2017-10-22: The Pact is Struck
- Log: The Pact is Struck
- Cast: Seraph Mirielle, Jacqueline Barber
- Where: Bledavik - Shakhan Square
- Date: 10-22-2017
- Summary: Jacqueline is summoned to Bledavik by the spookiest of ghosts. There, a deal is formed...
=======================<* Bledavik - Shakhan Square *>======================== Named after the Prime Minister of Aveh following the fall of the Fatima Dynasty, Shakhan Square is a large open plateau laid over with ancient, polished stone. The Square plays host to a variety of events, festivals, and official gatherings designed to raise the morale of the population. When not in use for these more pleasant purposes, it also serves as a marching and training ground for Aveh's regular military forces. At the moment, the Square is taken up with a large circus festival, with booths offering a range of food, drink, goods, and services to anyone with coin.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
The spookiest of seraphs had come into possession of a big pile of bank books.
A lot of them.
And they were old. Cyre and the others had been disappointed that the treasure of the Serpent Shrine, after all the traps, dead-drops, and super cliche run across crumbling concentric platform rings to the center - which wasssss...
A library. A really boring one. Not even one about the guardians, or spirits, or magic, or ancient power - but math. MATH and BANK BOOKS.
So Mirielle collected as many as she could carry (which involved skeletons because 'she' was a terrible person with spooky servants) and dragged them out of the desert-pass pit that was the Serpent's Shrine, and contacted Jacqueline - known Merchant-y-type.
In the form of slasher letter, finger-written in what looked like blood.
'IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE ME AGAIN'
'COME TO THE BIGGEST CITY'
'I HAVE QUITE A FRIGHT FOR YOU'
'-M'
And so she could be found hanging out in a tavern in the squre of Bledavik, a dish of rich soup slowly disappearing into the air with a mysterious floating spoon... TO NORMIES.
To sensitives, well, Mirielle's eating some soup while she waits.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It was not too long ago that Jacqueline had received a disturbing letter. It just...showed up one day, as if handed off by the darkness itself. Jacqueline was quick to hide it from the rest of the Caravan members, and it was with some trepidation that she read it.
'If you ever want to see me again...'
...Well, she had to do it, didn't she? So, cautiously, she set out for the biggest city in the area she knew of in the area...
Bledavik.
A convenient location, for there were things going on in the background that concerned her, anyway. But first...this meeting was more important.
She did some inquiring, eventually overhearing concerned comments about disappearing soup and floating spoons. There could only be one culprit...
A Seraph. And she knew only one Seraph would could be responsible...which did, admittedly, make her feel a little bit better about the whole thing.
Jacqueline enters the tavern quietly, and to those on the outside, appears to be offering the floating spoon a friendly wave.
"Hello there, Miss Mirielle. I, um...I got your letter..." She comments with a smile.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
A bloodsoaked letter, signed '-M'? Well, there's only one or two people that'd send something like that, right?
Mirielle turns and beams at Jacuqeline as she's addressed, her whole face lighting up (which may be spooky in its own way, but That's Miri). "Hey! You got my message, that's great. After sending it I realized that I didn't explain where I'd be, so I had to be rrrreally obvious about where I was." She sighs. "Sometimes, form and function are hard. You have to do something, but you want to do it right, but in the process of doing it right, you don't really... do it?"
She tilts her head, hair falling over her eyes. "Has that ever happened to you?"
She places her spoon down, gesturing to the booth. "Please, please, sit. Iiii..." She pulls a large tome, almost as big as her torso, out from next to her, to thunk on the table with a rattle of spoon on bowl.
"Found this. They're ancient bank books, I think. That's what Cyre said. Ancient investments, maybe? I admit, I'm not really... Commerce-inclined. It's not really my field, you see."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It was a little spooky, but Jacqueline can't help but smile back.
"Ah, yes...I appreciate it. It did make it easier." She replies, then considers the question. It...takes her a moment to think about.
"Yes, I've had that problem before. It's a big issue when it comes to potion-making. Sometimes you have to go with your instinct. If you try too hard to make it work, sometimes you'll just end up making a big mess." She replies with a shrug. At Mirielle's insistence she moves in and takes the seat across from her, ignoring the stares she must undoubtedly be getting from those around her who can't see the Seraph.
...Her friend Lunata had to put up with this all the time, so she could, too.
"Is this the 'fright' you promised me?" Jacqueline questions when Mirielle drops a huge tome on the table.
She reaches toward it, flipping through the pages as Mirielle explains the situation.
"Ah, Cyre found this? I see..." She murmurs. "Well, he's not wrong, for the most part."
She leans back in her chair, then.
"That's a merchant's ledger - an old one, at that. It details all of their transactions, investments included. Of course, these transactions aren't always monetary in nature - sometimes they're an exchange of goods, favors...sometimes, even just a word of recommendation." She explains. "It's essentially the merchant's equivalent of a diary or a journal...and because of that, any competition they might have are always very interested in getting their hands on them, since it can give them a leg up on dealing with them. There's a lot that can be gleaned from them, if you know how to read them."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
There's an astute nod to the elements of potion-making. "Alchemy is like cooking, as I understand. Some things are recipe, and others are more... feeling, smell, taste. An unknowable quantity of experience. But isn't, sometimes, a big mess desireable?" She wonders, her visage contemplative. Then, the big question.
"The fright I promised you...?" Mirielle echoes, sounding confused for a moment. She thinks back to their discussions and her letter, failing to remember. Jacqueline goes over the book, a detailed account of investments and transactions and sales and the like, and Mirielle finally snaps to her realization. "Oh! I did, in the letter. Oh, sometimes I just throw things like that in to increase the expectation. Were you chilled..." Her expression drops, shadow filling in around her eyes as her expression turns dark. "... to the bone?" She murmurs, rumblingly low in tone and dire in its portent.
And then she smiles, and the effect dissipates. "Ah, so it is valuable then? I've got dozens, I didn't know what to do with them. 'Looting' is not my forte, and neither is this sort of business, so I thought to ask you about it. Getting back there to put them back, if they were worthless..." Mirielle trails off.
"Well, I'd rather not think about it, and hope that they were sufficiently interesting for you? I do not care nor need for currency, largely, so if you'd like them you are free to take them."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Yes, that's it exactly!" Jacqueline agrees with a nod, and then chuckles slightly. "Well, yes, sometimes...though I prefer a bit more elegance and grace in my conctions..."
Jacqueline, I don't think there's any elegance or grace in a potion whose primary descriptor is 'smells really awful'.
There's a nervous smile when the atmosphere around Mirielle darkens for a moment, though she lightens up a bit as it fades away again.
"Valuable? Well, these days they can be, if you can find the right buyer. Mostly you'll be looking for museums, historians...other sorts of archivists..." She replies. And then Mirielle offers to just give them to her.
"Oh, are you sure? That'd be nice, but I would feel kind of bad about that..." Jacqueline murmurs, then thinks it over.
"...Hmm, well, you should come by my place of business sometime, at least! We could give you a proper meal! In fact, I have a friend who I think you would be interested to meet..." She offers with a smile. She just hoped Lunata wouldn't be too spooked...
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle nods twice, slowly, along with the merchant's word on the elegance of concoctions. "Yes, yes. There is a large difference in the substance and subtle elegance of a well-executed action of any sort. Have you ever been simply spooked? It's not pleasing or enriching event. There's a sound, a thump, a falling object. There's no craft to it! There's just... Shock. Shock has a place, but true terror, isn't something so simply created."
Mirielle pouts. "You can't just make a loud sound in the dark and call that terror."
She notices that she's off track, playing this off while adjusting her lap. "Ahem, yes. The books! Well, I've ten armfuls of them, so they're cluttering up some closet or bedspace or another. I had thought them a prosperous gift to render as a blessing to someone of your calibre..."
She raises a finger. "Do not feel bad about a blessing rendered from those capable of vising those gifts upon others." She intones, as if reciting scripture, eyes three-quarters lidding with the words. She then opens one eye up, a mischevious look on her face. "But I'd love to meet your compatriots. I'm certainly interested in meeting new people. Each heart one can touch is another opportunity for the blessings of Althena to make manifest."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Yes, exactly! I understand what you mean. Alchemy is the same way. Anyone can simply mix up something that explodes, but a real alchemical concoction needs a bit more nuance to it." Jacqueline says, smiling brightly. She was glad they could agree on that subject.
"Wow, that's quite a lot..." Jacqueline comments, surprised. Then again, they were apparently huge, so a single armful was probably about...one book.
Mirielle tells her not to feel bad, so Jacqueline nods.
"Well, in that case, Mirielle, I appreciate it." She replies. She wasn't sure if the possibility of spreading knowledge of Althena was the best reason to meet new people, but...Mirielle was nice. Unlike some people running around, she doubted Mirielle would be pushy about it.
"I'm glad to hear! They're a great bunch, really, when you get used to some of them..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
AdVenture Capitalist and Spooky Ghost Girl bond over a shared appreciation for the finer aspects of spooking the guts out of people and combining the guts of things to put in people. Really, there's a lot of carryover here.
"Oh, well, I thought to take an entire section, for completion's sake, but leave the rest, both for other adventurers and to leave history there for the historians. One cannot stripmine a place of history... really, that would be just rude, wouldn't it? I should have left a note, in fact... Ah well. One cannot go back into the mists of time, can they?"
She nods happily at the prospect of meeting new people. "I truly look forward to enriching--" she speaks, and as she does, there's an chill breeze that brings upon it haunting voices, clearly not from the tavern around. 'Kill...' 'Unleash...' 'Rend...' and other such terrible words. "--their lives with the blessings of Althena. I suppose I have a bit of work to do, as the Guard have not done the best of jobs endearing themselves to you? Ah, I'll have to plan things out... a real night to remember, for everyone! Perhaps many nights!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I don't think you have to worry too much about that. You often find that there's a lot more to those old places than you thought. It's like a new configuration of rooms every time...I think it'd be difficult to remove every bit of history!" Jacqueline comments, then chuckles. "That is true, though..."
There was no going back(though JRPG law dictates they probably will at some point).
Jacqueline kind of pales a bit as a chill breeze floats through the room carrying ominous voices.
"Ahah...y-yes, they...they've been doing a simply awful job. A friend of mine even them left out of sheer disgust with the way they've been carrying themselves..." Jacqueline replies with a nod and a hesitant chuckle. By this point, it probably wasn't too difficult to find out that the deserted Guard was one of her CaraKin...she had a feeling the Guard might even be aware of it themselves already, anyway. "But yes, I'm sure we'll...look forward to it, hahah!"
She had a feeling she might've made a bit of a mistake here...
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Excellent! Yes, good. This was all according to her masterful (and spooky) plans. Exactly as drawn up.
Mirielle extends a hand across the table, as if to shake. "Then, when that time comes, and I bring the books to you, we shall have a wonderful time."
She waits long enough for shaking, and as Jay's hand clasps the Seraph's (which looks patently ridiculous to the patrons, who have long since started pointedly not paying a lick of attention to the entire table) there is a dark smoke that leaks from her sleeve, spiralling around the two joined hands.
The door rattles before banging open, and the lights flicker once or twice. The patrons look around, startled, as Mirielle stares unblinkingly at Jacqueline.
"The pact is struck, then. We shall have... a good time."
KRAK-THOOM booms thunder outside, on what was a pleasant and clear day, or... was that her imagination?
Mirielle continues, her smiling face still shaded somehow. "I'm sure when we all meet..." rrrrrrrrumumumummmble "... It will be a night to remember..."
She giggles at her own joke, the laugh of evrey creepy little girl in every b-horror-movie to date. Then, well, if Jay hasn't snapped back in her chair, she seems to remember that she's got someone's hand in hers, patting her sleeve with some mild annoyance (that her spooky was leaking) and releasing Jacqueline's hand. "Ah, sorry, I got ahead of myself. So exciting!"
She goes back to eating her soup slowly as if nothing happened. "Ah, it cooled..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline puts a smile on her face and extends her hand to grab Mirielle's...and that's when it all happens. Darkness leaks from Mirielle, wrapping around their hands. The room shakes, the light flickers...
And all the while Jacqueline's sitting there, stock still and pale as a sheet. It's only when Mirielle giggles and releases her hand that Jacqueline's hand falls to her side.
"A-ah...w-well...I'll...look forward to it...? Hahah..." Jacqueline replies nervously, standing from her seat.
"I'll leave you to your soup, then..."
And then, very quickly, she'll make her way out of the room.
She's just that excited, clearly.