2017-09-03: Helpful Strangers

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  • Log: Helpful Strangers
  • Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Ambrosius
  • Where: Big Bridge
  • Date: September 3rd 2017
  • Summary: In a little dying town in the Gunsmoke Desert, two strangers cross paths and pass on a little advice/offers each way.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

The little towns of the Gunsmoke Desert unfortunate not to have a Plant tend to have seen better days. Dusty, dry, most of the locals either long since left for greener pastures or clinging on out of sheer stubborness, this one is the equivalent of a dead man still walking. Like much of Filgaia, it's not so much if but when.

But that might be the nature of life: clinging on in spite of all adversity. Even this town still has a farm, and even this farm still boasts (straggly) living plants.

Life goes on, even when all reason suggests it shouldn't.

Avril leans on the fence just along the boundaries of that farm, gazing in silence at the curled leaf of a radish.

Dean and Rebecca are just inside what passes for a saloon and wayfarer's station around these parts -- probably the only thing really keeping the little town going at this point. Their only goal is directions. Avril, stepping outside for some fresh air, has wandered off to find herself here, staring down the tenacity of life as she ponders it.

See things through to the very end... Even if the end before you holds little hope.

Involuntarily she shivers, in spite of the heat.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

This land was dying.

That fact was abundantly clear to the man in the brightly-colored poncho as he strolls through the town. By all accounts, he was just passing through. The next time he passed through, would this town still be here?

It wasn't uncommon, for a town in the Badlands to disappear in the space of even a week, though he had not been here long enough to see it happen for himself.

He was a Stranger here, after all. Someone not from this land.

While some may consider the life tenacious, he sees something that needs help...though the help he believed in was not one that many would readily acquiesce to.

He continues his strolling...though he pauses, his eyes drawn toward the woman leaning against the fence.

...There was something different about her. She didn't look like she belonged here...but there was something else about her too, that he couldn't quite place.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Avril, to date, hasn't looked like she's belonged anywhere in Ignas, to the point that Gwen, a well-traveled courier, had thought she might be a Seraphim. It's her clothes, for one thing: they're unlike anything anyone has seen anyone wearing. Oddly cut, oddly patterned. ...Odd cloth...

And her bearing -- composed, detached -- is also unlike many of the Drifters gathered from across Ignas. Filgaia -- well, Ignas -- can be a harsh place, and leaves traces of its harshness on the people it forges out of necessity. She on the other hand feels like something that doesn't belong, something out of place.

The radish still strives, in spite of the cracked earth and the sun baking it where it rests.

Against the fence, Avril straightens, silver hair spilling over her shoulder. Her gaze shifts towards the tall stranger in the colorful poncho and she blinks. What was...

"...Are you... in search of something as well?" the green-clad woman asks at last, just one hand lingering on the fence.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

When the woman addresses him, Ambrosius turns to face her fully. He considers her for a moment, and then considers her question. Was he in search of something? ...Well, yes.

"...Indeed... I am...in search of...many things..." He replies. Some of them were things he couldn't tell just anyone.

"I am a man...with an iiinterest in history...so you could say...I am in search...of the paaast..." He comments with a slight chuckle.

"...And what...of you...?" He asks.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

In silence, she listens, hand still trailing on the fence, as he drawls out his response. He's a man with an interest in history, he says. Slowly, Avril nods, gaze lingering on him still.

"I see. You did not seem as if you were one of the residents of this town. I, too, am only a traveler."

She leaves the fence behind, treading slowly across the cracked and barren earth towards Ambrosius, pausing once she stands roughly four feet from him. "If you are a historian... perhaps you would be able to tell me more about this region. I am..." She hesitates, clasping her hands before her. "...newly arrived, I suppose. My friends and I are traveling together, and I believe that it may be wise to know more, so that we know what we should expect."

Particularly in light of her own experience in Little Twister.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius nods in agreement. Yes, they were both outsiders here, in an unwelcoming land.

"I am afraaaid...I am not from around here...either..." He replies with a rueful chuckle. "I am still stuuudying...the hiiistory of this land...and what I do know...may not be...useful to you..."

He glances away from her for a moment as he thinks, before returning his attention to her.

"However...I would adviiise...you and your friends...be careful when...traaaveling in the...open deeesert...they say...great beeeasts lie...beneath the saaands..." He warns. That, at least, he could tell her. He'd already seen them for himself, so he knew it was no mere rumor.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Perhaps somewhere is a place Avril truly belongs, somewhere in this world. Or perhaps she has already found it. Some people say that life is a journey rather than a destination. If that's the case, her journey...

"Oh, I see... my apologies," Avril replies, briefly dipping her head in a shallow bow. "In that case, have you heard anything of interest of late? We have heard of a few rumors, but..."

They're only just rumors, in the end -- who can say whether they're true or not?

And he mentions one that she has heard someone mention before -- to take care on the open sands.

"Oh?" Somewhat like a confused puppy, Avril tilts her head to one side.

"Great beasts... The sandworms. I see." Her forehead creases, and she lifts a hand to her lips, as if considering this one carefully. "Then, I suppose we were fortunate to not have encountered trouble when we came that way. Thank you, I will be certain to let my friends know about this."

Particularly since the Gears they have in their possession don't work yet.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius shakes his head.

"Do not worry...it is only...a misunderstaaanding...after all..." He replies, offering her a slight smile.

Rumors...there were definitely plenty of rumors about. The sandworms were the one of greatest concern to him at the moment, primarily for the penchant for burrowing through priceless historical ruins.

"Yes...do be careful...miss..." He says with a nod. He didn't know how often they came above the sands, of course, considering he had encountered them within the confines of a ruin, but he doubted that that was the only place they could be found.

"I am afraaaid...everything else I know...is only of use...to hiiistorians such as...myself... However...if you have iiinterest in ruuuins...I can point you...in the diiirection...of several...nearby..."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

It's hard to say which would be the worse of the two: sandworms, or Drifters. Both have a penchant for chewing up valuable historical ruins, the only difference is that it's slightly more acceptable to kill one rather than the other.

"Yes," Avril replies simply to his exhortation to be careful. They're fortunate that their Gears didn't trigger anything unfortunate when they fled the battlefield initially.

Well, before the temporarily hot-wired Gears gave out altogether. Getting them working again will take more knowledge than... well, what Avril can remember at the moment. If she ever even knew how to repair a Gear.

...To say nothing of the cost of materials. Already, they've seen what it would cost them, and it's going to mean tightened belts all around for a while. Rations will be light.

Which, speaking of increased costs--

"I see. Then, there is nothing you can tell us that would be useful for Drifters to be aware of?"

She pauses.

"...Actually, yes. What would you be able to tell me about the ruins nearby? We are in need of funds, you see."

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius nods. It takes a moment for him to think back. He had only visited one of the ruins personally, and the rest he knew of only through research and word of mouth.

"There are...two ruuuins of note." He replies.

"One...the people referred to...simply as...'Doomed to Obscuuurity'... It is an...old ruuuin...said to once...be a shriiine...one that has...been viiisited by many a Driiifter in the past...it is a home...to the saaandworms now..." He explains.

"Next...there is the 'Caaage Tower'...it is said to...daaate all the way back...to the Metal Deeemon Wars...and may...very well still contaaain teeechnology...from that era..."

He pauses, then.

"...I have also...heard of...another... They call it...the 'Seeerpent's Coiiils...' but...it is eluuusive...and some say...it is but...a mere ruuumor..." He concludes.

That was all the ruins he knew of, at least, though there may possibly be more.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

In silence, Avril nods, as if to indicate that he should continue. She's a good listener it seems; her quiet maintains through the entirity of his explanation of local recommendations for Drifters in search of something worth bringing back to the rest of the world.

...Even if, at least from her words, it would seem that they're doing this just for the money. As opposed to Ambrosius' own preference for pure research.

"...There are two, then, that you're familiar with. 'Doomed to Obscurity' and 'Cage Tower'. Hmm..."

She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, while looking for the moment as if she's thinking this over carefully.

"I wonder, a ruin with the name 'Doomed to Obscurity'..."

She shakes her head, silver hair briefly aflutter. "I wonder what the nature of the Serpent's Coils could be. If one is a long-lost shrine and the other is an ancient tower..."

This, she'll need to discuss with her friends. Sandworms, ancient technology, or something unknown.

"We will talk this over, I think. ...Thank you, this was quite helpful, ah..."

Avril pauses, looking Ambrosius over.

"Have you told me your name?"

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius appreciated the patience, really. He concludes his explanation, then listens as she mulls over the possibilities he'd presented.

He has no problems with people delving into ruins for their own personal gain, rather than for the sake of history. It was one of those things that you just got used to...

And besides that, it wasn't like the relics they brought out wouldn't be reclaimed eventually.

"I am glad...to be of assiiistance..." He replies with a nod of his head, but hesitates when she asks for his name.

"Ahh...my apooologies...I am called...Ambrooosius..." He introduces himself. "...It is a pleasure..."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Sometimes, it's better to suffer the little things in deference to the larger. At least the consumate shopper would have their pick of findings, assuming they knew where to look...

Avril's concerns are a little more mundane, at present moment. They had a good turn of fortune in finding those Gears, so they should make use of them -- if Filgaia needs the statues protected, they should ensure they have everything on hand to do that.

And they can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and continue to crawl ruins and towns in search of any whisper of Johnny Appleseed, Lolithia, or the lost Golems.

"Ambrosius," Avril repeats, as if commiting it to memory. "I will remember it."

In fact, it feels almost as if she already...?

"My name is Avril," she says, gesturing towards herself. "If I should hear about any historical finds, should I contact you? ...It would seem to only be fair."

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Avril...? That name... Ambrosius's brow furrows slightly.

Where had he...?

There's a flash of memory.

Ah, yes. Riesenlied and Noeline had mentioned meeting an 'Avril' before. This woman...yes, he understood what they meant now. There was definitely something different about her.

"I would...appreeeciate that greatly...Miss Aaavril... I do not...have much...in the way of fuuunds myseeelf...but if you fiiind anything...faaascinating...I will be sure to...give you...and your friiiends...approoopriate compensaaation..." He replies.

There wasn't any guarantee they'd find anything...but it was worth a shot, at least.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

"No, I understand. It is the same with us, it seems... I have no other way to recompensate you for your advice or suggestions, so this may be the least we are able to do," Avril explains, the whole paired with only a slight shake of her head.

"If you are able to receive messages through a Memory Cube... that may be best, Ambrosius, should we find anything. I--"

"Avril?" It's a young girl's voice, from the sound of it. "Avril, where are you?"

After last night, Rebecca may be considering putting a leash on Avril, or something.

Avril, for her part, glances in the direction of the voice. "They're looking for me. Shall I introduce you to them?" she asks, canting her head to one side.

"Avriiiil--"

"Rebecca, I'm over here!" she calls back, voice raised to ensure she can be heard even by those standing at the building several yards away.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius glances off to the side as he hears a girl calling out toward Avril. One of her friends, he assumes, and Avril herself confirms it.

"That is alriiight...I should...perhaaaps...be getting on my way..." Ambrosius replies with a shake of his head. "I shall be...looking forwaaard to meeessage...Miss Aaavril... I wish luck...to you...and your friiiends..."

He bows his head politely once before beginning to walk away, almost appearing to drift along with the way that poncho of his conceals everything.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

"If you are sure," Avril says, but doesn't press the matter further. "Thank you, Ambrosius. The best of luck to you as well."

With that, she turns to head back over to the waystop, the two going their separate ways...

For now.

"Avril, please don't wander off like that, okay...?"

Rebecca's distant pleas might still carry on the wind, nonetheless.

"It makes me worry..."