2018-02-16: Kiss the Staff
- Log: Kiss the Staff
- Cast: Jacqueline Barber, Cecilia Adlehyde
- Where: Kislev-Aveh Front
- Date: February 16th, 2018
- Summary: A chance meeting sees Cecilia stopping by the Caravan Kinship. She and Jacqueline have a friendly chat, sharing pastries and opinions...
===========================<* Kislev-Aveh Front *>============================ The frontlines of the Kislev-Aveh War have shifted many times in the last few hundred years, but they have left their scars on the land. One can, of course, find fighting between their infantry and Gears here. Such places are dangerous, and most Drifters know to steer away from them. However, sometimes there is no choice; even the rail lines thought to be away from the front can get caught unawares by a patrol, and skirmishes have resulted in delays and death for those trying to get to the Badlands. The areas not currently being fought in are also dangerous. Deserters and monsters alike can wander them, and the dry, dusty land leaves little succor for those in need. To make matters worse, abandoned fortifications and trenches make an excellent hiding place for the bandits seeking to profit here. Drifters are sometimes drawn here, though, to either fight for one side or to excavate abandoned ARMs and Gears left behind in a battle. This sort of salvage work is risky, but the rewards can be great.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The Caravan Kinship - to some, it was an oasis in the desert. They visited many places in their travels, some of which being places that other merchant caravans might bypass or overlook due to being seen as less profitable.
This is perhaps one such location.
They're present in their usual fashion - parked in a convenient area, visible but out of the way, and with the panels on the sides of the vehicle folded out and bearing a veritable rainbow of potions and other such useful merchandise. There is one small difference today, however - the window to the kitchen is shut.
In it's place, a table had been set up outside the vehicle, bearing a decently-sized pitcher of tea accompanied by glasses, and saucers bearing tiny pastries. There is a small sign nearby, with the words 'Complimentary Refreshments', accompanied by a smiley face. The sign is...rather vibrantly colored. Almost gaudily so.
And of course, they're not there unattended. Sitting at the table and peering about is Jacqueline Barber. She's taken a glass of tea for herself, and at the moment business seems...light, to put it politely. Hey, sometimes days were like that.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Some days are just slow. And then some days...Cecilia Adlehyde wanders by.
The dust kicks up beneath Cecilia's feet as she comes up. If her comrades are around, they're making a good act of not mattering to the moment. The blonde Princess, in her unprincessly traveling blues, throws a high wave at Jay as she approaches, lips splitting in a wide smile. "Miss Barber!" she chimes, with that certain social distance. "Open even out here, are you? It seems a bit out of the way..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Cecilia tends to be fairly easy to spot. Jacqueline's eyes land on her before long. It takes a moment for her to confirm, but once the princess offers her a wave and that smile, Jacqueline is quick to sit up.
"Ah, Cecilia! It's good to see you!" Jacqueline greets, with a smile and a wave of her own. She looks her over quickly, assessing her condition for a moment before pouring a glass of tea and pushing it closer to the other side of the table. She doesn't know if Cecilia needs it...but hey, it never hurt to offer.
"Oh, yes, it is...but sometimes, it's out of the way places like these that needs us the most." She replies. ...Not that it seemed to be the case today, of course.
"How have you and the others been doing?" She asks.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia takes that tea cheerfully enough, and helps herself to a few snacks too because it's...it's cecilia...the only way she'd not eat snacks is if she were dead. "I suppose that's true. You can't just hope all the people who need you will take the journey, hm?" she hums. She can't suppress a smile about it. "Though..." She looks around. Aheh. "It appears the people here are well enough off. That's good in its own way, I guess."
Jay's question sees the princess huff a little. "Fine, I suppose...everyone seems to be handling things in their own way, right now. I..."
...She finds her hands closing around her cup, for want of something to hold. "...I fear I haven't been doing my part. I can't say I've been overly motivated since my return from Bledavik."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Indeed. We're lucky to have the Carakin at our disposal, to allow us to go where we're needed...some people don't have that luxury, particularly in this environment." Jacqueline replies with a nod. "And yes. The people in this area are a hardy folk...I imagine they've gotten use to preparing their own supplies."
It was a good thing, really, even if made her job a little more difficult.
She looks over to Cecilia, noting the huff. She seemed almost...downcast, perhaps.
"Hmm. Well, I think we all feel that sometimes... Feeling as if there's more we should be doing, for those we care about, and the world itself..." Jacqueline comments. She looks down into her cup, thinking it over for a moment.
"...It's important not to go too far in the other direction, however. To work yourself to exhaustion, until you risk collapsing. That doesn't help anyone...I can tell you that from experience." There's a slightly self-deprecating chuckle, at that.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia hums at that, daring to locate a seat and plop into it because she's the princess and is invited to every table according to state law.
"That's true..." she says, as well. "We can hardly care for the world if we're falling apart at the seams, I guess..."
Her eyes scan up, across the sky, like listening to something that isn't there. "Though it's difficult, knowing how badly the world needs our help, too."
She sips at her tea and perks up a bit. "Oh, this is lovely." Which makes her think of... "...ah, speaking of tea and overwork, how's Lunata doing...? I haven't seen her since, uhm..." Since she had a psychotic episode for some reason.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline smiles. She certainly wouldn't tell Cecilia no, but she was glad to have her company. She hadn't expected to stumble across someone to talk to! ...Well, perhaps it was moreso the other way around.
"I know..." Jacqueline agrees with a nod. It truly was difficult. "But you have to take care of yourself, as well. Besides...you have done good things. I've seen you working hard, at Dazil and Wehaca..."
Cecilia compliments the tea, and Jacqueline lights up a bit.
"Oh, is it? I'm glad to hear it!" She says cheerily...and then brings up Lunata. Jacqueline chuckles nervously.
"She's, um...she's been doing better than she was. She's a sweet girl, really, she was just...feeling helpless. Not that it really excuses, um, well..." Jacqueline clears her throat, deciding to skip over that.
"She's calmed down a lot since then... I'm sure she'd like the opportunity to apologize sometime, if possible... She felt awful about it afterward."
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
"Dazil and Wehaca...yes. The Guardians have called me." ...She chuckles, lightly and a little less than thrilled. "Quite literally. They tell me where I am needed, when I am needed. In a way it's nice to know so certainly where to be..."
She grimaces, and her eyes cut to the side. "Though I must say I'd prefer if I had more choice over it..."
Sigh. She rolls her eyes toward Jay with a slightly coy look as Lunata comes up. "Trying to start a war, is the rest of the sentence," she says, a touch wry but not with quite as much heat as she might have used once. "I'm glad she's cooled off. Adlehyde and the world both need cooler heads..."
She finally pops a pastry in her mouth, and spends the next few seconds wiggling happily. Small pleasures.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I...didn't realize it was quite like that. I'm sorry." Jacqueline says apologetically. She supposed she could be grateful that she never had to worry about Grudiev telling her what she should be doing. "That must be difficult..."
Jacqueline reddens a bit, but nods when Cecilia completes the sentence.
"Well...yes." She admits. "And so am I. She's back to being herself again, and I prefer her that way."
Cecilia had a point, though. Tensions were rather high of late, it seemed...
"I agree...people are so quick to jump to violence. It's a shame..." She says...and then chuckles good-naturedly at Cecilia's obvious delight from trying one of the pastries.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
"It'd be nice if it hurt less, at least," Cecilia asides, even with a pastry in her mouth. She says it as if this were something she'd dealt with enough to not be overly annoyed. Like an older woman with arthritis; just a part of her life, when the Guardians speak and her head throbs.
As to the violence... "We're not a world with the luxury of pacifism," Cecilia sighs. "...but I'd be happier if we could talk to people more. Even with Wayside..." Sigh. "I can't think of it as anything more than a beautiful dream."
Her eyes find themselves drawn north, for a reason she cannot explain. "The Quarter Knights....nothing will change if we can't reach their hearts." She grimaces. "Or, more likely, just kill them. Jack's right about that much..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I-I'm sorry...maybe there's a potion for that. But, um, maybe not..." Jacqueline replies. Guardian-induced headaches weren't exactly a common affliction. Maybe a more usual type of remedy would help... Hm. It was something to think about.
"...That's true...even I have to fight sometimes, though I don't like it." Jacqueline admits. That was how the world was. Maybe in the future things would change, but for now... She nods, then, with a bit of a smile. "...Yes, it'd be nice."
Wayside...It was a beautiful dream, wasn't it?
"Maybe it is...but even so, I think it's important to try. A dream may start small...but in time, it may become something more. I believe they can do it...though I know that it's only a matter of time before it is tested." She replies. She traces Cecilia's gaze northward, though the significance of that is lost on her. And then...the Quarter Knights. Jacqueline's expression darkens somewhat.
"...Yes. I...don't like admitting it, but... I don't see what else can be done about them. That 'Berserk', for instance...I don't see him having a change of heart." She says. Was it even possible for them to reach them...? Was it foolish to even try?
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia chuckles. "Doesn't quite work in a way you could medicate, I think. It passes as soon as they've spoken. Small mercies...I think they're just..."
She looks up, again, like she can hear something far away. "They're huge. It's impossible for me to say. They're so much bigger than us that acting on a scale we can even see is enormously difficult..." She smiles, sadly. "It's why they need us, and why they seem to have trouble telling which of us cares."
Hm. "I don't oppose Wayside," she says, slowly. "Riesenlied and I have...had our differences." Cecilia still smarts from what Riesenlied said and did at Adlehyde, even if the demoness has largely recanted from that position. "But the Guardians see potential in her and her dream. I want to make sure it blooms. But..."
But. The Quarter Knights. She grimaces and, rather in opposition to her previous statement, replies quite bluntly, "Berserk can kiss my entire ass," and shoves an entire eclair into her mouth. "And then my staff, for good measure!"
So that's a no on diplomacy, then.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I thought not." Jacqueline says, shaking her head. That...well, it made sense, really. It was like Cecilia said - they were big. She understood that well. As for Wayside...
"Ah...I'm...glad to hear you say that. I was a little worried, admittedly..." She says, and then nods. "Yes. I know she's spoken with them before...she's even invited me along a couple of times. We spoke with the Baskar, as well..."
The Quarter Knights. Cecilia didn't need to conclude that statement, Jacqueline knew well what she meant. Her declaration gets another chuckle out of Jacqueline.
"I'm with you there. There's no love in my heart for that one." She agrees with a nod. Another plate of pastries is pushed over toward Cecilia in support.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
"I don't know much of that," Cecilia admits. "But...I know the Guardians have told me to allow Wayside to grow. That is the most blessing they can grant it, I think."
She sips at her tea for a long few moments, trying to settle herself. "Other than that...I cannot be its caretaker. I have so much else to do..."
She looks deep into her cup for a long moment, like the secrets of the world lay at the bottom.
She grabs a pastry and pops it into her mouth. "He would've destroyed the castle if we didn't hand over the Teardrop...he's a brute who laughs at our weakness." Mutter, mutter, pops a muffin in her mouth and chews grumpily.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline listens, and nods in understanding.
"Well...they're in good hands, at least." She says. She trusted Riesenlied, after all. She'd pulled her up when she needed it most. That was one of the reasons she did so much to help.
She doesn't have much more to add about Berserk, but she does offer Cecilia a smile.
"Well...if ever you need help, let me know. At the very least, I can help you keep stocked up on curatives." She offers. Knowing some of Cecilia's friends(probably Jack), they'd probably need them...