2017-03-31: Making a Bird Friend

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  • Log: Making a Bird Friend
  • Cast: Catenna, Josephine Lovelace
  • Where: Port Timney
  • Date: March 31st, 2017
  • Summary: By chance, Catenna and Josephine cross paths somewhere outside Port Timney. Birds and Catenna's people are briefly discussed.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

More often than not, Catenna sticks to the outskirts of towns. She's not an urban person by nature. Instead she's set up a tent out in the ranchlands a ways, on some of the wilder, less tamed land, but still within sight of the road network.

Today she's coming back from Port Timney, though. She's gathered a small parcel of supplies, wrapped up neatly in a grey blanket with neat orange and black and white geometric patterns racing in bold borders around the edges. Her hood has been pushed back, the warm spring air tousling through thick, dark hair as she makes her way out of the town and along a weathered track between the two settlements, a common road back to Adlehyde - and to her tent, really. A couple of merchant carts trundle past her but she pays them little mind; nobody on them is a face she recognizes, anyway.

Given the size of JRPG world maps, she covers quite a bit of ground while at the same time being highly likely to run into any familiar travelers.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Last time Josephine came out this way, it was enroute to Sult. Being from roughly the opposite end of Ignas, and a sort of 'desert rat' for a few years, it's safe to say that she's not familiar with the region.

Pretty safe to say, given that the dutiful archaeologist is currently standing by the roadside, squinting at the sign, and staring down at the unfolded map she has in her hands. "I'm sure it was... hmm..." she mutters, squinting at the paper as she twists it this way and that. "Or maybe, it was... back at the last mile mark? ...Mm..." Lips pressed tight, she frowns at the traitorous map.

Up on the sign, Penelope is perched, carefully cleaning her wing feathers, oblivious to Josie's dilemma below.

And this had sounded so easy when she had first heard about it...!

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna knows something is up because she suddenly gets a /feeling/ about this stretch of the road.

She looks up from a little ways off and spots the figure by the roadside. At first it shouldn't be clear, but the bicoloured pigeon perched up there makes it unmistakeable. Her eyes narrow ever so slightly.

Slowly, Catenna halts, still a distance off; a sense of profound humiliation roots her in place. Not letting it show on her face, she looks off to one side instead, quietly searching for a way around that won't appear rude. Sadly the landscape is mostly open fields in all directions. It doesn't give her much choice save to turn back. The woman lets out a slow rush of breath, then mentally braces herself.

She steps forward; her steps are quiet against the dirt road. As she moves into conversation range, she clears her throat softly to alert Josephine she's there.

"You seem lost," she asks, quietly.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

The map rustles again as Josie tilts the whole thing sideways. ...She did have it the right way up, right? More rustling, particularly as the wind briefly makes an attempt to steal it. ...Yes, Josie, determines after a moment of squinting at it some more, she had had it the right way.

Call it experience, call it reflex, call it whatever -- while she straightens when Catenna clears her throat, she doesn't startle, or seem unduely alarmed. Josie lowers the map, the paper crinkling in the breeze, and turns as Catenna voices her question. She looks the young woman over, once. Ah, yes. "Oh, hello! ...It was... Catenna, right?"

The map is roughly folded, in exactly the way the creases don't want to go. Josie opts to ignore this, instead approaching Catenna. She sticks out a hand. "It's been a while. How are you?"

That quiet girl, who seemed the religious type.

She shrugs, belatedly, "Guess I am. Heard about a digsite in the area, and thought I'd go see what was up, but... Guess I got turned around." She chuckles, shaking her head. "What about you? Had any luck lately?"

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

That is a fairly accurate way to descibe Catenna, though she'd contest 'girl' - then again, she's 19. It's borderline.

The dark-skinned woman folds her hands, package dismissed into her inventory. "Yes it was. And you are Josephine," she surmises.

The hand is stuck out. She leaves it hanging for a second before, lightly, clasping it. Pale eyes lift momentarily to the pigeon; she doesn't look overlong. She doesn't want to let on how bothered she is by it.

Her grip isn't all that firm; she gives a simple shake before lowering her hand back to her waist to clasp loosely with the opposite again. "I have had some. I had hoped to find more relics like the statue we uncovered in the Sult Ruins. I have had... no luck with that in and of itself, but... there have been some small caves, and other such things, with some small items of use."

Inclining her head, she inquires, "Have you been well since we last encountered one another?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Josie, on the other hand, might argue that 'girl' is apt -- then again, she is 30 and once you've hit 30, well.

Ah-ah. She just about interjects, here. "Josie, please! I'm a little too young for 'Josephine' yet!" She cracks a grin here, as if amused at herself, and clasps Catenna's hand. Her grip is firm but polite -- no broken hands await here.

Josie's own dark-eyed gaze briefly tracks Catenna's own shift in attention, but she doesn't turn to look to see whatever it is the young woman is looking at.

Penelope continues to preen, as if oblivious to the world.

Catenna doesn't linger on the handshake and neither does Josie. Regarding the younger woman thoughtfully, she nods as she listens. ...Now, that's an accent she's less than sure about placing.

"You seemed pretty interested in that statue," she says, as if musing aloud. "Can't say I've seen anything like it around since. Me?" She thumbs, vaguely, in her direction. "I've been fine! Not much luck, I'm afraid, but when it rains..."

She pauses. "You haven't run into Lily or Leon, have you? I had a couple of things I wanted to ask about, after our expedition." Josie gestures, vaguely. "The usual, you know."

Like. 'Does the name Jude Moshe ring a bell.' Totally normal.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna has no idea who that is and doesn't care to.

Privately grateful that Josie isn't trying to crank her wrist off, she draws her hand back to fold it with the opposite. The accent is indeed pronounced, her low tone seemingly calculated to try to minimize it, without much success. Inclining her head, she concedes, "It was... interesting, and perhaps different than... similar idols I have seeb, in my life. Such icons are crafted out of... reverence for what they stand for. That is something for which I have a very great respect, and perhaps sympathy. I would have liked to keep it and study it more."

Continuing to keep her eyes away from the feathered preening bundle sitting atop Josie's dome, she tilts her head to the side at the question. "I saw Leon some days ago... we were being accosted by a woman in a... very strange facial mask. But he had little to say."

Probably because Leon doesn't respect her, she's decided. Not that that's unusual in her mind; she tends to be wary of most people in that way.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Not that she had gotten a straight answer about where Catenna came from before, now that she thinks about it, but...

Not one of the desert tribes, she's reasonably sure about that, or if so, not from the areas she's been.

"An idol, huh..." she says, breathing out the comment as if that's been the main focus of her until-now-pensive expression. "Guess that's too bad," she says, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. It's not really cold, the way she puts it, but it's not really sympathy there, either. She did in fact desperately need the money she'd gotten off it. "Where've you seen others like it? Around here, or..."

She gestures with the hand not holding her badly-folded map, as if to encompass the entire world. Anywhere, she might as well have said.

"Hmm." Another thoughtful look.

Then, brightly, "Let's hope he's not cheating on Lily~"

Penelope chooses that moment to look up at Catenna, fixing the dark-haired girl with a shiny black eye. Fluttering down from her perch, she alights on the ground near Catenna's feet. Apparently grooming time is over.

"I think she likes you," Josie comments, glancing down at her suddenly wayward bird, then back up at Catenna.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

There are people in the world who are more forthcoming than Catenna. "Like that? None," she says, her eyes searching Josephine's face, reading that lack of sympathy in her expression. "The statue's design was... very odd, but in some ways, interesting. But I suppose there is nothing to be helped for it."

(And of course, now even this one thinks I'm an overly sentimental dupe who foolishly cares for things other than money,) her mind fills in bitterly. (I hate Ignas.)

Eyes dipping to the map, she looks up again soon enough, then blinks in surprise and blushes, coughing lightly into one hand. "I-- I do not know anything about their relationships," she admits in a murmur. "Such things are... such things are beyond me, I think." She's a little off-balance here.

Moreso when Penelope lands at her feet. She draws in a breath.

Slowly, Catenna sinks into a crouch. A hint of a smile comes to her lips. "Hello," she murmurs to the bobbing bird, her voice very low. With a soft murr in the back of her throat, almost like a faint coo, she holds out one hand, fingers curled but still, as if to invite a perch.

She's smiling, but there's something obscure behind it. An old sadness.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Unique, huh... well, we did get a good price, so that's fine," Josie muses, glancing vaguely skyward, as if calculating costs somewhere on the horizon. "Why don't you ask the guild about it? They might be able to tell you more. You helped find the thing so they owe you that."

Unless they also sold it off already in which case... Not much to do about that.

"Eh?" Josie swipes her free hand through the air, as if to cut through it all with the edge of her hand. "Ah, don't worry about it." She sighs, then grins, foxlike, at the younger woman. "You'll figure it out someday, kiddo. Trust me."

Catenna's still young. Give it time.

Head bobbing as she trots forward, Penelope approaches Catenna's outstreched finger. Stopping here, the pigeon tilts her head this way and that in rapid succession, as if trying to size something up. The bird blinks, slowly tilting her gaze up towards Catenna as she coos.

With very little fanfare, Penelope hops on up.

"Wow," Josie says, observing. "She's not usually that friendly." Tilting her head to the right, she considers this in silence, a gloved finger tapping against the map. "Well, maybe she's finally outgrowing her terrible twos, huh... Or, wait, I guess it'd be threes." She shrugs. Whichever. "Do you keep birds, too?"

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna does, briefly, look up, her brows furrowing at the word 'kiddo.' She doesn't say anything but she does give Josie a bit of a flat scowl.

Her attention shifts back to the bird. That little smile returns, mellow and coaxing but not insistent. Again she lets out a faint coo from the back of her throat, fingers held out - and Penelope hops on. With utmost care, she eases to her feet, balancing the little pigeon neatly. "You're a very pretty bird," she murmurs fondly before letting out another soft coo.

At the question, she blushes slightly, blinking; any hint of that former irritation is gone now. Instead, that hint of an old ache returns to her smile, a tightness around the corners of her eyes that even her normal air of reserve can't hide. "A bird was my companion once," she explains, voice quiet. "He was an owl, though. But my people have... long had a way with the animals and creatures of the wild, for we have learned to live with them, and along-side of them."

Her eyelids dip, then. "I shall have to... ask of the guild, then." Her accent's gotten a little more pronounced.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Oh, now that's a look Josie's familiar with by now. She smiles all the same. "Don't worry about it." Almost everyone's 'kiddo' to her.

"You'll just give her an ego," Josie complains good-naturedly, smiling regardless. For her part, Penelope coos back, a soft sound. And then, naturally, preens. Who's a pretty bird, maybe?

If Josie'd hazard a guess, she'd figure that something's on Catenna's mind, by the look of her now. Something's eating at her. Tucking the map under an arm, Josie folds her arms over her chest, gazing down at the dark-skinned younger woman.

Might be about the same age, even...

She furrows her brow. "'Was'? What happened to your friend?" It's not... the most tactful approach, but Josie is -- for better or for worse -- the type to go at things as she feels, which, barring other factors, can mean 'blunt'.

A pause. "'Your people'? One of the Baskar tribes, then?" It's a stab in the dark, but she thinks it's pretty likely, based on what she knows. "I heard a little bit about the Baskar." It might also explain Catenna's interesting magical tricks back in Sult.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"She does seem to be prideful," murmurs Catenna with a small, appreciative smile, letting Penelope preen. Her hand is exceptionally steady, as if she's used to holding a bird - and probably a much heavier bird than even the chubbiest pigeon, considering how large owls tend to get.

The blunt question evokes a sad smile and a low breath through her nose. "He passed into the next life. All things have their time." There may be more to it but she leaves it dangling, eyes instead drifting to Penelope again. Then the last question comes.

She shakes her head, free hand pushing back a lock of dark hair from her cheek. "No. The Zortroa," she says, not seeing much point in hiding her origins at this point.

Clear grey eyes flick to Josephine again, steady, curious, despite the reserve of her expression. "One is curious how you came to know your companion. Are you also one who dedicates yourself to the companionship of animals?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"I think I must have spoiled her. She's insufferable now," Josie mock-laments as Penelope seemingly eats up the attention. In a blatantly over-acted way, she turns her face up towards the skies above, only to shrug, shake her head, and grin at Catenna. "But it's just fine. She's a good girl, even if she /is/ a pain in the ass."

Penelope ruffles her feathers. It's hard to tell if that was just timing or if she actually understood that. Odds point to option #1.

"Ah..." Maybe she should have guessed. Josie glances away, her expression pensive in profile. "I'm sorry to hear about that." This time, she even sounds like she might be sympathetic.

Well, so much for guessing. Josie blinks, as if taken aback. "The... huh. Damn. Never heard of them, I think?" Faintly, she frowns. "So much for that. So... hm." She takes half a step backwards, looking over Catenna again like a photographer attempting to bring a photo into frame. "Let me guess, your people are... semi-nomadic?" It's not that much of a guess.

"Penelope? Oh, I raised her from a hatchling." She grins, a little sheepish, and glances away. "Sorry! It's nothing as exciting or mystical, huh? She just thinks I'm her mom. I used to be into raising birds."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"Close companions often are a pain. It is part of their charm," Catenna says with a faint, knowing sort of smile. "If all you ever did was get along perfectly, and never faced... hardship together, you would not be as close."

The hint of sympathy in Josephine's voice is met with a simple "Thank you," before she tilts her head to the side, blinking as she watches the other woman giving her that considering look. "You may be from the wrong part of the world," she murmurs before adding at a more conversational volume, albeit still quiet, "We wander often. The Zortroa Kinship lives outside of a kingdom called Elesius, among the beasts and monsters. As far as I know, I am the only one of us to come to Ignas."

The story, though, is not met with indifference: Instead Catenna smiles with quiet appreciation, though again a hint of some obscure pain hangs around the edges of it. "No... no, I understand. It is... very common among my people to raise wild creatures, and have them as companions. I have known some who have taken as companions some of the most fierce monsters... even the Tarasque, I have heard."

(And all I had was a bird,) Catenna laments inwardly. (And I let him die.)

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Don't I know it," Josie says with a lopsided grin. "She's a pain, but I wouldn't trade her for anything."

Josie says nothing more on the subject of Catenna's lost companion, seeming reluctant to pick at that wound further.

'From the wrong part of the world'. Josie, in agreement, shakes her head. "No, I'm much more familiar with Aveh," she explains, gesturing vaguely westward (or probably... westward). "I haven't been through Adlehyde, even, in over a decade." She scrunches up her brow. Elesius, Elesius... It takes a moment before it clicks into place. "That's the kingdom out in... Elru. I'm not familiar with the continent, though." Just the stories of destruction out that way. "The Garlyle soldiers we saw are from around there too, right?" She follows that statement with a nod. "Yes, that's right -- that's what you were saying. I remember now."

It's still not what she wants to get mixed up in.

Something's still obviously eating the kid. Josie can sort of guess what it might be.

"Hmm. I see, so it's a normal thing for you guys to have a pet," Josie says, reiterating the statement. She raises a white eyebrow, as if impressed. "Monsters, too?" She lets out a low whistle. "That takes guts..."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"It is the only human kingdom that remains in Elru," Catenna confirms with a nod, holding her hand out to relinquish Penelope back to Josephine at the pudgy pigeon's whim. "My people live on the outskirts of the lands Elesius controls... and then there is everything to the north, which is... the land of the Strangers. Once that of Garlyle." Her lips come together, shoulders rising ever so slightly. "I do not know why men of Garlyle would come here as an army... there should be no Garlyle left."

A nod follows at the last suggestion. "It is... very normal for us to have one," she confirms. "Often ones beyond the common cats or dogs most would own. I have seen some travel with Slimes, or with spirits of nature."

The woman looks off to the east for a moment. Her lips come together, thoughts working silently behind the pale grey clarity of her eyes. Eventually, though, she smiles a faint, quiet smile. "...Adlehyde is much different," she murmurs. "And I know little of Aveh, or Kislev. But new experiences are not to be feared."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"That's what I heard. Something like that, anyway -- though who knows how much of it's true?" An archaeologist would probably know pretty well just how much truth can be altered in the telling. Leaning forward and stooping, she accepts the rather fat pigeon, honestly, back from Catenna. "C'mere, Penelope--

The bird hesitates, then almost reluctantly, hops back on over. Josephine... sighs. "Thanks for indulging her. She can probably tell you know birds, you know -- Penelope's not dumb." She /suspects/, anyway.

And maybe she should cut back on pigeon feed a bit. It's not good for Penelope's health, and it's just making her more spoiled.

"Strangers, huh."

And that bit of information about Garlyle, on top of that. There's something almost a little... nagging about the way Catenna puts it. None of it left.

Brushing that aside when Catenna speaks more of her people -- this appears to be a topic of greater interest for Josie -- the archaeologist lifts her feathered friend to her shoulder, urging Penelope to sit. "Got it. Quite the variety there... And here I thought an owl was pretty exotic."

Eventually Penelope does sit, perched almost grimly on Josie's shoulder. "I bet. It's pretty different from west Ignas, too." A wry smile. "If you head out that way, I hope you like sand... Maybe I'll show you around someday, if we cross paths out there."

When she's done with things here, anyway.

And that statement earns Catenna the broadest grin yet. "You got it, kid! There's nothing you can learn by staying cooped up. You're still young, it's a good time to get out and about."

The wind rustles again, picking at the badly folded map tucked under Josie's arm. Oh, right. She glances up at the sky, and squints. "...Damn. Sorry, but I should probably get moving again before it gets dark." She lets out a long, slow sigh. "Don't suppose you saw a campsite or a settlement around here, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

With a polite smile, Catenna gives Josephine the bird.

The darker-skinned woman folds her hands together in a loose clasp again, her posture straight and crisp. "I imagine I may go there, some of the day. It seems as though Ignas is my new... ah... how do you say, 'stomping grounds?'" She seems to have trouble with the phrase; it comes out sounding a little weird, like she's not sure they're the right words.

That huge grin is answered by a simple bow of her head, her eyes closing for a moment. "...Yes," she agrees, voice quieting some. "There is much one can learn."

When Josie looks up, Catenna does too. Her eyes linger for a moment on the moon hanging in the sky above. The smile on her face is small, but quietly reverent, something unspoken hovering behind her eyes. Her hands clasp a little tighter. "...Then I shall let the spirits guide me in this place," she murmurs, "for at least I know there will always be one to guide me."

Finally looking back down, she nods politely towards the northeast. "There is a small village a short travel in that direction. You should find an inn there. I am going the other way. But it was... fortunate, to speak with you again. You are kind."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"'Stomping grounds' seems about right to me," the archaeologist says, trying and failing to stifle a smile. It's not wrong, honestly. "I'm in the same boat, more or less. A lot changes in a decade, you know."

'That's the spirit' might just about be the gist of the knowing look and smile there from Josie. "You're probably about the same age I was when I first left home. No time better for it." With that -- unless Catenna moves out of the way -- Josie reaches over with her free hand to briefly clap the younger girl on the shoulder. Friendly-like. "Good luck out there."

Not that the darkness is seriously a problem -- she walked from Aveh to Adlehyde, mostly -- but, still. Getting mauled by monsters out in the wildness is not Josie's idea of a fun night and a place to stay would be best (and probably more efficient for directions-getting).

There it is again, that quiet little show of devotion. It's the sort of thing that an archaeologist and Symbologist can loosely piece together, though the puzzle still has its gaps. Still, now perhaps is not the time for that. Night is coming.

"Just back that way, then? Great! I owe you one."

Josie smiles wryly. "Kind, huh? That's a first... Still, thanks." Josie's smile broadens. "Maybe I'll see you sooner than Aveh, sometime!"