2017-07-31: Rumor-chasing
- Log: Rumor-chasing
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Jacqueline Barber
- Where: Academy City of Linga
- Date: July 31st 2017
- Summary: Josie searches for rumors and other scraps of news in Linga, and has a surpise but not unwelcome conversation with Jacqueline.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Linga: city of scholars. For the western half of Ignas (and possibly all of Ignas, considering the breadth of knowledge studied here), this is the hub of learning. Information on just about anything can be found out this way, assuming one has enough time, money, or patience. And knows who to ask.
And who has the right answers.
Linga is also -- as always -- an ever so slightly awkward city for Josie to be in.
Though admittedly, she's used to it and knows how to handle it by now.
"The Lovelace? You're his daughter? Man, Professor Hopper never says his name without swearing!"
The student she's speaking to, standing on the streets outside of one of the lecture halls is a little... overeager.
As for Josephine, her expression has gone curiously blank, her lips pressed thin.
"I bet," she says, simply.
"And Doctor Mercuri--"
Here Josie just interrupts, waving her left hand through the air in a loose gesture. "Hey, kid, while I appreciate your enthusiasm and all... I think I asked you about something else."
The student blinks, staring at her. "Oh, yeah. ...Never heard of it!"
And Josie just... sighs.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline had her own reasons for coming to Linga. She had a journey ahead of her, after all, and there were things she needed to know before heading out. She had to make a good impression as leader, after all.
She's managed to get her hands on a few books, one way or another. These are carried in one arm as she strolls through the streets of Linga, looking very much like someone on a mission.
She pauses, however, as she overhears a conversation nearby. Ordinarily she would continue on without a second thought, but one of the voices is definitely...
Familiar.
She veers off of her original pathway, stopping a short distance from the lecture hall as a certain woman tries to get a straight answer out of an eager student who appears to be a poor listener.
She waits for the two of them to finish before announcing her presence.
"Ah, Josie, good to see you! I didn't expect to find you here." Jacqueline greets with a smile. She doesn't really spare a glance for the student.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It happens, honestly; perhaps more often than Josie would prefer when she's happened to be in Linga, but them's the breaks. At least it's easier with the professors, they're just happy to have the chance to turn 'Lovelace's daughter' to their side.
The Marze-Linga rivalry endures, decades on.
In the meantime, Josie's just largely aggreived that this has been a waste of time. Folding her arms over her chest, she stares the rather-clueless-looking student down, trying to think of what even to say. "So, I don't suppose you know anyone who has heard of--"
A familiar voice calls out.
"Jay?"
And Josie looks down again at the kid (who is arguably probably around 18-19, but that's still 'a kid' in her book) and says, "You know what, kid? Don't worry about it. I'll work something out. See you." And with that, she just ups and leaves him behind, heading over to Jay.
"Long time no see. How have you been doing, Jay?"
A rustling in a nearby tree announces the emergence of a familiar pigeon, swooping down from above to land...
Well, on Josie's head this time, it seems. In spite of the situation, Josie grins. "Looks like someone else wanted to say hi, too."
From on high, Penelope stares down at Jaqueline, dark eyes glittering in the light.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
When Josie calls back to her, Jacqueline offers her a wave. It seemed like Josie was almost glad to have an excuse to get out of that conversation.
"Oh, I'm doing well, thank you. Much better than last time, at least." Jacqueline replies with a slight chuckle. The last time they met, the both of them had been recovering from horrible injuries they had received.
...So, really, there was nowhere to go from there but up.
The rustling catches her attention, and her eyes follow Penelope as she swoops out of the tree and onto Josie's head. The pigeon receives a wave as well.
"Ah, Penelope. Hello!" She greets, then returns her attention to Josie.
"...How about yourself? Are you looking for something?" She asks. She was curious, she couldn't help it.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
At that point?
Quite possibly, yes.
Much better than last time, indeed. Jay's not the only one who laughs. "You're telling me," Josie says, shrugging her shoulders. "You look like you're doing better." The absence of major injuries will do that to a person.
And then Penelope interposes herself into the conversation. "I do kind of wish you wouldn't sit up there, though," she informs the pigeon, tilting her head slightly to the right as if to give the bird a little incentive to hop off.
Penelope remains resolute.
"...Well then."
With that, Josie reaches up and plucks the bird free. Sadly a few locks come loose in the process from Josie's braided bun, but these are the prices one must pay for freedom from tyranny. Or a pigeon on the head. Maybe it's the same thing.
Penelope, predictably, squirms in apparent irritation in Josie's grip.
"Just this and that, asking about a few rumors I've heard circulating, you know. Though, technically, I should be hitting the road soon. How about you? Have you heard anything interesting lately?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Oh yes, thank you. So do you, as a matter of fact! I have expert care to thank for that." Jacqueline replies with a nod, and another glance upward toward Penelope.
She might possibly be chuckling again as Penelope refuses to leave and Josie has to just pluck her from her head. She certainly seemed to be quite the handful.
Jacqueline was still curious, but she doesn't press the topic further. Instead, she nods.
"Oh, yes. I've been in Lacour for the Tournament of Arms, promoting my business. There've been a few...interesting occurrences, but I imagine you've heard all about those by now." She replies. Who hadn't heard about the Quarter Knight assaulting the arena, or that mysterious man and his Gear interrupting the finals?
"More importantly, I started a new merchant group with some friends of mine! After my store got wrecked, I was kind of needing a way to jump back into business...so that's a big help."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Between Lily and everyone, yeah, we did sort of luck out there..." To be honest, Josie's not even one hundred percent positive she'd still be alive without the girl's help, but...
Well, for better or worse, she's always had her own sort of lucky streak.
It had even barely scarred, which is more than she could say for other injuries.
"Oh yeah, the Tournament of Arms..." Josie nods, a touch vaguely, before stooping to set down her struggling bird on the path. "I heard a few things. Something about an interruption after the final match?" She's been. Sort of traveling up and down the Silver Coast the last week or so and has only started heading west again about two days before, which means that what she's heard about the finale match has been scattered and a little bit garbled.
At least she already knows about the sudden appearance of a Quarter Knight, so there's that victory for the old Ignas rumor mill.
"Oh yeah? How's that been going? You sold some pretty good stuff, so it's a shame about the store. Glad to hear you're getting back up on your feet." Josie pauses. "...You wouldn't happen to be selling any of that salve, would you?"
She ran out about a month and change ago.
Down at ground level, Penelope begins to closely inspect Jay's boots.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline nods in agreement. If it wasn't for the treatment she'd received...well, things would've been a lot different, definitely.
As for the finals...
"Yeah...some lunatic on a Gear showed up, preaching about 'Power'...if that wasn't bad enough, he did something...strange...and two of the competitors showed up and started attacking people. Myself and a few others managed to prevent them from seriously hurting anyone, but it really threw everything off..." She explains.
"It was supposed to be Lunata's big day, too..." She mutters, a hint of anger creeping into her voice. She manages to shake it away, though, as conversation turns to her store.
"Oh, it's been going quite well. Advertising during the Tournament certainly helped...and sponsoring two of the competitors didn't hurt, either." She replies. It'd definitely given her business a bit of a boost, that was for sure. "We're planning on taking it on the road...though we'll have to see whether or not they're letting anyone through the border...particularly anyone in our particular...situation."
As she speaks, she begins rummaging through her bags.
"The burn salve, right? I should have some right...here." She punctuates her statement by drawing a bottle of said salve from her bag.
While she doesn't draw attention to it, she does notice Penelope eyeing her boots. She's ready to take a quick step away if she decides to go for her laces.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Some madman with a Gear, huh..." Josie breathes out a long slow breath. "Guess that explains why some of the kids around here were talking about a 'giant' or a 'golem' at the tournament, huh? Seems like everything in Ignas is going crazy these days. Hmm, I wonder..."
Her gaze averts briefly, attention fixed somewhere in the middle distance. When you're an archaeologist, perhaps you get a clearer window than most. Filgaia doesn't have a pleasant past.
And it seems, no matter where one looks, an unpleasant future.
"Lunata?"
Her attention returns to Jay. "Wait, did that girl win the tournament?" She smiles, a little lopsidedly. "Fengalon's teeth. Not bad. Not bad at all." Looks like that little waitress is going to do alright in the wastes after all, if she keeps this up.
"Heh heh. Pretty savvy of you." Josie winks. "Keep that up, and you'll own shops across Ignas, at least. Everyone's going to want to come to the shop sponsoring competitors... especially if they win a few matches."
Though there is one liiittle problem, and it's essentially the same issue Josie's facing. "Yeah... good luck, okay?"
And in Jay's case -- particularly with a caravan involved -- busting through might not be a good idea.
And as Jay demonstrates that she does, indeed, have a bottle on hand, Josie exhales a long breath. "You're a life-saver, Jay. How much are you selling it for?" As much as she'd like to try to finagle for a discount, she...
Just has this feeling that she might as well just pay the market price and deal with it.
The bird does indeed attempt to go for the laces. Jay hopefully is quick on her feet, or she might suffer the indignity of an untied shoelace.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Oh, well...there was a golem they might've been talking about, apart from that... You met Shalune, right? Or...at least saw her? Well...she's been traveling with a golem. 'Big Shal', she calls it." Jacqueline replies with a slight chuckle.
There's a look of pride on her face after that, and she nods.
"She did! I'm so proud of her, for seeing it through like that. It wasn't her choice, but...she pulled it off." She says. She was as excited as if she'd won it herself, really.
She chuckles again as Josie compliments her mercantile savvy.
"Well, I figured that if I was going to be there for my friends, I might as well make some coin out of it. As for the salve, that'll be..." Jacqueline wouldn't have minded if Josie tried to haggle - it was an ordinary part of the business, after all - but on the whole her prices tended to be reasonable, anyway. It's a little cheaper than usual, actually, since she had a tendency to mark things down a bit for her friends.
While this is going on, she carefully manages to avoid Penelope's attempts on her shoelace. Fortunately for her, she did tend to be rather agile.
"Yeah, whatever your plans are, good luck to you, as well." She says with a nod, a smile...and a quick movement to the side, to avoid losing her laces.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Ohh, yeah. I know the one. The..." Josie gestures, vaguely, as if to suggest at Big Shal's general shape and height. "That one." She hasn't gotten to get a real close look at it, but it's admittedly a little hard to miss. "And here, I was thinking they mixed up Gears with Golems or something..."
The point where she learns that Lily (and Leon, by extension) were involved in all that will also mark the point where she gets a little bit cross, but that bridge has yet to be met, let alone passed over.
Shoulders rise and fall in a shallow shrug.
Wasn't her choice. That's... interesting, actually. "Well, good for her for trying anyway," the archaeologist affirms, bobbing her head in a slight nod. "So, what's she asking for? I think the winner gets a boon or something..."
Josie waves a hand through the air, as if to dismiss Jacqueline's humility. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with trying to earn some money, you know? You've gotta eat at the end of the day. It's the whole reason I became a Drifter, you know -- archaeology alone doesn't pay off your bills." She shrugs here, as if lamenting the decision.
But really, there's not that much to lament.
It's not the bite Josie had thought it might be. Thank goodness for small favors. She still has enough to cover travel expenses, too, but her most recently-gained funds are dwindling which... she's not sure to blame on herself or on Jude.
Still, supplies are essential. She hands over the appropriate coin.
Penelope picks this moment well and lunges--
And it's a miss! Today, Jacqueline gets to keep her shoelaces tied.
Spotting the disturbance and putting two and two together, Josie pockets the salve and then stoops to pick up the (now once again flailing) bird. Cradling the pigeon in the crook of one arm, she dips her head in a shallow nod. "Same to you. If I don't see you soon, maybe we'll cross paths out west somewhere, someday. Assuming the damn blockade gets out of the way." She briefly grins. "Let's just say there's some ruins calling my name."
Well, more than a few, these days.
"I should probably get going. Speaking of ruins, I've got a date with the Singing Ruins... Take care, Jay. Good business!"
With that, she'll start heading off.
Unhappy pigeon tucked under her arm and everything.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline nods in confirmation. Yes, Big Shal was a hard one to forget.
"She hasn't decided yet. She has plenty of time, at least, since they seem to still be recovering from everything that happened...if they even get around to it. Knowing Lunata, though, she'd be alright even without all that attention." She replies.
"That's true...we have to take care of ourselves, after all." She agrees with a nod.
Jacqueline accepts the gella from Josie, then glances down toward Penelope with a chuckle as she goes to collect her.
"I'm sure we will, Josie! Trust me - you'll know us when you see us." She replies with a nod.
The Singing Ruins, huh...?
"Good luck. Rujm el-Hiri is no joke...but I'm sure you've done your research. Hopefully you find something interesting!" With that, she waves farewell and turns to walk away with one last chuckle at Penelope's predicament.