2024-03-20: Dormit in Pace
- Log: Dormit in Pace
- Cast: Redi Hayworth, Rebecca Streisand, Kaguya, Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Hilton
- Date: March 22, 2024
- Summary: While shopping in Hilton, the Vanguard encounters an old friend of Redi... and things become rather more complicated from there.
<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.
The port town of Hilton is a nice town, but it is a little crowded. Built in a valley between two hills, everything is fairly close together -- with the bottom of the valley having the port district.
It is lively, though!
There are lots of people coming to and fro, and even the streets higher up are busy. With tall buildings with tile roofs, all in reds and blues, it looks impressive; especially against a backdrop of a sparkling sea.
And Dean, Rebecca, Kaguya, and Avril are currently on their way to the market. But this leads through a winding hillside path near some shops. There is also a park area, with trees evenly planted, and several rowed plots.
It is, in fact, a small cemetery. Several cemeteries are in Hilton, and they tend to be smaller given the limited space in the city.
There is a woman at a grave. She has medium-length blonde hair and dark blue eyes; she isn't, particularly, familiar. But she wears something familiar, from a few weeks ago: the royal blue uniform of the Lacour Postal Express, the same as Redi Hayworth -- the girl they helped against the Veruni -- wore.
She looks up at seeing them and waves politely, stepping back from the grave she was visiting.
Which, as it happens, has a name on it that they may recognize:
REDI HAYWORTH
20 JULY 486 PC - 14 JUNE 505 PC
Beloved daughter and true friend
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
It is a lively Port Town. There's definitely some pretty thinly veiled criminal elements here, but Rebecca just more pays attention to them as a potential source of trouble rather than charges headlong into them.
It's that kind of day at the market, where she's checking out hair accessories. This time a hair band, and a few ribbons.
Just, you know, simple stuff. An eye towards the jewelry well, it isn't practical, not given their profession.
But at the park area, she catches a glance as she waves, then looks again at the small cemetary. "Hey, that's Redi isn't it?" She looks towards the other pair, "Should swing by and say 'Hi.'"
She waves back, part of the way, "Hey Redi-!"
-but as they reach the front of the cemetary, Rebecca stops, because Kaguya notes it's not her- and the woman just stepped back and-
"Uh."
She clears her throat, and looks away, "It aint none of our business really-" Again, a pause, she stops, clears her throat and changes the subject to something that feels like less of a landmine. "-sorry mistook you for someone else."
Who apparently is IN THE GROUND? Only of course she's not.
She can't say she isn't curious, but it's probably for the best she just doesn't ask.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya doesn't mind crowded. It's actually kind of nice to see a town where everything isn't sprawling so much. (She grew up on a spaceship.)
The small cemetary, though... That is not familiar in the same way, though it has become so over time. Kaguya pauses. "...We should look at it," she says, even before she notices--
"Oh, hey."
"Thaaat's not Redi," Kaguya says of the girl in the postal uniform to Rebecca.
Oh, well. Except, as Kaguya steps in, "Sorry, we have a friend who..." Her eyes linger on the headstone.
"Is... healthier... than... advertised...?"
"That's weird."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya doesn't mind crowded. It's actually kind of nice to see a town where everything isn't sprawling so much. (She grew up on a spaceship.)
The small cemetary, though... That is not familiar in the same way, though it has become so over time. Kaguya pauses. "...We should look at it," she says, even before she notices--
"Oh, hey."
"Thaaat's not Redi," Kaguya says of the girl in the postal uniform to Rebecca.
Oh, well. Except, as Kaguya steps in, "Sorry, we have a friend who..." Her eyes linger on the headstone.
"Is... healthier... than... advertised...?"
That's weird." She pauses. "Really weird."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Hilton *is* a nice town! Definitely crowded, but it's been a long time since Dean's childhood in the frontier town of Capo Bronco. He's had years to get used to places with lots of people--not that he needed much of it. Dean likes people. And he *really* likes GOLEMS.
Currently, he and his friends are at market. Dean's got a big smile as he looks through excavation equipment while Rebecca focuses on simpler stuff. They've found a ~*GOLEM*~, after all--one that needs excavating--and while Kaguya and Avril managed to convince him that this is an experience to be ~*shared*~, he's still very excited for it.
So excited that he doesn't notice the woman at the graveyard at first. It takes Rebecca pointing her out--although she mistakes her for someone else--before he even looks up. "Huh? Huh! You're right!" he says, half-turning to her, then turning towards the girl in the graveyard. She turns around--!
"You're also right!" he tells Kaguya when she observes that she's not Redi. His eyes travel down towards the gravestone...
"Huh?!" he utters, eyes boggling in surprise. "Is Redi a ghost?!"
...Probably not the most tactful thing to say to a woman visiting a grave, but.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
This is immediately met by, Rebecca tapping his arm with the side of her hand and leaning in to whisper sibilantly.
"Dean you can't just ask that! Read the room!"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"What? How?! Rooms aren't books!!" Dean hisses back.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya sighs loudly.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
They'd found a Golem, yes, and apparently an intact one at that. But, ah, here's the rub -- it's also sunk deep into the salt flats of Slayheim and it's dangerous -- to say nothing of impractical -- to try to dig it up on their lonesome.
Also, they don't have any equipment for such a thing outside of a pair of shovels.
And Slayheim doesn't have anything left in the way of settlements.
And so, with little else they could do about it, they'd carefully reburied and marked the position of the Golem before returning to Ignas and specifically Hilton.
Hilton had seemed like one of those places where it might be possible to contact likeminded folks.
Which is to say, Avril has been reaching out to old friends and allies first of all. All she might be able to offer in exchange is a favor, but--
Any further consideration of what allies they might recruit and supplies they might need is cut short when Rebecca spots a familiar person. "Oh?" Avril voices, gazing across the distance where a familiar figure appears to stand in the graveyard. "Perhaps we might say hello?"
But as the woman turns, she reveals herself to be not Redi but someone unknown to them all. And more than that, the grave she had been pausing before bears a familiar name.
"..."
Avril, like a confused dog, tilts her head slowly to one side.
"...Is that a common name?" she wonders, which is also perhaps not the most tactful thing to say in front of a woman visiting a grave.
<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.
The girl in the mail carrier's uniform turns -- and sure enough, it's definitely not Redi. A little taller, different hair color, and the eyes are a darker blue than Redi's pale blue. She looks at Rebecca; then she looks at the gravestone.
Then she looks at Kaguya, her eyes widening a little. "You met her?" she asks. She hesitates for a moment. "She--um--this is complicated..."
Dean asks if Redi is a ghost.
"...Maybe, actually," she says. She looks at Avril, then shakes her head. "N-No, um... not really. I'm--I was a friend of hers. Clara," she says. "Look, um..."
She looks between them. "I'm not sure what to think anymore. But... I know she died. There was an attack last year, and she was dead."
Clara falls quiet. "But I know she might be back, too. But... it might not be her, really, either."
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Dean of course takes it extremely literally and Rebecca puts a hand back to her face, with two fingers pointing at her forehead, "Not literally!" She whispers back - "It means - be more considerate of how she must be feeling."
Kaguya did point it out too but like - it at least pointed to the fact someone was alive, rather than dead - that's less upsetting.
Avril asks if it's a common name however, and Rebecca looks her way, wanting to say she has theories but doesn't want to say it out loud, but-
The girl is in a mail carrier's uniform - and says it's complicated, and... "Hey Clara. Nice to meet you. The name's Rebecca, that's Dean, Avril - and Kaguya." As she names them off with a nod in their directions.
Mostly though she listens and-
"Okay. Sounds like... you might actually want to talk about it then." She holds out a palm like, as if to ask her to slow down.
"Let's - talk that through a little shall we? Because we know someone named Redi too."
Her eyes flick towards that hat with a nod, "And she wears a uniform like that. Is still delivering packages and-"
Pause, as she weighs something then adds. "-and the Veruni are after her. So it's a whole thing. If you can clear any of that up - I bet all of us would appreciate it - and you might too."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya also left some monitoring equipment so that she can keep an eye on the location, though it's not like she has a direct video feed or anything. It's giving her further data by the day on the saltlands, too, so it's useful all around.
Kaguya is not so sure it's a common name after all. "...Sounds complicated," Kaguya says.
"If Redi died, then..." Kaguya sets her jaw thoughtfully. "Well, if she's the same girl, she looks real healthy," Kaguya says. "And if she's not, then she's at least the nicest zombie I've ever met."
A pause.
"Yeah. We have kind of an eventful relationship with her. She talked all the time about going home... It sounds like she made it?"
"Kind of, anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Avril suggests that maybe Redi is a common name. "Oh!" Dean utters, breaking away from his whispered argument with Rebecca. "Yeah, that makes more sense!"
It's not impossible that the Redi they know is a ghost, though. One of those super-modern high-tech ghosts that have feet.
But for now, there is the girl in the post carrier uniform. And she actually agrees with Dean! "Oh," he utters. With Rebecca explaining what she means, he actually keeps his mouth shut this time, though his expression turns troubled for a moment. It clears with a smile when Rebecca introduces them all.
"Nice to meet you, Clara! Sorry about your friend. Who... might be our friend too." He hesitates again before trying to ask more, for zombies absolutely come to mind--but that means Rebecca can swoop in and be more practical, and also tactful, about their approach. "It does," he agrees with Kaguya.
If there *is* something weird with Redi, though, it *would* explain why the Veruni were after her... Dean folds his arms as he furrows his brows in thought.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Kaguya is keeping an eye on the site, whcih is for the best -- not that Avril expects someone to come and poach their Golem from under their noses. Slayheim is not precisely the most attractive of tourist locations.
But not only have they mistaken this girl for Redi, but it would appear that Redi is actually dead. Or something similar to that. 'Redi Hayworth', as it happens, is not actually a common name after all.
'This is complicated' just about summarizes the circumstances... to say nothing of the sheer awkwardness of the situation that's in development.
Avril blinks once or twice, as if in an attempt to comprehend the tale that Clara's telling. Then--
"I am sorry for your loss," she says without missing a beat and showing no sign of shame for her earlier question. She bows slightly from the waist as if to thereby express her condolences. "I understand that it is customary to leave flowers at graves, but I have none to give."
sorry rebecca, you're traveling with a bunch of weirdos
She straightens, regarding Clara gravely. "I am sorry to intrude, but might you tell us what you know? If the Redi you know was killed, then..."
Then who is the Redi they know?
<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.
'Slow down,' Rebecca says, and that gets Clara to stop talking so fast -- and stop thinking quite so fast -- and take a deep breath. She nods.
"She made it," Clara confirms to Kaguya. "It... didn't go so well, though."
Then, she looks at Dean, and she smiles -- a little awkwardly. "Nice to meet you, too," she says. "And, um, welcome to Hilton."
She looks at Rebecca. Her eyes widen a little at the word 'Veruni.' But she takes a breath, again, and looks at Avril. She hesitates a moment more. "I... think I can explain it. At least, what I know."
She takes a second to try to gather her thoughts.
"Redi and I were friends. And coworkers," Clara says. "Last June, there was an attack on Hilton, by some... specters, we called them. Ghost-like monsters that drained life from people, and then would merge with the corpses."
She swallows, then doesn't quite meet any of their eyes. "We were on our route. One got near us, and she pushed me away when it tried to get me. It... got her and she died. I got her body back home. Then... then her body got up, went berserk, and attacked her mom."
She swallows. "She... got away, before the guards or Drifters helping could get her."
Clara shakes her head. "I don't know what happened, after that. She vanished for months, and we made a gravesite. Nothing to bury, but... she was dead for at least half an hour," she says, more quietly. "But she came back, recently. We all--we all panicked. Her mom really panicked, and said some horrible things. We thought--I'm not even sure."
She swallows. "It seemed like her, but her eyes were this really pale blue instead of brown. And... I remember when she got back up and hurt her mom real bad, too. She didn't remember any of what happened after she died."
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Despite Kaguya being all... herself, on the subject, Rebecca doesn't actually try to make her stop like she does Dean. It might be a double standard! It might be that she just doesn't think Kaguya will stop being as blunt as a thrown stone to the face because she asked.
It's probably both.
Especially since you know - well at least Rebecca understands why Avril is focused on that, from a time years ago when they came to Gounon.
Just after they all started traveling together.
She accepts the weirdo part of them! It's just when Dean's weirdo part sounds rude.
Okay it's definitely a double standard.
Still, Clara does slow down, and starts explaining, at least what she knows. And Rebecca stands there, hand on her hip as she listens.
It's a disturbing story, normally she'd think Wels but- this doesn't sound like them. Her mind tries to grasp the implications and...
"That's terrible. I'm sorry you had to go through all that, you and her Mom."
She looks at her for a time, still thinking on it, and- "If you don't mind me asking, what kind of horrible things?"
A pause... as she glances sidelong at the others briefly, then back to her, "And... also, I want you to think back, was there anything strange leading up to that attack? Any weird clients - or deliveries?"
A theory is taking shape on why the Veruni are interested in her... but, she needs more information.
Her brow furrows as she asks another question, "And after... did you bring back her deliveries too? Did she... take 'em with her, after she hurt her mom and left?"
It might help to narrow things down in that case...
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"...Yeah," Kaguya says. "That's really awful."
It takes her a minute to remember to be nice, of course. She's not who she used to be, but she's still very blunt and kind of rude. Still--
"I have some," Kaguya says to Avril of flowers. "If you don't mind, Clara, we'll leave some for your friend."
"...Specters... That can possess people." Kaguya shakes her head. "That is messed up. ...I don't blame you not responding well to her showing up like that. I wouldn't react well, either."
Rebecca has the questions covered. That's fine with her.
"...does she act like the old Redi?" Kaguya wonders. "Aside from not remembering those things."
"...Did you 'get' all the other spectres? Or are there others who might've escaped?"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Flowers for a grave *are* a nice idea, in Dean's opinion. When Kaguya offers to leave some of her own, he nods in firm agreement. "And even if she didn't, we could go back to market and buy some!"
But Clara has more story to tell, after she takes a deep breath. Dean gives her a smile back, one significantly less awkward, and nods her on. His smile fades into a much more serious look as she continues. He's of course fought many an undead before, including Wels, but ghosts that merge with dead bodies? That's a new one on him. And Clara describes her as having pale blue eyes, like Redi has... But randomly attacking people? Dean doesn't know her *well*, but--
"That doesn't sound like the Redi we know. Which is good, because that sounds really awful. It must've been really hard on you," he says with sympathy. He glances over at Rebecca when she pushes with more questions. Kaguya's got some sensible questions of her own, too.
Dean doesn't. So he'll let his smarter friends do the asking, while he does the wondering.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"You do...?" she says to Kaguya. To Clara, she says: "Then, if it would be alright, we should like to leave your friend flowers."
It's a custom that has stuck with Avril ever since that day in Gounon, when she first learned of the due to the dead. It simply seems right and correct to offer up flowers: something that was fleeting and beautiful to the memorials of those who were now gone from the world.
Filgaia, unfortunately, is a world from which the presence of even flowers is slowly fading away.
But Clara confirms a few more things: that Redi had made it back, and that... it might not have gone particularly well.
And that she and Redi had been friends and coworkers.
"Last June..." Avril murmurs, as if mentally conducting the math. "Please, go on."
RRedi had died, Clara says. Avril's gaze turns towards the grave. "...Then...?" she asks, as if to wonder at who might be buried here. The fact of an empty memorial is not something that, it seems, has yet occured to her.
But Clara gets around to that. The body got up and...
"..." Avril's mouth twists uneasily. "And you are... certain she was dead...?" She closes her eyes as if in thought, then glances over at Rebecca. "Yes... this has been quite an ordeal, it would seem." She nods once at Rebecca's questions as they follow her condolences, turning her attention back on Clara. "Yes. We are sorry to intrude, but whatever you might tell us could help."
Are those Spectres, if Redi had died, what...?
"Has anyone else been hurt by the Spectres, that you know of? Or killed," Avril adds, glancing the once at the empty gravesite.
<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.
"Thanks," Clara says, a little quietly, to the offers of condolences. Then, she looks up, surprised, when Kaguya mentions having flowers. She looks at Avril, then nods when she asks. "Please--um--go ahead. That'd... be good."
She looks at Dean, then she nods. "Yeah," Clara says. "It wasn't easy. And if it really is her and she's back... I don't know what to think. Or what I should do."
She looks back at Avril, then nods. "I'm absolutely sure," she says. "There... wasn't any mistaking it."
She can't quite fight back a shiver. "She seem like the old her, though," Clara says. "She had some memory issues -- she didn't remember the right month of the attack. But... it sounded like her. I mean, she was really upset, but..."
Clara flinches when Rebecca asks what sorts of horrible things she said. And, for a moment, she looks guilty about that. "She... said that Redi -- the, um, the one there -- wasn't her daughter. Just... the thing wearing her skin. I got Miss Hayworth inside, after that, and... one of the watch and her friends got her somewhere else."
She takes a deep breath, collecting herself before she continues.
"I don't think we got all of the specters," she says. "But... I'm not much of a fighter. The watch and some nearby Drifters helped. We didn't have anything unusual in our letters that day."
Clara looks at Avril, then she nods. "There were about a dozen of them. They... attacked a lot of people. Six people died and there were a lot of injuries."
Clara frowns, looking back at Rebecca. "But... there was something. I didn't see them, but some of the Drifters in town did. There were some people in armor and coats, watching. They had..." She glances at Kaguya. "...ears like yours. And one of the Drifters said they were Veruni, and they were just watching the specters attack the town. And taking notes."
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Kaguya offers flowers, and Rebecca gives her an appreciative glance, as if gesturing for her and Avril to go forward with that.
It's not just a nice gesture, but it might put Clara at ease, to discuss things more with them.
Dean points out it doesn't sound like the Redi they know, but Rebecca suspects she was just confused, being newly up from the grave.
So she listens to Clara... certain she was dead. She starts mentally checking off details, and... gives Clara a look of wonder. "Wearing her skin?" There's a prolonged pause as she takes that in, trying to quantify what 'Redi' is in her mind...
... but she does mention there were strangers in town, with ears like Kaguya. "Just watching, and taking notes."
Her eyes drift towards Kaguya, "Alright- so... it's gotta be some faction of the Radicals... right?" Is Rebecca's ask for confirmation on the matter, but she avoids mentioning Amaterasu for now, better for this woman NOT to hear her sister is involved.
"Lot of things about it just don't make sense. If it's Redi then why just - get back up and start delivering the mail. Is it just feeling tied to her old life? And if it's a ghost possessing the body, then why bother?"
Something's up, and Rebecca at least suspects the truth is more complicated...
"Were they carrying anything unusual with them? These people in coats and armor? You know - besides the note taking."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya reaches into her pack, and gently unwraps some flowers. They're in good condition; they're flowers unlike those most people would've found before, because they're a unique variety. They're lovely; orange, with long bulbs.
She kneels down beside the gravestone. "Whether you're our friend too or not," she says quietly, "I hope these reach you."
Then she stands back up, and looks around. "No mistaking it..." She nods. "I might've done the same," Kaguya says, "If I were her mother. Being attacked that way... it messes you up. It affects you."
A pause. "That's OK," Kaguya says of not getting them. "Just gives me more background."
But then--When Kaguya hears 'ears like hers', people in armor and coats, she freezes in place. Rebecca can see it, when her eyes drift towards her.
"Fuck!" Kaguya exclaims, her hands curling into fists. It takes her a moment to calm--
"Yeah. That's the Veruni all right," Kaguya says. She shrugs. "I don't know," she admits. "I can't put it past our people either way." 'Our people'. "I know the Moderates wouldn't do things like that, but..."
It doesn't make sense. But it does make sense, to Kaguya.
"...Sorry," she says to Clara. "I didn't mean to get so mad. But I'm Veruni, too. So when my people do awful things, it's... personal, to me."
She considers a moment, and then--
"I'll look into this," she says. "I'll learn the truth. I promise."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
As offered, Kaguya brings out flowers and leaves them on the grave. Dean shares a small smile with Avril, then bows his head for a moment as he shuts his eyes in a moment of respectful silence. He straightens soon after.
"I wouldn't either. It blows my mind just thinking about it," Dean tells Clara sympathetically. He listens to the rest, and winces at the recounting of what Redi's mother said. But when she mentions the pointy-eared folks who just stood back and took notes as the Specters attacked...
He scowls. "Definitely," he says to Rebecca. But then Kaguya curses, and Dean shoots her a look. She manages to calm herself down and offers an apology, but...
He rests a hopefully-reassuring hand on her shoulder. "*We'll* look into this," he tells her firmly. "We all want to know the truth too. Right Rebecca, Avril?"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Is it appropriate to leave flowers on a grave if the should-be occupant is up and walking around?
Somehow, even basic etiquette fails to account for this sort of scenario...
Clara, however, is handling this entire scenario with grace, from Redi's revival from beyond the brink of death to her disappearance and even her reappearance... and the questions they all have for her.
"...I see," Avril says, glancing away at Clara's answer because that in itself speaks volumes. Yet, it's still interesting that she seemed herself, when all was said and done. That she even had her memories, if some were fragmented or incorrect. "Hmm..." Avril muses, furrowing her brow.
But Rebecca is the one who asks what it is that Redi's mother said of her daughter. And Clara, reluctantly, gives her answer. "How--" Avril utters, aghast; she raises a hand to cover her mouth. "...How awful..."
Avril has no recollection of her own mother of course. But she's seen the importance of mothers to their children, and she's met many kind and loving parents throughout her journey. How must Redi have felt to have heard such things...?
"Thank you for helping her," she says, noting as she says so how Clara refers to someone who had been her friend. Even Clara cannot but think that the person they know isn't really Redi, it seems to her.
But on this, Avril opts not to comment. She is blunt but she is not without tact.
But Clara speaks of the attack when prompted. "I see... and those people, they were buried?" she asks, as if it would not be expected.
Presumedly, they did not later rise from their graves.
But, more than that--
"...It must be the Radicals," Avril says, though there's still an unanswered question alight in her gaze as she looks at Kaguya in the wake of the latter's outburst. It wouldn't be one of the other factions she knows of among the Veruni. ...Would it?
"Kaguya, I..."
But her attention turns instead to Clara as well. "Yes," she says, answering Dean's own statement. "I do. ...I bear responsibility for this as well," Avril says, without clarifying why (which might be... important, given everything). "We will find out the truth of what happened here, and to your friend."
<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.
Clara looks at the grave, with a sad expression to see the flowers laid there. She is quiet -- respectful -- for a moment. Then, she looks up at Rebecca again.
"Yeah. The specter, when it killed her, it... entered her body," Clara says. "And... that happened with the others they killed. The bodies all got back up and went berserk. But, the watch and Drifters managed to stop them all. Except her, and none of them were..."
She shakes her head, then looks down. It's hard to talk about; it's hard to think about. She looks at Avril, then nods. "We buried them, and... nothing."
Then, she looks at Kaguya. "Yeah," she agrees, quietly. "All of us thought the worst, when she showed up. But, she was still..."
Clara looks down again. The guilty look is back on her face.
She doesn't quite follow the discussion of Veruni politics. "I don't know," she admits. "And she was gone from... June until recently. I don't know where she was or what she did. Or... if she's Redi, or the specter, or..."
She falls quiet again. She flinches again, when Kaguya makes that loud exclamation. She tenses for a moment.
"I didn't see them myself. But... there were guards, with weapons, I was told. Everyone was focused on the specters, and they left before anyone could approach." She explains that much, then trails off.
There is a flicker of hesitation. Kaguya admitted she is a Veruni. But she seems sincere -- and Dean vouches for her, and Clara relaxes when his hand rests on her shoulder. "I... ah. If you will, I'd appreciate it."
Then, she looks at Avril, and she nods. "Thanks. I've been... I haven't known what to do since she came back. And I'm not much of a fighter. She was always the one who was brave, anyways."
That makes her hesitate, for a moment.
She hesitates for a second. "She -- Redi -- left town, recently. With her friends," she says. "I heard they're headed west, towards Adlehyde."
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
It is awful. The way Clara must feel. The way Kaguya feels - as she curses, furious. The way Avril must feel in taking responsibility.
How much responsibility can she take, for an entire people, that she no longer agrees with? That it's been thousands of years since she's led them?
"S'okay. I'm mad too."
Rebecca confirms to Kaguya, even though it's led her to be mad at this act for a different reason, a different end point.
"Just, we're not mad at you miss. We're real thankful you're helping us make sense of all this." She tells Clara, "And I hope we can help you get closure too."
Dean comments to Kaguya on it asking that they want to know the truth, and Rebecca nods slowly, "Right Dean. It's... I think we need to know. If the Radicals are so fixated on getting - Redi, or whoever's in her body, then we can't let them have her."
She rakes a hand through the back of her hair, "That'd be bad for everyone."
Clara keeps speaking, the mention of the Spectre causes her to shift stance uncomfortably, now crossing her arms in front of her, "That's a... helluva thing. It's just - huh." Rebecca stays quiet for a moment but it's like she arrived at something - maybe.
"Hey weird question maybe, but were there ever like these..." She traces her hand in the air, "-little glowing lights, like fireflies? When the Spectres died? Or the people?"
She's trying not to look at Kaguya, but Kaguya did bring her people to Veruni, made them see the value of operating there - of pillaging the world of it's secrets.
Rebecca doesn't precisely blame her, but she can't avoid talking about topics which might make Kaguya blame herself.
There's not much more information in the Veruni themselves, guards with weapons? She could ask for specifics, pry, probe, but right now she's gotta focus on ruling out certain things.
"... So she comes back? Through town?" Rebecca asks, almost incredulous at the idea, "That's so strange, if this is the only place where... people know, why?"
She glances towards the others... "Change of plans looks like, if we can catch her in Adelhyde..."
She's not looking at Dean either, she's not, but she's definitely thinking about it, "... then the adult thing to do is put off digging up the Golem until we solve this mystery."
Certainly Rebecca feels relieved about that fact, Slayheim was miserable...
... and salt blindness is a thing.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Dean says, in so many words, that she's not alone in this--and Kaguya looks to him for a moment, and nods. "Okay," she says. "We'll do it together."
Kaguya is not so sure she can rule out all factions of the Veruni, but... It does sound more llike the Radicals. "Some new weapon maybe," Kaguya says. "...You can ask me whatever it is later."
Responsibility. Rebecca is mad, too. Kaguya nods again, at that.
"It's not bad that you were focused in the spectres--if they were Veruni, there's nothing you could've done anyway. That's for us to take care of."
Clara hesitates, but--Well, Kaguya can't blame that. "Adelhyde... Sounds like we have a destination."
Then she grins at Rebecca. "Oh, no. It'll take time to gather up people and resources for that--we can't do it immediately anyway."
"But we can do both. I'll work on getting things together for that while we look for Redi."
"...Adelhyde's good for a lot of things."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean gives Kaguya an encouraging smile as he removes his hand from her shoulder. "Exactly."
Redi left town with her friends... That'd include Yulie--and Xander and Riley, it suddenly dawns on Dean. A (former?) Etone and two people bearing up under a curse... It's not just them, but it has to be connected, doesn't it? Dean bows his head; then he looks up and nods to Clara and the others.
"Towards Adlehyde. Got it," he says firmly. Rebecca agrees on needing to know--and then brings up a different angle, about little glowing lights. His eyes widen. "Oh! Maybe that *is* it!" It doesn't sound exactly the same as what Clara described, but it *is* pretty similar.
Kaguya thinks it might be a weapon, though. Which *would* make more sense to Dean if the Radicals are behind it. The Veruni certainly had a hand in Spiran affairs, but he always had the impression that pyreflies and all that were spiritual in nature, and the kind of Veruni who'd do something like this seem... distinctly not that.
"Right," he says to Rebecca and Kaguya. They might be surprised that he *is* taking it in so much stride, particularly Rebecca. He's of course lamenting the delay in excavating the Golem they found--but he's grown up a lot since age sixteen, when he first started journeying and threw a tantrum that he had to choose between hunting Golems and saving someone's life. He's waited this long to dig up a Golem; he can wait a little longer. And this way, they can gather more friends at the same time.
Accordingly, he meets Avril's eyes. This is her responsibility, she says. And he knows why she says that, but-- "Hey. Don't talk like it's just your burden to bear, okay?" he tells her gently. "Even Kaguya's not doing that anymore." He elbows Kaguya lightly, a smile returning to his lips. "Much." His gaze sets with determination as he looks over Avril and the others. "We'll figure this mystery out *and* get ready for the dig. Together!"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
They buried them, the others who had been possessed by the spectres, and there they still lie. Avril inclines her head as if in thought and nods, closing her eyes.
The others had been eliminated before they could walk the world again. But it had been different with Redi. Was it because she had escaped, or...?
But they can but speculate. There's still the matter of what these spectres were, or why it had been here they had appeared.
Or, for that matter, the involvement of the Veruni. It seemed to her that they had something to do with what had happened -- or had known that it would have happened. It seemed that they were observing the outcome.
Kaguya, she notes, thought so as well.
Even Avril's heart can be melted. "It's all right," she attempts to console Clara, when that guilt is so readily apparent on her face. "What happened was not your fault. I do not think it was even her mother's fault. If anyone is to blame..."
She glances, ever so slightly, over at Kaguya.
Pyreflies. It's Rebecca who hits on it before it even occurs to Avril. "Could that-- but," Avril starts and stops, clearly mulling it over. ...She certainly can't rule it out, which means that there's a lot that she doesn't know about how Pyreflies are supposed to work. "Perhaps," she allows, frowning in thought.
But it's Dean who looks her in the eyes and says that it's not her burden to bear-- or at least, isn't such to bear alone. And at that, Avril, who has been in a more dour frame of mind throughout these proceedings, finally goes so far as to smile a little bit, like a faint bit of the sun cracking over the horizon. "...Yes," she says at last. And even if she can't quite set it all down just yet, she still continues with, "Alright. Then, we shall investigate and solve this together. Thank you, Dean."
She turns towards the others. "Well, shall we? If we set out now, perhaps we might catch up to her. We may be able to find others who can help us in Adlehyde with our discovery as well," she says. It might delay the excavation of that Golem just a little more, but--
This way, they'll certainly be able to get some much-needed assistance, to say nothing of finding Redi and her friends.
<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.
"Weird... glowing things?" Clara asks, in that uncertain and unclear way that make the answer obvious: no, she hasn't. She shakes her head. "Nothing like that. Some magic--it was purple and red, sometimes like a fire."
The same sort of magic that Redi used, in fights, as it happens.
Then, Clara frowns. "She... came here thinking it was home. I... guess I'm not sure I should say it isn't," she admits. "She left, after everything that happened."
She doesn't, really, follow everything they discuss about the Golem. She doesn't try too hard, either; it sounds like Drifter business. She looks back at Avril, when she says it wasn't her fault. Clara nods.
"Thanks," she says, quieter. "And... for looking into this. Tell Redi that... I'll talk to her next time she comes through Hilton."
She smiles, then. "And good luck."