Sep 12 12:47:43 107 PA - Meetings and Discussions of the Past
From Chronicles
Sep 12 12:47:43 107 PA
PLAZA PARK: Meetings and Discussions of the Past
It's a beautiful September afternoon, the sun's golden rays shining past wisps of white on an impossibly blue backdrop. The park is alive with children, with couples, with families who have managed to spare the time to get out into the air, and the lakes are full, if not crowded. As far away from the beaten path as one can go on such a boundlessly pleasant day, Celaeno is reclining in the low hanging bough of an elm, her ankle-length skirt gathered modestly enough around her as she peers up through the leaves. Upon closer examination of the tree-limbs, one might notice two sword sheathes wedged into assorted nooks and crannies quite a bit higher up.
An older man, not actually old, but old compared to the usual adventurous kind that you'd see around the city - or anywhere these days - strolls into the Park. There's a piece of what might have been in another dimension called a sandwich, but in this case looks like a product of Happy Burger. Whatever it is, he's eating it. As a could of blue-skinned children and their equally blue-skinned mother skitter past, he seems quite gentlemanly, stopping to make some comment with a smile, and tip a non-existent hat toward the woman. The man's short-ish but sturdy legs carry him on toward the trees, where perhaps, just perhaps, a bench awaits. On his way, though, he rather can't help but notice a woman in the trees. Seems like rather odd behavior to anyone. Still, he politely lowers his burger (yes, it's a burger) and with another tip of the non-existent hat, offers a happy, "Good day, miss. Finding shade?" His words come out in what would be known in a different time and place as a "Kentucky Drawl."
Celaeno is slow to rouse from her revelry, though after a few seconds her gaze slides down and to the side, a single eyebrow lifting lazily at the interruption. "Just a place to sit - to lay - to rest," she says brightly, rolling onto her front on the bough, head rested on her arms. "It's a place better'n most for it, and if any of the squawking little brats come along I can push 'em out of the tree."
The man allows himself a rolling chuckle. "Not so fond of the little ones? I'll be sure not to invite you for dinner. Well, that is, if I had a good place to invite *anyone* for dinner. Or the family.." it trails off a bit before he visibly brightens - and obviously with some effort - and brings himself back into the here-and-now. "I've seen an elf crawling around the underbrush, people shooting lightning out of their fingertips, people with more limbs than brains, but - no offense intended, miss - this is the first time that I've met anyone relaxing in the boughs. I'm more of a ground person myself. You put yourself in a tree, and it's damn hard to get out of the way if someone's looking to kill you, and they find you." As soon as the sentence is finished, his hands are held up passively, "Please, not to mean that anyone's out to kill you. My apologies, poor choice of words, and even worse phrasing of them."
Celaeno scrabbles a little further up the branch while the man talks, "Nothing against them, nothing against them. Just not in the mood for loud, hey?" She begins fiddling around with a utility belt that's been slung over a few side-branches, producing a cigar and, eventually, a light. "There are always cheap places in the dregs, or you can buy a tent and camp outside the gates. And as for getting out of a tree quickly, or away... There's plenty to hide behind up here," she rattles a full-leaved branch, "and if I need to run off, well, there's only one direction I have to go, hey?"
The salt-and-pepper haired man smiles broadly at that. "I'm coming to be fairly used to what only two months ago I would have, and did find, horrifically strange. But people in the trees? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But still, I'm not exactly an acrobat." There's a small nod of further acknowledgment before he says, "I have been living out in the woods. Found myself a nice little clearing. I have a... very dear one buried there, so I don't expect to ever leave." He seems to size up not just the tree-woman, but perhaps the world for a moment, before looking up again. "I'd normally try to shake a young woman's hand as introduction, but I believe I'll skip that social pleasantry at the moment, as I'm not sure that I could adequately reach you. My name is Gabriel, and it is nice to make your acquaintance."
The flint strikes against the wick, the flame is applied to the tobacco, the smoke promptly begins cutting its way through the air - making it its own. "We all leave eventually, hey? Offer you a drink, a smoke?" Celaeno puffs briefly on the cigar, pulling it away from her mouth to peer at the slightly lopsided ember before shrugging and sliding the lighter back into the belt. "While I'm up here, and all. Name's Cel."
Gabriel smiles pleasantly. "Well, nice to meet you again, Miss Cel. As for the smoke, I appreciate the offer, but I'll politely decline. I can smoke, but at this point, it's pretty well imprinted in my mind that you only smoke if not smoking will make you blatantly obvious as someone who shouldn't be wherever you are." Whatever he was thinking during his explanation, it gave a little twinkle in his eye. Then he pats a small rubberized canteen (not plastic, just rubberized metal). "Thanks for the offer of the drink, too, but I try to stick to water during the day. Maybe a beer in the evening, but that's it." He chuckles and finishes with, "Yeah, I know. I was almost a prude where I'm from, and I must be approaching prude-level in this place." A wink. "I'm really much more fun than I probably sound."
"Ah, but you've got t'smoke before then so when you do otherwise, you're not coughing up a storm, yeah?" Celaeno grins down before sliding back to the level part of the limb. "Not a huge issue to me if you lay off, though." She takes a moment to blow a small smoke ring before switching topics, "You seem to be laying it on a little thick that you're not from around here, and that you're into some shady work, hey? You sure you're not out for some sort of bounty on my head?"
"Oh, please. I mean nothing of the sort, I'm just a little unusual, but to be fair, everybody else is a little unusual too. As for my work? Right now I mainly carry vegetables from place to place for fat merchants up in the Plaza, and reading things for those who can't read. This thing?" he gives a double tap to the strange weapon strapped to his right thigh. "It's a carryover from another life. Just trying to build a new one." Gabriel's head quirks to one side. "I know that there are more like me around. Not exactly, but close enough. Outsiders, people who don't fit in perfectly. Give me another week, you'll think I was born right here under this tree." The statements are ended with a semi-toothy smile.
Celaeno clicks her teeth between puffs, "There you go again," she says, rolling over, "saying how you're great at blending in and being all sneaky and the like. Sure, sure, that's fine. Everybody's a bit off here, but so you know it's a little easier for that to be the case when you're not talking about it all the time, hey?" She gives a little puff. "For all you know I'm a ghost from this life past, just waiting to get the drop on an unsuspecting you?" She moves into full recline, hands going behind her head as she returns to peering out through the leaves, "Right here, surrounded by all sorts of witnesses." She's reclining in the lower boughs of a tree on this gorgeous afternoon day, talking with Gabriel below.
There's a small moment of silence before Gabriel raises his canteen in acknowledgment to the woman, says, "You are certainly correct. Let's just go back to calling me Gabriel, a guy you haven't met before." A swig of water, then he goes back to being quiet, standing in the shade.
One more common visitor to the park arrives from the street, although Daeni is not currently interested in the path to walk or run, the various games of children, or even the crater that serves as a lake. She prefers the trees, which appears to be not uncommon, either, as she notes the familiar form of Gabriel during her approach.
Celaeno grins at the sky for a moment before moving to peer down at the man. "Just giving you a bit of a hard time - but it's not bad advice, hey? Like you said before, trees probably aren't the best place to be for something like that." She leaves the statement to hang for a half of a second too long before continuing, "But since you were talking about it, what sort of skills you got, other than having arms and eyes? I do a bit of work, time to time, and sometimes it's nice having somebody along who I know."
With slightly pursed lips and mildly quirked eyebrow, Gabriel also slants his head and considers the woman in the tree. "What are my skills? Well.." he whistles a bit, obviously thinking. Then he shrugs, obviously an expression of "what the hell" before stating, "I was a Marine, basic infantry. Then I was a Marine Raider, special forces. Then I was with the OSS and CIA, special agent. So lots of skills that as of yet have given me no decent job." A finger is waved in the air before he closes with, "However, I was also a caring husband and loving father. Just a bit of split personality between home and work. May I ask how you make a living?" The movement out of the corner of his eye attracts his attention. Oh, the elf woman. I hand is raised in recognition, but he refrains from shouting a "Hello!" across the park.
Daeni nears the man and the occupied tree with the speed of her long strides, so there is little need for Gabriel to shout excessively. "Hello." The initial greeting is simple, with the one to follow differing only in that she looks upwards and into the leaves a moment before making it to the identified Celaeno. "Tree is good for sit, watch."
Celaeno's gaze glazes over as Gabriel prattles off a list of meaningless letters and names, giving a slight nod and occasional, "That's good, is it?" When he takes the turn into the personal things her head just cocks to the side, a mix between a sneer and a grin crossing her face. "Me? I sword at things." She gives a shrug as she moves back to her back, gathering her skirt about herself again, "Sword at things and drink in public. Though I don't do that last bit for cash, hey?" She notes the arrival of Daeni without much fanfare, enjoying her cigar for a moment before saying, "Yeah. It's pretty good for that. Sitting, enjoying, you know."
As the elf woman is now within reasonably non-shouting range, "Hello, Daeni. I hope you're doing well today." He holds out a hand to measure the rain, which obviously isn't even there. "Pleasant, isn't it?" It seems a bit difficult to decide which woman is more strange, the tall elf, or the shorter woman smoking a cigar in a tree. Then looking up to the woman in the tree, "You 'sword things'? I'm not exactly sure what that means. I can knife things. But not sword things." He then rotates his torso and holds what is obviously a Happy Burger burger to the elf. "I'm sure that I know the answer, but would you like a bite, Daeni?"
"Sword is better, stronger. Is good weapon." Daeni is rather partial to such blades, to no surprise considering the pair on her belt. The note is made to both prior to a moment of mild confusion directed upwards at Celaeno. "Bite?" She belatedly recognizes the food and shakes her head with a snort of disgust. "Hunt own food or watch cook. Is not real food."
"If you can eat it, it's food. If you can drink it, it's water," Celaeno muses idly to herself, "Gets you some energy and keeps you going." She clicks her teeth, "And swording things is similar to knifing things, but without all the bullshit discretion and subtlety - not sure how you didn't get that, hey?" She grins down for a moment before pulling herself up, running down the bough before scaling up the main trunk of the tree, her skirt flapping in the slight breeze.
A quiet chuckle. "Not to reference my past like that, but one of my daughters ran around the trees like that. It was always very impressive." He turns to the elf woman. "Those were some nice arrow shots the other day, Daeni. Never been much of an archer, myself. You make your own bow? The English took two years to make a proper Longbow." He shakes his head. "I'm a patient man, but I don't think that I could wait two years like that. It speaks well of you." He then turns back to Celaeno. "Exercise, or just for fun?"
Daeni rolls her shoulders as she observes the woman's ascent. "Can eat human, human can eat human. Not hunt human for food. How high climb?" She is mildly curious of Celaeno's intent, yet does not find the notion unusual given her own arboreal tendencies. Her eyes turn to Gabriel in order to answer his question and acknowledge the compliment with single a nod. "Make own before, trade for one have. Is stronger wood, better bow."
"I guess that's how trade goes, right? Of course, then you have Ford, and Sears, and all the others taking good jobs away from the Mom 'n Pop shops." Gabriel turns his head to the side in the motion of a derisive spit - but without the spitting part. "You have to love advancing civilization, but it really fuc... ah," he seems to instantly take in the two women, and continues, "screws over the common man." He glances between the two women, as odd as it may be, and asks, "You ladies ever go the Arena to see an event?"
"See duel." Daeni admits to visiting the arena on at least one occasion. "Fight own." She regards Gabriel with mild confusion, either due to the question or his pause in speech. In closing, she simply affirms, "Is always trade. If not make for self, trade."
Celaeno goes right up to the top level branches - at least so high as they're still relatively stable - and dislodges two swords from their resting spots. A few moments' fiddling hitches them to her right hip, and with rather little finesse or modesty she starts monkeying her way back down to the bottom, kicking off the trunk from a good several meters up, and landing neatly. "Arena's okay. Last time I was over that way a titan juicer was torn to shreds by an invisible beastie," she chirps. "Was pretty fucking dull," she says, not sharing Gabriel's compunctions. "You fight in the arena, hey?" She quirks an eyebrow at Daeni, giving an idle puff at her cigar.
Gabriel seem to barter with his own brain for a time, though what he's thinking is anyone's guess. The topic that he settles on has to do with the pugilistic arts. "Natasha and I didn't make it out of Kiev and back to the US until summer of '47. But we got tickets - don't ask why, they were a gift - to see Joe Louis and 'Jersey Joe' Walcott in New York City. Louis beat him, but it was close. Split decision after fifteen rounds." Then a shrug. "Still, his twenty-fourth heavyweight title." An ironic eye is turned to the others in the immediate area. "Never seen a bigger man in my life until a few months ago. These Arena battles are brutal. Worst we ever had was someone getting his clock rung."
Daeni notes Celaeno's dismount of the tree and rolls her shoulders. "Was fight, but fight to train only. No blades, no blood. Could fight others for blood there, maybe will." Her head shakes in response to Gabriel's comment. "Even if blood, are rules. Out here, there," her hand gestures towards the gates, "no rules."
Celaeno gives another puff, only glancing at Gabriel in his nonsensicality for a moment as her gaze drops, thinking to herself. Daeni's response drags her eyes back up, and she circles the woman-elf appraising, and she clicks her teeth for a moment. "It's true enough. Seen far worse than somebody just getting dismembered, clean-like. Though there're only usually rules of one sort or another. Every now and again they do have a right dirty match."
Clearly attempting to fit back into a conversation from which he has unwittingly deviated - again - Gabriel asks, "So what are they? The matches, that is. Professional fights? Gladiators? Grudge matches?" A brief statement.
Daeni pivots in place to keep Celaeno in her line of sight as the woman circles her. "Seek challenge?" She is uncertain as to the intent behind the focused attention, therefor she becomes wary. Their topic of conversation also provides a possible explanation, and thus her curious question. "Maybe all reasons," she offers an opinion to Gabriel. "Some fight for honor, some coin, some want blood."
"Fame, money, sex, power" Celaeno truncates Daeni's statement, "The same reason people do everything." As she comes all the way around the woman she gives a shrug, one thumb thoughtlessly hooking on a hilt. "Not quite up for it at the moment, but maybe another time, hey? I'd hate to butt heads with somebody who takes on juicers piecemeal when I'm not even feeling it."
"Seems to be the human condition, doesn't it?" asks Gabriel, quickly adding, "Or elf," then with a slightly furrowed-brow, "Or, you?" People live, laugh, have kids, make beautiful works of art, learn science, but in the end, we all end up fighting someone or another." The look on his face is quite philosophic. "I guess you just have to live with it and work with it as best you can, right?" He then suggests - very quietly - "This probably isn't the place for a sparring match, is it? I mean, even this city has cops."
"Not fight juicer," Daeni corrects with a light shrug, "only Jackson. He want see strength, skill. I show. Not seek fight here, ask why look at me like enemy." The final statement is directed at Celaeno, specifically.
Celaeno shrugs at Gabriel, "They won't care so long as we don't accidentally take the cap off some wandering kid. Worse come to worse they'd just shoot us elsewhere - so long as we didn't pick a fight, hey?" She gives Daeni a more quizzical look, "Was just looking. You said you fought somebody in the Arena, figured it'd be worth it to maybe size you up a little. And anyways, what's fighting have to do with being enemies?"
With a small and extremely careful smile, Gabriel states, "Miss Cel does have a point, Daeni. You can train, and fight... without the hurt and anger." He then gives a pair of very obvious shrugs, one directed at Daeni that says, "At least, that's how I see it," and equally clearly to Celaeno, "I agree with you." Very, veeeery slowly, he draws a blade that had been set in a sheath between the pistol-ish weapon and his leg. It's about 8 inches long, and only about one-inch across at the guard, before it enters a bottle-shaped tang. The blade is very pointed, razor thin in both sides, and with a diamond cross-section. "Not to jump back too far in the conversation, but just talking about training and fighting, well, thought I'd just whip it out for inspection." He holds it almost reverently in both hands, horizontal to the ground. "One genuine Marine Raider stiletto." He offers a last friendly wink at Daeni. "I'm sure that you could just bend it in half."
Daeni's lips curl upwards in a bemused smirk. "Not kill one not fight, or when train. Enemy..." She pauses to search for a word to clarify her statement to Celaeno. "...opponent? in fight. Not always know who want train, who want kill." Daeni is thus inclined to be suspicious and wary, by default. As a prime example, her attention promptly shifts to Grabriel's drawn blade, despite the slow draw. She studies it a moment and shrugs. "Maybe bend, break. Maybe ignore."
"Maybe all three!" Celaeno grins at the two, leaning in in an exaggerated motion to look over the knife. "Plate it in silver and it'd probably be a hell of a weapon against a couple undead. Otherwise, you're just stuck doing petty little assassinations and civilian work. It's a nice little knife, though. Looks like it'd get the job done in style. Probably fetch a bit on the markets in the dregs - though you tend to run into a price cap down there."
Gabriel gives a little chuckle as the knife is slid back into its semi-hidden sheath. "Hmm, silver? I don't think that I could afford silver. Never sell it. Gotta have some, mementos!" He then yanks his head backwards and southeast. "I don't know much about the 'dregs, except that it's probably best to just avoid them. The most benign place I think I've seen over there was a strip club that made the Follies look like a convent."
"Is good for hunt. Find strong prey." Daeni adds her viewpoint to the discussion of the Dregs. "Should get silver blade, maybe magic blade." The nod is made to Celaeno rather than Gabriel, suggesting that the advice is taken.
"It's not too bad over there, so long as you keep your head down and don't look like a pushover. Or too tough. Or are unlucky," Celaeno contributes. "Home's home, even when it's temporary, hey? You two, you two have fun. Don't decapitate some poor newlyweds." She grins, removing the cigar from her mouth, "but do have a little bit of fun," she finishes, turning on her heels to make her way elsewhere.
Very politely, Gabriel says as the arboreal woman walks away, "Good day, Miss Cel. Hope to see you again." As he watches the other woman depart, he does say to Daeni - perhaps rather rudely, because he doesn't actually turn to address her, not that he intends to be rude - "You... hunt, in the 'dregs? Like..." he turns his head and offers a slightly questioning type of cringe, "... people? Or are there big lizards in the 'dregs, too?"
Daeni's focus moves from Celaeno to Gabriel. "Are lizards, other prey. Not hunt humans." Following a momentary pause, she adds, "Not eat meat, hide not strong, is no challenge."
Gabriel quirks an eyebrow at the elf woman. "You hunt the lizards, but you don't eat meat? Or have I misunderstood? You don't seem to be the kind to kill something and throw the meat away."
"Not leave anything. Only hunt for what need." Daeni attempts to clarify. "Not need human meat, hide, bone, challenge, so not hunt. Use all from lizard, deer, beetle, dragon, so hunt."
