2017-08-04: Three People Walk Into A Bar
- Log: 2017-08-04 Three People Walk Into A Bar
- Cast: Rose, Bart Fatima, Linvidia Diargento
- Where: Lacour - Market District
- Date: 2017-08-04
- Summary: Rose introduces Linvidia to Bart. Or Bart to Linvidia? Either way, profit!
==========================<* 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.
Once Linvidia had provided Rose with a suitable time, it wasn't long for her to put the call out for Bart as well. The message the pirate received was pretty short and to the point, saying only: "Got you something better than parts! -Rose"
Well that and a time and place to meet.
Linvidia also got called, naturally.
It turns out that time and place is a bar during late evening, either because that's what Bart decided or because it wasn't hard to guess a pirate would love it. Also what better place is there to talk shady business?
The stereotypical table at the back corner of the bar is the agreed upon meeting place, and there's already a few drinks on the table waiting. Rose sits patiently at the table, looking rather proud of herself. The bar isn't too bustling with activity right now, but there's enough noise people wouldn't risk overhearing conversations, if privacy's any concern. Last thing they need is someone getting on their case for Gear parts trafficking.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The first sign that Bart is ready to deal is when he walks up to the bounty board on the wall of the bar and pulls out a poster from under his jacket. He swings it around and slams it into place right next to the poster for one million and some change gella for the 'Notorious Pirate Leader Bart'. The new poster reads 'Handsome Devil and All Around Daring Do'er, Pirate Captain Bart' and has little horns, a pointy beard and curly mustache, and a little tail that pokes up into the picture from the side.
He pulls down the old poster, and looks around for a moment to see if anyone is going to challenge the action. Having not seen anyone, he wads up the old poster, holding it in one hand and concentrating on it.
It bursts into a puff of flame a moment later, burning away to nothing.
And then Bart walks over, pulling out a seat at Rose's table and dropping into it in a manner that rocks the chair back and allows him to put both feet up on the table. He has to lean back a bit so he can talk over one shoulder to the red haired merchant girl, but the pirate captain seems amused.
"So what's the deal, Miss Sparrowfeather? Not every day I get an assignation with a pretty girl in a dark and dingy bar. ...usually just once a week, really."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Bart may sense PERIL approaching him from the left, as many a prince before him has. Though fortunately, this threat is only coming from the left, not from a position of Left-ism.
"I see I'm fashionably late," comes the cool and slick voice of Linvidia Diargento as she shifts round, helping herself to a seat and setting down a heavy if extremely tasteful handbag made from a fine dense weave of textiles. Some might call it a carpet bag, but those people are rude.
She gives Bart a blue-lipped smile and then says, "Oh! You read my mind," reaching forth to help herself to one of the drinks Rose chose. She slams it down without hesitation. Hopefully it wasn't drugged.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
The drinks aren't drugged. Yet.
Rose grins at Bart, crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair. "Well! Long story short, getting parts is kind of a drag, and I couldn't get a license. I think even if I could get one, and I'm gonna push until I do, I'd probably get the stink-eye for selling to pirates and get it revoked before long," Rose says, simply, on the matter of selling military hardware to pirates. "BUT!"
She uncrosses her arms, waving them towards Linvidia like she's presenting a BRAND NEW CAR behind door number one. "I'm not one to let down! So if I can't get the parts to you myself, I'm getting you someone who CAN! Mister Hero Pirate, meet miss Linvidia! She deals in assorted construction materials, scraps, and you guessed it, parts under the table. But I'll let her give you her sales pitch!"
She reaches for one of the glasses and sips a bit from it idly. "I'm not expecting you to pay me for that, obviously, I just wanted to show you I've got what it takes to be one of your go-tos."
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Nothing wrong with being a bit late. Not like we're in the profession of being prompt and on time people," Bart comments to Linvidia. "Sometimes being late means that you don't walk into a trap, or being early means you can spot a scam before it gets fully set up." The life of a pirate was a crazy and exciting one, and not something that Bart was ever going to give up. But he holds out a finger, and waits till the waitress takes his order for an Bledavik Lager and a small plate of chips before he's ready to really get down to business.
But Bart chuckles as Rose admits that she can't actually get everything that she wanted for the pirate captain. Which isn't surprising - Bart actually tended to need to get things via... percussive persuasion with the Aveh or Kislev military. "Well Miss Sparrowfeather, I wasn't exactly expecting you to be able to get most of the stuff I asked for - that's because I know most of what I get tends to be from digs or by liberating it from the supply cache of Aveh and (on occasion) Kislev." He doesn't bring that up to Leon and Lily, they still have some strong loyalties.
"But, I'm willing to hear what you've got to say, Linvidia. I'm generally always looking for Gear parts and ammunition for my operations, even if it's just civilian grade stuff. The big things I need are Slave Generators, of course, but I know how hard getting those can be." He gets probably a third from ruins or buying them off Drifters, the rest... well. Gotta blow up some of Shakhan and Gebler's crap at some point.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia smirks at Rose's introduction. "Pleased to meet you," she tells Bart. "I'm Linvidia. I own a trading company. We get things, at times." and then Bart starts to speak in an intelligent and sensible way about his needs, and Linvidia is momentarily taken aback. But she seems pleased, however.
"Well, well! Ammunition, I hadn't expected THAT. Most Gear fanciers just are happy to get them moving. Slave Generators are pretty rare, aren't they? We've only found two ever..." With this she rests an elbow on the table and her chin in her hand, her fur coat settling down around her.
"Ammunition, though. That's just a question of tooling up a factory... what calibers are you hunting for? And as for your 'big' thing you need - what are your 'medium' needs, hmmmm? Perhaps we can meet somewhere in the middle."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I had a hunch you were just pulling my leg to see how far I could walk," Rose laughs, not seeming to mind. "It's fine though! Any excuse to get a drink is worth it, and now next time you need assorted wares in bulk you'll at least think about me!"
Rose relaxes, resuming leaning back and listening with interest to the two's discussion. Gears is a field of knowledge she has so very little information about, she could really use the quick lesson. In fact...
"What's a Slave Generator, anyway? I'm guessing it doesn't actually generate slaves." Might as well start there!
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Well, at least Rose had a habit of finding people who had some idea of what they wanted. But Bart chuckles as Linvidia starts making her pitch, and points one finger at her with his thumb up, as sort of a 'bang' gesture. "Well, you certainly get right to the point. But nah, see we're actually really, really good pirates. Actual manufacture isn't a concern, it's more keeping things supplied in the field. Generally we try and keep things to melee weapons just because supply is always a little iffy, but my Gears use a whole heck of a lot of different guns. We try and standardize where we can, but we can always use a crapton of fifty caliber for our small stuff, and generally a good selection of one, two and five inch shells to cover a lot of the rest of our needs."
He waits to see just what she has to say to that. Bart isn't exactly saying that he has a small army to equip, but he has 'a' army that he needs stuff for. Better to see just how she'd respond to such a wide array of requirements.
But Rose asks a good question, and Bart gives her an odd look... but not much of one. Not a lot of people had a lot of information about military crap. "Slave Generators are the things that actually make Gears run. For the most part they're a black box - taking one apart makes it just stop working, and we don't understand how they produce as much energy as they do. But you put fuel in, and get an incredible amount of energy out.
"It's the one part of a Gear we can't actually duplicate - that's why if you want to make a new Gear, you need Slave Generators from existing Gears to install in them, otherwise you've just got a piece of junk. It's what drives a lot of the excavation on the Aveh-Kislev border, and you can even say it's a large part of why they're fighting."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia gets out a cigarette case and takes one out as she answers Bart with a crooked little smile, "I'm a businesswoman, Mr. Bart. Time is money. I hate to waste it."
She waves the unlit cigarette around a little. "Hmmm - five inches is a little rough, but the rest, I'd have to send some letters but that's entirely achievable. How much do you need?"
She seems to take it in stride. She nods slightly at Bart's explanation, and explains to Rose, "You know how a magnetic compass needle always points north-ish, even if you turn it around? I have it on good authority that it's a similar idea with a Slave Generator. But it's much more fiddly."
Linvidia actually has no idea how they work.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Free history and political lesson included, score! Rose nods, finally having the riddles of that war answered for her. "Kind of glad we don't have Gears on Lunar then, at least that I know of. As if we needed to give kingdoms more excuses to eye each other! ... or more weapons," she says, suddenly thinking. "I guess it's no wonder Filgaia's in such a state if that's commonplace."
Looking to Linvidia, she listens, then nods. She has no idea either so she'll take that at face value. "I'd say it's nice an ancient civilization built something useful for a change, but it goes in a giant robot to kill people so we're right back to how all they could think about is murdering people. At least they thought big, can't fault them rising up to the challenge."
Another sip from her drink, halfway down the glass now. "And now we've got the Metal Demons to worry about. You think they have Gears too, or just really big Metal Demons?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Well, no one really KNOWS how Slave Generators work. That is why they are quite strange. Bart personally just leaves that sort of thing to smart people, because that is important. How are they going to know they are smart without having strange mysteries to unravel. "Well, there's more we can use. Rockets, missiles, large missiles, extra large missiles, missiles so large that people ask me why they need to be that big and I say 'because if the missile isn't that big how are they going to know it's me shoot it at them', that sort of thing. But really, having someone in this area who can help us resupply will be a big help. My contacts are a little light on the ground out here..."
Bart looks in the direction of poor Adlehyde, so far away and terribly wrecked, and adds, "And sadly I lost a bunch of my current contacts in the area as well thanks to the damned Metal Demons."
Still, this is an interesting revelation for Bart! He rocks forward off his chair, and actually lands so he's pretty close to Rose as he sizes her up. And then he asks, "So, you're ALSO a moon person. But I gotta ask then, since like one hundred percent of the ladies I've run into from the moon have been one... are you *also* a Moon Princess, or do they actually have other sorts of women on the moon besides Princesses? Because lemme tell ya, I've met about two hundred percent more moon princesses in the last few months than I ever expected that I would."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"That's a very good question," Linvidia says as she lights her cigarette. "I have no idea," she answers Rose, before Bart looks in her direction. She quirks an eyebrow flirtatiously before she realizes he's looking towards Adelhyde and she just sat in that direction. That's when she reaches for drink #2.
"Isn't every woman a princess in her heart? That's rhetorical," she adds.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I almost married a prince but it turned pretty ugly some fair few years back, so depending on how you want to look at it I might have been! But nah, I'm just Rose, boring merchant and getter of stuff," Rose answers Bart, chipper, before adding: "I'm friends with A moon princess though, the adorable knightly one. I hear we might in fact have other kinds of ladies, but so far your data's going to have to be two princesses and an almost-princess!"
Not that it's a story she'd go into more detail about... at least not here and now. Bart can work his way up to that if he really cares about it.
"Well, let's hope they DON'T have Metal Demon Gears." Metal Gears, if you will. "Those giant demon dragons are bad enough as-is. Say, Bart, you've been keeping tabs on their movements since the Adlehyde disaster, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart just looks at Linvidia. "Look, they were BOTH described to me as 'princesses' in the literal case, although one was a massive ditz who destroys hamburgers like I destroy Shakhan's Royal Aveh Treasury transports, and the other was a head to toe lady knight princess person who was very nice but also extremely weird toooooo oh you actually know Alisha? That's interesting."
Okay, so make it two point five princesses. Bart just... gives Rose an odd look, and then shrugs his shoulders. Okay so this means he knows a lot more royalty than he was expecting. That's not a problem, and he's quite capable of dealing with that sort of thing. He has dignity, respect, and the ability to cope with people who might or might not flutter about and break into sighs and romantic poetry... or eat hamburgers, destroy the world, attempt to stab people, or sell him things.
Princesses are weird.
But Rose at least wants to talk about something that makes a bit more sense, and he shrugs. "As best I can, it's not easy since they seem able to disappear at will sometimes. Like the entire army sort of faded away into the wilderness, and let me tell you that's not something I enjoy thinking about. Metal Demons able to pop up anywhere? Brrr. Gives me the chills."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
"I thought a princess would never eat something as crass as a hamburger," Linvidia answers pertly. The analogy takes her a moment to consider and she then looks towards Rose as she seems to know one of them!
"Is that why you're all here? Is this a political thing?" she asks Rose, before frowning at the thought of Metal Demon Gears.
"Do you think if we replaced the head on one with a cockpit..." Linvidia muses, taking a drag and then a pull off her drink. After this she looks at Bart again, with mild alarm. "You don't mean they literally faded away, do you? You mean metaphorically, like, you lost track of them due to their maneuvers. Lie to me if you have to."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Yeah! Well, it's a friend of a friend kind of story where someone you never expected to have those kinds of connections just one day turns up travelling with a princess and you become best friends." Rose conveniently leaves out the whole assassination part of that story, though she's starting to suspect Bart would smile, say cool, and just kind of shrug it off as a normal thing that happens.
She shakes her head at Linvidia then. "I told you already, I have no idea why we're here. Heck, I have no idea how we even GOT here. I didn't know there existed powers to just... travel between planets like that. Makes me curious if there's more than Filgaia and Lunar out there." Then a pause, at Linvidia's idea. "I bet someone smart would say Gears don't work like that but now I want us to try that with the next Metal Dragon we down. If we down one. They seem... sturdy." A giant Metal Demon might do, but why not aim for the top?
Her glance returns to Bart, as she tries to look serious for a moment or two. "Disappeared, huh...? Yeah, that's worrying. It means they have some way to move really quickly between places. Then again, if they came here from another world... ah, that's my answer for if there's worlds beyond Filgaia and Lunar, isn't it..." A pause again. "I wonder if THEY know why people are ending up on Filgaia from Lunar. They can travel between worlds, why couldn't we beat them up and steal whatever they're using for it?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Yes." Bart replies in a monotone, almost robotic voice. "We lost track of them due to their superior stealth and maneuvering skills, and not because they disappeared from view and mortal ken like spooky ghosts or anything similar." Just beat beat beat, steady, relentless affirmation of what Linvidia wanted to know.
Because there's no need to freak her out, when she specifically asked to be lied to.
"Anyways, if you don't think princesses enjoy hamburgers, then I assure you that you'll probably be in for a surprise. Because a sizable fraction of the local royalty and moon royalty around here eat them like children going through a basket of festival candy."
He does look at Rose for a moment, and shrugs. "I don't know anyone who has come close to figuring out why there are people being thrown to and fro from Lunar, so it's just going to have to be a mystery for the time being."
ELSEWHERE AT THAT VERY MOMENT:
A giant dragon comes bursting through a wall near the base of the Sorcery Globe.
Zed screams, "YARO! SHIELD! I'LL SWORD! FIGHT TILL YOU CAN'T FIGHT NO MOOOOORE! AAAAAAAAAAIR SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"
Someone else yells, "WHY IS THERE A GIANT LUNAR DRAGON TRYING TO KILL US HERE OF ALL PLACES?!?"
"It's just a mystery," Bart decides. "But if we can find some way to travel between the two worlds... eh, I'm sure someone would appreciate it, but my business is here on Filgaia for the most part." He goes quiet for a moment, thinking. "...nah, it wouldn't be up there."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia exhales towards the roof. "Well, I'm convinced," she answers Bart, without much energy. She looks towards Rose then and nods once; it seems perhaps Linvidia was trying to catch her up, but has now failed, and so her words may seem even more truthy to her.
"So does that mean," she asks Bart, "that they eat festival candy as if it were hamburgers?" That made sense to her.
"Travelling to the moon wouldn't be easy at all," Linvidia muses, frowning. "Though that does remind me, you were asking about missiles. I don't think we've ever run into intact ones, but those are the things that are like arrows but they carry fuel inside of them, yes, and they push themselves through the air? Because we've found wreckage of them a few times... some of it was remarkably fresh, actually."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
That's a suspiciously straightly delivered line there, Bart.
Rose is more focused on the Metal Demons and Lunar matter, luckily. This sure got a lot more perplexing. So much for tonight being for fun and business! Now it's mostly just for business, sheesh. And grim one at that. "Well, I'm sure someone'll figure it out eventually. Or we'll beat the answer out of someone who already has." A look at Linvidia, as Rose taps her chin. "I don't know. Whoever's doing it right now doesn't seem to be having any trouble just... zapping us right here. You're probably right, though. It's probably not something we could just do anywhere anytime. Might be some... weird powers or ancient technology involved." A beat. "Scratch that, of COURSE it's going to be some ancient power or technology, who else would want to inconvenience us that badly."
Man Rose does not like ancient civilizations.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"To be fair, I'm not being inconvenienced - although if this malevochowhatzit gets much worse, then it might start being a problem." Bart is... kind of mercenary like that. He understands that some people are having difficulties thanks to the whole getting zapped around thing, but the more people who are running around causing problems for Gebler, the easier his life is.
"Trust me, in at least one case, you don't want to see what she does to festival candy," Bart adds to Linvidia. Cecilia when she decided that she needed candy was someone who could be quite terrifying. But being a mage was hard work, and Bart could appreciating eating a lot if you needed it.
"But yeah, those are similar to missiles - most of them are weapons you'd use on Gears, and they don't keep all that well. At least not under normal circumstances. I'd not be surprised if you had trouble finding anything like that." Bart... should probably stop there. No use in giving the entire game away at this point.
"Anyways, I appreciate the pep, Miss Sparrowfeather. If you can arrange for about two weeks of food for about a hundred people, I can pay you in a few days and it'll handle a good bit of our consumables supply for our next mission." Might as well give Rose SOME business. She seemed like a nice girl, if a bit out of place. And an almost princess, Bart... really was curious but it sounded like a rough story.
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia frowns at the thought of what Rose is saying. Zapping. She doesn't like zapping. She looks at Bart as he talks of Malevolence, biting on her lower lip lightly. She doesn't like the sound of cannibalistic princesses either, perhaps. (Bart didn't suggest that, but Linvidia's imagination is sometimes fervid.)
"I'll keep in touch, if you want to have a standing order," Linvidia tells him. As he speaks to the Sparrowfeather woman, Linvidia takes a drag and exhales.
"I don't suppose you're interested in buying coffee?" she asks Bart, wryly.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Uuuugh! Malevolence. There's a headache I didn't have a few months ago. Now that can of worms is wide open and they're all over me." Having worms all over you is probably not far off how Rose factually feels about the whole affair. "I was happy when the worst thing in my life was something like, oh, this prince or this king or this count might be a jerk and abusing his power. Now it's demons invading from another world, dark powers, Malevolence, ghosts, dragons, a Lord of Calamity and..." She doesn't go on but the way she waves her hand indicates she could.
"I don't know how people manage to stay sane with all this going on. Can't blame someone for withdrawing into massive eating binges."
Then onward to greener pastures.
"Food? Got it! Say, yeah, miss Linvidia here sells coffee and canned fruits, both things that keep for pretty long times! Now I'm not saying you should stock up on nothing but coffee and canned fruits but since you're going to see her stock of parts anyway, might as well save some time! Me, I'll get you everything else. Tea, meat, greens, I'm guessing a few bottles of the good stuff?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Throw in a bit of everything, and surprise me. I'm willing to work with folks who can do things quickly and get it done right, but given that sometimes we can have big orders in a hurry, I want to see what you'd produce under your own judgment," Bart states, to both Rose and Linvidia.
"If I think what you've got me is good, and you're not charging me an arm and a leg, we can work out future deliveries on a regular schedule when I'm in the area..." Which is not regular at all but Bart is like that. "...and then we can go from there."
He does nod at Linvidia, and adds, "I actually think we've got a good bit onboard already, but if you've got a new blend, throw in a few tins and we'll see what the old man thinks."