apocalypsehowcomm | Log | August Catch-all

[She startles a little at the physical contact. It's not like she's unused to being touched but it's sort of a strange... divide... between the two major sides of her personality. Or a sharp divide between casual affection or friendship and being objectified.

But despite a split second of hesitation she takes it. Her cool is only a little askew, she's still mostly cool, it's fine.]

Oh, yes, those are trains. Sometimes they run both underground and above ground, depending on the landscape of the city they're built in. It's a lot more convenient to tunnel through a mountain or a particular landscape that's full of particularly steep hills than it would be to build over them.

They carry hundreds of passengers, so they have to be big. I've never been on one, though. Never really needed to.

He said they did it seeing as there were so many people. I can't even imagine everyone being all stacked up on top of each other. He said there're millions of people. That's too many all in one place. The Sisters and Brothers I'm learning from at the temple say that's part of how you get sickness in the biggest villages, putting people too near each other for too long. Their sick gets all over everyone else.

Well... there's not millions of people in the trains themselves. Not these ones, anyway. [She wonders if she could make a train that would fit a million people. Crazy.] Still, yeah, it's a pretty ridiculous amount of people. I haven't personally lived in a city that crowded since I was very young.

My people are a lot more resistant to disease than yours. Your people being humans, I mean. So we don't have to worry quite so much, but... well. Any natural resistance just breeds hubris. [Aelwyn, seeming to slow down mid info-dump, will look at a few of the railway workers more closely. They look very... vacant. Odd.]

Think we should ask someone about the ghost train?

[And this is why she thinks of Aelwyn as particularly clever and wise. Most people wouldn't recognize hubris if it came out and bit them. Mercy nods along, still trying to fathom so many people all being in the same city. Evergreen City had seemed enormous with over a thousand full-time residents, compared to the few hundred in the abbey.]

Aye. Seems a sensible enough place to start.

[She looks around and spots a railyard worker dutifully trying to ignore their existence as they tromp through the yard.]

Greetings to you and yours, sir! We got some questions if you got a minute or two. I'm Sister Mercy and this is my friend Aelwyn.

[A quick motion to the woman beside her. The man glances at them, then just tries to duck his head and tell them he's not looking to be converted.]

[She laughs a little at his response.]

Well, I'm no sister. [Just ask Adaine.]

We'd just like to ask you a few questions about the trainyard and an incident that happened a few days ago.

[The man glances at her, almost dazed, and then at Mercy.]

[Mercy just beams at him, and he sighs the sigh of the long-suffering before agreeing to answer their questions.]

Thank you kindly, friend! We were wondering if you heard the crash just the other night?

[The blank stare followed by furrowed brows and a glance around the trainyard are answer enough, but he asks if there was some sort of car accident out front all the same.]

No, sir. The trains.

[And now he's looking mildly annoyed as he gestures to the yard and asks if they see any crashes here.

Mercy glances over at Aelwyn. Another one who hadn't seen or heard, then. Interesting.]

[Aelwyn will frown through just about all the conversation. Huh.

This guy really knows nothing... Must be a Mumple graduate, or whatever the designated school for NPCs is here.]

Thanks for your time, I guess.

[She'll gesture to Mercy to say they're leaving before she starts walking. When they're out of earshot she'll lower her volume and whisper so just Mercy can hear.] This level of obliviousness isn't natural. Agreed?

[Mercy offers him a polite and blessed farewell before heading off with Aelwyn.]

Aye. But... it was the same last night, too. People in the town, a lot of them didn't seem like they heard anything. Even some of the guards out front of the housing. I mean, we ain't... I know you got magic and the like, but I ain't spirit-touched. The magic I got's from plants and the like. They said I'd learn the proper stuff once I was a full cleric. So, it can't be it's only them who're magic seeing all this.

We're also not from this world, dear. And affiliated with the ADI... perhaps we were the intended recipients.

[She makes a thoughtful noise, raising the hand that isn't holding Mercy's to her chin.] There's something that drove the Kelpies up to Gloucester from their old hunting ground, and it's something recent. Perhaps it's the same with whatever monster is behind this haunting?

Mm... maybe. You think this was aimed at us, not just something happening for some other reason? Like... ghosts showing up around anniversaries or holy days and the like? Brother Ainsley told me you can't connect too many dots when you ain't got a full accounting of what's out there, or you'll end up making the wrong picture.

[She's casting around and spots the burned out car.]

Look at that one. They usually keep broken things in this sort of place?

[It seems... odd.]

It might not be us specifically, but certainly ADI. I think we can assume that much, since we know so little about them and they're so adamant about stopping these monsters and such. But you do have a point. We can't draw any concrete conclusions with such little proof.

[She follows Mercy's gaze and frowns.] I don't think they do, no. Seems like a pretty massive hazard if you ask me.

[Then she smirks at her companion.] Fancy a look, dear?

[Mercy nods smartly and leads them over.]

Mind the rusted bits. They can get into your teeth and lock you up so you can't eat or drink if they cut into you.

[Tetanus isn't something she has the words for, but she knows enough about that in her own time. She's careful as she leads Aelwyn up to the car and helps her into it to peer around.]

Looks like it's been burned out. Definitely from that crash, I think. But... why would they leave it here?

That's what I'm wondering...

[They frown, grimacing at the filthy state of this place.]

Nobody even seemed to be looking at it. I wonder if they just... can't see it. Like with the giant train ghost.

Maybe... This looks like... [She's squinting and uses the sleeve of her shirt to rub a little at the wall.] I think they got paintings of bards in here? [She motions for Aelwyn to take a closer look. Between the charred portions of the poster, clowns and a few animals are visible.]

And horses? Huh... What do they usually have on trains? The one that crashed seemed like it was carrying people. Maybe... why would they decorate the insides? Can people live on trains?

Edited 2021-09-08 03:22 (UTC)

...Hm. I'd assume it's possible? I know people sleep on them... [She's never actually been on a train, help.]

I don't see why they couldn't try to make it a home. But... [She looks at the clowns, more unnerved than anything.] ...why the clowns? Who decorates their home with clowns?

Funny people?

[She offers Aelwyn a wolfish grin.]

Can't rightly say, though. Maybe they were looking to join the... clown guild? Someone aspiring to be one of them? I seen people buying scrolls to hang up from Ms. Tawnie back home that had fancy drawings on them. People in all sorts of clothes, looking like they were doing different jobs.

[There had also been several scrolls with drawings of people not wearing anything...]

[...Goddammit, Mercy, stop being so cute. She returns the grin with an amused smile.]

What, you mean like a circus? Or I suppose a travelling theatre trope is possible... Hm. [Something to look into while they try to identify the train. She'll have to hit the books.]

It's pretty common for people to put art up on their walls, I believe. Though... clowns are just ridiculous levels of creepy. Still, I suppose someone's probably into that, who am I to judge.

They're supposed to make people laugh, ain't they? Don't seem so creepy to me, but I never met a fancy jester, neither, just heard about them. The warriors at the Abbey liked to get up to some fine tumbling when we were having the season-turning festivals. Get enough fire whiskey into a body, and they'll go spinning away.

[Actually, that's something she's been meaning to ask. She'll pick around, pulling out her phone to snap a few pictures with the bright flashing lights on it.]

Ain't related, but I ain't been able to buy any proper drink apart from tea and juices since I got here. I tried buying some ale and they told me I wasn't old enough for that. Is it just somewhere special you got to go?

Edited 2021-09-17 00:47 (UTC)

There's something uncanny about them, I guess. I don't know how to explain it. [She's also afraid of most things though so.

Except, of course, underage drinking.]

Ohhhh, that. Yeah, they have a drinking age here. It doesn't make much sense to me either. They have one back home, in Solace at least, It's a bit lower there but I think we're both technically not allowed to drink. Not until we're twenty one, if we even live that long.

[Bleak.] I can get you some though, if you want. I have my tricks. [She gives a wink and a smile.]

Tricks? [Even in the dimness of the burnt out train car, Mercy's eyes gleam.] Didn't think a fancy lady would need those. I wouldn't say no if you got a means. Happy to pitch in the coin for it, mind you. And help if you need helping.

Oh, I have plenty of tricks, my dear. [She doesn't realise that Mercy's human eyes probably can't pick up her wink when she says that, but she'd do it anyway.]

I won't charge you though, friends get it for free.

That's a mighty fine discount! Reckon I'll have to do something to repay it, anyway. You got the prettiest hair. I could do it up while we're indulging? Give a nice little massage while I'm at it. Been told I do a fine job of that sort of thing from them that like it.

[She'd only just started getting to know her fellow novitiates at the temple, but Mercy had been keen to make friends. What better way than helping someone feel their best to praise the Spring Tide?]

[That certainly sounds............ intimate. She can't imagine Mercy thought of it like that but it doesn't stop her from feeling just a tiny bit flustered. Nobody's done her hair except the maids who taught her the spell to do it when she was eleven and living in Fallinel. And a massage... she attempted to give Penelope a massage one night but the other girl just laughed at her.

It sounds nice. She still can't figure out how it is that Mercy manages to be so sweet.] I think I'm getting a bargain in that case. Especially if I'm getting it from a real professional.

You have yourself a deal, darling.

Deal!

[She puffs out her cheeks as she looks around.]

But first, I reckon we ought to see what we can see around the rest of here. I ain't sure it's much. Maybe the library at ADI'd have something on this? The car here looks real old, and if there was a fire, that was bound to catch notice, aye?

Agreed.

Let's do some detective work, shall we? And then, on the way back I'll buy us lunch before we go back to the library.

[She's not taking no for an answer on the buying her lunch thing. But she kneels down, ready to start poring through whatever clues she can find...]

Log | August Catch-all | Closed

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cw: mention of pornography

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cw: mention of underage drinking

cw for underage drinking

cw for underage drinking will continue for the rest of this thread

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shall we ftb on this and set up for this cute little drinking/hair-braiding sleepover?

yep that works with me!