2017-07-13: Uninvited Guest

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  • Log: Uninvited Guest
  • Cast: Lily Keil, Leon Albus, Josephine Lovelace
  • Where: Lacour - Adventurer's Guild Headquarters
  • Date: July 13th 2017
  • Summary: Josie drops in on Leon and Lily while they're finishing up dinner and tells them both what she's learned about Gryndille.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Evening has settled over Lacour, the spectacle of the Tournament still bright and loud at the Coliseum. Nevertheless there are people in the city proper, even if most prefer to watch the fights if they can. Not everyone has that luxury, however, and some prefer not anyway.

But there have been matches, and there will be more matches. Now the city has more people because it's time for dinner.

Here, in the Grande Lacour, a private room off of the main dining area is set up with fine appointments, chairs and a table. It is terribly comfortable... But no one here paid for it. No, it was not given them for money, nor fortune, nor favors.

The simple truth is that Lily Keil's glaring was scaring some of the staff and patience, and had been more and more over the days she's spent staying here without leaving. So eventually someone thought of a solution, and they were offered this room.

Lily accepted before there was time for discussion. Now she is seated at the table, with a meal before her and a drink beside her. Cider, this time. The meal... Well, it's the same as Leon's.

She wasn't mostly glaring. That's just her face. Mostly.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon is here, too, of course.

He has a beer -- a Kislevi import, the way he likes it -- that goes with his steak, potato, and a bowl of some fruit that has been spiced. He hasn't minded the perks of Lily glaring at the staff, because it got them a nice room like this. He decides that he will take it. And thus, he sits here, seated at the table and sitting next to Lily.

He takes a long pull from the mug of beer. Then, he glances sideways at Lily for a moment. "What do you think?" he asks. "I didn't expect a room as nice as this in Lacour."

He didn't mind that they also didn't need to pay extra for it. That made the relative luxury that much more palatable.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"So there you are!"

Josie, techically, wasn't invited to dinner, but that's not actually a problem.

For her, anyway.

At least she's apparently sans-Penelope, that would just be unsanitary and the staff might actually try to make her leave the dining area.

Truth be told, she just came here to check in on Lily and, well...

By chance, or more likely, by asking the staff about 'Miss Keil', she'd been told exactly where to go.

So yeah, she's just interrupted dinner.

Dark eyes linger on Lily for a moment. Then, in silence, Josie nods. "You're looking better, kiddo." And then her gaze slides towards Leon. "...I'm not interrupting your date, am I?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Leon would be here. Lily lifts her glass to her lips and lets herself taste the slightly-sour apple, setting it down with her gloved hand. Tonight she is in red, not all black, her hair all the way back and her bandages still visible. Leon in particular has had a chance to see the change in her as she gains piece by piece her vitality back.

And he can see her cutting up her steak, having already frozen her glass (and Leon's if he chose) to chill her drink. She is not touching Leon, but she is, in private, quietly happy. Sideways she looks back at Leon, "I didn't either. I think I like it."

Feeling like herself also means speaking less. She starts to say something else all the same, but then she hears Josie's voice, and looks only slowly towards her. Dinner is most deinitely interrupted.

But Lily's brighter eyes close as she dips her head. Not for long. "I feel better. I--" She asks, and Lily looks startled, looking once at Josie and then at Leon. "I..." She trails off, finding nothing to fill that space.

"Is she, Leon? I wouldn't mind..." Lily actually smiles, giving Leon a look of total adoration that might seem entirely out of place on the practical young woman.

It fades shortly as she shakes her head, looking at Josie and not quite managing to ask her question.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon stands up when Josie walks in, because he is ultimately someone from the upper class of Kislevi society who thinks of himself as a gentleman. But, he sits back down quickly enough. His glass is frozen -- his finger prints can be seen in the frost, where they dragged down. He looks at Lily, then he shakes his head once, before he looks back to Josephine.

"No, you aren't," he says. "It has been too long, Josie. I see you're doing well for yourself. And that you survived Adlehyde."

He thought -- hoped? -- she would. But the last time they spoke feels a world away, now. He looks at Lily for a moment, smiling back, and then looks at Josie. He motions to one of the open chairs at the table.

...One of several open chairs.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"That's good. I figured you'd be up on your feet in no time -- you heal quickly." She says it casually enough -- it certainly doesn't sound like she means anything Other by it. But the other two people in this room should know exactly what she's referring to.

Done causing Lily some brief discomfort, she turns her attention to Leon, grinning briefly. What a gentleman. "It's been a long time!" She waves a hand through the air. "Things happened, it's not a problem. You know how it is."

Adlehyde and its aftermath, getting impaled by some guy, making plans for an attempt to bust through a military blockade.

The usual.

Between them, they seem to come to a consensus about her staying. "Great! That's good, I've been meaning to chat with the both of you anyway."

There a lot of open chairs in here. Josie raises an eyebrow and she finally looks around at the sideroom.

"So, who did you blackmail for this room? Or did you guys score a big job when I wasn't looking?"

She still sits herself down anyway, pulling back a seat.

"...I guess this is no smoking, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily didn't think to stand; once she had those manners drilled into her, and she still remembers them. She can get away with it because she is a lady, not a gentleman, and because Josie probably wouldn't care even if she noticed.

But that's not really what embarrasses her. Leon shakes his head at her with that look, and she glances away immediately, remaining very quiet through the initial greetings. It's only after a few moments that she looks at Josie again.

"I wanted to talk to you again, too. ...Also I do." A glance to Leon, an back to Josie. "Oh she survived, an became a pain in my neck. I mentioned some of what she's been up to," Lily reminds Leon, as she takes a drink and goes back to normal.

Well, mostly.

Lily lifts a hand. "Apparently, I frighten the staff and patrons," she answers, shaking her head as if the entire thing is ridiculous. "I'd have turned it down if this wasn't the most comfortable dinner setting I've had in ages."

"I don't have any idea," Lily answers Josie. "But hold off for now, I'll join you if we eat first. The server will be back soon enough."

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Mm. A lot has happened," Leon says, halfway to an agreement. Then, he glances at Lily. He smiles, for a moment, before he nods. He sips his beer and lets Lily explain that she has scared the staff into giving them a nice, private dining room. He doesn't mind in the slightest.

The rich who stay here, he thinks, could do with a little fear in their lives.

"I doubt they care," Leon says. His fingers drum idly on the table at the mention of smoking. It reminds him of his pipe -- the one left in the barracks in Nortune, and quite likely now thrown in the rubbish heap. He keeps the sigh out of his voice.

He liked that pipe.

"What did you want to speak with us about?" he asks. He pauses. "The... matter we last spoke of in Adlehyde?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"'Pain in the neck? Like you're one to talk, kiddo," Josie grouses, good-naturedly. "I was considering asking Bart to tie you down or something..."

Apparently Lily scares the staff and the patrons.

Josie does her damned best not to laugh. She's not likely to succeed perfectly, though.

So it isn't against the rules? "In that case..." There's a short interlude here, while she fishes out cigarettes and lighter. "A cigar would be better, but we make do. ...I didn't know you smoked, though, kiddo. Well, if either of you want a light... I'll warn you though, these were cheap."

In other words, they're not good cigarettes.

Cigarette lit, she leans back.

"Yeah." Josie nods. "That's the one." She takes a drag, gaze somewhere ahead of her as she apparently considers something in silence. "Gryndille. ...They'd heard of it up in Linga, but there's not much to say. Versus what you told me, anyway." Smoke trails up from the lit end, tucked between her fingers. "'It's been seen now and then over the last fifteen years, it's destroyed villages', and so on. But..."

Once again she hesitates, before lifting her gaze. "There were some rumors, too. Nothing I can confirm -- just so you know. This is one hundred percent bar talk, so don't get your hopes up too high. But there was a story that it's been heading to the east. This way, perhaps..."

Frowning, she takes another drag.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Leon smiles her way, and Lily takes the opportunity after he stops to sip her chilled cider, more than a sip, and chase away words with a bite of her steak. It's good, much like the cider was, and it allows her to glance, arched eyebrow and all, at Josie as she grouses.

"Of course you were. But you didn't."

Lily shakes her head at even the partial laughter, but relatively good-naturedly, in her stiff way. But Leon mentions he doesn't care, and she considers his pipe, too.

She's not done with food, of course. The interlude comes, and Lily says, "I was in the Army; I've had plenty of cheap cigarettes."

A beat, "You didn't know because I never mentioned it, and I don't do it all the time. Thank you." If Josie even starts to offer it Lily says, "I really don't need th lighter."

Soon Lily takes a drag of her own, and breathing smoke only makes her look more inimidating.

But that matter...

Between two fingers, Lily's cigarette smokes upward. "Mm. Knowing..." Josie hesitates, and mntions her rumors. She wathescarefully. East...

"That's..." She stares into nothing, and smokes again. She loses words in thought, in memory of when she last fought Gryndille, the ache that went down lower than her bones, the pain that scythed through muscles and the pain of her body, too. She remembers, and one would not be entirely wrong if they thought she was pushing back fear.

She smokes in silence.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Fifteen years... did they ever see it before then? I've never heard of it appearing before then."

Leon didn't ask for a cigarette -- but nor does he seem to mind smoking. Lily would know why. The former soldier frowns, drumming his fingers on the table. His eyes wander to his side, to where Lily is, like she could give him an answer. She can't.

Not about this.

So, he looks back to Josie, and he considers that for a moment. Gryndille was said to be coming to the east. Towards Adlehyde and Lacour, after they had seen so much trouble. But, it is not the trouble that the automaton could cause.

His eyes narrow a moment, and he looks dangerous then. The calculating commander of a team of commandos, rather than a calm gentleman Drifter. Leon leans forward, a little.

"...And this was recent talk?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"...Heh heh. Guess army life will get you used to anything, huh?" She pauses. "I kind of figured you might not need it."

If Josie could light a cigarette without a lighter, she'd do that one too. As it stands, her own magical talents are -- in this case alone -- a little too messy to try lighting anything with, even if it's theoretically possible.

Using a jolt of electrical force that way though is just as likely to blow a hole in the roof.

Leon, meanwhile, neither accepts or denies her offer, so...

She's feeling generous. She'll hand one his way -- with her right hand, if a bit stiffly.

"...Seems like they didn't. The first time they'd heard of it being seen was about then," Josie says, gesturing with her own lit cigarette. "Of course, that just means that's the first time the greybeards there heard of it. If it were active somewhere else earlier... or if it left no survivors until recently..."

She smiles, unhappily. "It doesn't really help, does it?"

A pale eyebrow lifts.

This Leon, right now. She's seen him in action before and knows precisely how he can behave, but this is a shade different than even that. Intense after all, huh?

"Yep. At least, back at the time, right before the invasion. These days...?" She shakes her head. "Maybe something's changed."

And then, she's silent, as if an uncomfortable thought occured to her. "...How fast can it move? Do you have any idea?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"It will," Lily answers Josie casually. "But you're right. The first thing I did when I woke up in Hilton was ask Jude for a cigarette." A shake of her head.

But there is a serious talk. Lily knows why Leon didn't ask for the cigarette or mind the smoking, but she doesn't know the answer to his questions. ...And more to the point, Lily cannot answer him as to what to do. They both know what they have to do, but he's the leader. And she's the one...

Lily finds herself thinking of logistics. She doesn't think of Josie's right hand right now, though it is in the back of her mind. "If. It can't confirm anything, but we don't need confirmation for certain. It still helps."

Leon readying himself steadies Lily, and she once again becomes the sharp-eyed second in command of those commandos, riflewoman and secret sorceress and second voice, not an injured Drifter who pushes herself too far on more than she can give.

The black-haired woman considers as well. "That's a good set of data," she points out. "It's worth the gamble to act on, even if we can't find more. But we should have an escape plan prepared."

How fast can it move? "I don't know," Lily admits. "Faster than I could run after it even if I'd wanted to. Probably faster than I could ride after it. We'd have to map sightings for an idea of that."

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"It does," Leon affirms, after Lily says that. "It must be ancient. It looked ancient, when I saw it before. Far more advanced than any Gear I've seen--except, possibly, for Gebler's equipment. But it was differentin style, too."

He nods, then. "This is more than we had before. Thank you, for that, Josie. If it's coming towards us..." An opportunity. A chance to find and confront Gryndille, and perhaps destroy it. His mind already considers -- and dislikes -- the logistics.

They have fewer resources than when they first fought it. He doubts the Yggdrasil, even if Bart was willing to turn everything he had against Gryndille, could handle the automaton. His brow furrows, and then he looks up. He lets Lily speak.

"Fast enough," he says. "It could be in this area already. We'll need to keep an ear to the ground."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Even more advanced than that stuff, huh... You sure know how to pick 'em. Though, I wonder... I was looking over the Rephaim with Lunata and Shalune. I'd say that's the most advanced machinery I've seen yet -- because I couldn't make heads or tails of it!" She smiles brightly if briefly. "Anyway, maybe you two should see if that Gear's more or less like your mechanical monster. I'm not familiar with Gebler's stuff outside that one wrecked Gear we found, just that Lunata's big winged friend is even more complex than that. Compare notes."

Which, speaking of, she's going to have to investigate the ruins that thing came from sometime.

Normally, Josephine is pretty damn optimistic.

Normally.

"...That fast, huh. I wonder if it's going to go through the blockade... that might make life easier." She pauses. "...Briefly," she appends. "I know, I know..." She closes her eyes briefly. "Is it coming after you two, or is this just bad luck?"

Josie falls silent, smoking the cigarette somewhat moodily. "Oh, and Lily." Josie rises after a few moments, before handing something over towards the young ex-soldier that briefly glints in the light. "Careful, it's sharp. Do me a favor?"

It's a piece of glass.

"...Please bury this somewhere deep. Penelope keeps getting her hands on it... well, so to speak."

Perhaps it's best not to ask.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"It looked ancient to me, too. It was like nothing I've ever seen, Gears or not. Even Gebler's equipment didn't compare--I saw its weapons systems in active use." She pauses. "Different... Yes. I've meant to look at Rephaim, but I never had a chance to see Gryndille's inner workings to make a comparison. We'd be casting stones in the dark."

This is more. An opportunity. Lily knows those facts about their resources, about what they can do... But still she intends to go. She's been practicing her magic. Maybe this time...

"While I'm finishing my recovery, most of what I can do is be around here. Maybe I can listen around. Or I can go to rougher places." She had a rule, not to leave. With Gryndille on the table...

Lily takes another puff of her cigarette and looks down at her food, either that or the stress marking her to make the next drag much more of a drag.

"We don't know," Lily says to Josie. "I like your thought about the blockade, though. Still... We don't know what it's trying to do." Lily pauses, and takes this piece of glass in her hand.

"...I could just destroy it," she points out. "My natural element can fairly well obliterate things."

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Mm. The Rephaim is quite advanced," Leon says. It seems he is reasonably familiar with it -- but it is, at times, parked inside of the Yggdrasil's hangar. He has stopped to have a look before. The ex-soldier frowns for a moment, before he nods. "I don't think it is like Gryndille, though. They are... something else."

He looks sideways at Lily, and then he shakes head. "No," he says, "it isn't after us. Not to my knowledge."

If it was, it might have caught up with them and killed them. He frowns, though, at the clink of the glass -- and then he looks down at it when Lily picks it up. "We can handle it. However Lily wants to. But..." He pushes his chair back. "I do have an appointment to keep in the city. Thank you for your work, Josie."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"...Guess that's true. There might be some weapons similarities, but..." Josie shrugs helplessly. "I'd have to get a look at your buddy first for that one, and it's probably a little out of my league, if I'm being honest."

Probably. She won't say she wouldn't take a hammer to it to check out its guts if she could do it and live.

Or possibly not, if she goes by what Leon's saying -- and it sounds like he'd know. "...Damn, that really was a shot in the dark, huh? Well, we can rule out a connection with those two, at least. Older than old..."

Lily says she'll gather some info. "I think travel to Linga should be safe, and you're looking better. ...Or you could check around here. I bet some of the scholars are probably in Lacour at this very minute with the tournaments and all."

The same ones Josie decided to give a miss the second she heard that there were Marze symbologists involved.

"Maybe you should," Josie says, about the glass. "Penelope stabbed me in the ankle with it last night." And that was just sheer nonsense and she's not putting up with it any longer. "Honestly, she got it out of the trash... again."

Leon, meanwhile, stands. "--Got somewhere to be? I'll stick around and keep your girl company, then. Don't worry, I'll make sure no one takes your seat." Waving a hand -- cigarette and all included -- she flashes a grin at Leon as he departs.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily has seen how advanced that Gear is, too. But Leon's answer, "Mm, yeah. I just don't know enough." That's not something she likes to say or hear. Regardless, Lily takes another puff when Leon says it's not after them.

"Buddy, huh?" Lily oesn't approve, but she doesn't say anything about it. "It probably is." Out of Josie's league, that is. Older than old...

"I don't want to risk running into trouble on the road," Lily says. "I need to heal fast, now. That means everything I can."

There's the matter of destroying it, and Lily nods. "That bird... Whatever I say about her she'l probably hear anyway. She's too clever for your own good."

Leon stands, and Lily lifts her eyebrows. "Ah, take care Leon." She slides his plate over in her direction, without even waiting for him to leave.

Josie says she'll keep Lily company, and Lily shakes her head. "It's nice to hear you're so sociable." A pause. "...But I do want the company for the moment."

She watches Leon go, and then lowers her cigarette, which is nearly spent. Her other hand comes up, and ice puts it out, while an aura of darkness consumes it completely. Is there dust? Or is that a trick of the light? Lily picks up the shard in her gloved fingers and crushes it, too. This darkness doesn't carry with it the pall of Malevolence; it's different, empty somehow. It's normal for Lily.

Lily goes back to her meal, but pauses for a moment, and exudes an aura of warmth from her hand for a few long moments. Then she gets to eating. She's prepared to settle into silence... or not. Whichever happens. She isn't quite sure.