2021-03-26: Look Out, Another Lookout
- Log: Look Out, Another Lookout
- Cast: Layna Manydays, Ruth Pauling
- Where: Celesti Wastelands
- Date: March 26, 2021
- Summary: Layna finds unexpected company when looking for a high vantage point to find a loose Fell Drake about Zoara.
============================<* Celesti Wastelands *>============================ Decades ago, the nation of Celesti ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war. Outside of a handful of settlements, its former territories are lifeless. The remains of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire lines serve as lingering reminders of the conflict--scars that have yet to heal. The earth is dry and barren, and much of the groundwater has been contaminated by biological or chemical weapons. Travel through the Wastelands is treacherous. The roads are pockmarked with shell craters, and Reapers have been known to haunt its blasted plains. A handful of functional rail lines cross the wastes, but these travel directly to their final destinations. The shattered remains of ghost towns dot the landscape. Some may yet hold things of value, but experienced travelers know better than to go treasure-hunting on a whim. The war-dead of Celesti do not rest. Ghosts aren't even the strangest things one can find here. As the war dragged on, both the Congressional Knights and Aquvy Union dug up ancient weapons to aid their efforts--including, it's rumored, ARMs from Zeboim. These rumors draw both the daring and desperate into the wastes, and more often than not, to their end.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
The ruins of countless structures are scattered throughout the wastelands of Celesti. Perhaps they were homes, or places of business, or military outposts once. Now they are rubble, an empty shell of what once was. There is nothing left here. No grand treasure to be found.
...So it may be curious, then, how much activity the wastelands have seen of late. There have been Drifters searching for something - searching for the Drake that has been scorching what little remains clinging to the Wastelands.
Standing high atop what was once a watchtower overlooking an old battleground, stands one such Drifter. Layna Manydays, with her telescope extended to its full length and her hair fluttering in the breeze scans the horizon for signs of movement - for signs of anything out of place that might give her clues as to the movement of the target she and the others have been searching for.
She's fairly out of place, with her flashy blue and gold coat against the dull, colorless backdrop surrounding her. She's hard to miss... but, that's the way she likes it.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
As it turns out... the old watchtower is not host to a single person, on this day. This is not to say Layna isn't there. It's the other way around: it's not host to a single person, because it is host to two people.
"...Here to watch the skies, too?" Comes a tired, haggard voice of a woman whose colors blend in far too well with her surroundings. A middle-gray shawl, a grayish-blue overcoat, and a long skirt so dark a green it may as well instead be brown under certain lighting conditions - compare and contrast the vibrant color and flash of Layna's own coat.
The wind rustles through this other woman too, though she remains seated and leaning up against the central support structure that runs all the way to the top of the watchtower. It's no wonder she could have been missed.
She doesn't sound offended nor delighted by the company.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
A voice. When did Layna first notice that she wasn't alone on this tower? She doesn't jump or flinch at the sound of the voice. Instead she just lowers the telescope, glancing back at the owner of the voice, taking note of her appearance.
"Aye, that's one way to put it." Layna agrees with a good-natured chuckle, turning to face her fully. "Take it you're here for the same? Just enjoying the sights, or looking for something in particular?"
She spins the telescope idly in her hands as she speaks. Outwardly she looks relaxed, and in a way she is, but in the manner of one assessing a potential threat, just in case.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The odd woman doesn't look back towards Layna, but there's no outward sense of hostility. Her gaze is skyward, as if that's where she wants to look. She only turns her head a bit to the right, which is 'closer' in the direction of Layna but there's no meeting of eyes.
"I like the skies," she responds. "...It may be the only thing everyone shares, these days." It's vague, but there is something like peace in her words. As close to it as someone who sounds so tired like her can. "It's there for everyone. It... brings me something like peace."
Layna can make out something like a smile. "There's someone else I hope finds some peace in the skies, too..."
"...They're sure there a lot."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna notes the way her attention focuses on the sky, rather than herself. The lack of hostility... Well, if she wanted a fight there were plenty of good opportunities while she was distracted, so for now she assumes that isn't her intention.
"...Aye, that's true enough." She agrees, on the matter of the skies. "It's a sailor's constant companion, it is - it won't lead anyone astray, so long as you do right by it."
She notes that faint smile as the woman continues. Someone who spends a lot of time in the skies...
"...Aye - I know someone like that, too. Would be nice, knowin' they've got some peace." She agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
It's her turn to make a sound like chuckling. It's not quite as sweet and wholesome as Layna's, as if the thought were tinged with something heavier than mirth - but Celesti is not a happy place, and few here ever have cause to smile. "Sailing... I haven't done that in years. It's... lovely. The skies above, the wind about you, the ocean all around..."
She exhales a sigh.
"I'm... glad I'm not alone on that hope. It's," there's a pause, as if something difficult comes to mind she can't bring to words as a hand rests upon her chest, "been so difficult. Wanting to do more than just... hope."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna listens as she recounts the joys as sailing. Layna smiles knowingly, at that - she knows those feelings well.
"That it is. There's a freedom to it you can't find anywhere else." She agrees. There was nothing she enjoyed more than sailing the seas, even if events these days often kept her landbound.
She notes, then, that sigh. It sounds like there's a lot of weight on this stranger's shoulders.
"...Aye. It can be hard." Layna agrees, folding her arms with a nod.
"...Keep your chin up though, aye? Things'll get better. Or, a chance'll come around to make it better." She offers encouragingly.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"I can't look at the sky otherwise if I don't," she might be taking that literally, that tiniest uptick of irritation that peters out into another bittersweet laugh. "Making it better... I want to. I..." She scratches gently at the cloth above her chest, as if her very heart itched. It might! If hearts ache, they can totes by itchy. Itchy, itchy hearts. (Stupid dumb skin, bone, and other muscle being in the way.)
"...don't know how. If... I've been going over this in my heart and I could... use another." She says this, but still doesn't turn around to face Layna in full.
"I used to... not be the sort of person who... cared about how others felt. I'm glad I'm not that person." She works her way up to something like a grin. It's not a very nice one! "No one should miss them."
That mean-spirited grin fades, in a way that's not all that natural-seeming. It's inches away from a mood whiplash. "It's not enough to just care. I want it to be better, for... for, that's what good people do when they come across someone in... pain and distress, isn't it?"
Her eyes close. "What do you do when they're... so angry, they can't... say anything, do anything, but just continue to be angry no matter what you do? When... other people close to you decide even they're not worth it - people you care for just as much, and... these thoughts just keep going in circles when I put them to words."
Her eyes open again, looking along the length of a Granasian rosary wrapped around an exposed right forearm, her eyes starting to look a touch haunted. "...When you want to help... when all you have to offer to help, are just things that hurt people. But you have to try, because... anyone worth something, whatever that is, would do so. Does that... does that make any sense?"
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna can't tell if she's being serious with her literal interpretation, or if it's a joke. It makes her smirk either way, though, but it gives way to a pensive frown as the stranger speaks. She doesn't interrupt her, instead letting her sort through all her thoughts and feelings.
They're legitimate concerns, really. Layna can't blame her for holding them.
"...Aye, that makes sense." Layna confirms after some thought with a nod. "I'm afraid I don't have all the answers, though. Some things... you gotta figure out for yourself, you know?"
She shrugs.
"Still... I kind of know how it is. Me... when I'm not sailing, I fight for a living. So I know how it is hurting people as what you're best at." Layna folds her arms in front of her, looking up into the sky for a brief moment. "...Sometimes, just being there means a lot. Don't have to do anything - sometimes, there's nothing you can do, anyway - but sometimes, just having one person around can mean all the difference in the world."
She shrugs, scratching the side of her head awkwardly.
"...Dunno if that helps. Might not be applicable to your problem." She concludes. "But if you feel that strongly about it... you gotta try, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The elven woman's eyes close again as Layna recounts her own feelings on the matter. She exhales harshly through the nose - and then again. Oh, that's more described as 'a laugh.' One that's almost successfully held back. "I'm not alone there, then..." It's not clear if this gives her more peace or more tension, or maybe both. They are difficult questions for almost anyone, put like that.
"I don't know about... nothing. I don't like the idea it's all set in stone," the reclining woman steadily becomes a fellow woman who is standing up. She's got a large rifle covered in a blanket to her back - it's tough to make out her build because she has so much clothing on. She doesn't even stand all the way up, coming up shorter than Layna with a bit of a slouchy hunch to her.
"...I feel strongly about a lot of things, these days. Trying... is trying, but... I want to."
"I'm glad that you do, too. If... I don't see them before you do," it's not clear if she knows what exact page they're both supposed to be on, but a part of her feels like they just might, "I hope you can help them. Even if I can't..."
There's a bit of a smile as she turns to face Layna. Her hair - a dull coppery color - is all but hiding most of her face now, leaving just a genuine smile. "...Celesti has no shortage of suffering."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
There's a laugh. Layna smiles a little, at that.
"Aye, for better or worse, you sure aren't." She replies, her smile becoming a bit more wry. She listens, then, as the stranger speaks and stands.
"Well... maybe 'nothing' wasn't the best way to put it, but... well, I dunno how to put it, it's hard to describe, aye?" Layna admits. "...Still, I'm with you there - I don't like that idea, either."
She goes quiet then as she continues, smirking slightly at the perceived bit of wordplay, and nods. Still, it's hard to miss that they both seem to be talking about the same person - or, at least seem to think they are.
"Aye, I've gathered that..." Layna says, on Celesti. She doesn't know the full story... but, just looking at it paints a pretty harsh picture. "Don't worry. I'll do what I can for 'em - and I'm not alone, either. There's lots of us gathered to try and help 'em out. Maybe we can relieve just a small bit o' that suffering, aye?"
She grins - that self-assured, confident grin that comes so easily to her.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Where Layna has that self-assured, confident grin, the stranger before her can't seem to work up more than a gentle smile and an inability to look her in the eyes. There's not much more to say on that front, is there? They both seem to want the best for the same individual, without really questioning the other as to how or why.
"My name's Ruth," she finally introduces herself, still well ahead of You Know Who in terms of getting around to extraordinarily late introductions as she brings her left hand up towards the tags around her necklace, clasping them and hiding them from view. Layna may have seen something like them on some Filgaian soldiers here and there. If she's in a uniform, it's not one of Aveh or Kislev... or Meria Boule, or Odessa. Or Guild Galad. (That she does so idly rather than hastily might not be an intentional attempt to hide anything.)
"You've been pleasant. I, hm," her smile shortens some, "almost didn't notice you were there! It's strange, like that. You almost never notice when everything's going well." She tugs at that necklace a bit, head facing down a little more. "...It makes me feel a little uneasy. It's not you, that's... just, how I feel. May I have your name, young lady?"
Young? They both look about the same age. From the features on Ruth's face - there are some laughing lines - she theoretically should be around the age of Layna, unless there's Heightened Elf Life Span(tm) at play.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Ruth introduces herself and Layna nods. She takes a brief note of the tags she wears, hidden from view before she can determine any further detail, but it's an interesting detail to note.
"It's alright - don't think I would've noticed you either, if you hadn't said something." Layna replies with a shake of her head and a good-natured laugh.
"'Young lady'..." Layna repeats. She doesn't seem offended. "Guess I should be flattered, aye?"
With that said, she removes her hat with a flourish and a polite bow.
"Name's Layna Manydays - Captain of the Ruby Empress. Pleasure meetin' you!"
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"Captain Layna Manydays of the 'Ruby Empress,' hmm," does Ruth there know the name? Layna has no shortage of notoriety these days, for good reason! She's a damned good pirate (and also a damned good pirate too). The elf sucks in a breath, looking away as her left hand lowers. Both of her hands go into coat pockets, which won't last long there because she's going to have to go down a watchtower eventually (like 'within fifteen seconds' eventually) to take her leave.
"Someone this earnest and pleasant must live a charmed life." It's not certain if this observation might be holding back something sadder than that, but there is that sort of vagueness between words and tone that crops up every so often. "...Safe journeys, then. As for me..."
She looks up to the skies, once again clutching her shoulder as if there is a surge of pain, but the look on her face does not betray displeasure at the idea. "...It feels the heavens will want a shoulder to cry on soon. Who am I to deny them that grace, for what it sees beneath..."
Once allowed to take her leave, she'll descend with the utmost care, and for good reason - she's avoiding putting much stress on her left shoulder, but aside from this appears to be able to make the journey back down under her own power. (She did come up here on her own, after all.)
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
A charmed life, huh?
"Well, I dunno if I'd say that." Layna replies with a shrug. She nods, though, as it appears it's time for Ruth to take her leave.
"You take care too, aye?" Layna replies with a nod. She notes the way Ruth descends carefully and, once she's sure she'll make it down just fine on her own, turns back to the horizon, drawing out her telescope and focusing it once more on the skies.