2017-10-31: The Drunker The Better

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  • Log: The Drunker The Better
  • Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Cassidy Cain
  • Where: Outskirts of Wayside
  • Date: October 31st 2017
  • Summary: Cassidy and Josie wander back from an ill-fated expedition into an abandoned library, sharing a bottle between them. A crisis is narrowly (?) avoided (??).

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    The wastes of western Filgaia are vast and merciless indeed. Out here, little grows and little flourishes. Slowly, Filgaia is dying, and it shows its slow decline no better than a place like this.

    But perhaps life, as they say, finds a way.

    "...And just after we'd defeated the sandworm, another larger sandworm came through the wall..."

    So Josie explains, having launched into an apparent recount of an excavation as the two woman -- and a pigeon -- make their way slowly towards the buildings in the horizon. 'Wayside', the archaeologist had named it, nearest settlement unless they felt like hiking all the way out to Dazil. The sun rests low on the horizon, marking an end to what must have been a long day.

    Josie, gesturing loosely with her right hand, passes her flask on over to the woman who is apparently something akin to a new best friend.
    After braving the depths of a haunted library together, risking life and limb against a lewd golem, discovering they pretty much already knew or had met the same acquaintances, well, some commonalities seem to have been found.
    The liquor probably helps too.

    "...Eh, so, what about a historian named Ambrosius?" she asks, glancing over Cassidy's way. "Or... whatever he said his work was." Another wave of the hand. "Anyway. You met that guy? Tall, keeps his face covered."

<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.

Up until this evening, she has never heard of a settlement called Wayside.

 It looks like one of the typical cobbled-together shanty towns that pepper the Badlands like discarded confetti. From this distance, Cassidy Cain has no idea what sorts of denizens make it their home, but her assumptions run along the usual lines; Drifters and bystanders who work humble jobs and try to scrape a living from the wastes. It's nothing she has not seen before, and during the long walk back to civilization from the haunted library, she accompanies her new acquaintance with an easy gait and passing a flask back and forth, filled as it is with whiskey.

 "Nae kidding? Well, what'd you expect going tae a place like that?" she says, her expression indescribable; nothing about Josie's story convinces her that archaeology is the way to go, and she would rather deal with humans than giant creatures that explode out from t he ground, eating everything in sight. "Should tell you about the time Noah and I ventured intae the Hollows. Man had this brilliant idea tae use glue traps tae get past the giant kraken sleeping in the lake...except we hear a noise and we look up, and this fookin' bearcat comes flying out of nowhere and suddenly..."

 She claps one hand over the other. "Splat! Tentacle goes down. It all looks promising, because we thought it was dead...only it was nae dead, just glued tae the underside of this wildly flailing appendage trying tae destroy the rock bridge we're on. So now we're staring at this thing, which now has claws and Noah's screaming in the background because this was nae what he planned and..."

 She laughs. "Was useless throughout, because at that point, I dinnae ken what else tae do, so I just keeled over and laughed my fookin' arse off."

 The white-haired woman asks about Ambrosius and she inclines her head at her taller frame, venturing into the borders of the town. "Ambrosius? Cannae say I have. That's one from the list, methinks. What about...." She pauses, because she can NEVER remember. Probably because she was never afforded a formal introduction.

 "Morgan's boy. Short, with blue hair? Name's Roughly Allnight." What?? "...Trudy Longnight? Dinnae ken, but he sounds something out of those Roughrider books that Jude likes tae read."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    To be fair, a few of the major cities -- and thus more stable water sources -- aside, towns in the desert are like snowballs in a furnace. And that's even before the recent spate of towns and small villages vanishing off the proverbial radar of late...

    ...But there does indeed seem to be a settlement on the horizon, and it looks inhabited from here.

    "Only the best," Josie grins back, in spite of the topic at hand -- ruins and the dangers therein. "How else are you going to make the discovery of a lifetime? No risk, no reward, and that only goes triple for a ruin. Say, I should tell you about the time we ran into a slime nest over in the Gunsmoke Desert, too. See, see, there were all these attacks on nearby caravans from 'strange sandy monsters', so we tracked 'em down and..."

    And there she goes, spiraling off on a totally unrelated story.

    Before Cassidy launches off into a little adventuring tale of her own. "The Hollows, huh? Did you find a rock that kept coming back to haunt you, too? Or what about the reverse waterfall..."

    She trails out as Cassidy goes on. Talks about the time with the glue traps. The bearcat.
    The kraken.

    And sometimes, some things are just fucking hilarious. Especially when you've been drinking for... some time.
    Josie attempts masterfully to maintain a straight face, only to bust up, doubling over and slapping a knee as if this is the most hilarious thing she's heard in ages. "Hawthorne did that? Really?" She just starts laughing again, shaking her head. "Really! If I coulda been a fly on the wall..."

    Regaining something approaching composure, the woman straightens again with a sigh, shoulders rising and falling. "...So, no? Or just not sure? I can't say I know him well."

    Rudy, on the other hand...

    There's again a very poor attempt at keeping a straight face.

    "Roughnight. You know, there's something to be said for taking your own name. Sometimes."

    It won't be far now. The gates to the settlement are well within sight, a good brisk jog would take one right up to them.

    "So poor little Rudy aside, what about... Don't suppose you know a little waitress with a sword and a big Gear?"

<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.

"Oh, ay, that fookin boulder and that fookin waterfall that nae makes any sense. We saw those, too. It dinnae make us less mad! If nothing else by that point I just wanted tae get out of there as fast as possible. Was nae even there for any amazing discoveries, I was there for an unrelated job."

 But her smile broadens when Josephine appreciates the story she tells her - and why not, they are gossiping about a mutual acquaintance.

 "Wait till I tell you how I met the married couple."

 The blonde conwoman seems full of stories, as boots crunch into the sand and they start venturing within the town.

 "Oh, ay? Roughnight, then. Good lad, if nae too well-meaning for his own good. Helped me with sommat a few weeks ago or thereabouts..." And at Josephine's prompting about a little waitress with a sword: "What, you mean the Death Waitress? Just recently, she makes good tacos. I take it you're acquainted with all of them in that caravan? The alchemist and the silent type that hangs out with her? Jay Barber and Ethius Hesiod?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Hmm." Josie tilts an appraising glance Cassidy's way. "This one, I think I need to hear. You know that I ran into them at first just by chance? Feels like a lifetime ago... Then again, that girl's enough to put you through a whole lot of lifetimes..."

    Expression souring slightly, she reaches over and indicates with a waggle of the fingers that Cassidy should give that flask back.

    "So you know Jay! She's a good girl," Josie comments, with a thoughtful tilt of the head. "Too bad about her hometown. Still, there's a girl who knows where she's headed."

    Torwards a large, large amount of cash, at this rate.

    A few of the guardsfolk amble on by.
    Josie they know.
    Cassidy.... perhaps not so much.

    "So you do know Lunata! What about her friend with the golem? Good kid, if a little scatterbrained. Still, it's good seeing girls making it on their own." She appears to consider this for half a moment or three. "...Besides, if my old mentor had anything to say about it, he'd say I wasn't much better at that age."

    The guards are giving them both a long, long look at this point. Josephine makes a sweeping gesture that seems to say, 'look, it's me okay' before turning back to ask of her newest friend:

    "So! You wouldn't happen to also be on speaking terms with Emma Hetfield, would you?"

    ...Do guards normally have random battlefield debris as part of their bodies? Or are they both that drunk?

<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.

"Oh ay? How'd you run intae the married couple then? S'pose they get around, considering their death-defying flight out of whatever trouble they had in Kislev. I'm nae unreasonable, y'ken. I can trade story for story." She winks at Josie at that, though given the curiosity in the other woman's eyes, she tosses her flask to her and launches on hers.

 "Leon nearly got taken in by a scam being run by two kids - one was going tae distract him with a flower while the other one rifled his pockets for his wallet. Saw the weird ARM he was holding so I intervened, dinnae want tae see the bairns get in trouble, if Leon turned out tae be less than a stellar guy. Turns out he was. We ended up having a drink together, and I conned him intae a game. He lost, so he was obliged tae tell me why his face was in a wanted poster. Lily..."

 Green eyes glitter with the devil's own mischief.

 "Hers was a much more elaborate prank. I pretended tae be a jeweler, with a special order for Leon Albus, and I just happened tae run intae Lily at the tailor's. Managed tae fool everyone in the shop that day that I was carrying a custom engagement ring and I cried and lamented about how I might have ruined the second best day of the man's life by outing his intentions tae his beloved. I've never seen a woman turn so red in my entire life."

 There's a glance at the guards, before fixing a curious look at Josie. "What's with them?" she wonders, jabbing a thumb towards the sentries. "Either they ken you, or they ken you." An expectant smile blossoms over her mouth. "What did you do, you saucy bitch?"

 "Dinnae meet her friend with a golem, though truthfully, I can stand nae being anywhere near those bloody things in a while. Ties in well with my own acquaintanceship with Emma Hetfield. She, I met on another job. Noah's met her, too, he was with me at the time. This was back before Aldehyde bloody well...you ken." She waves a hand sideways.

 Everyone knows what happened to Adlehyde at this point.

 She squints at the guards again, narrowing her eyes faintly. "What's with those lads?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "The old flower-and-pickpocket trick, huh?"
    Is that a thing?
    Josie tsks, grabbing her mostly-empty flask out of the air. "Now that's disappointing. I guess first impressions really aren't what they're all cracked up to be," she laments to the world at large. "Here, I thought at first he was the smarter one." Her smile turns wry. "Of course, I know that's not the case now."

    Though still a savvy one, but that's a soldier for you.

    It's the other story that provokes the archaeologist to laugh, if briefly, taking one last swig of her flask before returning it to some pocket or another, the holster of a sidearm briefly revealed at her hip. "You did? I bet she did! Even when I joked about a wedding she just about killed me," she laments with an overdramatic sigh.

    "Anyway, since you told me yours, I'll tell you mind. It's not that interesting -- bumped shoulders with 'em out at the exhibition, chatted about work, and ended up agreeing to tag along on an excavation out in Sult. After that, well." She shrugs her shoulders, both hands tilted palms up towards the heavens. "After that, I found out they were in over their heads, so I figured I'd give them a little hand up. You know, after that business they had with Moshe and so on. Funny how things worked out."
    At least for now. Assuming there wasn't anything more in play that she just didn't know about. But then, that's also not her problem until that bridge bursts into flames.
    She glances sidelong at Cassidy and cracks a crooked smile. "...She asked me a little bit about him, you know. Trying to get inside his head. Good for me kiddo didn't ice him the way I thought she might. He's entertaining."

    "You really haven't been around here, have you?" Josie comments, tilting her head. And lifting one snowy eyebrow. "No, they're a little too young for me." She pauses, as if to reconsider this statement, then shakes her head, a lopsided smile on her lips. "Too old for me. Probably."

    After all 'Sunshine' sure didn't look like she was all that old. And yet.

    "Hmm." A thoughtful sound, her dark-eyed gaze flitting over Cassidy's way. "Family or friends in Adlehyde?" she asks, as if by way of casual commentary. Her brow creases.

    Penelope, until now idle on Josie's shoulder, abruptly takes flight.

    For a half-second, Josie hesitates.

    Then she strides on forward, slinging an arm affectionately over one of the young (?) lad's shoulders. "Ah, you know how it is, don't you? Everyone makes do in their own way. Give a poor injured kid some slack, right?" She jostles the guard friendily. "Lose an eye, get a fake one... or a fake arm, or whatever..."
    The guard seems hell-bent on trying to get away from her. "Ma'am, are you drunk?"

    Josie shrugs, slapping the other one on the shoulder. "Maybe I am."

<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.

"Ach, lass. Y'ken how men are. They have two heads, and sometimes they dinnae have enough blood tae keep both functioning. You really cannae blame them for slipping up now and then."

 When Josephine offers her laughter at the engagement ring story, a grin breaks over the line of Cassidy's mouth. "Kept telling her there's nae any use waiting," she tells her. "Will probably kill me if I tell you this, but she's waiting for the whole nine." If prompted to explain, she continues: "Waiting for the lad tae get down on one knee and ask polite like. Can you believe that bullshite? They're on the run, nae any guarantee that they'll survive all their troubles, and she wants tae wait for the question that she already kens she'll say ay too. Life's too short, I say. If I were her, I'd be kidnapping Leon and dragging him tae the nearest holy man around and just get it over with. Have a party with friends and loved ones later. Hell, that's practically what I did the last time I went off tae marry someone."

 When Josephine remarks about helping the two about their Gryndille situation, she angles a curious look at her. "Ay? Seems like military matters, though." Indicative that the woman knows something of Leon and Lily's search for Gryndille. "Going tae help regardless, ay, Miss Archaeologist? How's that going?"

 She puts away her flask, so she could pull out her lighter, with its delicate ouroboros engraving, and the two sapphires for serpent's eyes. Her pack of smokes comes to light, pulling out a cigarette with her teeth, lighting it up as she listens to the next topic.

 She asked me a little bit about him, you know. Tried to get inside his head.

 "Who?"

 Emerald eyes flick over to Josephine's face sidelong, but she gathers her meaning - inebriated as it is, it should be alarming how her mind manages to snap back into place when prompted. And all with the alarming quickness of the type of person who manages to function no matter how bloody, stoned, high or drunk she is.

 "Ah, Jude. Well." She lifts her shoulders in a shrug. "Dinnae look at me, lass, but considering his profession, methinks that's a harder endeavor than most. Writers spin stories - embellishments and fabrications are as natural tae them as breathing. If Lily wants tae get inside of a head like that, she's going tae have tae remember that before she tries. That's expected too, him being entertaining. Who does nae want a storyteller around? If nae else, conversations are nae boring." Something a touch more sly turns up the corner of her mouth. "Bound tae have a talented mouth, that one."

 You reallly haven't been around here, have you?

 "What, Wayside? Nae, how'd you come upon this place anyway? Thought I was verra familiar with the Badlands and all its fookin' bullshite." There is a genuine, razor's sharp edge of disdain there - her hatred of the Badlands rivals that of her own origin point.

 And when Josephine accosts the guards...

 "Oh, ay, she is," she says, moving in for the assist. "Drunk and as amorous as the day is long! Sure you dinnae want tae have a taste, lad?"

 The younger guardsman balks. "N-no, I-- "

 "I mean, it might be good for you. Put some hair in your chest."

 "I HAVE hair on my chest!"

 "Do you? Dinnae see anything where I'm standing. How much are we talking, here? A couple of long ones? A whole carpet?" She makes an overt wince. "Hopefully nae. Lasses like their lads manly, y'ken, but cannae say they're after gorillas either."

 The younger guard's face starts glowing a bright red. "I-- I-- I-- ..."

 "Or maybe you just dinnae like girls?"

 There is a very long, very telling pause. The guardsman looks at his older partner.

 Cassidy claps her hands together. "Awww!"

 "SHUT UP!" both guards cry in unison.

 "There's nae any shame in that, much like the mighty cactus, Love can also flourish in a godforsaken wasteland!"

 At this point, both have managed to pry themselves away from Josie's grip, taking off as fast as they can with red faces.

 "It's SO BEAUTIFUL!" Cassidy calls behind them.

 "OUR LOVE IS PURE HOW DARE YOU!!"

 As they vanish behind a building, the blonde takes another deep inhale of her cigarette.

 "So sweet."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Now there's an appraising look. "Really? Is that what she's waiting for? All she said to me is that she couldn't think about it now." Josie glances up towards the skies above, as if to beg mercy down down onto the poor fools of the earth from the heavens. "I can't believe that kid." And then, probably because she's had more than a few even before getting into town, goes on:

    "She should just one and done with it. If there's anything you want to keep in this world, you've got to grab onto it with both hands... I'm half-tempted to arrange a marriage myself just to get over with it." Her gaze tilts towards Cassidy. "What do you think? Find a holy man or woman, drag them both in, just get it over with? I bet I could find a nice dress for her, and, hell, I've always wanted to be the maid of honor..."

    She shrugs. "Or whatever." Mother of the bride, even.

    She then looks over at Cassidy. "So, you've been married? Didn't seem like the type."

    Then the conversation turns towards the 'couple's' quest and their ultimate goal. If anything, at that question, Josie lifts a curious eyebrow initially. Then sniffs, as if merely vaguely affronted instead. "It's an academic interest. I also research ancient ARMS, so I'd be delighted to take that thing apart myself. Besides, someone needs to stop them from killing themselves."

    It was also how she found out that she and Jude were suddenly on the same side. ...As opposed to being on the same side but playing funny tricks with words about it. ...More than they already were, that is.

    "Yeah, Big Red," Josie nods along. "I'm not sure whether I should be offended or not that she thought I would have any insight into however his mind works. Oh well. The point is, at least he's still living and breathing." She pauses, as if considering this line of thought carefully. "Probably. He did say something about covering the war."

    Which is itself followed by a lop-sided smile, of a very particular type. "You know what they say about the cunning ones." Josie, no.

    "This place? That girl I met, Shalune -- the one with the golems -- invited me here once. Guess you sure haven't been, have you..." Her forehead creases thoughtfully.

    A single white feather drifts down from the heavens as Josie moves into action.

    A critical gaze passes between the two guardsmen. "A whole carpet's a bit much, don't you think?" Her hands clap onto both shoulders now. "Maybe consider a good shave? Hm? I can help."

    This probably (definitely) doesn't help.

    And slowly Josie lifts an eyebrow.

    One final slap on the back for each of them ensues. "Well."

    "Who am I to get in the way of love? It's such a rare thing nowadays~~"

    She's drunk, right? Definitely really drunk?

    They slip away with ease, escaping to the tender mercies of the twilight into the village. Josie turns, shading her eyes as she watches them flee.

    "There they go," she comments, a faint smile on her lips. Her shoulders rise and fall. Then she fumbles in her pocket for a loose cigarette, waving it Cassidy's way. "Don't suppose you can spare a light?"

    At present, the area just outside the settlement is relatively still. There's the chatter of people in the distance, but it otherwise seems as if things are turning down for the night.

    "Anyway. They mentioned Gryndille to you, too?"

<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.

And because it wouldn't be Cassidy if she didn't somehow make Lily Keil's life more difficult even when she's not here, she responds: "Oh, ay. That's what I got the last I spoke tae her anyway. But that sounds like a good idea - throw them both a surprise wedding, see how they like it. Even better, have one of us officiate. Had tae pose as a priest myself, before. I have it all memorized, that's how Morgan got married the first time." And that, too, is a story.

 "Or I can serenade them while Lily goes down the aisle, you can be the maid of honor. One of our two thousand mutual acquaintances can officiate, and Jude can be the first hand up once someone calls out whether someone protests the wedding, proclaim his undying love for Leon, and we can all gasp at the scandal and talk about it for years about how it was the most eventful wedding we've ever attended. Sounds all like a good time tae me."

 Except maybe for the two lovebirds.

 So you've been married?

 Cassidy laughs, tilting her head back. "Ay, agreed," she says, her smile both present and absent at the same time as she inhales deeply of her cigarette. "Dinnae seem like the type, me."

 Somewhat of a non-answer.

 Her interest in ancient ARMs is noted; if nothing else, it reflects Noah's specialty in that regard, hence why he was able to identify the power gem that she is presently holding onto for leverage. Josie's nickname for her partner - a fact that she has so far managed to keep under wraps - nearly has her choking on smoke, a gesture that could easily be interpreted as her inhaling it wrong. "I'm sure if he's still alive, he'll turn up," she remarks.

 ....though once things shift to a raunchier turn of phrase, Cassidy laughs, turning a renewed appreciative look towards the archaeologist. "Oh, I dinnae ken, Miss Archaeologist," she says, ever the devil in disguise. "What do they say about the cunning ones?"

 With the other woman's correct assumption, and the mention of a girl that somehow owns a golem, the pale-tressed head shakes from side to side. "Nae, have nae been here before. It feels a little weird...cannae put my finger intae it yet, though."

 Then again, she's really drunk. Give her a moment.

 Turning the conversation over to the mysterious machine that's so far made Leon and Lily's lives hell, the silver glint of her lighter returns to her grasp, offering the singe tongue of flame to Josie's cigarette, "Ay, Leon did, and then a few more details came tumbling out," she tells her. "Mentioned a trip tae the mouontains and finding sommat there. Did you come up there with them? Might be a trip that could use your expertise."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    What can Josephine say -- or do rather -- to that except laugh? "It'd have to be an ambush, anyway, as much as I'd love to dress in white or red or whatever color it is these days and do it all proper-like. They're both fools but they're not stupid." She clasps her hands loosely together. "So! We'll just have to find some place we can drag them both off to where we can do do the honors, and then hope they don't just kill us for the favor~" Despite her words, her smile is unrelentingly cheery, as if this is the best idea she's had in weeks, if not months.

    "Or do you think dumping a bucket of rice on their heads and saying they're married now is enough? I guess we could throw in something about the Guardians just to make it official." She clears her throat, then affects a bombastic tone, "By the power invested in me by the Wind Guardian Fengalon, I now pronounce you man and wife--"

    They'll be more than just killed. Lily will personally scatter their ashes to the four directions.

    So she didn't mishear that. Josie had perhaps pegged her as a kindred spirit on that front, so the only question Cassidy gets is a raised eyebrow.

    And then the discussion turns towards Jude. To be fair, this is another case of an unfortunate spontaneous nickname. First 'Sunshine', now this. Maybe she's just getting tired of referring to every third person as kid or kiddo and has decided to branch out. "He's pretty good at that, huh. Then again, that's true of me, too. We just don't know how to stay dead."

    Things take a rather suggestive (to put it mildly) turn.
    "They say they're..." Josie pauses, then tilts her head to one side. Her lips move briefly. She creases her brow then closes her eyes in mock (?) irritation. "Damnit! I started that one off wrong, now the joke's ruined," she huffs. "Linguist. I should have said 'writers make good linguists'."

    She perhaps is somewhat intoxicated. For her.

    "They've got a good spring going here. Some underground source," Josie offers with a disarming smile, as a makeshift answer to 'what feels so strange about this place'. It's not really the right answer.

    There on the outskirts of town, Josie dips her head in an appreciative nod and takes a long drag.

    Penelope has notably not yet returned.

    "...Yeah," she says, after a moment or seven, as if silently deciding upon, 'why the hell not'. "Up a mountain and into the guts of an abandoned base. ...Pun unintended. There was, eh," she gestures, a faint grimace on her face, "a whole lot of bodies down there. Seems like it's all a damn mess," she opines. To say the least, considering how broken up a certain young lady had been about it. "Why, did they go and find something without telling me again?"

    If there were a wall here, she'd settle grouchily against it. Instead, the tall archaeologist folds her right arm across her abdomen and hunches her shoulders. "Fengalon's teeth, if that's what that girl's vanished off to do..." She trails off, angrily smoking.

    "...That's it. We're going to marry them."

<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.

Talk about Lily and Leon's forced wedding has Cassidy turning her tremendous capacity for mischief in that direction, though Josie's words about the bucket of rice culls a disbelieving expression on her features. "I reiterate, Lily Keil is actually waiting for her man tae get down on one knee and do it proper like. After that, do you really think tossing rice grains on their heads is going tae satisfy her?" She laughs. "Considering she will nae compromise her wardrobe choices for sommat more practical, methinks she will nae settle for any less than an affair in which she can wear a wedding dress." There's a wrinkle of her nose at that. "Ach, bloody hell, like the dust will nae ruin that anyway."

 There's another drag of her cigarette. "Still, sounds like a surefire way tae get us both killed. And y'ken how I ken that?" She gestures between the two of them. "Because I'll claim it was all your bloody idea, you'll do the same. They'll look at each other trying tae figure out who was the mastermind, then decide we're both capable of it and kill us both. Arr Eye Pee, us. Hopefully you already ken what you want on your tombstone."

 All in good jest. There's a quirk of a grin, brows raising upwards.

 Her own brand of mischief levied into the air, she waits as her equally drunken companion tries to make sense of her earlier joke, the challenge afterwards issued by her, and once Josie has to correct herself with 'writers make good linguists' she can't help but laugh. Finding a post - one of those ones where placards with directions are nailed upon - she leans heavily against it and lets loose the building torrent of mirth. "Ay, well, I would nae ken either way, but that sounds just about right. Cannae be a writer without having a relatively intimate relationship with many words."

 She pauses. "Maybe Mr. Moshe can give the speech, speaking of words. That'd make him Leon's best man, ay? But considering his unrequited love for him, it'd only give the proceedings the additional dramatic twist it needs. What do you think?"

 Wayside's water supply has her inclining her head towards the town's general direction. "Really? Is that why their guards look so bloody weird? Heard of water doing strange things tae locals, just nae this weird."

 And when the conversation takes a more serious turn towards what they found up in the mountains, the blonde conwoman quirks a brow upwards. "Leon did mention the bloody thing was dangerous and it dinnae much care for leaving witnesses behind. That sort of proclivity will always produce a mass amount of corpses, but I also mentioned tae him that a perfect record for sommat automated is impossible - dinnae parse with the laws of probability, y'ken? So I said tae him maybe wherever the thing drops, there's a handler or observer making sure it does the culling perfect. Just because it dinnae have a pilot dinnae mean that nobody was watching. And if you find the person watching..."

 She waves a hand, as if it would explain the rest.

 "Anyway, nae sure if that's where Lily vanished off tae. Last I saw of her was what I already told you before - she got cut up by our mutual blue-eyed serial killing acquaintance. Have nae seen her since then."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Expression still twisted in that mock (?) mask of purest exasperation, Josie's gaze slowly slides towards Cassidy. "Of course she won't, she's a stubborn idiot who doesn't know how to reach out and take what belongs to her anyway." But in spite of that little expression of pure venom, she lopsidedly smiles nonetheless. "It's not about what /she/ wants. It's about me getting what /I/ want. If it puts a little ice into her bath, so much the better!"

The normal expression is probably something like 'fuel to the fire', but. This is Lily she's discussing. Ice might be better.

"Besides, it's about as much effort as I feel like managing."

The smile only broadens. "And if she didn't, I'd officially have to worry about kiddo. Hmm, maybe it's about time I gave her a new name. What do you think about Tiger?" Tiger/eye/ had been the name Noah had called her, and it was a pretty good match as far as Josie could tell. But forget the rocks, a certain young woman has more in common with a large predatory cat. "I could even make it a theme and call him Lion. I really need to step up on my nickname game, right?"

One hand rests lazily at her hip. She's obviously having some trouble /not/ laughing at Cassidy's assessment that the stunt will probably just get them both killed. "At least I'll know I won't be dying alone. So, what /do/ you think about 'Died as she lived'? Hmm, maybe punch that one up a little," she speculates, frowning as she regards the middle distance. "'Putting the fun in funeral'?"

The sign says something like ORPHANAGE, complete with an arrow. It looks like someone under the age of ten probably painted it themselves. Adorable. "Hmmm, well..." Josie considers, lifting a hand to her chin as she mulls the matter over, "It would be an interesting twist in the proceedings, particularly the part where the bride murders the best man." She once again smiles lopsidedly. Maybe it'll be the new tradition."

Josie's friendly, cheerful expression barely shifts.

"Must be something in the water," Josie suggests, a helpless smile on her lips.

Well, this could go seven kinds of pear-shaped.

But on the other hand, even if she's fond of the bar here it's still not her town.

"Mm." Dark eyes flicker away, the topic turning to a darker subject.

Josie nods. "...If it was unmanned, you'd expect it to eventually massacre a stand of trees, or get stuck on a mountain, or wander off into the sea, or something like that." She gestures with both hands as if silently attempting to suss out the weight of two invisible objects, one resting in each palm. "Welll, I guess, 'ancient mysterious technology' something or other bullshit. /Maybe/ someone made a machine with the singular, focused goal of killing as many people as possible, but only in some places, sometimes. /Maybe/ it somehow survived untold eons to then awaken precisely fifteen years ago and immediately pick up where it left off, without any input."

She tilts one hand, as if to let one of her imaginary objects fall to the ground and grimaces.

"If we're being honest, though, that's not likely. Probably someone's found it and they're getting it to do their dirty work. So, figure out who they are, and it'll solve itself."

Probably by violence, but who is she to judge.

Well, mostly. She still lets out an aggrieved sigh as Cassidy mentions she's seen neither hide nor hair of Lily of late. "I'm not bailing her out again if she's gotten in a fix," she mutters, closing her eyes.

Neatly eliding the fact that mostly, it's been Lily bailing Josie out after something's gone awry, but, details...