2017-12-11: Dust Dancing in the Wind
- Log: Dust Dancing in the Wind
- Cast: Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Little Twister - Dusty Lane
- Date: December 11th 2017
- Summary: Dean, returned from a trip to November City, returns with information on the nature of Avril's bounty. Avril considers things carefully.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Avril? Rebecca? You guys in there?" Dean calls right before opening the door to the small room they share at the orphanage. "I just got back from November City! Sorry I took so long. I checked in on Ida, and she wasn't doing so great, so I stayed a while to help cheer her up. I learned some stuff about the bounty on Avril, though!" He pauses, looking around the room. "Guys?" he adds, moving towards the curtain separating the room.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
After a certain trip, Avril's back. Kneeled on the floor, she demonstrates, with Rebecca following along, to a small child how a basic stitch in crochet works.
"Now, capture the yarn with the hook, and pull it through the loop. I suppose you could consider all crochet to be just that -- loops into loops. Ah...?"
Dean calls out at that very moment. Avril has paused, midstitch, well into the square she was working on. It looks perfect.
Rebecca's, by contrast is... not bad for a beginner, honestly.
"Dean? We're in here, Dean. Oh..."
Rebecca stuffs her work-in-progress away, then quickly stands to usher the kid on out of the room. "Sorry, sorry... Hey, Alice said she found a turtle earlier. Why don't you go see if she knows if it's still around?" Rebecca attempts to placate the kid with.
The kid, at first pouting as lessons are interrupted, gets very excited. "A turtle!"
Let's hope the turtle's still around.
"I see..." Avril murmurs, gaze downcast as she considers what he's said about Ida. "I'm sorry to hear that." She fidgets with the bit of yarn in her hand.
"...What did you learn?"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean steps to one side as Rebecca ushers the small child out. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize you guys were busy," he says sheepishly, rubbing a finger under his nose as they leave. "I'll fill you in later, Rebecca!" Then he grins at the kidlet. "Tell Alice and the turtle I said hi!" And, once they're gone: "Wow! A turtle! That's so neat!"
Avril brings him back to earth. Dean hunkers down next to her, legs folded in a pretzel. "Not a lot," he admits. "The Guild over in November City wouldn't tell me much. Whoever put that bounty up of you didn't want anyone knowing who they were--they paid a ton of money to make them keep quiet." He brightens. "Oh, but I do have good news! It's not because you did anything bad--that bounty's there because someone wants you home, safe and sound! So who knows--maybe it's a family member of yours or something! Originally they wanted you brought back to Elluria in Ell, but the place got changed to, uh..."
He pulls a small handwritten note in his pocket. "Meria Boule in Aquvy," he concludes. "Honestly, I don't know whether either of those places are, but if we go to Aquvy...!"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed. <SoundTracker> Motoi Sakuraba - Dust Dancing in the Wind ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQX27xjXl70
What can Rebecca do but sigh? "It's fine, let me take care of this," she says to her life-long friend, flashing him a smile over her should. "...Hey, Rickie, let's go find that turtle!"
"Yeah!"
Which leaves just him and Avril to talk about the poster and the listed bounty, in private.
Sunlight shines bright through a window, catching fine particles of dust as they there dance.
In silence, Avril listens to Dean explain things, punctuated only by the occasional short nod.
"...I see."
She fidgets again with the bit of yarn and creases her brow.
Then, lifting the hook, continues with the row of white yarn.
The silence on her end continues a moment longer.
"...Thank you, Dean. I truly am relieved to know it was no act I committed."
Do you have her? If you have her, and tell me where she is, I will leave right now.
But her pensive state continues. "Did the poster say that it was 'home'? Elluria in Ell... I believe that is far to the east, on another continent. There were rumors about a Sorcery Globe that fell on that land. Hmm..."
She completes another stitch, as if the act were helping her to think. The sense that she's missing something, that some important understanding is eluding her is again weighting heavily. There's something she's meant to do, someone she's meant to meet; surely...
"I think," she says a moment later, setting down the hook, "We should go to Meria Boule. When we're there, we can learn more about who these people are. But, Dean..." And here, she creases the yarn square she's been assembling right in half, "I am... uncertain about the people behind this request. Are they family...? Or, is there something else at play? They were willing to hire people such as Janus, after all. This concerns me."
"But neither can I simply ignore this opportunity. We shall need to proceed with care."
It had already become clear -- clearer -- to her upon awakening. Proceed with caution through this world, for it is...
And even that thought alone prompts her to frown.
Show mercy. Be kind.
Don't let them close. Strike them down, should they cross you.
It feels like another person is inside her, sometimes.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Oh, the poster didn't say it. The guy at the Adventurer's Guild did," Dean clarifies. Avril seems really thoughtful... No wonder, since this is the biggest clue yet they've gotten to helping her figure out her past and who she was. Bigger than Johnny Appleseed, even. Heck, maybe the person who placed the bounty *is* Johnny Appleseed! "I'm glad you're glad, though," he adds, smiling. "But yeah, the Guild guy didn't say one way or another. That's just where anyone who finds you is supposed to bring you. Whoever it is must be awful rich, if they can afford to pay that much to get you back home!"
And that is where Dean's thoughts end. It's an insightful observation, but if he doesn't follow it up... At least Avril can mull on the potential meaning of it. He waits for her to do another stitch, looking curiously down at her handiwork; when she continues, he nods. "Yeah, I think so, too." But--? As she explains her thoughts, he frowns, then nods. "Yeah... You've got a good point there. If I were offering money to get someone I cared about back, I wouldn't want to hire Janus." He scratches his head. "...but maybe whoever it was didn't realize that Janus was such a jerk. I mean, we didn't, at first. Janus put you and me both in a lot of danger... If the person who put that bounty up wants you back home safe, I don't think they'd be happy if they knew Janus did what he did." His face scrunches up in thought. "Or maybe they're getting desperate...? I mean, we've been traveling together for a pretty long time now... Gosh, at least a few months? And when me and Rebecca found you, you were getting carried in a Golem's hand. Maybe they think you might be in danger? I could see hiring someone strong like Janus if he thought there might be trouble."
But they can run through all the possibilities they like and be no clearer to the truth. Dean folds his arms in thought, then nods. "Yeah. You're absolutely right, Avril!" He grins. "And Rebecca and me'll be with you the whole way. So don't worry!"
A beat.
"Where *is* Meria Boule, anyway, though?"
...Maybe she should worry a little.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Maybe, indeed. They've established before that it's likely that Johnny Appleseed is a title rather than a person's name. Perhaps while she is seeking out whoever that may be, they are attempting to find her, through the only means they may have available.
All one billion gella of those means.
Perhaps that alone would be enough to make Rebecca skeptical.
For Avril...
"It may be. They may not have known who they were hiring. Perhaps it may be desperation." She passes the hook through the woven bit of yarn, to hold what has been done in place, then sets it aside. "But... perhaps it's also a feeling I have. Something is..." Not right? No, that's not the right word for it.
Something is. That's all she can read for certain amidst her feelings.
She shakes her head. "I want to learn more, but I think we should do so carefully. At the very least since there are people like Janus in this world, who may be more than willing to use untoward means... I..." She shakes her head, then glances over at him, an uneasy smile on her lips. "It's good of you to trust in people, Dean. I feel that is very important. Nevertheless... When he attacked you... I would rather not have you or Rebecca in danger like that again."
But even the unease sees its way on out in time.
"We're not alone in this, however. There are other things we can attempt to do as well. Who is searching for me, and why -- we will be able to find an answer in Meria Boule."
There is a pause.
"To the south, somewhere...?"
Perhaps Rebecca may have a better idea. Avril's hard-gained sense or not, she may be their only hope.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Plus, if they want to be anonymous, and they're paying the Guild to hire people for them..." Dean says slowly, mulling this over. "Maybe they didn't hire Janus at all. Maybe Janus showed up on his own, said he'd take the job, and the Guild just kinda said okay. It's been like that with us when *we've* brought a bounty or two in..." Not that that's been very frequent. In fact, Dean thinks that one time with Matilda at the Gob Hideout might be the only time?
Regardless.
"You've got a bad feeling about it?" Dean guesses, frowning at Avril. "If something feels off... then yeah, we ought to be careful about it." He pauses as Avril goes on, then smiles almost bashfully, rubbing a finger under his nose. "Aww, Avril! I feel the same way about you." His smile fades into something more serious. "I don't want anything bad happening to you, or Rebecca, ever. So--let's all head to Meria Boule. Together!"
To the south somewhere?
Dean scratches his head. "Guess we'll have to check a map," he says. It might be tricky when they learn that Meria Boule isn't even in this part of the continent at all...