh, of course..." Rosaline tells Catenna, looking-- What else? --apologetic. "I'm being hasty. This is still an ongoing investigation, but I think it's best to make preparations early, just in case."
She has a nervous laugh at the sight of the two shiny ARMs. As an Ethos member she may be more used to them than most people, but to her there is something fundamentally incorrect about their being openly carried by people who aren't clergy.
She tries not to let it show. Considering the surroundings, it's only normal that ARMs-toting people would be drawn to the Ethos exhibit. It would be a disaster if they tried to confiscate people's weapons in plain sight.
The nun doesn't retrieve 'Esdras and Judith' for comparison, though they don't look very used either. Either this is the case, or they've already seen some action, and their owner is extremely diligent about maintenance.
"I'm glad you think so," she finally says. Then, she glances back at Catenna. "And what's your name, kind woman?" she asks. It's not ALL bloody vendettas around here.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"I try to understand the basics of them, thank you," Catenna murmurs with a faint blush, inclining her head and clasping her hands as Virginia addresses her. "It is pleasant to meet you also, Miss Maxwell. I am called Catenna."
Her ARM isn't all that shiny; it's a shotgun and it's not that conspicuous, mostly hidden by the fold of her cloak for lack of desire to draw attention to it. Her eyes move from Virginia to Rosaline once more, and she inclines her head simply. "You are passionate. That is not bad, I suppose," she murmurs.
As the introduction is asked for, the woman dips her head deeply; it's not quite a bow, just a steep, polite nod. "I am called Catenna. Thank you for your kind words."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"Hmm, well, if there's one thing people call me, it's enthusiastic, so I guess that's what I'm going with, yeah!" Virginia beams with a happy smile on her face. At the very least, her expression of cheer is at times infectious. "And that's right. I mean, regardless of whether or not they burned down your orphanage, the Black Ties are still really dangerous, so there's a lot of merit in trying to tell them, 'no, I'm not standing up with what you're doing, it's wrong!'"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
A shiver runs through Rosaline and an intense blush appears on her face as she is called passionate. "I-I suppose," she repeats.
She nods along with Virginia, infected by at least some of her cheer. Ill thought-out or not, this plan forming has her in good spirits. Also, is this what friendship feels like? "It's true... Someone needs to stand up to these hooligans. They've been hurting people."
And here we go again!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Please do not do so recklessly," Catenna advises, her voice still level and calm. "Men of that sort are often well-prepared for battle, and are capable of challenging even skilled fighters. Do not rush to vengeance."
She slides her hands along her cloak, thumbs tracing the edges of her hood, though she doesn't yet pull it up. Eyes moving between the two women, she gives her head a slow shake.
"But then," she murmurs, "I suppose I have never been the sort to... go looking for battle."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"Well, it's not like I'm itching for a fight, I'm just saying..." Virginia pauses, before slapping her forehead. "Wait! I'm supposed to go see Maya right now! Ohh, I'm so scatter-brained!" She looks at Rosaline and seizes her hand in a shake, then Catenna's! "It's really nice to meet you two!"
She turns and paces along in a hurry. "Why didn't you remind me, diary?!"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
"I've never been either," Rosaline lets out with a little sigh. She absolutely does not LOOK the type, either.
She nods in approval to Virginia's words but, what's this, a forgotten meeting? And what's the deal with her diary, precisely?
Her handshake is limp but Virginia will find it was unexpectedly pointy in hindsight. Then again, it only makes sense that there be claws beneath her gloves.
"Likewise," she calls back to the girl as she runs off. The nun looks back to Catenna, who seems about to leave too. "And a goodbye to you too. I should go back to my work."