2017-05-17: Demons, Golems and Malevolence, Oh My
- Log: Demons, Golems and Malevolence, Oh My
- Cast:Lily Keil Noah Hawthorne
- Where: The Parched Parchment Bookstore, Adlehyde
- Date: 05-20-2017
- Summary: Two people looking into two different mysteries decide that two heads might be better than one.
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
The last few days have been busy for one Noah Hawthorne. He's found himself swept up in events beyond the purview of his usual routine, and circumstances have dictated that he take a more active role in them than anticipated: witness, the clutch of hand-written missives sticking out of his back pocket like a fan of parchment, all of them marked with the seal of the Guild.
They don't have his attention presently, though. That dubious honor belongs to an overburdened shelf of well-worn books in the Parched Parchment bookstore, a tiny hole-in-the-wall establishment in Adlehyde with a dusty front window, a cozy interior, a friendly proprietor, and a reputation for occasionally stocking unusual or hard-to-find volumes long since out of print.
Finding them, though -- that's the challenge. The shelves are not ordered according to author, title, subject matter, date of printing/scribing, or any other system of organization, unless according to some obscure set of laws known only to the middle-aged woman behind the front counter.
The book splayed in one of Noah's hands, being carefully paged through, is a treatise on the long-lost Elw civilization, rife with theories. There are diagrams. The text is very, very dry.
He looks fascinated, nevertheless.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily Keil has been occupied recently herself, having returned to town from yet another job as a Drifter recently. That itself is part of her routine by now, and now she has to resume something that was interrupted for a while.
Maybe she doesn't have to, but she certainly feels she does; the ache in her arm says that much.
So the front door of the Parched Parchment bookstore opens and in strides a severe woman in a great deal of black, her gloved hand falling to her side as she looks about through the bookstore. This means...
She spots the seal of the Guild on the man standing there. She frowns lightly looking at the spines on the books.
"..." She keeps frowning, but shakes her head. Boots click against the floor as she steps not far from Noah to start scanning titles more closely.
They could at least be organized.
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
Footsteps draw a brief glance, albeit not until after she passes him and begins the arduous process of trying to find something specific in a bookstore that rejects common sense. He times that glance to coincide with the moment she frowns, and the corner of his mouth quirks.
When he opens his mouth he's looking at his book again, but he's very clearly addressing her, his voice pitched to a volume not suited to carry to anyone else. "I think she does it on purpose." He has an accent, but it's virtually impossible to place...a blend of many different accents, rather than any discernible one. "Mixes them up. By the time you get tired of looking for what you came to find, you've seen ten other things that look interesting, and you walk out with more books than you wanted."
The sound of the page he turns is loud in the silence. He pivots slowly, leans back against that weighty shelf in spite of his stature, almost as though daring it to collapse. "Did you know," he asks, conversationally, "That the recent find in the desert, Lolithia's Tomb, is an Elw ruin? Golems. Dormant Golems, but completely intact."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Frowning comes naturally to Lily's face; it's easy, her expression somewhat less than friendly even at rest. She barely bothers to look at him as she stars looking, just keeping him in her peripheral vision... in case.
But he speaks up, and she turns her golden eyes his way with only a slight shift of her head. An eyebrow lifts at the suggestion. He does keep her attention better than the books in front of her for the moment though. Her expression doesn't change except to shift to neutral, which is itself a level stare.
"I didn't," Lily answers, finally speaking up. Her own accent is unmistakably Kislevan, as clear as anything, but also low and quiet. "I'd heard of the Golems found." But not that it was connected to the Elw, or... well, maybe not to the rest of it at all.
"...That's an irritating plan. But good for business."
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
"Mmhm. And that Golems, although they turned the tide of the war with the Metal Demons, had this really unfortunate flaw -- definitely a design oversight. They didn't have any in-built way to determine who was friendly, and who it was they were supposed to be fighting. They just did whatever they were told, as long as the person doing the telling had the command phrase to activate them. Well -- I say 'phrase,' but really, it could be anything. Some trigger, anyway."
He studies the book in his hand for a few more moments, then snaps it neatly closed by folding his hand, slanting glittering hazel eyes toward the woman with the golden set.
"Yeah, well. Miriam is in the business of making gella and not friends, I suppose. And she does get her hands on the good stuff, from time to time." After a pause, his head tilts over to one side. "Looking for something specific?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily keeps looking at Noah through the explanation on the Golems in question, fingers at her side curling just a little bit. All the way until Noah closes the book with his hand, and only then does Lily glance over at the shelf again, though she's really looking through it more than at it.
She looks back as he speaks up again.
"Fair enough," Lily answers. "...Do you know how complex the orders for such a Golem could be? What sort of tactics could you use?" She pauses. "I'm researching folklore. Hidden monsters, lurking corruptions... Like what happened in Port Timney. Finding it in history isn't much easier."
"Do you have a lot of interest in Golems?"
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
Noah bands his arms loosely across his chest, the book still held in one of his hands. Paired with his lean, it makes for a relaxed sort of posture, one foot crossing the other, boot toe loosely propped against the ground. "Nobody really knows. There isn't a lot of information left from that period -- most of it got destroyed during the Day of Collapse or in the chaos immediately afterward. It could be a phrase. It could also be a signal. A pre-set condition. Impossible to say."
One of his brows slides upward when she mentions Port Timney. "I went into the Hollows. I was at Lahan, too. I've never run across anything in historical record that sounded like what I saw. That's not to say it isn't possible, but..." Into the pause, he shrugs broad shoulders. "It sure was new to me. Any luck with that?"
For now he has no answer for her about his interest in Golems -- possibly he prefers to ask his own question first.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
There is little relaxed about Lily's posture; straight, military even, hands down at her sides with one resting on her well-worn satchel. She isn't wearing an ARM. But she is listening attentively. "...That's what I've found," she answers with a breath. "Nothing useful."
"I was at the invasion of Port Timney. I went into the the Hollow twice looking for answers, but Lahan not until after. It was entirely new to me."
"...And I've had no luck. I'm not even finding stories about such things, let alone historical accounts. Even the facts are unmistakable; if you ask someone what happened, they might or might not be able to detect anything unusual."
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
Noah, by contrast, is openly wearing a pair of ARMs, but they're so much a part of his daily attire that he doesn't pay them the least bit of attention.
"There's every possibility that it's something new. Most signs seem to point that way. Interestingly, though," he adds, a musing drawl that sends his brow creeping upward, "It wasn't new to everyone. There was a meeting at the Inn in Timney just before Lahan. Some kid people are calling the Shepherd was explaining all about the stuff. I followed he and his entourage to Lahan, which is how I wound up there when everything went sideways. But that's quite a thing, don't you think? Not a trace of historical mention of this stuff, and that kid still knows enough about it to insist he can purify it." His smile is closed-lipped and tight, but sharply wry, and his eyes glitter. "Makes you wonder. If I were you and I wanted to find out whatever I could, he's the one I'd track down. Maybe find out how he knows about it in the first place? I'd planned to do that myself, but..." One of his arms unfolds temporarily to pat himself on the ass. No -- on the stack of missives tucked into his back pocket. Phew.
"Things came up."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Of course he is.
Lily considers, as he mentions what's interesting, and then she nods along. She doesn't interrupt, doesn't smile back, but aboe all doesn't look surprised.
Things came up.
"...Things tend to come up for me, too. He was there, at the invasion, working his purifying, trying to stop tings without killing them. At the time I didn't see anything unusual except for the results. He's something... But I don't really trust him."
"But the idea that it's just new here..." She's thoughtful, frowning. "Mm. Speaking of things, what's your interest in Golems?"
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
But the idea that it's just new here...
Noah's lips quirk, knowing amusement written in the expression. "Is startling? Improbable? Ominous? ...Difficult to believe?" He hoists his shoulders again, a lazy shrug. "Once upon a time, the Metal Demons were something completely new, too. It's always possible. Then again, with how many times Filgaia's lost its historical records due to conflict or catastrophe...who can say."
He wasn't actually intending to dodge her question, so when he pivots to slot the book about the Elw back onto the shelf he begins to do that. "They're going to display the ones they found at the Exhibition. And there are these rumors, you see, that something might happen, at this Exhibition. Just rumors. No telling whether or not they're true. But I saw that notice about the find, and the Exhibition, and I was already on account of a friend of mine looking into things to see if there might not be some /plot/ afoot..." This time when he turns to face her he slides his hands into his pockets. "Well, it just seemed like it might be a good idea to learn what there was to learn."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily shakes her head. "Hard to believe, maybe. It makes sense as a theory, but I'll have to confirm a few other things before I believe it for myself." She pauses, and mutters, "I'm a medic, not a priestess."
At that though she glances to the book, glances back to the man nearby, and watches through without interruption. Something might happen...
"Oh, there are plots afoot, as you put it. ...That's quite the turn of phrase. Aveh is acting in the region through Garlyle forces, as well as Gebler. So there's more than fodder for these rumors." Her Kislevan accent is even more obvious as she pronounces Aveh a bit more strongly than is necessary.
"That's a smart idea. I hope for the sake of the people that you're wrong about that Golem."
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
"Mmhm. I came here from Aveh. Maybe..." Green-and-gold-brown eyes tick briefly upward, calculating. "Hell. A month ago, maybe. Little less. All of this war business makes it difficult for a man to get around." He keeps his humor subdued, but it's certainly there. Evading blockades had been necessary, but he's clearly come through it no worse for the wear.
"Anyway, listen. It sounds like you're looking into things I'm interested in, and, eh. I've been around. I know Kislev when I hear it. You're a long way from friendly territory, tiger-eyes." He reaches around behind himself as he leans up off of the bookshelf, retrieves a scrap of paper and pivots to place it on one of the shelves. The fountain pen comes from someplace in the bandolier cross-slung over his chest, and he uses it to scrawl the name and address of his current hotel. "You don't /have/ to take me up on this, but why don't you get in touch with me if you find out more about this Malevolence business? I could return the favor...once I satisfy myself about this other business."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Noah gets an up-and-down when he mentions from Aveh, but Lily seems to be satisfied with whatever she finds. His joke about war actually gets a quick rush of air from her nostrils, about as close to a laugh as she's likely to get. "Of course it does," she agrees.
Her arms finally cross as she hears the start of something like a deal, her posture tipping back slightly as she shifts her footing. Only slightly though; she's a tall woman, but not as tall as Noah.
"Tiger-eyes?" she repeats, looking down at the little paper and back to him. "...Kislev Army," she confirms. "Combat medic."
Lily sets out a hand, for the paper. "There's a lot to tell. And I'm interested in hearing about this other business."
"One thing. What's your name? Mine is Keil. Lily Keil."
<Pose Tracker> Noah Hawthorne has posed.
Tiger eyes? she asks. His lips quirk. "Like the stone."
That's all the explanation she gets, though. When she holds her hand out he considers giving it a shake, but opts, given her body language, to just put the folded piece of paper into it instead. Her involvement in the war as any kind of soldier fails to elicit any visible response, so his investment in it appears limited to its interference with his own travel plans and whims -- unless he's just very good at hiding something. Then again, he hasn't asked her for any of her information, only given her his, so if he's someone undercover he's dreadfully bad at it.
"Noah Hawthorne. I do a little of everything, but I guess if you want to go digging around in a hole in the ground or figure out what some stuffy old language says, I'm probably the guy you want to see."
There's a brief, polite pause, then he taps the missives again, and thumbs over his shoulder. "I've got to get back to it, Lily Keil, but but I feel like this was a good thing, me running into you like this. I'm sure I'll hear from you again."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily waits for the punchline, if there's going to be a punchline, when he says it's like the stone. Her chin dips down like it's on a cog that went down a tooth. "...All right," she allows, and shakes her head.
The paper goes into her hand, which is the right call for getting along with her at the moment. She watches his body language, checks for any problems with the obvious parts of her story, and finds none. That's not conclusive--she's not that good--but it'll do for now.
"Good to meet you," she says back evenly, and it almost sounds in her voice like it might be. She's still thinking about it.
"By all means, don't let me keep you from your work. I'm going to see if I can evade Miriam's book trap." Beat, "Sure, expect it."