Log:The Church in the Wild: Meet n Greet

The Church in the Wild: Meet n Greet
You do not have to ply me.
Participants Widget, Velvet, Thompson Meadows, Ryan Dunnage, Saulot as ST	1 June, 2018 Velvet and Widget visit Ryan to discuss current developtments. Part of The Church in the Wild
Location Wild Roses
Things usually get quieter in the market the later in the day one goes. By the time the sun goes down most of the venders have already packed up if not right on their way. A good dozen or so still remain, peddling their wares to any would be night owl looking for a deal. Fruits, dreams, ideals, skins, and many more things are found on offer. The one the pair's looking for, Ryan, is standing behind his usual black and green stall, going through a pile of shimmering, silver coins laid out on the counter as a cheery, avian beast walks the other way. Having brought Widget along with her to talk shop, Velvet makes her way through the market in her typical black silk and heals. She strides quietly, most assuredly the less bubbly of the two approaching Lost. "I figured if I was going to visit Ryan, you could come with me and talk shop with him about the work you're doing for Thompson," she explains. "On the way back I have an idea I'd like to run past you for a pair of ring hedgespun." She guides the way towards Ryan's stall, giving him a little nod of her chin. Widget sticks close to Velvet, holding her hand as they weave through the market. She's just got her jumpsuit on, and is very excited indeed. She always loved it here! So many things made of /other things/! Like, say, a tiny mechanic made of rust. One that was very happy to talk to somebody about what she's been doing, which is what she's doing /now/. To Velvet. Endlessly. Now that the idea has been planted that she might get to make /more/, it just makes it worse. She doesn't even pause when she waves at Ryan, hopping to try and make herself known. Ryan immediately grouses at the sight of Velvet, but a smile does slip in when he sees the smaller Wizened with her. "Good evening," he says while slowly sweeping the coins closer to himself until they're knocked off the edge and into an unseen box with a clatter. "If this is about Thompson he's very much thankful, Ms. Widget." This said with a happy grin and mirth in his voice until he turns to Velvet. "And to you for his life," he admits as if forcing some measure of happiness into his tone. "You do not have to ply me," Velvet assures. "I know he hates my face as much as you do. It's a reminder of a terrible time." She lets Widget do all the bouncing and excited chatter, smirking faintly like the mother of a child watching that child have fun. "Widget wanted to come and check on him, and I came in need of another goblin contract. One that will help me interogate some of the abductors that have been found and captured." "Really?!" Widget bounces, clearly overjoyed with the news. She tries to climb on a nearby barrel to get a better look around, babbling on. "Is he here?! Can I see him and see them because they're special and did he do the thing with-" She still doesn't want to let go of Velvet's hand, though. Safe has safe. Plus she was pretty. But mostly it was for safety. Honest. "Yes, really," Ryan says with a growing smile. "And you're wrong. My descendant is much more loving and forgiving than I will ever be," he says without mention of himself The emerald Darkling moves to take a seat on his stool. "He's not too far from here, he's supposed to be buying some gravewyrm hearts and slipmoth dust." He points out to a stall with a small gathering of people around it. Thompson isn't the tallest, but the improvised, bronze antlers on his head make him easy enough to spot. "What are you willing to offer for the contract, then, Ms. Danvers?" "The antlers look good," Velvet states from her position, gently tugging Widget to pull her down from the barrel before she accidentaly hurts herself. "He has nothing to forgive me for, I did nothing wrong," Velvet reminds with ice in her tone. You'd think saving someone's life would come with less hostility. "As for trade." She lifts a bag from her shoulder and dumps the head of a snake-like changling out on the table. It's fangs have been removed, but the rest is in tact. "This is one of the heads of the twin's friends. Torturer and privateer. Yours if you want it." Oh! Okay! He's there! Hey! Hey! Hey! Heyheyheyheyhey-ack! Widget is brought back down, looking between the two. Oh. Was there something bad? There must be something bad. She could hear it in their voices. And there was the head. That...wasn't what she had expected to be in there. The gremlin sidles up, giving the severed head a poke. Then another. Then she tried to open one of the eyelids. Yup. That was a head. The fangs her gone. Oh! Was it because snakes could bite when the...head...was...gone. Widget sidled back away from the head, putting Velvet between her and it. She still looked out from behind her though. The head is indeed that of a dead Changeling far along in the Wyrd. Is skin is covered in blue and black scales, and on the back of his bald head are markings shaped in the facsimilie of a scowling face. His eyes are thin slits of black surrounded by gold. When Widget opens one of those lids the eye simply and slowly begins to droop downward - almost as if it's looking at her before she lets the lid close shut. Ryan's visage is apathetic to Velvet's response, and only elicits a faint shrug. He takes hold of the head, and turns it around to face him for a bit of inspection. First he checks the eyes, and then pops open the jaw for the mouth. A forked tongue lolls out as he does so, and he pulls it up to shove it back in. "This works for part of it," and likely to be buried with the rest. "But, I will need something else." Knowing that the head isn't to hurt Widget, she doesn't object to the woman poking at it. Her smirk can only grow as the woman runs around her to hide. "Don't worry, he's long dead, unable to hurt anyone anymore." Velvet reaches behind her to pet Widget's hair for a moment, hoping to help calm her. "I believe I have also recently delivered to you the dismembered body of the twins that tortured Thompson. What else could you possibly want?" Widget relaxes, leaning gently into the contact on reflex. The gremlin still looked around, more to see where her work was walking around than to see if the head was about to get bitey. Now she just watched, head tilted in confusion. She didn't know what this was about, but it seemed like it had been happening for a while. Thompson soon enough leaves the stall with his hands full with one burlap sac in each. The heaviest is held with the prosthetic, - iron and brandle melded together an appropximation of his lost limb along with bands of some hardened carapace away from the joints. He still walks with a limp, more a matter of getting used to his legs than anything else. Copper, steel-strong threading, and pathces of iron-bark make up his left leg while the other may as well be made of glass from the look of it. The hyaline limb shimmers with every color of the rainbow as he moves and looking too hard tends to be a bit blinding, even when the only light comes from torches and the moon above. Ryan's brow lifts slightly as he sits the head back down. "As you can well see, I am no spring chicken. What I was once capable of is no longer possible. However," he points to her, almost accusingly. "You still have the vim, vigor, and tenacity of youth. I require three things, Ms. Danvers. There is a specific flower from the top of the mountains here and-" He stops, smiling down at Widget briefly. "I need more fertilizer. If that deal does not suit you, then I will take the head and your happiest memory from before your time in Arcadia." "There's Thompson, why don't you go say hi?" This is said to Widget as Velvet studies Ryan. "I have a great many things, this is true. But since I am not alone, and not about to drag Widget on what could potentialy end up being a very dangerous mission, instead you can have the head at the memory." She doesn't really have many happy memories from before her time in Arcadia, so he's getting the raw end of that deal anyway. Happiness was never really something Velvet came to understand until after she got here. "Extract away." Widget scampers off to bombard Thompson with questions. She's practically vibrating with excitement as she taps at his limbs, tugs at his clothing, and general makes a nuisance of herself. "Do they feel okay and are they good for running and do the special bits work right and do they need changing 'cause I can and-" Thompson greets Widget with a happy smile that seemingly causes all of those artificial joints to shimmer in the pale moonlight. "Hello," he beams down to the shorter Changeling. He lifts up the false arm first, showing it off to her designer. "No, no. Things have been great! Beyond great!" He stops then, dropping the bags to the ground to reach down and hug the wee Gremlin. Ryan studies Velvet as she speaks. The Darkling simply lifts on hand, and snaps his fingers. With that there's a hole left in Velvet's memory of her time before, and its place nothing more than empty darkness. He lifts up the head again, and just like the coins from before he moves to hide it somewhere behind what may as well be a bottomless stall. After a few seconds of fidgeting around back there he comes up with a small, glassy bauble to hand to her. The act of standing back up causes his back to pop a few times over as he says, "Then I believe we have a deal, Ms. Danvers." The memory is a dingy one, still very young, being told that she's moving to a new foster home with another little kid. She didn't know what the foster home would have in store for her, but she was still young enough to have hope that it would be great, and that hope made her happy. It's pathetic as far as happy memories go, but it probably explains a few things about her. She takes the bauble and crushes it in her hand, absorbing the power of the contract with a sharp inhale of breath. "Indeed," she rumbles before shifting a little closer, leaning over the table to whisper low enough to keep Thompson from overhearing. Keep distracting him, Widget! "I have a couple of questions about Roberto that might come in handy during my interogation. Was he by any chance a mirrorskin? Or did he possess the contract?" she wonders. "Were there ever times he didn't look or sound right?" Odd questions, but they seem important. Widget's doing her best! Well, she's not doing it intentionally, but still! She's beaming, looking close to crying as she's wrapped up in the hug. She hugs back with as much strength as she can muster, squeezing the swiftrunner and actually thanking /him/. Quickly. Without pausing for breath. Thompson damn near lifts Widget off her feet when she wraps her arms around him. "Nononononoooo. I should thank you, Widget. I thought I gonna be dragging myself around with one arm or stuck in a bed for the rest of my life, but you-" Tears well up in his eyes as he lets go of her, and stands back up. He wipes away at his eyes with the false hand, and then motions over to Velvet and his great-grandfather. Velvet's question elicits a queer look of curiosity from the Darkling and a slow shake of his head. "No," Ryan reponds. "He was kinda like a stag. Kinda close to Thompson, but without the ears and actual hooves for feet. Was really close to power, like near-Gentry close." Beat. "Like you." Glowing eyes narrow faintly when she hears that. "I see," she murmurs. "So either the woman we have is his twin... or she's been posing as him somehow. She's also a stag, his scent was all over her, like, I expected it to lead to him. I'm thinking now that it might very well have." A suspicious mind, but that's to be expected from an Autumn. Her chin lifts a little at the compairson of her Wyrd to the potiential Loyalists. "Yes, there are many with high power levels in this town. Far too many who use it for the wrong reasons. Not enough who use it for the right ones." She glances towards Widget and Thompson, lifting a hand in greeting. "Glad to see you up and about." Widget is just...over the moon. She's a beacon of happiness, looking close to just running around in circles until she falls over. For now, though, she's just fidgeting and smiling. Maybe there would be running, but she took Thompson's hand on reflex. People tended to hold her in a death grip in public locations, for reasons she wasn't really aware of. "Can add stuff! So you don't get hurt. Again." More stuff? Did...did she already do that? She kinda went into a design frenzy and forgot what she put in there. Ryan shrugs. "Almost everything is the wrong reason when cast against the mundanea flock," he muses. "But," he leans in as Widget and Thomspon near them. "You mean you found him!?" he questions angrily. "Why in the fuck isn't he here now!?" How quickly he moved was odd considering his old age, and the usual, audible popping of joints. He moves back soon enough, quick and happy to put on the positive front the closer the others get. THompson's lip form into an O at Widget's suggestions, and he looks at his arm. "It wouldn't hurt, but I can't really fight. I can kinda do the hole charge with my horns, but-" His voice trails off until a chuckle comes. "What kinda stuff did you have in mind, though?" "No," Velvet hisses, her expression filled with reprimand for Ryan's sudden movements. "Relax before you throw your back out. I -THINK- I may have found a person who was -posing- as him. But until I have a chance to talk to them with the contract I literally JUST got from you, I will not be sure. I'm sure as fuck not going to get Thompson's hopes up until I know something more concrete. I tracked his scent to a hideout. That's where I found a woman fitting the description you just gave me of Roberto. One of the Privateers. She was either posing as him, or she knows where he is. Either way, I plan to get the information out of her as quickly as possible." She gestures for Ryan to calm down as the others get closer. "When he is actually found, or I know for sure what happened, I promise you two will be some of the first to know. Can you tell me... did he have a brand, or a tattoo? Something like this?" She pulls out a sheet with the brand logo on it. Widget inhales, preparing for a rampage of words. It comes out with the force of a thousand raging elephants. "Well maybe a staby thing but if you can't use it maybe a gun but the Hedge makes them go funny so I was thinking a crossbow with a crank mechanism and a sabot system so you can pick all sorts of stuff like cold iron or needles or stuff and then maybe something in the feet for kicking stuff like pneumatic plates or spikes or-" Welp. She's, uh, got ideas at least. Thompson wasn't prepared at all for the tsunami of words that come from the gremlin. He tries to get in something edge-wise, but doesn't quite know when to cut in. Instead, he slowly looks up to Velvet and mouths, 'Help me.' Then a scared look to Ryan as he tries to smile. Ryan, however, is ignorant of it. "Yeah, he had one right on the back of his neck, and-" He waves it off for now, and welcomes back Widget and Thompson with a happy little wave. "You got what I needed, yes?" Velvet's eyes close, and the usually expression Lost has a look of sadness that creeps onto her face for a moment. "Ryan... this brand is the mark of the Privateer group that captures and tortures Lost for funsies. It indicates that the person is a member." Her eyes move towards Thompson and then back to Ryan, frowning. "You understand what I'm saying right now, right? It might be better for him to think that he's just... dead." Her expression goes back into nothingness as she glances back towards the other pair, impossible to read.