2019-01-17: Hiring A Pack Of Wolves
- Log: Hiring A Pack Of Wolves
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Lily Keil
- Where: Old Petra
- Date: January 17, 2019
- Summary: Avril asks after the Black Wolves, and speaks to Lily of work she would like to hire them to do.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
With care, Avril holds the memory stone before herself, focusing a moment on its emerald depths. Perhaps it's only because of what has happened -- and what may yet come to pass -- but she has the sense it is important to imprint this memory now.
Before it becomes dulled over and caked with the passage of time.
One perfect, meaningless day.
A heartbeat later and it is done, one more step in a chain of things she hopes to complete before...
Before...?
How strange. Once more, there is that sense of deja vu.
She rises from where she had sat under the hot Filgaian sun and proceeds towards the docked airship.
Speaking of 'before'...
There is someone -- two someones -- with whom she would like to speak.
"Lily? Leon? Are either of you about?" Avril's voice calls out, on the wind.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Of places to look, this one is wise. But then, it's not exactly hard to imagine that Lily or Leon might be near Riesenlied. Indeed, on an ordinary enough day, with the villagers and refugees below bustling about, Avril's voice falls on listening ears.
There is silence, for a moment. But just for a couple of them, really. "...I'm here," Lily's voice answers, before she steps out into view on the deck. "Come on up," she offers, nodding her head to the bridge close by, and then to a place near her on the deck, where she begins to step, out of the way of the working at hand.
Lily, unlike in Elru, is dressed in reasonably civilian attire; pants, shirt, jacket, instead of modified fatigues. She looks out to the distance while she waits. Apparently, she trusts Avril enough despite certain revelations not to ask why she's here before inviting her on.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril barely needs the invite, skirts swirling about her legs as she ascends onto the deck. "Oh, I see Leon is not here...?" she voices, once she stands atop the deck proper, before trailing after Lily -- past the work being done on the ship, up above, higher -- to the bridge.
"It seems that the repairwork is going well," she comments, glancing at the construction underway. "If ever you need assistance, I may be able to help."
She has, as has been demonstrated, a sort of understanding about some of these types of constructs.
Even if she knows not why.
"However," she states, glancing over at Lily, "that is not why I am here today. I had wanted to ask you and Leon if I might hire the Black Wolves."
...She means to hire a mercenary group? Does she know what that means?
"There is something I would like retrieved, if it might be possible. Accomplishing it will be dangerous."
...Apparently so.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"When I left him earlier," Lily remarks, "He was elbow-deep in Gear parts." The way she says it, that is a fairly immutable fact for the moment. She inclines her head once Avril mentions the repairs. "So it is. ...Honestly, it's not my department, but I'm sure Noeline could find something for a good pair of hands to do."
Though that might be beneath the ruler of the Veruni.
Not why she's here. Lily waits for it, calmly enough; if Avril looks, she lacks the sheer fatigue, the edge that was present before. But at the question of hiring, she turns her head away from the air and towards Avril again. To hire a mercenary group...
"Hmm," Lily says, considering. "Object retrieval is related to our primary skillset. Danger is definitely part of it."
"You're in good enough standing with us that I'm willing to listen. I said I'd help you--but bringing on the whole group, I'll need some more details first."
"What needs retrieving, where is it, and when do you need it by? Those would do for a start." Lily considers, and looks back out forward, pulling a small case from inside her jacket, opening it up. She offers from the cigarette case to Avril before she takes one herself, though she doesn't light it yet.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Oh, I see. He must be busy, then..."
Perhaps Avril can sympathize: she has been in such a mood herself. Which, speaking of: she nods, when Lily speaks of the ship repairs and defers such matters perhaps more Noeline's way. "Perhaps I might ask after her, then, if no further business arises. I find working with my hands to be quite soothing, and soon my metalwork will be complete."
Soon she'll be able to give her friends the very things she has been so carefully crafting.
Lily seems better -- but then, most of them seem better. It might be chalked up to rest alone, but then also despite the losses and the unwelcome truths... they have still accomplished something grand in downing Mother.
"I have the ability to pay your fees, though perhaps not as highly as a king might," she says, perhaps referring to the kaiser. "Similarly, should this prove too risky, I would ask you cease the operation, should you accept what I am requesting."
She closes her eyes briefly and begins to explain.
"I would like you to retrieve a mirror for me. It is likely in the hands of the Veruni by now, though hopefully not brought back to their homeland."
The Locus Solus... wherever it might be.
"The mirror, I believe, belongs to me, or someone of my line." Her hands clasp before her. "Allow me to explain," she says to Lily. "It appears I am the ruler of the Veruni."
At the offer of a cigarette, Avril shakes her head.
"Yet, I recall next to nothing. When I last held the mirror, I felt something familiar about it. ...My hope is that it might stir my memory, but save for the fact that it was taken into Veruni possession nearly two years ago, I know not what has become of it or where they may have delivered it."
Her brow creases, as if she's deep in throught.
"'Soon' may be ideal... should that be achievable."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I've known him long enough to know that when he's in the middle of a project, he's going to stay into it until it's done. ...Absent an actual assault on our location, naturally. ...But I understand; i feel that way, myself." About work, naturally. She does not pry into the nature of the metalwork because if it's her business, Avril is likely to tell her.
Lily is, if anything, better to a greater extent than most. She faced an unwelcome truth--but one about herself, as well. And now...
"Noted. We can go over the details in writing, should the Captain accept." And Avril for her part can have the 'didn't send soldiers to apprehend them' discount. Lily isn't exactly eager to work with kings again.
Lily considers the object, the explanation. She doesn't seem particularly attached to the matter of risk, but--
"I remember," Lily answers. "It was..." She considers. She doesn't have a good description of the encounter with Volsung. She shows little in her face, either.
"So, you don't think that you could leverage that title for this purpose--or think it's wiser not to. ...Well, honestly, the distinction there doesn't matter to a mercenary company, but..."
Lily lifts the cigarette to her lips and its tip ignites with barely a thought on her part; she breathes the smoke away from Avril.
"All right. I'll bring it to the Captain, and assuming that we all agree, I'll draw up the contract."
"I'll need to know where you last had it, what it looks like... The sorts of details that give us somewhere to start. ...I'm interested in your memory, myself. And it may lead us to something that can help us understand your people. ...For better or worse, we'll need to one day--whether we can make peace, or it comes to war. Either way."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
A man after Avril's own heart, without a doubt.
"I understand. Such an agreement is only fair, under these circumstances," Avril affirms, inclining her head in a short nod.
Lily remembers.
A revelation that, perhaps, suggests unwelcomely towards Lily's own orgins.
"In this case, that it is wiser not to press my claim." Her gaze skims away from Lily. "There is much that I do not know or understand, and perhaps even more yet that I do not remember. Without memory to guide me, I am at a grave disadvantage and risk becoming swept up in the struggle of power. Rather than permit that, I wish to retain my memory first and foremost. Only then, might I..."
Might she then what? Attempt to rule as her apparent claim to the throne suggests?
That, she is not yet certain, only that she has an obligation to what is, apparently, her people.
"So. I do understand that I am asking of you all a dangerous thing. But I would not ask if I did not believe your group capable."
She falls silent then, watching, waiting, her gaze on Lily and Lily alone.
"Yes. See what he thinks. If it is risky, then I shall withdraw my request. However..."
It is a thread worth chasing after, she feels.
"I will sketch what it looks like for you -- it should suffice. The mirror is named 'the Mirror of de Soto', and until a couple of years ago, it was held in a shrine in Mirapulse. ...However, it appears that the Veruni learned of its existance and came to claim it."
Which had led to that whole sordid business with Chuck nearly getting executed, thanks to Elvis pinching it before his fellows even arrived, and what had come afterwards.
As she explains.
The mirror, previously inert, had come alive in her hands.
"...Afterwards they left with the mirror, I believe, though to where I do not know. It could have been moved to one of their cities, or perhaps..."
Her brow creases. Something. An echo from beneath the ice. A...
"...Perhaps, no, I think they may have moved it to a separate sacred site, not to one of their new settlements or even to the Locus Solus. A place of significance to the Veruni...?" She must be straining to recall it now, to gauge by the look on her face.
Her shoulders sag, as if she's just born a great burden. "I am sorry. I can think of nothing else." A rueful smile dances on her lips. "I'm afraid that my memory is none too reliable of late. Yet, perhaps if I were to have it back it might remind me of something."
And perhaps it might be possible to lead her people to peace and away from war.
Away from the domination of the rest of Filgaia's people.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
No, Lily is probably not of the Veruni. ...She can't entirely rule it out, but it seems very unlikely. She has, naturally, given it a lot of thought and made that conclusion.
"Just standard paperwork," Lily assures... and then nods, thoughtfully, at the matter of the claim--at the matter of the reasoning behind it. What is it she may want to do? ...well, rightly, she shouldn't know yet.
"The fact that you think that way at all suggests that you have it in you to lead. You may not have a choice, down the line, but for now I wouldn't tell you anything different."
"...As for danger, that's our line of work. Keeping us alive in the face of it is my job. I'll say as much if I think that the eventual mission is too costly. But if you need someone to match wits with the Veruni, I think we're your best choice."
Lily thinks as well that it's worth chasing--at least worth exploring. So, she listens to the explanation, nodding in silence her assent to a sketch. Mirapulse... and somehow important to them.
"Maybe a matter of internal politics," Lily speculates, when Avril thinks better of where it could be. "It's a lead, at least. Going into the heart of Veruni territory would be too dangerous, however much I would like to help you. ...But if we can find some sacred site, some satellite base, where it could be found..."
Lily shakes her head. "Don't worry--what you were able to remember is useful. I can do some questioning around; some of the Hyadeans may have had contact with Veruni during their alliance that could give us such answers. If not... I have my ways."
Lily lowers her cigarette, and looks over Avril again before saying, "The truth is, I want to help you. I'm not sure why; I'm almost certain now that despite our similar powers, my background doesn't lie among your people. ...But I do, regardless. You could say I have a... feeling, about it."
"Or maybe I've just started collecting amnesiacs. I know enough of them. ...Stick around for now, regardless."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"So it would seem." Avril offers a wry smile. "Rebecca felt as much, herself. I suppose even if I do not remember, some abilities are not so lost." So she had also said to her friend, weeks ago. But it is far from a new observation: she has long noticed that she can remember ideas about things -- things she must have encountered once before. While autobiographical memory is impaired, her ability to recall and grasp other concepts is not so afflicted.
She nods. "Yes, as it is for all soldiers of fortune, it seems. Nevertheless..."
As much as she would like the mirror returned, she does not wish it so strongly she would see others hurt or killed to retrieve it.
"...But I do agree with your assessment of your abilities. Were it not so, I would seek another." Blunt, but at least she's an honest one. Or at least a direct one, for all her polite turns of phrase.
"Yes." Another nod, once the history of the mirror is delivered, at least those parts that Avril was present for or can remember, as Lily speculates after what might have affected where the mirror had been taken. "As I said, Elvis had taken it and left the others unaware of his actions. If they had known, I do not think the situation would have turned as badly as it nearly had. Perhaps there are more forces at work within the Veruni people than we may appreciate..."
A sentiment that may turn out more true than Avril suspects.
"If it is in a remote site, then there is a chance, yes."
And if it has been moved elsewhere into the control zone, then it may be as good as gone to her.
Yet, she has this strange feeling that... it might still be around. Accessible.
"We did find an ancient Veruni ruin towards the borders of their control zone, but I am not certain it might be where they would take the mirror. It seemed more an archive than a sacred place," Avril opines, speaking what she knows about that corner of the world. "Riesenlied and the others may have some insight, or perhaps someone may have seen something in the last couple of years?" She tilts her head to one side a touch, as if thinking it over. "Something to follow up on, perhaps."
And there may be other ways besides.
That statement earns Lily a blink of mild surprise. "You want... to help me? Though you know not why..." She smiles, again that rueful smile. "I suppose I can understand that sentiment. At times, I feel as I do not understand what motivates me to do this or that. 'A feeling about things' may be the best way to phrase it." She pauses, gazing at the other woman a moment more. "Yet, I am grateful, Lily, for your assistance. Thank you. I will see what I can do to assist, though I dare not participate."
She glances away, off across into the horizon.
"I do not want to get caught up in what I cannot control... and I do not wish them to attempt to guess what I may be doing, or where I might be doing."
A feeling about it.
Even now, she is being propelled forward by a 'feeling' about things.