2019-06-06: OVERSASS

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  • Log: 2019-06-06: OVERSASS
  • Cast: Gon Guado, Ashton Anchors, Jacqueline Barber
  • Where: Luca - Port District
  • Date: June 06, 2019
  • Summary: A local haughty Spiran does not grasp that he is underleveled against a battle of words versus experienced Drifters from another world. He only understands that he dislikes them even more after the fact.

===============================================<* Luca - Port District *>===============================================

Luca is the largest port and second-largest city in Spira, located the southern tip of the archipelago's largest island. Its location as the central port for Spira's surrounding islands has turned Luca into a thriving economic hub; Besaid, Kilika, and a dozen smaller islands all send their goods to Luca for sale, and even the Al Bhed are known to trade here from time to time.

The port district is an immense, bustling area. The largest port in Luca brings in ships from across Spira -- from small fishing ships from Besaid to Al Bhed salvage ships to large sailing vessels from Bevelle -- and a massive market to match. A large seawall keeps the waters at bay, with piers extending out past the seawall into the water.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIlRCYnZcg
<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    Uncertainty lingers. It's a veritable powder keg of emotion that might have been already lit. The length of the fuse only stands to be extended because of unseen portions of its length - there seems to be no stopping this from going off into all-out war, or worse. The Guard has already asserted its presence by removing the Yevon clergy from Kilika, escorting them to Luca and making its position clear through deed as much as word.
     To put it mildly, it's a mess. The Kilika Beasts were supposed to play an exhibition match today, and the entire episode has put a halt to that at basically the last possible minute. When Blitzball gets disrupted, everything gets disrupted. The streets of Luca are full of unease. The usual crowds are unusually less crowded. A number of the people here are from, or have family in, Kilika. They're not running any ferries over there while the Guard's fortifying their position.
     The anxieties, complaints, and demands are... as one might predict.
     "Please, you must find some way to let us to Kilika!" Pleads an older human woman to a number of Yevon priests and related guards. There are other cries of this ilk, from two other humans. One's a father separated from the rest of his family. Another is a merchant who has a shipment whose arrangement has it on his head if he can't have it delivered. They are implacable. They are frightened.
     One among the gathered about the clergy is one of the Guado. At least one head taller than most of the humans and spindly in build, their dark teal-hued hair fading in saturation from age. Dark veins adorn their bearded face - as is the norm, for their kind - noted as they step forth to address the collected.
     "Do not despair," they speak with a patient, almost kindly voice. Large, clawed hands rest in front of them, dressed in heavier robe-like clothing that his kind often favor even with the warm, humid Spiran climate. He is clad in the garb of a Guadosalam guardsman, more than that of the clergy... but for how flustered the clergy and their direct protection agents are, they seem to welcome this intrustion. "Yevon will see to their safety. The Otherworlders and their heresy have all been laid bare before us..."
     "What if Sin attacks them?!" Says a woman, delirious, and rightfully so. Sin is punishment, and the Guard could be inviting it just by their presence...!
     "These are trying times... but do not worry. They will await you at the Farplane." They neglect to bring up the prospect that they would need to have a Summoner perform a Sending there first... a tall task when the Church of Yevon is simply not allowed to set foot there.
     No one thinks to bring this up.
     "Be at ease... sooner or later, the Otherworlders will trouble the most faithful of Yevon no further." Big words, from someone like him... but no one thinks to question it, or speak against it. It's words they want to hear. The questions are replaced with sobbing and prayer. It is not any more quiet.
     Empty comforts seem to be all there is on offer, here, out in the middle of an overcast day by Luca's ports. No ferries are running to Kilika, so there's a lot of unoccupied, uneasy people about who could all use some reassurance (or affordable theraputic merchandise).

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Speaking of Otherworlders...
 
The crowd has one in it. Ashton Anchors, in particular. Though he's still doing his best to blend in - the hefty knapsack concealing his companions to avoid panic in the already uneasy crowd - the pale-skinned sellsword still stands out.
 
Despite what some might suggest, he's not here just to make trouble. His last few weeks have been spent doing travel back and forth between Luca and the surrounding towns as an escort, rebuilding his financial reserves and calming his nerves after the disaster at Mi'hen. While not happy about the situation, it IS in his favor. Which is why he's here: of the many stranded travelers, some have been seeking ways around the blockade by default.
 
And for a mercenary looking to earn coin by guarding people enroute to Djose or the Moonflow? It's the perfect time to sell one's sword.
 
His pitch is simple - a makeshift wooden sign advertising his name and service that he's got tacked up in a (currently abandoned) merchant's stall.
 
So far, he's turned down every offer. Mostly because people keep trying to hire him to attack the Guard, and even Ashton's not quite so bold.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline had decided to set up her stall at the port today. She had received good news the other day that had put her in a pleasant mood, letting her fall back into the casual Spiran clothes she had worn before she found out that there was an assassin after her head.

Now that that chapter of her life was done with - temporarily, anyway, until the Guard went back on their decision - she was able to dress comfortably again, without having to worry about someone being after her life at any moment.

The events of today, however, put a bit of a damper on things. The people of Luca are worried, concerned - and for good reason. The movements of Althena's Guard had not gone missed by Jacqueline. It was an aggressive movement, and there was no sign that it would be the last.

At the moment, the only thing she can do is offer some comfort to the people in the best way she can - selling them goods at fair prices and offering them kind words of encouragement whenever she could.

She's not too far from the group gathering at the pier - the words of the tall man reach her as well, and where they might encourage some, they get a frown from her.

Also nearby - Ashton! Jacqueline peers past the sides of her own stall towards his, offering him a smile and a polite wave of greeting.

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    Things aren't quite resolved, but it's as good as any of it's going to get and even that's a stretch to say it's 'good.' It's... as it's going to get. Let's stick with that.
     The aged Guado continues along down the peer, ostensibly to check with an acquaintance of his who is a jewelry dealer who recently had to relocate their business to the street level... shortly before the Otherworlders arrived. An ill sign unto itself, indeed. Apparently business worsened with the way they have bartered with him throughout... nonetheless.
     The aging Guado happens by these two stalls, and from the corner of his eye, does his eyeballs catch the sight of the put-upon pale man with the backpack, and the bespectacled merchant who has indeed listed a number of common goods here at the best price.
     Something about the burden that man's carrying, something about the young woman's appearance... the latter is somewhat familiar. Has he seen her before? His brow furrows in a way that, given his height advantage, seems way less than kindly.
     "You must be doing well." He remarks, coolly. "Well enough to turn away business," saying that to Ashton without so much as facing him directly, "as though nary a trouble is upon your very shoulders to speak as you have," to Jacqueline.
     All that's missing is poison dripping out the side of his mouth. (Maybe it's invisible poison, in invisible drops, forming an invisible acidic pool of venom to invisibly eat the stone beneath him. (The stone is not invisible, everyone can see the stone.))

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Oh hey, it's Jay! Ashton waves back, not wanting to interfere in her business. (That's a good way to get poisoned - she's always seemed nice, but Ashton is quite aware that merchants can be quite aggressive when they say it's 'just business'. Better not to tempt fate.)
 
Of course, then some strange Guado approaches - interrupting before Ashton's narrative self can stick a foot in things even worse.
 
The sellsword twists his neck towards the man with a curious look on his face. "As wise Drifter once said - I fight monsters, not wars. I've enough coin to feed three," he comments - the connotations likely going over Gon's head but not Jay's - before shrugging. "So no, there's nary a trouble on my shoulders."
 
He does, however, glance again over to Jay. There's a small frown on the swordsman's face - Ashton's a bit thick sometimes, but even he cant' miss the venom in the tone. The glance is simple, wondering if she knows this strange and bitter man.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

The tall man approaches with a rather venomous statement, and in response Jacqueline offers him her brightest, most polite saleswoman smile. Responding with similar venom would only make things worse, in her mind, so she instead decides to retaliate with kindness - though it certainly took effort to do so.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." She replies. "It's because I've been through trouble that I can understand and try to offer reassurance where I can."

She takes a brief glance over toward Ashton to see how he reacts - his statement does not go missed by her - before looking back to the Guado in front of her.

"Is there anything I can do for you today, sir?" She asks, that same smile still on her face.

He seems to recognize her, but she's not surprised - she hasn't exactly made her presence subtle here in Spira. That was part of establishing a business, after all.

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    "'Drifter...'" The Guado man repeats that name as if incredulous. He knows no 'Drifter' in Spira. To have enough coin to feed three... family, then? Have they settled here, he wonders to himself as the put-upon Symbological swordsman declares there is nary a trouble on his shoulders.
     Jay, in all of her professional skill in handling difficult clients, weathers the sheer rudeness of this man like the sturdiest umbrella against a rainstorm.
     All the way down to asking if there's anything she can do for him today. "Yes. There is something you can do for Spira, today." For Spira. Not for 'him.'
     He doesn't even face the two of them directly, standing where he does as a side profile beyond pointing that gaze pointedly to the points the two of them occupy.
     "When will all of you be leaving?"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

The two from Filgaia have rather different ways to deal with the confrontation: Jay has thus far remained pleasant and impervious. Ashton is.. less skilled at being so.
 
"Probably in the morning. There's a chocobo caravan headed for the Moonflow then - they could likely use another hand if nothing more comes up here." The question is - is Ashton being antagonistic or is he just missing the subtext entirely?
 
Either way, he seems fairly at ease. "Are you headed that way, stranger? Not to Kilika, at least." The swordsman leans forward in the seat he's 'borrowed' from the absent merchant. "I don't think we've been introduced, though it appears you may know my compatriot. At least by her reputation and skill."
 
A hand is held out - toned, pale and the criss-cross of Symbology peeking out from under the long sleeve. "Ashton Anchors. And you?"
 
Nope, he has to be completely missing the subtext.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

The Guado tells her what they can do for Spira - they can leave. Outwardly, she remains still as a statue, but inwardly, she flinches as if struck. That really hurt.

Jacqueline...can't tell if Ashton understood what the man was getting at, or just sidestepping the question. She does smile a little brighter as he comments on her skill, though.

Whereas Ashton...doesn't seem to get it, Jacqueline decides to give a more direct answer.

"As soon as we find a way home. I assure you, we our doing our best to locate one." Jacqueline replies, as diplomatically as she can manage. "However, we have not uncovered any leads so far."

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    The Guado gentleman, who has not been anything but gentle, so let's go with Guado harshman, does not take Ashton's hand. He lets it stay there, outstretched, letting the name and the hand linger unaddressed. The only thing he gives - and it's more than before, if that can be considered a gain - is more of a turn of his head.
     "Headed for the Moonflow. That I would require the services of a sellsword like yourself to traverse the Moonflow, neighboring my home of Guadosalam, where I used to hunt Fiends to occupy my waking hours..."
     Ashton couldn't be expected to know, intricately, the manners of dress and the specific demographic distributions across Spira. This one does not seem keen to acknowledge this.
     "...I am to assume this is some street performance from whence you came," so that sounds like a 'no, I'm great, thank you, but without thanking you or being all that great about it.'
     "So your boorish fellows infesting Kilika have grown weary of evicting the most faithful of Yevon that they would start shunting off more of their kind here, then?" He says to Jay, conflating her outright with the Guard, staring down at her from that brow of his. "They did appear most certain about their way here..."
     Rude.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Ashton finally gets it as his hand is simply... ignored.
 
And it makes him frown very, very deeply.
 
"Firstly, -sir-, I would kindly ask you not to conflate us with the likes of Althena's Guard. They were as much invaders in our home as they are within yours - occupied our lands as yours have been. Though we have worked side by side against common enemies before, I at least do not appreciate being addressed so." There's an attempt at restraint in Ashton's tone, but just the attempt.
 
He shifts further forward, on the edge of his seat now. "Secondly, I would suggest you are more gracious in the presence of a lady. I will bear your belittling with grace, but a rude tongue gives no dignity to you. Particularly given this particular lady's achievements."
 
There's a pause, and Ashton cracks a small smirk. He's a good man and a bit over-friendly. But does he have venom in his blood?
 
"But no. These are things you would be ignorant of, and could not possibly know. That cannot be held against you. So, sir, I forgive you."
 
Yes. Yes he does.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline notes the Guado's less than enthusiastic response to Ashton...and also, that he does not seem to be aware that some of them hail from Filgaia. Or, simply Gaia, as it is apparently believed to be called on Spira.

If he doesn't know, it's probably better that he doesn't.

Before she can say anything though, Ashton speaks and she finds herself rather taken aback. This was her first time seeing him upset like this, as much as he was trying to restrain himself. She was thankful, though, that he'd come to her defense.

She pauses for a moment, then. In a way, the Guard had sort of taken over her home - though she isn't sure Adlehyde would have survived as well without their intervention, so she's rather conflicted on the matter over all.

"Ah...yes. We don't have any connection to them...and I, personally, am presently considered rather unwelcome by them." She adds, then hesitates for a moment.

"I am...sorry, however, about what happened to Kilika. I can only hope its people are holding up well. I went there before to help with the reconstruction, and they were very hospitable." She says, with a polite bow of her head.

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    Jay's assertion may well underscore maybe an even more nefarious truth - that he has ultimately lumped everyone from outside of Spira as being the same big morass of 'other.' An 'other' that, based on present behavior... well, that's self-explanatory at this point.
     Ashton, though...
     Ashton speaks back, authoratively and confidently, dressing down their 'customer' and the gaps in their knowledge of the finer points of living among the people beyond these lands, and of Gaia.
     An eye visibly quirks, twitching an eyebrow.
 
     OVERSASS
 
     ...Almost like he never expected such a spirited response, words barbed beyond any such armor as Jay more patiently explains the nuances while the man seems scarce able to hold what composure he has had toppled as Ashton turns around words and criticisms he himself might have used.
     "...I-Is that so," there's the small stutter as they mentally re-center themselves. It's a bit easier to reposition himself as Jacqueline takes a more apologetic stance, as if finding once more some sort of emotional perch in which the social stature he expects to be respected is reclaimed.
     The silence that follows says plenty enough, eyes closing and a tense exhalation escaping that nose of his. A nose which has yet to unwrinkle, a tension yet to leave them.
     One does not survive OVERSASS without giving up a little extra after being verbally vanquished, so, like the look on the face of a man who seems so done with all of it. All he needs to do is bring a hand to their for-- there it is, hand to forehead, as if to hold that composure together.
     "...I will overlook your fellow's lack of discretion," yeah he better if he doesn't want to get another round of that, he's still metaphorically on the canvas, as he starts to walk away slowly. His face hardens underneath that giant clawed hand of his.
     Nowhere near fast enough to escape verbal parting shots, if any.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

A barrage is unleashed... and Ashton blinks in surprise. Wait, a retreat? That isn't at all what he'd expected to happen.
 
Perhaps it's the recent battles - heartfelt speeches of passion, pithy one-liners and verbal barbs intermixed with steel and smokepowder. The words have become intertwined with battle for Ashton. As has the fact that they don't really... DO a whole lot besides make the speaker feel good. No amount of verbal striking deterred Mother nor the King of Krosse.
 
That OVERSASS has actually won the day takes the Symbological Swordsman entirely by surprise. His defenses drop almost instantly in confusion.
 
"Erm... well... I... apologize for my, uh. Lack of... discretion?" Ashton blinks owlishly, the venom in his tone disintegrating like an ice scuplture.
 
I see we have been a good influence on you.
So you're saying I should blame you for teaching me to be so rude?
It wasn't Mother Anchors, that's for certain. She would never approve of what you just said.
Do you really have to bring my mother into this, Creepy?
Am I wrong?
Will you two PLEASE stop? I'm hungry again and this bag is cramped. I don't need more of a headache from you two.
 
Lamely, Ashton raises a hand and waves. "Have a, um, nice day?"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline, pointedly, doesn't really feel bad about the Guado's reaction to Ashton's barrage. She hopes that it had a positive effect on him...but somehow she doubts that.

Even so, she continues to smile and waves politely as he turns to depart.

"Yes, please do take care, okay?" She calls after him, that wide smile still on her face.

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    The two of them give the Guado polite-enough well-wishes as he moves along at a slow pace, hand still up against his face.
     'Talked back to like that,' he thinks to himself, 'who do they think they are?' No one in all of Spira has ever talked back to him like this, so surely and aggressively! All the while, he is surrounded by others who pass by him to head to the priests for whatever reassurance and guidance they cannot possibly satisfy in this time of crisis.
     'The nerve!' He thinks, playing out such exclamations in his head over and over that he does not voice, for he simply does not know what to do with this. 'How long must we tolerate their unwelcome presence among Spira?'
     He has no satisfying answer to that. He almost walks right off the docks, saved at the last moment by realizing there is not something to catch a footfall. All because he decided to hide his face underneath a sleeve. He stares pointedly at the turbulent waters.
     He doesn't even look back over his shoulder at them. He scoffs again, impotently.
     'They'll learn their place,' is the only thing close to a comforting thought as he walks away from what could've been the site of a most undignified fall into the water. (He will return to those same angry thoughts soon enough.)