2017-04-06: Commiserations

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  • Log: Commiserations
  • Cast: Lily Keil, Agatha Pyrelight
  • Where: Adlehyde - Starfall Saloon
  • Date: 4/6/2017
  • Summary: Good idea: Reflecting on things over drinks. Not so good idea: Doing it with evil manipulative Hellions.

========================<* Adlehyde - Starfall Saloon *>========================

Located in the southwest quadrant of Adlehyde, the Starfall Saloon is situated next to the local Adventurer's Guild outpost and kitty-corner from an ARMs Meister; the mostly-happy not-at-all-coincidence has turned the Saloon into a popular gathering place for Drifters. The Saloon has been carefully constructed to recreate the feel of a frontier alehouse - it has stables and a livery out back, and the main floor is taken up almost entirely by the sort of dark, slightly dank wooden tables and chairs that appeals to its clientele. An old harpsichord even sits in the corner, although it does not seem to be heavily used. Or in tune, for that matter.

The Saloon's proprietor and bartender is known as Honest Tom; this is a bit of an in-joke among the regulars, as the man rarely speaks more than a dozen words over the course of an evening. The Starfall Saloon is widely known among Drifters for offering warm beds, cold beer and decent grub for a fair price, and so it sees a great deal of out-of-town traffic. It is also known for the three rules hung over the bar: NO GUNS, NO FIGHTS, NO CREDIT.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MQRL7xws7w
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

No matter what planet you were on, it was called people watching.

It was one of the times that Agatha actually spent enough effort to completely suppress the darker side of her nature. Without the extra effort, the unsettling part of her nature would quickly bleed through and cause no end of trouble for people around her, as the malevolence she created would slowly gnaw at their psyche. And when she was out looking for... well, something interesting, that just would not do.

And so Agatha drifts into the saloon, her witch hat missing for the time being and her usual robes replaced with ones that had a back and no slips up the side. It was much more modest and while she might draw some looks, it was no more than a more modestly dressed lady in the town might receive.

But she drifts into the saloon, and looks around - not at any one person, but just taking in the atmosphere. It was a trick she had learned a long time ago, of how to gauge the general feeling of a room so she could decide if there was anyone worth approaching. People in groups were generally out unless they were displaying some unusual characteristics - she was looking for someone usually drinking by themselves, not reading but more... thinking. Brooding.

Someone who might not be looking for company, but wouldn't reject it out of hand.

And who might fulfill that requirement tonight...?

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

There is one person on her own at a table by the wall. She has a book, but it's closed, a worn thing treated with obvious care and with no identifying markings. Her hand rests on it.

But that's not all that's notable about her.

This woman has a beer in front of her roughly three-fourths full, but even in the press and warmth of a crowded saloon she is more covered than modesty tends to demand. A black dress with gold accents a particularly the shoulders, her long hair falling over her shoulders for now to hit near her chest, as her head is tilted slightly forward until she lifts it again to pick up her beer and take a pull of the bitter drink. Even while she drinks, she wears full gloves; she shows very little skin at all, though a little hint of shoulder and some clavicle are revealed, pale like from a cold land.

Her gem-golden eyes point at her gloved free hand for a few moments. If ever there was a sense of brooding, this woman's severe expression might be it.

...So there's one woman who fulfills at least some of those requirements. And if one looks in the right places, her likeness is on posters.

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

Well, this was interesting. And certainly at least worth taking a look into. There were always people who were feeling a little desperate, a little lonely. And Agatha has made herself quite familiar with the wanted posters of late - after all, such people were often very good possibilities for clients.

And so she drifts over to the bar for a moment, sliding several coins over and accepting a bottle and a couple of glasses with some precious ice in return. There are a couple of men who look up in anticipation as the red haired woman walks past, but she merely smiles and keeps on moving, until she arrives at Lily's table. The two glasses are slid onto the table, and the red haired woman smiles politely.

"Is this seat taken?" she asks, her voice a little on the sultry side of the register. She holds up a bottle of what looks like a very good Kislevian brandy, resting it on the edge of the table at an angle with one finger on the cork on the top, holding it in place with one finger. "And if it's not, I'd like to offer myself into it - it's not too often that I find someone in these parts who has been home more recently than I."

There is something just a bit off - the fact that her finger, wrapped in a velvet glove like the rest of Agatha's hand and arm up to the shoulder, comes to tapered end just like a claw. And her eyes...

Black, with a yellow iris. Not 'normal' human eyes at all, really...

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily looks for motion, more than anything; her eyes flicker now and again, from one side to the other, the better to look out for her surroundings. But she's still got a drink for the moment, and has long since identified escape routes and blind spots in the saloon.

...Not that she looks like the type to think about such things, but she is. Her black hair makes her look paler, and she keeps close by the satchel she's rarely without. She'd be content to ignore the others here, including red-haired women, except that this one makes that somewhat difficult by sliding glasses onto her table.

Lily looks at the glasses first, then lets her golden gaze flicker past the botle of brandy, to the finger attached, and then to the red-haired woman's face. Her expression remains severe, lips together as she thinks how best to answer.

"No," she begins, "I'd..." She trails off, pausing. The tapered end of a finger; the black eyes, not her kind of gold at all. Lily pauses a moment, looking into her eyes for a long couple of moments. It may seem like she doesn't intend to say anything at all before she speaks up.

"...You can sit." Lily points her gaze to a chair close to her, though not immediately next, and back to the woman again. "What do you mean about being home more recently than you?"

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

It doesn't take too long for Agatha to slide into the seat as soon as Lily makes the offer. She leans over the table a little, showing that she is in no way uncomfortable sharing the table. Indeed, she works the cork out of the bottle and pours out a finger if brandy in both glasses before she says anything else.

Clearly, the woman wants to make it clear that she's here to share a drink, before she goes into any sort of explanation. But she picks up her glass, swirling the rich golden alcohol around for a moment before she raises her eyes to look at Lily. "I hope you don't mind me pointing out that you've a bit of notoriety, Miss Keil," Agatha states warmly - she makes it clear from her tone of voice that she's quite happy to see her, and not in a 'I think you're going to make me a lot of money' sort of way. "Your wanted poster originates in Kislev, and it was issued fairly recently. Which, alas, means you've been up north *much* more recently than I."

A sip of her brandy, and Agatha adds, "Anna - just Anna, sadly. Originally from a little backwater logging town up in the mountains. More recently from the Nortune Slums... and now I travel." A faint, unhappy sigh. "Ah yes indeed, I 'travel'."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily, for her part, remains largely localized to her seat; she has good posture, sitting straight as she watches the other woman. Little reaction shows on her face to much of anything; mostly, she watches the woman until tere's brandy in her glass.

Lily picks her own up, swirling it for a moment and inhaling, though she doesn't close her eyes. She doesn't stop her motions, or let go her drink, when the woman raises those strange eyes of hers. What she said doesn't prompt an obvious reaction except for a sharper, more intense gaze, until she parses the words and the tone both. She doesn't quite relax, but she goes about to the level of tension she was at before, so it amounts to something similar. She inclines her head at the explanation.

"...Pointing it out or not makes little difference to me as long as you keep your voice down around drunk Drifters." She pauses. "Aveh's after me now, too. Two nations, able to agree on something." Her voice is dark and low.

She takes a sip of her own brandy. "Mm..." She seems to enjoy the brandy, but also seems slightly uncomfortable when she's done with it, the gloved fingers on her other hand flexing.

"You put a strange emphasis on 'travel.' ...I never spent time, as a rule, in Nortune's slums." Lily's accent marks her as Kislevan as clearly as any information, slums or not.

"If you can't go home yourself, I have sympathy for you. ...As you can imagine, I can't either." She takes another sip.

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

"I can imagine that you wouldn't. But while I can't say I enjoyed my time there... what is the saying? 'There's no place like home?'" Agatha lets out a laugh, although it sounds quite sad - she's not bad at that at all, especially when sitting down for drinks. "Sadly I can't really call any place 'home' - I'm sure you've seen it to some extent."

She finishes the last of her brandy, and pours herself out another finger's worth. A slow, languid motion as she swirls the alcohol around once more, and those black eyes look at Lily through the glass. "'Exotic' and 'exciting' are all well and good in a lady who you might see in the bar for an evening, something to delight the senses and provide a sense of danger and excitement. But when 'that woman' down the street doesn't look quite human... well, that's when the rumors start. After all, who knows what she might be up to? Someone 'different' is something to be feared~"

Agatha sighs, and leans over on the table, holding her glass out at arm's length. But she looks at Lily out of the corner of one eye, and smiles slightly. "I'm surprised though - more than even odds no matter how friendly I am, I usually get a scream and leaping out of the chair when my drinking partner sees what I look like."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily is sipping at her drink while the red-haired woman starts to talk, be sops in short order. "Mm," she answers without actually using words. She offers no argument to Anna's imagination, no commentary on the saying. She doesn't share the laughter, either; gold eyes remain on 'Anna', watching through that sadness and letting some of it reflect in her own gaze. She takes another small sip of the brandy as Anna goes on.

It may be easy to imagine, because she's a woman of such few words, that Lily is disinterested in what 'Anna' is saying, but the little signs of looking more intently, of her hand growing still in focus, when she mentions that Lily must have seen the thing that means she can't call anyplace 'home'...

Lily uses her free hand to brush her hair back from her face, a long earring dangling in place as she lowers her hand again, letting both rest on her cup as she listens, watching back through the glass. That sense of discomfort from earlier grows; she shifts to make a smaller profile without quite realizing it, staring at 'Anna' as she does.

Drink down on the table, Lily rubs at her wrist with her gloved fingers. Lily does not smile back. "Are you surprised?" she asks instead, and offers no explanation. She is quiet, for a few moments.

"..." She glanes to the side, and then looks down again to finish her brandy, before setting the glass down with a click. "...I'm sure that doesn't always happen," she says, as if it's a casual sort of thing... though she doesn't sound all that sure. "With someone 'different'."

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

"I wouldn't say surprised - it happens often enough that surprise or lack of it really don't matter that much to me," Agatha admits, although that's hardly the entire truth. Someone who wasn't willing to listen was just... not worth talking to. There were other people out there, after all.

But despite the fact that Lily is not all that talkative, the witch is very good at picking out those small signs from people that tell their state of mind. Getting people to open up wasn't easy... and it took both work and attention. There were no special hellion powers for that - just hard work and experience. And besides... it wasn't all manipulation and evil. Sometimes it was interesting to see what other people had been through.

"Mmm, it would be nice if being different gave you something in common. But I don't know about that," Agatha continues, sounding a little pouty. "After all, some people think of being different as a sin. Something that has to be hidden away. It must be nice~~"

She lets out a dreamy sigh, followed by a bit more serious expression. "People who have something to hide can often be worse - they don't want someone around who might make others take a closer look. They don't want to stand out even by association."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"I see." Lily answers that to Agatha's admission, her expression difficult to read though the words sound very matter-of-fact. "Well, I'm not the type. I was surprised, though."

Lily listens through the slightly pouty explanation, and watches withou a word as 'Anna' mentions what she does about difference. ...Frankly there's tone there that she doesn't usually deal with.

"...Is that so?" Lily asks. "...I guess I can see that. I mean... Don't get me wrong. I'm a sorceress; I know how people look at me, how they would look at me if I used my power here even for something small. Differece... Isn't unfamiliar to me."

She nudges her glass closer, "May I?" Regardless, she continues, "I don't think a sin should be something you can't help being."

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

Agatha pours out another glass of liquor for Lily in response to the other woman's request. She smiles politely, and shakes her head. "Well, who can say? People have such... interesting ideas of what sin consists of anymore." She gives Lily a bit more than before - it is very good brandy, after all - and then refills her own glass.

What Lily may or may not notice right off - especially as Agatha raises her own glass in offer of making a small toast at their little table here - is that Agatha has slid from the slightly further seat to the one next to Lily in the same motion that she used for the refill. She actually keeps back a bit, and it seems - for the moment - like she isn't that much closer, especially given that the witch was leaning over the table before.

"Sorcery tends to get tossed around as a 'sin' in some places because people are afraid. Power that is hard to control is one thing. Women with power... well, burn the witch is a cry I've heard a time or two. No intention to understand, just lashing out to make the thing that bothers you go away, so the ignorant don't have to expend the brain cells on anything besides their own narrow little worlds."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily nods in thanks and picks up the glass again, staring down at the brandy--or maybe into it is more appropriate. "I'm not really an expert; I'm a soldier, not a priestess." But she sounds uncomfortable with the statement. As for the drink... She notices that it's more than before.

But she lifts her own glass as 'Anna' does, lifting her eyes with it to look over at the other woman. She clinks her glass against hers, and says nothing about her movement.

It's left as an exercise to Agatha to consider whether Lily even noticed.

What Lily clearly does notice is the continuation of the sin idea. She holds her drink in one hand as she listens, looking into nothing at first and then back at the witch she's drinking with. "...I can understand being bitter at someone trying to burn at you. I didn't take it personally when it happened to me. And you do sound bitter." A shake of her head. "...People do fear it. I don't really hide it; I can handle that kind of fear. Honestly..." Lily lifts her glass to her lips, "Sometimes I prefer it. It makes people leave me alone." She takes a drink.

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

"Hmmm, but is that what you really want?" Agatha asks, even as Lily denies that she wants company and prefers the distance that her power builds between her and other people. "I've met many people who claim that they want to be alone... but the ones who actually want to be alone are the ones who give me the cold shoulder." She drains her glass in one toss, and sets it back on the table with a light clink.

The witch runs her finger around the rim, not looking at her companion for the moment. "Or is it just the desire to make sure that the ones who do approach you aren't going to do so lightly? It keeps the ones who might hurt you away, after all. And you only let the ones close that you trust, and even then..."

She laughs quietly, and looks back at Lily. "Oh but here I am talking about myself again. My home village always said that I was a wicked thing - that my eyes and hands, and a few other things, were because my mother had her way with a demon. Or was it my grandmother? They were never clear - after all, I doubt any of them ever saw anything outside their narrow little world."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily lifts an eyebrow when Agatha questions what she wants, and takes another sip of her drink as she listens to the explanation that comes. She remains quiet for a moment, watching Agatha more, perhaps ironically, when the other woman isn't actually looking at her. She watches through the senario she introduces, is still looking when Agatha laughs and looks back at her again. Lily sits a little straighter.

"...Does that happen often in your mountain villages?" Lily asks. "With 'different' children being born?" A shake of her head. "....It's not a reasonable question."

"As for whether I want people to leave me alone," Lily continues, gold eyes on Agatha again, "There's only one person that I trust. And I was in the middle of telling you to go away when I saw your eyes, noticed your hands, and changed my mind."

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

"Hmmm, who can say? It's not like I can go and ask, and who would admit to such things happening? When bad things happen, people want to ignore them. Even if that bad thing is someone else."

Really though, who would admit to having a two headed goat or something similar? While Agatha couldn't actually claim any first hand knowledge, she had found that isolated, ignorant people were much the same everywhere. It seemed like Lily hadn't ever had to deal with them before, which was curious. She wouldn't think that the girl would have had quite so much separation from people otherwise.

Her background must be unusual. Enough to be extremely interesting.

"Well, if you don't mind indulging my curiosity then - I don't mind either way, since I was interested in getting your attention. But what changed your mind - was it curiosity, or empathy?" Part of Agatha was tempted to say 'pity' but she has a feeling that emotion doesn't really flow through this young woman. Not in any reasonable amount.

Not with THAT bounty.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"You have a point," Lily admits. She leaves the subject quickly; she'd already tried to back out of having asked in the first place. ...She did say it the way that she did, though. She's implied a few things about her background already.

But the Lily of right now, here in this bar in a dark dress with dark hair by the wall, is taking a drink. The brandy in her glass is running out quickly, though it hasn't run out just yet, and she still holds it. 'Anna' continues, and Lily looks into her strange eyes for a few moments, and over her face.

"..." A shake of her head. "It wasn't just curiousity." Lily tips her glass back enough to finish the rest of the brandy, feel it burn down her throat, and then set it down again. "Any more in that bottle?" she asks, flipping her hair again out of her way, and as perhaps a tic.

"Empathy."

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

"We're getting a little low," Agatha admits, but pours out another generous measure for Lily. "But that's one of the benefits to being in a saloon - the bar tender is always willing to give you more if you've the coin for it. At least until he decides to be a spoil sport and decides that you've had enough."

She refills her own glass, and takes a small sip. Unlike some of her kind, alcohol really does nothing for her - she might as well have a hollow leg as far as its effects were concerned. She might joke about burning it off, if it wouldn't horrify most people.

"Well, I suppose empathy is as good a start as any. It's certainly better than fear. But here is to those of us who are different, and are willing to walk on our own. And not be ashamed of what makes us different." She raises her glass in another small toast, and waits to see what Lily's reaction is. She said she had one person she trusted... well, not that Agatha would expect Lily to unburden to 'Anna' about such a thing. Not at first anyways.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Thank you," Lily murmurs, and lifts up her glass to Agatha in a small acknowledgement. Her arm remains on the table; she's still gloved, but accustomed to holding glasses that way, even as the condensation wets the pads of her fingers. "True, so it is."

Lily takes a small sip too, savors its burn. She avoids drinking to excess in general, but has a naturally high tolerance. This is a little more than she's going to usually drink all at once.

Lily can't entirely help empathy; she starts to answer, but Agatha moves on into a toast, and Lily hears it and pauses where she is, with glass raised. When it finishes, she doesn't shift her glass towards 'Anna's' glass, instead looking away. There's a flash of pain in her expression that's easy to miss, before she shakes her head and it's gone.

She takes a deeper drink than before, not at all a sip. "It's not always as easy as all that."

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

Aaaaah. There it is.

'Anna' smiles sympathetically, as Lily downs a good bit of the bourbon in response to her toast, rather than actually making it. That look of pain spoke of so much in the poor woman's life. Clearly she was still struggling with things, and that...

...well, it would be a good place for a normal person to commiserate. For Agatha, it was a place to lay some groundwork... and then perhaps see where the future might lead.

"Ah, I see. Well, do forgive me if I've been insensitive. But I respect that you've carried on so long, even if things have been hard." Agatha tosses back her own drink, not quite as much as Lily had downed, but enough to show that she's not going to be left behind as far as draining the bottle goes.

"Perhaps someday they'll be easier. I'd like to say that as time passes, it gets easier to deal with these things but..." A slow, disappointed shake of her head is all the witch gives to that thought. "...I've not found that to be the case. You need to be strong. Strong enough that when the world demands you break, you can instead look at it and say 'No, you first.'"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily avoids looking at 'Anna' for a few moments as she drinks, until she's composed herself reasonably enough. Not as much as she'd like, but still walled off.

She glances over and sees the sympathy a moment after as she lowers her glass. She doesn't lower it all the way; the black-haired woman watches Agatha and her strange eyes for a few moments longer. "...Thank you," she answers as she does, watching Agatha toss back her drink.

In the meantime it means Lily has had even more in the short time that she has, but her eyes are steady. Her severe expression is near-blank, but for her golden eyes.

She hangs on that 'maybe' for a few moments, but the slow shake of the witch's head makes Lily lower her head a little. "Mm." The next idea she lets herself hear. Lily mulls it over as she swirls her alcohol, her long hair tumbling downward with the shift of her shoulders and her head.

"...I..." She shakes her head, sipping again at the brandy and slouching again once she finishes her drink. "I'm not good at talking like this. But I'd hoped it was better, when you stopped hiding everything."

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

"It's not about if you are hiding or not, but if you are strong enough to live how you desire, without letting anyone else decide what your life is going to be. If you're not strong, then in the end you'll just be what other people want you to be. A monster, a victim, a pawn... who can say?" And Agatha reaches over and sets one hand very lightly on Lily's shoulder, in sympathy.

"The world isn't kind to the weak. And I was in that position - I was very weak once. I couldn't stand on my own, and had to rely on other people to protect me." Agatha leans back, her eyes lidded as she gazes at Lily appraisingly. "I envy that you've had the power to shape your life so far. But I guess you don't feel like you're in control yet... mmmm, well it's not surprising. And you are young."

The young always felt like things might be better if they did more, after all. That there was an ideal life out there somewhere that they could find. Well, they weren't wrong... but who was really prepared for what the journey to find that ideal life would actually call for?

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily listens in silence as Agatha speaks on strength, looking into her brandy again but not really focused on it. She looks at Agatha partway through what she has to say, so she's watching her when Agatha sets a hand on her shoulder. She glances at the hand.

When Agatha appraises her, Lily has a strong gaze back for a moment before she takes another sip, straightening her shoulders a little bit as if she doesn't quite want to.

"It was kind to me, once." Lily's voice is soft, and dark, and not harsh. A shake of her head. "That's a long story. I do have someone to protect me now, who I rely on... But I protect him, too. We're a team."

"I'm strong enough to have done it so far, lived as I've chosen. I planned out my own life from a young age, little bits more as I went along."

"...I am young. And I'm dealing with all of this. I'm not entirely in control; I'm living on the run. You saw my poster. I'm just surprised you're not a bounty hunter and I'm not throwing a spear of ice at your throat, frankly." Lily takes another drink.

<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.

Agatha was actually quite impressed - this one might turn out to be quite a bit of fun.

Sadly the bottle has been drained by this point, leaving only the dregs and fond memories in its wake. And thus 'Anna' turns her gaze on Lily as she speaks to her life, how she's managed to plow through everything so far, even if it wasn't perfect. And then... well, that was a delicious opening.

"Oh well..." And Agatha manages the most amused, sultry expression yet. "While I am certainly not a bounty hunter, let us just say my intentions were not *entirely* honorable~" She leans one elbow on the table, and smiles - one lock of red hair falling down across her face where she leaves it for the moment. "After all, you don't buy the more expensive alcohol on a whim to speak with a stranger. But as you said, you have a partner, and it is a pleasure meeting someone who actually understands how rough things can be."

The witch slides out of her chair, and takes a slight step past Lily, before turning slightly and whispering. "I appreciated both the company and the conversation - hopefully next time we have drinks we can catch up, and hopefully you'll have some good news for me. If not... well."

Another smile. "I might be able to help you on that front."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily happens to be looking at 'Anna' when she starts talking again, lowering her glass, which isn't quite empty. The black-haired woman seems fairlyunaffected by the expression except to look somewhat expectantly at the amusement.

The explanation comes quickly, and Lily blinks once, opening her mouth as if to say something and then thinking better of it before she gets anywhere near actually speaking.

"I do have a partner," she says a little slowly, though she nods a moment later and more smoothly at the matter of understanding.

It all happens very quickly to her though; the witch is moving past her and then she stops; that's where it slows down a little. Lily looks with a light amount of confusion to 'Anna' as she whispers, and then eventually nods after that smile of hers. "...All right." A pause. "I don't know what kind of news you mean. But you can come ask."

Lily holds onto her almost-empty drink... And may be feeling the effects of just how much brandy she's had.