2021-07-26: Here's To You

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  • Log: Here's To You
  • Cast: Yue Rohay, Josephine Lovelace
  • Where: North Calm Lands
  • Date: July 30, 2021
  • Summary: Yue and Josie chat after Odessa's retreat from Zanarkand. Yue reflects on a particularly bad time. Josie focuses on getting drunk as quickly as possible.

=============================<* North Calm Lands *>=============================

The Calm Lands are an expanse of wide plains, bordered on the north by a massive ravine - The Scar - which was formed when Lady Yunalesca fought and overcame Sin for the first time. The Calm Lands are truly massive, but almost entirely uninhabited - which is why most Summoners have followed Yunalesca's example, and taken to this area to fight their own final battle as well.

The northern part of the Calm Lands are past the scar. Here, the land is flatter -- and not from natural processes, but simply being repeatedly battered down by Sin's attacks over the years. The grasses are shorter here, though, and there are not even trees dotting them. Mount Gagazet dominates the horizon, its over 8,000 sharls of height climbing far higher than any mountain on Glenwood or Meribus. A chill wind often blows down from it.

BGM: Final Fantasy X - Calm Lands
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    Yue's had a hell of a time in New Kasim: A concussion bad enough to disorient her from the reality of the world, several revelations that've shaken her core, and yet... a reaffirmed promise from close friends that she isn't alone. That many people may have abandoned and left her behind, but... there are still people here.

    She's not doing well, and in the wake of rising back to the surface, Odessan agents finally found her and plucked her back to the safehouse.

    She's lying down on a cot right now, her bandages replaced -- her head's basically a mummy's at the moment. She might still be a bit salty about getting taken out by Judecca's bombs too.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    The joke is that Josie's own departure -- what with the chaos caused by the explosions and what not -- has taken longer than it's taken Yue to fall into New Kasim, find her way back up to the surface, get picked up, get bandaged, and lie here for a while.

    Which isn't to say that Josie is only now just arriving. Oh no, she's had enough time to check in, get a change of clothing, take a load off and,

    this is the important part!

    get riotously into a few bottles of wine. Oh no, other than her personal supply (which is woefully depleted), Josie hasn't had the opportunity to get anything as hard as she'd prefer, which is also the reason why she's not (yes, even for her) completely soused just yet.

    Which isn't to say that she's not drunk. Just that it's become a more complicated process that she'd like.

    Also she's been lurking in the corner of the recovery area in the safehouse, morosely sucking on a bottle, which means she's also been lurking in Yue's general vicinity.

    "Awake?" asks the wayward archaeologist, bottle clinking against the floor when she sets it down.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    There's a quietly agonised grunt as Yue stirs, head still swimming, but eventually she sits up enough to answer the question without answering it. "I thought I smelled alcohol," she ruefully murmurs.

    She glances around the room for a moment, then says, "Did you see if they took my Gear...? Judecca's explosion took it out and I left it in that city."

    The answer is 'yes', simple enough, and it's in an even more sorry state than she usually leaves it in.

    A pause.

    "Hard time?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Yue's answer will be a laugh; it really only can be described as 'bitter'.

    "Yeah," Josie answers. "It ain't lookin' too good or nothing, mind. But it's about." She leans back against the wall, gazing at the ceiling.

    "If you're looking for the others, they got their own business, seems like. I've just had the misfortune to get back too late...!"

    But Yue pauses and asks something a little more direct.

    Josie laughs again. "What gave it away? The bottles n' all? You bet. Only one remedy for somethin' like that..."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "... well. I didn't fare much better," Yue has to admit. She points to the head for a moment. "Did you see that city? I thought everything was a bad, bad dream and I was back... back in the past. Even lined up with who I met. My old friend..." A long pause.

    "Well, yeah. You've got that relationship with alcohol..." Yue pauses and frowns. "Doctor's orders. No alcohol for me," as if she has to pre-empt Josie.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "The city? Nope," Josie says, smiling an overly-bright smile that does not even remotely meet her eyes. "Lucky enough not to fall in, I guess. Unlucky enough to take the long way back," she summarizes, gesturing vaguely with her left hand. "You get the idea, yeah? So, good show down there?"

    Josie isn't entirely drunk. Just a good portion of the way there.

    "Or not. Huh..." she exhales, closing her eyes a moment as she leans against the wall.

    "...'Old friend'."

    She cracks open one eye. "You 'n me both. ...Heh. Fair enough. I ain't 'xactly in a sharing mood, neither. I think there's just about enough here to get me the rest of the way gone. And if it's doctor's orders and all... well."

    She picks up her bottle again and gestures with it grandiously, as if she were a regent. "Who'm I to gainsay that? Cheers, Yue."

    And she takes a swig.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "You wouldn't believe how many old friends from back then still continue to haunt me today," Yue grimaces, though if Josie looks closely enough, she can see the ghost of a smile on her face. Someone's still fond, it seems. "... strangely, the city wound up being personally relevant to me."

    She sighs quietly, and rolls her head by reflex -- then winces in pain. "... cheers. Well, that's more than you usually do, and you don't even have that nasty flask on you. Just don't ask me to drag you to your own cot, you hear?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Even thousands of years later? That's some right bad luck, there," Josie remarks, gazing up at the ceiling. "And here I am, thinkin' I've pissed off the wrong god just since that lot's still runnin' into me around a year after. Ah, well. Leastways there'll be an end to it one way or another, soon enough."

    That smile of her own is more manic than anything else.

    "...Yeah? You find your old love letters there, or something?"

    She's never been tactful when sober and certainly isn't about to start when drunk.

    "It's empty, right?" Josie remarks, setting the bottle on the floor again with a soft clink. "Otherwise, I'd've already done. Anyway, don't you worry about me none. If I can't get myself to bed, then I'll just lie in it. Eh? Eh??"

    She's exuberently... morose, it would seem, as a drunk. Or near-drunk, as the case may be.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "It's more than just bad luck. It's the woman I used to have a crush on, the woman I should just have a crush on to make life simpler, and also the woman I'm dating because she reminds me of someone I used to date..." Yue rattles off, realising how incredibly complex and bizarre her relationships are and how they all somehow relate to love.

    A pause.

    "A good friend of mine built that city." A pause. "Either that, or my other friends named it after him." She exhales faintly. "Guess they left me again... ... they all do, don't they?"

    A sordid moment, as she puckers her lips.

    "Yet people seem to stick around, on the other end..."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Maybe it's out of sympathy, but at that bit of news -- and conjoined with a remarked wince -- Josie takes a drink.

    "Ouch," she says, succinctly. "Romance's a pain in the ass, ain't it." Clink, goes the bottle against the floor.

    "Yeah? Guessin' they're a long time gone and all. Or do you mean one o' yours?" she says, jerking her head in Yue's direction. Meaning 'another Veruni' perhaps, by that turn of phrase.

    "Ain't that just the way of things, though. Either here and up your ass about this 'n that... or just gone," Josie remarks, not smiling now. "Well, here's to them that sticks around too damn much and them that's gone!"

    It's... it's another toast. Punctuated by a long swig from that wine bottle.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "I didn't think I'd be such a romance addict," Yue has to honestly admit. "But maybe when you play the spy game long enough, you start to become unable to just pretend you aren't affected by these things..."

    A pause, and a raise of her eyebrow. "I... killed her myself," she explains, on the last part. "At the end of the world."

    There's a bitter laugh at that. "... here's to you too," she raises... nothing, drinks nothing, and watches Josie swig.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Yeah? Maybe you just wanna settle down. Or somethin' like that," Josie says, and from the sly smile on her face it's a good bet she's teasing. "Maybe you've met one too many nice ladies on the job, yeah?"

    Though that smile goes to ground once Yue mentions that, oh, yes, she killed her.
    Her old friend.

    "...Huh," she finally remarks, after a long awkward silence fills the room.

    Sorry to hear that."

    She might be semi-(actually?)drunk, but in this moment... Josie's not smiling.

    One drink. Why not two drinks? The bottle again clatters against the floor, more loudly this time. Josie gazes up at the ceiling.

    "Look at us two, here'n now," she says.

    "Ain't we a sorry sight for sore eyes."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "... I was a revolutionary too, you know," Yue answers with a quiet smile. "I had my own moments. I know it's not a coincidence my mother put me here. She wants to taunt me."

    A puff. "But... I mean, doesn't everyone? At one point, everyone has to hang up the boots. There's no point hollowing yourself out for the cause -- no one's happy if you burn yourself on the touch."

    A raised eyebrow, and shakes her head. "... I'd say I'm over it, but here I'm dating someone because they're a spitting image of her. It's awkward, to say the least."

    She ends up laughing. "A real sorry sight for the eyes, true."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Oh yeah?"

    There's a pause on Josie's end. "Well, fancy that. Guess you really had somethin' you believed in. Heh. I'm a little envious."

    It should be repeated at this stage, again: Josie is not drunk per se but very close neighbors to such a state.

    "Nah."

    Josie takes another swig from the bottle.

    "Not everyone. Listen... right? I once settled down 'n all -- well, minus the whole spouse shebang," she amends, setting down her bottle to gesture with one hand. "Put aside the wild life -- like I was s'pposed to. Sis was right pleased 'bout that. But..."

    Josie grimaces and looks way.

    "...Ain't suited for that at all, turns out. Given the opportunity, I went right on back to old bad habits. Heh heh... that's what I am now, an old bad habit no one's seen fit to kick..."

    That's not a happy smile as she again picks up her bottle.

    "...And the same with you, right? Goin' on back to the same kinda girl again. Goin' back to the rebellion or what. Just old bad habits..."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "I thought you told me you were in it with Odessa," Yue raises her eyebrows. "Though, I guess you didn't outright say it. Could be here for your friends, but not really their ideologies."

    She lifts her head up. "Yeah. Ravine, we were called. I don't know why. Doesn't that just imply we're a bottomless pit for people to go down into? I don't know..."

    A sigh. "Yeah, it was... well, it was ugly, the way revolutions are ugly. A split right down the country. Ultranationalistic pride butting up against socialist fervour. Full-on labelling and paranoia..."

    Yue stops and listens to Josie. She settled down, and...

    ... wasn't suited for that at all.

    "... hmmn. No, I get you. I've seen it too many times. People who get that restless look in their eyes. The moment they realise they've been operating out of the law all their lives... that their trade is gunpowder and blood and smoke and mirrors..."

    There's silence. "I don't... know. I don't know if I believe in Odessa. I'm tired. But you're right. It is an old, bad habit."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    There is a bit of a pause, there. "Did I?"

    Josie takes a swig from her bottle. "Whoops."

    And doesn't elaborate. She's well on her way to being soused, why stop now?

    "Ravine?" The name rings a bell--

    And no wonder. It wasn't all that long ago that she was menaced by a Gear with 'RAVINE' stenciled on it, or found mention of the organization in old computer systems.

    "Ravine... ain't more of you about here 'n now, right? Old friends in old Gears?"

    Which might answer where she last ran into mention of Ravine, frankly.

    "Sounds like the Celesti shit all over again, from what I hear. Not that I was -- I'm old, but I ain't that old."

    This bottle's almost over and done with. Not a bad one, by her standards. Which means that it's... it's not nearly vinegar.

    "Heh. 'Gunpowder 'n blood 'n smoke 'n mirrors'. Ain't a halfbad way of naming someone like me, right? All messy business, ain't suited for an orderly life at all... Guess that's why I'm here."

    She finishes off the bottle.

    "Always doin' it the messy way 'round." She smiles.

    Her smile is a tired one.

    "Like a bad habit."