2017-07-31: Smell of Opportunity
- Log: 2017-07-31 Smell of Opportunity
- Cast: Rose, Linvidia Diargento
- Where: Lacour - Market District
- Date: 2017-07-31
- Summary: Rose stumbles across Linvidia, intending to prove to Bart she can walk the walk.
==========================<* Lacour - Market District *>========================== The Lacour Market District does not rival that of the major commercial powers of Filgaia in terms of volume or value of trade, but it the class of the world in traditional weapons and protective gear. More than a hundred individual shops line the streets of the district, each bearing its own name, specialties, and branding. Almost any kind of weapon or armour can be found in Lacour, and odds are good that anything innovative will be found here first...or make its way here in short order. The merchants of the Market District are proud and competitive, and walking down the streets is an exercise in patience, as they bombard passersby with litanies in praise of their work and curses for the rust-ridden works of their neighbours. At no time is this competition more fierce than during the Lacour Tournament of Arms; this annual exhibition to name the World's Greatest Fighter includes considerable prestige for the merchants sponsoring their entries, and talented fighters will find their services heavily sought-after. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bqMqHag86c
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
With the tournament coming to a close, the market district of Lacour is finally calming down. Many merchants have already packed and gotten ready to head home, and not just because it's late. The Sparrowfeathers, too, are getting ready to move to their next town, seeing as how the more tourists leave Lacour the less business they have there.
Rose, idly, sits atop an empty table next to the two caravans of the merchant guild, swinging her legs back and forth like a bored child. Behind her, the Sparrowfeathers are hard at work packing goods up, and doing a few last-minute sales for people passing through.
"Uuugh! I still haven't found a permit to get my hands on Gear parts. It's like they don't want merchants doing that stuff," she complains to nobody in particular, although behind here are two people more than willing to take the conversation bait. One, Eguille, the other head of the Sparrowfeathers, giving a gentle shrug as he heaves a crate up. "Can't be helped, missy. Military hardware is hard to come by, and militaries don't like selling their wares to just anyone. They'd probably want to control who we market to," he comments.
"I know, but I told Bart I'd impress him and I intend to!" Rose huffs.
The other man behind her, dressed in black and white, with a black tophat lowered so far down it almost hides his eyes (his hair does that instead) sniffs the air, before speaking up. "I can smell scrap. Someone who works around it a lot. Over there," he says, pointing in the general direction a certain scrapyard queen might come wandering from.
Rose lights up, grinning. "Hey, look at that, you CAN be useful when you want to be, Wind Ghost!"
"Wind Sera-"
"WIND GHOST! Rose, awaaaaaaay!"
Rose hopes off the table and heads in THE DIRECTION.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia Diargento does smell like scrap metal, but it's a subtle thing under the layers of smoke, perfume, the occasional bit of sweat, the remaining fragrance of the white fur coat she is wearing, and a general attitude of being ill tempered and waiting for someone.
She has been walking around with a cigarette in her mouth and a carved ivory stamp in the other. It's one of the ones with an integral ink pads. As Rose approaches her, she can see Linvidia pause, eyeing a bushel of assorted crates and barrels - glance up towards where the location is - and then stamp on the side of that heap of general cargo.
The stamps are in red ink, vivid and eye catching. They all read:
PROP. ISLA DELLORO T.C.
NOT TRASH - NOT SALVAGE
HANDS OFF - NO EXCEPTIONS
"Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself," Linvidia moans, as if asking the gods to give her an answer or send her a sign. Perhaps soon they shall.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Hello hello!" Rose rings out, without hesitation. That happy-go-lucky attitude might be contagious, watch out. She approaches like an old time friend, smiling, waving, though ends up pausing momentarily at Linvidia's assortment of crates and the stamp. Dezel, if all you picked up on is the smell of someone who SHIPS STUFF, Rose is going to make you eat your hat.
He knows it, because the black-clothed Seraph makes his way off, probably to find a high perch to look cool on or something. Either way he wants no part in whatever happens next, good or ill.
"Those sure are some crates you've got! Do you need a hand with them?" Business or not, she's good-natured and loves helping people, so she'd offer anyway. "Or is there someone who's supposed to come pick these up and they've left you behind?"
She doesn't consider for a moment the answer might be 'none of your business, scram'. She'd never get anywhere if she let that scare her.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia wheels on a heel to face -
Rose. There is a moment of intense fiery anger in her face, or was, when she was turning. Now it's passed. She takes the cigarette out of her mouth and exhales irritatedly, one hand on her hip. The irritation does not seem targeted to her.
"You know what," she says eventually, "if you want to make a few Gella, hang around for a minute here. Yes. I'm waiting on someone to pick up these leavings," Linvidia groans, "but I suppose he's managed to lose a burro, or get held up, or get actually held up, or SOME awful thing, AGAIN - do you know how ARDUOUS it is? At least I'm not having to run around, IN HEELS, to secure all these last-minute opportunities."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"A few Gella, huh? Well I'm never one to turn away that kind of opportunity!" Rose answers, still grinning. This day just got better, even if the lady before her can't help with her plea. But let's find out the answer to that question before assuming!
"What's the gentleman's name, and what's he look like? Oh, say, there's something you could do for me instead of part with a part of your purse, if you're up for a trade!"
Rose plops down onto one of the crates, sitting down (making sure not to damage or bump the crate). She stretches, and then introduces herself. "Name's Rose! I'm the head of the Sparrowfeathers Merchant Guild. I've had a client ask me for Gear parts, non-specific, just Gear parts. You know how that song goes, those are hard to get! I'm looking for a supplier, or at least someone who can introduce me to one. I don't suppose you know anyone?"
She sure hopes Dezel's nose was on-point.
Now that she thinks about it, his nose? What the hell, he has supersmell? Why didn't she question that BEFORE? Oh, look, he's gone. Darnit.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"I don't remember," Linvidia says, but then Rose continues and Linvidia looks at her like she grew another head. There's another of those lingeringly insolent drags off the cigarette as Rose sits and explains herself. (The crate contents don't feel fragile or anything. It's a big one."
"Oh - Pleased to meet you," Linvidia says, before she halts.
Eyes narrowing slightly. Leaning in, she says, her voice lowering, "Don't speak so loudly. Listen - Is this a put-on? If someone's pointing you at me, come out and say it." That sounds dangerously like 'yes, I have Gear parts'!
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Nope! Pure chance! I've got a friend who said you kind of smell like you might spend a lot of time around metal, yeah I know it sounds weird, don't ask, and I thought I'd take my chances because I'm really exhausted from looking around! Me, all I can smell is the perfume, but hey." Rose seems honest, maybe honest to a fault, so it's at least that much.
"Why, do you have a referral program? If I point people your way do I get something out of it? I was thinking, either I look for parts or I look for a supplier and introduce them to my client, you know, for everyone's benefit. They're a pretty big client, too, I could guarantee confidentiality and profess -" Rose stops. "Well, I can't guarantee professionalism from him, but he's dashing and handsome instead! Just as good, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"Tell your friend that if he says that sort of thing about ladies, he's going to get his eyes clawed out," Linvidia growls.
Another drag and an exhale towards the street.
"As part of my trading company's line of business, we have cause, at times, to come into possession of components of Gears, or equipment that's compatible with Gears," Linvidia says. "Who's your client?"
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I'll make sure to transmit the promise to him~," Rose chipperly replies, not bothered in the least. Dezel tends to deserve what he gets. At the request for a name, Rose thinks, tapping her chin. "Well, he said his name was Bart, I didn't catch his full name. He leads the Yggdrasil sand pirates, you know, the guys who helped fight the Metal Demons in Adlehyde. Apparently that little stunt left them hurting for parts reeeal bad and now they're looking. Market's not exactly open and available though, you know? Would you rather I introduce you two or work through me as middle-man?"
Normally she might have hesitated to introduce her client like that, but Bart being Bart and the pirates being a very open and public organization there's nothing to really hide. "Of course, I won't tell him your name if that's how you'd prefer it. I get that this line of business is a bit more hush hush~."
+bbread 6/29
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia flicks ash into the gutter. "I don't know them, really, but I'm not from around here, exactly." Hence the 'Isla Delloro' stamps, presumably. After another lingering drag, she says, "Depends; is he cute?" This is rather sassy, but perhaps heartfelt.
"Oh, honey," she continues. "I'm a professional. I'd like it if he didn't put out an ad in the newspaper, obviously, but we don't need some kind of huge double blind - unless you're looking to be the middlewoman? Hmmm?" Linvidia seems to be warming up, perhaps at having spotted a business strategy.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Ahaha~ you've got me," Rose admits, laughing for a bit before looking towards Linvidia curiously. "You're sharp! Well, really, I was trying to strike up proper business with the pirates, and Bart said he'd consider it if I could get him parts. I think he just wanted to see if I was all talk or if I was willing to walk the walk! I'd be fine playing middlewoman, but I think I've got just as much to gain introducing you two and letting the magic happen too. Either way, Bart sees I know what I'm doing and gets his parts!"
Crossing her arms, she nods her head at the question. "Oh yeah! Cute doesn't do him justice, he's like a dashing prince, sans the outfit. He's got these piercing blue eyes like I've never seen - err, well, the one piercing blue eye - and long blond hair. Pretty lean and strong too. Met him in some ruins. He's some kind of whip god too."
That last part might interest some more than others.
"If I were you I'd want to meet him, not settle for a middleanyone! And hey, don't worry, I'm not from around here either. I'm one of those crazy Lunarians you hear about. Is that the right word? Well, it sounds good, so I'm using it."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia arches an eyebrow as Rose explains. At what did she arch the eyebrow? Well, for one thing, she asks, "What happened to the other one?" but all of the rest is... noted.
- Linvidia will remember that.
"Hmmmm. No fooling," Linvidia murmurs. "You know, I thought this was some kind of a put-on, but really, tell me, what is up with all this Lunarian business? I understand if you have to be quiet because you're invading from space, or whatever equally preposterous situation is going on. And I suppose 'Lunarian's' as good a word as any other."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Some explosion when he was a bit younger, he was trying to fix the engine of his ship or something like that. He said he saved the ship from a much bigger explosion but got caught in the small one. You couldn't tell if he didn't tell you, there's not one bit of burn scar on his face! Just a cool eyepatch to hide the missing eye. It sells the pirate thing pretty well though!" Rose says, pitching Bart to Linvidia like there's no tomorrow. It helps Bart is really easy to sell to begin with.
"And oh, us Lunarians? It's, as far as most of us know, an accident. We were all minding our own business in different corners of the world, and then there was this... vortex-y thing, I guess? Honestly, I didn't see it very well. Sucked two of my trade caravans right up, along with a solid fifty of us. Harsh landing, but we got back on our feet!" Both literally and metaphorically. "It didn't happen just the one time either. Some Lunarians I've met, they got here before I did. Others after. It's like there's something or someone just plucking people off Lunar and dropping them here. Who knows why! Probably nothing good. I'll trust Drifters to solve that problem eventually."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Whether Bart will thank Rose or not is another question, but at least Linvidia isn't hideous or dripping blood from her fangs - at least not yet.
"That sounds terribly convenient," Linvidia says, suspiciously. "A vortex? Not, say, a bunch of organized ships you all marched onto in order to sail through space in order to conquer Adelhyde?" She's speaking a little lightly, but at least she's listening, right? Also she's finishing off the cigarette, flicking it on the ground and stepping on it.
"Do you have Drifters there? What is it even like?"
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"The only ship I've heard passed through ended up landlocked. I mean like... literally, landlocked. Some pirate lady, goes by the name Layna. Her ship dropped square into ground. Stuck there. Not sure how she'll ever get it out of there. But nah, no invasion! At least none that I know of. Althena's Guard is pretty shady, if you ask me, but that's my disagreement with one of their calls talking, not facts. If I catch wind of an invasion you'll be the first to know!"
How's Lunar? Rose taps her chin for a moment. "Well, it's a lot like here, but greener. Less... dead? But otherwise it's not that different. The wildlife is out to eat you if you're not careful, adventurers protect people from monsters and explore ruins, kingdoms have weird political wars going on. No Gears on Lunar that I know of, that's been the biggest difference. That and religion. Althena's the big popular goddess on Lunar, but I've never met, seen or heard her."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"Ignas is like a catbox, anyway," Linvidia says with a dismissive wave of the hand. Having finished her death stick she starts getting out another one from a case, explaining as she does, "I don't know WHY that desert keeps eating Aveh but I suspect it's that that mouth-breathing idiot of a prime minister's trying to graze goats on marginal land or something. Kislev's fine. Where I'm from, it's fine. You just aimed for the -"
Linvidia pauses.
As she proffers the silver case for Rose's enjoyment, she says, "Do you have cats there? - Oh, ugh, you mean those Guard people are missionaries? No offense if you believe, of course; I just hate the Ethos."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Ugh tell me about it! I tried going to Aveh, you know, business, and I swear half of the paperwork to get a merchant's license there was trying to sniff out if I'm from Kislev or not. Then later I had to go to Kislev and half of THEIR paperwork was trying to trap me into saying I'm from Aveh. Back home we've got Rolance and Hyland, two big kingdoms functionally at war, and they STILL remember to respect merchants. Merchant papers'll get you in and out of any city on Lunar, no questions asked. What even happened between Aveh and Kislev for things to be so tense?"
She can get a pretty good idea from what Linvidia said, mouth-breathing prime minister is a hell of a clue, but there has to be more to this than just one guy being a jerk?
"Cats? Sure, we've got cats, tigers, lions, you know, all kinds. I don't know if the Guard's here as missionaries but I wouldn't blame them for taking the chance to spread word of their faith. Me? Nah. I believe in the almighty Gald! ... Gella, here. Close enough. No god's ever done more to help me than a pouch full of money can."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia lights her new cigarette as Rose explains, making mumbling noises. "So you were a merchant up there, then," she says, perhaps for clarity.
"It sounds like a better system to me, but I don't even know; I mostly came here to see the Exhibition and since then I've just been trying to turn things over, you know, make some money and help the people out. Mostly the first one," she adds, "before you get any ideas of asking me for charity."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia lights her new cigarette as Rose explains, making mumbling noises. "So you were a merchant up there, then," she says, perhaps for clarity.
"It sounds like a better system to me, but I don't even know; I mostly came here to see the Exhibition and since then I've just been trying to turn things over, you know, make some money and help the people out. Mostly the first one," she adds, "before you get any ideas of asking me for charity."
"Now I don't know your own policies up there, on this other planet, the moon, whatever," Linvidia says, "but I say that because I know there are people suffering and I also know that because I have a few gella in my pocket everyone feels they can stick their hand into it. Was that common up there? People asking for a deal on brick or scrap because they were having hard times?"
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"People who want stuff are always going to ask people who have that stuff for charity! I don't mind helping someone in need once in a while, but I'm not a fan of vultures. When Adlehyde burned I was first in line to distribute free first aid kits and healing items, you know? That's fine, it's good for our image and dead men aren't profitable! ... but then every now and then we'd get someone asking for two, three times as much as others, and you could tell it was to resell it."
Rose hehs, evidently more amused than angered by this. She doesn't seem the type to get angry.
"Don't worry though, I don't like to beg! Bad for business, bad for my image. I prefer being fair and reliable, hasn't failed me yet! Not on Lunar, not here," she says, answering the question of whether she was a merchant there too by the same token.
"So what all DO you sell, besides parts?"
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia absorbs these statements along with the effluvia of tobacco. She exhales into the sky and says, "I'll be fair to 'em that they might have been stockpiling... People do that sometimes, you know. They try to prepare for the worst."
Then she says, with a wry smile, "Well I sideline in canned tropical fruits and coffee, but the main thing I deal in is exactly what you said - scrap. Did you know there's a lot of detail to the trade? Most people don't know that, but there's all kinds of grades and categories..."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I'm all for stockpiling, but emergency supplies're for the hungry and injured first. And oh, I don't doubt it!" Rose replies, showing she has at least an INKLING of what she's getting into. "You've got scrap you can't do anything but melt and reshape, you've got scrap you could repair or use for something else, you've got scrap you could absolutely repair, you've got scrap that just needs a bit of love, and you've got scrap that isn't actually scrap at all and someone needs a good whack behind the head for throwing it away!" Okay maybe less than an inkling, but the basics are there.
"Fruits and coffee though huh? I'm always on the lookout for exotic wares, and you can't ever have too much coffee in stock. I'd love to take a look at your supplies sometime, see if we can't strike a deal!" Or several. There's never enough deals.
"How do you acquire your scrap? Digging, battlesite foraging? Or is that a trade secret?" Rose doesn't have much experience in that department, so she's curious.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"Well, maybe I can sell you a can or six," Linvidia says wryly. Then she says, "All of the above. That's one of the places where we're making a lot of our money. We actually move it AROUND, you see. In some places they have a lot of marble waste from an old quarry, and I know someone in Aquvy needs a lot of that to make cement - you see? We put 'em together and we take a piece of the action."
"Also my home is right next to the wreckage of some ancient city or something."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I wholly support taking apart ancient ruins for bricks and scrap. Those ancient civilizations and their death traps, gosh, it's like all they did with their time is eat, sleep, build, and plot how to murder future generations of adventurers. You ever gone adventuring with Drifters? Everything is out to kill you! And I swear, that's EVERYTHING. You look at a wall wrong and it might turn into spikes and charge at you, hallways always come equipped with giant boulder traps, and the MONSTERS, where do they even come from?" Rose is making light of it but she obviously doesn't like it one bit. Or maybe she really likes it? She seems conflicted.
"So it's not just metal, that makes sense. You must be making a fortune off Adlehyde's reconstruction right now! What's that saying, one person's misery is another's opportunity?" That's probably not it at all.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"Don't even talk to me about ruins right now," Linvidia moans.
That seems to be that.
"Well, less than you think," she says, leaning a hip against a barrel as she talks. "I mean I don't go to the chamber pot in the morning and get five hundred long tons of broken bricks. Even when it's free for the taking, it's not free for the shipping."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"That bad?" Rose snickers, but avoids the topic goiing ahead. Ruins, man. Not even once.
"Makes sense though. Overstocking's just as bad as understocking. Usually worse, actually, paying extras'll gouge your profit, not being able to fill an order just means you don't get anything but you don't lose anything either.
She circles back around, to the original topic. "So! When'd work for you? I think I can get ahold of Bart pretty easy all things considered, so a good date's going to be mostly on you. I'm guessing not right now because you've got somewhere else to be, while I wait for someone who's now very late to come pick this up?" She vaguely gestures at the crate she's sitting on. "What's the cargo anyway?"
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"At least it doesn't go bad," Linvidia says.
Then she looks to Rose. "Well if you want, I'll give you my card. I think I'll be renting office space somewhere just to avoid all these chaotic outcomes but I'm not SURE where just yet. And this? This is just what's left of their merchant tents. But if you tear up canvas and mix it with the right kind of mud, you get a very sturdy wall material."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Yeah that's true, building materials and scraps're a lot easier to store than... well! Fruit and coffee." What an odd dual business, now that she thinks about it.
"Sure, a card's good. I'll send you a message using those... memory cube things." She looks back down at the crate, as Linvidia explains what's in there. Poor whoever these tents belonged to! Rose sympathizes, considering the shift to Filgaia from Lunar cost her a caravan, tons of goods, and repairs.
"Well! It was nice to meet you! I'll get ahold of our blond pirate overlord and arrange the meeting. You should make a mental checklist of all your wares, because I don't know what exactly he wants and chances are it might well be everything on the menu!" A bit optimistic, but that's Rose.