2019-11-14: That's How Drifter Gossip Works
- Log: That's How Drifter Gossip Works
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Dean Stark, Rebecca Streisand
- Where: Honeysday
- Date: November 14, 2019
- Summary: Dean, Rebecca, and Avril stop in Honeysday, in the hopes of finding out more about the town's rumored link to 'Johnny Appleseed'. Avril tries to have a discussion with her friends about something that has been on her mind for a time, but is interrupted by a bit of an ongoing crisis in town...
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
They had, in the end, left Meria Boule behind. Had gone westerly, off to Kasutho, an island that was seemingly populated only by farming communities.
The why was simple. There had been a story that had reached them about that island and the towns -- a specific town -- there. It really had just been happenstance: a story from a sailor about Kasutho and its verdant fields.
And the towns there.
In particular, a town that had been under direct Veruni control for some time, where it was said their ancient hero, Johnny Appleseed was born.
Or so they thought it went, anyway.
Honeysday, it was called.
...Birthplace also of one Nightburn Acklund.
Getting to Kasutho hadn't been hard.
Neither had getting to Honeysday -- if it's under Veruni control, the masters apparently opt to keep a light touch when it comes to the village, for there are no Veruni (or signs thereof, such as their technology) in sight.
It's a small place, spare in terms of housing though no less cheerily decorated for it. Even compared to Meria Boule -- certainly compared to Ignas -- it's downright green here.
But still a pale shade of Lunar proper.
There are no signs of ancient structures here. Perhaps some of the houses' structures date back a few hundred years, but no further than that, certainly. The community has been here for some time even before the Veruni, no doubt, but if this is the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed...
"..."
Avril hesitates, her gaze moving from building to building, as if in search of something she isn't able to locate.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Even if tale hadn't come of Johnny Appleseed being born in Honeysdale, Dean still would've wanted to check out Honeysdale for the simple reason that that's where his hero, Nightburn Acklund, was born. What's the hometown of the greatest Golem Hunter ever like? He's just got to see! The fact that it's Veruni-controlled doesn't bother him, though for Avril's sake it does get him a bit more cautious than usual. Who knows if someone like Volsung is there and decides they want to take their Queen home, and won't take no for an answer.
All that said--it surprises Dean to see how... *normal* Honeysdale is. It's just a farming town in the middle of nowhere, not entirely unlike his own hometown of Capo Bronco, except much greener. He looks around in curiosity, noting the bridges in the air and the pond to one side. But...
"Maybe we should stop and ask someone?" he suggests, rubbing a finger under his nose. "Nothing against this place, but it looks so *ordinary*. It's hard to imagine Nightburn grew up here... let alone Johnny Appleseed. But if they did, then the locals must know something cool!"
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Living outside the Veruni control zone, Rebecca always thought that if she ever actually had to go through a place under their control... she'd find out it wasn't quite as bad as she'd heard. That's how Drifter gossip works after all. Embellishment was part and parcel with that word of mouth.
If it was still even half as bad as she'd heard though, then her hand belonged near her ARM for reasons that had nothing to do with swagger.
And even moreso now.
The green and normality does little to make the place seem welcoming to her.
Dean's excitement goes a long way towards easing some of the tension off of her, but Avril's own visible hesitation brings it back, creating a perfect balance that brought her back to just as tense as before.
"I mean what did you think Nightburn's hometown would look like Dean? A Golem Graveyard that he fought his way out while he was still in diapers?" Rebecca says after a moment, her eyes scanning each building, seeing if there's anyone watching them far too closely. "And sure sure - we should just - stroll up to someone and ask if they know about Johnny Appleseed. Dean-! Who do you think we're travelling with? We should be try to be discreet ... Lord Volsung could have spies anywhere right?"
After a moment of watching Avril do that, she asks, "This place bring back any... nostalgic feelings Avril?"
Rebecca asks, but then regrets the question immediately. Why would she feel nostalgic about this place? Feeling a little sheepish for the asking she just looks away to try to see if anyone's in earshot - listening.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed. <SoundTracker> Noriyasu Agematsu - I Still Have Something to Tell You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXIQu4ohI6A
"So this is where Dean's treasure comes from," Avril remarks, shortly after the topic comes about. "Hmm... perhaps it might be a little like 'walking on sacred ground'."
There are times when it's hard to tell how serious Avril is being.
There do not appear to be very many people about. It might be that time of day -- perhaps many people are in the fields. The only immediate sign of the locals are a couple of older men seated on a front porch of a trading post, apparently deep in some conversation with one another.
Other than that, there are the other buildings, a whole lot of empty shipping boxes (they're open: they're empty), and a Memory Cube.
(And apparently, someone's pet parrot, but we digress.)
"Perhaps we might ask one of those men?" she remarks, regarding the two chatty old men.
Then Rebecca speaks up. Does she find this place familiar?
Avril shakes her head. "No, not particularly," she says.
It... does feel familiar, vaguely, but only in the most distant sense of the word, like she had seen it in a picture somewhere, or been somewhere like it before.
Like a lot of places she's been.
She glances over at Rebecca, then, only to look away.
Briefly, she closes her eyes.
They... won't reject her for it. She's sure of it. But...
"Dean. Rebecca. There is something that I need to--"
A shouting rises up from behind them. A turn about will reveal an apparent farmer stalking towards the town with murder in her eyes...
And a smashed gourd in her arms.
"BYRON H. RHODES!" she bellows, coming to a stop just past them, as if there were merely piles of crates or other assorted town miscellanea and not living breathing people. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"
A door nearby slowly creeeeaks open, and almostly sheepishly, a middle-aged man makes his appearance.
Judging from the star badge on his shirt... he must be the local sheriff.
If the Veruni are not often in -- as may be the case -- perhaps they need to let humans settle their own justice around here.
"C-Caroline," he utters, tugging at his moustache. "How can... I help you?"
The woman's glare could light tinder. "You could start by doing your job Byron! Look! Look at this!" She shakes the gourd menacingly at him.
...Part of the bottom of it falls off to splat onto the dusty road.
"Those damned Gobs looted my entire field! And after you said you'd stepped up patrols. A fat lot of good it's done my crops!"
She hucks the remainder of the gourd to one side and strides up to him. "Just what do you think the Veruni are going to do when they come for their share and we've got nothing to give? Hmmmm?!"
She shakes a finger in his face for good measure.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"I don't know! Maybe something a little more--exciting?" Dean protests to Rebecca. Her suggestion about the Golem Graveyard, though, gives him pause--and then a sparkle in his eyes. "That would be so *awesome*!! It's be just like Nightburn to grow up surrounded by Golems and Golem parts!" He brightens. "Wait--d'you think that means there's a lot of Golem dig sites around here?! We should definitely ask about that!"
But then Rebecca chides him, reminding him that they've got to be discreet in Veruni territory, since Volsung might have spies around. "Oh," he utters, deflating. "Yeah, you're right. I didn't think of that. But if we can't ask around, what *should* we do?"
Rebecca asks Avril if she's getting any nostalgia from this town. Dean looks at her in curiosity. She comments that walking through the town is a bit like walking through sacred ground, since it's where Dean's treasures find their origin, after a fashion. "Huh...! You might be on to something!"
Dean absolutely can't tell how serious Avril is being.
In time, they come across a couple of old men chatting with each other. If it hadn't been for Rebecca's warning, Dean would just walk up to them and say hi, but instead, he peers at them. Could one of them be a spy for Volsung? How would you even tell...?
Avril calls his name. He turns to her with a, "Hm?" But before she can get to her point, a bunch of shouts grab his attention, and he sees a farmer with a smashed gourd in her hands. He blinks as she passes by them and shouts for someone named Byron. Byron looks to be the local sheriff. Dean blinks at Rebecca and Avril, then back at the farmer as she shouts down the sheriff about the Gobs looting her crops and how the Veruni will react if they don't have their tithe ready.
"Hey! Sorry, excuse me," Dean says as he steps in between the two. "Are you guys in trouble? Do you need help?" Because it sure *sounds* like they need help, and Dean can't help but want to help those in need. Even if they're total strangers.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Wouldn't it be?" Wouldn't it be... Dean? Awesome - if Nightburn did that?
"I mean this place looks way too nice to be a Golem digsite... but then again Avril found golems... all over Lunar. Let's not go wild thinking this is some Golem holy land though or something."
What should they do though?
"Well it means we've gotta be discerning on who to approach I think - and we think carefully on what to say. You can get all kinds of information from people in small towns just by asking them about everyday things - you know? We don't need to ask..."
'Perhaps we might ask one of those men?'
"Or we could just ask one of those guys-! We both know Avril has good instincts right?" Wow Rebecca changed course quickly the moment Avril suggested that huh?
Avril says the place doesn't feel particularly familiar, and Rebecca mentally kicks herself a little, "Ah alright. Well... I mean I guess I should have figured."
Rebecca looks briefly nervous, perhaps catching the glance Avril gives her, but doesn't seem to notice that she's working up to something.
Rebecca looks back at Avril just in time to notice Avril was going to say something-
And then she starts at the shouting, her fingers on the handle of her ARM. However she eases them away the next moment. "Oh - false alarm it seems."
Rebecca sounds off, because there's nothing more normal than a bit of small town drama. Perhaps the teenager in her initially hopes that it's something a little steamy - but even her imagination has trouble with working in a smashed gourd being presented to a local Sheriff.
The story unfolds, and she winces as she guesses what kind of consequences there'd be for coming up short on a Veruni tithe.
Rebecca sees Dean move, and she starts, reaching out a hand his way.
"Dean. It's..."
'It's not our problem.'
She nearly says it. Then she thinks again of those consequences that might befall these people.
And she can't bring herself to stop Dean - instead giving Avril a sidelong glance, before stepping up behind Dean.
"You mentioned Gobs right?"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Rebecca might have a point, where Avril's capability with locating Golems is concerned but--
"Are there Golem sites about here?" Avril asks, glancing around. "I did not see anything except fields on our way to the town." Or much at all even outside the sleepy port town for Kasutho Island, at that. It was fields and green as far as the eyes could see--
But not without that telltale sign. Brown grass in spots. Gnarled withered trees in the forests. Even this island is slowly succumbing -- to see how it may look in a few more hundred years, one only has to look east.
But for now, they're here, and for now, life endures.
Avril cannot help but giggle when Dean agrees with her, a small burst of mirth before she suggests they go and speak to the locals.
And that before that, even--
She still has something to tell them.
...Until even her moment to at last air her misgivings to the both of them is handily dashed by the arrival of an irate farmer. As her friends similarly watch in, so does Avril, in silence.
Until Dean peels away to approach the farmer and the sheriff. Avril heads after them, lingering but a moment to glance back at Rebecca.
"Eh?" utter the beleagured sheriff Rhodes and the furious farmer Caroline more or less in unison.
They stare down at Dean, then look over at Avril. Then at Rebecca.
"I guess... you could say that," says the sheriff, rubbing at his chin. Caroline looks like she's about to interject, but the sheriff holds up a finger.
"You see... we've got a wee bit of a Gob problem."
Caroline snorts, folding her arms over her chest.
"They took up residence a li'l while back in the old shrine outside of town. They were a minor nuisance at first, but they've only gotten worse lately. Taken to plundering everything they can get their little hands on from our fields. We stepped up patrols--"
"Ha!" remarks Caroline.
Sheriff Rhodes grimaces. "--But they're sneaky little buggers. What I think we need is a little... retrieval done, maybe. You kids are all Drifters, are you?"
"I want more than 'a retrieval', Rhodes," Caroline remarks, hotly. "I want justice for my poor crops!"
The sheriff just sighs, shoulders sagging. "Alright, alright. A little justice wouldn't hurt around these parts, neither. Particularly since the harvest's due in before long..."