2020-11-17: Even Just Someone
- Log: Even Just Someone
- Cast: Riesenlied, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: Macalania
- Date: November 17, 2020
- Summary: Josie, out in Macalania, encounters someone she didn't expect to see again...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Several weeks ago, Riesenlied and other members of the Wayside Outreach joined other Drifters in a push to try to rescue those that had been captive within the sunken halls of Via Purifico. What they discovered instead was a horrifying contraption devised by one Wen Kinoc -- and the Queen of the Dragons. Lombardia.
Since then, Riesenlied has been spending time recovering from her own exertions, and has decided to take some time outside. Today's spot is a particularly secluded part of Macalania, not terribly far from the Fereshte; it's a cliff overlooking the crystalline forest, tranquil and gentle.
She's in her wheelchair today -- the terrain isn't ideal for it, with how much the wheels sink into the snow, but she manages... somehow.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Several weeks ago, Josephine Lovelace, along with a few others, made a daring* escape** from Via Purifico. Since then, she'd managed to reunite with those from Odessa who were still/had come here and has been seeing to their aims here since.
Which has largely been, of note, 'keep an eye on potential meddlers' 'survey the situation in the lake region' and otherwise 'collect and exploit what they can in the region for the effort back on Filgaia'.
A few of these account for her presence outside the deeper and more dangerous parts of the forest -- even without backup she can fairly trivially take a look about for anything worth reporting back. Today sees her ascending to a particular clifftop that provides a good view of the surrounding area.
Strange. There are some odd tracks here and there.
It's when she summits to the clifftop that she realizes both what they are and that she's made a terrible mistake. Her boots crunch on the snow as she takes a step backward.
(*arguable)
(**also arguable, considering a wizard saved her)
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Crunch!
Riesenlied blinks a few times and turns her head -- though it's the glint of the Dragon's Tear, perhaps, that tells her there's someone there more than audio cues. Her ears aren't exactly the sharpest in the world.
"Oh, is someone there...?" Riesenlied calls, adjusting herself on her chair gently.
A pause, as her eyes widen. "Oh!"
Her cheeks warm up as she waves both her arms, and she excitedly pushes herself... ineffectually... through snow. "Josie! Josie, hello! Goodness, it has been a long time!"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The last time she'd seen Riesenlied, she'd been sleeping. She'd already been sleeping for a long time, really.
Josie's left palm rests on the stock of the black shotgun, her gaze only on Riesenlied as the woman turns to greet her. Slowly she takes one step backward.
Riesenlied meanwhile rolls forward excitedly and Josie--
Well, to put it simply, she freezes up. What in the world is going on here? Shouldn't she be-- Is Riesenlied setting her up for some sort of--
No, the first just isn't happening and the second just isn't Riesenlied.
"Uh," Josie vocalizes, and it takes her a moment more to realize that there's a very, very simple explanation for what's going on here:
No one told her.
Her palm lifts off the stock and moves to hang ineffectually at her side. "Yeah... sure has," the uneasy archaeologist remarks. "Looks like you woke up at last, huh..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied doesn't seem to really catch any of the suspicion or gun-reaching Josie is making, and if any of her feelings leak out to her, it seems natural enough for a Drifter to be wary until they realise who someone is.
"Ah, yes..." Riesenlied pauses, lowering her head. "I made everyone worry, so so much."
A pause, as she murmurs, "It was over two months, Noeline said. She was there with me, the whole time -- I could sense her presence through our rings."
She bites her lip... but then redoubles her cheer as she asks, "How have you been? I hope Spira has not been too cruel, as it has been to so many people..."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
They really didn't tell her, Josie considers, looking at her now. Well--
In that case she's absolutely not doing their dirty work for them, she decides. Not anymore.
Even if, after Riesenlied's poor health, she couldn't precisely blame them for keeping mum.
"It ain't your fault or none. No one's blaming you. ...Just glad to have you back and about, yeah?"
She takes a glance about herself. "Who all's out here with you? Noeline? ...Lily?"
When Riesenlied asks how she's been, the archaeologist, incredulous, gestures towards herself. "Me? Same as always. Doin' fine, poking about..." She gestures, vaguely. "Same old, same old."
She opts to omit the business with being in jail for a week and change because that'll open a can of worms.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Sometime down the line they might reflect on it, and it really came to the most Occam's razor thing of all:
It just didn't come up.
Life was a whirlwind with Riesenlied waking up just in time to get caught in the incident at the Main Gate, and many things ever since.
"Ah, yes!" Riesenlied gasps when Josephine says she's glad she's back, and asks who she's with. "We found the Fereshte! They had been with the Al Bhed this whole time, so finally, we have been reunited..."
There's a moment of warmth as she places her hands to her chest to say, "After being separated from our family for so long..."
A pause, as Josephine says it's been the same old-same old for her. "Ah... I am glad. I was drawn into an incident with Lombardia during the effort to rescue people. It was quite harrowing, really... Yevon had been capturing and torturing her for parts..."
She smiles wider. "But... we were able to rescue her in the end."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Maybe someday they'll have that chance. But, as things now stand...
Josie has not only crossed a certain bridge but set fire to it after crossing.
"Eh? You found it? And everyone was-- heh, glad to hear it," Josie says, popping a smile that doesn't quite meet her eyes. Damn, watching her smile like that's...
She shakes her head minutely, though, and at least the topic shifts to--
"Lombardia, huh?" She scratches at her cheek with a finger. "So she was in their hands all along...? How's the old bird doing now? Recovering?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"She did," Riesenlied expresses gently. "And she left Spira to recuperate, when she was hale enough..." A longer pause, as she bites her lip. "This land was not terribly kind to her, but she said she may be back to aid in our fight against Sin, when it comes time."
She looks back towards Josephine. Perhaps it's the empathy, perhaps it's just natural talent in being able to sense people's woes -- that's one thing she's good at, at least.
"Josie... I know you can take care of yourself, but... you know the Fereshte is always open, if you ever need anything, even just someone..." Riesenlied expresses. It's that kind of sure statement that feels like she might be implying more, then...
A pause, as she scratches her cheek. "I mean, since the Karlsefni is not here at the moment..."
... or maybe not? Always threading the balance between insightful and clueless, this one...
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Hmm, good on her," Josie muses, frowning thoughtfully. "Not sure I'd stick around after all that business, anyway. Glad she's still hangin' in there."
So even though she'd been horribly wronged, she was still going to come back to do battle with Sin...
Josie curls the fingers of her left hand into a fist, briefly.
"..."
She doesn't have anything to say at first, and just looks at Riesenlied like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Did she know all this time--
One by one the fingers of her hand uncurl from her palm. She exhales a breath she hadn't known she was holding.
"...Sure ain't," she says, cracking a grin. "Poor little old me, doing all the hard work by hand! Tell you what, I'll think about it."
She thinks about it for a good hot second.
"But I'm doin' fine, so far."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Things have always ever come so mysteriously to Riesenlied. It's all intuitive, like so many things in her life; sensing fossils, hearing the voices of the world and the Ley...
Perhaps even though she doesn't actively, consciously think so, some unconscious part of her knows there's something--
Some part of her that wouldn't suspect at betrayal, perhaps, but thinks Josephine is struggling with something internally.
"Okay... just keep it in mind, please," Riesenlied expresses gently. "You are a dear friend, and always will be."
And from the one nicknamed Sunshine? Even if she knew the truth, she'd probably still stick to that belief. No matter how much it hurt.
Josie's seen it firsthand with other people, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Sometimes, the body -- the unconsciousness -- understands things better than the mind can ever hope to attempt.
And that understanding part of Riesenlied wields a weapon far greater than anything else she could have said or done.
Particularly when it comes well-wrapped in words like those.
"Yeah," Josie says after a moment, once she's able to say something, anything again at all.
"I'll keep it in mind." And she winks, flashing 'Sunshine' a grin.
It would be fine to stay here, for a while -- to talk about nothing. But...
"Guess they'll be back for you soon, eh? And I got something that needs doin' 'round here before it gets any later." She turns, heading back for the incline.
"See you around... Sunshine."