2017-05-10: Coming Storms

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  • Log: Coming Storms
  • Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Rosaline Calice
  • Where: Port Timney
  • Date: May 10th 2017
  • Summary: Briefly stopping back in Port Timney, Josie crosses paths with a familiar nun. A bit of information gets exchanged.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

A storm's a'coming, as they say... out somewhere, probably. There's just that general feeling in the air down near the docks. Coupled with the change in color of the sky out near the horizon, where the sun's started to dip low, something's going to happen soon.

Just not yet.

Josephine Lovelace leans heavily against a nearby wall, cigarette dangling from her fingertips as she stares upwards at the sky. Sure does look like rain. Even her hand aches more than usual. Near her feet, a pigeon of a different color than the other birds -- loosely milling together in a flock on the opposite side of the street -- pecks gamely at the bits of earth between the stones in the road.

Every so often Penelope manages to find something good, too.

She should probably get a move on, but it's nice to do nothing now and then.

In the end, 'going hunting' hadn't been as fruitful as she'd hoped. No more answers -- other than a sense of what she /ought/ to be asking -- and not much cash to show for it either. Ah, well. It's the thought that counts. Maybe it's time to get /on with it/.

Taking a long drag, Josie pushes herself away from the wall. "Hey, you find anything good? Or are you still poking around, too?" she inquires of her pigeon. If Penelope hears it, she doesn't show any sign, instead pecking away at a cobblestone.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"I should probably find a shelter," Rosaline tells herself out loud, as she looks up to the sky. It's not even that cloudy yet, but she can feel it in the wind.

And as a catwoman, she hates to sound cliché, but... she doesn't like the rain very much!

Her ears twitch as she hears a voice. She turns towards its source. There's a person, leaning there, and no one else visible. Was that woman talking to her? Oh no... There isn't anyone else there, so that had to be it, right?

"I haven't really... found anything," Rosaline answers, approaching Josephine, frantically trying to place the woman. The nun is used to people recognizing her but not necessarily the reverse. She stands out a lot, after all. But she could swear she heard that voice somewhere, so maybe this isn't actually an awkward misunderstanding, for once!

It is, but not the kind she thinks.

"O-Oh. It's /you/," she says, stopping in her tracks.

She stares at Josephine, expression almost blank but still quietly judgmental. Her fists are closed and her tail sways impatiently, but she otherwise remains immobile. She seems to be waiting for something.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Getting back to the inn or somewhere'd probably be a good plan, at some point.

It's just that the innkeeper doesn't really approve of Drifters smelling up the place with tobacco. Maybe if she gets really lucky she'll run into someone she knows, too. It'd be nice to talk to someone she knows again after days on the road.

"Hm?" Cigarette still between her lips, Josie peels away from the wall a touch.

Someone's there?

Josie pushes herself away from the wall entirely, finally taking her cigarette in hand again.

That's quite the stare the nun's giving her. Josie glances down at herself. Glances up.

She grins, brightly. "It sure is me! I even checked to be sure."

Her right hand plants on her hip, and still smiling pleasantly, she gazes down at the beastwoman nun. "Hey, you seem familiar, though. Have we met?" A beat. Josie's smile shifts into a pensive frown. "...Wait, don't tell me. Did I betray you brutally years back and now you're here to get your revenge~?" The lilt in her voice gives her away. So does the fact that Josie really can't keep a straight face. She breaks out into a brief bark of laughter before the slight smile returns.

"Just kidding! So, what's on your mind, sister?" ...Does she really not remember?

Penelope ambles meanwhile, nonchalantly.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline maintains her stare for a moment, even as Josie jokes in answer to her. At 'Have we met?' however, her shoulders slump down. She really doesn't remember. She continues to joke, and cheerfully, too.

Should Rosaline press the issue? She immediately looks away, embarassed. "N-No, nevermind... It's nothing important."

Her eyes catch Penelope and the Pigeons nearby. She stares at them too. Her pupils narrow. Her tail swishes.

She abruptly returns her attention to Josephine. "I was just wondering... You were there when the Hellions attacked, weren't you?"

Rosaline is fairly certain that was her, but it helps to be sure... And besides, putting it that way might jog that smoking woman's memory.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

The street pigeons are nervous.

Penelope proceeds towards the lot of them, as if she were a queen striding down a promenade. The black-and-white pigeon seems completely unaware of the beastwoman's rapt attention.

This sister seems like something's eating her, Josie considers, taking in the scene. And it's probably not just the pigeons nearby.

"Hellions, Hellions... is that what they're calling 'strange twisted animals' these days?" Josie asks, after taking another drag. Smoke curls lazily up in the too-still air, which she watches idly for a moment. "Hey, that's pretty useful information. I owe you one."

There is a pause, where Josie drops the cigarette at last, and grinds it under one heel as she advances towards Rosaline. "Sure was. You were the sister I bumped into back then, too, right?"

Wait, did she know--

Josie extends a hand, her left.

She wants to shake...?

"Josephine. Josephine Lovelace. Archaeologist, Drifter, whatever you want to call it! And what should I call you?"

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline nods hesitantly at the 'strange twisted animals'. That's... not quite correct, but she doesn't immediately clarify.

It's not that she's against cheerfulness, but that it's what she's getting has a special way of making her feel small and petty. But then /again/, Rosaline feeling terrible about herself is not much of a deviation from the norm. And so, maybe it's okay?

She seems vaguely glad to see the cigarette gone, but doesn't comment on it. Her ears perk up. Oh, so she does remember.

A hand is extended. Rosaline reaches for it, more hesitantly. She is gloved in thick fabric, or maybe she just has big hands.

"Rosaline Calice, Etone-in-Training." She can't help but put a little pride in her voice at this one. "Were you... wondering about those animals? I heard a few things I don't mind sharing." And a few she does mind sharing, but no reason to mention those.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Josie, as it turns out, has a firm handshake.

Somewhere, off to the right and back of where Josie stands, the flock of pigeons abruptly scatters, taking flight. Only Penelope remains, coming to a halt on the corner. "--Penelope, that's not how to make friends!" Josie calls out, twisting at the waist while still holding Rosaline's hand. The black-and-white pigeon, this time, turns her head to regard Josie. And Rosaline.

"--And nice to meet you, Sister Calice! That's Penelope. Penelope, this is Sister Rosaline Calice," Josie patiently explains, finally letting go of Rosaline. "You can call me Josie, by the way. And don't worry about her," she continues, waving a hand towards the bird. Who is just... standing there. Vaguely ominously. "She's not much good at conversation."

Apparently Josie also is the type to laugh at her own stupid jokes. Especially the joke that she /keeps telling/ and isn't even remotely funny to start with.

"Do you know anything about them? I ran into a few," a lot, "but I don't know all that much. Even a hunting trip didn't turn up much." Mostly because she largely didn't /find/ any. "How about a trade? I'll tell you something good I found, and you can tell me more about those creatures." She extends her hand again, palm up. "Deal?"

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline seems a bit confused when Josephine speaks to a Penelope when there seems to be nobody there-- But oh, oh, now she sees. This is cute!

"Hello, Penelope," she tells the pigeon with a small smile. She doesn't mind being friends with a bird, apparently.

"A little," she says, softly.

She looks at the palm-up hand, puzzled. Hesitantly, she extends her own hand and presses her own palm down on Josie's... then quickly retracts it, as if she were about to spring a terrible trap!

But no, it seems fine. "Deal," she says, before crouching to sit against the wall Josephine was just leaning on. "What did you find?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Penelope, don't just stand therrrre," Josie says, dragging out the final syllable.

Penelope, naturally, just stands there. Josie glances sidelong at the pigeon, her shoulders drooping. "Guess she's going to be like that today. She's a handful, honestly..." she laments, to Rosaline. Only to straighten, all irrepressible cheer once again, all in the span of a few heartbeats. "But, enough about her -- if we cater to her, we'll be waiting all day."

Just a little?

"Hey, a little's more than I got. A little's fine," Josie affirms. "What do you know?"

The only trap sprung here is the trap of a deal made. Or, rather, it'd be more of an affirmation of a deal if they weren't both wearing gloves, but what can you do.

"Wellll, okay. I guess I'll start." Moving to get out of the road -- and gesturing towards the pigeon vigorously, in defiance of her earlier pledge to ignore Penelope -- Josie moves off towards the wall as well. "I went down into those caves, and I found some reports. The ones I found all had to do with 'Lahan'. That's the village that was destroyed a few months back, or so I heard."

She gestures, vaguely, as she talks. "I'd guess, based on the notes that were included, that it was mostly written by one person -- it's the same handwriting, anyway. There's nothing too exciting, but whoever left those papers down there's been watching things in Lahan for a while now. They even have some local news clippings..."

Out of nowhere, Penelope takes flight, finally alighting on Josie's shoulder. Josie is briefly taken aback, glancing over at the bird.

"So, that's what I know. Either this Lahan place's tied in, or someone nosy 'just happened' to leave their notes down there." She grins, briefly. "I don't really believe in coincidence, you know?"

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline watches Penelope as she takes flight and rests on Josie's shoulder. She likes birds. Not to eat, of course not. They often carry disease, after all.

"Me neither," Rosaline answers, regarding coincidences. "Everything happens for a reason." Like their meeting, maybe?

"I see, though," she says, looking ahead. "This is interesting. It confirms what my group found in the caves." It seems they missed each other. "This mess seems to start in Lahan. We'll likely be going there soon to investigate." Surely nothing terrible will happen there.

"I guess this means I don't have much to tell you," she says, her ears drooping. "Though there is more. It seems the animals are possessed by a magical force called Malevolence. I... don't know where it comes from..." She did hear something, but it's still so hard to believe.

She shakes her head. "But I was told I should speak to a man named Sorey. He was there too, when they attacked." And whatever he did, it worked to great effect. "I heard a story about him that sounded far-fetched... but whether it's true or not, I think it might be worth hearing him out. I was actually looking for him."

"Oh!" Her ears perk back up as she remembers. "And one of my friends pointed out an armored figure to me, called K.K. I... don't know what that stands for, I'm sorry." Krazy Kultist? A Valmar cultist would make sense. "But it seems they're connected to this mess somehow."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"That's a good way to look at it," Josie comments, nodding as if in agreement. "Most things work themselves out in the long run."

Perhaps even just barely missed each other. "Interesting, you also found some of the papers? Guess someone was pretty busy taking notes down there," she comments, smiling wryly. "I guess all fingers are pointing to Lahan, at this point, huh..." If anything, Josie sounds just a wee bit disappointed.

Then again, a little bit for a little bit is probably fair as anything.

This actually causes her nigh-omnipresent smile to fade. "Possessed..." Josie furrows her brow. "Malevolence... Hm... Something /did/ feel strange down there, in the caves." She glances over at Penelope, a faint glint of worry in her dark eyes. "She didn't like it down there one bit. I've never heard of anything like that before, though." Not even in any of the countless arcane theory lectures when she was a kid.

"Sorey, is it. Hmm. I wonder who that was?" In the end, though, she shrugs, palms tilted up towards the darkening skies overhead. "Well, let me know if you hear anything else, okay? You can drop me a message via the cube, or whatever works. I'll probably head out towards Lahan myself in a day or two."

Penelope, perched on Josie's shoulder, fluffs her crest feathers slightly as Rosaline perks up. "--You got something else? ...K.K., huh... Well, I'll keep an eye out for armored figures, alright?" She's since begun to smile again, if slightly. "That's a pretty interesting name."

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"Not quite papers," Rosaline says with a shake of her head. "We found creature carcasses that had been experimented on and, well... that was the region of origin we narrowed them down to." She sounds uneasy. It was probably a gruesome sight.

She nods at the suggestion of a Memory Cube message. "That's a good idea. Let's stay in touch. Maybe we can travel there together, too."

She smiles at the bird. Aw. "Interesting is one thing to call it, yes. I need to ask my friend more about them when I get the chance."

She looks up, seeing the clouds gathering still. Any minute now. "Well, I should head off too." She rises, preparing to head in the opposite direction. "May the light of Granas light your path."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Carcasses, huh..."

That's quite a good deal darker than what she came across. Even someone as experienced as the archaeologist has to lift a brow at that one. "That probably took some doing... Fengalon's teeth," she mutters, shaking her head. "All I found were some notes on military movements and the like." She lifts both eyebrows and exhales a breath, as if still somewhat in disbelief over it all.

"We'll see how it goes. I wanted to check in with a few people in town here before I headed out." Leon or Lily are probably still around -- she should follow up. Especially now that she's got a little more information to trade out. Names /and/ a location. Things are already improving significantly.

"Well--"

Josie glances up again. "...We should get going, huh? Looks like this one's going to be a heck of a storm, too."

The wind's already starting to pick up, though there's no sign of rain. Yet.

"See you around, maybe?" There's a pause. "Same, I guess? Fengalon be at your back, and all that." It's... not the most devout of farewells.

But Josie's never been particularly good at devout at the best of times.