2017-04-08: Hold Still
- Log: Hold Still
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Lily Keil
- Where: Adlehyde - Fairgrounds
- Date: April 7th 2017
- Summary: Josie and Lily run into each other by chance; Josie takes the opportunity to talk to Lily about something that might be important.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The thing about finding people after about a decade's absence is, it's really hard to do.
Fortunately, Josie is patient. At least, when she feels like it.
Today, she's doing the 'killing time' thing, and for once, that doesn't mean wasting money in a tavern -- it means wasting her money at the fairgrounds. Penelope nestled in between the folds of her loose scarf and the back of her neck, she's otherwise unaccompanied, meandering from stall to stall. Some of the things people have on offer are really something, though the archaeologist has shown remarkable restraint and hasn't bought anything yet.
Yet.
Those are /nice/ earrings, she muses privately, eyeing the contents of one stand. Maybe...
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Also hard? Finding rumored automatons.
...And personal matters.
Lily Keil is not relaxing, exactly. Relaxing is something that other people do, people who can let things go to a much better extent than she can. But she's taen her brooding on the road, and gone to the fairgrounds. Here she's more likely to do something productive; she has a look at some of the ARMs on display, mostly, looks at people around waiting for someone to recognize her.
But mostly, she focuses on /doing/ things, and even if her questions are hard to answer.... Well.
She's wearing a red dress at the moment, long and full, with gloves in the same red rather than her usual black, a fine and thin material with just enough heft to stand up to use. Her hair is down, and she steps to the side, her eyes happening upon a set of earrings.
Somewhere along the way, she ended up just looking mindlessly at stalls while letting her thoughts run. She's... distracted, today. She doesn't notice Josie.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
They're not bad at all, Josie decides. And at that price, she could definitely indulge. A little bit.
Of course, pushing her way up to the stall will take some doing. Yes, even at her height -- this place is packed. She takes a look around for a suitable weak point to get some leverage to ford on ahead without just being a total jerk and barging on through.
Josie glances to her left.
...Josie glances to her left again.
Yes, that is Lily. A definitely distracted Lily.
Leaning in towards Lily slightly, Josie can't help but smile slightly, her lips curving upwards. She reaches over with her right hand and silently
waves her hand in Lily's face.
'Filgaia to Lily', if not in so many words.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily brushes a hand through her own hair without thinking, brushing a long earring as she stares toward the stall before her. SHe is... extremely distracted, letting her hand rest onher shoulder a moment later. Her golden eyes stare forward into space, and her expression is her standard resting face, which...
Part of the reason she's been left alone despite her distraction is definitely Lily's resting expression.
The younger woman doesn't notice Josie at first, until there's a hand in her face.
She blinks rapidly, turning her head to and fro and obgiously startling. "What? What??" she closes her eyes briefly as if the sight was bothersome, but then looks around again.
"Oh... Josie." She blinks again and hesitates, a little bit embarrassed. "Uh... Hello."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie had considered planting a hand on Lily's shoulder upon seeing her but this is probably more fun. And interesting.
The archaeologist slightly wiggles the fingers of her heavily gloved right hand, just for good measure. That smile still resting on her lips, she twists towards the younger girl. Yep. Just as she thought, Lily had definitely checked out.
At least that smile is a deal less amused and a lot more pleasant by the time Josie finally speaks. "Long time no see, Lily." Josie glances back, towards the stall. "You see something you like?"
She hesitates -- not out of any real unease or anything like that, just politeness -- before breaking on ahead into conversational matters. "Say, how's it been going? --Oops, let's get out of the way," she ferries on as someone bumps into her. Dark eyes narrow just a touch as a moment of suspicion -- pickpockets are legion! -- but it passes.
Unless Lily indicates otherwise or pushes her hand way, Josie, with her left hand, makes to steer Lily off to the side and out of the way of the crowds. Immediate way, at least -- there's nowhere here that is really 'out of the way' or even 'private'.
But that's fine.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily recognizes the glove, at least. Josie twists towards her and Lily watches that smile for a few moments, her eyes darting from Josie off to the side and back. She hesitates, but Josie seems to relax it, and Lily nods back. "Yes," she agrees that it's been a long time, and Lily just shakes her head, putting her fingers to her forehead for a moment. "I don't even remember what I was looking at," she admits.
Lily sure isn't going to break into conversation first. In fact, she doesn't really do small talk so much, such that there's a faint hint of relief when the question is interrupted by the matter of getting out of the way. Lily adjusts the strap on her satchel as she looks to the person and then allows herself to be steered away. There's no movement to stop Josie; the contact surprises her, but that's all. "...I'm largely used to Adelhyde, but these fairgrounds..." A shake of her head. "How about you?" Pause. "That is, how are you doing?"
...So she /can/ do small talk.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's slight, but Josie's smile wides, that much. "The jewelry, right? They have some nice things." She pauses, thoughtfully, in exactly the sort of pregnant way that foretells disaster. "Maybe you could get your boy to buy you something? If he doesn't give in, try pouting, that usually works!" As if the outright grin didn't give it away, she's kidding.
Probably.
Lily isn't that easy to pry casual conversation out of -- but that's fine. Josie knew that much wading in. It won't stop her.
Besides, a challenge is nice.
Josie glances back once, scanning the crowd as long as she dares. "More busy than usual, huh? But that's the fun of it, even if it means that it's kinda tricky to get what you want..." Josie's gaze wanders, briefly.
Like those earrings. Damn! Well, she'll hop to it later, if they're still around.
"Me?" Josie waves a hand, briefly, in front of herself. "I'm fine. Still alive! How are you and Leon?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Probably," Lily answers, almost pleasantly. Only almost, but it's some progress. When Josie pauses though, Lily pauses in turn. She knows this kind of pause, if not Josie's in particular, but Josie makes a suggestion and then goes all-in on it, and the black-haired woman actually laughs! It's quiet, and she lifts a hand to the point of her nose as if to cover over with her fingers over her mouth, but it's hard to miss.
It sounds a little nicer as a laugh than Lily presents as a person.
"I'll keep that in mind," she answers instead, and then quiets again to watch Josie watching the crowd. "Crowds are fun?" Lily asks skeptically, and it's not really a question so much as a way of indicating she doesn't buy it. "Though it's nice to see different people," she allows.
"Alive, fair enough," Lily answers. "We're also both alive. Largely busy, though..." Lily pauses, considers, "I guess Adelhyde is... exciting, in its own way. Just tell me you aren't going to announce I'm getting married to a full room when I'm not." She waits a moment and adds, "Or even if I am."
"I'm interested in getting out again, though. Get away from all the eyes of the city for a while."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Laughter! That's mildly surprising -- though hardly in a bad way -- and Josie's expression reads as much. "You'll never know until you try," she says, not-so-subtly egging Lily on.
"You can learn a lot from watching people," Josie explains, vaguely.
There's a grin. "Hey now, 'alive' is pretty good! In this business, anyway." Josie shrugs slightly, her gaze briefly at a distance, as if thinking back on something. "...Hm, I'd hope it's exciting," she comments, returning to the here and now, her gaze resting on Lily. "Otherwise, it's not much of a festival, huh?"
'Married'? Josie looks Lily over. "Well, are you?" she asks, expectant.
There is, again, a pause. This one is much more contemplative, of Lily in particular. "That might be a good idea, actually, especially if you're not enjoying all the crowds. Don't worry about missing anything -- it's not over yet."
A watchful gaze will notice the split-second hesitation, before Josie settles on some internal decision and turns towards the stall. That hesitating moment was an unusual but fully genuine one.
"One moment!" she says, raising a finger. She won't wait long for an answer, turning to descend upon the stall (and possibly give Lily a good view of where Penelope's nesting today).
Josephine doesn't even bother haggling.
"Okay--" she says upon her return, a few minutes later.
"Silver's fine, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily can't help but see the surprise at her laughter, and doesn't laugh for very long... Though it's hard to say whether the reaction spooked her into realizing she was doing it. Josie eggs her on, and Lily shakes her head, a little amusement there in her golden eyes. She isn't quite sure what to say though, and that shows too--along with the fact that she doesn't say anything to that after all, just looking at Josie for a moment.
"You probably mean different things than the sorts I learn from watching people," Lily admits. But the lets herself nod a little bit at the matter o alive being pretty good, and watches through that moment in the distance. Then when it passes. Lily looks uncertain--or perhaps uncomfortable--at the matter of the festival being exciting in particular.
"It's complicated," Lily answers on the subject of marriage. "Not right now." She's quick with the answer. "And I don't like it announced either way to people. It's personal."
Lily lifts an eyebrow at that contemplative look, trying to judge what it might be for. "Mm," she answers to what she says, and then Lily /does/ notice that hesitation. Lily finds herself waiting in short order, seeing Penelope and just sort of looking wordlessly as her answer.
Lily is still there, now with her arms crossed, though she drops them to her sides as Josie returns. "Silver's fine for what?" she asks.
Lily has the coloration for it, for sure.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Watching people, huh. That earns Lily a curious look. "...Maybe, maybe not," Josie concedes, shrugging again. "I guess it depends on what you're looking for. In my case..." She pauses, then shakes her head. "It's probably simpler, huh, in an army? You only have to worry about the enemy in front of you." She smiles, though this is hardly a happy one, at best a 'what can you do' sort of smile. "Trust people, but also be ready to stop trusting them in a hurry. That's what's best."
The subject of marriage, though, earns an entirely different response: both hands up, palms forward, all mock-surrender. "Alright, alright, you got it. No bringing that up!" It seems to be sensitive, and when it comes to prodding sensitive subjects...
Well, this isn't the hill she's going to die on.
"These," Josie replies shortly after her return, lightly jingling the pair of silver jewelry in her outstretched left hand.
Not the same ones she'd been eyeing before, for herself. Nope. Lily might place them as a more inexpensive pair.
"Consider it a freebie, for the ruins and everything. Here, I'll put them in for you." Regardless of Lily's answer, she approaches the younger girl, though still staying short of what could be called personal space. For once.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily looks back, fairly confident in this assertion, only a little challenging and that's just a natural part of how she looks. She notices that Josie doesn't continue about herself, but does listen. "It sounds appealing that way, doesn't it? I wouldn't say all of that. But some parts were simple. I tend to look at people to judge for threats." A thoughtful pause. "...It sounds like a nice idea, but trust isn't that easy for me."
Marriage, instead, gets a grateful look from the younger woman, who watches Josie for a moment longer and lets out a breath of relief. "I appreciate it."
She's not entirely at peace.
But Josie has jewelery in her hand, and blinks at Josie. If she notices the meaning of this pair in particlar, she says nothing.
"...Ah," she answers, and admittedly isn't sure. It takes a moment before she relents, "All right. Thank you. You really didn't have to do something like this."
She's wearing earrings already... But that's easily enough remedied. Lily for the moment gathers her hair back in her hands and nudges it back over her shoulders. Up close, even with all the travel she's still pale.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Trust's not easy for most people." A pause, whereupon Josie grins, broadly. "Unless they're fools! Maybe that puts me in good company, though?" She tilts her head, as if considering it. "It's not bad to be a little bit foolish, it keeps things exciting. Just... carefully foolish, I suppose." If one can be a careful fool.
It's a bit sudden. But, apparently, this is normal for the impulsive archaeologist? For her part, Josie just smiles and shakes her head as she advances. "Like I said, don't worry about it!"
Such pale skin. Either Lily keeps out of the sun, or uses other methods -- some alchemists know how to make something to shield skin from the sun, which isn't a bad idea in parts of Ignas, honestly. Still, Josie would have expected Lily to have some color by now...
"Hold these a moment," she says, moving to drop the new earrings into Lily's hand.
"Don't make any sudden movements, okay?"
She reaches over, carefully working one of the earrings free.
Josie pitches her voice lower, speaking as quietly as she can without dropping under the sound of the bustling crowd. "Apparently you've had a bounty increase. Didn't know you had one to begin with. ...Not too loud now, okay?" The earring is about halfway out of Lily's ear.
"...Jude Moshe a friend of yours?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily takes the statement about trust seriously--and then Josie starts on about fools, and Lily shakes her head very slightly, huffing at first though there's nothing in her eyes of real judgement. She pauses though. A little bit foolish... Lily watches Josie a moment longer. "...Calculated risks," she suggests, her voie a little dark and her expression thoghtful.
But... Earrings. That's happening, apparently, and Lily chooses to go with it, rather than worry abot it for now. She lifts a hand, taking the new earrings in her red glove. Lily's skin offers no explanations; Lily herself looks forward.
Lily is being still, as requsted, but she didn't know that Josie had a specific reason to make that request. Lily blinks slowly, her awareness spiking. But Josie is... Warning her. And then--
Lily, rather than moving, freezes except for her other hand clenching into a fist. She needs a breath before she can speak, and then she does so smoothly and quietly, a veteran of many quiet words near the enemy.
"I'll explain. But Jude isn't my friend. He's a bounty hunter who nearly managed the job with the both of us."
Her breathing is deeper than before; if Josie's not careful she might tug an earring too hard.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She might as well be honest in her self-assessment. Coming all this way, alone, for no reason than professed academic curiosity...
Briefly, she bares her teeth. "Calculated risks! I like that, it sounds much better, don't you think? It's more thoughtful, or something like that." She shrugs, and only semi-carelessly.
It's a little harder to take out someone else's earrings, especially when you have gloves on, and especially with one glove a bit on the bulky side. But that's fine, she can take her time with this -- in both conversation and exchanging earrings.
This, too, had been a little bit of a calculated risk. If Lily had said no, then, well. Free earrings, perhaps? She would have figured something out.
Her gaze had been sidelong at best -- she's primarily focused on the task at hand -- but her attention shifts as Lily tenses. Josie, too, freezes, apparently not wanting to pull on anything, especially if Lily makes any sudden moves.
It really explains a lot, right now. There's a lot you can generally get from watching someone, sometimes...
And here, she had almost wondered if she had been jumping at nothing with Jude. Just goes to show, foolish caution. "Got it, got it," Josie murmurs, sliding out the earring. There might be a pinch -- she probably should have taken off her gloves, but there's no helping that. "Here, give me one of the new earrings," she says, more loudly than before. "By the way, you've got nice taste."
It's even harder getting a new one in, like this. This might be uncomfortable for Lily.
"Relax." Josie again speaks more quietly. "I'm not turning you in, don't worry." Sliding it in the rest of the way isn't hard, at least. "Not interested in your bounty, or whatever. He is looking for you two, though."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"It makes more sense to me," Lily says simply. She watches Josie as if unaffected through what wasn't quite a smile and a shrug. She wonders, but doesn't press.
But with the earring, Lily can't watch Josie work; she can only feel what's happening and judge from what she /can/ see. At least they aren't quite in the way.
But she doesn't mind taking time with it.
...And she doesn't make sudden moves for the moment. Instead Lily feels the pinch at her ear that suggests an earring is free, and doesn't even appear to react. She's busy, focused on this instead. "Sure," Lily says a little more loudly herself, and hands one up to Josie. "Thanks."
It is uncomfortable; if Josie's not especially careful she might see red given how little feedback the black-haired woman gives abot this process.
This time she does react enough to press her lips together. But that might as much be from the instruction to relax. Josie explaining past that though does get a bit of tension to release from where she'd been holding it, visible even in her jaw. "...Not the type?" she asks softly. "..."
She debates, and then, "Thank you for the warning. I thought he would find us eventually." There's actually, if Josie is the type to notice closely, a note of distress in Lily's voice despite her calm words, little subtle cues.
"How do you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
There! Nothing to it. She glances, briefly, at Lily. No reaction there, but perhaps that's understandable. Considering the circumstances.
"Pretty dangerous stuff, hunting people just for Gella," is Josephine's non-answer as she hands off the earring Lily had been wearing.
This is more difficult than she thought. Maybe if her hands were ungloved this would be a different matter, but it's a bit late to do that smoothly now, not with the turn in conversation. Instead, Josie briefly utters a oath, frowning. "Sorry, I think you're bleeding a little," and this time she says it more loudly, as if for the benefit of any curious passersby. "It's in though, and it'll heal quickly. Trust me."
Lily's upset -- as most people probably would be, if someone were looking to take them in. "Followed you a long way, huh? --Here, I'll do the other now." The last is spoken more loudly. "Should have take off my gloves first, right? Well, if you can bear my fumbling..."
The other earring is /exactly/ as easy to remove as the last. "Because he told me," Josie answers simply enough, her voice lower once again. "Pretty charming guy, actually."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"It is," Lily agrees, and there's an edge to her voice that comes of being one of the people being hunted. She keeps the earrings held as Josie works regardless, waits through the pain and discomfort without suggesting that Josie stop.
Lily doesn't even blink at hearing that she's bleeding. She speaks up, and matches her tone while staring into nothing, "All right." In a lower tone she says to Josie, "It doesn't matter."
What is perhaps clearest is that Lily follows a lead particularly well. But then, Josie's seen her do that before, and she's seen her display this lack of concern for her own blood.
With that in mind, "I'd rather you just finish than stop anyway." She pauses, long enough to give some distance, and she does still sound upset in that subtle way. She adds, "The Port Timney area, so far. We had a little breathing room."
Lily presses her lips together again at the pulling about her ear. But the answer comes out and Lily isn't inclined to be less tense. ...Except she has relaxed slightly from when Josie explained what she wasn't. "Yes, he charmed Leon, too. Pretended to be a traveller with a broken wagon asking for help." She thinks again, staring forward still. "I would have found him more charming if he'd shot me less. ...No, that's a lie. He got on my nerves. ...Maybe I just need to find him first."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Doesn't matter, huh. Josie glances over at Lily, searching her expression briefly. Well, it's not much blood...
Lily /is/ a soldier -- that's how soldiers operate. Or how they're supposed to. If a soldier can't follow someone else's lead, they're probably not going to be much at soldiering.
She's seen enough of her and Leon working together to know the opposite is true.
"Alright. Just a little more, then."
The second one comes out, eventually -- and joins its mate in Lily's hand. Gingerly, Josie picks up the other one. This is a little more tiring on her hand than she would have even remotely expected after coming up with this idea, but so it goes. Too much small fiddly movement while wearing something that's designed to minimize exactly that.
"Over that way, huh..." She presses the other earring in, her lips pressed thin in concentration.
The corner of her mouth tilts slightly upwards. "Oh, clever, clever," she remarks, absently. /Now/ she gets it, fully, just what he was really saying, back then. And he would know, first hand.
She's a little impressed.
It's in. Silver's not bad on her, she thinks, stepping back to regard Lily a moment. "Whoops, let me fix that--" she says, before leaning in one last time, ostensibly to readjust a lock of Lily's dark hair. "You kids should be more careful with charming strangers." There may be certain irony with that, there.
She pauses, all of a second. "...Don't misunderstand, though. Lily. I just like you better right now."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Nothing in Lily's expression suggests that she cares about the blood in that moment; she says it doesn't matter, and she stares out at nothing in particular, past her surroundings and into what she's thinking about.
Lily doesn't glance back. She does murmur, "All right," and let it go, taking the last earring into her hand where she can store it when she has time.
Lily doesn't answer what she takes as a rhetorical question about over that way. She closes her eyes and opens them again, not quite a blink, at the rough handling of her earlobe. She doesn't know what clever is... But she doesn't stop to answer.
Instead back and here again, and Lily listens to the warning. She glances Josie's way and looks flatly until the pause, until that statement. She looks just a little too long at Josie in those few moments. There's something there... But more on that in a moment.
"...Then I should warn you sometime about what happened to the last group of people who liked me," she says.
The truth of that long gaze is that Lily looks a little smaller than she did, a little more tired. ...And hurt.
"You should know that I'll kill him if I can. ...Thank you for the earrings. However long you work with us, I appreciate the help." Her voice is low, and stiff.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
From Josie's vantage point, it's hard to say whether Lily is really that stoic about it, or if she actually is beyond noticing it. It's definitely a change from the way most of her own childhood friends would have reacted, that's for certain...
This one probably hurts less for Lily, at least. Josie's getting the hang of it now.
The entire time, Josephine doesn't look at Lily, the whole of her attention on fixing that lock of the young soldier's hair.
"Hmm," is her noncommital response. 'The last group who liked her', huh...
And here, at last, as she moves her hand away, as she shifts her posture in preparation, she looks over at Lily.
Huh. Maybe that was too much, once again. Just a bit, Josie's brow lines. Her lips press just a little thin again.
"That's the price of the job," is all she has to say about Jude -- and what Lily might do to him. "A shame, but..."
He must have known the odds when he signed up.
Josie at last pulls away, retreating to a normal conversational distance. She waves a hand, as if to brush Lily's comments away. "Don't worry about it." In the long run, it was a slightly convoluted means to an end. "Let me know if you plan on another expedition, okay? I can always use the money, and you two were good to work with."