2021-06-24: A Motley Crew
- Log: A Motley Crew
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Seraph Yvain, Ruth Pauling, Yulie Ahtreide
- Where: Zoara Badlands
- Date: June 24, 2021
- Summary: A most unusual group discusses what they've found in an ancient ruin... as well as the obstacles they faced there. And then, despite their great many differences and potential points of conflict, they decide to go back again, someday.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Easy enough," remarks Josie, the ARM retrieved from the depths of the Zeboim ruins in pieces before her. After all, it's hardly the first time she's worked on an ARM of this age -- 500 years or so, unless she's missed the mark -- even if she's unfamiliar with this particular make.
The exact way it happens is, remarkably, probably the least important part of the whole business. After all, more than a few of them (Josie and Yulie, Yvain and Ruth) would have natural reasons to skirt the others' presence. But they'd witnessed something shocking in the depths, for one, and for the other...
Well, for Josie's part, she's just curious. About the ARM, about the Gear they'd seen, and even about Ruth's particular condition. She'd agreed ('I swear on my mother's grave') to no funny business, and given that the woman's not inclined towards making promises of any kind to begin with...
Well, at least Yulie isn't alone in this.
"Right. So it's mostly age what's caused trouble here," the archaeologist remarks, rummaging with her good hand through her kit. "Don't know if I have the right piece or what, but maybe I can make somethin' work. And if not, hey, I can tell you where to go and who-all to see, yeah?"
Josie being Josie, she'd investigated and taken apart the ARM first. Right here, on the only table in the front room of the only inn in town.
Rosebury, a sea-side village, is barely even worth the title of 'town'.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
"Yes," Yvain says, having asked a number of questions as Josie took apart the ARM. Right here, barely worth being a 'town', where the people probably can't mostly see the man looking over Josie's shoulder, he's shown great interest in the machinea nd how it works...
None of which obviates his concern for what they saw in the depths, which he does not immediately have as much to say about at the moment. No, he saw it all right, but he's considering his counsel as he works.
The simple fact is that his concern for that is a lot of why he's still here, and why he's inclined to keep this group together just now.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth is 'late' to the meeting, in so much that it takes her a little while to take in where they're going. Having had the grace of a night's 'rest' to sort out her feelings (for a given value of 'rest') and work up the gumption to let herself retreat back into what she once was, there's always that quiet roiling melancholy tension that she carries about her.
Rosebury... she knew at least a few who spoke fondly enough of the place during the war. Those people... well. Thinking about it takes a bit of volume out from the buzzing on her mind, which hovers around 'rude whispers' as she pulls the hood of her shawl over her head before setting foot inside.
She makes so little eye contact with the world around her at first she bumps her head into the wall next to the door inside the inn.
She sizes up the gathered, gray eyes peeking out under her hood. Whoever might be bearing the clearest discomfort, worry, or sadness... she quietly (re)joins the lot, only missing fragments of Josie's initial assertion about the disassembled ARM until she can turn her better ear towards her.
She seems at a loss as to what to say, but they can make out a little smile from under the hood.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Yulie has been fairly quiet ever since their escape from the Zeboim Ruins. The Gear that had attacked them... She's still a little shaken from that, which may be part of the reason why she didn't immediately make herself scarce upon their exit.
And so she joins the others in the inn, sitting in a chair to the side of table with a mug of something warm and comforting held in both hands, sipping at it every now and then.
Her eyes fall on the ARM, watching as Josie works on it and listening to the questions that passes between Yvain and Josie.
She glances, occasionally, up at the others, but has generally not said much since.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Anyway, Yvain," Josie continues, clarifying for his sake, "despite the age, most of these parts are just fine. They were built properly, right? It's these sections here," and she points, vaguely, at a pair of nearly identical-looking sections, "that're gumming up the works. Metal fatigue, I reckon. Replace or compensate for 'em, and Bob's your uncle, yeah?"
She casts an eye on Yulie, briefly, her lips curving in a slight smile.
But when Ruth approaches them, Josie sets down the part she'd picked up and gives the woman a bright grin. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in! Ruth! C'mon and take a seat over, eh..." She settles on a seat next to Yulie and gestures towards it. "...there's good."
Silence may hold sway in the room, following.
"So. Let's hear it," Josie says at last, leaning back in her seat. "That was a Gear down there. Zeboim writing and all on it, even. But..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
"Yes, I see," Yvain says. "I suppose good steelwork is good steelwork." And the opposite. He is familiar with forging principles, anyway, so it all makes perfect sense. But there Yulie... Well. he's been keeping an eye on Yulie, too.
He did, true to his word, acquire some non-hard cider to add to his provisions.
"Ruth," Yvain greets her as she walks in, looking her over--sensing the lack of obvious Malevolence compared to before. "It's good to see you well."
Yvain will show even more interest in the ARM, of course--but first, as the room goes silent, he moves around to take a seat rather than focus on it, and instead....
"Yes," he says. "A great mechanical construction. Still operational, after all these years, though not particularly sociable of its pilot."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"...It's good you're all right," is Ruth's somewhat somber reply, right hand going over her heart and once more prominently displaying the Granasian rosary wrapped around the otherwise exposed forearm.
'So. Let's here it,' Josie invites, discussing what it is they ran into at the end.
Ruth looks to Yulie as she quietly keeps to herself, as if she might be about to miss the cue to speak as Yvain discusses the construction. She was, among them, the one who stood and survived (if not fought off) the Gear's assault. She expressed some familiarity with the weapons used, like the turret security hallway.
"I don't know." Ruth just shakes her head. She's yet to remove her hood. She speaks again after a pause. "I'm familiar with how a number of Zeboim era weapons sound when fired. I... when it attacked," she breaks from speaking, as if her mind were racing thinking about it. She takes in a breath that never leaves - but to Yvain's sharp senses, nothing leaks out. "They never said a word." Not that she was of a mind to listen then.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Yulie follows the discussion, noting the parts that Josie points out, and Josie's suggestion. She glances, briefly, toward Josie as that smile, and takes another sip of her drink.
She very much appreciates the cider. It's nice.
She looks toward Ruth, briefly... and offers her a small, polite nod of greeting. She hesitates for a moment.
"Are you..." Yulie starts, and then stops herself. ...'Okay', doesn't sound right, so she changes course. "...How are you feeling...?"
Conversation turns toward the Gear that had attacked them. Yulie considers it quietly - considers everything the others say. She hesitates for a moment, feeling silly about asking, until eventually...
"Was... there a pilot?" Yulie asks. "They... would've had to have been there for a long time... Unless we just caught them with a new find..."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Right you are! Now, either I've got something that'll work or nearly work, or you go off -- after I put it back together -- and talk to someone with a Fengalon-damned workshop," she remarks to Yvain. "But let's see what all I've got in my junk heap first."
She nods in Yulie's direction, flashing her a bright grin. "Now, that's the thing, right, kiddo? There ain't no way it had a pilot from way on back then." Josie pauses, giving this a second pass. "Well, nearly none. So I figure, some bastard's holed 'imself up down there, or we've got a Gear stuck on auto-pilot or somesuch."
She's passing familiar with the essentials but has only actually piloted a Gear the once. She might be mixing up terms gently.
"And the only way we figure out that one is, we head on back down and give it another look-see." Josie folds her arms behind her head. "I was fixin' to give it another go anyhow, so even if you lot've had your fill... I figure I'm bound to find out one way or another regardless."
And she pauses here, regarding Ruth.
"...And you've got a little something goin' yourself, ain'tcha, Ruth," Josie drawls, in what is probably the understatement of... at least the week.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain recalls that, for all that she was wreathed in Malevolence, Ruth's intent appeared to be to shield all of them. Perhaps that's why he doesn't immediately act on her return. Perhaps that's part of why.
"Sure," Yvain says of the object. But Yulie, and the pilot... Yes.
"It would be a large coincidence to have found them, and found that they nt only arrived just before us but also managed to pilot the Gear."
Yvain nods. Heading down again... "Yes," Yvain says, "It's worth exploring down there again. I'm interested, as well. Anything less is just guessing."
But when Josie brings up Ruth, Yvain looks to the other woman again. "You moved to help us, at risk to yourself. Forgive our reaction at the time, but I had no way of knowing whether you had control over yourself, as you seem to now. My priority had to be the safety of the others."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
There isn't an elephant-shaped elephant in the room. There is an elf-shaped elephant in the room. The subject broadly goes towards that direction as Yulie struggles to think of how to ask her if she's all right.
"Is that what worries you?" To Yulie, who at one point was at the periphery - and then bore some of the brunt of - her attack on Halim, that this woman speaks with such care and concern in her voice should be eerie. It's like a different person.
She doesn't get a chance to fully answer how she's feeling as Josie interjects about a 'little something goin' yourself,' and Yvain elucidating about what she did and what he had to do.
Under the hood, she closes her eyes for a moment. "I'm me. I'm not a heartless monster." These should be reassuring statements about her stability, taken at face value - but Hellions are creatures of contradiction. "...As for the... little something," this is not quite the 'little something' that Josie's referring to, but.
"I used to be with the Order of Ethos. I never did see assignment in expeditions." She removes that hand from her heart in favor of fiddling with something between her gloved hands. "With news about what happened to it, I... wanted to see what it might have been like."
Yulie herself may have an inkling about where this is going, from what she saw within the heart of Ruth's former Domain, casting a downcast look but with a widening smile that - somehow - remains melancholy.
Followed by a bitter little laugh.
"It's true. There really was only one way I could best serve the Light," as she says this, her right hand goes up to her left shoulder to thoughtfully rub it. "...Turns out I did just that," but that phrase sounds defeated even though they all lived.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"...I'm just worried for you." Yulie replies with a shake of her head as Ruth asks that question. Ruth assists that she's herself, and not a heartless monster. ...That just makes Yulie frown uncertainly, though.
Josie puts forward a couple of possibilities for the situation with the Gear in the ruins - a Gear on auto-pilot, or someone using that place as a hide-out - or stuck down there, anyway.
"...I'm not sure which would be worse..." Yulie murmurs. And then, Josie makes her point - the only way they'll figure it out is if they go there and take another look. Yulie hesitates for a moment... and then, she frowns.
"...I, well... It was a little frustrating to be chased off like that after everything we went through..." Yulie admits with a hint of a pout. ...She has a bit of a stubborn side, it seems.
Ruth points out that she used to be with the Order of Ethos... and Yulie nods quietly. She had forgotten about that - didn't think about how the news of their fall might affect her. That bitter laugh, and the words that come next... they only make Yulie more concerned.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Yep. That's what I'm curious about, too, ghost... man," Josie says, frowning. That nickname will take some workshopping. "And that might be the way we'll know." If the Gear's still there... well, the idea that there's 'someone living down there, permanently, to harrass explorers' is a bit of a stretch in Josie's estimation.
"Sure was, kiddo," Josie agrees, nodding soberly when Yulie says it was disappointing. "Them's the breaks, sometimes. But I've found a good dose of spite works wonders 'n all when it comes to givin' it another go," she adds, flashing the girl a grin.
"Yeah, I getcha," Josie says, smiling in a way that doesn't quite meet her eyes. "You ain't a monster anymore than the next, right." She does not say 'anymore than me' since that would be a little bit unkind and a little bit untrue.
"...Order of Ethos, huh. Heard they all..." She grimaces, unfolding her arms to wave the one vaguely. "Anyway. Water under the bridge, eh? You're still kickin', and that's what matters. So you wanted a little taste of that green grass... did it match up?"
Her eye stays on Ruth the entire time -- she knows, after all. They all know. But none of them are, at the moment, treating her any different than anyone else -- given the circumstances that had been at play, that is.
After all, Yvain had to do what he had to do.
"And there you go. Looks like she's got it all sorted now, Yvvie."
Is that nickname an improvement? ...Probably not...
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain lifts an eyebrow at 'ghost man.' But that's all there is. "Might be."
"That's good," Yvain says. "Many suffused with the power you are lose control of who they are." He has known many, many Hellions in his time--some who were nothing more than roving monsters, and others who were... not. It just is how it is, then. But the little something....
"We all have our talents, even if those talents are unpleasant," Yvain says to Ruth. "The ways we can help others matter."
The talk of the Order of the Ethos is, to say the least, sobering. But Yvain wasn't exactly treating this situation all that lightly at the moment, either.
Has it all sorted. Hmm. "The fact that you're able to discuss it with lucidity this way is rather reassuring," he agrees, though he says it to Ruth rather than about her. "The circumstances aside, I appreciate your help. I certainly couldn't block the assaults of such a large being with so little warning."
He has more he wants to ask about, to say about that, but for some reason he's doing so gently to start, either because he's careful or because he's just not that much of a jerk. It could be either. Some things, after all.... just take observation and time.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
In the pause that follows Ruth's revelations, she turns to look upon Yulie from the corner of her eye and soak in her ambient discomfort and worry. She feels a little conflicted about whether she should be sitting this close to the young woman who had to grow up far, far, far too soon. (She decides she's just going to keep sitting there and be there for Yulie's emotional discomfort, despite being a source of it, because... Hellion logic, sometimes!)
The subject moves along about that little taste of that green grass. "I... wasn't trained in it, for my time." That statement might be a bit odd. Etones may be specialized in certain fields but almost all of them at least have come proficiency in all the tasks and trades they engaged in. Another smile that is on the exact opposite scale of the taste spectrum from 'sweet.' "I'm sorry. I wouldn't know how to... put back together that ARM, either," she gestures broadly to the parts on the table. "I only know how some of them sound and how they were used from the Civil War. I," her right hand's back on her chest, "can see why I never would've been."
Yvain explains about how 'the power' makes it easy to lose grasp of who they are, being given encouraging remarks even if a part of her remains ever so weirded out about the intimacy in which some speak about who she is now, but she never presses it. She breaks eye contact somewhere along this praise, as if having to convince herself it's okay to hear it. He's talking about her now, isn't he?
"I like having a heart," she says to all of that, which is sort of a weird thing to say unsolicited.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Spite's a good motivator, huh... well, she can work with spite. Yulie thinks on it for a moment, and then nods.
"...I'll try." She replies. "I want to know what's down there. ...Especially if they don't want me to."
She pauses for a moment, as Yvain offers words of reassurance to Ruth. 'The ways we can help others matter'... Yulie thinks on that for a moment quietly. She's not the intended recipient, but the words resonate with her all the same.
"...We're all still here. We're all... still in one piece." Yulie murmurs. "So... thank you, Miss Ruth."
Ruth says she likes having a heart. Yulie studies her for a moment, remembering back to the battle at Halim.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Ruth admits that she doesn't really know how to put together the ARM on the table. "Fair enough," Josie shrugs. "I've worked on similar enough ones before. It's the ones that come from way on back that are the pain in the ass, right," she says, glancing once Ruth's way. "Like... five thousand years and change. ...Even Metal Demon era stuff's not much of a problem when you get right down to it and all. Same purpose, same shape... you just figure out the connections after a time."
She eventually sits back up straight again, though, when Yulie says she's going to try again.
"Huh, really? Now that's a surprise there, kiddo. Still... maybe with your powers and all..."
She doesn't elaborate, instead offering Yulie a wink. She does have certain affiliations. Perhaps she knows some of what's going on with the young lady.
"So, we'll go on back down there. Too bad I don't have a bigger gun." Josie pauses. "Not no more, anyhow."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Hellion logic happens. Yvain knows little of Etone training in the first place, so it doesn't seem too odd to him. Instead of the ARM, "Lucky one of us does. It may get to see more use again, at this rate. I wonder what brought it down there in the first place..."
But Yvain is attempting to encourage Ruth, that is true--and what she says... It is a little weird. But he's got his empathy on overdrive, as it were, trying to understand her better, and so he imagines perhaps 'not having a heart' would be the alternative state she could be in. "It's a good quality," he says then.
But spite? "Heh. That's good thinking," Yvain says to Yulie. But they're all still here, all still in one piece, and Yvain nods to her thanks.
"I hope to learn a little more about these myself," Yvain says of the ARMs, and then, "Good. Then we're all in agreement." A beat, "That sounds like it would've been interesting to see. But we do have other advantages, and we've seen down there before, now."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
There's always something of a morose quality to the way Ruth holds herself when she is, in the recursive sense, holding herself inside someone she no longer 'is.' When Yulie, someone she admitted in another conversation is someone she hurt long before they ever met, gives her thanks, she breaks eye contact and looks further downward.
It's another difficult feeling to hold - but she wills herself a gentler, less bitter smile as if convincing herself she can take the young Paladienne's gratitude.
As Josie explains the finer intricacies of identifying, studying, maintaining, disassembling, and reassembling ancient ARMs, Ruth tilts her head up without looking Josie in the eye either as if what she were about to say were something steeped in another difficult thought.
"I wasn't trained to handle exotic ARMs either," Ruth admits. That's another curious gap for a supposed Etone's knowledge base, hands back down to fiddling with something on her lap. "I've only ever handled my own." She at least has that much skill, and... for what she is, that might be for the best that no one else handle hers. (For Yvain, that the rifle on her back isn't currently radiating Malevolence may be a reassuring sign of how much of a hold of herself she has if her capacity to compress and conceal it extends to personal effects.)
She's the last one to say whether or not she'd be fully willing to commit to another expedition. She nods the once, looking up and allowing the peek of those downcast gray eyes of hers - and catching Josie's wink in Yulie's direction.
"If you'll have me," Ruth says as though it were in question as to whether her company would be welcomed, given their impression of her ability to hold the worst of herself as her right hand goes back to her chest - to the heart Yvain praises in his attempt to understand and reassure her - "I'll," an awkward pause, "see you through the worst should it arise."
A beat.
"All I've ever seen of Zeboim is pain and sadness."
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Ruth manages a smile. So, Yulie manages one in turn. She still feels a little burned by her... but, she can try, at least.
Yulie's eyes turn toward the ARM on the table again, looking it over. She doesn't really know much about them - it's not the kind she's more familiar. She looks toward Yvain then as he asks about the ARM, and thinks about it.
"...I don't know. It looks like it had been there for a while, though..." She pauses for a moment, looking puzzled for a moment. "...But, not as long as the rest of the ruin..."
That's something to think about, not that she has any answers. Instead, she looks up toward Josie.
"...Is it really that strange...?" Yulie says with a bit of a pout, and then hesitates as she mentions her powers. "...Maybe..."
She seems a little uncertain... but then again, given her current company, she doesn't really have as much reason to hide it. She nods, though, when Yvain compliments her thinking.
...And so, it looks like they're all in agreement - they want another go at those ruins. Yulie nods.
"...It looks like it." She agrees, then considers Ruth's words. Pain and sadness... she goes a little quiet at that.
"...I'm sure... it must have been nice, once. I wonder what it was like..." She murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I think you'll get the hang 'o this right quick, Yvvie," Josie remarks, gesturing at the parts. "I'll just see if I've got something I can use or get close enough with and all. Otherwise I'll put this thing back together and you'll just get yourself to an ARMs Meister and they'll sort it for you."
She pauses, though, a thought occuring to her.
"But they'll need to... see you first. And you'll need a pretty bit of gella..."
It's occuring to her that this is going to be a problem actually.
"Yeah? My old mentor -- eh," Josie grimaces. "Well, I picked up this and that, right?" Josie says, shaking her head. "Used to take apart stuff on the regular, as a kid. When I could get my hands on it, mind," she adds, smiling slyly. "'Course I know my old Gawain rifle best, but there ain't all that much different in the big picture from your baby, yeah? And so on, and so on. The only one I can't right figure out properly's this beauty," she says, indicating with a jerk of her head towards the black shotgun leaning against the wall.
"Then again, I found it in Linaweyul."
Which might just say everything anyone needs to know about it.
Was it really that strange?
Josie shrugs her shoulders. "Ain't somethin' I see all the time, right? Seems strange to me. But handy-like. Good to have 'somethin' strange' in a pinch and all. Keeps 'em guessing," she adds, lips parting in a grin that is, at best, semi-feral. "But don't you worry none. 'Long as you stick near these folks," and what, she's including Ruth in this? "then you ain't got a thing to worry about me for."
Ruth and Yvain might have very good reason to wonder what she's getting at here, and so baldly.
"But if you ain't wanting to be around me, well that's a fair cop," Josie finishes. "No worries there. I'll sort it out on my lonesome."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
To Yvain, wars fought primarily with excavated ARMs are not the history he knows; the troubles of Celesti are different from the wars he's used to. So he has different experience thus far with this ancient Zeboim, and rather less of it thus far, for all that he speaks the language. ...Which is curious enough, on its own, to him.
"A specialist then," Yvain reflects of Ruth and her own ARM that she handled. Indeed he takes reassurance that it isn't radiating Malevolence.
"Yes, it seems more likely that someone brought it in than that it was part of the original ruin, doesn't it? It doesn't match the look of the rest. And it's identifiable as much more recent," he acknowledges Josie, since she's how he knows in the first place. "Well, if you do, all the better." Pause. Hmmm.
"...I'll figure something out," he says, not particularly worried for some reason. he's been finding ways to deal with humans for a very, very long time after all, and, "Money isn't that big an issue. It's not as if I have to spend it on much."
Seraph perks.
This and that. "You..." Pause. "You found it in cowardice?"
Hmm.
"I'm sure it was nice, once. People build places to use, to live in. That they come down to us later is only happenstance." He considers as Josie mentions what worrying needs doing, but...
"Well, I'm fine with all of us," he says. "Besides, we're more likely to find something interesting looking together, yes?"
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Yulie's discomfort bleeding through her words sees Ruth turn her head towards her again, but the elf seems conflicted about what to say or gesticulate towards her in reassurance, other than deciding to continue to simply 'be there,' as it were.
Another imperceptible turn of her head as more curious language is thrown about. She caught the earlier 'ghost man,' and that odd pause in phrasing about 'seeing (Yvain)' first. A question never is fully voiced, in favor of hearing Josie's background with ARMs and discussing her strange find - that black shotgun against the wall that didn't escape her gaze coming in but with attention brought to it, it's a little unnerving. Its construction and look is... unlike anything she's seen.
Her hearing's not the best but the confusion about a... Lina-something and a cowardice has her a bit off-center but she finds something else to cling to as Josie puts on that grin and uses choice language about being safe with 'these folks.' Where Yvain says he's 'fine with all of us,' Ruth goes quiet to turn towards Yulie again.
This is a woman who knows she has scared, frightened, and let down poor Yulie by inadvertedly pulling her into harm during her ill-fated attack upon the New Town mines of Halim. Guilt churns underneath. Another sensation to keep hold of in that pressurized morass of emotion.
She can only give the gentle smile of someone who cares in the presence of those already hurt, frightened, or in distress, and little more, as if it were its own form of sustenance for her own feelings.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"I don't know any ARMS Meisters, unfortunately... I wish I could suggest one for you." Yulie says, apologetically. She doesn't think her methods of tuning up Jude's ARM would apply in this situation. It's a bit of a special case.
She listens curiously though, as Josie lets slip a mention of an 'old mentor' - before talking a bit about her past... and, a Linaweyul? Yulie shakes her head.
"...I haven't heard of that one." She admits. It doesn't sound like Yvain does, either... even if he knows what the word means. She certainly didn't.
But Josie speaks on the good points of strange and after some thought Yulie nods, slightly mollified. She hesitates for a bit, then, and shakes her head.
"...No, it's... it's okay. I'll be okay. It'd be rude to exclude you after we've been talking about it..." She replies, before looking toward Ruth. She hesitates a little, seeing that look, after a moment, as if to reassure her, "And... the same goes for you, Miss Ruth. I'd be glad if you were to join us..."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Sure is. Like I said, I ain't familiar with this model or none, but I've seen its like before," Josie says, shrugging slightly. "But let me see what you got. And... I guess I can give you a hand if you need to see someone else. I ain't spending my own coin on this, though."
A woman's gotta have some limits, somewhere.
She explains where she found it, a place that... none of them know.
'Cowardice', Yvain calls it.
"Coward-- huh. Yeah. I think someone or such called it that. That's its name, though. Linaweyul. It ain't... here, properlike. Or even on Lunar. It's," and she gestures vaguely, "somewhere else. Can't right tell you how to get there and all, but if you find a weird door leading to a place full of yellow, then you've found it."
It's vague, but it's perhaps the best she can do. Linaweyul defies sense as such.
She glances over at Ruth, who seems to be wrestling again with her own demons. Honestly, it's not like Josie has any room to judge.
And then looks to Yulie, awaiting her own verdict on the matter of Josie being allied with the people who want to capture her -- who even tried to capture her once.
"Right, then! Then that's settled. We may be a motley crew, but at least we're honest about it, eh?" Josie says at last, smiling lopsidedly. "Once more unto the breach!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain could easily explain his nature. But he doesn't. Maybe he assumes a Hellion would recognize a Seraph, though the logic there is faulty for many reasons one could point out. "It's fine," he says to Yulie of ARMS Meisters, and then to Josie, "Certainly. I appreciate it--and I wouldn't expect you to. Can't fund the opposition too much, hm?" He hasn't forgotten their competition, even if they are working together now too.
Linaweyul... is it familiar? Yvain looks thoughtful anyway. "Noted," he says of the explanation, and there is that. But... Yulie is considering rudeness and politeness--Josie of course isn't about to exclude herself--
"Indeed," Yvain says with a hearty laugh. "Motley crew is right. I think this will be fun!"
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
With Yulie's quiet acceptance even through hesitation, Yvain's excitement of discovery after nearly two hundred years of having lost nearly all sense of who he was, and Josie's dangerous can-do attitude, Ruth sets her right hand on the table. The Granasian rosary seems little more than a curious bauble around her otherwise exposed forearm, but one suspects she's not putting it there to show it off.
It might be for her own self.
"If we're going together," Ruth says, "I should... say about myself." What is there to say? They know she's a Hellion, one of the very few blessed to keep the majority of their personality, memories, and reason intact - enough that, unwittingly to her, a Seraph who was recently almost completely lost to Malevolence is showing acceptance of her presence. It's a gesture of kindness at present lost to her, for it says much about her as an overall person at her dual-natured core.
"I look like this now," she raises a finger from said right hand up, as if to try and point at herself, "but... it's a difficult face for me to wear." Almost any Hellion conscious enough of their nature, with a strong enough connection to their former lives, would give anything to be able to return to their original appearances even if it's not quite that.
"If I let myself out, I'm staying out." She shakes her head. "Putting this face back on... it feels like I'm turning into a monster every time I do." That is a curious assertion to make - it says a lot about her self image, which might have a recursively deleterious effect but might be an x factor into why she was able to wrangle her Hellionized self into an unambiguously valorous act.
"If it rains, that's my 'me' time. It's... it lets me sort some things out." Yulie would be familiar with that detail of her Domain, and even how she calmed some after her defeat at Halim. She puts on a gentle smile again.
"It's just who I am... but I care. I care that others are in pain. I can get emotional about it..."
(understatement)
She restrains herself from going into a self-deprecating death spiral, as if reading the mood of the enthusiasm. The repression quietly replenishes the negative emotions that give her strength (and a lot more baggage), but that's just part of being a Hellion.
"If you'll have me, then... you'll have my best at your worst."
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"A 'weird door'...?" Yulie replies, looking puzzled. "I'll... take your word for it."
It doesn't sound like she's messing with them, at least. ...She thinks, anyway. It might just be one of those things that she wouldn't question if she had more experience as a Drifter.
A motley crew...
"...Yeah." She says after a moment, with a slight smile. And then, Ruth puts her metaphorical cards on the table. Yulie goes quiet, letting her explain herself without interruption.
"...Okay. I'll... I'll trust you." Yulie replies with a nod. She doesn't really understand it... but she's seen it in action for herself, so it's not like it's something she can question.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Heh," says Josie. "Got it in one, Yvvie." Is this his nickname now? It might just be his nickname now. "I'm feelin' a little generous. But, not all that generous, now!"
She seems in good enough spirits -- the thought of attempting that place again seems to be appealing to her, especially if they can best the twists and turns of the ruins this time around (and the Gear, for that matter, if it and its pilot (?) are still down there).
But Ruth has something to say.
"Out with it," Josie says, gesturing with her one good hand.
Ruth explains.
"Huh... so that's how it is. Like you're putting on a mask, just looking like you do now. ...I get it. Don't worry 'bout it none. We know what's up. Maybe Yvvie here might wanna keep his distance while you're... yourself, but we'll manage it best we can, right?" She smiles, brightly.
"Besides. You got me to worry about, too."
She doesn't elaborate.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
"Naturally." Not that gneerous. he seems in good spirits, too. But...
About herself--Ruth has something to say, and Yvain listens. What she looks like... what she looks like otherwise. The fact that she is aware of this much, too, strikes him as positive. Much of the danger of Hellions comes in ignorance of their state. It's...
It's very interesting, what feels like the monster and what doesn't. It says quite a lot. Yvain does not immediately comment; he listens, and nods. If it rains...
"To care--that is sometimes all one can ask. I understand, Ruth." He nods, again--and Josie mentions his distance and Yvain replies, "Provided that I keep a strong Vessel, it won't be a problem for me to be in your company even in your other state."
If she views her 'human' form as the monster... what does that imply for attempts at purification? Not something he can do, regardless, in his current state.
But he looks over the others and smiles again. "Yes. I think we'll do just fine."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth speaks of her condition in frank terms, in such as she has internalized and described it - aware enough that she's not who she used to be, with that negative connotation about what she once was. Whatever it means... she's lucid and capable enough of self-reflection to do that, but there is always that contradiction. That discord that has not been reconciled with which all Hellions are driven by.
The context about 'Yvvie' keeping their distance and Vessels seems lost on her for the moment, but there is a nod of understanding. The implicit trust and kindness should elicit a kind, quiet 'thank you for understanding,' but a part of her... there's something she can't let go of that starts to gnaw, as something always does. Her head is never free of that buzzing of destructive thoughts.
She goes quiet and leans back, bringing her right hand up to her left shoulder as it twinges in pain.
A plan laid out, a party coming to an understanding among the lot of them, eyes on a prize - that's the life of a Drifter, in-between seeing to the realization of the dreams of someone she wants to see be able to make reality.