2017-09-30: She Can Be Very Persuasive
- Log: She Can Be Very Persuasive
- Cast: Cassidy Cain, Lily Keil
- Where: Bunker's Lounge, Hotel Renais, November City
- Date: September 30, 2017
- Summary: Not long after her meeting with Marcus Rider, Cassidy Cain bumps into Lily Keil, the brief subject of their conversation twenty-four hours past.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Nighttime in Bunker's Lounge, the smoke is in the air, fragrant and more than a little choking in places, and the atmosphere is loud. Jazz echoes about the room and into the side rooms, not too loud for conversation but an added presence, in some ways an extra person at every table.
There are a lot of people here, even late at night like this. Durlan is looking over as needed, obviously, and the wood panels in places give this place a much cozier feel that you'd imagine from the basement.
...One table is almost entirely clear. Durlan doesn't give her trouble. Nobody in here does, despite the fact that a number turn to look at her. She is against a wall, where no one can sneak up on her... unless they approach on her left side.
Lily Keil is wearing black, loose pants and a long-sleeved top of a slightly shiny fabric, with a neckline casually down a good bit below her clavicle, far enough to reach the tanktop she's wearing beneath it. Her clothes are loose, an adept observer might notice. Any observer will note some of her injuries. She's stiff, and her face has sutures down her brow and down her cheek. There's a large white bandage over her eye. Her left arm is in a sling, clumsily gloved. Her other hand is occupied lifting a Kislevi-labelled beer to her lips.
She has a snack going for her, a plate of red-looking meat (ham?) sliced, and some cheese for the same, along with a little bread--likewise sliced. How was it sliced? Well, that's not obviously apparent.
Regardless, Lily Keil brushes some hair back out of her face and continues marking in a notebook with a pen.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Her injured eye gives her a larger blindside than most, but should Lily Keil look up, she'd spy a familiar figure walking towards her, cutting a distinct figure through the haze of smoke and the passing of a few long months.
The last time she has glimpsed this woman was at the Battle of Adlehyde, where the chaos in the heart of the decimated city gave them little time to engage one another save for a brief moment of eye contact before they went on their separate ways again. But she sees her now, with her confident strides and her pale-gold hair, lips turned up in an easy smile. Most of the blonde thief's memories of that day have been colored by the mist of bloodlust-red, and truth be told, she had completely forgotten that Leon Albus and Lily Keil had been present then. Thanks to a recent visit by an agent of Smith & Luio, however, everything she knows about Lily Keil, which isn't much, comes flooding back.
Cassidy Cain palms the back of a chair at her table, turning it around to sink into the seat in a loose straddle. Emerald eyes shot with gold take in her pale features, lingering, but only briefly, on the sutures on the side of her face. Something inscrutable ghosts over her stare at the sight of the stitches - and much like actual spirits, it is gone in a blink.
"You've looked better, lass," she tells her. "I hope you remember me, otherwise this is going tae be somewhat embarrassing."
Says a woman who hardly has any shame.
"Ran intae your Leon about a week or so ago," she says. "Still looking for Gryndille, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Much larger. Lily doesn't look up at first, but when Cassidy gets a little closer she is able to spot her, closing her notebook casually and regarding her for a few moments. Her expression is nearly blank, definitely stern.
Lily for her part remembers Cassidy, despite her worries. It would be dificult to forget her. Even that day she remembers all too well. But Cassidy moves to sit down...
Lily doesn't argue. She is definitely paler than usual for her, though. The linger on her stitches is something Lily spots, even though it's brief. Whatever that was...
"I remember you," she says simply. Then she adds, dry as the desert, "That doesn't mean this isn't going to be embarrassing." Because in fact, she does remember.
Lily doesn't smile back but she looks Cass over again. As per the rules, there's no weapon visible on Lily in her casual, semi-military attire... But she's not wearing her usual dresses, either.
"I've seen better, too," she comments, and the way she says it it doesn't sound like a joke. She nods, regardless. "I see. Yes, we are. And making progress."
Lily pauses. "What brings you to see me? I'm not going to argue the company, but you walk with too much purpose for this to be coincidence."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
That doesn't mean this isn't going to be embarrassing.
There's an appreciative laugh at the precise, razor-sharp riposte, a gleam visible in those eyes; Cassidy thrives in dangerous situations, but it is the verbal arena in which she prefers to bare her weapons. "I cannae help but make an unforgettable first impression," she tells her gamely. "It's the performer in me. With so many pretty lasses turning tae Drifterhood every year, I have tae stand out somehow. Marketing is a thing, luv. It makes or breaks where you stand among the competition, but I would nae expect you tae understand - from what your Leon tells me, you're nae in this occupation by choice."
The beer in Lily's hand reminds her that she is in desperate need of a drink - when is she not? - and so she flags a passing waiter and orders a whiskey neat. An elbow braced on the back of her chair, her cheek fits into the cup of her palm.
"Ay, I heard. Even brought along Mr. Moshe up on a mountain full of secrets. Once again, it never ceases tae amaze me how quickly environments between people change," Cassidy continues. "Untrusting of one another one moment, and then letting him tag along in some verra personal business in the next. What changed?"
What brings you to see me?
Her carton of cigarettes out, pearly white teeth clip onto the filter of one, drawing it out. Elegant, pale digits lift up a lighter, suddenly there in between them, materializing as if by magic. It is a well-loved silver thing, laden with scratches - hints of a long and active life on the road - with a delicately engraved snake eating its own tail, eyes set with tiny sapphires. Distinct and one of a kind, reflective of the person who owns it.
A small tongue of flame erupts from the flint, a cherry-red glow emanating from the end of the stick as the woman draws deeply from it, cheeks hollowing out.
"Oh, it's a coincidence," the blonde assures. "Though I ken you were in town, given Leon's presence. Just dinnae ken where. Nae that I was deliberately looking for you, but I have fond memories of this particular establishment in general. But seeing you happened tae remind me of sommat. See, a well-dressed gentleman tracked me down just yesterday and told me about your plight in passing. Nae that he kens that I ken you, it just happened tae be related tae sommat that he wanted tae ask me."
Smoke escapes slightly parted lips. "For a healthcare professional, you sure manage tae fall intae plenty of situations that require one."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily spots the gleam, and looks flatly at Cassidy in return. She keeps things dry. "Ah," she asks, "Are you pretty?" She lets that hang on the air for a moment, "It's fine. I lived through the last one. What you're suggesting is true, though."
Lily takes another drink, watches Cassidy for a little further. The question gets a thoughtful look from Lily. "So he mentioned that to you?" Lily asks in return. She considers further, and then shrugs one-armed. "Jude saved my life."
It's a partial truth, at least, and Lily is hard to read for that fact.
The cigarettes come out, as does a beautiful lighter. Lily watches it for a moment. But looking straight at the cigarette she says, "May I? At this rate I should buy more of my own."
Coincidence. Lily doesn't argue the point. She listens a little further instead. Lily sips at her beer, and then takes a bit of ham and cheese between her thumb and forefinger and pops them into her mouth as she hears the rest.
There's a swallow.
"Hmmm. Rider?" she asks. "I wasn't expecting secrecy from him. I already had to put up with enough from the police asking me questions." She clicks her tongue, shaking her head. "I do. That's true. In this case... Well, in this case for once I wasn't even looking for trouble."
She looks distant at that. "I went into an alley, if you believe it, in the richer part of town. I was careless." Lily brings up her beer again. "Plight. That's a word for it. Damned nuisance is what I call it."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Cassidy grins. "Oh, ay," she says, punctuating every syllable with a wisp of smoke. "I'm verra pretty."
So he mentioned that to you?
"Leon did, ay," the blonde replies. "And I s'pose that's as compelling reason as any that can be found here in Ignas." Though truth be told, she already knew that, the inquiry driven to feel for, in the end, what Lily's response would be if asked. The query was less about the objective fact, and more about the heart that beats behind any responses given. "Too many people are too willing tae leave people tae die around these parts, though with that said, now I'm curious as tae why he did when neither of you seemed so pleased with him before." Eyes glitter with mischief. "Maybe he has a crush."
And because she is who she is, she does not specify whether she means Lily or Leon.
But she offers the carton over; she often professes to be a selfish creature, but she doesn't bat an eye when she freely indulges Lily's need for a cigarette. "Dinnae ken you smoked. Nae that I'm surprised. I heard medics and healers are actually some of the most unrepentant chainsmokers there are in any profession. Cannae blame them, what with being elbows deep in blood and viscera day in and day out, must be nice tae have an excuse later on tae be taken care of, for a change."
The waiter returns with her whiskey, which the blonde takes with deft fingers, flipping a gella on the platter as a tip before it departs. "Ah, so you ken him?" she wonders. "Dinnae think you associated with those sorts, especially when all they seem tae like doing is ask a lot of verra inconvenient questions."
Taking a sip, the conwoman lifts a honeyed brow. "Well, it's nae as if anyone can ever anticipate being jumped, especially in a wealthy part of town. It's the dresses, luv." Indicative that she knows very well the kind of clothes Lily prefers to wear. "Gives off the impression that you're an easy target. Which town was this?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Cassidy's grin is infectious in its way. A little scoff of amusement escapes her, and that is as close to Lily gets to sharing it or to responding to what she had to say.
Leon, not Jude. That's a different tenor. It says a few things on its own. Lily rolls her eyes at the mischievious conclusion. ...And then she considers for a moment. "...I actually considered playing along with that for a moment. The painkillers must be getting to me." She pauses. "He might, but he hasn't acted on it around either of us. If you want the truth...." Lily lifts her beer again, "I don't know. I never know what's left or right with that man, and I'm sure he prefers it that way."
Lily shrugs, and accepts the carton, pulling out a single cigarette one-handed. She lifts it up, and on the way says, "Between that and being a soldier, I smoke all right. Not that often, but I'm thinking of changing that. If nothing else I can buy a few good cigars." Lily is somewhat more talkative than usual when she adds, "I'm not worried about being taken care of, but it helps me relax." Cassidy is welcome to conclude what she will about Lily's ability to relax.
"But there's a lot you don't know about me," she points out, bringing the cigarette to her lips and letting it hang there as she points her finger from beneath the end. A tongue of flame springs up from her gloved fingertip, staying there long enough to light the cigarette.
She thus has the chance to inhale and exhale, a long breath, as Cass gets her whiskey and asks her next question. "I've spoken with him a couple of times. I came in here after I left the hospital and a bunch of people wanted to talk to me, and all of them asked what happened. He was there when I explained, and we talked about the guy. I said the same thing that I told the police, that I didn't see that much."
Lily shakes her head. "I usually can," she points out, and then sighs, a little more heavily than someone unbothered and stoic should. "Mm." She doesn't like that note about the dresses. "Usually I'm not an easy target." She lets that hang, then adds, "It was here in November, downtown. I wasn't even carrying my weapon. Just my knife."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
I actually considered playing along with that for a moment.
"Give me time," Cassidy says, lifting her glass and flashing Lily a wink. "I can be verra persuasive."
But the rest, she doesn't remark upon, a half-humored expression hinting at mild curiosity, but very little investment in the subject. If nothing else, she seems more curious about why the two have changed their minds about the journalist than the journalist himself, though at the last few remarks about him, she takes a quiet sip from her glass. "You're young, yet," she tells her. "If you were a little older, maybe it would nae be as confusing as it looks."
With the cigarette taken, the blonde offers Lily a light from the silver lighter, before it vanishes between her fingers once more - her own brand of magic, nothing so spectacular as feats of Symbology, or whatever it is that will-users wield, but it is the one that suits her best. "But ay, you're right. I dinnae ken much about you, save from what you told me after our delightful little tea in an open-aired cafe on a sunny day in Adlehyde. Nae looking for it either, luv. Between you and me, I like a little mystery."
Both sets of fingers cradle her tumbler loosely between her fingers, so light it appears to be on the verge of falling, but somehow doesn't. The brief conversation with Marcus Rider had germinated a bloom of suspicion in the back of her mind, but now that Lily has been forthcoming as to where she had been attacked, she gets her confirmation. There's a slight smirk, directed at the amber liquid before her.
"Impressive that you managed tae survive with just a knife," she says, the weight of her own suddenly making itself known against her hip. "I s'pose that means I better nae get you cross with me."
Her eyes finally lift; the tenor of her expression changes over them, and while her smile remains, something else - undefined, but real - returns within them. "Ken that you left Kislev under verra difficult circumstances, luv," she begins. "But I wonder if that means you dinnae leave any regrets behind."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"You're not my type."
Her blunt response given without even a look of irritation, Lily has indeed left some things off. ...But that sort of magic of Cassidy's has its own strong suits, and has its own charms. It isn't somethnig Lily can do. She can spot that wiser-moving tone, and she watches Cassidy for a long few moments, blinking her single eye after those. "Maybe that's true," she admits. "There are few people I work with these days who call me young," she admits.
Since it's offered, she uses the lighter rather than her original plan, and relaxes with the cigarette for a time. "Suprised," Lily admits. "I don't get a lot of people who don't plan to pester me with questions sooner or later."
There are a lot of things that Lily does one-handed. Drinking her beer is slightly more of a production than it otherwise would be.
"Impressive nothing," Lily says, not bothering to correct Cassidy. "He said as much that he didn't intend for me to die." She pauses. "You're welcome to take the lesson anyway, but all I did in the end was survive. I have worse than just what you can see to show for it."
Something... Else, Cassidy has. Lily can't identfy it. Her question though... That doesn't even get more than a moment. "That's true. ...And you don't have to wonder. Of course I did. My parents are still there, people I grew up with... It was my home, and I can't go back."
"...I intend to find the one who made that happen." Lily puffs again, slow just like before, a long line of smoke escaping her lips. "I'd do it again. Getting Leon out of that situation was worth anything. But I'm not happy that I had to make the choice."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
You're not my type.
There's a sudden burst of laughter from the blonde, followed by a wince; nothing but a tic, when the onset of mirth aggravates her own injuries, hidden well by her longsleeved shirt and breeches. There is not a bandage visible on her person, nothing like the stitches on Lily's face, which she has spent the last few minutes trying not to notice. "Ouch. My feelings," said with the kind of tone meant to imply that she isn't really all that hurt at all. "I would say that's nae stopped me before but far be it for me tae offend a married woman."
Cassidy rolls her head back. "If you're surprised, it's par for the course for me," she tells the raven-haired woman. "I tend tae do that, even without meaning tae. Most days I dinnae ken whether I ought tae be pleased or offended."
The whiskey tingles pleasantly in her tongue, aged enough that every swallow of it is smooth. It warms the stomach when it hits, suffusing her with much needed languidity, though really, she has not yet begun to really take a crack at the soreness and pain plaguing her at this very moment. The physical toils she has suffered in the last few days are very real, but they are nothing compared to her hatred of the Badlands, and everything it represents for her.
All I did in the end was survive.
"Well, luv, most days, that's plenty. You cannae revenge yourself upon your Gryndille if you're dead, now, can you?"
For someone so standoffish in their first meeting, Lily seems peculiarly open today, but that is a thought that doesn't occupy much of her present contemplations. Even without knowing what she has been through, she's able to tell that she is under some sort of medication. Pharmaceuticals are not unknown to her, considering her constant use of them whenever the Black Dog comes baying at her door - days when the only way to press forward is to obliviate yourself completely from the pain of it.
In the end, she imparts something about the two's personal history that she didn't know before, and for a moment, she is struck silent by how powerfully the sentiment resonates. Lashes hood her eyes and for a while she does nothing but look at Lily.
The smile returns, in the end. "He's a lucky man," she tells her; if it sounds genuine, it's because she means it. "I only ask because your would-be murderer was in Nortune a few days back." The glint returns in her eyes. "After what you told me, could only think of one reason why he'd be there. You must've told him sommat that made a lasting impression on him, luv."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The laughter doesn't surprise Lily, to look at her. She waits through it, as she spots a little bit of a wince ust for an instant. Lily of course hides her injuries like Cassidy... but this one she cannot hide. Whether she likes it or not, is is obvious to anyone, ruling out the choice to keep it to herself.
And that laughter is its own sort of wound. Lily doesn't laugh back, but she does quirk an eyebrow at Cass's feelings, shaking her head as if she's above it. So the response gets, "Good. That's how I prefer it--" She frowns, abrubty, and sighs so fast it could've made her dizzy. "We aren't married, and you still know it," Lily points out, all irritation... Except it's unmistakable, if Cass happens to look at the moment, that Lily is hidng something. There's also a melancholy clear in her golden eye.
"...We'll see if I stay surprised," Lily says. "But I think you do it because you like to keep people off-balance. I haven't dealt with a..." She trails off, and changes her mind about saying that at all. She has a drink of her beer, instead.
"...Mm. It should be plenty," Lily says, shaking her head. "I'm not used to..." She closes her eye, "I'm not the sort of woman who gets caught like that."
But Cass is right about vengeance. Lily is... Doing fairly well for keeping up with being impaired, but she's both drugged and drinking.
Cassidy just looks at her for a while, and Lily stares straight back. She waits for whatever it is... Or is content to just stare for a while. Her finger in the sling twitches once.
"I'm a luckier woman to have him," Lily counters, unvarnished by her usual layer of sharpness. She stops at that and that single eye widens. "Damn," Lily says, looking to the side as if she can think of something for this. "...Damned if I can remember what that would've been. Nortune. The things he could do there..."
Lily looks to Cass again, "I guess. The only thing I can think is..." She considers, and shakes her head, "That it has to do with how much I was affected. You see... Believe me or don't, but I get a... sense, for other peoples' feelings." Lily puts the cigarette to her lips. "His were screaming at me. I know I didn't reveal anything about Nortune. I'm trained to resist torture." Inhale, a deep, long puff to hang into her lungs. "Damn..."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
She does know it. Cassidy's grin at the blatantly mistaken assumption of Lily's status makes that clear. With the melancholy look, however, she tilts her head back. Amusement returns, though something softens its normally brilliant edges. "Dinnae ken what you're waiting for, lass, if it's such a sure thing," she tells her. "World's dangerous enough tae risk the shoulda-coulda-wouldas. Hope you're nae abiding by the 'we have an important mission and everything must wait until then' bullshite, because Life and Death dinnae wait for anybody. I figured if those two bastards cannae hold their horses, nae any reason why you should."
There's a glance down at her glass at that, before she drains it. With a wrinkled nose, she pushes aside the tumbler; not out of distaste, but she really should have ordered an entire bottle.
But I think you do it because you like to keep people off-balance.
"Would you believe me if I say it's just my nature?" she wonders. "That it's nae got anything tae do with what I want tae do tae people, but rather a consequence as tae how I am around them?" Good humor returns, as irrepressible as the dawn. "Sorry tae tell you this, lass, but maybe, just maybe, you bring it out of me."
With the news dropped, she takes the widening of that single gilded iris in stride, while she orders another drink, and asks for the whole bottle this time.
"I'd be less worried about what he would do there, and more about what he can find out about you while there, lass. Consummate hunters study their prey."
She knows this very well.
What captures her attention, unerringly, is the fact that Lily doesn't seem to remember if she said anything to Ra that would lead him to Kislev; a fact that confuses the other woman as it does herself, until a surprising revelation slides across the table for her perusal. Brows knit faintly in the middle as the blonde scrutinizes her from across the way, thin, gray-white wraiths curling from the glowing end of her cigarette.
"Did you tell Leon anything about this?" she wonders. "If you dinnae, maybe you oughtae."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Cassidy's grin is more brazen than blatant in Lily's estimation, but she doesn't say as much for the moment. Cass looking down at her drink gives Lily time eventually to say, "...Yeah. I am. There are things I can't do until we get some answers. ...What you're saying is nice and all, but Death is what got us into this mess, and Life..." Lily manages a hollow look. "Mm. Forget it."
"I don't believe anybody above a certain level of innocence is defined just by their nature," Lily points out. "If you don't intend to do it, then you're willing to accept it. You-- " She stops, and manages a scoff of a laugh again. "All right, that I do believe."
While Cass orders the bottle, Lily just orders another beer. Hers is pretty much done after all. But...
Lily frowns at that, but there is no glimmer that she thinks is untrue. "Mm..." She trails off again, leaning back into her chair. "There's little he could use against me now that matters. Besides, he didn't need to know about me to..."
Lily bears up under the scrutiny well; she looks a bit tired, and if Cass looks closely, there's a deep red mark right about where her tear duct out to be, as if from a very small injury.
Lily puffs away, staring back. Until the question. "No," Lily says. "I haven't. I told him I ran into trouble, but I didn't get into detail. I don't..." She closes her eye, calming herself. "I don't want him to know." That hangs on the air for a moment before she vocalizes, "Ugh." Lily puffs again and the smoke comes as she speaks, "I really need another drink."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
" 'Nice'?" Cassidy repeats, incredulously. The look on her face is indescribable. But amusement returns quickly as she leans against the back of her chair. "Dinnae tell me you're waiting for him tae get down on one knee in front of all of your friends." But is that surprising? Simply waiting for something she wants is utterly anathema to her. She makes a living out of taking, and being a thief worth anything typically entails that one be armed by two things at all times: an acute sense of what one wants, and the drive to secure every means necessary to get it.
But Lily tells her to forget it, and while it is a tall order, she lets the subject go, exasperation bleeding in with her good humor. Because, really. Kids.
The other woman opines about what she believes is there about a person's nature, and the pale-tressed conwoman's smile takes on a different bent. As the bottle she ordered and Lily's beer are brought to them, she waves off the waiter before uncorking it and pouring whiskey up to the widest circumference of a tumbler - something one often does with wine and not such a potent beverage, but she was never one to play by the rules, either. Picking it up from the table, she lifts her shoulders in a slight shrug. "In a perfect world, that would be true, lass," she murmurs, lifting her green-and-gold stare to the medic-mage. In her glass, she glimpses the swing of the shade of a well-remembered body on the end of a long rope.
"But nae everything that's broken can be fixed. No matter how much you try...or care tae."
The image fades from her drink once she lifts it to her lips. The small injury is noted by those sharp eyes.
There's little he could use against me now that matters.
"Little, ay, but they're nae non-existent." And the fact that Lily refuses to tell her husband only proves her point. "Methinks this is one of those instances where you have the ability tae stack Leon's deck as much as you can, because eventually, he'll find his way over tae him." Lashes lower at that. "And he may nae be as lucky as you."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Cassidy's invocation of the spectre of Leon proposing publically gets a tiny shudder that's obvious to an observant woman. It's not surprising that Cassidy would be that way at all. Lily herself doesn't continue on the subject, even though there's more that she could say. That expression may say enough.
Cass's exasperation prompts her to add simply, "Not in public."
Lily's beer is brought over to her side of the table, and she nods the waiter's way. Cassidy might swear there's a light shadow cast over Lily's hand as she sets thumb to the bottle cap and suddenly pops it open one handed. She drinks through Cassidy's statement. Her beer clanks down on the table as she says, "Mm, don't mistake me for being optimistic. Just that training matters as much as inclination." Her cigarette waves about once, "...I know better than most that some things can't be fixed. I've sent too many soldiers home in pine boxes."
She smokes. In, and out, and she's running out of cigarette given how she's gone to it. The ashtray on the table gets another little column of ash from her.
Not non-existent. Cassidy mentions that possibility, of Isiris coming at Leon, and Lily stares at her, almost through her. Silence carries on for a long few moments.
"...Damn," she breathes. "You're right. He said as much, if not by name. Leon's better in melee than I am, but still."
Lily stares up to the ceiling, sour. "My pride and comfort aren't as important as his safety. I'll have to talk to him." A shake of her head. "Regardless of how I feel about it. No, you're right about this one. Unfortunately."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Don't mistake me for being optimistic.
"Nae in the habit of ruling anything out, luv," Cassidy assures with a smile, taking another solid drink of her whiskey. "Another part of my nature."
But in the end, Lily's visible eye widens again, and her cigarette returns to her lips, a hint of satisfaction rolling over her pale mien. "Dinnae I tell you?" she says with a sudden bright laugh. "Tae give me time, and that I can be verra persuasive?"
She learns something new about Leon Albus that she hadn't known before on top of it. Better at melee. She had seen his ARM once, peeking out from underneath one of his impeccably tailored coats, the afternoon they met in Adlehyde. But she has never seen it in action - melee suggests something other than a gun, and once again, she feels the only tangible link to her far past burning at her hip.
Her lips curl silently as she rolls her head back to look at the ceiling.
God, but she hates the Badlands. She can feel it all around her, even while trapped in a place she loves, where the soothing notes of smooth Jazz spills from the stage along with the mellow notes of a well-maintained saxophone. It is nothing visible, the toxicity of it crawling through the gaps between wooden slats and cold stone, suffocating her slowly.
She moves to stand from her chair, draining her glass, and picking up the bottle by the neck.
"Sounds like you've got a lengthy discussion ahead of you," she says. "I'll leave you tae it, then." She winks, pivoting on her heel, hand lifting in a casual wave as she starts to move away. "Stay healthy, lass."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
One perfect black eyebrow rises at Cassidy's smiling assurance. That is her only answer to it. There is more to think about soon enough, though Lily doesn't get caught up in that hint of satisfaction.
"Apparently," she comments about Cassidy's persuasiveness, puffing at her cigarette again and breathing out, finally pressing the remainder into the ashtray on the table as she watches Cassidy's curled lips, at whatever it is that these few moments say about her. There's a lot still that she doesn't know about Cassidy Cain.
But it could've gone worse.
So when the blonde woman stands, Lily watches her, considering. Is this why she was here? ...Is that paranoid? It's hard to say. Regardless, Lily lifts her beer towards the other woman.
"Doubtful," Lily replies. "Take care of yourself."
At that she takes another draught, sets it down, and picks up cheese and ham between thumb and forefinger, looking it over and popping it into her mouth. ...She takes a while to not talk, staring at anyone coming by. Her notebook is opened again, and the strange script in it gives her no trouble.
She has a drink to finish.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
It certainly could have gone worse.
It only takes a few steps, and the blonde conwoman is gone once more, her slender form disappearing up the steps and vanishing in the threshold that leads to the lobby of the Hotel Renais. These moments are often the usual for her, really, leaving those with whom she deigns to interact with more questions than answers, circling the drain around everything they don't know about the woman, herself.
And, in this instance, a single glaring unknown:
Just how she knew Lily's attacker was in Nortune in the first place.