2017-11-29: A Feast for Buns

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<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

"That's--"
It's punctuated by a hiss of breath from the young medic, as he attempts to not flip out of the saddle, to undoubtedly then get trampled for his pains (which there would be a lot of in short working order). The reins are taut; despite his best efforts, he's really not managing any better than 'just hanging in here', but perhaps on the bright side it's still better than falling.
Even if Seraphita, clinging way too tightly to him would mean he probably wouldn't die alone.

She helpfully pat pat pats the horse.

The horse wheels, attempting to fling them both off now. He's barely holding on. Another second and he's sunk. "--not working--!" Loren manages through gritted teeth.

Which is the point where the horse gets punched right inbetween the eyes by Dan. Much like a shark (is that sharks?) the horse settles all four legs on terra firma again, having gone a little bit cross-eyed.
r "..." is Loren's approximate reaction. Well, okay, then. "...Ma'am, we should hurry." And get off the horse before it notices, that is.

After that, where is there to go but inside? He'll slip off his coat and hand it over, because the last thing he wants to carry about is the dust of the road.

And from there it's apparently... dinner.
His stomach, helpfully, reminds him that it's been a while since he last ate.
Loren's gaze tracks the room briefly, noting a few familiar faces in the crowd before taking a seat.

A hand claps him on the shoulder, and to judge by the way the young man stiffens, it caught him off guard. A stare is turned Kent's way, which turns by degrees into some expression of mute horror. Seraphita is a beastwoman, Fire Element or not -- though he does have the sense to watch it while right in front of her. "She's a superior officer, not a..." He trails off, as if it's difficult for him to spit out that word.

<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

Dan to the rescue!
Seraphita oooohs, hopping off the horse to look down at the tiny man. "That was awesome! You were like, BAM, and the horsie was like, shhhhh, and now we're not all dirty and trampled!" Dan could use some positive reinforcement, and the heavens are happy to provide that for him on this day.

The smell of dinner lures the bun inside, sooner or later, trailing after Dan and Loren, looking mesmerized by the promise of food until someone asks for her things.
Seraphita does not have a vest or jacket to offer Ribaldy, and so she digs into one of her pockets to produce a long strip of pink and red fabric that eventually unfolds to reveal it's a skirt, which keen observers might notice is probably the one she isn't wearing right now, and seemingly never does. But Seraphita likes to be polite, and when someone offers to take your things you give them things to take.

Then she finds a seat. Everyone stares at Elly, which distracts the rabbit from Loren's awkward explanation of something she would, lucky for him, probably confirm without knowing what it means. Seraphita leans towards Elly, whispering: "Heeeeey, everyone is starring at you, should I do it too, I don't wanna be impolite."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Seraphita has learned something during the trip which may have vanished from her mind until recently. Elly had mentioned that she had brought a flute along. Then again, in the moment, Loren is being thrown from his horse, possibly to his grisly demise.

Elly puts her jacket in the care of a Tie, even if it's mostly pinkish denim rather than anything very 'nice'. Looking round the approach is like drinking in a picture from a book, and for once, Elly's atypical perspective works in her favor: She can't see anything wrong with any of this.

Parbody is present, although she's wearing her gas mask even here. It's the nice one - it's white, even - and it's thin enough that she's been able to sip from a glass through a paper straw. ("Bad stomach, what," she'd said, if someone asked.)

Elly feels eyes on her, which Seraphita helpfully points out. Tension rises in her back and spine. Taking a deep breath, she smiles at her, and explains quietly, "We've worked together in the past."

Then, with a bow at the waist, Elly says, "This is Seraphita - she's an Element, an autonomous - well, the details aren't important." She smiles as she takes a half step back, so that Seraphita is Front and Center. "She represents Fire, actually, so I'm sure you'll all get along. I suppose, Mr. Hauch, that she's like a 'Suit'."

At this point, Elly goes down the line: "This is Mr. Hauch; that's Mr. Foobach, who was with us in Adelhyde; that's Mr. Ribaldy, with the Apron... I think that's Ms. Parbody there, but ah - well, anyway - and I don't think that we've met, either!" This final chirp is aimed at one of the lucky* Jackets, who also gets a smile at.

Elly is trying not to think about the pig. It's kind of gross to think about like... EXACTLY where meat comes from.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Seraphitia hands a skirt to Ribaldy, which calls his attention to how she's dressed. The beastman's ears and tail stand on end as he very carefully turns away to place it reverently within the closet.

--

Kent shows his teeth toward Kahm. "Lotta new recruits lately means a lotta 'ands on the fields." He then thrusts his chin toward a Jacket sitting across from Samuelh. "Plus, Lake's in town. It was a happy-like coincidence."

Lake is a whip-thin, bitter looking man in extremely black clothes with straight, limp hair that hangs to his shoulders and a long scraggly beard. After a nearly disrespectfully long moment, he nods his head and stares at his food. Kent continues: "Lake runs the Adlehyde operations now that everyone's stopped payin' attention. Don't mind all that silence, 'e's almost as hateful as me."

By the luck of Important Characters, Elly is smiling at Lake. He leans away distrustfully and has no dialog prompt, though his ellipse from earlier did have a portrait.

Kent was giving Seraphita a lazy look-over until Elly mentions that she somehow represents Fire. His eyes snap up to hers, bright an intent. "Fire, eh." He grins, eyes narrowing. "You can trust fire, I always say." Fargo picks his hat up as he stands, putting it over his heart as he gives Seraphita a small bow. Ribaldy looks away and pokes his fingers together.

Samuelh the Molotov, drunk, leans over half the table to whisper very loudly at Ribaldy: "Ey! Are you... blushin'?" He grins his tombstone smile.

Kent is now taking food. He actually eats his greens, because Ribaldy once yelled at him for an hour about how proper diets work. "I know I 'aven't been too active since the temple. Had a lot of management to do, been away too long, 'adn't set up the Night Mayor proper-like."

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Kahm's eyes connect with Lake's. The silence that passes is indeed uncomfortable.

One moment longer though, and that Major will nod his head in acknowledgment. "I see." He said, taking a heaping helping of pork into his mouth. While Elly averted her eyes for the truth, Kahm seemed all too ready to partake. There was something to be said for the rustic food of the land, grown or hunted fresh. The flavors, tones, and even texture came alive to someone who was all too used to packaged military rations and other highly processed foods common to Etrenank.

"Hopefully the cultists haven't been causing too much trouble." He observed after swallowing, "The Prime Minister finally decided to make a move against them, however mild. We've had our share of responsibilities as well, but I wanted to take the time to survey the badlands and investigate some rumors that've been trickling over to Bledavik."

Meanwhile, Dan has also taken a seat opposite Kahm, piling greens and meats onto his plate one by one. He occasionally directs his eyes at Kahm or Elly, but doesn't say anything.

"Found a village near the border, founded by some Demons that can't apparently fight. They don't have much at the moment, but we did find something interesting.." Kahm said, looking up at the Black Tie headman. "A statue, just like the one in Bledavik. It's deep underground in series of caves near the settlement. I can't imagine it'll stay ignored for long."

<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

"Aww, that's not true, Elly! I don't have a cool suit!" Her uniform is cool, but it isn't a cool SUIT. That's important. Therefore, Seraphita cannot be a Suit. It's in the name. That's how it works, she figures.

There is a pause, as Fargo bows to her. Seraphita rises from her chair, bowing politely in return, not one to skip a beat when comes the time to be nice and proper. "It's nice to meet all of you! They talk about you a lot in the chain of command! In good too!" Except the part where they're not ~super pure and awesome~ Solarians. No, truly, spending so much time down on the surface, even if you were pure-blooded... but then that's the elite for you.

"I like fire, it can do lots of things! Miss Lily is gonna teach me how to heal people with it someday!" That's a terrible thing to say. Kahm will probably stare. On the bright side he's busy starting some kind of briefing about a statue.

Seraphita will have to ask Elly and the Ties how they know each other another time.

"Undergroooound huh?" Seraphita ponders. "Oh, we should dig a shortcut to it! Then we can take it out without anyone noticing! Aww, but we'd need something that can dig a big tunnel unseen... do we have a Gear like that?"

Do we, Elly?

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Elly, fortunately, is present to help with introductions.
Because Loren is not being particularly helpful here regarding them. At all.

Well, beyond the brief nod he gives, anyway. This is pretty much as good as one might get where the medic is concerned, respect-wise.
And then he sits. Lake, he thinks briefly, glancing over the man's way. He think he's seen him around before...

Not one to waste time -- or calories, by the look of it (ether use is taxing, and so is being nineteen) -- he digs in; for all the prestige of his birth he's always had a rather pragmatic approach to what he eats.

"Yes, tunnels full of contaminated water. I would make sure you bring a boat," he says dryly, after he swallows. "Eventually some Drifter will find their way down there, if the Metal Demons don't get there first. I can't imagine the Demons will let the statue stand. Even a non-combatant can still detonate a charge."

There's a sidelong glance at Seraphita. 'Miss Lily'? Sometimes he wonders if Seraphita has the sense god gave a fly.
...To say nothing of her other commentary.

"...Somehow, I don't think that's an option, ma'am."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly shuffles up to have a seat, which is unfortunately near to Lake. Unfortunate for someone, anyway. Elly slowly realizes she completely overlooked Samuelh as well, which makes her cheeks, already tending towards the red from all the heat, bloom even more.

She goes heavy on the greens, but the pork isn't so hard to dig into once people are taking it apart. She sucks in through her teeth when Miss Lily is brought up, but she presses past it, she rises above. Then she says to Seraphita, "I don't know about any such Gear, but I suppose one could exist. There's supposed to be some really complicated caverns underneath the desert in Aveh, though... At least, that's what I've heard."

Deep sonar and all that. Nothing to worry about; it's not like you could just... fall in in a sand slide or something. That'd be ridiculous.

"Oh, yes, if you go down there, you should definitely bring a boat. The journey we took was rough because of that."

After taking a bite of the greens - which have enough savor and smoky taste that Elly pauses to look at them again with incredulity - Elly lets her attention return to Kent. "Did you say the Knight Mayor? Is that a hereditary title?"

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

If I told you Black Tie cuisine tended toward the spicy, would you be surprised?

Lake actually speaks up once Kahm starts talking about the Cultists. While Kent puts some gravel in his voice for effect, the thin man sounds like ten miles of bad road with an Adlehyde accent. "For every sin they try to make the people turn away from, we put out another with bells on. Gin beats God any day of the week."

"Hear!" slurs Samuelh, reaching out with his bottle of molotov. Lake sullenly clinks with him.

Loren may remember seeing the man, with shorter hair and no beard, in his first meeting with Kent when he was assigned the Todds. He had the same look on his face when Loren's arrival caused Kent to shunt the man out.

Who are outside, staring in through a window, peeking in through opposite corners like a mirror image.

Kent pokes his tongue into his cheek between chews of the smoked pork. A more impulsive person would point out that fire's healing is more of a 'cleansing destruction' kind of healing, but Elly once shot a heart that blew up a stone wall so he's going to take things as read. The Lily stuff blows right past him. "Well," he responds to news that people have his name in his mouths, "be a pretty rotten bloody contractor if I weren't making an impact."

He's placed the wooden 'apple' next to his plate. "Statue, eh?" Kent's eyes narrow slightly. "Might not be a bad idea to let those Drifters yer worried about," a glance to Loren, "get to it and watch 'em. Couldn't make heads or tails of whatever the hell they did to the Moor Gault'n... just that it made it impervious-like to that Metal Demon. Which divine failure's this one?"

Ribaldy, meanwhile, is driven to answer Elly, carefully setting a fifth wrapped pork cylinder on his plate. "Oh, uh, nah, you know, elected. Like a day mayor, but for crime. I made a joke once and it kind of got out of control? Anyway he said a race word again so I'm making him write 'I will not say dog-based race words even if it's really funny' one hundred times and he's gonna have to eat dinner cold." The dogman gives Seraphita a loaded look. A classic 'humans, huh?' glance.

Fargo mentions, while taking small bites, "Perhaps Ribaldy could construct an excavation apparatus for a Gear." Ribaldy's muzzle hangs open, his eyes glazing as he thinks about drills.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

"I've heard about some interesting prototypes." Kahm says on the topic of gears that can drill underground, "But our standing orders remain to keep a low footprint out here. The Commander would like to avoid diverting resources unless absolutely necessary, as with Adlehyde."

The Major bends an ear to Lake, and seems to approve of what the man says. A touch blasphemous, but he couldn't deny it a reality for those who lived on the surface: God was remote, and spirits much nearer. He won't clink drinks, but he'll enjoy a silent draw of his own refreshment while they do the same.

Kent mentions Moor Gault, which earns a thought from the officer. "Yes, that phenomenon is one we need to learn more about. I suspect there are more statues out there, so observing this one may be wise." He said, without deliberately assigning it to anyone just yet. Loren's identity was partially compromised, and Elly had Riesenlied's trust....he'd need to dwell on it.

Seraphita's mention of Lily earned an abrupt cough from the Major, who politely brought a napkin up to his face. "I didn't gather healing as her specialty, but the world remains full of surprises." He said, eyeing another morsel of meat.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Loren pointedly does not pay attention to the window. He just doesn't.

Lake on the other hand gets a briefly thoughtful look as the medical officer chews. Hmm. Last he'd heard, the church was making inroads on Adlehyde, but perhaps the tide's shifted; he's had other things to worry about recently.

"Given the circumstances, if certain accounts are to be trusted," the tone that underlies his words is definitely without a doubt withering, "it's likely our best approach." Better that than have the Demons have their way -- they can handle a few stray Drifters.

"Anyway. It's the turtle. It was named..." His brow furrows for a moment, then he shakes his head. It starts with an S, it was long and unwieldly, and it wasn't one he met in the temple. Any more than that, he'd have to refer to his notes from cultural. "Well, it doesn't matter," he settles for. "It's aligned to water."
As if the environment didn't give that away.

"I wonder if the statue has anything to do with the purification system," he adds, after a moment's consideration.

Before Kahm comments on Lily's abilities. Loren frowns intently at his still partially filled plate. "Unfortunately, the Fire Element is correct. 'That one' has some healing capability."

<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

"Oh. That's too bad. It'd be pretty cool and funny!" Drills are cool, and having a big comical drill-shaped Gear just swoop in and steal the statue would be funny. Water, though? Contaminated water? Eww. Seraphita pouts, having no further ideas.

On the bright side there's food on the table.

With Kahm mentioning Lily back at her, Seraphita nodnods. "Yeah! It's one of the things I found out when we chatted about her Ether powers!" As Loren goes on to confirm, even. "I think she likes me, she promised to teach me eventually!" There might be advantages to having Lily still out there after all.

Matters of statues and spiritual magic go far above the bun's head, though she muses idly, "It'd be neat if we could figure out how the statues make themselves imper... imperma... imperv... impertinent!" So close, Seraphita. So close. "Then we could make our Gears like that and Grandmeow wouldn't get hurt anymore!"

That pork has gone uneaten long enough, now.
Seraphita digs in like a great calamity unto pork-kind.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Ribaldy's ears wilt piteously when the Major decides to be conspicuous. Fargo silently places one hand on his broad shoulder. Ribaldy leans close to him and tries to whisper quietly: "Does it impress girls if you correct their [TL Note: English]?"

Fargo gives Ribaldy a look of incredible empathy before quietly shaking his head.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

"...that said, anything you're able to cook up with your own resources is likely fair game." Kahm adds, in between bites.

Was he actually...capable of pity?!

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly endures the spices.

And yet, she seems to be blanching in suffering when Seraphita talks about learning from Miss Lily.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Ribaldy's ears shoot back up.

Kent's face immediately darkens, a vein popping out on his right temple. He won't forget that name.

"Schturdark."

His fork stabs down into half a roast potato and he leaves it there to take a conspicuously big drink from his bottle of molotov, thudding it down on the table. At some point, everyone was provided with a bottle of the dual-purpose explosive/liquor ubiquitous amongst the Ties.

If it starts tasting good, that means you're going to die soon, but it's great for losing time.

As the night progresses, something curious happens. Despite his apparent animosity toward that particular Guardian, at no point does Kent volunteer the Black Ties for assistance in the mission. In fact, aside from Ribaldy occasionally muttering about various bizarre digging implements, none of them bring it up for the rest of the night.

Curious.