Log:Moonlight Diplomacy

Moonlight Diplomacy
"I gotta go get it, and get them who done got it gone from me. D'ja get me, big man?"
Participants Byron, Dross, & Uschi.	5 August, 2017 Uschi Bushi and Dross go wandering after midnight, and come across Byron in the old Meetinghouse Graveyard. Seeing this as an oppertunity to ask some questions and share local rumour, Uschi reaches out to Byron to inquire about Fate's Harvest's Autumn populace. Things... Well... Nobody ever said Ogres make for the best diplomats - thank the Wyrd a Darkling's there to stay a red right hand.
Location Tamarack Falls - Meetinghouse Graveyard
Its the primary city cemetery. In Tamarack Falls, no less. THESE people aren't idiots, so at night, the place is indeed rather empty and alone, which usually means Autumns can lurk unmolested. Byron might just be keeping watch on that, because in the back by the custodial house, he's found one of the newer, big, gaudy tombstones to perch on, wearing his best stylsh 'Im either a cemetery employee or a really bad bowling team dresser' outfit, complete with huge worker shirt that declares his name is 'Steve'. Whoever Steve is, well, lets hope he gave up the shirt willingly. Either way, Byron seems rather unimpressed, maybe even a little bored, while he hangs out and waits. For thosw with really good hearing, yes, the earbud in his ear is quietly playing some Def Leppard. Dross comes into the cemetery with Uschi, glancing now and then over his shoulder at his looming companion. He keeps to her right side as they walk. There are dark clouds overhead; the beginning of a storm that will upend itself like a bucket over a well, soon enough. No doubt. Moisture and the singe of building electricity in the air. Passing between the headstones, Dross looks around as if remembering the last time he visited this cemetery. Is there anyone playing music for the ghosts here tonight? He catches sight of Byron and walks toward the towering ogre. One of the few people he has to look up to... "Good evening," he says. If Byron can hear the quiet Darkling over the music, that is. With a look back at Uschi, he gestures to her to come forward toward the meeting house. In comes trouble: Uschi lumbers on in alongside Dross - about six foot nothin' of Moon Ogress, dressed like she's just hopped off of a freight train en route back from a crust punk convention in some town nobody should ever, ever go to. In perpetual shadow and totally barefoot, she hauls an oversized mountaineering rucksack over her shoulders and walks... Well, a little lopsidedly: the sleevelessness of her battle vest, covered in patches and tassels and the odd tooth, exposes her arms - the right? Normalish; tawny greyish skin with a downy covering of hair. Her left arm? Dead. Dead, dead, dead. It hangs twisted at her side: the skin a translucent pink, and scaly like that of a chicken foot or something. As she moves? the occasional flake of skin comes loose, crumbling in the air before floating off. So when Uschi steps into the cemetery, senses another? Her first instinct is to pace to the side, in front of Dross a bit -- sniffing in, and turning her attention towards... Byron. Huh. Uschi's expression? Deadpan. No fear, no hesitation, just dull curiosity under a lot of shadow. "...Youse know tha guy?" Croaked out to Dross - Uschi does't bother lowering her voice, or looking away from Byron. She seems puzzled suddenly, eyes scanning in the dark - just iridescent glints as she watches. Byron blinks slowly and shifts his attention to watch the two arriving individuals, with Dross being recognized and glanced at, before Uschi gets more of a serious once over, and an arched brow of curiosity. When Dross addresses the large hunk of stone, he reaches up to rub a finger over the earbud to turn it off, and hops down to the ground with a soft 'thud', straightening up and rolling his shoulders to stretch his neck. His voice is low, a bit on the deep side, and at an unhurried pace, "Good evening. You brought an interesting friend with you. Is this a social visit, or should I be remembering where I stowed my axes inside?" There's a quick flash of amusement in Dross's eyes, moving from Byron to Uschi and back again. Hard to make out their color or the reason for that amusement in the darkness of the cemetery. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that both Byron and Uschi seem to have taken an immediate reaction to each other as potential threats. "Yes," he tells Uschi. "I know the guy." The amusement comes out in his voice, too. Using Uschi's words here is almost a joke, for Dross. Looking up...and then up some more...as Byron unfolds himself from the headstone he was sitting on, Dross says, "Byron, this is Uschi." He touches the ogress's good arm, the one that still has feeling in it, as if to suggest that she can come closer to the two Autumns. "She has a question--" here he cuts off, gazing back at Uschi, looking for something in the iridescence of her eyes. "Or a few questions, maybe... That she thought Autumns might be able to help answer." As for the axes, Dross makes no recommendation. Uschi's attention remains fixed on Byron the entire time: the guy is much bigger than her - guess how often that happens! But the Ogress doesn't seem to bothered, or even nervous: she's got this consistent, persistent, unwavering confidence about her. It's not even aggressive, or any more than that natural Mantle of Moon and marginally unsettling aura gives off passively. Then this chaka-chaka-chaka noise is made; oh, Uschi is chuckling -- amused by Byron's quip about an axe. The blackened stubs of her horns glint in the low light, as she shakes her head: either expressing disbelief, or a negative. "Good." A grunt to Dross, then Uschi turns and lifts her ruddy right hand, so those cracked nails can scrach-scratch-scratch at the seam of her left shoulder, where the two very different skins mesh awkwardly. Her nose twitches as Dross says her name, although it's difficult to tell if she's annoyed or just acknowledging. Byron get's a grunt. "Charmed." Yeah. Uschi sounds... Unenthusiastic. But slowly, a smile spreads across her face: all those crooked teeth on display. "R'kid Dross heres right. I'm lookin' fer answers. Feels like tha' welcome wagon's gotta few busted spokes -- but eh, it ain't yer fault, fella, nah... I got only a handful; lets start atta first..." She sniffs in sharply, then raises her hand - not quite, but almost pointing at Byron, "Who's the Hedge Witch In Charge?" Byron's gaze shifts from Dross to Uschi again as the woman is introduced, the gargoyle offers a small bow of his head, even making the effort for a polite sort of greeting, "Ashe tends to coordinate for the Court right now, but depending on what questions you want answered, she may or may not be the best person to ask them of. As for a welcome wagon...well, this isn't Spring, of course." He smiles just a little bit at that as he pauses, the expression fading as he follows up, "What questions do you wish to ask? I do not have all of the answers, but I live with Ashe and can pass on any I do not know, to her and the other Custodians, if necessary. Usually she is here to meet, but she is tending to Uvall for a bit." Kid? That's pretty funny. Also, what better welcome wagon than an enormous, living, breathing gargoyle? Dross watches both Byron and Uschi closely, like he's memorizing the hard lines of their faces and bodies, imagining putting something of that larger-than-life energy down on paper. It's an intense look, but faraway at the same time, the artist's eye here and somewhere else, recording something unseen at the back of his mind. After Byron explains that Ashe coordinates most things, Dross's gaze drifts back to Uschi to see what she'll make of this information. He waits, not speaking, to learn just what it is Uschi wants to know. If Uschi will reveal it without Ashe present herself, that is. "Nah man, it ain't -- s'Summer, but a lil' birdy tell me youse folk got Sun shining high." Uschi's facade of all neutral impassivity shifts -- there is judgement there, in her tone and in her body language, as her bare feet shift on the stone, and she inches closer to Dross, yet between him and Byron. Just a tad. She might not even recognise what she's doing -- her attention does seem focused quite strongly on the Gargoyle. "Whot youse good folk go an' do a thang like that fer, ah? Sun..." Yeah. The Moon Ogress is doing nothing to hide her disapproval - which is ironic, no? Still. She's not the /most/ Moon o' Moons around... "Ashe." Uschi grunts and nods at the information, then sniffs in sharply again, smelling the air around them. "Right. Tell Ashe that Uschi Buschi is gonna speak wi'v her, once she back onna business." Her hand raises, and she rubs at the side of her nose, looking back at Dross briefly. Uschi must be feeling more comfortable now, because she's slow to peer back at Byron, licking a cuspid and lost in either slow daze or deep, deep consideration. "Heard noise. Onna East Bank. Lil gill's gon missin'. Ain't me -- but I'll make it mine business onna 'half of youse good folk, keepin' the peace an' all that 'round these parts. S'my heritage, after all." Jumble of words over, she tilts her head, motioning a to her dead arm with a horn. "Whos'a Market lee-ay-zion? Something I got done gone and got got, not long back. I gotta go get it, and get them who done got it gone from me. D'ja get me, big man?" Oh man. Uschi must spend a lot of time alone in the woods. Byron rumbles softly as he listens, and remains quiet for a moment, then glances at Dross for a few moments. He starts speaking, his attention shifting back to Uschi as he does so, "Whatever little birdy chirps in your ear can say whatever it wants to say. I don't give a shit, and I'm not defending the court from rumors. He said you had questions. If your only questions are 'who's in charge of X...then Mr. Dross could have answered all of them for you, and you are wasting my time. We are aware of the missing child and people are working on it. I will pass on word to Ashe that you are looking for her, then. Something else I can be of service for?" That cat's fur rubbed backward feeling of electricity in the air has been growing. The black clouds filling the sky look thick and full, now. The trees and flowers and long grasses of the graveyard will soon receive their portion of Biblical flood, the upending of the sky, and suck it down, down into the deep, dark earth. Dross looks toward the gate. Is there someplace else that he should be? You wouldn't think it, but the neat tension of the Darkling's body draws itself upward and he takes a step back. If he's noticed Uschi standing like a wall between him and Byron, he makes no comment on it. After Byron answers Uschi's questions, Dross turns his gaze back to the big ogre. Even in this dim light, there's a sharp, piercing quality to those blue eyes. "She wants to help," he says to Byron. Why make that any harder than it is already? "But we'll not waste anyone's time. I see some questions are more deserving than others." To Uschi: "Shall we leave?" Uschi's brows inch together, as she purses her lips over those cracked cuspids and goes 'oooph' -- then flashes Bryon a wide, crooked smile. Her dead arm remains still, twisted limply at her side -- but her right? She raises it, palm out, an expression of 'harmless!', which... Which is probably not entirely true, but it's a /gesture/ of good will. "Hold yer buffalo there, fella - 'for you done go get yerself inna stampede. I'm jussa in-dee-pen-dance wanderer, lookin' fer some answers. Youse ain't lookin' to get no more aid? Don't wanna extend a hand in 'ospitality to a sista? Well, I ain't gonna beg youse, big man. I ain't the hasty type, an' case youse ain't noticed?... I ain't one to run 'round with my words an' shit like that. When I say sumthin', it's 'cause I gotta, and I /wanna/. D'ja get me?" She stops, and then Uschi curls a finger to point at the Gargoyle - her iridescent eyes glinting in the gloom that shadows her face. "I was like youse once. Ya can't let tha fear blind'ja ta summin' good, when it wanders yer way. Makes a man missa call of 'pportunity at'cha door, mmmm?" The Ogress smiles wide, then nods her head twice -- stepping back, eyes fixed on Byron, but body moving towards Dross. "Yess'ur, lets give our friend sum time ta think it over. Youse wanna speak ya yers truly, Byron? Leave a message wif' Dross here, yeah?" Poor Dross. Uschi's now taken him on as a secretary, whether he wants the role or not. Byron's brow furrows a little at the responses, and takes in a slow breath, then lets it go, "If she wants to help, walking in here, telling us people say we act like Summer, and asking for names, then when I /offer/ to help, just says 'tell Ashe Im looking for her', and you tell /me/ Im making it difficult?" He rumbles softly then addresses the rest ot Uschi, "I will inform Ashe you came asking about her and you are offering to help look for the girl. I'm not sure who specifically is taking charge of that, but I will get them to reach out to you." He pauses there, "If there's nothing else, then? I'll go hunt her down." Who's making this difficult, exactly? Maybe everyone. But what do you expect, turning up in a graveyard in the middle of the night and bothering gargoyles just minding their own business. Dross does wait long enough to hear Byron out, head tilted slightly up as he considers the claims of his fellow Autumn. When Byron finishes, the Darkling's gaze lingers on him for a moment before he says, quietly, "Thank you." Some of the sharpness fades from his stare after that. "Until next time, then, Byron. Wish Ashe and Uvall well." He reaches out to give Uschi's good hand a tug, though he doesn't hold onto it after that. Dross turns on his heel and walks toward the gate, looking back to check that the fractious Ogress is following. As for the suggestion that he serve as her secretary, he refuses even to acknowledge it; that message has gone straight into the garbage. Or rather: hit a blank wall that prevents it from even getting far enough to be received and transferred to the garbage. "I ain't never said that." Uschi interrupts as Byron says 'act like Summer' - hand raised in protest. "Watch yer tongue, big man -- Imma careful as /hell/ wif mine, ay? Return tha' favour, an' keep yer words outta my maw. I'll do the same." She grunts, and nods her head. "Outta respect." Respect. Uschi lifts her chin, squaring her shoulders as she says it. Respect? Important, apparently. Then she's tilting her head, getting Dross in her peripheral vision as the Darkling tugs at her good arm. At first, she is not moved - but after a very brief internal assessment, the Ogress grunts and bobs her head in agreement, and begins moving along after him - giving Byron one last look, "...Been a, hows it said... Fuckin' delight, man. Catch ya later." Then she's turned, moving to murmur along to Dross as they make their exit. Bloody Moon! Well, there's a reason why Byron aint the councilor, and his diplomatic ability is probably part of that. The gargoyle softly grunts at the responses and takes in a deep breath as both turn to go. At the comment about it being a delight, he simply mutters, "I get that a lot..." and chooses to let that go, sucking on a tooth for a moment while watching them leave. Reaching up to tap the earbud to turn it back on, he turns to head into the meeting house. Time to find Ashe and that annoying little bat!