2017-10-19: Someone Understands: Difference between revisions

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*'''Log: 10-19-17 - Someone Understands'''
*'''Log: Someone Understands'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Ida Everstead-Rey]], [[Character :: Jack Van Burace]]
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Ida Everstead-Rey]], [[Character :: Jack Van Burace]]
*'''Where:''' November City - Hotel Renais
*'''Where:''' November City - Hotel Renais

Latest revision as of 19:08, 20 October 2017

  • Log: Someone Understands
  • Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Jack Van Burace
  • Where: November City - Hotel Renais
  • Date: October 19th, 2017
  • Summary: Two angry, embittered Drifters commiserate in the lobby bar. Hanpan's appeal to Ida's conscience keeps the both of them from making a big mistake. Probably.

=======================<* November City - Hotel Renais *>=======================

Hotel Renais is one of the largest hotels in November City. It is not the most posh, though. It is dedicated to moving a lot of business, and welcomes Drifters as a rule. The inside of the lobby looks nice enough, with wood paneling and gilded decor. The chairs and couches are plentiful. However, a dozen armed men patrol and keep a close watch to discourage barfights.

The rooms are spacious and welcoming, and enjoy luxuries only dreamed of in other parts of Ignas. Hot water and baths can give someone everything they need to have a little time to themselves, and some rooms even have small refrigerators.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzRqtW1C0Zo
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida has been an increasingly-regular figure at the Hotel Renais' lobby bar. People seem to be figuring her for yet another Drifter who lost something important out in the wastes, and is trying to find herself again--it's not too far from the truth, aside from the whole 'finding herself' bit. Ida's still skeptical about that happening.
Tonight, Ida got a club soda, with lime and no gin, and sits at a two-person table off to the side. On the table is a letter from an old classmate of hers who is planning on starting field work out in the Badlands. Sarah is excited, and Ida cannot blame her, but at the same time, she cannot bring herself to feel joy for her friend. All she can feel is dread and melancholy. She doesn't want to deal with anyone from home. She doesn't want anyone to see her like this.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


Well too bad for Ida. There are plenty of people to see her like this. In point of fact there are two sets of eyes that happen to be in the Hotel bar at the moment. One tiny set of eyes, one more traditional size. These orbs belong to one Hanpan and Jack.

Who is a Drifter.

One who knows just what it is to loose everything and try to find it again.

Which is why Ida finds a shadow falling across the table as one swordsman ambles towards it. A slight grin on his face as nods easily towards her in greeting.

Oh he reconises her, even if they havn't been truly introduced.

"You miss, look like someone that could use someone to drink with on this fine night." He says after that inital greeting. "And Hanpan here," The wind mouse bows in greeting. "Thought he would be right for the job. I'm just along for the ride."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida looks up. "Jack," she says, not 'Mr. Van Burace'--either she's feeling familiar, or she's not in the mood for formality. "Hanpan," she adds, a moment later, because not addressing Hanpan would be just plain rude. She folds the letter back up, and returns it to her pocket for safekeeping. "It certainly has been a while. No alcohol for me this evening, but I wouldn't say no to the company." Better than being the sad, lonely person drinking something non-alcoholic. "How have you been?"
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


"Ida," The swordsman replies as he and his everpresent compation slips into the seat across from her. "Its been awhile, and quite a few things have happened it seems." The man adds as he turns to look towards her. Curiousity on his face for all to see, but the swordsman doesn't press for the moment. Instead he just sets a bottle of amber liquid on the table and sets down two glasses.

Pouring one for himself, he leaves the other empty as he pulls it over to himself. "I've been...keeping myself busy." A twitch of a smirk. "Helping Gwen train, telling Cecilia her damn fool idea is going to get her killed. You know that sort of thing. Mostly the latter lately." A thoughtful pause. "Well. At least when I'm not hunting down Metal Demons."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida seems a lot more openly downcast than usual. That alone is worthy of mention. Something undoubtedly happened, and the question is simply 'what was it?'. "Cecilia..." Ida says, remembering something she heard on the grapevine the other day. An idea? So she doesn't need to worry about springing a princess from a hostile plaster-saint of a priest on top of everything else. Hypothetically. "I see."
"Do you... remember those notes we found, in Old Petra? Those attack plans? The Wings finally followed up on them, but something else happened to complicate matters. Suffice it to say I am not convinced they still won't take every opportunity to steal my family's property."
That wasn't in the notes. What happened?
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


There is a chuckle from the swordsman. "Yeah, I wouldn't be sitting here having a drink if she didn't have some damn fool plan." A twitch of a smirk. "I havn't fallen that far." A beatpause. "Yet at least. The night is still young!" He grins at that before talk turns of a familiar subject.

That brings a frown to the swordsman's face, and Hanpan leans forwards slightly. Curious as to what happened. "So, whats happened then? I assume the Wings went and hit one of these targets, but whats made it worse. Besides the fact that the 'peaceful' Demons decided to attack something." A pause. "And what does it have to do with your family?"

The man is willing to listen at least. Thats something thats more than some. Attentive, quiet, just curious about whats happened. Not much vitrol spit at the demons. Yet at least.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Jack doesn't recognize the significance of Ida referencing her family, and for a moment, she feels a strange mixture of relief and confusion. She's so used to people recognizing her as an Everstead-Rey, and now she can't remember if she even mentioned it beyond perhaps dropping it in Old Petra. She decides to cut to the chase. "My family owns and operates the Everstead-Rey ARMs and Munitions Company, out of Guild Galad. We are one of the city's major commercial enterprises, and some of our people went to great lengths to secure a deal with the government of Kislev. They purchased a substantial quantity of fossil remains, and the Wings claimed Kislev would use it to repair a weapon of mass destruction. Of course it was something of a moot point because someone else beat them to the punch, but there's no doubt in my mind that Riesenlied will try and steal them from whomever stole them initially."
There's bitterness in her voice, when speaking of Riesenlied. It wasn't as severe the last time she came up.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


Jack smirks slightly. "Sorry, we didn't use a lot of ARMs where I was from." The swordsman replies as he rests one hand on the sword that he's sat across the table next to him. One hand resting on the sheathed weapon, thumb brushing lightly over the warn cloth as his eyes slide towards the weapon.

Curved. The quality of the weapon evident. Elegant and deadly, crafted from the forge of a master smith for the hands of one that knew a sword. Possibily an heirloom of some kind.

Though why a drifter has it is a question.

He frowns though before he shakes his head. "I've made no secret that I don't trust them, that I can't. Still I am sorry that they seem to have betrayed your trust, and targeted your family in addition."

Part of him had hoped that this Riesenlied was above things like that, but it only reinforces what he knew of the demons now that he hears this.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"I should have known," Ida says. She looks down at the table between them. "She made no secret of her disgust over my family's trade, even when she was pretending to be human. We would inevitably come into conflict, despite her promises otherwise." Ida finds her eyes drawn to the sword, then, and she spends a moment inspecting it. She knows a masterwork when she sees one, and it doesn't look like Jack found it in a ruin somewhere. It doesn't have the wear of ages on it.
"Are you from Adlehyde?" Ida says, her voice low and somber. "Or--"
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


"How could you know?" Jack replies as he downs a slug of his drink. "They can manufacture emotions as well as they can anything else. I know. I've seen just how convincing they can be." The man frowns slightly. "This Riesenlied, her path is laid with conflict. She was a fool turn on you though, you are one of the ones that listened to her. Again, I'm sorry for that."

The last question though causes a hitch in his drink. A slight tremor as he lowers the glass back to the table and heaves a slow sigh. He doesn't answer right away either.

Its Hanpan that he looks too, and the little Wind Mouse smiles sadly and nods. Just a touch of encourgement.

Still the swordsman doesn't answer directly. Instead he reaches out to pull the cloth from the sheath of his sowrd. Carefully unwrapping the weapon, almost reverent. The last few pieces come free to reveal the royal crest of Arctica on the sheath.

"I'm from no where anymore. But I was from the first Kingdom that the Metal Demons attacked. Arctica. They came there before they came to Adlehyde."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"She is a fool for a great many reasons," Ida says. Then Jack just... comes out with it, and there's nothing she can really say. His anger is all the confirmation she needs that Adlehyde was in fact the luckier of the two. Her heart falls into the pit of her stomach.
"I'm sorry," she says. "I didn't know."
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


Jack shakes his head slightly. "How could you? No one knows. I'm the only one left."

That staement is so cold. So bland. Almost devoid of emotion. The pain burried under ice as he looks towards the sword for a moment. Regret is one of the few things that can be heard.

As least till he shakes his head.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to bring this even further down." The former knight replies. "But I am the last of Arctica. The royal family is dead, and the Metal Demons didn't leave many survivors. If any beyond me. Now though..." He glances back up towards her. "...now you see why I hate them. Why I can't trust them. I've seen their spies reveal themselves in the midst of that slaughter, open the gates to let their beasts in..."

He pauses, eyes falling towards the table as he reaches for the bottle again. "...I should have brought word to Adelhyde. But I lost myself for some time after that."

If it wasn't for Hanpan he wouldn't have found himself again.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida suspected the worst. It's something else entirely to have it confirmed by another person, though, and she goes silent again as Jack describes the fate of his home. "I'm so sorry," she says, even though there is nothing she can say to ease Jack's pain. Were all of them there? Did Riesenlied participate? Did Zed? Did... did Kalve? Her heart sinks even deeper.
"...What did Riesenlied have to say for herself?" Ida says, after a long time. Her voice is level and even--almost dangerously so.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


For the first time Ida can see a flash of rage behind Jack's normaly sardonic expression. There for a moment, bright and fierce as she asks that question. "Cecilia and Hanpan managed to keep me from killing her, when Cecilia asked about that." His voice is still even, but his hand curls around the sheath of his sword as he glances at a point over Ida's shoulder a moment.

His eyes close and when he reopens them to focus on Ida they are clear at least. His hand doesn't unchench, but he at least seems to have mastered his anger for the moment.

"She tried to apologize. To say that she tried to help people there. That if she hadn't had been there then she would have been killed herself. That she didn't know how humans are then." A shake of his head. "Too little, too late. Espicially for her." There is a hitch there. "For my people." He corrects himself as he breathes a deep sigh.

"For my part I only reconise the Quarter Knights. I spent my time fighting in the palace."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's fingers tighten around her soda glass as Jack speaks. She can imagine the scene now--Riesenlied, the very image of sorrow, offering those statements to Jack, and expressing a desire to understand him. Anger burns inside her, and rises in her eyes. She looks up at Jack, and there is something dangerous glimmering in her eyes. "As a matter of fact," Ida says, "she is allegedly trying to make up for her indiscretions in other ways. Do you know she's taken a number of human children, and is attempting to raise them in her arson target of a village?" Ida's voice is barely a whisper, but it commands attention, if only for the jealous rage boiling in it. "She does not deserve them. She holds them close to her to satisfy her own need to care for everything and everyone, regardless of the consequences. And they do not deserve to have her inflicted on them; they need loving, stable homes, free of the threat of violence."
You petty, spiteful, hateful little child.
The thought sticks in Ida's mind like a splinter. Self-recrimination flares behind the hatred, dampening it. Her expression wavers.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


Jack listens, frowning even deeper as Ida speaks. "....she keeps children in whatever base she has. That is dangerous. Her Wings are making more enemies than friends. Deserving or not, eventually she will face attack. She can't play both sides like she is and not expect that. Why would she even consider keeping children there. Let alone human children."

The swordsman looks down again. "She thinks this might make up for what she's done." He murmurs even as Hanpan reaches out to lie a little hand on the swordsman's arm.

"Jack, Ida..." The Wind Mouse, ever the voice of reason calls. "...we should not do anything rash until we find out what the situation is."

Jack seems to notice the Wind Mouse again as he speaks and once again he takes a moment to prevent himself from lashing out.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"She doesn't even realize that she is playing both sides," Ida says. "She thinks she alone can broker a peace. She thinks she can reach the bitter hearts of her superiors. She is wrong." She trusted you. You worthless piece of trash.
Hanpan speaks up. Ida's expression instantly turns to one of shame, as though she'd been caught saying nasty things about someone behind their back. "I hate her," Ida whispers. More like it. If only you could be so honest all the time, you spiteful, worthless child. "She lied to me. She forced me to choose between my family and what she sees as the one true path for peace." She has compassion and ideals, and you have neither. You can't handle that, can you?
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


"Please, Miss Ida. Perhaps talking to someone there might be better. Convince them to move the children to a safer place. One that won't see battle as the base they have now must." Hanpan is trying, he is trying his little furry heart out.

Jack meanwhile is letting his eyes narrow slightly. "If she doesn't listen to reason though, the children can't stay there. I think we are of like mind in this, Ida. She decieves herself if she thinks she can convince the Quarter Knights to stand down." A pause. "And even if she does, I will still take their heads for what they have done."

There is such cold assurance. Such banked anger there. Hidden, but ready to come raging forth at a moments notice. "She again deludes herself. Her kind wish nothing more than death on the human race. They have proven that. How can there be peace when that is their stated goal."

He shakes his head.

"Regardless, children should not be made to suffer for it."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
For what it's worth, Hanpan gets through to Ida, after a fashion. My God, she thinks, I didn't--
Yes you did. You told him exactly what he wanted to hear, and you did it because you want him to hurt Riesenlied for you.
I--
You're a worthless piece of trash for wanting to hurt her. You're a worthless piece of trash, and everywhere you go, you use people. You don't care about anyone else.
Ida looks down at Hanpan, at the little paw resting on Jack's arm. Jack has a voice of reason, and she does not. Jack has someone who cares about him, right there, without any complicated feelings. "I didn't--" is all she manages to get out. It looks like she's starting to tear up.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


Before she can get up though Jack reaches out, he hesitates for only a moment before he lies a hand on hers. "Ida," His voice is quiet. The rage is there, but not directed at her. His eyes are back in the present rather than on the past. They look towards her, clear and bright and the knight smiles. The look is small, its wry, but its there.

"You did," He begins quietly. "But you are hurt. Betrayed. In pain. I know this. I have been though this. This one here helped me," He nods towards Hanpan. "And I would have been lost without him..."

Hanpan hops up on Jack's arm, scampering down to perch on his hand as it rests on her. "Let us help you too, Miss Ida? Please?" The wise old Wind Mouse asks, whiskers twitching just slightly as he looks up towards her. "Let us look to reason to solve this first?"

A pause. "And..." Jack's gaze looks towards the mouse. "...if they can't see reason."

The little creature nods slowly. "Then you do what you most."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida looks down at Jack's hand. He understands, she thinks--and then again, she wonders why the only people who understand seem to be driven by violent thoughts. She shakes her head. "It was still unseemly of me," Ida says, "and petty. I should be better than this..." But you're not. She manages a small smile as Hanpan looks up at her. "Deal," she says. She offers him her index finger to shake on it.
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


He does understand.

Even if he is full of violent thoughts. Anger and hate. Thoughts of retribution. Maybe its because of all that that he understands her pain. Of being betrayed and feeling used.

His fingers curl over hers, and something akin to an honest smile curves up one corner of his mouth.

"Unseemly or not, petty or not, we are only human. Sometimes we can't help ourselves. Thats when other people have to help us. This one..." A nod towards Hanpan. "...pulled me out of the bottom of a bottle after Arctica. After everything that happened. So he knows what he's talking about."

Hanpan takes both of his paws to shake Ida's finger, the relief on his face obvious. "I am more than happy to help you both. If my words, wisdom, and friendship can help, then I offer them freely."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Thank you," Ida says. It sounds like she means it, sincerely. "Both of you." Her eyes are starting to mist up again, and she wipes at them with the back of her hand. "I'm... not comfortable with going back to Wayside," she says. "But would the two of you be willing to go in my stead?"
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


Jack pauses a moment. There is a temptation there but its one he resists. One he can't afford to give in too, those last shreads of willpower holding the urge in check. "I will." He finally says before he looks towards her. "I'll do my best to get them to see reason." A twitch of a smile. "Though I might let Hanpan do the talking."

She's fragile now, agreeing it the best way to do it. He wouldn't want to send her back there like this.

So he swollows his own anger. Like he has so many times in order to do something that might have a positive effect once again. He lets himself have hope, even though he knows somewhere in his mind that it may be false.

His gives her hand a squeese for a moment, the gesture ment to reasure for anything else. Then he pauses, a deep breath is taken.

"Garret."

Hanpan looks up towards the former knight in some suprise, though its a pleasent kind of suprise.

"You can call me, Garret. Thats my given name."

A bit of trust shown to her, in return for the trust she's shown him.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Garret, then," Ida says. An alias? Why would he need one of those? Then again, why would he not, when there are undoubtedly Demons out there who would like to hunt him down and finish the job? "I don't deserve your trust. I will try to be worthy of it, regardless."
<Pose Tracker> Jack Van Burace has posed.


"Thats all I ask," Jack replies with a chuckle. "But for now, I think you need a bit of food. A bit of drink, and a bit of rest. And I..." That wry smile, slightly sardonic and amused. It returns to his features with a shake of his head. "...have a trip to take it seems."