2017-05-21: A Tale of Many Swords
- Log: A Tale of Many Swords
- Cast: Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: Adlehyde
- Date: 21st May 2017
- Summary: Riesenlied and Elly meet while the winged Drifter accrues her new sword, whereupon she is posited with the ultimate question: Why not just carry more?
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is having a busy end-of-day, after freshly parting with Lily Keil -- despite her left shoulder injury constantly nagging at her, there were still belongings that she had to deposit, a sword to replenish, and... other such menial end-of-day tasks. The winged woman, draped in a cloak that had a rather exotic appearance with tassled hems, was moving at a rather clipped pace through Adlehyde -- first, she stopped by the Adventurers' Guild to drop off the artifacts that she'd acquired from the Golem's Tomb with a certain archaeologist and professor that she knew, then it was off to the armory to procure a replacement for what looks like a singed, broken side-sword... and there's even a stop at a bakery for some bread.
A... kind of mundane list of tasks for a person of interest -- where does our intrepid Elhaym decide to intercept in her surveillance?!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Riesenlied is first spotted by Elhaym van Houten as she drops off several bags of laundry at a wet-wash service well out of the way of the normal flow of Gebler intelligence patterns. It is a little large, but not too large, for a young woman and her uncle(?) who might have been saving up dirty laundry for a grand festival. But nobody wants stinky drawers for an Exhibition.
Of course, then she saw Riesenlied, and also saw her vanish into the armory.
Elly takes about five minutes to consider what to do. She briefly considers fabricating an excuse or a dropped purse that she could use as a moment for conversation, but this is impractical, and she's not sure how long she's going to be in there and
That's why the door into the armory swings open.
With force! It swings shut behind Elly, who is, of course, in local garb. The heat of the place is oddly familiar, as is the smell in the air. "E-excuse me," she begins, before faltering out completely.
She'll turn over her mental engine in a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
CLANG! CLANG!
The heavyset blacksmith, wearing no shirt save for a thoroughly dirtied leather apron covered in soot and workpants, grunts as the door swings open. "Welcome," he grunts, and turns back to his work where he's in the midst of sharpening a rather ordinary sword of thin make -- a side-sword, with a wire guard and a lengthened ricasso. "Just finishin' up on Miss Riese's bad habit here. You lookin' for a custom build, or one off the shelf?"
Indeed, the shelves are full of weaponry that are probably... far too crude for the likes of Elhaym van Houten, some of Gebler's finest. Why bother with a sword or an axe or a mace when you can just shoot someone with an ARM or use Ether or some other modern means, right?
Riese raises her eyebrows and has a sad little smile. "I do keep you in business, though... hello there," she greets warmly. She doesn't... look like she really belongs in here either, with her fine cloak and clothes underneath. A medium-length skirt, along with filigreed leggings that are reinforced ontop with light plates of armour.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I - I don't know," Elly says, looking around at all the medieval equipment. Her face heats up, not just from the forge. She looks towards Riese, and immediately says, "I'm sorry," because of course she does.
Finally, she continues. "I've been... I'm looking for something to protect myself with," she says, presumably for the blacksmith but also for Riesenlied. "I almost got into a bandit attack, during a local expedition... I'm concerned the next time, it won't be a question of 'almost.'"
"What would you suggest, ah - Miss Riese?"
Build rapport, Elly tells herself. If you make THEM do YOU a small figure, you trick them into thinking they must already think well of you.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's eyes cast over Elly's for a moment, trying to size up whether she's truly someone who doesn't know what they're doing and just wanted a sharp object to protect them with or if there's more. She... pauses for a moment longer, before smiling softly and saying, "What is your name? I'm sorry to hear that you were nearly attacked... I understand your desire for self-protection, but I want to ensure you don't walk out with something that could just as likely hurt you."
The winged woman's poise is confident, but genteel; she speaks with the kind of practiced and caring tone of an instructor, perhaps, someone who's invested in looking after the well being of those she looks after.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
There may be more...
But what is it?
Nonetheless, her soft blue eyes have no hostility in them.
"Oh. I'm Elly..." Probably not the first Elly Riesenlied has met. She smiles again, weakly. "And - is that really likely? I don't... I mean, I thought the only way you could hurt yourself is from tripping on them, or something like that." She folds her hands together, but not tightly.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"It might not be apparent, but with many of these weapons, improper handling in a stressful situation won't achieve what you want," Riesenlied speaks as she gestures to several of the axes, the swords. "And of course, the best method to self-defence is to evacuate to safety as soon as it is possible. Fight only as your last resort."
She inspects the shelves, and then takes out a telescoping rod with a small metal sphere at the end. "This... should be suitable for your needs, if I had to guess. Have you had any fighting experience, Miss Elly? The rod does not look like much, but it can deliver sufficient force to incapacitate or stun, and can even..." She folds the rod inwards, "... be concealed, lightweight, and is easy to carry."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly nods along with this, slowly. And then she says, mostly to herself, "Safety... That can be hard to find."
Isn't that the truth. The rod is drawn out and Elly seems momentarily astonished, actually recoiling just enough that if Riesenlied is looking right at her, she can see it. "Oh! I - Goodness - What IS that? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before in my life! What's it - You said it was a rod? But it's... It's going like a spyglass would!"
Smooth moves, Ex-Lax. Elly does reach out for it, inwardly cursing in horror. Try to remember all the rookie mistakes you made, Elly tells herself.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Ah, this is a new kind of telescoping rod," Riesenlied explains very gently. "It's got a locking mechanism..." she shows Elly slowly, where she twists it gently to get it to lock, "So that you can fold it in when it isn't in use. And also a button..."
She brandishes it to the side, where the rod slides out into full form along with the press. Riesenlied looks at Elly for a moment further, then offers the rod to her. "But even with a weapon like this, practice is paramount."
A slightly curious girl, Riesenlied thinks, but she doesn't seem to think there's anything odd about her. She's seen people, and Elly doesn't register as some kind of horrible secret skydweller to her.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Who lost this and who let the Lambs duplicate it, Elly thinks as she studies it. When Riesenlied brandishes it, Elly jumps again - this time not quite honestly. "Oh. So there isn't... Well."
She laughs weakly, and takes a deep breath and lets it out.
"This may sound a little strange, but... I don't have a lot of time to train, Miss Riese. Is there anything that I could use without having to... I mean," Elly stammers, "I could take weeks or months to get able to safely to use this, from what you're saying..."
She turns the rod over in her hands and snaps it out, then back in. She did THAT much easily - but she was paying attention. "I have another expedition tomorrow."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied watches Elly again, but then looks towards the racks and admits, "I am not certain if there is, and if there is such a thing... I am not certain I'd want it to exist either." Her smile turns just a little sadder as she says, "It takes months of training and effort just to hurt someone, and it never makes you feel better. If it were even easier and easier... I cannot see that being a good thing for the world..."
She pauses, before blinking to say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was lost in my thoughts for a moment. You said you had an expedition...? Do you not have any bodyguards or hired protectors, Miss Elly?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Oh -"
Stop saying Oh, Elly thinks to herself. Oh Oh Oh, you sound like that Song Struggle winner from last year.
"I ran out of money to hire a full guard retinue," Elly admits, embarrassed. "I've mostly been joining other groups and trying to take my observations along the way or on the way back. I'm kind of worried that I'm ending up a burden on them..."
"Can I admit something to you?" Elly then asks, glancing towards the blacksmith for a moment. Leaning in a little as if to speak in conspiracy, "For what it costs to hire a bodyguard or two, once or twice, I thought I could get one of those ARMs."
She pauses then, as if to watch for reaction.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied tilts her head and watches Elly for a moment, before closing her eyes. "An ARM..." She drapes her hands to her opposing elbows, kind of hugging her for a moment. "Indeed, you possibly could. And even the crudest of gunsmoke ARMs are merely that -- point and shoot." ARMs certainly are becoming more fashionable as a choice of self-protection, without having to go through the training of mind and body... or at least, it seems that way on the surface.
"Certainly... it is an option," Riese admits. "Where do you find yourself headed, Miss Elly? I know of a few reliable friends who are keen of the Ruins, and they may be able to offer you a fair price for their services -- better than the typical lout you find around here..."
There's a final clang resounding through the workshop. "Here," the blacksmith grunts. "That makes seven now. Improved the ricasso a bit, just forged the damn thing through the handle instead of stamping it like usual. But from what y'tellin' me, ain't no way a sword'll stand up to a lightning bolt like that. Or when you deflect bullets with it. Or when you clash it against some damn behemoth's incisors--"
"I-- already apologised," Riese says, still looking just a little amiable. "And yours are the best weapons I find here in Adlehyde. Does that not count for something?"
"Guess so. Y'd be best headed down to Lacour if you want somethin' fine, but... the crazy antics you're pullin' off, you sound like you want something no regular blacksmith can make for ya."
"I often ask the impossible..." Riese answers as she takes the rapier-like sword up, patting it for a moment as if affectionate to it. "Thank you." She pays for a bit of gella for his services, then turns to Elly again. Come to think of it, the way she moves, she's not really putting any strain on her left side at all -- she's moving a little stiffly and awkwardly. Is she injured? [OOC] Elhaym van Houten says, "ok, moral victory over zed achieved"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I'll probably be going out towards the ruin site near Sult tomorrow, or the next day if the weather's bad," Elly says. "Do you really? I'd love to meet them..."
But then: Sword. "Oh - Gosh," Elly says, eyes widening. "You must - I'm sorry to waste your time, from the sound of it you're a real combat expert...!" The attention goes back up to Riesenlied's face, this time innocently, without any guile.
"Are you also here," she asks, "for the Exhibition?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Sult...?" Riesenlied has a very gentle frown, as she thinks of it. She bites her lip. "Do be careful. I have seen military deployments around that site... please be on your guard when you venture out there." She can't exactly divulge the nature of Garlyle, but she doesn't feel like she can necessarily warn her away either.
"Ah--" Riese looks just a bit embarrassed, and the blacksmith interjects, "If she were a real expert, she'd stop pulling off stupid stunts and just fight properly!"
Riesenlied sighs and nods. "I'm afraid he's correct. I go out of my way to..." A pause. "Well, let us just say I'd rather not see anyone be permanently injured. I am here for the Exhibition, yes, though I am pursuing other leads as well... I came from the far east, from Elru, originally." [OOC] Riesenlied says, "it is ok!"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"If she's able to survive stunts like that, and succeed besides, she really must be something else," Elly says without guile. She nods once slightly, and then says, faltering, "I'll be careful."
LATER
If Elly had known they were Garlyle this would've been way easier. Oh well.
HERE AGAIN NOW
"Oh - I haven't ever met anyone from Elru," Elly says. "Well, that's not quite true, but the one person I met from Elru left there when she was very young." She shifts herself, seeming more comfortable, even as she carefully and decisively puts the collapsing rod /down/. No compromising her cover HERE.
Nope. "So you fight with the flat of your blade? I remember reading a novel about someone who did that..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied glances to the rod again, before nodding gently towards the blacksmith with a wave as she begins to head out, assuming that Elly will follow her. It... didn't look like she was going to purchase anything anyway, and from what she was whispering, it seemed more likely she was going with an ARM. "Sometimes," Riesenlied admits. "I often have to mix in pommel strikes and unarmed manuevers as well. The blade's thinness, however, is a boon when it comes to disabling ARMs and their mechanisms... especially with Gunsmoke makes, there's often large gaps that can be exploited in order to safely unravel the firing mechanism."
She places her hand to her cheek. "Elru is... a land that has seen so much hardship lately..." A pause, as she sighs. "It is a harsh land full of snowstorms and unrelenting weather. But I love it regardless. I have seen it suffer so... and I wish to see it recover one day."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly asks a question that may have its own insights. "Why don't you get some kind of... I don't know what to call it. Something more like that rod you were showing me?" she says, even after she considers the rest of what Riesenlied is saying.
And her eyes slowly widen. "You mean -- you get your sword INSIDE of their weapons and disable them?!" She is trying to keep her jaw from hanging slack. This has taken her mind ENTIRELY away from Elru. "Oh my goodness-- Oh, but we shouldn't crowd the store--"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"It's true," Riesenlied looks behind her for a moment and departs out towards the streets where the sun is just about to set. She squints for a moment, before looking back. "I should perhaps carry a weapon like that -- it's a bad force of habit after using such a weapon for so long..."
She blinks a few times. "Ah, yes, that would be the other advantage. This side sword's tip is fine enough that I can typically fit it between the seams of most Gunsmoke makes -- they haven't yet cottoned on to military models that apply a folded seam, or a whole-body forge."
She places her hands to her cheek. "It is a minor blessing that those are the cheapest, because the bandits that tend to go for such ARMs only do so because they are desperate... Filgaia is not the most kind world. Plenty of them tend to see the error of their ways and return to their families."
The winged woman points to a nearby bakery with a smile. "I was about to fetch dinner, would you like to join me, Miss Elly, or do you have other appointments...?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly seems to have been recovering from the idea of the use of these swords in such a way. She purses her lips, as if weighing things, and says finally, "Then... I see... You have to get it repaired like that... But..."
An idea's floating in her head but it's not coming up. "Um," she states them, the question of Filgaia's cruelty having rolled off her back. "Oh! The bakery... I don't have any plans, and I did go a little light with lunch. I'd be glad to join you, Miss Riese."
SOON
Elly gets a cup of tea and some avocado toast, like a millenial. "What you said, it made me think of something... I'm sorry, it's just my um, my studies, I sometimes have my thoughts run ahead of me."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied appears to have bought quite a bit more food with her -- though she appears to not have been touching most of it. She's nipping on a cinnamon roll and a cup of her own tea as they speak, with a large basket of bread rolls uneaten and set to one side. "What I said...?" Riese muses. "Which part did you mean, Miss Elly?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"About the sword," Elly says, sounding embarrassed. Looking embarrassed too.
I shouldn't do this. She might be an enemy, Elly thinks.
"If you ah - if you don't mind me butting in..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied tilts her head and looks very much not like an adorable metal demon commander and tainted dragon as she nips at her cinnamon roll in a way some dark circles ardently whisper as 'semi-chibi'. "Mmm...?" She looks towards her fresh new sword again and says, "I don't mind, please ask?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Well..."
"If you use that technique a lot, wouldn't it be more efficient to get a half-dozen swords of cheap metal, and to expect some of them to break?" Elly asks.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied pauses, like she never thought about that. Dither. Dither. Her horns... actually wiggle up and down in thought. Are they horns? Or are they ears?
"M-maybe..." Riesenlied muses. "It would be rather heavy, though, but I have given the thought of carrying extra swords some thought, given that I have not found a reliable blade as of yet... I heard that Lacour makes fine weapons, but I have not had the fortune of being able to speak to a blacksmith myself."
She smiles. "Still, that is not a bad idea. Thank you, Miss Elly."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly's cheeks are slightly red now. "It's no problem. Usually I just study geology..."
She does look at the horns for long moments. So, she thinks, is she -
Those horns - if they're like a sheep - then she -
She actually, for real and for true, is a -
Elly giggles, out of nowhere, a brief squeak. Coughing, she says, "I hope you'll get the chance! What attracted you about the Exhibition?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied places her hands to her chest for a moment. "I... well--" There is a longer pause. "I suppose I came here to see how people would react to it. That often describes what I enjoy about cities... seeing people, as they go about their days... but I am curious. There are a great many dangerous weapons and artifacts of the past there. How will people react to those, I wonder?" She can't help but glance away. "I do hope that they aren't used in yet another war... the Kislev and Aveh war has claimed enough, over the many decades."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"So you came all this way," Elly says with a slight laugh, "just to watch the people...? But there are people everywhere..."
Almost everywhere.
"But... I agree, though. I don't like to think about what those Golems were fighting."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"The legends say they fought Metal Dragons and Demons, in an all-consuming war that tore this planet apart..." Riesenlied muses. A shake of her head. "What a sordid state of affairs... perhaps it would be better if neither of those things existed, now would it?"
There's no small amount of self-loathing in that face. Not at all.
Riesenlied looks lightly embarrassed, however. "W-well, I admit that people and their reactions are a great many fascinations to me. Watching -- watching little moments unfold, whether it's a mother buying her child a little gift of bread or a wooden toy, the way couples catch up at the square, the way someone pauses and recollects a song a bard is singing... ..."
She shakes her head. "I really am... rather strange, aren't I."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Ah," Elly says in a small voice.
She doesn't have more to say than that.
"Oh - That sounds adorable - no, I completely understand," Elly says with a nod. "And it even makes sense to travel to do it. Everything's different here than from Meria Boule, and I really enjoy all the little differences. Even if I don't like the - um - in the streets."
The horses.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied cups at her cheek again, saying, "Meria Boule? I have not gone that far west, I'm afraid... I would love to go one day. Perhaps after the exhibition, I will do that... I'd certainly like to see you again, Miss Elly." She glances outside again and sips the rest of her tea, before scooping up the basket of bread. "I've got to make my rounds and deliver these. They can get so very hungry, hehe..."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I'd like that too. Hopefully not before too long," says Elly, heedless of the grim irony present in this statement.
Then she smiles. "Oh - who are you delivering it to?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied smiles faintly and says, "Oh, there... I have noticed that there are a number of orphans down at Cook Street. I've taken to feeding them with the spare gella I procure during my digs..." Her eyes cast down very gently for a moment, knowing that what she's doing here may very well be even more cruel given what's to come. "It isn't much, but... the little nurture I can give them gives me some hope."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I'm sure they appreciate it too!" Elly thinks with a laugh.
What a wonderful person, Elly thinks.
Then she thinks: I wish I was as good of a person as that. Her eyes turn to her plate, and she sips her tea.