2020-11-26: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
- Log: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Lily Keil, Lan Lilac, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: The Calm Lands
- Date: November 26, 2020
- Summary: The Black Wolves make camp, and then a familiar face makes an appearance while dinner is underway. The Guardians -- and Lan's recent predicament -- are discussed.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"...Needless to say, I do not believe that is the last we will see of them, whoever they are," Citan concludes to Lily, finishing speaking of the events of the previous day. "I wonder if ARMS may have more information? It does not seem that was the first time they have met," he adds.
The situation had been an odd one: asked to a particular location by one Eleanor Klein, it had been shortly after his arrival that one of their number -- Kamui -- had been attacked by a group of two members. One, Melody Vilente, bore a name that seemed familiar to him but which he couldn't now place; the other, Asgard, was a Golem a name he knew to be shared with a completely different Golem and suggested perhaps a connection, but...
Only the arrival of a nameless third who appeared to be allied with the two of them had put an end to the attack. So not only did they have a potentially perilous position here between Yevon and the Guard, but there was also potentially a third party at play.
This was, of course, ignoring the elephant in the room. Or, to be more precise, the Solaris outpost in Lake Macalania.
"What have you heard from the captain?"
Here in the Calm Lands, close to the mountains. the Black Wolves have staked an encampment out alongside a few of the Al Bhed. It would seem that the Black Wolves were still in their employ. With Yuna back safe -- and the rescue team rescued besides -- it seemed almost as if they were waiting for Yevon to make the first move.
Or, was it, the Al Bhed were waiting for the right moment to play their own next move on the board?
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"You're in a better position to get information from ARMS than most of us," Lily muses. "But they might. If as you say they've met before..." She trails off. "A Golem called Asgard is concerning, though. The one I know of is at least still in Adlehyde's hands, but..."
Golems aren't to be trifled with. Lily considers the position they're in among all of these, and shakes her head.
"I haven't heard anything new yet," Lily answers of Leon. "We're still watching and waiting, mostly. Trying to stay out of the war in the meantime."
"But it doesn't feel like there's no plan. There's something in the works, I'm sure of it."
While she talks, Lily finishes updating her notes with a few strokes of her pen. In an ancient language, 'Asgard' is written, underlined, with a listing of... well, a listing of something. Lily keeps her notes in a language most can't read.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
The Calm Lands aren't a bad place to camp out. Lan can still hardly believe that there's an inn situated like, right in the Thunder Plains. Spirans are another kind of tough...!
More importantly, the Calm Lands are a good place to meet other travelers - other Filgaians, particularly. She likes hanging out with Al Bhed and all, but she's still learning their language and the last time she tried to trade for soup, she got soap instead.
So, when choosing which camp to approach, the language barrier is a factor.
Lan hoists her knapsack up a little higher on her shoulder and continues across the grass towards the tent and its campfire. She's got some herbs to trade, and they're just sitting there looking at paper, so she's feeling pretty optimistic about the whole idea of borrowing their campfire for a bit...
Especially when, as she gets closer, Lan's pretty sure she's seen Lily Kiel once or twice before (usually at fights) and neither of those times were they fighting each other. Lucky...?! She lifts a hand and waves from a distance. "Hiiiiiii! Lily, right? Mind if I come sit down for a bit~?" Lan calls once she's a polite distance away.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly has a pot of water on the campfire.
She has another pot of water. It is set to the side.
She's at the boiling water. She's at the mussel collection. She's at the combination boiling water and mussel collection.
"I wonder if ARMS somehow stayed in contact with people here," Elly comments to Citan. "They've seemed really well informed, although that might just be misinterpreting what they actually know relative to how some of them" marivel "behave..." And then she looks up, blinking, and brightens. "Oh! Lan! Hi!" Elly says, waving an arm. (She did not stand out a lot because she had her hair wrapped up in a bandanna, which is a look she is going to abandon, but wanted to give a try.)
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Hmm," Citan muses, folding his arms over his chest. "Yes, it would see that is the case... Very well! I shall see what I can uncover." He nods, on the subject of Asgard. "Yes. I know the one of which you speak. I know some things about Golems, and while there are some overall similarities, the two are quite different from one another. Perhaps ARMS may be able to shed some light. ...While it is true that they were more interested in ARMS, I cannot pretend that they might not also become a problem for us."
He turns his head Elly's way. "That is possible. I wonder if any of their number remained here in Spira the last time?"
Lily says that nothing's been handed down from Leon yet, prompting a nod from the doctor. "Yes... and it seems that Yevon is playing the same game. Is it because of the war? Or is it..."
Whatever he was about to speculate upon trails out as Lan enters the camp.
"Miss Lilac!" He looks her over, then looks past her, almost as if he were expecting another to follow her. "And you are... alone?"
Well, the last time he'd encountered her she had been in the 'employ' of another.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"If they're affiliated with Odessa, then they'll be our problem soon enough, most likely. I think it's a matter of time." She is at least glad that the two Golems appar to be very different--that would be probematic, otherwise.
Lily looks up as she notices a person approaching, which is where she sees and hears Lan waving and talking. She recognizes her after a moment--and her asking to come sit down is novel enough that, "Sure, come on over."
As she answers this way, Lily regards Lan, golden eyes taking in her appearance, the herbs... the fact that she's alone. She remembers, after all, a particular time she saw her.
"And yes, it's Lily."
She points out a spot near the fire, one left open even with the three of them seated here. "What brings you out this way?" Speculation can wait; it's just speculation, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"--And Doctor Citan, and Elly too! I didn't recognize you with your hair back." It seems as though Elly's change of look is a complete and total success (or, as some would say, Lan is just a bit dim).
She follows Citan's gaze, glancing behind herself as well. She didn't think she was followed-- oh. She blinks and for a moment looks a bit uncomfortable. "No. I... guess it's just me."
It's cheerful though, to see folks all gathered around a campfire. With a grateful sigh, she plops down crosslegged on the ground nearby and unceremoniously dumps her pack next to her on the ground. The basket of greens and other plants is untied from her hip so she can begin to sort through it, picking several out to offer over unsolicited. "Here! I found a bunch of these, you guys should keep some too. Call it the campfire tax~!"
"I guess I'm not really doing anything in particular. Just traveling." She shrugs a bit, and continues sorting the herbs she's kept for herself to sell later. "I'm just a little tired and saw a campfire in the distance, and was just lucky that it was people I know. What about you guys? Are you all traveling together for a while?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
'In the dark, all redheads are brunettes.' - Benjamin Franklin
"We are," Elly tells Lan. "If you're interested, I was able to collect a lot of mussels, and I'm sure we have plenty to share. It's a little finicky, though, since you'll have to kind of hold them in this Al Bhed flatbread that -- anyway..." It won't be too much of a PITA, that's for sure.
On the topic of herbs, Elly asks - "Which of these would go well with mussels? I actually usually just used spice mixes on the Thames, and, well..."
"Golems confuse me a lot of the time, Doctor," Elly tells Citan. "But I mostly heard of them in the first place from, ah, the maneuvers around them in the area of Adelhyde. But I also know there are other entities with the same name, and not entirely different abilities... Do you think they come from the same source, or are they independent reinventions?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Yes... and I have little reassurance they are not," Citan says, shaking his head. "In fact, I would hazard to guess that it may be likely, given their demonstrated antagonism towards ARMS." He sighs. "Which means..."
Which means that Fei will be pulled into this as well.
And speaking of 'pulled in'--
"I see... so your situation has changed," he says, rubbing at his chin as if in thought. He glances then at Lily and Elly, and nods. "Then we are all in agreement. Please, make yourself comfortable."
At her question, Citan nods. "Yes, I have been traveling with the Black Wolves for some time now, it seems." Ever since Fei fell in with them, in fact.
Elly asks about Golems. "They are not a, ah, major focus of study for me, I must confess," begins the doctor, "but the ones unearthed in Aldehyde were designed by the ancient Elw. I have also learned that the Veruni make use of excavated Golems, but I strongly suspect the ones that the Guard fielded in Luca were freshly constructed. ...Therefore, the answer would be that they likely come from the same source, and the newer creations are using the same theory of construction, perhaps with some adjustments. However... I do not know what that might be, I am afraid."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"We can expect more trouble."
Herbs! Lily looks them over with some interest. "Thank you," she answers first, because she has manners, and then she collects a few of the herbs, looking them over to identify them. But there's a question at hand.
"Well, this is a good place to be travelling," Lily admits. "Farther out of the way of the war than most places." She then adds, "Yes, we travel together--though not always directly together, we also work together."
"I'm probably headed back to scout again and see what's going on myself, but not tonight."
She considers the Golems next, and nods. "That sounds right," she says. "I know the ones there were Elw--I've seen those up-close." She made use of one, against Mother, in fact. "It doesn't sound like this Asgard is like them, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Oooh, I haven't had mussels in forever!" It's been two weeks, Lan. She wrinkles her nose in thought, picking out three stalks of something greenish and weedy from the bundle. "Try these? They're kind of zesty, it should go well. Probably. ...Maybe taste it before you add it. I'm an okay cook, but I don't know much about how to cook shellfish." It's a miracle she can cook fish at all, honestly! But you can grill just about anything as long as it can be skewered, so...
Another weedy-looking herb is picked, this time from her 'keep' basket, and Lan twirls the stem between her fingers for a moment before gently tossing it into the coals. The leaves curl and blacken, sweet smoke rising up as the flames consume the offering. "O you of flames," Lan whispers, not quite to herself.
She doesn't understand a lot about why a Golem would be particularly special, and makes a polite enough attempt to look like she's paying attention until Citan mentions the Black Wolves and Lily confirms it. "Oh, so you're all part of it?" By now she's almost through wishing she'd figured out how to look at more of the documents that 'Spicule' had access to. "...Would it be okay if I helped out now and then?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly reaches into the bucket not over the fire and begins to shuffle things around. She nods as she says to Citan, "Then there's a number of sources. I wonder if the Veruni were replicating them directly... I suppose it's possible that the Elw were inspired *by* the Veruni, somehow. Or their predecessors. It's a bit of a mystery..." She takes a deep breath and lets it out, before she says to Lan, "Oh thank you! Do you think I should put it in the water, or should I add it once the mussels are cooked?" With this, Elly brings her hands up and -
plopopopopopopopop
Into the pot they go!
Elly wipes her hand off on a nearby work cloth, and when Lan asks, she blinks.. and glances to Lily for a moment, then to Citan. "I don't mind at all," Elly offers, "though Leon is the one who ultimately makes these decisions... though, sometimes our operations are a little..."
yunanappy
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Of that... I am unfortunately assured," replies Citan, touching his fingers to his glasses.
"Yes, it is. It is far too dangerous to the south, and with little else we can go, we have found ourselves here, camping a distance from their front door. At least with the airships we have an 'ace up our sleeves'?"
Lan asks next if they're all with the Black Wolves. "In a sense! ...Though, I am more of a 'camp follower', perhaps?" He smiles, self-effacingly. "At least, at present time. As for that... Yes, as Elly says, you should speak to Leon. Though Lily here, as his 'right-hand woman' would also be equipped to speak on his behalf...?" He trails out, as if he were not entirely certain that he has the right of it.
"Yes... that is another possibility I have considered. If I knew more about the Veruni perhaps I could provide a more educated guess. However..." He shrugs, shaking his head.
Lily remarks on the known Elw Golems. "No... if I had to hazard a guess, I would suppose that this Asgard is a more recent creation. ...Of course, it could also have been excavated and 'retooled' to some extent. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell. But..." He pauses, frowning. "It was learning from what we were doing and adapting. Golems make use of a sort of 'logic matrix' and can act autonomously to a certain degree, unlike most Gears. To see one this complex, though..."
Citan shakes his head.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Mussels! Lily, of course, will eat mussels. Cheerfully, in fact. And whatever those herbs are, almost certainly.
"...Hm?" Lily inquires of Lan, recognizing what seems like a prayer when she sees it. "Don't let me pry, but who's the offering for?"
"Yes," Lily says. "Us, and a few others." She looks over Lan thoughtfully at th rquest. There's a definite sense of scrutiny that Lily doesn't try to hide, a careful look that is, thankfully, altogether different from a certain other person who watches.
"You should know that a lot of our missions put us directly in conflict with Solaris," Lily says. "...And not all of them are especially moral; you saw us take on an assassination."
"But if you still want to help now and then... I'll talk it over with Leon, but I think that will be fine. We've seen you in action; I think you could keep up."
But the Golems--Lily considers thse tool, and nods. But she doesn't switch back to discussing them much for the moment. There's too much to think about in terms of their logic matrix... And why it sounds like something that means something.
"I appreciate you handling dinner," she says instead to Elly, with a concerned look at Citan and then a waiting sort of one for Lan.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan looks a bit concerned at the idea of being asked for cooking advice, but she's an adult! She's up for the challenge! It'll totally be her fault if this ruins dinner!!
"...Maybe... after...?" she hedges. "I bet it you chop it up and kind of... mix it into the cooked mussels it'll be stronger."
Oh well. If it's ruined, Lan will... give them all of her herbs or something. And there are crackers in her bag but those are her Emergency Crackers, for emergencies. Ruining someone else's dinner probably counts.
"It's good to have a doctor in your camp, though," Lan smiles. After all, he'd really helped her out once upon a time.
She plucks another stem from the basket and drops it into the fire. Sweet smoke curls skyward again. "Moor Gault. I have his Medium, even if I'm not one of his favorites. I'm Rigdobrite's," she tries to explain. "But it's important to do something for the Guardians, even something as small as this, because we appreciate them. To show we're thinking of them." It's not a popular practice, even among Guardianists. More than once Lan has kind of wondered if she was raised in a cult or something, or if one of her ancestors was just gratingly polite.
She rests her elbows on her knees and glances away from Lily. "Yeah. I know." Chewing briefly on her lip, she seems to hesitate before speaking again. "I tried... to help. When I'd just broken out of the hypnosis or whatever it was. I was so angry."
She'd nearly gotten Rachiel killed. "I tried to help."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"They call these the 'calm lands' for a reason, I suppose," Elly says, knowing perhaps full well that there's more to it going on than that. She then looks at the pot for a moment, but...
She's boiling freshwater clams in it.
This isn't... a dramatic process. There is no snopper peril. Elly takes a deep breath and lets it out, adjusting her legs as she says, "So they're something of an intermediate state between the automatic piloting features on some Gears, and people such as Kamui?" Or Emeralda, Elly thinks, but doesn't say, perhaps because...
... she isn't sure.
A rather dire topic comes up. Two in fact! Elly leaves the familiar ground of murders aside, instead gazing towards Lan as she speaks. "... It's nice to hear that," Elly says. "I don't end up having a lot to do with the Guardians, but ever since that temple... I spoke to a lot of people who felt... frustrated. I didn't really understand it."
A moment passes.
"Could I ask you something, about that...? It's a little bit..." Elly continues onwards, after a momentary pause. "I lost mine, but when I was in the Temple, oh, gosh, it feels like years ago now. I did pick up a Medium, but ..."
Elly covers her face, abruptly.
"Oh, I can't believe this. I forgot his name... Please, I apologize if this is rude!! But he looked like a cat - you know, one of the cats that walks on two feet that you see on advertisements?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Will Citan eat mussels, however they're cooked? Yes, but only because it's that or nothing. The doctor is perhaps a little bit of a picky eater, his wife's cooking aside...
He glances over at Lily and Lan, meanwhile. "If I am not mistaken, that sounded like..."
A prayer, to the Guardians. Citan bows his head, as if in thought. "Yes... you are of one of the Baskar tribes, are you not? I believe that sort of 'gratitude-in-prayer' is more typical in certain of their belief systems -- forgive me, I should not speak about it in that fashion. Old habits die hard, it seems." He shakes his head.
He is silent when Lily speaks of targetting Solaris, watching Lan for a moment before regarding Lily alone. He raises a hand to his chin.
Before his attention returns to Lan. 'Broken out of her hypnosis'.
So he had been right about that.
"Yes, you could say that," he says, when Elly tries to sketch out a continuum of machine consciousness. "Of course, I am extrapolating from incomplete data. ...Needless to say, it is a shame the Elw engineers are no longer among us. To speak to one of their artisans would be..." But at least he shakes his head.
Elly speaks of the temple, then. "Yes... I regret that I had not been able to enter, myself. It is a rare opportunity to visit an intact temple dedicated to the Guardians! Needless to say, I have to content myself with the stories others have brought from that place." But the story that Elly has to tell is...
...is...
"A... cat?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Hm. Yeah." On AI.
Lily is not that picky about food. She likes to collect old army rations. To try them.
"I see," Lily answers Lan. "That makes sense. Something in flame goes to the Guardian of Fire..." The logic seems to register for her, anyway. "I'm not familiar with all of the Guardians," she admits, "But I like to think we're on reasonably good terms. I'd take another job from them."
But as Lan looks away--this is what Lily had to confirm. So Lily waits through, and... "You have reason to be angry," she says simply. "That's why I think it'll be fine. The sorts of things they can do to a mind..." Lily shakes her head.
"Leon and the others broke me out before they managed to try something like that with me."
"I'd be interested to hear from the Elw myself," Lily says, and there's the question.
"Yeah, it was really something. I remember him--he's the one who helped me with my Malevolence problems. He was..."
She considers. "Not entirely what I expected of a Guardian. But I still have the Medium I gained there, too."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Frustrated...?" There's something Lan missed, isn't there? She received Moor Gault's Medium a long time ago, along with the news that she wasn't enough to save her world. She hadn't been frustrated then. She'd just been sad. "Huh-- oh no, it's not rude! How can you be expected to know the name of someone you barely met?" She's just guessing that part, but Elly seems like the kind of person who tries very hard to remember the names of people she spends time with. It's a pretty safe assumption!!
She doesn't remember a lot of the advertisements from Etrenank, so that part kind of flies right past her. But a cat on two legs can only be one of two candidates, and Lan would definitely remember if she'd seen any huge buff tigers on the video screens. "Was it Dam Dairam? I've never even seen one of his Mediums." Lan manages to stop herself right before saying something like 'lucky you!' because Elly did just say that she'd lost it, and that's not very lucky. (Whew, safe.)
If it's weird to hear someone speak so clinically about her very much alive people and their very much alive belief systems, Lan doesn't seem upset. In fact, she smiles just a little bit. "You sounded a little bit like someone I know just then -- but way more polite." And less dismissive overall, which is honestly refreshing after months and months of Loren sneering his way through every conversation about 'primitive religious structures'.
She tugs the tail end of her braid into her lap to play with the ribbon there. "I'm glad they didn't get you too. Thank the gods."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Yes!" Elly says to Citan. "I know it sounds surreal. If I had met him out in the world I would have just thought that he was a Beastman." A pause as Lan speaks up and she nods several times. "I didn't get his Medium... I suppose perhaps if he had one there to share, it had been hidden away. They do seem to be a little heistant to use them, but perhaps it's like giving part of yourself away..."
"..." Elly then says, glancing between Lily and Lan. Elly can feel a ghost there, even if it is a ghost of a guy who is, probably, not dead, and is almost certainly really angry.
As the pot bubbles, she says, "What Lily said... I would like to do something to show my appreciation to him, for doing that. I suppose it isn't easy, though I don't really know how powerful a 'Guardian of Time' could be. ... I suppose there's greater things in front of us, of course. But it had just come to mind..."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"How interesting!" he remarks to Elly. "I wonder which -- ah, Dan Dairam?" He turns if briefly Lan's way. "The name seems familiar, but..."
Isn't one he can place precisely off the top of his head. Ah, for his lost library at home...
"Yes... considering that the bearers appear to be able to summon them into the world, if only briefly, it does entail surrendering some autonomy in the process. ...It does make me wonder how the 'artificial' Mediums were developed."
The doctor grimaces good-naturedly when Lan remarks thus. "I do, do I? I suppose that is to be expected, regrettably," he submits, on that subject. "Needless to say... my knowledge on the Baskar comes solely from reading about them and their practices. I confess to little first-hand experience. ...By the by, Miss Lilac, have you ever had the opportunity to speak to Lunata Croze? It may be illuminating for the both of you."
Given that Lunata is descended from the Aquvy Baskar, that is. And perhaps for other reasons besides.
"..." Like Elly, when that particular subject -- circling around a particular person -- arises, the doctor remains silent.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily recalls mostly positive things about that time at the Guardian Temple. This colors her perceptions, some. But now...
"Hmm," Lily remarks about the other person--but then she nods to Lan. "Me, too," she answers. What would have happened then? It's hard to say...
"They do, don't they?" Lily asks of the Mediums. "But then, I'd be careful handing out something that drew on my power, too, I guess. As you say, Citan. ...I wonder about the artificial ones, though..."
A pause. "...I appreciate the thought. So far the best thing I've been able to do is keep up our end of the bargain--stop Mother, keep an eye out for other things like that."
Dan Dairam. Lily does recall the name. "The only Baskar I know at all well are the ones led by Elder Halle, and even then, just a visitor's take. But I think that's a good idea, talking to Lunata if you can."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lunata... "I don't think I know her. But she's a Baskar, too? It'd be worth it just to meet another of us." Not like they're rare, but c'mon! It's like getting a free cousin, of sorts. "I don't know how you'd really honor the Guardian of time, but... well surely there's a way. And it's sweet of you to even think about it!" Why is Elly so cute aaaaaah
Put a bit at ease, she lets her braid fall out of her lap and leans back on her hands. "Thanks, I'll definitely search her out." It feels good to have something to do again... maybe even surprisingly so.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"... I suppose even now, we know so little... heh... but it's a little funny to think about learning about the Baskar while we're here, isn't it?" Elly says, smiling at Lan, even as
COOKING COMPLETE!
* Mussels with flatbread
* A simple dish made by boiling freshwater mussels in water with a little salt and some added greens. The mussels naturally separate while cooking, and the pita bread is cut into eighths, allowing the diners to gather the meat into a delectable bite, tasting of the natural flavors of the Calm Lands.
* Accented by fresh-picked herbs, the melancholy nostalgia of the dish is enhanced, with piquance added from green onion. A meal like this reminds you of what has been lost, and what may yet come.
* HP/MP Restored
* Anglerina Bonus!
* Nomad Bonus!
* Medical Supervision Bonus! Nutrient UP!
"... should we just leave the shells here?" Elly asks. "Is that... alright? I mean, I suppose they're natural, but..."
* Littering(?) Malus