2017-05-02: Pigeonbaiting
- Log: Pigeonbaiting
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Port Timney
- Date: May 2nd 2017
- Summary: Ragnell and Josie happen to meet up after the delve into the Hollow. Pigeon-oriented antics ensue.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Let it never be said that Josie has found a bar she doesn't like.
Well, okay, not technically true -- there was that one time in Bledavik... but the less said about that one the better.
The point is, Josephine Lovelace is spending this point in time sprawled in a chair at a table at one of Port Timney's currently more-frequented bars (which means it's one of the ones furthest from the damaged gate) and reading over one of the reports she grabbed from inside the cave. Re-reading, technically speaking (for perhaps the fifth time) -- and actually taking notes. Despite what someone might expect, her handwriting is very neat, if a little shakey. Probably, she should turn these over to the local guild.
She just hasn't. Yet, anyway.
A half-finished mug rests nearby.
Penelope, naturally, is also here, standing on the table and investigating a sorry excuse for a salt shaker. This is probably unhygienic. Neither of the current party at the table seems to care, though.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Meanwhile, for her part, Ragnell doesn't have a lot to do while the people she's keeping an eye on are either busy healing themselves or others. It wouldn't be a bad night for getting into a good old-fashioned brawl, either, but when most people can neither see nor hear you, it makes it kind of tough. So Ragnell goes for the other option:
She goes drinking.
Now, when you're a Seraph, the service might be lousy--but you can't beat the prices. After helping herself to a frothy mug of beer (and possibly sparking an argument between the bartender and one of the patrons at the bar), Ragnell saunters through the bar in search of a place to sit. Usually she opts to either sit by herself or close to someone who looks like they've got juicy gossip, and tonight, that's Josie and her note-taking from the papers she picked up at the Hellion nest. Upon spotting her, Ragnell makes her way over to her table and sits across from her. She doesn't seem to particularly care about Penelope pecking at a salt shaker, either.
"Looks like you're keepin' yourself busy there," Ragnell says by way of greeting, tilting her mug at the notes, then taking a few swallows. "How's it comin' along so far?" she adds, as if there were no need whatsoever for niceties. And maybe there aren't?
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Most people in the bar probably can't see Ragnell.
Josie, however -- whether by some amount of spiritual awareness (?), practiced magical talent (??), or just dumb luck (this one seems likely), can. This is going to make the next however-long look really weird to anyone watching.
"Hi there," Josie says, apparently intent on finishing the sentence she's writing in her notebook before closing the little book and setting it and the pencil she was using down on the table, right on top of the papers. Only here does she glance up. "Just taking some notes! I'm still looking into these, so I don't have anything yet. Figured it'd be good to write things down so I'd stop having to go back and re-read, right?" This aspect of her near omni-present smile is a slight one.
"How about you?" Josie pauses, gazing at Ragnell for a moment. Faintly, her lips move, and she scrunches up her brow. "...What did you say your name was again?"
Penelope studiously ignores both ladies. This salt shaker, apparently, is much more important.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Resonance, or the spiritual sensitivity to detect Seraphim and Malevolence and those sorts of things, was a rare enough gift over on Lunar. Here on Filgaia... it's still not /common/, but it seems to pop up with bizarrely more frequency than it did back home? Ragnell doesn't really know what to make of that.
That doesn't mean she won't take advantage of it where relevant, though.
"Makes sense," she says. "I left 'em to my buddies, so I haven't read through 'em yet myself. Good idea, though, takin' notes. Always smart to have your own copy of important information. ...Though damned if I know what's so important about Lahan or whatever." She takes another long pull of her beer, then sets it down with a half-smile. "Ragnell. What's yours again?"
The pigeon's still inspecting that salt shaker. Huh. On a whim, Ragnell pushes it a little to the side with one finger.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"That's what I was thinking. Of course, it was only /after/ I'd read these things for the third or fourth time." It's the fifth time, actually.
As for Lahan... Josie herself shrugs at that. "Who knows? I don't!" She glances down at her notebook and the reports, drumming the fingers of her left hand absently on the table for a moment. "Still, it's got me a little curious. I guess once I finish with these things, I'll turn them in and head on back to Adlehyde. Maybe there's some local news, or something. ...I did hear that they're taking bounties for those animals, though. So, that's also a thought."
Josie pauses, and smiles a touch sheepishly. "A girl's got to pay her rent somehow~"
Ragnell. "Huh, I was close then. I was thinking 'Rose', but that was the other kid, right?" Josie hauls herself upright in her chair, leaning a bit across the table to extend her left hand to Ragnell. "Josephine Lovelace. Archaelogist. Call me Josie, though. You seem alright!" Even if Josie had glared at her in the caverns, it seems.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Josie sure likes to read, huh? Ragnell half-smiles. "What, you don't have 'em memorized by now?" she jokes. "Be interesting to see what comes of 'em, though. Those monsters were somethin' else, and it can't be a coincidence all those papers and books were strewn about at the bottom of their nest. Hard to see what the connection is, but..." She shrugs. "Hell, wouldn't be a mystery if we knew everything right away, right?"
A slow, thoughtful nod. "Ah, yeah. I heard about that too," she muses. She half-smiles again, this time toothily, at Josie's sheepish addition. "Hey, no judgment here. We all gotta eat." She tips her mug of beer at her, then takes another long drink.
A couple tables over, a man well on his way to sloshed peers at the momentarily floating beer mug, then raises his hand to the barkeep and asks for the check.
"Right, Rose was the girl scared a' ghosts," Ragnell confirms. "With the knives and the red hair." Ragnell only has red eyes, and, as is clear with the loss of her hat, her hair is stormcloud gray... save for the tips, which are gold. Probably dyed or something. She chuckles and nods back. "Nice meetin' ya, Josie. You seem interesting yourself." Doesn't seem to hold a grudge, anyway. Ragnell does wonder for a moment if she ought to ask about that bead necklace... before ultimately deciding it's not her business. "So," she adds, looking down at Penelope, "what's with the pigeon?"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Sadly, no!" Josie proclaims, briefly baring white teeth. "I guess it /might/ make more sense if I compared notes with the other people on the team, huh?" She pauses. "Well, maybe the guild will work that one out for me. ...Assuming they turn in the stuff they collected, anyway." She leans back in her seat, glancing up at the ceiling briefly. "But I'll see what I can get first. I guess it's the fun of the hunt, in the end. This one's been a real stumper so far..."
That just earns Ragnell a little grin of Josie's own. "Exactly! I don't exactly make a lot of Gella doing archaeological excavations. At the end of the day..." She half-shrugs before reaching over for her neglected mug and taking a swig. At the end of the day, you've gotta eat and you've gotta sleep.
Josie glances sidelong, once.
"Can't blame her too much, those were probably the strangest caves I've been in yet, and I've been in some pretty strange caves! If ghosts came out of the walls, I probably wouldn't have blinked." Josie's expression turns a touch more thoughtful. "Between the mist, the waterrise, and that weird feeling in the air... like I was sick or something like that..."
She shakes her head, and sighs.
Or at least, apparently doesn't hold a grudge over that, anyway. Josie settles back. "Oh, Penelope? --Right, I don't think I introduced you two. Penelope, this is Ragnell. Ragnell, this is Penelope. ...You know, you could look at someone once and a while when I introduce you, you know," Josie mock-laments, shaking her head again. "I raised her from a hatchling, so you could say I'm her mom -- Penelope, please."
Penelope apparently does what she wants. Which is 'whatever she's trying to do with the salt-shaker'. Which she'd barely so much as broke off from when Ragnell pushed it. Leaning back, Josie frowns as she stares at the bird. "You're really into that tonight, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"True enough," Ragnell says with a nod. "The redhead was Rose and the blonde little girl was Edna--didn't know the other two, though, and didn't get a chance to catch their names. Flame guy and, er, what's-her-face. Don't suppose you know 'em? Though, only flame guy actually picked up some stuff, besides Rose and Edna. What's-her-face was chompin' at the bit to get outta there. ...Not that I blame her, mind you. You felt it too, right? The way the air felt... /greasy/."
Greasier than a refried fatback, at that. Ragnell considers that as she glances to one side at someone else's dinner, polishing off her beer. She could go for a refill, and maybe also a plate of potstickers, but... ehh, later. Again: the prices may be great when you're a Seraph, but the service /sucks/.
"Are you into archaeology for the passion of it, then?" Ragnell wonders, considering Josie. There are certainly thoughts who pour themselves into uncovering the past... She knows a few people like that herself. Talk of the caves and Rose's reaction gets a chuckle from Ragnell, though. If only Josie knew... Well, far be it for Ragnell to spoil the fun. These little discrepancies in perspective are what make life more interesting. She only nods.
"Howdy, Penelope," Ragnell says to the bird with a casual, carefree nod, as if there's absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about being introduced to a bird. The bird gives her the cold shoulder, even, though this is something Ragnell's used to. She only chuckles and holds out a hand. "No need to worry, Josie. I'm sure you know what it's like to be on a mission."
Case in point: Ragnell pushes the salt shaker even further, this time away from Penelope's immediate reach.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Edna, right right. I think she introduced herself." Though the way Josie screws up her eyebrows suggests that this is a 'maybe?' as far as she can recall. "Anyway, the other two are Vin and Catenna -- I've worked with them before." The corner of her lips quirks upwards in a slight sly smile as she realizes something, to judge by the sudden flicker in her dark eyes. "Heh heh, not bad. No wonder we did alright -- we had two Baskar shamans with us." The reverence with which she places a hand over her heart is a little too playful to be entirely genuine. "The Guardians, surely, must have smiled upon us~"
She holds the pose for a moment before shaking her head. This Josie is a little more serious. "Frankly, I'll take all the help I can get, in a place like that. It didn't feel right."
Reaching over, Josie downs her remaining beer in one go. And she lost her necklace, too. Well, most of it.
"Mmmhmm," she says, setting down her empty mug. "Or I was, anyway. I wonder if took a wrong turn somewhere? ...Oh well, I might not be doing it 'properly' anymore, but it's the same thing in the end, don't you think? We're still turning up the mysteries of the past and putting them in their places."
Josie stares thoughtfully at Penelope and her saltshaker, her attention flicking over to Ragnell after a moment. "And normally she's so talkative, too!"
Someone else might have tried to stop Ragnell. The saltshaker goes sliding away, several inches along the rough tabletop. Penelope trots after it as if she were hunting down the man who killed her pa.
Josie can't help it -- she breaks out laughing.
It's official -- judging from that kick the pigeon gives the saltshaker, it's a fair bet that Penelope has /definitely/ decided that the saltshaker must be destroyed. Saltshaker delenda est.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It's pretty unlikely to Ragnell that Edna would've bothered to introduce herself--she's just that kind of person--but she doesn't contradict Josie on this point. Vin and Catenna, though... Vin she thinks she might've seen before somewhere. Maybe on the cover of a one-gella novel? More importantly, Baskar shamans? Ragnell's never heard the term before, but she smiles along with Josie all the same, seeing her joking for what it is. "Maybe so," she agrees with a sage, faux-serious nod.
"Nothin' wrong with endin' up with a new-ish direction in life. Get too complacent and you start to take what you got for granted," Ragnell remarks. "And what's 'proper,' anyhow?" She shrugs one-armed. She sure doesn't know. "Anyway maybe Penelope's just too lovestruck with that saltshaker."
She moves the shaker. Penelope pursues it with a bloody-mindedness that might remind one that birds are descended from dinosaurs.
Ragnell bursts out laughing too. She's a real lover of pranks, and seeing this pigeon get so serious about a saltshaker stirs her sense of mischief something fierce. Would Ragnell really mess with a pigeon, though?
Hahahaha yeah Ragnell would /absolutely/ mess with a pigeon.
Picking up the saltshaker with three fingers, the Lightning Seraph begins to bob it in a wide circle around Penelope, keeping /just/ out of reach whenever she attempts to pick at it with the fury of an ancient god. "WoooOOOOoooo~~" Ragnell coos, adding spooky ghostly noises for sport... and entirely for Josie's benefit. Penefit. Penelofit.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Exactly! I spent way too long doing the same thing, anyway. That's one of the reasons I came out here." Apparently, Josie is not a native of this part of Filgaia? "Anyway, it doesn't really matter as long as the job gets done." And a little extra money certainly doesn't hurt matters...
Josie rests a hand against her cheek, all mock-dismay for the moment. "Gosh, I hope not. I'm not ready to be the mother of the bride."
It's like shooting fish in a barrel. To be honest? Josie's a little annoyed at Penelope anyway for the business in the caves -- not that there's anything she can do about that now -- so it's just karma in action as far as she's concerned.
Plus it's just plain funny.
For a moment, we'll move the scene to the vantage point of any number of the nearby occupied tables. Most people are too busy chatting or boozing it up, but for those who happen to glance this way...
1) There is a floating saltshaker, hovering around erratically like a thing possessed.
2) There is a black and white pigeon hopping and fluttering its wings as it desperately attempts to peck or claw the wayward bit of culinary seasoning container that wobbles about in the air.
3) There is a tall woman seated alone at the table, laughing.
One man promptly spits his beer across his table, partially spraying a companion.
Josephine has since wrapped one arm across her stomach, doubled over, and wipes at her eyes with the gloved fingers of her left hand.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Hmmmm... Practical sort, aren't ya," Ragnell observes. No particular approval or disapproval in her tone; it is what it is, and that's all. She does note the implication that she's not from these parts, though, and asks, "What part o' Filgaia you from, then?" Unless she actually is from the area, in which case she guesses Josie will correct her. She laughs, though, when Josie makes her joke about Penelope and the saltshaker--and returns the favor in spades by trolling the /hell/ out of this murderous pigeon, weaving the shaker around her head until either Penelope gets worn out and/or bored, or until Ragnell does.
With Josie laughing so hard she's crying, and those in the bar who're paying attention looking at her like she's gone absolutely nuts or maybe they have since there's a saltshaker floating around in midair, Ragnell is not likely to get bored very soon. Especially since she throws in little tosses of the shaker to sprinkle salt on Penelope's head and possibly enrage her further.
Besides: that was a *superb* spittake.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Better than impractical. Though, my teacher would have said the opposite." Smiling a touch blandly, Josephine shrugs exaggeratedly. "Me? I'm from the other side of Ignas. I'm really only a few months fresh out of Aveh. How about you?"
Penelope does not tire.
Penelope is relentless.
If anything, those little shakes of salt -- right onto her head and her fabulous crest -- seem to only infuriate the bird further. Her swipes and attempts to batter the hell out of the saltshaker grow wilder.
Normally, Penelope is a pacifist (yes, it's astonishing).
But this is no normal situation--!
At this rate, they're going to call in the exorcists. Or whatever it is they have around these parts.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Don't really have a place I call 'home,'" Ragnell replies. "I'm a wanderer--go where the winds take me, keep ahead o' the storms. It's a good life, if you like that kind of thing." She grins. "Fortunately for me, I do. I been hangin' around this region lately, since it seems like there's lots of interestin' things goin' on, but I 'spect I'll move on eventually."
Meanwhile: that is one insatiable bird. If she were to become a Hellion, the world would truly quake in fear. After all, if a pacifist is capable of this--!
Yet, Ragnell continues to underestimate her, thinking her just a bird, secure in the thought that either Penelope can't see her or is too dumb or focused to care about anything about the shaker.
Her grip slips the slightest bit, and the shaker swings down; for an instant, it is in reach.
Vengeance??
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"A bit of a Drifter yourself, huh?" Josie tilts her head to one side, regarding Ragnell for a moment or three. "Well, I can respect that. An archaeologist's life isn't too different." She pauses. "Especially these days!" She picks up her empty mug, and tilts it towards Ragnell as if in a mixture of salute and toast. "Well, here's to good days ahead, then!"
In all her years, Josephine has never seen Penelope this riled up. Not even once.
It's too funny.
This is it. This is do or die. If Ragnell looks at the bird, she might see the light shining fiercely in Penelope's usually dull pigeon eyes. This is the moment--
Penelope launches herself off the table, for one glorious moment ascending in full splendor. A few feathers even drop, for good measure. She rises like an angel, above the treacherous saltshaker...
And she descends, tumbling downwards as she's been trained, one terrible talon angled slightly /off/ from the space where the shaker technically occupies.
Does she see--?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"By nature, really," Ragnell replies with a half-shrug. Wind Seraphim are more prone to roaming than other types of Seraphim, but Lightning Seraphim do their fair share too. Of course, they can also settle down if they please... Not unlike humans, it really depends on the individual. After all, there was a certain Earth Seraph who /loved/ to travel anywhere and everywhere he could go.
Not that Ragnell ever met him personally. But she's heard about him.
"I can just imagine," she says wryly. "Gotta go where the findin's are hot, huh? The past just keeps poppin' up every which where, too, right when you least expect it." She lifts her empty mug, undeterred by the lack of booze. "Cheers!"
Penelope pounces, and it's a thing of beauty. White and black feathers fall as she rises up, in her veins the song of destruction lilting into the ether. Ragnell blinks, surprised despite herself at the ferocity in the bird's eyes. For all her years, she's never seen a normal bird with a look like that--
And then Penelope rakes her talon down, down, right down on Ragnell's glove. It's not enough to hurt, it didn't pierce through the fabric (such as it is when it's Seraph clothing), but it *does* startle Ragnell into dropping the shaker back onto the table, where it clatters and spins half a turn.
It is completely defenseless.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie smiles, lopsidedly. "Don't I know it." Empty for the both of them, huh?
Well, that's never stopped Josie yet.
Once again tonight, there might be a reminder of just what birds /really/ are.
Clever girl.
The saltshaker clatters against the table, spraying a bit of salt in a semi-circle as it gives one final spin.
Penelope lays into it, kicking the absolute /shit/ out of the saltshaker as she vents her frustrations. Josie has to scootch backwards with due haste, the chair screeching against the flooring as she does so, as the bird practically punts the saltshaker right off the table.
Whereupon the lid pops off and it spills its guts onto the floor, bleeding its last.
The space around this part of the bar has grown oddly quiet.
From her vantage point on the edge of the table, Penelope stares down balefully at it.
Josie just lifts her eyebrows, then looks up at Ragnell. She shrugs, grinning.
Standing up after a moment or two, she reaches over to pick Penelope up, transferring the bird -- who squirms a little -- to her shoulder. "Anyway, all else aside... I'd love to stay and chat some more, but I probably should get going. You know, before she decides to go on a rampage or something? That's not the only saltshaker in here."
She's noticed some weird looks for sure this way, besides. And a few other odd behaviors as well.
"Besides," she laments, "I can't afford to sit here and drink /all/ night. I should get going so I can make good on those bounties tomorrow. Maybe I'll see you around sometime?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell *stares* as Penelope absolutely REAMS into the shaker with the furious, mighty kicks of a pigeon's true wrath. She probably should get out of the target area too, but there's a look of fascination on her handsome features as the bird kicks the shaker right off the table, then peers down it in in open birdy disdain as the pop tops off and its guts spill on the floor.
The evil is vanquished. ...perhaps.
"Well, that's what I call as/salt/ and battery," Ragnell remarks casually. Then she meets Josie's eyes and grins back.
Ragnell waves a hand from side to side. "No worries. After a show like that, you probably don't wanna stick around too much longer anyway." She winks, then jerks her head to indicate the many, many stares she's now getting. It's at least not the /entire/ bar, but... it's enough. "Sure thing. See you 'round, Josie." She grins at her companion and winks at her. "Easy there, Penelope. You got yours today."
And with that, she'll saunter on out of the bar. If Josie's observant enough, she might notice that none of the stares follow her. ...then again, Josie's the one with the killer pigeon.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
That was a terrible pun. So naturally, Josie giggles at it.
"Yeah, no kidding..."
That had been essentially the other thought on Josie's mind -- that she didn't want to suddenly get a bill for the saltshaker or something. Which, as nonchalantly as she can, she kicks under the table. Nobody saw nothing.
Well, except for the part where they probably /did/, but... details.
Speaking of details...
Josie watches as Ragnell leaves. Slightly, she tilts her head to the side.
...Funny, that.
Not that she dwells on it -- she's going to get out before she gets any weird questions, herself.