2017-09-25: One Flower
- Log: One Flower
- Cast: Kaguya, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: November City - Hotel Renais
- Date: September 25th 2017
- Summary: Josie, stopping by the CaraKin, happens upon a flower girl. Who she recognizes.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
It's a hot day in November City, as are... many days. The sun shines down, and it is at least good for some living things out here. Specifically... Flowers.
The blue-sided wagon with 'Flowers' painted on the side in large letters has flowerbeds planted on its outside, the side facing a little closer to the bright, shiny CaraKin that it's near. The door to the inside is open, barely, half-closed, and there is...
Well there's no one here. But... The flowers have great variety.
There are flowerbeds all over the side, which is otherwise unlabelled, with blooms in orange, and blue, and brown, and yellow. The orange blossom has many long petals, stretching to curve back towards the stem. The brown has many warm petals, beautiful despite the drab colors... and also deep thorns. Yellow has more sprigs of petals that bunch up over time, and thin stems. Blue has a set of petals that seem almost to spiral out as their pattern, all unfolded now that they're in bloom. These, too, have wicked thorns.
They all soak up the sun, and there is a... rustling, from inside the wagon...
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Wherever there's enough green land to grow them, Filgaia's sunlight is kind to flowers.
Where there isn't, though...
Maybe some people would be surprised to see someone like the archaeologist here, inspecting the selection of flowers. Wouldn't she be more at home somewhere in a ruin, or a bar, or out crossing the wastes somewhere, or, well... anywhere else but inspecting a brilliant array of flowers for sale.
But that's what Josie's doing right now. She had other reasons to come here, reasons that are done and dusted by now, but then after that had wandered a little bit and...
Here she is.
A short distance away -- up on the wagontop in fact -- a certain pigeon roosts, perhaps warming herself in the sun.
"I wonder if she would like..." Josie murmurs, gazing down at a blue flower. She reaches out to touch one of the petals -- just brush against it with a gloved fingertip -- only to pull her hand away in a hurry.
Oh. Thorns.
...Maybe it's just as well, they'd wilt before she'd even get there anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
There isn't much greenery, but there's enough in Kaguya's wagon. ...Which, conveniently, isn't labelled with her name. It's pretty worn and weathered though, having travelled across the waste. The flowers are, frankly, a strange selection out in the sands, and to grow this many...
Maybe it's normal for the Plant cities. Maybe.
There's another bit of rustling and then a bang. "Ow..." A feminine voice echoes out from the wagon, probaby not having disurbed Penelope.
Kaguya opens the door and hops out, letting out a huff. "Whew. I--" She pauses, and sidles over closer to Josie, still catching her breath. "Oh hey. If you're interested in any of the flowers, just let me know; you'll want to be careful with some of th--"
She looks up at Josie's face. She has to look... far up to Josie's face, with her 4'10" self in soft shoes. She's wearing a long-sleeved loose shirt, pale green and light brown and textured, over a black tighter shirt. The overall effect hides her chest entirely effectively. Sturdy brown pants...
She isn't wearing a black suit. Maybe Josie won't recognize her. Buuut...
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The pigeon atop the wagon startles upright at a bang, but doesn't otherwise move from her perch.
Josie, for her part, straightens, glancing over as the apparent owner makes her way on out from the depths. She barely gives the younger woman a sidelong glance, though, insteady waving a hand in the air.
"I know, I know, they have thorns. I found out, let's say? Anyway, it's a nice assortment you've got here, but..."
Josie turns.
Josie stares down at Kaguya.
And Josie regards Kaguya in silence for a good twenty seconds or so.
And then, slowly, her lips split into a smile.
"Well, well. Looks like I've gone and found the other member of that merry street-bombing crew. Is this your day job, kiddo?" She rests her left hand on her hip.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Ah, that plan is doomed.
Kaguya would love to respond to Josie's questions and comments. She really would. Good customer service and all that, not that she generally cares that much about that. However, there's a problem...
She is shorter-looking than the girl on the wagon firebombing places, and younger-looking. Her hair is back in a ponytail. But... She's definitely the same girl. The whole sickly thing makes her stand out for sure.
Kaguya stares right back up at Josie. It gets awkward for her; she shuffles her weight a little, leaning on one side and then leaning back to rest against the wagon, arms behind her. She is notwearing an ARM. "Hey..."
She blinks and suddenly hops up, trying and failing to put a hand over Josie's mouth. "Shh! Not so loud with that!" Kaguya looks back and forth quickly to check for anyone listening in.
Mollified she glances sullenly to the side, "...Yeah it's my day job. I grow flowers other people can't grow, species that don't show up around here, and sell them. I'm a botanist." She peers up at Josie again, with her strange, pale green eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
No mistake about it. As a rule, Josie dosen't usually run into girls who look like they need a good meal, a good night's sleep, and/or a good drink all rolled into one. Even if Kaguya was wearing different clothing at the time (and a mask) there's no disguising the frame. Or the height, for that matter.
Or the voice.
Kaguya attempts to silence her in the most straightforward way possible.
...Josie takes a step backwards, reaching out to attempt to grab the smaller girl's thin wrist.
"And at night, you bomb the competition, I seeee~" she practically trills back, playfully. "You know, it's a lot easier if you just break some windows with a rock or write stuff on the walls, kiddo. That way, you won't burn down half of November City in the process."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kagya would, admittedly, enjoy all of those things sooner than later. But she doesn't get them right now. It's hard to disguise her, unfortunately, but easy not to suspect her! ...Unless someone has direct memory of her committing crimes...
Kaguya almost succeeds (no she does not.) Instead she has her wrist grabbed for her trouble, bony and pale, and blinks up at Josephine. She tugs, and doesn't get her arm back. "H-Hey!" she says, alarmed. "Give that back!"
The playful response gets an oversized frown that is entirely at home on the face of a teenage girl. "I'm not bombing the competition, I don't have any competition on my level!" She pauses. Josie suggests not burning down the city.
"...Look," Kaguya says, lowering her voice and frowning upward in all dignity. "If I don't set anything on fire, I can't deflect onto the Black Ties. Ugh! Obviously!"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie's grip is hardly vise-like. But neither is she exactly letting Kaguya go.
Her grip is unrelenting. Let's go with that.
"You're just skin and bone, huh," she murmurs, glancing down at the captured wrist. "Don't tell me you're eating your flowers or something to survive out there." Though, no, the girl looks too sickly for it to just be malnourishment.
She continues to hold Kaguya's wrist there in midair for a few moments longer, watching her almost bemusedly, before she finally releases the girl.
"So it's not some attempt to corner the market in spikey flowers, I see!" she says with good cheer.
Up on the top of the wagon, Penelope watches.
"So instead you're..."
Josie's smile fades a touch. She tilts her head to one side, gazing at Kaguya in clear confusion.
"Why?" she asks, finally.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Unrelenting. Unrelenting is good enough. Kaguya pulls a little, but not very hard for her. Whether that's because she's feeling weak today or because she doesn't want to reveal herself has yet to be seen...
Though Josie may have seen her throw around grown men like ragdolls, or smash things with a bart.
"Yeah," Kaguya says though, frowing as Josie examines her. "Ha ha," she says, with a roll of her eyes. "Eating my flowers. Some of them are poisonous you know, I mean, seriously."
Corner the market in--Kaguya holds her wrist and frowns again, still a little sullen. "That hurt," she says. Spikey flowers. Hmph.
Kaguya... feels like she's being watched.
"You're kind of a dork," Kaguya says. "All cheerful. Anyway..." Josie's asked why. Kaguya is quiet, glancing here, and then. Moments pass. It's a litle awkward. ...And she looks a little shy.
"Look I... had a really bad time crossing the border. I was really down, and my friend thought making some trouble for a bunch of entitled jerks might make me feel better."
A shrug, without looking up at Josie, "And it did." She pauses. "And I'm not eating flowers, I'm dying."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
There was that part, wasn't there. But here this little girl's acting like she couldn't break free if she tried. There's a whole lot of potential reasons but not much for the archaeologist but speculation, thus--
She lets the subject go. As she does.
A pale eyebrow is arched. "Poisonous? And you're selling them? Well," Josie supposes, shrugging smally. "I guess so's alcohol when you think about it, so..." Briefly, she grins. "Well, I guess you're cornering the market on toxic flowers then, huh?"
A dork, is it? That earns Kaguya two lifted eyebrows.
"Better than the alternative. I wouldn't want to be a grump like you, kiddo."
Her hand finds its way onto her hip and she stands there for a moment, gazeing at Kaguya. As Kaguya explains the 'why'.
And what a why it is.
"...So you decided to throw firebombs because you had a bad day? Kiddo, next time, just go and have yourself a drink or two. That's what I usually do." She wrinkles her forehead, as if thinking something over. "Nothing wrong with raising some hell, either, but there's a method to the madness. Otherwise," she says, grinning lopsidedly, "All you'll earn is an early gra--"
Well, that grin vanished quickly.
Josie looks Kaguya over.
"...Huh," she says, for once at a bit of a loss. It's... sudden?
In silence, she reaches into her pocket and hands over a flask.
"...How about that drink, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Letting go literally does help; Kaguya isn't faking the fact that it hurts. She waits a beat though at that raised eyebrow, standing up a little straighter. "It is, yeah. And as long as people are careful it's fine. Buy at your own risk." A beat, "Mostly I use those for mixing, or to guard my wagon."
Cornering the market. Siiiigh. Kaguya sighs again. Then she suddenly frowns harder. "Hey, I'm--" She pauses, and shrugs, shoving her hands into her pockets. "I have a lot to be grumpy about," she eelects to stay instead.
She glances back up. Josie of course doesn't appreciate her sort of terrible reason objectively, but she almost, almost says--
Kaguya's eyes are sunken. Her hair is thin. She's gaunt, and far too pale. She couldn't weigh even ninety pounds to look at her, even adjusting for her baggy clothes.
Huh, she says. Kaguya takes some satisfaction in that until--"Huh." Josie offers the flask, and Kaguya eyes it. "...Sure," the small Veruni says, starting to open it up.
"I might have a few years, if I'm lucky, and everything hurts. So you know, I'm a little grumpy. And I sell flowers."
Kaguya tips back the flask and takes a long drink before lowering it, capping it, and handing it back. Her expression isn't... quite a smile, but it does show her fangs without really meaning to. And fangs they look to be.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Slowly, Josie nods as Kaguya explains away.
And without missing a beat, asks: "So, poison spines, too? Or just edible-poison flowers?"
For a given value of edible, anyway.
Josie remembers being this age. It must be a phase everyone goes through. She exhales a breath, bangs sent briefly aflutter. "Kiddo, and I know you're not gonna listen when I say this, but everyone's got something they're grumpy about." Implication being: lighten up.
Though perhaps some people have more of a reason for a grumpy demeanor than others.
Josie, during that long awkward moment, looks Kaguya up and down. Definitely... definitely.
...Yeah, definitely.
She doesn't really have much here for this except her ultimate answer to all life's woes, at that critical point where positive thoughts can't keep up.
Just have a drink.
And drink, Kaguya does.
"Well, let's hope for some times when it doesn't hurt as much, okay?" She takes that flask back. ...Not without noting the fangs in silence. Beastperson? Well, there's all kinds out here.
"Tell you what. Give me one of the blue ones." Reaching into her pocket, she flicks a larger gella coin Kaguya's way, before extending a hand to silently ask for the return of her flask.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Spines too," Kaguya answers. "But I don't put those on display, in case somebody gets handsy. Unless I'm actively out here maybe, and somebody asks for the exotic stuff." Not that it isn't... all exotic, considering; not a one of these flowers is native to Ignas... or to Filgaia.
But for her part the small Beastwoman(?) seems especially good at grump. The advice... Kaguya tilts her head and sighs. "Mm. Ehhhh. I dunno." Maybe other people do too... But she isn't sure...
The answer to life's woes is fine. Josie is nice enough with the flask. And her hope... Kaguya shrugs a little, doesn't quite smile, but thinks about it. She's a little sad, but then, anyone might be. "Yeah. That sounds nice. Honestly it's kind of bad right now, so I'm hoping to get some business done while I can."
Josie asks for a flower, and Kaguya blinks, accepting the coin, looking at it, and shoving it into her pocket. "...Sure. I'll get you a big one." Kaguya stands up a little higher on her toes, pulls some shears from her pocket, and grips the stem lightly. The thorns are wicked, but she doesn't prick herself even once in her efforts, clipping the flower and offering it to Josephine.
"Here you go. If you like them, I sell seeds too. If you just put it in water for a while, it'll still live for a bit. They're really hardy."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Gingerly, Josie takes the flower. The spines at least won't pierce if she holds it up properly, just barely balanced between fingers and palm. She glances down at it, and almost hesitantly takes a sniff.
This smile is a faint smile. As if satisfied, she nods.
Tilting the sole blue flower this way and that between her fingers, the archaeologist nods as Kaguya explains.
"Seeds, too, huh... I'll think about it."
She doesn't really have anywhere she can plant them anymore.
Though the idea of covering what remains in flowers certainly appeals.
"Water. Got it. Hmm. I should probably go and do that before the heat gets it, huh..."
Her plans -- spur-of-the-moment as the idea is -- don't involve water.
"Hey, Penelope--"
The pigeon comes in swiftly. "Take care, okay, kiddo? --Actually, I don't think I got your name." A beat. "You can call me Josie."
She waits only long enough to get a name, if it's coming. And then, with her right hand she waves -- stiffly -- before turning to go.
If burnt and cast into the breeze, she thinks, it won't matter where someone else is.
They can still receive a flower.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
The satisfied smile, the sniff... Kaguya watches that, watches the way Josie holds it gingerly, and something like peace slips onto her face for a little while, something happier than all her grump everywhere. she remains calm.
"Take your time. I'll be in the area off and on for a while, and I'm going to be selling with the CaraKin soon." A beat, "...Maybe don't spread around what I got up to, okay?"
The explanation gets a nod, and the short girl listens. "Good idea." A pause. Penelope... Kaguya can see her, think about her, and she stares briefly. She has little to say to her except, "Huh..." She looks like she hasn't seen a pigeon. But--
"Take... Ah, sure. Okay." She pauses, and adds, "...My name is Kaguya. Nice to meet you, Josie."
A beat, and she waves to her as she's going, thoughtful and quiet. One flower...