2020-12-05: In the Forest

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<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    It's gotten cold in the forest since the last time certain parties were in Spira. Snow and frost fill portions of the Macalania Woods: the chill temperatures from the lake have been on the move, pressing further into the forest. Eventually even the cold will meet temperatures in Spira which even magic may be hard-pressed to surpass, but it's hard to say when, precisely, that will change.

    It's late afternoon at this point, verging into evening -- though this may be a moot point when the boughs hide the sun above. Still, the natural magic of the forest provides illumination: if someone gets lost in the woods, it won't be because of the darkness.

    Within the woods, someone has lit a fire. There's just enough of a gap here that the fire poses no immediate threat here to the nearby trees; it crackles away merrily. Crouching by the fire and mulling over the pieces of the ARM laid before her, a particular archaeologist takes advantage of the heat and light to apparently do some maintenance on a sidearm of some extraction.
    ...Aveh, maybe?

    "Mm... damn, this part's buckled," Josie mutters, turning a particular piece this way and that with her left hand. "Thought the aim was off..." Her right hand rests across her knees; bandages wrap that hand and fingers, exposed with the glove and gauntlet removed.

    "Guess I'll have to see if they ain't got a part or similar-like..."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Seraph Lanval is not far off. Fox Company has been reliable at doing any number of scouting or trailblazing jobs in this time of uncertainty and building dread. Macalania Woods, though, that place never plays nice with that kind of work. He picks up signs that someone's set up camp not far off from where some other friends and acquaintances have, and has volunteered to take a look since it's very easy for him to back out of a troublesome situation. Not that he expects it to be!
     The short of it, is that there is a silhouette stumbling between the gaps of the crystalline trees. Stumbling, because people generally aren't supposed to be traversing the space between trees. It's stubbed toes at minimum. Pratfalls aplenty are guaranteed on average. One of them almost does, as a wet 'slap' can be heard as a hand presses against one such crystalline tree.
     "Mmmm.... hey." A voice murmurs and stirs to life. Flecks of frost and ice have settled upon Lanval, occasionally shining through where in his hair it has collected. The Water Seraph and Oracle of Schturdark is, for his station, little better than someone who has more or less just stumbled in on someone else's campsite.
     "...Thought that'd be shomebody elshe," Lanval remarks. He's familiar with Josie, and knows a bunch of people are upset with her about something or another but a lot of the specifics have slipped. "Are ya makin' food...?" Beat. One eye opens half-lidded. "...Oh. That ain't food ya got there, huh..."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

It is cold here in the forest. This doesn't especially bother Eleanor Klein, who is dressed a bit more warmly than she would be in the rest of Spira, instead of only in warm colors. After all, she spent much of her life in Sielje, which is cold enough for constant snows up in the sky and down on the ground at the teleporter. A fur-lined jacket, a thicker and longer skirt, boots. Her hair is down.

And she's walking through the natural light of the forest, talking with someone as she does. "If I had more free time I'd look into the forest, but it's a bit dangerous for casual inquiry," Eleanor admits. "It may just be that it's later in the year now."

She walks along and then... stops, as she notices a fire. "Hmm."

Eleanor steps around, and, not being especially stealthy, walks towards it. She's careful, of course, in case it's a Guard patrol or something, but instead--ah, one woman, it looks like.

"Good evening," Eleanor greets, and when she walks into the clearing it's then that she notices that the woman who's handling the ARM in pieces is who she is.

...She doesn't take back the greeting. She notices Lanval here, too. "..."

"Is there something wrong with the ARM?" she wonders, electing to try civility first.

"Hello," she greets Lanval, too.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

It had seemed like such a simple idea. Go out into Macalania Woods for a short time for a little peace and quiet, as well as to enjoy the scenery, and then get back to the Fahrenheit before it got too late.

...Unfortunately, it can be pretty easy to lose track of time in Macalania Woods. With the sun largely hidden away by the boughs that stretch out over everything, one has to have other methods of telling time. Yulie... is still not quite so good at that. By the time she realised what time it was, evening was starting to draw in. It doesn't get any darker, thanks to the forest's own natural illumination, but it does get colder and the forest can be a little difficult to navigate at times.

And so, one can find Yulie scurrying through the woods. She's dressed for the weather, at least, having acquired a warm, poofy coat and snow pants. She scurries... but pauses, as she catches the dancing of a fire in the distance.

...A fire... would be nice. She starts to gravitate that way... but as the clearing comes into view she sees who's there and ducks behind the nearest tree before peeking out cautiously.

She sees Lanval, Eleanor, and Josie - the latter of which she's most cautious about due to the events on the Warwing Varukias.

She probably thinks she's being terribly stealthy right now, but she's not that difficult to spot.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel doesn't mind the chill of Macalania but it does sort of make her ambient body temperature considerably colder. She already trends towaards having a cold body when she isn't riled up into a blood rage, but winter in Macalania Woods makes it worse. And she somehow looks even more pale thaan normal.

She is with Eleanor and she is sticking CLOSE to her as if trying to absorb her body heat because Marivel may be a walking corpse technically speaking but that doesn't mean she likes freezing any more than anybody else. "Tis dangerous, but I am more afeared of the church than the beasts."

She sees the fire but lets Eleanor take the lead, following along behind her.

"Looks like someone needs an ARMs Meister. Want me to take a looksee at that for yaA? I don't charge much."

She grins cheekily before spotting Lanval.

"Oh hey Lanval." She says.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie isn't alone. Voices, if muffled by the trees, reach her by her fire. She straightens just as the others come close enough to be seen, the part still held loosely in her left hand.

    "An ARMs Meister, yeah? Luckily enough," Josie says, rising up out of her crouch to her full height, "I've got that already settled, right?" She bows, if shallowly, the bent part still held in her left hand. "Just a matter of parts, sure enough," she finishes.

    There's one of them here she recognizes straight away. "Hungry, Lanval? I got some bean paste and pickled stuff in my pack. I ain't much for campfire cooking, see. But, lemme take a good look at you all." Her dark eyes sweep across the group. "...Kiddo, you can step out of the shadows, you ain't fooling no one," she adds, perhaps meaning Yulie here.

    A moment of silence passes after. "...ARMS, huh?"

    The archaeologist smiles lopsidedly. "So. I guess this is the part where I'm to cackle at you all or somesuch and open fire with abandon? Except, oops, poor li'l old me, here with my ARM in pieces and out here on my lonesome. Daresay I ain't puttin' bullets nowhere, now." She gestures towards herself. "...Lessen you'd like to give it a go anyhow?" Her eyes narrow. "'Course, if you do, I ain't gonna take that sitting down, right?"

    She drops the ARM piece. It falls with a clink as it strikes against the parts laid out on the cloth by the fire.

    "But on the other hand, if you lot feel like takin' a load off instead... well, it's getting pretty cold out already." Her lips part in a flash of a grin.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    There's a lot of people who have come together at once. Usually Lanval doesn't get blindsided by that sort of thing, but Macalania Woods just has a way with this sort of thing. The voices he hears otherwise are people he enjoys the company of. "Heyyy... Marivel, nice ta shee ya... 'n you too," to Eleanor, and... over to the side, he sees Yulie being nervous and not saying hi. She always looks so worried and high strung that the one time she let out little peals of laughter it really stuck to him. People like that, well...
     "Mmmm... I shure do like eatin'," almost as big an understatement as 'I shure like drinkin'.' "...But--" But what? There's that interjection where Josie sort of calls out Yulie then and there, and calls out the nature of the company she has attracted somehow. Or maybe one of them led the others here by accident. Who knows. Drifters kind of end up gravitating towards one another somehow.
     Josie puts out implicit threats slash invitations of prospective violence, and the Water Seraph's looking around while scratching his beard. He looks a bit lost - but he does sit down near the fire regardless because it is warm and nice, and warmth is something worth sharing. Most forms of warmth.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor is fine for warms! She's pretty good about it, though there's a little frost gathered on her coat at this point. "Inclined to agree," Eleanor opines to Marivel about the church. "At least we know the fiends only want to kill us."

Eleanor does not immediately reveal Josie's affiliation. Instead, she listens to the fact that she seems to know Lanval--which isn't a bad thing--and then... Ah. Yes. Yulie.

"That's one option," Eleanor agrees with the cackling and all. Josie's eyes narrow, but... Eleanor shakes her head. "I'd rather not drag down the attention of the Guard on us out here," she says. "...Though if you were one of those I'd seen at Sielje, I'd consider it regardless."

She holds a bit of a grudge there. Just a smidge.

"Nice to see you, too," she says to Lanval (she also likes eating and drinking) and smiles at Yulie. ...She wouldn't want Yulie to be dragged into a battle here, either. "We could stand to have some fire for a bit. Do you think so, Marivel?"

Eleanor moves towards a spot opposite Josie around the fire.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Well in that case, I also run the Black Market." Marivel says. "Maybe I've got the part you want. Mind if I take a look at that broken piece you got there?" She probably means a closer look rather than just the bit of a look she's getting just from looking at Josie.

But she does glance over to Lanval. he smiles at him and adds, "Sounds like you've hadd time to relax here. It's good to see. I gotta admit, at rest Lanval feels more like Lanval than surging Lanval, if you get my meaning."

She glances towards the archaeologist. She blinks once or twice.

"Oh, are you Odessa?" Marivel asks. "I don't know, you releasing a demon king or something?"

She glances towards Eleanor and adds, "I don't think she was one of those. To be honest, I'm not sure if any of those but Erzebet have even survived."

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie winces as she's called out. But if she's already been spotted there's no point in remaining in hiding so she cautiously steps out from behind the tree.

"S-sorry." She apologises. And then, Josie invites them to take a seat - that, or pick a fight, at least. But, Yulie certainly isn't interested in the latter option... and, judging from Lanval and Eleanor's reactions, they aren't either. Eventually the desire for some extra warmth wins out, though, and she carefully eases herself over to the fire, taking a seat - returning Eleanor's smile with a nervous one of her own, as she does.

She's quiet for a moment, but then...

"Um... I could cook. I have ingredients... If you want." She offers. Josie said she wasn't much for campfire cooking, but Yulie's not sure if that means she can't or just doesn't like it. Still, she figures it's polite to offer either way.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Here, on Spira?" Josie asks, arching one pale eyebrow as she regards Marivel. "Guess I gotta pick the brains of them Al Bhed more, eh? Anyway, I daresay you would, if you've any parts. It's an Aveh standard small sidearm. Cobra-series. Piss-poor aim even on a good day, and this one's only gotten worse." She gestures vaguely. "That's what you get goin' with the lowest-bid. Makes you wonder how Aveh'd manage without their 'help', eh? But, anyway..."

    There's something more important to handle before they can really talk ARM parts. Such as, for example, whether or not they're going to have to fight it out here.

    "Sielje, huh... you involved with that one?" Josie muses, cocking her head to one side. "Eh, well. Can't blame you none there. I ain't the forgiving sort, neither." She doesn't settle down again, herself, watching the others like a cat.

    "Not right now, I ain't. You see any sealed demon kings 'round here?" Josie remarks, unable to keep from grinning. "Just me and my fire. And this ARM."

    Yulie emerges from behind a tree. "Quit apologizing, kiddo," Josie sighs, the smile for a moment wiped from her face. "Didn't I try to capture you once?" She swipes back a long pale lock of hair over her head; it doesn't stay pushed back in the slightest. "You always go apologizing to your enemies?"

    But when Yulie offers to cook something-- "Sure, knock yourself out, kiddo. Let's hope you've got more 'n this or it'll be pretty dull pickings." She hooks a booted foot for the pack in question and punts it over carelessly. Whatever's in there seems to not be of much importance.

    The black shotgun that's brought into clear view once she kicks over the pack, on the other hand...
    But Josie makes no move for it. Her gaze doesn't so much as flick down at it.

    "So, you lot poking around these parts for a reason? Or you just here for your health?"

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Not right now," Marivel admits. "But you never know where one might be lurking underfoot."

She sits herself down, taking a look at the broken piece, then she zips open her bag and sticks her entire arm impossibly into that thing as she sticks her tongue out as she rifles around in there like a cartoon character.

"Haven't been in Ignas in a while, but I've got something similar enough. I'll do somee quick mods so it oughta fit a Cobra. Just as good."

She doesn't usually get to do some real mechanical work as of late. The fact that Josie works for Odessa is a meager reality compared to that fact. It's important to keep her skills sharp.

She draws out a similar looking part and starts filing bits off with a knife.

"Eating fiends, stealing skills, the usual day to day diet for a Noble. Can't get the pyreflies, but I can get enough of a taste to bide me over till we make it back to Filgia where there's a proper life-death cycle so long as we manage to not kill the planet even more."

She blows some flakes off the part then draws out a pair of tweezers and starts mucking about with the internals, sliding her goggles over her eyes as she works.

"Plus sometimes I just like going on long mysterious forest walks with my friends," Marivel adds. "It's genetic."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    "Mmmph." Lanval grunts - not dismissively, but it tends to precede a thought or something that requires exertion, as Lanval lies down near the fire. Lies? He was just sitting there moments ago. This fire must feel really nice right now! He also really should double back and let everyone know it's just another Drifter setting up camp, but there's other Drifter types coming and at this point he figures they'll suss that out.
     "...I wouldn't shay... totally relaxed," Lanval remarks to Marivel from a place that, to physical appearance, is relaxing, "but ya know me. A shmall joy... that makesh a li'l more mirth... that'sh my Domain." A nice, warm fire in these cold woods is definitely a small joy. It's in his wheelhouse. So long as he doesn't put it out by accident (don't worry, he won't).
     One eye opens half-lidded once he catches that emotional wind about 'one of those I'd seen at Sielje.' Marivel asks the more direct question, and it finally clicks to Lanval why there was this ambient anger he sometimes picked up about Josie and her name. He hadn't kept best tabs on that.
     "...Ohhhh. That'sh... that'sh what happened." He sounds surprised about this. "...mmmm." Josie puts on that wicked little smile about the way Yulie apologizes to her enemies. That kind of answers why Yulie has been looking so distressed the handful of times he's seen her around Josie. But, Odessa means something else to him too.
     ...They are about to all share some cooking, though, with that invitation for Yulie to come cook. Sharing food is nice. He doesn't want to get in the way of that! He struggles to sit right back up, leaning forward a bit as he holds the drinking gourd close within his lap.
     "...Makin' the roundsh, yep," he responds to the question as to why he and his off-screen and unidentified but assuredly dear and near friends are about. He sinks a little as Marivel mentions her difficulties in getting proper nourishment, since that's something he can't help with.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

All of them dead except Erzebet... "Mm," Eleanor says, sighing once. Erzebet is a whole thing. But Josie asks, and at the moment she is inclined to answer, "Yes. I lived at the Sielje Academy for a long time. It's where I studied magic." Not the forgiving type, either, is it? Eleanor doesn't necessarily like the comparison, but, "I can forgive a lot. But some things are too far."

"I'd rather skip the sealed demon kings today, at least."

"Don't worry," she says to Yulie. "Nobody here wants a fight--but nobody's taking you anywhere against your will, either."

Eleanor doesn't go for the rifle she carries slung on her back any more than Josie goes for the shotgun--or for her Crests, for that matter. Instead, "I'm just here with Marivel. I like Macalania. It's rather homey except for the Guard presence and the Fiends."

A small joy... something that makes a little more mirth. "That is something I like about you," she says to Lanval with a small smile. She watches Marivel work, too. "Spira's pretty, at least."

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie looks up at the ARM that Josie and Marivel are discussing for a brief moment. She doesn't have much to comment about it - she doesn't really know the first thing about that kind of ARM.

And Sielje... it sounds like something happened there.

Josie tells her to quit apologizing, and instinctively...

"S-sorry..." She apologizes... and then goes a little red as she realises what she just said, lowering her head to hide her face as she rummages through her coat, pausing only to nod confirmation when Josie points out that she tried to capture her once. She's quiet, though she does eventually murmur, "...There... usually isn't much chance to..."

Soon enough a small stand has been built for a cooking pot set over the fire. Indeed, she has more on hand - there's enough for a basic stew. She works on that while the others recount while they're here, though she does pause to send Eleanor a grateful nod for her assurance. She does, however, look up at Marivel with an incredulous look.

"You... eat fiends...? I don't... I don't think I can cook that." She says, surprised. She didn't even think it was possible to eat them!

Her attention goes back to her cooking shortly after that.

"I just wanted to... go someplace quiet for a while. And the forest is pretty. So..." She trails off, figuring they can make the connection from there. Her reasons aren't much different from Eleanor's, in that respect - she nods in agreement, on it feeling homey except for the aforementioned problems.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "No? Well, I ain't looking for any sealed demon kings at the moment as it happens, so I guess we're all settled!" She lets out a bark of a laugh, then flashes a toothy grin at Eleanor.

    "You didn't know, big guy?" Josie lets out a sigh. "Guilty as charged. I've been Odessa's secret archaeologist for a dog's year. If that's the kind of problem you can't live with, well... you can keep on walking." She eyes Lanval for a moment, but--
    If anyone at all is going to make something of it here and now, it's definitely not going to be him.

    She's pretty sure.

    She takes a step aside, apparently more than willing to let Marivel take a crack at the ARM as long as she's got parts to spare. But her gaze remains on Marivel or, more pointedly, on the piece she's obtained "What's that one from, a Njall model 480? ...Yeah, with some modding, that'd be perfect, huh," Josie remarks, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Shame I ain't got one on me myself. Time was..." But she grimaces and shakes her head. "...Forget it. Good enough you got it covered, kiddo."

     "'Eating Fiends', eh?" Josie repeats, arching a pale eyebrow. "...Right, ain't you..." She smiles lopsidedly. "Now I remember." Her hand plants on her hip and she glances between the lot of them. "So you really are just taking a walk in a Fiend-infested forest. Well, guess I get why you lot're such a bee in our bonnet. ...So to speak." That's not really how that saying works, but Josie doesn't seem to care.

    Meanwhile... Yulie apologies. Josie's immediate reaction is to touch her hand to her forehead and sigh. "Geez. You're killin' me here, kiddo."

    Josie hadn't been entirely truthful about the extent of her supplies: there's some rice (already cooked, in handshaped balls and wrapped tightly in leaves), two different kinds of bean paste, the aforementioned pickled vegetables, and some kind of jerky. It might be fish. With whatever else Yulie and the others might have, there's likely enough to get something reasonable going.

    "I dunno, some of 'em look pretty good," Josie muses, squatting down by the fire. "That habit of theirs of going to pyreflies when they die, though... not exactly ideal eating." Her lips twitch; she may be trying (badly) to keep a straight face. "Hope you're a better cook 'n me, kiddo."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Very pretty, like a blade 'tween the ribs." Marivel murmurs. Being distracted means she's less likely to pretty up her attitude. "You know your guns. Close. 480E. Varian model." Marivel adds. "A lot of people calling themselves ARMs Meisters these days think that just knowing your way around the current weapon models is enough. I fart around as a sorceress but I'm really an engineer. Not AI specialist, of course, otherwise we wouldn't have half the problems we've got going on though I know my way around a neural net." She pauses a bit and adds, "Oh but back in the day you'd have to work it out by scratch. Course we had more tools to assist with the intricate bits, so I won't say our methods were entirely a sign of greater mastery, but after civilization ends a few times, you learn how to work the fiddly bits. And make do. When you have to wander a wasteland with a whole bunch of new threats lurking around, your weapons jam frequently and you can't go to the store for the parts you need. So you make do."

Marivel raises a hand, twisting the lens of the goggle a few times. Letters in Zeboim flicker across the lens briefly and she twists them back to the original position and they flicker away after.

She tosses the piece over towards Josephine. "It won't improve the aim but it'll function. Fixing the aim I might as well make a brand new one."

Marivel pauses a bit. She realizes something.

"...Kiddo?" She looks up, expression deadpan.

Yulie gives her an incredulous look. "Not the whole fiend. I just leach off their spirits a bit. Can't consume entirely because their lifecycle is a different system."

She smiles. "But if you want, I could give your blood a go. just a nip."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Josie helps put a proper timeframe to how long this has actually been a thing, and Lanval has himself a sip from that drinking gourd. It goes deeper level than just quenching thirst - it's a piece of the very water of Filgaia. It brings him back to when he was first in closer communion with Schturdark.
     ...When Vinsfeld's message to the world projected into his everything.
     He lowers the gourd to his lap again, and separates his right hand from holding it.
     "...'m shure ya got a lotta shtrong wordsh thrown at ya," and there's a few he can think of right now once the talk about unsealing demon kings starts sounding a bit less in jest, "...sho I'll jusht shay one thing, and it ain't a threat."
     It's not quite nightfall just yet, but Lanval points a finger over where one can see just beyond the trees. Where the Blue Star - or 'Gaia' - can be seen in the sky. "Whatever ya believe... do... or live." He remembers the ferocity in Vinsfeld's words. 'A dog's year' means Josie made up her mind before that speech he will never be able to forget, word by word, on a man so incensed to have discarded faith for will and force alike.
     "The water of that world over there," that wounded water, burdened under so many conflicts that have done damage that could well be irreversible by now, "'ll do my part ta make shure it'sh alwaysh there fer you, 'n everyone. Ta drink, bathe, clean... make into shtuff." A gentle smile. "Like a good drink. Even if ya don't believe in it bein' able to shushtain the world."
     Lanval brings the hand back to his drinking gourd, now held in both hands again. "'Bout all I can promishe, however shmall." He thinks to Eleanor's description of Spira - it is quite beautiful if one just goes by the colors and shapes. "...'d like it if Spira were alsho happy a place too."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Secretly, for a year? What people had to find that out the hard way? Well, Eleanor doesn't really know, and it's not the time for a fight anyway.

She smile briefly at Yulie, and indeed can smell food already starting to be made. Going somewhere quiet, is it? Eleanor reaches back to tuck some orange hair behind a long ear as she looks around the circle. "The water itself," she says of what Lanval says. Whatever she does, is it? "That's your aim, isn't it...?" She nods. It isn't her place to say, but she doesn't think that's small. No...

"I wish that, too," she admits of Spira being happy. Marivel continuing to handle the ARMs business with Josie is nice enough, but--

"Oh, Marivel," Eleanor says, looking at her and at Yulie. "You'll scare the poor dear."

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

The ARM talk all goes a little over Yulie's head, so she just busies herself with the cooking. Josie's own contributions certainly help - Yulie can figure out a way to make them work.

She looks up from her work briefly at Lanval's words - the way he talks about the water, and how it'll always be there for Josie. She still doesn't know anything about Seraphim, despite being capable of seeing them, but the sincerity in which he says it makes her think there's more to him than she realised at first.

"...That's a lot to promise..." She comments. Marivel's explanation... Yulie doesn't know her full deal, either, but the idea that she could consume the entire fiend if things were different... And at he follow-up comment, she pales a little.

"A-ah... that's okay. No thank you..." She replies, shaking her head. Looks like Eleanor was right on the money! She returns her attention to the cooking then.

"I... like it. Cooking, I mean. It's nice to make things for people." Yulie replies, in response to Josie's comment. "I do most of the cooking for my friends, so I have lot of experience..."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    For longer than even that. Josephine Lovelace had always walked in certain circles.

    "A Varian, eh... haven't seen one of those in a while," Josie muses, rubbing at her chin. "Yeah. One of the main differences is the chamber size compared to a Njall. That'd be perfect." Her lips quirk for a moment as Marivel goes on, explaining what she does in context to what most ARMs Meisters get up to. Until of course she mentions one thing that gives Josie pause. "'Ey-eye'?" the archaeologist hazards, apparently completely at sea.

    It's really only when she's handed the ARM back--

    "I'd need a whole mess of parts for that. Or just build it up from scrap."

    --and when Marivel realizes what she's called her.

    Josie just grins, the grin of someone who knows what they'd said and intends to stick to it even in spite of the... incongruity.

    "Yeah? 'Cause they leave it to you, or 'cause you want to do it? ...Eh," she says, waving a hand dismissively, as Yulie explains. "Don't mind me none. As long as you like it, that's reason enough."

    "I ain't been one to mind words," she says to Lanval when he speaks up, her dark eyes hooded. "So, whatcha got to say, big guy?"

    She watches him, waiting to see what it is he's going to say.

    And then, just like that, he says it. Says he intends to fight for a better world. For a better pair of worlds, even. She grimaces faintly and glances away. "Heh. You're a right old 'hero', huh," Josie comments, and it's a long moment before she can look back over his way again. "Kind of annoying. But ain't a bad thing to want, either..."

    Her gaze rests on the fire, then.
    Into the fire, again and again.

    "And you've got a point, there. Some days, the only thing making it worth while's a good drink." She fumbles a moment for her flask. "So, cheers then. I'll drink to that." And without further ado, she takes that drink.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel wrinkles hehr nose at Josie but she is too proud to actually get into a fight over it. Sometimes pride means just accepting that people will call you kiddo because that's their personal cheeky style. "I see. Alright then."

She easees a bit closer to the fire, looking back to Yulie who seems pale. She grins, showing her fangs, but doesn't push too hard. Despite all that she's said, she does seem willing to listen to Eleanor.

"Sorry sorry." She says. "I'm just that kind of person." She cracks a grin at Yulie. "I gotta spook people sometimes just to feel alive."

She winks with one eye. "Not that I am. By most metrics, ka ka ka!"

"Ka ka ka ka ka!"