2017-09-14: The Insurer
- Log: The Insurer
- Cast: Meryl Stryfe, Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: November City, Hotel Renais
- Date: 14th September 2017
- Summary: Riesenlied and Noeline speak to Meryl regarding insurance... and a certain red-coated man.
<Pose Tracker> Meryl Stryfe has posed.
The city of November is like most old west towns. Even though it's larger than other surrounding cities, the people still seem to know one another. The city itself is more technologically advanced than other places thanks to the presence of the mysterious plants. Here it's not uncommon to find air conditioning and other minor luxuries that one wouldn't find other places.
After her adventure the other night, Meryl had gotten little information about Vash from the group exploring the cave. Granted, it was pretty hard to ask when they were just trying to survive but whatever leads were possibly there, she hadn't been able to find them. So far, since arriving back in her hometown, her investigation was going nowhere.
At the Hotel today, Meryl sits at the desk and slumps over her paperwork. "Milly, what are we going to do? So far we're not getting any leads here. The boss is going to..." The short-haired woman glances up towards Milly. "...nevermind." She shrugs and begins idly straightening papers.
Milly walks over to her and places a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay Meryl! We just aren't looking in the right place!" She smiles warmly and gives her partner a thumbs up. "You're always so optimistic Milly." Meryl laughs and stands up and begins preparing for yet another day of working all evening.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a somewhat peculiar-looking young woman at the hotel counter -- a dark brown-haired girl with shoulder-length hair and a prim jacket and ruffled shirt and skirt and leggings, ordinary save for the fact that... she possesses twisted, chitinous-looking horns protruding from either side of her head. From the right angle, it also seems like draconic scales are starting to cover the left side of her cheeks and forehead, and as she raises her hand to accept keys from the concierge, it's evident that the chitinous scaling extends to her hand as well.
"Ah...?" she looks towards the two animated women as they talk amongst themselves, and looks back to her partner. Wasn't that the woman who was soliciting information about Vash the Stampede before? What should she do, she wonders...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The horned woman's companion looks just as odd as she does, though in very different ways. While the beastwoman is dressed in tribal, earthy colours, the girl next to her is a vivid figure in whites and reds, rather striking compared to the dusty environs of November City; the flame-red hair is a bit much, but that seems to be the way she likes it, enjoying some of the attention on her as she stays close enough to the other woman's side to evidently be with her.
She catches Riesenlied's questioning glance, her smile tugging a little wider as a moment of mischievous thought comes to her - then she's tugged on Riesenlied's hand for a moment with a grin playing on her face.
"Miss Meryl Stryfe?" wonders the smaller of the two women brightly as she makes her way up to the table, fingers at her chin as she watches the rather short insurance agent. "Of the Bernardelli Insurance Society, I believe it was. Ah, you'll have to excuse me - I picked up your name from a poster, but I suppose my questions don't have a great deal to do with it."
She pauses, as if for effect, then continues: "I thought I would ask, what are your rates on insuring villages? Only one prior claim," she adds playfully.
<Pose Tracker> Meryl Stryfe has posed.
Meryl picks up her paperwork and then notices the two women walk in. She doesn't think too much of it until they begin to approach her and Milly. Noeline's greeting gets a surprised look from her until she realizes how they know her. "Oh! Yes, that's right. I am Meryl Stryfe and this is my partner Milly Thompson. Are you here about-" She pauses as Noeline explains further. "-oh."
Noeline's question makes her pause for a minute. "Well, I guess that depends on what exactly you're looking for." Meryl sits back down at the table and gestures for Noeline and Ries to sit across from her. "Please have a seat and we can discuss it." Even though Meryl would rather be out trying to search for Vash, she seems willing to listen to the inquiry.
"I guess, first of all I should get your names?" She looks between the two women before grabbing a pen from a bag and opening a notepad. Milly meanwhile takes a seat next to her but doesn't seem too focused on the conversation for the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied hesitates for a moment, much mousier and timorous than her bon vivant companion, seating herself very gently as she laces her hands. "... I'm--" she pauses, then says, "Nazgul al-Rashid, a Drifter from the wastes. I come from the village of Wayside, out near the border of the Badlands."
She bobs her head to one side as she glances out the window, and then takes a deeper breath for a moment. "You... also put out an informational post in the Cube about Vash the Stampede, didn't you...?" though she doesn't want to let it take over the conversation about insurance quite yet.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's grin is bright as she raises her eyebrows, tilting her head. "Nousha al-Rashid, Nazgul's-- companion," she replies, the length of her pause not leaving a lot of room for doubt on what exactly she means by that - any that is left is probably obliterated by her playful grin. "Wayside is newly established - refugees from events around Adlehyde, you could say," she adds, everything strictly true if rather lying by omission. "Of course, we're rather concerned about protecting our new home."
"Indeed," she confirms for Nazgul with a nod of her head. "It's why I know the name at all, in fact. Last time I passed through November City, I certainly do not remember the Bernardelli name being quite so-- extensive. Honestly, given life on Filgaia, you'd think an insurance company would be ridiculously busy."
<Pose Tracker> Meryl Stryfe has posed.
As she writes down their names, Meryl hears a small sound coming from Milly. She is humming to herself! The agent jabs her gently with her elbow. "Milly, at least /try/ to pay attention?" She laughs before turning back to the women, "Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyway, what is this prior claim you mentioned?"
At the introductions, Meryl nods and writes down their names quickly, asking for spelling only a couple times. Riesenlied's comment, no matter how minor it may have seemed to her, causes the short-haired woman to lean in a little closer and get a very serious look in her eyes. "That was my post, yes. Did you have something that you needed to tell me? It's very important that I find this man." She doesn't elaborate more on that for now.
Turning her attention back to Noeline as she explains their relationship and then Wayside, Meryl hrms to herself. "Well, it's unusual for my company to insure a whole town. I mean usually we deal with individuals or businesses but I can understand your concern for your home." There is a moment of thought before, "What kind of things go on there, I mean why are you concerned about insuring it?" It's a weird question given that they are in November, a city notorious for crime.
"The Bernardelli Insurance Society has been around forever." Milly helpfully adds, showing that she is actually paying attention. Meryl nods in agreement. "It's not based here in November but I was sent here to investigate Vash the Stampede. I am sure you're probably both aware, since you have seen the fliers, the trouble that he has caused for my company."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied -- 'Nazgul' -- looks towards Milly with a quiet smile of her own, maybe finding the woman's easy going pace to be a little bit more to her speed, before jolting back as Meryl drills her with a scrutinising look! "A-ah--" She pauses. "Well... I have met him before. And I did speak to someone else in this town who has seen him..." she realises she's kind of opening the floodgates on this, but honesty is as honesty does when it comes to the Metal Demon least capable of lying, ever.
"As for our home... we are a-- um, I suppose the term around here would be charity?" She squints. "We welcome anyone who has no home or place to go in Wayside... we provide home and board to refugees, orphans and the like."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Even 'Nousha' appears to blink across in surprise when her partner makes an admission about Vash, her eyebrows raising a little - though the chortle that follows is certainly light and airy. "I see... I didn't realize. I do have to wonder how a man with a bounty like that must act - he is either exceptionally good at hiding or exceptionally devil-may-care. Perhaps both," she adds. At the very least, hearing that Riese has spoken to the man is-- quite the data point, and certainly suggests he's not outright dangerous.
"If your company does not usually deal with entire settlements, you are certainly going out on a limb for this Vash," she points out with an amused breath of air, shrugging one shoulder easily in Meryl's direction. "I suppose it seemed worth asking, regardless. After all, there is Kislev, Aveh, bandits in general, Metal Demons-- there's quite the list of things to watch out for, I suppose."
"Ah, to be fair - the last time I came through November City was forever ago, as well," the girl adds - looking no more than eighteen, really. The self-indulgent grin possibly has a hint of fang.
<Pose Tracker> Meryl Stryfe has posed.
Meryl stands up when Ries mentions he has seen Vash. "WHAT? You have /seen/ him?!" Her voice is raised but then her face pinkens and she sits back down. "Ah, sorry about that!" She hesitates. "It's just that we have been looking for him ever since we got here and no information that we have gotten seems to have led to anything of significance." It does briefly occur to her that this lead could go nowhere but still she wouldn't be doing her job if she didn't follow up on everything. "Anyway, if you can, please tell me more about what you know as it could really help us out."
"A charity huh?" Meryl thinks about this for a minute even as Noeline comments about the settlements. "Well, I guess you could say that Vash is a special case." She smiles and wonders idly about what kind of person he really was before adding, "Well, from what we know, he is extremely dangerous so I would expect a lot of trouble from him." She glances back to Riesenlied. "Just be careful if you see him okay? I cannot believe that one man would be as dangerous as they say but that's why I need to find him. The claims we get from people where he has been involved are a huge liability for our company."
"It's not that we don't have a vested interest in entire towns but..." Meryl shrugs. "I mean I guess I phrased that incorrectly." There is a lengthy pause as she seems to consider the idea more. "I think that I would have to see this place and find out more about it before I could offer anything to you Nousha." In all of her travels, Meryl cannot remember hearing about Wayside before.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied can't help but flinch as Meryl bursts out as-- she holds her lightly clawed hands and settles down further. "... there was an old Drifter I spoke to here, his name was... Arash Khan," she recalls. "He recanted being a survivor at the time of Lost July, and seeing Vash there at the time of the incident..." She pauses to think of the warning Meryl gives, with a quiet sigh for a moment. "... dangerous ... hmm..."
She bobs her head to one side. "It might be more useful for you to get Mister Arash's account yourself, but... on my own front, at least -- he didn't hurt me. On the contrary, he helped us at a time of need, saving people." She bites her lip as she thinks to Gwen and the times that she interacted with the... decidedly goofy, but yet at the same time...
"... he's... strange, but I genuinely don't think he's a bad person. ... quietly, he is deeply sorrowful, even, perhaps."
She squints just for a moment further, before looking bashful to say, "I'm sorry I can't help you more than that... I don't know where he last went, it's been quite a while since our last meeting. But, you'd be welcome at our village..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... I have to admit, I know very little about what happened to Lost July myself," muses Nousha with a light frown - before she flicks out some of her hair and considers that, folding her arms. "I had always meant to look into it, but-- well, this and that happened, and rather put paid to that idea. Certainly, the wounds appear to be a bit more raw here in November City, hm?" she comments mostly to herself, before glancing up to Riesenlied as she speaks.
'Nazgul's evaluation of Vash apparently counts for a great deal in this girl's eyes; she nods solemnly, then chuckles ruefully to herself. "I think it would be odd if he were not sorrowful, honestly. 'Strange' is to be expected, but it would take a very callous sort to pull off destruction on that scale and feel nothing afterwards, I dare say." Like, you know, Berserk, for instance.
With a chuckle and a hum, the twintailed girl nods to the poor insurance agent. "I suppose that is fair. If anything, I was simply curious. Dealing with a bounty of that magnitude almost made me imagine that your company had its own army, or something of the sort." She pauses, and grins lightly. "I cannot say Wayside is very much just yet, but we are getting there."
<Pose Tracker> Meryl Stryfe has posed.
"Arash Khan..." Meryl thinks about the name but she cannot remember ever hearing about it before. "I can't believe you met someone that survived that but I will make a note of his name." She knew there were survivors but the odds of meeting someone seemed low given the amount of drifters and people that constantly come in and out of the cities. "Do you have any idea where I can find this person?" Seemed like a long shot but Meryl had to ask anyway.
The thought of Vash helping someone one else gets a look of skepticism from the agent. "Are you really sure that this is the same man we are looking for? I find that hard to believe he could do something like that." Meryl seems set on the idea that Vash is a horrible person and it would take a lot to convince her otherwise.
Her expression softens as Nousha expands on Vash's reaction and personality. "I guess you could be right about that. It still doesn't match up with what the rumours are saying but this is just another reason that we need to find him soon. I would like to see for myself what he is like." It's still hard to really discern what parts of the rumours are true and which ones aren't but it was her job to find that out.
Meryl laughs uneasily at Nousha. "Well, it is a big company but I wouldn't say we exactly had an army or anything." Meryl definitely didn't appear outwardly to be very combat oriented. "It's a dangerous job though so I guess it's hard to find support on that kind of scale." She shrugs at the idea.
Turning her attention back to Wayside, "Anyway, I am sorry for not addressing your concerns about your city. If you would like to write down directions to it, my partner and I would gladly come check it out sometime. It sounds like a nice place and if it's important to you, the least we can do it see if there is something the Society can offer!" Meryl smiles warmly as Milly yawns quietly next to her.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Um, I-- actually met Mister Arash a few weeks ago at this hotel, but..." Riesenlied muses on the topic, but she doesn't know where he may have gone off to. Drifters aren't the sort to remain solitary, after all. "... I do know he's an acquaintance of Miss Ida Everstead-Rey, and it might be easier to get in touch with her."
She lets out a bit of a sigh as she says, "... it's certainly possible that they're not the same person and I'm mistaken. But..." A pause, and she glances towards her own hand for a moment. "I've... seen a lot of sorrow in my time. And I know genuine sorrow when I see it."
She smiles gently towards Meryl as she nods and says, "Please do. I think that would be for the best," when Meryl mentions seeing him for herself. It would be best. Past all the rumors and vicious stories that serve to do nothing but pollute truth with misinformation.
She lets out a hum of thought, and then offers a piece of paper to say, "If you head towards the neck of the mountains nestling November City, you can find this mark on one of the winding mountain trails. Wayside is at the end of that pathway." The piece of paper contains a symbol of tribal design, resembling a spreading pair of wings.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The smaller of the two-- beastmen? Tribeswomen? Socialites? Whatever adjective you use, it doesn't seem to work for both of them at once, the pair a study in contrast. Either way, 'Nousha' shrugs one shoulder easily with a shake of her head. "It's quite alright. I can't say I had much in mind when I asked, so much as a random little thought that might be interesting to find the answer to," she admits in a remarkably point-blank fashion, as if it were totally fine to just waste Meryl's precious time. "At the very least, it seemed worth asking in case you had something rather large up the Company's sleeve that I didn't know about, hm?"
"... we cannot promise terribly much at Wayside, but-- it will at least give you an idea of what we're trying to do. Come to think of it, we /do/ have a source of water, and are looking to trade with nearby villages. I'm hoping that, perhaps, someone with as many contacts as the company must have might be able to assist in getting the word out?" Ah, there's the leading question, lightly delivered but probably a major matter - but she glosses over it past that with another easy shrug.
"Still, I am glad we could offer a little information on Vash, as well. In our experience, historical events such as Lost July can become-- incredibly muddled, to say the least, and are rarely if ever all that clear-cut."
<Pose Tracker> Meryl Stryfe has posed.
"At this hotel huh?" Meryl raises an eye. "Well, I guess people come and go a lot in this city but thank you for the lead." She makes a note again on her paper. These names seemed very important to their investigation after all. Following up on leads was going to be time consuming but it's something that she knew had to be done.
There is a frown at Ries's comment about sorrow. "I guess a lot of people have." The idea of Vash showing that kind of emotion still doesn't sit right with her but there isn't much else she can say about it for the moment until she finally meets the man.
Meryl nods at the instructions of how to get to Wayside. "Thank you! You can be sure that I will come check it out as soon as I can. I would like to meet the people you speak of." She smiles at both of them. "There is no harm in asking right Nousha? Like I said I will do my best to help out if I can. Things are not always black and white in the insurance business."
"Huh? Contacts..." Meryl thinks about it. "That is a great idea actually. I will make note of it and see what I can do. If the city is as good as you seem to indicate, I would be glad to do what I can to help and I appreciate the leads on Vash. This has given me a lot to work with." Turns out they didn't necessarily have to leave the hotel to get information after all.
"I should let you guys go but please be sure that we will come to Wayside sometime and perhaps an agreement can be made." Meryl nudges Milly and she gives a thumbsup to Meryl and the women. "Oh! Yes, I would love to see it sometime." That's all she offers before leaning over the table again and Meryl sighs again and rubs the back of her neck. "Sorry about her..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied may not really understand the insurance business, but Meryl seems earnest and sincere enough that it warms her heart. "We'll do our best to prepare our best welcome," as she looks towards Nousha for a moment. "Yes, thank you. I wouldn't want to take up more of your time either... I hope your search for Vash bears some fruit, and I'll be sure to let you know if I find anything else, of course..."
She looks to the keys and stands up gently, and then says, "I'd like to rest for now, should we retire to our room....?" as she bows her head to Meryl.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline glances to Riese with - it's probably supposed to be an amused smile, but it mingles with a little in the way of earnest concern, one of the few times this rather roundabout girl has looked solemn this whole conversation. "... of course," she says after a moment, offering a more peaceful sort of look as she rises from the table and offers her companion a hand up, apparently heedless of the scales along her arm.
"If you'll excuse us," she adds with a slight bow, and a redoubling of her grin. "We'll be around for a little while yet, I expect, though we have plenty of tourist duties to undertake just yet."