2022-11-24: This Log Has A Cool Bike In It
- Log: 2022-11-24: This Log Has A Cool Bike In It
- Cast: Kresnik Ahtreide, Ruth Pauling, Ida Everstead-Rey, Gami, Magilou
- Where: Meria City - Outer Regions
- Date: November 24, 2022
- Summary: It does. It also has a young man of unknown allegiances attached to it! Several Drifters about Meria City come to gawk at it. The bike, I mean. The cool bike. Whether the young man is cool is immaterial.
========================<* Meria City - Outer Regions *>======================== Outside the inner wall that contains the oldest parts of Meria City and the main castle itself is a newer city, the result of growth over the centuries well beyond the original parameters of the settlement. With Meria's good fortune in terms of natural resources, the city proper does not need to be terribly crowded, and so it doesn't compare in terms of sheer scale to the more compact metropolis of Guild Galad. Nevertheless there are a lot of people here, and that means inns, shops, businesses, and beyond the outer walls, farmland for miles. The port is active, carrying goods from the northern regions as well as the ore from its mines, and bringing in goods from the south. Meria City has relatively wide streets, but there are few gas-powered vehicles on them, considered to be largely reserved for the military. The buildings themselves tend to cluster together, sprawling slowly over time. The atmosphere here is often reserved, and quite proud. It is known among other things for a fine collection of teas brought in from around the world. BGM: Wild Arms 2 - A Town Where the West Wind Blows
<Pose Tracker> Kresnik Ahtreide has posed.
Meria Boule's outskirt roads are bustling this afternoon, people working hard on another weekday and moving commerce as well as just living their lifes. The city's lively, if not nearly as lively as Guild Galad.
There's an unusual commotion. While the wide roads are nominally for the military, that isn't law, so a man has rode a motorcycle across them to pick up fuel. He's stopped at a local outdoor market to do so, sliding his motorcycle to a stop at a safe distance away, as to not interfere with foot traffic too much.
Wearing sunglasses, a fall jacket, and jeans, Kresnik Ahtreide seems like a modern cowboy, though the more interesting thing is his motorcycle.
It's old. Very, very old. Yet, it's not a Gear. It's simply a silver bike, being ridden by an interesting man passing through town.
Anyone in Odessa who may be showing up has received a letter dictating, in code, that Kresnik will be arriving soon to check on the region and refuel. It's a great time for a meeting.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth's been assigned to watch Meria City once more throughout the afternoon while certain things are being deliberated concerning a treasured member's existential peril. Her current station is closer towards the outskirts at this hour.
Her role does not, technically, involve watching a fearless flock of pigeons. They are not fearless because they are stone cold bean-pushers into the elminating abyss of pink slime (wooo~). They're fearless because they have adapted to city life. She likes watching them, despite the lack of anything resembling terror or what have you. Any sort of stimulus that pulls her outside of the churning morass that is her headspace is something to be treasured and maintained.
Then a motorcycle rolls in, and... they don't take off, because they are pigeons who have no sense of fear or self-preservation. They are already in pigeon heaven! The only place they can go is double-heaven from here.
...Anyway.
Ruth stands up from her lofty perch as what little she catches of the engine's sound tugs at something adjacent to troubled memories. Mismatched boots make unique alternating footsteps as she steps closer towards the edge of a single-story roof she's been lurking, her eyes catching the silver bike.
She hums in contemplation, and makes her way down to take a closer look. Which is to say she outright leaps off the roof because sometimes you're just not feeling up to fully adhering to your former physical limitations until reminded that they are a thing so long as you wear that shell that bears them.
A small hiss of pain as she lands in a crouch, righting up as she draws nearer. Her right hand goes up to her left shoulder. The icebreaker, should the sound of her touching down not draw attention...
"A civil war-era Zoaran motorbike... isn't it?" Asks a strange, overdressed elven woman virtually out of nowhere. "It's far from home..."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
It isn't long before someone comes to investigate the man aboard the strange motorized cycle.
Gasoline engines are starting to come into widespread use again, but Javelin is unlike anything else on the streets these days. As Kresnik rides by, a young woman in a blue overcoat looks up, head craning in his direction. Her steely-blue eyes glimmer with wonder as she watches him. The apple fritters she just purchased sit ignored on the counter in front of her, as the clerk, too, turns to watch.
Who is that? Ida doesn't recognize him, and yet, there he is, riding a refurbished ARM down the street like it's an everyday thing. "Gami," Ida says, looking up at the immense figure beside her. "Look." She gestures at Kresnik's back, clearly excited. "I don't recognize the make. That's... a motorcycle, I think? I've never seen one that works."
Ida is still processing the horror of DELTA, and what it means for her friends and colleagues. She can express interest in an engineering rarity. "Is he stopping?" Ida's not sure. But she picks up the fritters, gives the clerk the payment and a tip, and sets off after Kresnik.
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
Gami stands out in the markets, but people in Meria Boule are not unaccustomed to her presence by now; particularly not at little shops like this. She's been living here for a while now, and you sort of get used to people.
But here and now, she is wih Ida, and then Ida points out the motorcycle.... Hmmm. The large Reploid turns towards the motorcycle and its rider. "Yes," she confirms, "That is a motorcycle."
Then she looks to Ruth. "...Miiii," she says. "You should be more careful..." To Ruth, of course.
"Thank you," she says to the clerk, and then leads the way over to the assembling group.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou has a great reason to be in Filgaia, though usually she's closer to Guild Galad herself. (If only because it's closer to the Wastelands.) But no one can tell Magilou what to do, and so, she goes where she pleases.
Even though she wasn't invited, via coded message or otherwise!
She's here to feed the pigeons, because pigeons are just doves who forgot their place above the peons. She sits on a bench and scatters crumbs -- which, notably, she's crumbling from a perfectly good bread roll, seemingly just to rub it in someone's face that the last roll of the day from Irington bakery is going to the birds.
(Magilou isn't sure whose face she's rubbing this in, but certainly it's someone's.)
That a motorcycle comes in and disturbs this peaceful ritual really just means that Magilou rips up the rest of that roll in a hurry and tosses it down on the path beside the street (let no one say she isn't considerate towards birds), before she pushes herself up and saunters, owning the place as much as those erstwhile doves, over to the motorcycle and its rider.
"Nice unicycle," she remarks, cheerful and chipper. "Juuust... there's one problem with it."
Magilou wags a finger, and points to the wheels. "You're only supposed to have one of those, genius!"
<Pose Tracker> Kresnik Ahtreide has posed.
An elf drops down. Kresnik is dismounting as she speaks, a serious but friendly expression on his face. "Civil war-era...I'd say it's older in make. It's been refurbished many times over the decades, so you're probably just recognizig the Zoaran parts?" He does nod to Ruth, however. "Pretty far from home though, yes. I came to grab some tanks of gas and maybe some food."
As other people start to flock, Kresnik doesn't quite seem to mind. He's proud of the bike. "Her name's Javelin. She's fast, sleek, and quiet enough to not lure out every living thing in miles when out and about. I've had her for a couple of years now."
Magilou, however, gets a confused frown, as Kresnink turns to her. How do you even...
"Ma'am, are you saying bicycles are also supposed to be one-wheeled?"
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"I could." Ruth says. She doesn't meet Kresnik's eyes head-on, or much of anyone's. There's a manner here that seems like it is on the precipice of something somewhat... more, given the rather dramatic way she introduces herself. Or at least her presence.
Gami's presence is much harder for her to miss, when that shadow goes over her - and that concern about how she should be careful. There's a smile there.
She'll catch up with Ida once she herself does, for there is another attention grabber in Magilou.
"That looks like the correct number of wheels to me," she asides almost nonchalantly.
Meanwhile, pigeons continue to apathetically exist without fear or concern. There is bread. Some dive into it. Some dove into it a little sooner, because there is a terribly-written past-tense pun here.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
As Ruth lands, Ida's eyes flick towards her, and she gives the older woman a nod of greeting. Considering the reactions of the nearby shoppers--surprise, shock, sudden and vocal inquiry into Ruth's well-being--this is noteworthy.
"Ruth," Ida says, "I didn't see you up there." With the exact same tone as someone bumping into a friend at the grocery store. Like this is normal. "...Zoaran?" She takes a step forward as Kresnik comes to a stop, and glances at the bike before turning her attention to its rider. "Ah, excuse me," Ida says, offering Kresnik an apologetic smile. "I'm an ARMs Meister. I've never seen one of these in such good condition--they're rare, and the ones I've seen were in bad shape." For the moment, Ida is guessing 'mysterious Drifter'. It fits the aesthetic. "Where'd you get her, if you don't mind saying so?" A pause. Yes, he would need fuel. "There should be a supplyer down by the docks," Ida says. "There aren't as many cars here as back home, though, so it might be harder to find."
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
Gami, as it happens, also likes to feed the pigeons! She smiles as she sees someone doing so while she turns, but then she looks to Kresnik. And Magilou. Hmm.
Unicycles... "Unicycles are charming," Gami says. "They require great dexterity and are often ridden by cheerful people... Mii."
She is appreciate of that. But, also, "I have not seen such a vehicle for many centuries," Gami agrees. "It reminds me of some that I have seen. You call her a Javelin? An interesting name. To be thrown a distance, with speed..."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou appreciates the pigeons and their tense puns. It's better than some types of tension she's felt around certain pigeon gangs, certainly.
She laughs, though, when Kresnik issues her that question. "Of course!" She agrees, immediately. "All cycles should have one wheel. It's the optimal configuration!"
Here, Magilou looks uuup to Gami... and back to Ruth, who she still has to look up to. (Magilou, standing at 5'2", is Notably A Little Short. This may be easy to miss, given her jester's outfit and skirt made of books, which offer her markedly more presence.)
"I swear," Magilou grumbles, crossing her arms, "I'm going to have to start riding my shikigami to talk to you people."
Magilou proceeds to step over to Javelin, and crouch down beside her, prodding the motorcycle with a finger.
"Hellooooo?" Magilou calls, and her tone is pouting. How a tone can pout is left up to the imagination. "Who's in there? Like, were you born in this thing, or what? Come oooon! Release your secrets, Filgaia!!"
who is she talking to
<Pose Tracker> Kresnik Ahtreide has posed.
"I see." Kresnik nods to Ruth, tilting his head. "Do you greet most strangers this way, ma'am? Or just those with nice bikes?"
Ida, meanwhile, can tell this man is enthusiastic to get interest. "I inherited her. I do most of her maintenance myself while out and about, though I have friends who can assist." All 100% honest.
"The docks...right. Is there somewhere safe to park this, or should I bring it with me? I'd hate to lose it - not that I believe this city is unsafe, of course, you just don't leave precious things unattended." A cheerful smile. He's fairly pretty, in a 'could be a knight' way.
As Magilou crouches down next to the motorcycle, being weird, Kresnik considers something. And then.
He revs the bike once with his hand still on the handles. The roar of the bike may cause Magilou to believe it's communicating back.
He's a serious man. That doesn't mean he also can't make a joke sometimes!
Now, Gami gets an answer to something he was trying to parse this time. "Centuries...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"It's fine." Ruth replies to Ida, looking to face her. She's coming from the side in which Ruth is deaf. That she turns to face her and keeps what smile she has is a sign of reciporcated acknowledgement. "I came down to look at it myself."
She doesn't speak over Ida geeking out over the rare sight. Ruth keeps some of the more worrisome memories attached to vehicles of similar make to herself.
"My neck has been more sore lately," she concedes, standing in Gami's shadow as Magilou starts to pout at the motorcycle.
"There's no one there," she says to Magilou blankly as Kresnik, of course, asks the important questions.
"The bike just struck me, is all," Ruth says, voice starting to trail off as she lowers her hands down in front of her, folding them. A Granasian rosary is prominently displayed about the length of an otherwise exposed right forearm. "I've seen many things out of Zoara in my time."
She doesn't noticeably startle with the bike is playfully revved up.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"You're lucky," Ida says. "The cost of fuel must add up, though." And also what Kresnik just said--an ARM that rare and well-maintained would fetch a great deal of money. Ida takes her lip between her teeth, and considers. "I'd bring it with you, just to be safe."
And then, Magilou--who has not gone unnoticed, of course, merely sort of ignored--pokes the bike. Kresnik revs the engine. "It speaks," Ida says, in a perfect deadpan. "Do you speak motorcycle, First Among Witches?"
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
Cycles... one wheel. Gami tilts her head. "Is that how it is...? Miii."
Up. Uuuuup. Gami looks down at Magilou. "A shikigami?" she wonders. "My name is also Gami."
Someone... in the motorcycle!! That seems possible. Perhaps she assumes it has an animating intelligence. Many ancient artifacts do, after all. "I do not believe that this vehicle has a guiding AI..."
Leaving precious things unattended. Gami looks a little sad at that statement. "...True."
She regards Ruth. The bike struck her... Hmmm. "So it is of particular interest to you?"
"Hm?" Centuries! "Yes. This is... 504 in your 'Post Collapse' years, isn't it?" Pause. "I remember seeing vehicles such as your Javelin before that calendar was formalized." Then she tilts her head at Ida. "...Is the rev of the engine meant to signify some comunication...?"
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Poke.. poke...
BRRRRRUMMM!
"Gah!" Magilou yelps, falling back on her delicate derriere as Kresnik revs his bike. "Motorcycle, shmotorcycle!" She snaps, at Ida, as she adjusts her very fine hat. "I just wanted to know if there was a spirit animating it! That's the language I speak!!"
She grouses, as she picks herself up, and shoves at Ruth's side with a hand. (She probably doesn't have the force to make her budge.) "Now you tell me," she grumbles, folding her arms.
Magilou peeks, through one purple-green eye, over to Gami. "Pre~tty long-lived, for a human," she remarks, idly. "You know, I used to call my shikigami 'Guardians', but given the way the world's expanded over the past few years... there's just way too much room for misconceptions!"
<Pose Tracker> Kresnik Ahtreide has posed.
Kresnik eyes the rosasry for a momentt, but says nothing about it. Instead, he bridges her comment with Gami's. "It must be over five centuries then...she's a real solid bike. Glad she's by my side and not in a graveyard somewhere."
Ida gets a firm nod at the 'take it with you'. "I'll do so. And it does - but I tend to make a stable enough income. I don't need much - food, water, fuel. I'm constantly on the road."
"If you're a Meister...then you must have seen plenty of bikes similar to her. Name's Kresnik. I won't be in town long, but I was taught it's not polite to remainn a stranger for even a brief meeting if someone's given you advice."
Kresnik lowers his sunglasses at Magilou as she falls. And then, he turns to the most Sociable Adult There (Ida) and continues. "Is she going to be okay?"
He does not mean physically. He doesn't know enough about magic to comment.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth nods the once to Gami's question, if not facing her outright. "Memories. None as... far back as yours." Arguably this applies to at least two others, and maybe half of one other here.
Ruth doesn't budge from being shoved. There's just a little smile of muted mischief. But smiles can be mutable into a lot of things, really (that's not the same meaning!!!).
"She's going to be herself." Ruth says of Magilou.
"It must be good work," Ruth says of Kresnik's income. Her hand goes to her shoulder again, speaking and thinking of it...
"My name is Ruth." She's able to say this with a little less overall tension in her movements and voice, lately, though she does take a moment to readjust the way the weight of the blanket-wrapped rifle settles on her person. It seems heavy! It's hard to get a gauge on her build since she has a Yes amount of clothing layers on.
He can have a better look at what make it is - even through the blanket wrapping - when she turns to better face Magilou.
"You're going to introduce yourself, aren't you."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida smiles a tiny, smug smile as Magilou picks herself off the ground. Was that uncalled-for? Probably. Was it funny? Yes. And if there's one thing Ida's learned from dealing with Magilou, it's that being humorless paints a target on you. A target for shenanigans.
"So you are a Drifter," Ida says. "I was wondering. So am I." She extends a gloved hand to Kresnik. "Ida Everstead-Rey."
Coincidentally, Everstead-Rey Arms and Munitions is one of the world's largest weapon distributors, with major interests in ARM restoration.
"I've seen one that was theoretically road-worthy, but... I wouldn't ride it myself." A glance down at Magilou. "I think Ruth is correct." A pause. Ida looks up at Gami, and shakes her head. "No, it's not. I was making a joke."
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
"Oh. No, I believe that the Javelin is non-sentient," Gami explains to Magilou. And then she looks back at her at that idle remark. "You are... from Lunar," Gami concludes. "'Guardians' would be an ambiguous wording here on Filgaia." Pause. "But I am not human," the giant woman explains. "I am a Reploid, a mechanical being. But I was created to resemble a human."
She nods to Kresnik, then. "Gami," she introduces. She considers Ruth's memories... and how Magilou will be herself. Hmmm.
"I suppose I am becoming a 'Drifter' as well," Gami muses. Then she looks to Ida. "Oh." She pauses. "I enjoy jokes but I do not understand this one, gami."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Hey!" Magilou exclaims, hands on her hips with a deep scowl, as Kresnik asks Ida if she'll be okay. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!! Do you not realise you stand in the presence of--!!"
Magilou cuts herself off here, turning to Ruth. "Don't pre-empt me!" She scolds her, wagging a finger.
"Because I!" Magilou throws her arms wide: "Am the Millennium Witch, she who has seen villages grow to capitals and fortifications overgrown and forgotten! Commanding sea, sand, sky and storm, shine and shade, snow and its scorching counterpart! Host of forty-nine spirits and chronicler of Lunar's sorrows! Yes, I am no less than the evil sorceress known only as Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou..!"
Magilou claps her hands together, and tilts them, merrily, as she winks: "Magilou, for short."
And then she twirls, turning to Gami, and chirps: "See, Ida was making a joke at my expense, because when bad things happen to other people, it's very funny. She was making a fool out of me to get a laugh out of everyone!" Magilou gestures, grandly, to herself. "But no one makes a fool out of me! I'd get there first!"
<Pose Tracker> Kresnik Ahtreide has posed.
"It's nice to meet you, Ruth, Ida, Gami..." Kresnik nods to each, smiling at 'be herself'. A good point. He doesn't deny being a Drifter, yet he doesn't quite confirm it, as he shakes Ida's hand firmly. "A pleasure. I've heard the name."
And then, to Magilou. "Never heard of you. It's nice to meet you." He says, honestly enough, since she's acting famous.
And then, without sparing her another beat, "So, which way to the docks? I better get a move on before they close for the evening."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth takes the scolding in relative stride, facing her left side towards her as pleasantries are given amongst one another. She goes back to staring at the bike for a time, hands rising from in front of her over her chest. It is less the scholarly curiosity of a highly skilled ARMs Meister like Ida, and more memories latch onto whatever likenesses they can find. Something gnaws. Something presses.
"Hm? You're asking me about..." Oh, no, he's talking to Ida, going by where his gaze is going. She doesn't pick back up the train of thought, and that might be for the best.
"I could escort you there, if you would like. It's near where I should be next."
She's still on watch duty for Meria City, for a while. Things are tumultuous at Valeria and there are probably much more productive things she can do other than hover around a stressed-out Xiumei. (She can hover around a mildly unnerved group of concerned citizens instead.)
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida wonders, for a moment, if joking about a machine being intelligent was extremely insensitive in front of the actual intelligent machine. Her smile fades, ever-so-slightly. "It was in poor taste," she admits, and then she falls silent, the better to ensure Magilou's introduction receives the proper gravitas.
"Ruth can get you there safely," Ida says, which is absolutely not something she would've said back when they first met. "Travel safe."
She hopes, quietly, that they meet again.
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
The Millennium Witch...
"I see," Gami answers. "It is an honor to meet you, Magilou. A powerful sorceress and a chronicler... That is worthy of respect." It's possible, though unlikely, that Gami missed all the ridiculous foolishness that Magilou has been showing. It's possible.
"...Hm. Then should I have laughed?" she considers. "Regardless, I am interested in discussing sorcery sometime, Magilou. I have not flexed mine in some time..."
Also history, really. "I have never been to Lunar." Then she turns to Kresnik, and inclines her head in something like a bow. She nods to the others as they prepare to leave. "Yes," she says. "I wish you well."
"...I think we can meet back here later?" she says to Ida. "I had another shop I wished to visit..."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"You should come visit," Magilou points out, to Gami. "Lunar's a great place for sorcery. We've got our own style of artes over there!"
She pouts, to Kresnik, and adds: "It's obvious you've never visited," with a huff, "or else you'd recognise me! I can't believe I'm getting upstaged by Everstead-Rey, here..."
It's okay, though, because Magilou held up a mirror to Ida, so she got her own share of blood.
"You should really just let her escort you out," she adds, to him, lifting a hand to mock-whisper. "Ruth's like a sheepdog. She just wants to herd everyone safely into the paddock!"
With a grin, she looks back to Ruth, sly. "Not that they'd know, with you jumping off of buildings like that."
<Pose Tracker> Kresnik Ahtreide has posed.
"Oh, believe me - I bet she's more of a wolf." Kresnik replies to Magilou 'jokingly', after spotting something briefly. "I appreciate the offer, ma'am - I think I'll take you up on that."
Waving goodbye to pleasant people he wouldn't mind meeting again and also Magilou, and moving the bike as he follows Ruth, Kresnik keeps a close eye on her. After all...
He needs to know his enemy.