2018-10-30: Drink Sweeps Away Sorrows
- Log: Drink Sweeps Away Sorrows
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: Gounon
- Date: October 30th 2018
- Summary: Occurs after Seekers. Josie takes Elly off to have a much-needed drink after the encounter with Grahf.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"So how about a drink," had more of less been Josie's precise proposition once they'd gotten clear of the mess in the harbor.
And indeed she had even gone as far to offer: "I'll treat."
Fast forward to their arrival in Gounon, known throughout Ignas and beyond for their apple wines. It's even rumored that the legendary Veruni travel here at times to purchase the best of the wines...
"Ever had applejack?"
...but wine isn't the only thing you can make out of an apple.
A Symbologist or a Crest-User, a pile of the less-choice apples from the season, and a little time and effort, and presto, a drink that will make anyone's hair curl.
"Well, that was a damn mess," Josie opines, tucked away into a seat near the window of the homey little tavern. Penelope sits on the table and works at an errant feather, as if ignoring the two women (and her bowl of water). This is probably unsanitary, but no one's come to yell about it yet. "Don't suppose there are any ships left in Ignas, eh?"
Josie is for-now unaware that Lily has solved this particular problem.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly had been on the verge of tears for many reasons.
Then Josie had offered liquor. "Well," she says ---
Events had conspired to make this not reckless or neglectful.
SO:
"I haven't," Elly says. "Is that like, ah - cider? I've had cider. I know sometimes it has alcohol and sometimes it doesn't," Elly says as she settles down. She looks at Penelope with an absent sympathy as the bird adjusts her plumage.
"... I don't have any idea," Elly says, quietly. Her shoulders slump. "I just... I hate to think about what that means. Even with their ambitions - even if we stop them - those ships, even the little boats... those are how people live. Right?"
Elly looks over at Josie with a wan smile. "And I've started to wonder if I should avoid harbor towns..."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Something like that. Definitely alcoholic." A pause. "Trust me." She takes a meaningful look at Elly, as if to read the young woman's current state. "After that bullshit? I'd say you need it."
She drums the fingers of her left hand against the tabletop briefly, tapping out an erratic rhythm as she thinks on the very thing she's just said. But when Elly responds...
"Blame him, not yourself, Red." It's a blunt statement, her gaze on the other woman as she says as much. "Hell, blame all of 'em. ...You know how many times I've been to a harbor town lately and have had it blow up or otherwise be rendered shipless?" She pauses, as if for effect. "Every time. Ever since we came back to Filgaia. Those bastards are keen on keeping us as far from them as possible."
Which prompts Josie to break into a toothy grin.
"Which, you know. They're not doing that because they think they're absolutely going to win or something. I mean, do you go outside your house and step on every single bug just to keep them out? Nah. I think they're scared."
"Or at least, uncertain."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Then, I'll be glad to try it," Elly says, with a smile.
She reaches towards Penelope, slowly... but it's leisurely. If Penelope wants to stand on her hand or get her neck feathers scritched, Elly will oblige, but it's a gentle thing. Her eyes turn down then and she says, with a sad little sigh, "It's true."
"And," she continues, "it's probably just a coincidence... about Sin's attack on the town there, and then this here... Sometimes it's hard to believe in coincidences, but they do have to happen, right?"
Elly smiles then, with some effort.
"... I think you're right. I don't know if it does us any good, though. If they're scared, they might act drastically, and... acting drastically can work out, sometimes."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Penelope, in a possible act of grace, doesn't nip or shy away or otherwise behave unpleasantly. In fact, she coos as Elly reaches for the back of her neck and gently scritches at the feathers there, bowing her head to allow better access. Grooming's so much better when someone else has to do the work.
"...Heh. I didn't even think about Sin," Josie comments, shrugging her shoulders. "But something like that's almost a force of nature. An act of God, if you would. Whatever makes something like that tick, it's probably nothing to do with you."
It's at this moment that the glasses of applejack are deposited on the table before the both of them.
"Anyway, here's to coincidences... and here's to hopefully frightened enemies, eh?" She picks up the glasse and lifts it, briefly, in the air, coupling the movement with a curt but saucy nod, before taking a sip.
Just as advertised, it's strong.
Her gaze settles on Elly again. "So, Red. What's your deal? I've picked up on this and that about your former career, but I dare say I don't know much about you. Care to fill an old lady in?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Oh, well, I guess most people don't," Elly says, which may be somewhere near wordplay. Her fingers run through the terribly soft plumage of the pigeon, stroking - her fingernail digs slightly into a faintly too-tight cap on a new feather, scraping it lightly loose.
The 'jack arrives. Elly picks it up with her other hand, smiling, and then she raises it to her lips and takes a really big sip and -
Flushes for a moment, though it's already going down the hatch. Elly slow-blinks and then focuses on Josie again.
"... You mean something like my life history, right? Not just, um, my -- I don't know the word for it. My list of certifications." She takes another sip of the drink, which she is absolutely treating like it was 'somewhat strong cider' instead of 'what it is'. Her face is gradually moving to match her hair, but she's stabilizing otherwise.
"Or do you mean like my favorites and my hateds?" That rhymes in Solarian, probably.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Whether or it was intentional or not, it earns a bark of a laugh from Josephine all the same. Apparently, that brand of humor is right up her proverbial alley. Penelope, meanwhile, closes her eyes, tilting slightly to one side as Elly gently scratches away, as if all it would take for her to fall over onto one side and into slumber's embrace would be a gentle breeze. This bird is grooving about as hard as a bird can groove.
Elly, once the drinks arrive, takes a sip.
Josie, in response, purses her lips. "It's a little strong," she's obliged to say. A little warning, perhaps?
"Yeah. Something like that."
Perhaps a stronger warning might be warranted than this, but, as Josie had said to Grahf...
She has no particular problem with letting people try to walk on their own two feet. This one's up to Elly.
"Yourself, your history, what brought you into our merry little band... the basics, I guess. Give me a little more to work with other than mystery ex-soldier wizardry girl, eh?"
She grins.
"But if you want to give me your likes and dislikes, well, those are also useful, right?" A pause. "By the way, I love sweet pickles and I hate mushrooms." Her smile takes a turn towards 'winning'. "You know. Just for future reference."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly breathes in and then breathes out.
"Well," she says, "I was born -- the city's called 'Etrenank,' but it's the place where Gebler comes from - my father was a military officer, though my birth mother was a surface-dweller." Elly twines her fingers round a stray lock of hair as if to accent it.
"I was a Gebler intelligence officer," Elly says. "We were supposed to liberate a Gear from Kislev. The mission went south, we were pursued... it happened around Lahan, the village. That's how I met Fei, eventually. I found him stumbling around in the Dazel forest and we had to cooperate..."
Her eyes turn towards the table. "So," she says, "I left, because I couldn't stand it and because everything was so pointlessly cruel. I didn't want to fight anyone any more, and I couldn't live with myself if I just looked away, or went into another position, and from there - well, from there things were complicated."
Elly looks back up. "I met Leon and Lily through Fei, when they were linking up at the Yggdrasil -- We can talk about these things here, right?" Elly says, as if belatedly recalling the concept of operational security. But perhaps that's enough, because she giggles.
"I love mushrooms," she says. "So I suppose we're opposites there. What's a sweet pickle, exactly - do you mean like pickled fruit...?"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie takes a drink herself, taking her time with the sip. Even for her, this is a strong one, but after that business earlier, she's not about to say no to it.
"Etrenank. Can't say I've heard tell of it," Josie comments, arching an eyebrow at the term 'surface-dweller', but otherwise lets it pass without needling at it. Instead, it's another thing that she prods at: "Your birth mother, huh? Guess we might have a little something in common. Heh." That's a facial expression there that tests the boundaries between a smile and a grimace.
Another piece of a puzzle. "And that's how Junior got himself that Gear, huh. I'm starting to see the shape of things. So, you had to flee on foot or something yourself, and crossed paths in the forest." She leans back in her seat, gazing for a moment at the ceiling.
"Coincidence's a funny bastard sometimes, ain't it."
Another sip of the 'jack.
"Gebler, you mean? I heard tell a thing or two from Tiger and company and others, but I can't say I've crossed paths with their lot much myself. So, I can't say I know all that much about 'em other than that. And, of course, the fact that they're propping up Aveh's government." She shrugs, her smile a bland one. "But any Drifter worth their water knows that one."
Especially ones with... dodgy contacts.
"That's how you met those two? Same business with me."
That and the blackmail.
She thumbs her bad hand towards her chest. "Got lucky in the end -- turns out following them around led me towards the next step in my research project. So I figured, maybe I'd stick around." Her gaze tilts sidelong over towards the bar proper and she cocks her head to one side. "Eh, I'll give 'em a tip. Maybe something big enough to encourge 'em to forget the whole damn week. That should sort it out."
What's a sweet pickle?
Josie's lips again split in a grin. "Why, a normal pickle that's had syrup added to the solution, of course! A little bit sour, but mostly sweet~" And of dubious taste, according to some.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"It's a hidden city," Elly explains, and she leaves it at that.
"Yes," she continues: "My Gear at the time was an infiltration model... so it wasn't much more capable than Vierge, and it didn't have an Ether amp. So, well, I was shot down too. I suppose it's humane, isn't it, how likely you are to survive a Gear crash..."
She takes a deep breath and lets it out. "... There's a lot going on," Elly says, "but none of that is wrong. What they're doing, what Shevat is doing - none of it is justifiable. If they don't want to put their energy into fighting threats like Mother, then they ought to... to at least just stay out of the way."
Her lips purse for a moment as she leans back in her chair.
"... I had to take a module about that," Elly says, whatever a module is. "About bribing. Don't give them too much. If you bribe too much, then the target will get anxious - that it's something REALLY bad - or greedy. But... perhaps we should get dinner, too. And not ask them to get much for us..."
"Do you want dinner?" she asks Penelope. Elly will be sure not to get the roast squab.
And as for the pickle...
"So - it's still salty? That sounds..."
Elly considers.
"... I can't even imagine it. You'll have to let me try one sometime!" And then she grins, hard enough to dimple up a little.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Hidden city. Josie's response to that is to again shrug, as if to say, 'what can you do'.
She's been around long enough to know that Filgaia holds its own share of mysteries -- and not all of them are buried in the ground. There have always been stories of lands over the ocean -- and not in Aquvy or Elru, either.
"Got it. Figured you were probably on foot," Josie adds, before taking another drink from her glass.
It's almost as important what Elly isn't saying.
Possibly even more important.
Josie's gaze maintains on her for a moment or three more.
"Suits me fine if they're staying out of the way," she drawls. "I remember what you said about flying things, and I'd rather prefer if Sunshine didn't end up with the Fereshte full of holes. ...Unless they'd be keen on leaving me a present or two, eh?"
It's a fair assumption she means 'their fascinating, highly advanced, highly destructive weaponry'.
"A module?"
And as Elly goes on, Josie just laughs, an honest, genuinely amused sound. "Kiddo, you're all right. --Don't worry about it or nothing -- I'm not blowing my whole wallet on a place like this. Besides we'll be here and gone before long. Just enough to encourage 'em to think about forgetting us."
Does she want dinner?
"Sure, maybe a bite or two. You could probably use it."
Penelope, for her part, just cocks her head and stares up at Elly, as if to ask, perhaps...
'Why are you not paying attention to me now?'
"Some bread'll do her, if they don't have some raw seed." Josie pauses, frowning as if thinking on this one. "I'll have to boost her diet soon, huh... particularly if we're going north."
But as for the pickle:
"Yep. Sweet, sour, salty, all in one. They sell 'em at some fairs sometimes."
Pause.
"...Tell you what, if we don't all die, let's have a party. I'll bring the pickles." And it's hard for her to not laugh as she again lifts her glass to her lips.
At this rate, it's likely she'll have to help Elly walk back. But hell.
It's still better, she figures, than tears.