2021-04-09: No Solicitors (For Miles)
- Log: No Solicitors (For Miles)
- Cast: Jacqueline Barber, Ruth Pauling
- Where: Zoara Badlands
- Date: April 09, 2021
- Summary: Someone seems to have it out for high-profile trade caravans out in Zoara, as Jay discovers when the CaraKin has an emergency stop for a mechanical failure. It turns out, it's not someone trying to rob them.
==============================<* Zoara Badlands *>============================== Most of Zoara's interior is a vast expanse of desolate earth. A handful of areas receive just enough rainfall to allow the growth of foliage, but by and large, this place is almost as inhospitable as the wastes of Ignas. Ghost towns dot these dusty plains--many of them are settlements that dried up and died during the Celesti Civil War. Most of the remaining settlements have forfeited their sovereignty to Guild Galad in exchange for their continued survival. Rail travel is the easiest way to cross the Badlands. Guild Galad's military maintains a tight grip on most of Zoara's rail routes, ensuring that transit is reasonably safe, if extensively-policed. Outside of the rail network, travelers band together in caravans to keep themselves safe. Centuries of war have scarred this land, and attacks from bandits -- or worse -- are an unfortunate fact of life. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeL32o-P6Yw
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Travel through the Zoara Badlands is typically done by train, or in a large caravan. It's a dangerous, lawless place - unkempt and inhospitable to most. Few settlements remain, but there are still some dotted throughout the Badlands, comprised of people either too stubborn to leave their homeland or lacking the means to go elsewhere.
To Jacqueline, those are some of the people most in need of her services. Merchants and traders don't stop by often, due to the relatively low profit earned from such an expedition compared to the risks one takes in going out there. But to Jacqueline, profit is not her foremost motivation.
There is, however, a certain risk in choosing to travel where others hesitate to. There's always the risk of attack by bandits and monsters, yes... but, there is also another, more mundane risk involved.
...Namely, the fact that the lack of well-maintained roads can be rather harsh on even the most sturdy of vehicles.
Today finds the Carakin driving through the Badlands, like any other day, when suddenly, there's a loud grinding sound from beneath the vehicle. Jacqueline puts on the brakes abruptly, and then sighs, resting her head against the wheel.
"...Of course. Alright. This was bound to happen sooner or later." She says, sliding out of the seat. Before long, she emerges from the vehicle with some tools set aside, crouching down to examine the back-left wheel that seemed to be the source of the problem.
She may not be as good with machines as some of her other friends, but she knows enough to be able do some quick field repairs, at least.
And so, she gets to work. Out in the middle of nowhere... well, it could be worse, she supposes.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The roads may as well not even exist to begin with, out in the Badlands. Some of these settlements may no longer exist between visits - but such is life on Filgaia's broadening wastes, and that harsh reality is going to catch up sooner or later to the few parts left with vegetation. The badlands of Zoara aren't all that far out from where the worst of the damages of the Celesti Civil War happened - a few towns themselves felt that sting of hostilities between ruling and revolutionary powers during the war. All of them sure did after... with no choice but to huddle under the banner of Guild Galad in order to continue to be.
Hope is a frightening concept - and the Caravan Kinship bring it, when they have a full set of wheels on hand.
There is a click of a revolver being readied - and the silhouette of a heavily-dressed woman that seems to stretch further than it ought to in this lighting from a raised position. She crouches aside a rocky outcropping, as if all but perched there like a waiting vulture ready to pick a corpse clean. (There is no rise of smoke from the barrel, so it hasn't been fired.)
Their left arm shudders, the weakness masked underneath the overcoat sleeve and shawl that altogether are a bit too large for her.
"Are you with the Galadians?" She asks, a sharpness in her tone - as if she might already be convinced that's the case and is a hair's trigger away from making a terrible judgment call. Her head is bowed, eyes not making contact with Jay. Her dull copper hair parts just enough to see one narrowed gray eye.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline has a good sense for trouble. The outstretched silhouette, the sound of a readed revolver... any Drifter worth their salt knows that's danger. Jacqueline frowns, glancing at the armed stranger out of the corner of her eye.
Should she lie, and say that she is? This woman could be a bandit, picking off stray targets. Or she could be a local, with a bone to pick with Guild Galad. Jacqueline had done her research - she knows about the war.
But, as is usually her tendency, she elects to tell the truth.
"I'm not. I'm a traveling merchant, from Adlehyde." Jacqueline explains, her tone even and polite. "Could you lower your weapon? Whatever issue you have with me, I'm certain we can talk it over."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The woman who holds the revolver keeps holding it there as Jay talks. She sucks in a breath that never quite leaves, holding her posture taut like a bow string drawn and ready to let fly. Filgaia is a harsh place, its people just as harsh to match.
"...You don't sound like you're from Guild Galad," says the woman who by her accent sounds like she's from the northern parts of the continent. That should satisfy her question, shouldn't it? "You're not a set of hired thugs for them either... are you."
The revolver remains trained on Jay for several seconds longer as she says that. Her right hand parts from the two-handed grip on the revolver first, moving to take hold of her chest - a gloved hand over her heart. The Granasian rosary wrapped around her exposed right forearm is easier to see, her head bowed as if looking it over. The next few seconds are tense. She's not looking Jay in the eye still. There's a shaking in her left hand as it lowers.
Gradually, as if fighting the desire to keep it on her, before kneeling down against the rocky outcropping and finally letting loose a breath through her nose. Jay can spot a growing, gentler smile - but is it really all that friendly given what just happened?
"...I'm sorry if I scared you. The town ahead... they've been suffering. They've been afraid. I..."
She hasn't come down from the rocky outcropping yet.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline keeps her eye on the woman, but does not yet turn fully to face her. She knows how this works - no sudden movements, no doing anything that might startle the person with the ARM pointed at her into firing, accidentally or no.
"We've never been mistaken for hired thugs before... But no, we're not." Jacqueline replies. She watches her carefully - notes the way she rests a hand over her heart, notes the Granasian rosary. But she doesn't turn yet. Only until the left arm - she notes the shaking - lowers fully does she turn, offering a smile in return.
Ruth's own smile... it is a mystery. Jacqueline wonders if it's relief, or something else.
"It's quite alright. You're not the first to aim a weapon at me. I doubt you'll be the last. I can understand your confusion - you won't see many vehicles like this outside of Guild Galad." She replies, shaking her head. The town ahead... "I understand. That's why I'm here, actually. I've brought a load of supplies with me - I was hoping I could relieve some of their problems."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"They don't have much to give." The woman speaks up hastily, as if cutting into Jay's words around the time of 'relieve some of their problems.' "I... I overheard that, some time ago. Galadian... thugs." The pause is a notable shift in tone, as if she were building up towards saying something nastier. More forceful. Her right hand goes to her forehead, hiding her eyes from the kindly trader. As if not all the tension leaves her, even with the air of reasoning cleared up between them.
"...I'm glad someone cares, too." She takes a seat, legs dangling over the edge. Her boots do not match and are in terrible shape, but they stay on her feet as she brings that hand down away from her face. Both her hands - and the revolver - go to her lap. She keeps her hands busy as she unloads the ARM, letting the slugs collect at her lap.
"You'd be the only good thing to pass through here in... some time." She fidgets with those bullets with one hand, somewhat restlessly while she cranes her gaze upward to better meet Jay. She does part from her fidgeting to brush some hair away from her face. The smile's still there, as if she were trying her hardest to keep as friendly a one as she can. "Do you do this often...?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"That's what I hear." Jacqueline agrees, as the woman says they don't have much to give. She listens to the way she speaks of the Galadians. She can put a few pieces together.
Someone who cares...
"Someone has to. It'd be too sad if no one did." Jacqueline replies. The woman takes a seat, and so Jacqueline does too, carefully flipping a panel down on the Carakin and sitting down, folding her hands politely in her lap. She could go back to doing repairs on the vehicle... but, while she may be unloading the ARM, Jacqueline still isn't quite ready to take her attention off the woman, just in case her tone changes - keeping an eye on her politely, but observantly. She can see that tension still built up.
"'Often'...? Well, I guess you could say that. We're pretty much always on the road these days." Jacqueline replies. "We try to go to the places that most merchants and traders would avoid. More often than not, they're the ones most in need of help."
She shrugs a little.
"The Wayside Outreach has a little more... well, reach, than we do... but they can't do everything on their own." She comments.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"That's kind of you." The words and tone sound sincere enough that it seems unbelievable that they'd come out of her mouth after the near-violence that happened not all that long before. It's spoken with gratitude, rather than judgmental - but there's that tension that remains. Jay's caution is well-earned, as fingers still fidget with the bullets. As if she were trying to burn off excess energy by all the fiddling. "I wish I could be there for... all of them."
A pause, as she looks down and breaks eye contact with Jay.
"Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. I won't... take out my feelings on you. You're safe here. They're... safe here. As long as I'm here."
She's not going to get in the way of Jay finishing her repair work so that she can get the CaraKin where it needs to go.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline chuckles a little sheepishly, as the woman comments on her kindness... but it fades a little, as she continues. Jacqueline considers her for a moment.
"If you don't mind my asking... why can't you?" She asks. She, too, isn't judging her - it sounds more like concern, than anything. The other woman breaks eye contact, then, and says she won't hurt her - won't take her feelings out on her.
An interesting way to put it. Jacqueline doesn't comment on that, but she takes note of it.
"...Okay." Jacqueline replies with a nod. "I'll trust you."
With that she turns around to get back to work, though she does glance back at the woman.
"I'm... Jacqueline Barber, by the way." She says, by way of introduction.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"I... I can't be everywhere at once." This is a normal limitation of the corporeal body and the laws of physics. (The jury is out on whether the Seraphim can be in two places at once, in comparison, but trying to apply the laws of physics to them is a fool's errand, and also a fool's three day weekend.) "But when I find people suffering, I... want to be there for them." She looks up, over her shoulder to the way to the town Jay's on the way towards. From here, when Jay glances back, she can catch a better look at her ears - she's an elf, turns out.
Jay introduces herself. When the woman speaks back.
"It's Ruth." Just... Ruth? She doesn't give a surname. "I'm a Drifter," she says what might be obvious enough as she goes back to fiddling with what's on her lap. "...and someone who cares. Some days, that's what keeps me going."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline nods in understanding, at that. It's true, that does complicate things quite a bit. She smiles a little, though, as Ruth - as she introduces herself - continues.
"...I'm glad to hear that. I wish there were more people who felt that way." Jacqueline replies, and then nods.
"Ruth... well, it's nice to meet you, Miss Ruth." She replies. A Drifter... Jacqueline nods. That makes a lot of sense. "...That's important, I think. If more people cared... this world would be a better place, I think. Sometimes, a little caring can make all the difference in the world."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"I hope it does," Ruth's voice grows quieter as Jay talks about how a little caring can make all the difference in the world. Her right hand goes up to her heart again as she says that. "It's so hard... looking at all of this. Feeling... it should be better. It shouldn't be this way, after all that happened. All that..."
She stops. She smiles... and she laughs. "No. I did say I wasn't going to take my feelings out on you. I won't." Then, a grin. "No. There'll be others who should... know them." It's not a very nice-looking one. It gradually softens again. "I'm sorry. I can't help you with your caravan. I'll just keep quiet vigil while you work."
There's another beat as she settles, starting to re-load the bullets into the revolver. On her back remains something wrapped in a blanket - a large rifle - but she hasn't made any effort to draw it or lay it out. It's just there - but Jay did see the way her left arm was shaking.
When she's done reloading, that right hand goes up to her own left shoulder to give it a gentle squeeze and a rub, even through all the layers of cloth there.
"Thank you for trusting me."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline listens quietly as Ruth speaks of how difficult it is. Does she have some connection to this place...? She considers asking, but Ruth stops herself, reminding herself she wasn't going to take her feelings out on her.
"It's alright." Jacqueline replies... though she does notice that grin. ...It's a little concerning, but for now she just nods at Ruth's offer.
"That's more than enough help. You can never be too careful in the wilderness." She replies and returns to work... though she does smile, as Ruth thanks her.
"You're welcome! It's natural, I think." She replies brightly.