2020-02-27: What's It Worth To You

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<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

There were a number of interesting ruins in the Meria Boule region, but the one that had captured Jacqueline's interest and attention was the Lifeweaver's Whorl, located in the Feywilds of Moore. A part of her felt a somewhat personal connection to the place, due to it sharing something in common with the tome she often carried with her. And a part of it was just very interesting, from a scientific standpoint. There were others among the Caravan Kinship who had felt the same way, and so she had put out a bounty on information relating to it.

Fortunately, it did not take long to get a response - and, what's more, it was from people she considered quite reliable. And so, a meet-up had been arranged. The place was the Carakin itself, the reliable vehicle of the Caravan Kinship, so as to best provide hospitality during the meet-up.

It's currently parked a safe distance from the Feywilds themselves, and the door is propped open in a welcoming fashion to reveal the vehicle's cozy interior. Jacqueline herself sits in the living area, not far from the front door, one one of the couches. There's plenty of places to sit along with a table in the center, on which some beverages have been arranged. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

There's more than one reason that the Carakin and its membership is interested in the mysterious ruin at the heart of the Moore Feywilds. Certainly, the connection to Jay's tome is at the top of the list of reasons, but recent discoveries have suggested that there's more to the ancient facility than meets the eye. It isn't just a mutant-infested bastion of questionably moral science, it's also quite possibly home to tools that may prolong the life and biodiversity of Filgaia for... Maybe not forever, but it'll help, is the thing.

Cyre Lorentz has thus also been frequenting the ruin as of late. Though with the exception of the most recent expedition, all he's managed to take away from his visits is a surfeit of LASER BURNS.

Cyre is not particularly fond of mysterious floating eyeball bushes.

This is largely why he was in favor of putting up a bounty for useful information pertaining to the Whorl and its contents. One which, as it turns out, was picked up quite quickly by an interested party. Cyre himself sits at the Carakin's unfolding porch, working on a nearly-finished leather jacket sized for a chocobo. Said chocobo snoozes nearby, curled up next to a frankly unnecessarily large canine.

Might as well get some work done outside while the weather's nice, after all. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius just kind of happens. That's been the case for the roughly three years he's been in (and out, and about) Jay's company, and that doesn't look like it's changing. He had no hand in making decisions as regards to where a meet-up might take place, but seems about as amicable as he can ever manage to come off as about the idea. (Which is to say he didn't disagree.)
     Ethius, at first, is watching the outer side of the CaraKin away from the intended open door as if to play it safe and be sure no one was eavesdropping or otherwise - he'll join back inside when satisfied or, as may well be the case, he decides he would like to pass the time by staring uncomfortably at things again. After all, the Kinship has - once again - been at the forefront of a historical discovery. One that continues to pile on more questions as to the hows and whys.
     He gives the chocobo in specific a wide berth. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    The Black Wolves had ventured into the Feywilds, as one does when one is a mercenary group with some time to kill and a brand new ship.

    And what they had found in there had been quite interesting indeed...

    ...But also not precisely of immediate use or purpose towards their aims, even once some of it had been deciphered.
    But it hadn't been terribly hard to think of someone who would want to take a look at it.

    Particularly after they'd seen the word put out by the Caravan Kinship.

    "So, let's get down to brass tacks, Jay," Josie remarks, lounging on one of the chairs in a particularly boneless way, a cigar dangling from her one good hand.

    "What's all this worth to you and yours?"

    She does tilt her head up slightly to gaze at Ethius, her expression for now pensive when regarding the Symbologist. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily Keil had a good deal of interest in that particular ruin, herself. Well, once she saw it up close, anyway. But ultimately, botany and biology in general just aren't the fields that she focuses in, and so it seems that many of its discoveries are less vital to her than might be to some others.

...Or, perhaps, 'valuable' is the term in question.

So here and now, Lily looks over Jay, Cyre, and Ethius, nodding to each in turn. Josie has the matter of cost and their dealings largely handled--fine by her.

She figures Ethius will make some move if there's trouble.

But she does give a low laugh. "You're too good a businesswoman for us to hold back, Jay." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline isn't all too surprised that Josie goes immediately to the most pertinent question - how much is it worth to them? She can't help but chuckle, though, at Lily's comment.

"I appreciate that. I do have my pride as a merchant, after all." She replies with a smile. "Considering the danger involved and our clear interest in the subject, I think this would be a fair price?"

She draws out a pouch of gella, setting it on the table. In any other situation it might not be the smartest move, but it's a sign of the trust she has in the two of them.

She glances outside to Cyre, still currently working on a chocobo jacket - as in, a jacket for chocobos. As for Ethius... well, he'd definitely help make sure no external parties decided to mess with the meeting. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

It is indeed a jacket for chocobos. Why! If you would take a gander into the nearby menagerie car, you'd find similarly tailored jackets except designed with WRATH WYVERNS in mind! Cyre, as it turns out, knows a thing or two about making durable leather clothing.

He gives Lily a nod in exchange. Like for like, it's a good system of commerce. Speaking of which, a trade is taking place...

Jay sets a stack of coin on the table. The enormous doggo's ears perk at the noise. Cyre adds, threading another stitch, "We'll also be glad to throw in some context, if you'd like. Information for information, plus incentive. It's a pretty good deal, I'd say." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius regards both Lily and Josephine alike with the same usual stares. He has come to arms against both of them in different occasions, but there's no outward sign that he might be thinking to do so again. The unsettling thing may well be that he looks no different from the time they did come to blows, as though he might be giving friend or foe the exact same look.
     ...Foe or not foe may be more appropriate? Hard to say.
     Coins jingle. A dire (but good) boy's ears perk, and his gaze turns. The CaraKin has no shortage of exotic animals that require exceptionally careful handling. Already, a gloved hand is raised as if anticipating the need to act.
     He has nothing to add in terms of spoken word, for the moment. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Maybe that's what's bugging Josie -- in as much as anything (generally) seems to bother the disreputable archaeologist. She regards Ethius in a sort of silence for a moment more before shrugging her shoulders, glancing back to Lily and tilting her attention back Jay's way.

    Who then makes the both of them an offer they...
    Probably can't refuse?

    Josie glances at Lily, then gestures with her cigar at the bag.

    "Kiddo's a good sort," she remarks, of Jay -- not that Lily likely needs her to vouch for the merchant. "If it's good for you..."

    Then it's good for her.

    "Whatcha doing there, kid," she drawls, gaze turning Cyre's way for likely the first time since they first made themselves comfortable in here.

    And then he says the magic word that makes even her straighten in her seat. Not just money, but--

    "Information, huh? For what, the Feywilds?"

    Pause.

    "Or, you got something we might find likely enough? I'm looking for Zeboim-era ruins, if you know any," she says, before cracking a broad smile. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily herself seems calm, even at ease. Granted, her at ease is naturally a little warier than some, but certainly for her.

She glances to the amount of coins and then to Josie for a moment, before looking back to Cyre as well as to Jay. "Too good to hold back, but more than good enough to be trusted. I'm willing to accept this. Works for me."

"Good doing business with you," she says to Jay. "I'm also interested in whatever information you have in mind, of course." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Absolutely." Jacqueline agrees with a nod, as Cyre says they'll throw in some context, too. She looks toward Ethius briefly, then back to Josie. Fortunately, it looks like both Josie and Lily are agreeable! Jacqueline offers the two of them a smile.

"Pleasure doing business with you!" She replies, then looks toward Josie.

"Unfortunately, I don't know of any that you probably haven't heard of." She replies, shaking her head. "But, we know a bit more about the facility in the Feywilds than most do - the Lifeweaver's Whorl. If that term sounds familiar..."

Jacqueline reaches into her bags, drawing out a heavy, leather-bound tome with a round lapis lazuli inlaid on the front cover, emblazoned with a sigil of a ringed star with nice rays. It might be familiar as the book she's known to carry around everywhere, looking up what she encounters.

"This book, the Lifeweaver's Codex, was written by a man by the name of Eleno Margulis - and he's the one who initially called us to the Feywilds, using the book as a medium." She explains. She looks to Cyre to see what input or corrections he has on the situation, before looking back to Josie and Lily.

"In our past visits, we've found experiments that might prove helpful for Filgaia's future. So, anything you might find may prove crucial." She comments. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

'Kid' she says. Cyre fights the urge to roll his eyes, because then he really WILL be like some kind of precocious teenager with the solution to the problem of the week ready to deploy the moment the plot demands it. Instead he just shrugs and holds up his chocobo jacket. It's like some kind of adorable bomber jacket, complete with fleece-lined collar and a Carakin badge patched onto each 'shoulder.' There are even buckles and fasteners to allow for a more comfortable saddling experience. "Makin' a jacket for Tramontane over there. Never know when we might end up going somewhere cold, you know? So I decided to be prepared."

But then... Information is requested. "Zeboim ruins, huh? I actually do know of one called Shae Ving up around Sielje, but I've only been there the one time. But as for the Whorl..."

Jay does a good job of explaining the gist and the details both. Cyre nods and adds, "Eleno was in there for a long, long time by my reckoning. He came from Lunar, from this place called Withertallow Keep. When we found him, he'd... Somehow fused himself with a tree? Anyway, he's been doing experiments in the Whorl for ages now. Pretty sure that we've only scratched the surface of what might be in there, but what we have found..."

Is important for Filgaia's future, yes. This gets a nod from Cyre. But then he says: "We also found a cultivar of durians that don't stink. So, you know, obvious commercial incentives exist." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    The dire (but good) boy behaves, with no further sudden starts of activity after the coin jingle, and Ethius' tension relaxes as Jay and Cyre start discussing the gist of their findings. Ethius' very presence is rarely truly welcome, but there's a passivity to him that is a lot stranger. It wasn't long ago that he seemed to get agitated by the idea of the people of the two worlds having much to do with one another.
     Josephine and Ethius literally came to blows over him trying to remove her presence from the war between Rolance and Hyland... and now, there's nothing. No 'shhh,' no protests... and that's just in the present.
     There wasn't even any sort of conversation from him beforehand stating what they should or shouldn't say.
     The strange white-haired Symbologist looks off to the side, as if gauging whether or not there is something going on around or behind him, and when satisfied, looks back. He stands with his arms now behind his back, as if at some sort of military attention. Which is funny, he looks like a ruffian. That's been his aesthetic across every culture they've blended into.
     "Mister Eleno, curiously, also referred to the Lord of Calamity as though only a singular entity within the entire history. To my understanding, that is a title that has been, in a sense, awarded to various figures throughout the years." 'Awarded' is really not the correct term for this!!
     ...
     It's sort of odd for him to even be sharing something like that, isn't it... 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Given the way Josie tends to hold a grudge -- and the lack of a response from Ethius on the matter -- one wonders what she thinks, precisely, on the matter.
    Whatever it is, she's not telling. She just regards him almost thoughtfully, before turning her attention away for now.

    "You're second in command," Josie remarks to Lily, shrugging nonchalantly. "If it works for you, it works for me."

    Though... she would like to hear some of that info. Just as the icing on the cake of this transaction.
    If nothing else, this might partially fund her own expeditional work. Assuming Jay and Cyre -- and Ethius -- don't have anything for her.

    Josie flashes a grin in response to Jay in the meantime.
    And gives her a wink for good measure, because she's just Like That.

    "Yeah? So you know a thing or two about the place? It's not what I'm looking for, but any port in a storm, aye? So, go on--"

    Eleno Margulis, huh.
    Experiments that might help the planet, someday. Somehow.

    Josie settles back in her seat, pensive.

    If it's any consolation, Josie calls just about everyone of the masc persuasion 'kid', sometimes regardless of their actual chronological age respective to her.

    "Yeah? A coat for a bird, huh. Not a bad plan." That pensive expression looks a little more distant, perhaps.
    ...Perhaps she's thinking of Penelope, who is notably not here.

    "...Heh," she huffs, when he mentions Shae Ving. "Sorry, already been. Nice place -- gave me a right tip about what I'm looking for -- but it's not it. So, what more you know about this Whorl? Maybe Lion'll want to hear about it," she says, referring to Leon by his nickname, perhaps just because she can.

    "...Came down from Lunar, huh. Wonder when that..."

    She trails out, stares at Cyre a moment, then just shakes her head. "Don't that just beat all. I've been around that place, on Lunar, but I never would've... a tree?"

    Ethius, of all people, pitches in here. Josie turns, regarding him almost stonily again.

    "'Lord of Calamity'... Ain't I heard that before?"

    Lunar History, perhaps, is not her strong suit. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"That's true, Lily answers Josie.

"If you've been to Shae Ving then you certainly know about the cold," Lily says. "If you find anything there I'm very interested, though. It's personal." But for the Whorl...

The tome--yes, Lily recognizes that, or so suggests the way she looks at it when Jacqueline shows it to her. "So they're related," Lily replies thoughtfully, a rhetorical statement given that it's obvious now. It brings her the context of all the things she's heard Jay read from it...

"So that explains the title 'Lifeweaver'," Lily concludes, considering further as Cyre mentions... a tree. "I hadn't imagined the one responsible for that place was still alive," Lily admits. "It had to have been a long time--just given the condition of the place, the growth in it." She pauses. "...Well, relatively minor discoveries have their place, too." A botanist she isn't. "Still, I can see why the things in there could be a benefit..." She pauses. "That's the opposite direction I usually hear about--Lunar to Filgaia."

Lily stops when Ethius speaks up, though, and listens. "...Did he do that in person, or in his notes?" she wonders. "That's my understanding, too. Odd."

"That's context, all right. I don't know that it has a lead on what we're looking for, but it's worth poking into again sometime." Pause. "...The Lord of Calamity. The Guard are sure it's a woman named Lucia, supposedly who spreads Malevolence wherever she goes... But while that might be true, I doubt it's her anyway. Not the way Hiro looks after her, and the others." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Yes, it's true that it has quite a bit for people like us." Jacqueline comments with a chuckle, as Cyre brings up the durians. She looks toward Ethius curiously, then, as he provides some information - unprompted, even. That is odd, but it's something to think about.

"Yes, we were surprised, too. He's asleep now, however - and there's no telling when he will reawaken." Jacqueline comments. Lily comments on how she didn't think the person responsible would still be alive. Jacqueline nods. "Ordinarily, he wouldn't be. But it seems that, by fusing himself to the tree, he was able to increase his lifespan and spread his influence throughout the facility, so that he would be able to live long enough for his experiments to bear fruit."

...Jacqueline pauses, realising the pun in what she just said. She only barely manages to keep from smirking at it.

"We were able to speak to him personally, actually." Jacqueline says with a nod toward Lily, as she asks whether it was in person or in notes. But, as for Josie's question...

"As Ethius alluded to, 'Lord of Calamity' is a title given to those who brought calamity - some manner of notable societal upheaval, with the specifics differing from each individual. At least, that's my understanding." Jacqueline explains. "...As for Lucia, I don't think she is, either. If I didn't think so before, the Guard's behavior in Spira clinches it."

She shakes her head, then decides to shift subjects.

"So... what was it you found?" She asks, looking between Josie and Lily. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Ethius mentions something that Cyre didn't have the presence of mind to take note of at the time. Ethius sharing ANYTHING is profoundly unusual, but for him to communicate something about the goings-on of an alien world...

Well, maybe he's finally starting to open up to them???

...nah it's probably some kind of unscrupulous Ethiusian conspiracy (tm).

"That's... I hadn't noticed that. Now that you mention it, I can remember him saying so, too. I wonder if that means there was only just the one Lord of Calamity around back when Eleno was still on Lunar. But that'd mean..." Cyre's brow furrows thoughtfully. The stories about the Feywilds had been circulating for long enough to become local folklore, so... How old was Eleno Margulis, really? "Damn, if he was still awake, we might have been able to ask him what he knew about the whole Lord of Calamity thing. Maybe his colleagues will know something...?"

That'd require talking to a bunch of Hellions, though.

Kiiind of a risky prospect, that.

Shae Ving is spoken of. Cyre shrugs again. "Not as much, unfortunately. All I got out of that expedition was a test flight and a piece of useful weaponry. I might make another run of the place, but we almost got hurled off a train the last time."

To be fair, he's also been lasered repeatedly by a thing inside the Whorl, and Cyre's been there plenty of times! 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Who knows what rules and criteria this man is bound by. (Is he bound by any rules?!)
     He doesn't flinch as Josie regards him with that stony look. Fortunately, further explanation about the Lord of Calamity is shared, and there is open speculation where Cyre's thoughts start to trail off about what it means. If Ethius has any idea what it means... he doesn't say.
     Or he doesn't know, which is more likely from the looks of it. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "So he's out to be a problem someday, huh," remarks Josie on the subject of that fine fellow. "I don't suppose you could just," she says, gesticulating with her cigar, "dump some herbicide on his roots while he's napping? ...Don't look at me like that, it was a joke."

    She, after all, snorts at Jay's own unintended pun.

    Whatever Ethius may or may not know -- or say -- that's enough for them to chew on, for now. "...Right. That's where I heard it. I listened in now and then, but it's not my problem, so..."
    Vague guesture.
    "...But Hiro's up with the current one, eh? So that's what he's into..." Lily did just say that she didn't think Lucia was the Lord of Calamity, Josie!

    "Cold as Aru Solatu's tits, there," she remarks, on the subject of Shae Ving. "If you do happen back that way and learn a thing or two, though... tell me some about it? Maybe there's more in there than what we found."

    Jacqueline, then, asks what they found in the Whorl.

    "...Right," Josie says, leaning forward to stub out her cigar. "Here, let me get it..."

    It's a disk that she sets down on the table. A Zettaquad Information Portability disk. And a book, aged and crumbling at the margins. "Here's what we found. I daresay you'll need a machine to read that, but in a pinch... well, you paid your way to it, I can ask Lion about letting you use ours. Apparently it's all botany, zoology, and so on," she says, gesturing towards the pile of items.

    "I also grabbed this book. Ecology, seems like. It's not in great shape, but if you're short a terminal and short on time, maybe it'll do for you in the meanwhile. Like I said..."

    She takes a moment to look Lily's way.

    "It ain't doing us any good just sitting on it all. Might as well trade it out -- for a fair price! -- for them that needs it." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

If Ethius doesn't have any more to add, Lily doesn't press him for the nothing. She just looks him over for another moment and then shifts to Jay and Cyre. ...She shakes her head about what Hiro's into, though. Amused, if nothing else. "Someone that old, I'm inclined to talk to him before I pre-emptive strike. They seemed to get out of it unscathed..." She looks to the others, "Though you might've gotten lucky. The other writings there weren't penned by a well mind."

"Glad you got something useful out of it," she says of Shae Ving.

Josie has the disk. "There were more books, but in this condition we couldn't carry everything. There's definitely more back at the original site."

Lily looks back to Josie--and nods. "I feel the same way. It's interesting, but not one of my fields."

"...If you don't have access to a terminal I can help you out, but that's a separate discussion. The one we used I'm keeping more under wraps than this stuff. But it's more than I had time to transcribe by far. Botany, zoology... Ecology, like the book. I'd be surprised if you didn't find something useful in here." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"I don't think he'll be a problem, honestly. He was really quite civil with us - and, he left us with a mission to take care of." Jacqueline replies, shaking her head. "A part of him had Hellionized, but we were able to purify it without issue. I imagine that one was responsible for the messages you found."

It's true, though - Eleno's comment was something she hadn't noticed, too. Leave it to Ethius and his eye for fine details - they might've missed that tidbit if not for him. It really is a shame Eleno's asleep - there was more she would've liked to learn from him, too.

She looks, then, to what Josie and Lily show off. An information disk, as well as a very aged book... the latter certainly catches Jacqueline's interest.

"Fascinating... I'll have to read through it." Jacqueline says, of the book. "I'll probably want to get it restored first, for safety purposes... but, if there are other books there, too, I'll definitely have to look into it again..."

And then, she considers the disc. The Carakin might be a fairly advanced vehicle, but it's still ultimatedly a modern vehicle - even if it does take inspiration from Zeboim-era modes of transportation, thanks to notes provided by Meridin Croze. It doesn't have the kind of terminal they'd need to read it.

"That kind of information would be incredibly invaluable. I'll have to take you up on that offer - we don't have anything like that here." Jacqueline says. "And in exchange... I'll be right back."

Jacqueline stands up and ducks into one of the connecting hallways for a second, coming back a moment later with a couple of books that she offers to Lily. They're written entirely in the Zeboim language and appear to cover electrical engineering and particle physics, of all things - complete with dizzying diagrams.

"I found these in a facility known as 'Faraway Lands'. I've been trying to learn the language, but... I think it'll be years before I can even begin to comprehend this sort of thing. You might get more use out of it than I can - I'm not sure what they cover, but it looks important." She says. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"If I'm in the area, I may go with you. I might see what's there in a different light now that I know more of the history." She adds, "Interesting that it's 'parts'... But what you say makes sense in that light." Then she considers Jay's response, and nods. "That's fine. I'll bring you to it. Just let me know when you have some free time to read this over."

When Jay goes, Lily's patient. She apparently doesn't have to be patient all that long. She reaches out to accept the books, and looks them over... "These are in Zeboim," she confirms, looking with interest. "Have you? That's probably a good idea for a Drifter," she admits. "I think I would, this one..."

She opens one on electrical engineering, "So that's... This actually might have exactly what I've been looking for lately."

"Thanks. That's more than a good trade. Remind me to bring you information more often."

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