Goriel and beyond, part 2

[Jack Rothwell]

"So.. you and me then?" Eli tried to chuckle, but the sound came out flat, as they began their descent down the stairs to the lower exhibits. "I don't know what they're so worried about, the concept of murder in a museum sounds like something from a penny-dreadful novel." He tried dropping a hint, all the while keeping his eyes peeled for the man he'd seen.

'Gabriel... his name was Gabriel.'

"I was looking forward to a little peace. Things between Desiree and I... well.. they've left me craving solitude... maybe I just need a little time to figure out how I fucked things up." He laughed, there was an edge of rawness in the noise.

Out of the corner of his eye, the half elf saw a well-built man, certainly the one he'd been sent to find, studying an exhibit in a casual stance. The man's quicksilver glance in his direction confirmed who he was. Eli sighed in exasperation, what do to now?

................

"What's that for? Cash only!"

"Cash?" Tamina exclaimed. "The shinies? Got lots! Did some escorting! See?"

With that, the kobold reached into her money pouch and drew out a glittering handful of legitimately obtained currency (no, honestly), unaware of the looks she was drawing from the word 'escorting'.

[Alberich]

"So.. you and me then? I don't know what they're so worried about, the concept of murder in a museum sounds like something from a penny-dreadful novel."

Tim nodded as they returned to the museum from the park where Therese had led them. In this dangerous place, with the injunctions he was under, he couldn't say the obvious thoughts - that this place was barbaric and horribly dangerous for civilized men like themselves, even with the powers they had. He had to wear the mask, and he overacted enough that, as he hoped, Eli would get it.

"No doubt," he said, "But never let the traveller step out without his weapons. The good fellows here" - slight ironic emphasis on "good fellows" - "no doubt know how to behave. But if any sneaking coward slips into the city and goes for your back - well, that's right where I'll be."

"I was looking forward to a little peace. Things between Desiree and I... well.. they've left me craving solitude... maybe I just need a little time to figure out how I fucked things up." He laughed, there was an edge of rawness in the noise.

Tim nodded. He had his own views on what was really wrong between Eli and Desiree, but out in public in Goriel was not the place to share them. "I'll keep quiet. But if you ever want to talk about it, I'll be right here."

[OOC: I can post pretty often the next day or two as needed to help this scene move.]

* * *

"Cash?" Tamina exclaimed. "The shinies? Got lots! Did some escorting! See?"

The fat female attendant grabbed her hair with both hands. "No competition!" she roared. "And we don't need a, a, a, well, whatever it is, we don't need it!"

Udo was in the odd position of having to play the diplomat. It was either that or leave it to Jamie. Right, then. Diplomat it was.

"We didn't bring her for that," he said. Drawing a strange look that said, What the hell else do you do in a brothel? But Udo had been failing to comprehend ironic, are-you-effin'-kiddin'-me looks since long before he'd met his companions.

He continued, "She's for our pleasure." Drawing a look that said, I repeat, what in hell are you doing here? Do you go to taverns and bring your own beer? Visit grocers' stalls in the market and whip out your own carrots? Hey, I know, why don't you go to a masseuse and let her watch you rub yourself?

He improvised further in the way that came most naturally - "We like a little two-on-one action, and we only like it half human. So we're here for the human half!"

That might've drawn an audible argument, but the attendant had already seen the shinies. "Well, if you're doing it two-for-one, you can pay two-for one. And if that thing scratches our girls, it's coming out of your purse or out of your hide!" A large, scarred man leaning against a nearby wall nodded.

"Right, then!" said Udo - once more amazed at his own skill. "We haven't had it all day so we're gonna need lots of girls. One at a time! One for me, and one for, ah, James there."

[Jack Rothwell]

"I appreciate that Tim." Eli said, actually meaning it despite his growing deceitful nature. He turned fully to face the younger man. "I think I need to talk to her. Make peace between us if nothing else, it wouldn't do for us to be going against the dangers we are if we're divided... especially in a city as formal and suspicious as...."

'As this' Eli meant to finish, but the half-elf sentence was cut off abruptly as a figure collided roughly with him. He reeled, cursing.

"Watch were you're going, idiot!"

The man kept walking without reply, a moment later he was gone. The half-elf dimly registered as he disappeared that the man had been Gabriel, and the collision was clearly not an accident.

"On second thoughts." He added. "Maybe it's better that you're here after all."

.........

"Getting girls?" Tamina queried, clearly confused. "What for? We going hunting or something? Killikah* good with bows!"

*- sisterhood

[Alberich]

"I appreciate that Tim. I think I need to talk to her. Make peace between us if nothing else, it wouldn't do for us to be going against the dangers we are if we're divided... especially in a city as formal and suspicious as....Watch where you're going, idiot!"

Tim spun the opposite way, his hand on his sword hilt, making sure there wasn't an ambush coming the other way. Robbers and pickpockets sometimes worked that way. He saw no one. He kept his face grim and fierce anyway in deference to the customs of this place.

"On second thoughts, maybe it's better that you're here after all."

"Thanks," said Tim. Then, quickly, "Check your pockets - if he stole something, we'll get him!"

* * *

"Getting girls?" Tamina queried, clearly confused. "What for? We going hunting or something? Killikah good with bows!"

"Yeah," said Udo. "We're killikah good with lots of things 'cause we're killikah bad-ass shallirs!" The subtleties of kobold vocabulary were lost on him. Actually, so were the non-subtleties. "But anyway, we're gonna have some fun here and get us some drit! Just you go with James and his girl, and I'll go off with mine!"

He was dimly aware that there was something he hadn't thought out here - but this was the best he could do. At least he wouldn't be leaving Jamie alone. He also wouldn't paint the room in kerosene while chain-smoking cigars, or land the airship in the marketplace and start testing the cannon.

[OOC: Jack & Sareth - My intent is that the first two girls you "interview" won't have any useful information, but the third one will - we can skip to her at any point you please - but Jamie and Tamina are always fun to watch (wink, wink). And I'm keen to see how they solve the little issue Udo's plan has left them with. And there's no special need to sync this adventure with everyone else's. So I say, in your own time.]

[Alberich]

"I love you too."

Desiree had to be carefully emphatic after this - to ensure Anfisa would hear anything else after that. She was. After the first kiss, Anfisa was on her knees again facing Desiree where she sat, and hanging on her every word. Or at least on her lips. She grasped the half-elf's fingers as she listened to the rest.

"I... I need to tell you a secret. My Clan... they aren't here for airships or investing. They're here looking for one man. An enemy who fled here. I was sent here because it was hoped that I might hear something about this man... Blaize, he's called. If I hear a rumor of his location, I am to send word. Once they find him and kill him, we'll be leaving here and returning home. My clan won't ever return here. So... if you are willing to risk all and come with us, they will never be able to get you back.

"You will be welcome in my clan - if I can get you to them, they will protect you and I both. I wasn't going to tell you this if you were happy here. I didn't want you to be in any danger. But... I also didn't mean for this to happen. I can't bear the thought of breaking your heart by leaving you to a life that you yourself have said will never make you happy again."

"Your skin is so lovely and soft," said Anfisa, her eyes dropping and two fingers stroking her new lover's breast. By this point Desiree knew she wasn't changing the subject, just filling the silence while she thought. "Even with just the scented soap and water, and it must be divine with the honey and the suckle you were talking about..." Her mind wasn't really engaged with her mouth (as it had been a little while ago...), but how could anyone be angry with her for that? For certain this was the most momentous decision of her young life.

In one ear sensibility and survival were whispering - the little island of pillowed safety she'd managed to reach, the highest place a girl of her birth could hope for. Not chained to one man, none of the hard chores that wore out the hands, no hard discipline or painful childbirth - lovely clothes, scented baths, good companionship, even a measure of respect for the way she sang the hymns to Jurana - once she fell from this grace she'd never get back to it, not in a lifetime she wouldn't.

And in that same ear was a voice of fear, the darkness that lay beyond the island - the loss of status she was already facing - a lifetime of petty revenges from wives and serving girls - or very much worse now. Desiree, it seemed, was involved with assassinations and intrigues. She was sure it was for a noble cause, or at least nothing worse than this place saw every day, but - that was men's business. Meddle in that and she could end up like Drusilla or even worse...!

In the other ear, romance and adventure were singing. Singing of travel, to distant lands of honey and the suckle - full of strange and beautiful people, and freedoms she couldn't conceive. Where the geteroi knew arts they'd never heard of here, and passed through gates of pleasure she'd never known existed. Where, most of all, Desiree was going.

I love you, too.

Really, was the issue ever in doubt?

It wasn't like a debate in the elven or Tsuirakuan high council, where a voice might (might) persuade through the strength of its reason or the skill of its oratory. It was more a Gorielian contest, where the winner was determined before the first word was spoken, and the loser was quietly murdered or cut dead in the street.

Her hands on Desiree's shoulders, she looked back up into her face, and whispered the words that would make her fate:

"Take me with you."

As with her confession of love, saying the words was a release, and she fell forward, her head on Desiree's shoulder. And she found herself saying something more, more momentous and scarier still - "Do you need my help to find this 'Blaze'?" Her heart-rate shot up as she realized what she'd said. But having said it, she knew she was determined to follow through.

[Graybeard]

Therese returned to the Sisterhood safe house a very thoughtful woman -- thoughtful, hopeful and frightened all at the same time, but thoughtful before all else.

It wasn't just that she had some additional insights now into what had happened to Melusine, although that was certainly part of the picture. She'd suspected something like the story the Tsuirakuans (or were they primarily Veracians? it was hard to tell) had hinted at; having it confirmed didn't change her basic position, nor her sense of a thing that had to be done, in the slightest. But the knowledge that there was another man out there who might be part of the Convergence, and almost within grasp ... that was something to think about. (Although, of course, there remained the question of just what she and this peculiar group would do with him when they got him.) How many others like him were there? Therese's logical mind came to the conclusion that there couldn't be many. If there were, after all, they'd already have launched their plan to take over the world ... whatever that plan was. No, they must still be few in number, still building toward whatever world-shattering goal of their own they might have. That was at the root of the hopeful part of her thinking ... and also the frightening part.

We're going to have to do something.

And there was another thing.

She hadn't been sure what to expect of this so-called "clan chief" when she made up her mind to arrange to encounter him. She was pretty sure, however, that whatever she'd been expecting, he wasn't it. For starters, he was clearly enough a powerful man, yet without the arrogance that the clan chiefs of Goriel wore like underwear (soiled underwear, she thought scatologically). For another, it didn't take as much as thirty seconds for her to figure out that his attitude toward women was -- not typical of Goriel or those who came calling. So many of the men who passed through here did so because of their own misogynistic streaks, having heard that others like them in their misguided (that was the charitable word) ways would be found in Goriel. This Cleiviein had no such thing. And he had personal strength, a charisma, a force of character ...

I could fall in love with such a man.

She pushed the thought quickly out of her mind. To all appearances, Argus Cleiviein was happily married, and Therese was many things, but she most emphatically wasn't a home-breaker. (Although his wife was a formidable character of her own, from the looks of things. Argus had implied, no, stated outright that she was the real driving force in this group. That was something to think about; Therese decided she needed to find more out about her.) No, he'd have to be someone she admired from a distance, even as they worked together toward a goal she hadn't even imagined when she first laid eyes on him.

She tried to put all of these ... inconvenient thoughts out of her mind as she knelt before the shrine to the Five Great Mothers.

[Drusia]

"Take me with you."

And things just got complicated. We'll have to figure out how to do this. Not... now, I don't think. Best to see what happens first - and to think about what other resources I might be able to bring to bear on this. Rose's shapeshifting would be helpful - the hard part is contacting the others long enough to come up with a plan.

"Do you need my help to find this 'Blaze'?" Her heart-rate shot up as she realized what she'd said. But having said it, she knew she was determined to follow through.

My eyes widen. "No, you shouldn't do anything to put yourself at risk," I tell her firmly. "Even I don't dare do anything openly. I'm only here to listen. If... if you happen to hear about Blaize - a man in his middle years, of a scholarly bent, traveling alone or with soldiers, seeking old places - then let me know, but don't do anything more than listen. I'm not even sure if it is wise to ask the others here about what they might have heard." She nods. Good - I don't want her doing anything heroic.

Well now, this has gotten... complex. And yet, I've just doubled my chances of hearing something. I've also probably doubled our chances of being skinned alive by Arman. But... no risk, no reward.

I expect to feel terrified, but I don't. I mean, I'm scared, but... I'm also excited. This reminds me of those stories I grew up reading and hearing. In a small way, I'm living my dream. And who knows, maybe Anilis meant for me to come here and save Anfisa.

Speaking of excitement, Anilis, and Anfisa...

"Now... where were we," I ask absently, drawing Anfisa back into bed.

**Fade to Black... again**

-- Desiree

OOC: Not sure if Desiree will have more to talk about later. We'll have to wait and see.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Check your pockets - if he stole something, we'll get him!"

Eli did, although what gripped him wasn't anger at the possibility of finding his wallet taken. He patted himself down, touching the book first in one pocket, the amulet which was still securely fastened around his neck, the wallet and other odds and ends and...

A searching finger brushed against a folded piece of paper was hadn't been in his pocket moments before, he looked up at Tim and shook his head.

"He didn't take anything." He said, in perfect truthfulness. "Maybe he was just a clumsy dick."

OOC Transaction made in any case. I'm ok to move forward if we need to./OOC

[Sareth]

Up in the room "James" and Tamina had been awkwardly given, the first of the girls eyed Tamina warily under downcast brows. Clearly she was worried and wanted to ask questions about just how bad this could get, but also just as clearly time spent as a prostitute, and more importantly, as a woman in Goriel had beaten any daring from her. She simply waited to be told how the man of the room wanted to be serviced.

Jamie being Jamie, she blithely remained oblivious to any nervousness, any social etiquette, and any elephants in the room.

"So, we're looking for a guy. He wouldn't be from around here. His name is Blaise, and apparently he's some sort of grumpy high and mighty scary dude. Has he come in here to wet his willy?"

"Um..." The girl was startled out of her normal mental state into one of total disarray. "Forgive me, master. I thought you wanted me to service you with your... Um..."

"Sounds good!" Jamie grinned. "So how about you dance? Whaddaya say, Tami? Want to dance with her while she tells me if she's seen the pigeon?"

Not too long after that, two very confused young women were standing somewhat confused and still dressed at the bottom of the stairs while a third, looking apprehensive, was climbing them.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose put on her best Gorielian wifely act when Argus and Brad returned to the temple. However, it all fell away as soon as they were all ensconced inside and the men explained the strange encounter with Therese.

"Let me see that," she said as Argus produced the bracelet that Therese had given him. She concentrated, a frown on her face. "Hmmm. I can't really tell much about it. There's magic there and that's about all. Damn." (Did Gorielian upper-class women ever swear?) "I wish Miguel was here. His divination magic is so much better than mine, or even yours."

She looked up at Argus. "So are you going to follow through on this meet-up with her tomorrow? If you do, I'd like to be there. What's she like?"

---------

Therese threw herself into her prayers to, and worship of, the Five Great Mothers, with a fervor she'd rarely felt before.

What must it have been like, she wondered, in that far-off time when the Mothers walked the earth? At least the Sisterhood thought they had done so, in a time before time, although of course there was no way to be sure. To gain divine wisdom directly from their hands and lips ... what a privilege it must have been.

She'd always been partial to the Mother whom the Sisterhood called "Chicanne." There was an element of trickery to that name, she thought, something that suggested exactly the kind of subterfuge that was needed for doing rescues. However, at the moment she particularly wished she could tap into the wise, enduring Continne, who by reputation was the mother figure even for the other Mothers, and had the greatest understanding of the wonders of the other world. That kind of understanding, Therese thought, would be just the kind of thing she'd need for what lay ahead ... not just to succeed in this second, unexpected mission that she'd suddenly given herself, but, to reduce it to its basics, to avoid death ... or worse.

There'd been a clan that she wanted to check out, because of a rumor that a getera there was looking for a way to escape. However, that could wait. If the girl had survived her discontent this long, she could make it through another day. This new mission -- challenge -- threat -- was more urgent.

She sank back into prayer, immersing herself in the love of the goddesses from a distant time.