2019-06-04: Sorry About All of the Stabbing

• Log: 2019-06-04: Sorry About All of the Stabbing
• Cast: Ivan, Jacqueline Barber
• Where: Luca - Residential District
• Date: June 04, 2019
• Summary: Ivan formally puts an end to his assassination attempts on Jay. Is there an appropriate gift for such an occasion?

---

=======================<* Luca - Residential District *>========================

The people of Luca live in the center of the city, where massive seawalls and dykes have kept the weather at bay. There are markets here, but they are smaller and less bustling affairs; these are places for locals to shop at, with predictable goods. Many of the stores trade in the official merchandise of Blitzball teams. There are also cafes, restaurants, and other amenities those from beyond Spira might be used to. The environment is cosmopolitan.

It is, however, dim -- not in cheer, but in lighting. Both stone structure and huge canopies cover the tops of the city, save for the Blitzball Stadium. This helps keep frequent rains from putting a damper on the city, and life here is as frantic as it can be elsewhere in Luca.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIlRCYnZcg

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan has been meaning to find Jacqueline Barber, and tell her a Certain Piece of Important News... and as luck would have it, he spots her during a trip to Luca! As she makes her way unassumingly along the boardwalk, Ivan keeps pace a level up on a nearby elevated walkway, tailing her carefully until... wait! He doesn't need to do this! He can just talk to her, now! He leaps onto a sloping roof, runs down, and jumps, landing in front of her! But no knives this time!

"Hey! I have good news!"

Wait, that was probably still really threatening. He holds up his hands to show that they're empty. "Sorry!! The news is that I don't have to--" There are people around, aren't there... "I don't have to do that thing I kept trying to do to you anymore!"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It was a pretty normal day before that. Jacqueline was shopping - usually she was on the other side of the stall, hawking her wares to the crowd, but today she needs some very specific items. Ingredients, to be specific - not for potions this time but for cooking.

She has a couple of bags with her now, packed full of various things. She is, at least for the moment, completely unaware. She didn't expect something to happen in a crowded(well, relatively, anyway, and not as much as it used to be of late) crowded boardwalk.

And that's when Ivan suddenly lands right in front of her. Jacqueline stumbles back with a gasp of surprise, nearly losing one of her bags in the process and having to carefully readjust her grip both to not lose it and to be ready if she needs to defend herself.

It's not a particularly graceful motion, but it works.

She pauses, though, as he speaks, explaining that he doesn't have to try to do that thing to her anymore. It takes her a second to register this, since she's still halfway between 'normal relaxing day' and 'sudden assassination attempt' mode.

"...Oh!" She says, out of surprise. "That's...quite the relief!"

It is a metaphorical weight off her shoulders. She doesn't relax visibly, though, because of the current literal weight on her shoulders.

She considers suggesting that he could've approached and talked to her normally, but elects not to.

"Um...I suppose you talked to Sir Leo, then?" She asks. She is a little concerned about what exactly Leo might have told him...but if it resulted in a reprieve from the current situation, that was good at least, right?

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan finds he's talking a faster than normal, due to being rather nervous about interacting with someone he tried to murder in a non-murdering capacity.

"I did talk to Leo-- he... doesn't want you dead, if that was a thing you were wondering? He was saying what he wanted was for all of you to make amends or something like that, and not even to go to jail, but I don't know how he means for you to make amends without putting you in jail first, it seems like if 'sorry' would have cut it, it would have blown over by now. Maybe he wants to give you a lot of community service, but he also seemed way too intense about it all for it to be community service." He pauses. "Technically I'm still supposed to be capturing you, but I think there ought to be at least a little bit of a reprieve in between."

He makes another perhaps unintentionally threatening movement, going for what looks like it could be the hilt of the sword at his side, but instead unties a bag fastened to his belt, and offers it to her.

"Uh.... so I wanted to give you something as an apology for giving you a heart attack a bunch of times and probably making you waste a lot of healing potions. You don't have to take it now if taking a gift from me seems super unsafe, but trapped gifts aren't really my style. Uh, maybe I can send it through Talia instead if you want." But he still holds it out, in case she wants to take her chances with an assassin gift.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It takes some effort for Jacqueline to sort through Ivan's hurried words, but when she does she...frowns slightly, as opposed to the relief one might expect.

"...I'd been wanting to apologize to him, but...I'd always been afraid to face him directly. Regardless of my intentions, I cannot blame him for wanting amends for what happened..." She murmurs, then shakes her head and looks up. She tenses slightly as Ivan reaches for something...but instead, he draws out a bag of some sort.

Jacqueline blinks once, then twice.

"O-oh, um...you didn't have to really, but...that's very kind of you, thank you." She replies, a bit taken aback. A gift was the last thing she expected from someone who tried to assassinate her multiple times. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little hesitant.

Even so, though, she carefully shifts her own bags so her hands are free.

"No, it's okay... I've noticed you're the more direct type." She replies. She doesn't mean this as an intentional jab, but it can be read as one. Very carefully she reaches out to accept it, then pauses. "Ah, may I open this now...?"

If he agrees, then she will. She has to admit, she's curious.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"Have any of you apologized? I wonder if an apology would work..." Ivan has been, this entire time, assuming that there is some comedy of errors or something that brought the Caravan Kinship into violent conflict with Mauri -- though the attack was too real to have been a misunderstanding, and certainly must have happened more or less as described, maybe there was a misunderstanding in the reasons somewhere. The people themselves seem far from vicious.

"What even happened with all of you and the Red Priestess?" he asks.

She takes the bundle from him, and asks if it's all right to open it. Well, letting her open it right away will help assure her it's not a bomb, at any rate.

"Sure, it's not that exciting," Ivan says. "I only know like one thing about you for what you might have a use for, so."

Within the bag, she'll find bundles of some freshly gathered medicinal herbs. While Ivan is far from an expert in such things, he is a competant enough amateur to follow a field guide, and most of them have some manner of practical use, whether in potionmaking, teas, or similar -- save for one bundle of weeds that he may have mis-identified. None of them are exceptionally rare, but they come from areas that don't lend themselves to casual gathering--whether due to terrain or fiend-related difficulties.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

'What even happened'...that's quite the question. Jacqueline sighs. She's not even sure if he'll believe the answer, but...

"It's...a long story, but...we found a statue of one of Filgaia's Guardians on Lunar. These statues...they maintained a seal on an ancient entity - one that, if unsealed, would cause untold calamity. But...the Red Priestess found it, too, without knowing what it was, and wanted to have it destroyed for its 'heretical nature'. We tried to explain what it was for, but...the events at Lastonbell had soured her against Filgaia's people, and she didn't believe us. Diplomacy broke down, and, well..." Jacqueline's voice trails off. He can probably figure out what happened from there.

What she doesn't say is that 'diplomacy broke down' because a certain Claude C. Kenny put his foot in her face, but she decides it's best not to mention that. Things had already been breaking down by the time that happened.

Ivan says she can open the bag, though, so with a nod she opens it up and looks inside. She's a bit surprised at what she sees, and a pleasant smile crosses her face. Sure, they might not be incredibly rare, and some of them might not be quite as useful as others, but she could tell that effort went into this, and that was the important thing.

"...It's perfect, Ivan, thank you. It could not have been easy to put all of this together. I'll be sure to put them to good use."

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

That actually sounds... pretty plausible considering Ivan's time with the Guard. He makes a face, but nods.

"There's a lot of calamity on Filgaia to go around, it sounds like," he says. "I didn't know what to imagine, but I guess that makes sense of it."

Ivan takes a few steps back as she opens the gift, not because it's a bomb, but because he realizes he may now have to participate in a social ritual and he wasn't ready for that. She smiles! She thanks him! Ivan makes some wordless mumblings of unease and discomfort. "That's good, um, it's probably worth a lot less than what you used fending me off, but maybe I'll find some more later, I don't know."

He is weirdly intent on making this right financially, if nothing else.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"There is..." Jacqueline replies with a slight, quiet nod and a sigh. There sure was - a lot more than either of them presently knew, even. "We managed to deal with that one, thankfully - but if we had lost even one more of those seals, I'm not sure if we could've pulled it off..."

She shakes her head, though, watching as he takes a few steps back.

"It's the thought that counts. I'd appreciate it, but you really don't have to go out of your way for me." She replies.

She's not concerned about the financial cost - even with the tension that was rising of late, she still made enough from her business to more than cover the cost of a few potions.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"Is there really such a thing as enough thought to account for this?" Ivan asks, with a skeptical frown. Even if there were, he doubts he would be capable of something like that. "You don't have to be so gracious about it."

And they're back to this, again. "You can be mad or ask for payback or whatever. Or I can just leave you alone. Except for when I'm trying to catch you for the Guard. Or if we have to fight eachother because we've started taking over towns and stuff."

Dammit, is anything going to change at all?

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline pauses, frowning slightly in consideration. How could she best put this...?

"You didn't have to do this at all - you didn't have to tell me, and you didn't have to give me anything. ...But, you did anyway - that's what I mean." She explains. She goes quiet, though, as he comments about having to catch her - or having to fight, because they've started taking over towns.

Jacqueline sighs a little.

"That's where this is heading, isn't it...?" She murmurs. It had already happened to Kilika. What was next? "I'd rather we didn't have to fight, if possible..."

...But at the same time, if she had to to look after innocents, she would.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"But I... but it wasn't..." He sighs. He doesn't know if he has any idea how to to explain to her from scratch why she might... hold a grudge or want some kind of retribution. And it only feels like asking her to be more of a jerk so he'll feel less guilty, anyway. Maybe he should just let her bask in the joy of niceness if that's what feels most natural to her.

"Are you in the kind of position where you would fight to keep us from taking over towns? I don't think we've done anything terrible to the people in Kilika, but I know we're not wanted, and it's causing problems for them..."

He shrugs. Ivan can barely handle the moral quandary of 'to assassinate or not to assassinate an innocent person' -- what does he know about right and wrong in a holy war?

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline wasn't really the grudge-holding type - perhaps if Catenna had been more injured by his attack she would be more upset with him, but up to this point he had mostly just gone after her.

But, as he says - is she in the position where she would fight to keep us from taking over towns? Jacqueline frowns for a moment.

"...Truthfully, I would rather prefer to keep my Kinship out of religious wars." She admits. "But at the same time, if people are getting hurt, I'll do what I can to help them. Rather than fighting, that's my priority."

If she could help those who have been hurt without hurting anyone herself, that would be ideal.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"Okay, good to know. Maybe... maybe it will all blow over somehow..."

Yeah, Ivan really doesn't know very much about holy wars.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I wouldn't be coming after you anymore except for when the Guard says to, and give you the thing. So, um -- have a nice day?"

Ivan starts to sort of back up diagonally with a little wave goodbye.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Blow over... Jacqueline's not entirely sure of that. It would be nice if it did, but she has a feeling this will get worse before it gets better.

"You too, Ivan." Jacqueline says, responding to his wave with one of her own. She has to be careful so as not to drop any of her bags, though. She pauses, however, and adds one more thing. "And...be careful, okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"I don't need to have a nice day," Ivan protests, unnecessarily, still in the backing away portion of leaving. "Or to be careful! ...alright, bye." And then he turns and hurries off, far less stealthily than he arrived.

*Log: 2019-06-04: Sorry About All of the Stabbing

• Cast: Ivan, Jacqueline Barber
• Where: Luca - Residential District
• Date: June 04, 2019
• Summary: Ivan formally puts an end to his assassination attempts on Jay. Is there an appropriate gift for such an occasion?

---

=======================<* Luca - Residential District *>========================

The people of Luca live in the center of the city, where massive seawalls and dykes have kept the weather at bay. There are markets here, but they are smaller and less bustling affairs; these are places for locals to shop at, with predictable goods. Many of the stores trade in the official merchandise of Blitzball teams. There are also cafes, restaurants, and other amenities those from beyond Spira might be used to. The environment is cosmopolitan.

It is, however, dim -- not in cheer, but in lighting. Both stone structure and huge canopies cover the tops of the city, save for the Blitzball Stadium. This helps keep frequent rains from putting a damper on the city, and life here is as frantic as it can be elsewhere in Luca.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIlRCYnZcg

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan has been meaning to find Jacqueline Barber, and tell her a Certain Piece of Important News... and as luck would have it, he spots her during a trip to Luca! As she makes her way unassumingly along the boardwalk, Ivan keeps pace a level up on a nearby elevated walkway, tailing her carefully until... wait! He doesn't need to do this! He can just talk to her, now! He leaps onto a sloping roof, runs down, and jumps, landing in front of her! But no knives this time!

"Hey! I have good news!"

Wait, that was probably still really threatening. He holds up his hands to show that they're empty. "Sorry!! The news is that I don't have to--" There are people around, aren't there... "I don't have to do that thing I kept trying to do to you anymore!"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It was a pretty normal day before that. Jacqueline was shopping - usually she was on the other side of the stall, hawking her wares to the crowd, but today she needs some very specific items. Ingredients, to be specific - not for potions this time but for cooking.

She has a couple of bags with her now, packed full of various things. She is, at least for the moment, completely unaware. She didn't expect something to happen in a crowded(well, relatively, anyway, and not as much as it used to be of late) crowded boardwalk.

And that's when Ivan suddenly lands right in front of her. Jacqueline stumbles back with a gasp of surprise, nearly losing one of her bags in the process and having to carefully readjust her grip both to not lose it and to be ready if she needs to defend herself.

It's not a particularly graceful motion, but it works.

She pauses, though, as he speaks, explaining that he doesn't have to try to do that thing to her anymore. It takes her a second to register this, since she's still halfway between 'normal relaxing day' and 'sudden assassination attempt' mode.

"...Oh!" She says, out of surprise. "That's...quite the relief!"

It is a metaphorical weight off her shoulders. She doesn't relax visibly, though, because of the current literal weight on her shoulders.

She considers suggesting that he could've approached and talked to her normally, but elects not to.

"Um...I suppose you talked to Sir Leo, then?" She asks. She is a little concerned about what exactly Leo might have told him...but if it resulted in a reprieve from the current situation, that was good at least, right?

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan finds he's talking a faster than normal, due to being rather nervous about interacting with someone he tried to murder in a non-murdering capacity.

"I did talk to Leo-- he... doesn't want you dead, if that was a thing you were wondering? He was saying what he wanted was for all of you to make amends or something like that, and not even to go to jail, but I don't know how he means for you to make amends without putting you in jail first, it seems like if 'sorry' would have cut it, it would have blown over by now. Maybe he wants to give you a lot of community service, but he also seemed way too intense about it all for it to be community service." He pauses. "Technically I'm still supposed to be capturing you, but I think there ought to be at least a little bit of a reprieve in between."

He makes another perhaps unintentionally threatening movement, going for what looks like it could be the hilt of the sword at his side, but instead unties a bag fastened to his belt, and offers it to her.

"Uh.... so I wanted to give you something as an apology for giving you a heart attack a bunch of times and probably making you waste a lot of healing potions. You don't have to take it now if taking a gift from me seems super unsafe, but trapped gifts aren't really my style. Uh, maybe I can send it through Talia instead if you want." But he still holds it out, in case she wants to take her chances with an assassin gift.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It takes some effort for Jacqueline to sort through Ivan's hurried words, but when she does she...frowns slightly, as opposed to the relief one might expect.

"...I'd been wanting to apologize to him, but...I'd always been afraid to face him directly. Regardless of my intentions, I cannot blame him for wanting amends for what happened..." She murmurs, then shakes her head and looks up. She tenses slightly as Ivan reaches for something...but instead, he draws out a bag of some sort.

Jacqueline blinks once, then twice.

"O-oh, um...you didn't have to really, but...that's very kind of you, thank you." She replies, a bit taken aback. A gift was the last thing she expected from someone who tried to assassinate her multiple times. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little hesitant.

Even so, though, she carefully shifts her own bags so her hands are free.

"No, it's okay... I've noticed you're the more direct type." She replies. She doesn't mean this as an intentional jab, but it can be read as one. Very carefully she reaches out to accept it, then pauses. "Ah, may I open this now...?"

If he agrees, then she will. She has to admit, she's curious.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"Have any of you apologized? I wonder if an apology would work..." Ivan has been, this entire time, assuming that there is some comedy of errors or something that brought the Caravan Kinship into violent conflict with Mauri -- though the attack was too real to have been a misunderstanding, and certainly must have happened more or less as described, maybe there was a misunderstanding in the reasons somewhere. The people themselves seem far from vicious.

"What even happened with all of you and the Red Priestess?" he asks.

She takes the bundle from him, and asks if it's all right to open it. Well, letting her open it right away will help assure her it's not a bomb, at any rate.

"Sure, it's not that exciting," Ivan says. "I only know like one thing about you for what you might have a use for, so."

Within the bag, she'll find bundles of some freshly gathered medicinal herbs. While Ivan is far from an expert in such things, he is a competant enough amateur to follow a field guide, and most of them have some manner of practical use, whether in potionmaking, teas, or similar -- save for one bundle of weeds that he may have mis-identified. None of them are exceptionally rare, but they come from areas that don't lend themselves to casual gathering--whether due to terrain or fiend-related difficulties.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

'What even happened'...that's quite the question. Jacqueline sighs. She's not even sure if he'll believe the answer, but...

"It's...a long story, but...we found a statue of one of Filgaia's Guardians on Lunar. These statues...they maintained a seal on an ancient entity - one that, if unsealed, would cause untold calamity. But...the Red Priestess found it, too, without knowing what it was, and wanted to have it destroyed for its 'heretical nature'. We tried to explain what it was for, but...the events at Lastonbell had soured her against Filgaia's people, and she didn't believe us. Diplomacy broke down, and, well..." Jacqueline's voice trails off. He can probably figure out what happened from there.

What she doesn't say is that 'diplomacy broke down' because a certain Claude C. Kenny put his foot in her face, but she decides it's best not to mention that. Things had already been breaking down by the time that happened.

Ivan says she can open the bag, though, so with a nod she opens it up and looks inside. She's a bit surprised at what she sees, and a pleasant smile crosses her face. Sure, they might not be incredibly rare, and some of them might not be quite as useful as others, but she could tell that effort went into this, and that was the important thing.

"...It's perfect, Ivan, thank you. It could not have been easy to put all of this together. I'll be sure to put them to good use."

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

That actually sounds... pretty plausible considering Ivan's time with the Guard. He makes a face, but nods.

"There's a lot of calamity on Filgaia to go around, it sounds like," he says. "I didn't know what to imagine, but I guess that makes sense of it."

Ivan takes a few steps back as she opens the gift, not because it's a bomb, but because he realizes he may now have to participate in a social ritual and he wasn't ready for that. She smiles! She thanks him! Ivan makes some wordless mumblings of unease and discomfort. "That's good, um, it's probably worth a lot less than what you used fending me off, but maybe I'll find some more later, I don't know."

He is weirdly intent on making this right financially, if nothing else.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"There is..." Jacqueline replies with a slight, quiet nod and a sigh. There sure was - a lot more than either of them presently knew, even. "We managed to deal with that one, thankfully - but if we had lost even one more of those seals, I'm not sure if we could've pulled it off..."

She shakes her head, though, watching as he takes a few steps back.

"It's the thought that counts. I'd appreciate it, but you really don't have to go out of your way for me." She replies.

She's not concerned about the financial cost - even with the tension that was rising of late, she still made enough from her business to more than cover the cost of a few potions.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"Is there really such a thing as enough thought to account for this?" Ivan asks, with a skeptical frown. Even if there were, he doubts he would be capable of something like that. "You don't have to be so gracious about it."

And they're back to this, again. "You can be mad or ask for payback or whatever. Or I can just leave you alone. Except for when I'm trying to catch you for the Guard. Or if we have to fight eachother because we've started taking over towns and stuff."

Dammit, is anything going to change at all?

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline pauses, frowning slightly in consideration. How could she best put this...?

"You didn't have to do this at all - you didn't have to tell me, and you didn't have to give me anything. ...But, you did anyway - that's what I mean." She explains. She goes quiet, though, as he comments about having to catch her - or having to fight, because they've started taking over towns.

Jacqueline sighs a little.

"That's where this is heading, isn't it...?" She murmurs. It had already happened to Kilika. What was next? "I'd rather we didn't have to fight, if possible..."

...But at the same time, if she had to to look after innocents, she would.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"But I... but it wasn't..." He sighs. He doesn't know if he has any idea how to to explain to her from scratch why she might... hold a grudge or want some kind of retribution. And it only feels like asking her to be more of a jerk so he'll feel less guilty, anyway. Maybe he should just let her bask in the joy of niceness if that's what feels most natural to her.

"Are you in the kind of position where you would fight to keep us from taking over towns? I don't think we've done anything terrible to the people in Kilika, but I know we're not wanted, and it's causing problems for them..."

He shrugs. Ivan can barely handle the moral quandary of 'to assassinate or not to assassinate an innocent person' -- what does he know about right and wrong in a holy war?

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline wasn't really the grudge-holding type - perhaps if Catenna had been more injured by his attack she would be more upset with him, but up to this point he had mostly just gone after her.

But, as he says - is she in the position where she would fight to keep us from taking over towns? Jacqueline frowns for a moment.

"...Truthfully, I would rather prefer to keep my Kinship out of religious wars." She admits. "But at the same time, if people are getting hurt, I'll do what I can to help them. Rather than fighting, that's my priority."

If she could help those who have been hurt without hurting anyone herself, that would be ideal.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"Okay, good to know. Maybe... maybe it will all blow over somehow..."

Yeah, Ivan really doesn't know very much about holy wars.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I wouldn't be coming after you anymore except for when the Guard says to, and give you the thing. So, um -- have a nice day?"

Ivan starts to sort of back up diagonally with a little wave goodbye.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Blow over... Jacqueline's not entirely sure of that. It would be nice if it did, but she has a feeling this will get worse before it gets better.

"You too, Ivan." Jacqueline says, responding to his wave with one of her own. She has to be careful so as not to drop any of her bags, though. She pauses, however, and adds one more thing. "And...be careful, okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"I don't need to have a nice day," Ivan protests, unnecessarily, still in the backing away portion of leaving. "Or to be careful! ...alright, bye." And then he turns and hurries off, far less stealthily than he arrived.