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Post by Vanitypirate on Jan 31, 2018 20:04:35 GMT -8
Tilly made a worried 'Hmm!' and desperately flapped her coat to shake off the remainder of the sea-fleas, frantically shaking off her arms all the while, dancing her boots about-- anything to rid herself of the bugs.
In the back of the mind, she more prayed and hoped that Lekalis and Courcy weren't watching, and that Beansprout was far from the judging type.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jan 31, 2018 20:07:54 GMT -8
/Flotsam Beach/
/Tilly/
Thankfully the grey flecks of fleas flew off and she seemed to be free of the sudden ambush at last; Beansprout seemed to relax too, as it resorted to enjoying the sunbathing atop Tilly's hat.
The other ashwood crate rested teasingly close now, with similar stampage and appearance as the one containing the sea-fleas and crab.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Jan 31, 2018 22:28:07 GMT -8
Tilly sighed, and brushed the front of her coat off, relieved more than anything to have escaped safely from the sea-fleas.
Righting her hat and Beansprout atop her head, she made her way over to the other ashwood crate. With a yawn, of course, and resisting sleep now that the natural adrenaline and excitement waned.
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Post by black379 on Jan 31, 2018 22:58:26 GMT -8
"You hadn't told me. That's... Ambitious." Courcy settled with an incredulous grin. She crossed her ankles and, between her legs, unfastened the pack she sat on to retrieve a worn bedroll. Pulling the sheet about her shoulders, her azure eyes raised to set on Blood again.
"Shoulda known that bathhouse wasn't a proper fit for the likes of you." The ginger chuckled, as if only just realizing the humor that the foppish ex-lord had even rented out a dingy store room with glorified water buckets in the first place. It was nice to hear she would have an alternative to the abbey for a decent wash.
"Can you afford all that?" Blood was confessing some dream of his, and here Courcy was, scraping by to be free from a cell, let alone earn any coin. "What am I doing wrong? ...Besides the obvious."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 1, 2018 11:19:36 GMT -8
/Flotsam Beach/
/Tilly/
Finally free, indeed, from the onset of sea-fleas; the next crate came into view with the same symbols. A stamp from the Darkest Estate, and a ribbon. It looked a bit drier than the last, and showed signs of someone prying at its lid with dog-like nails.
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/Lekalis/
"I've been saving up a little... Mostly for retirement of sorts; this sort of life isn't... Well, right--" He chuckled and motioned to Courcy as he started collecting some kindling to pile atop the log as he spoke. Thanks to the various twigs and dead wood, it was a deed he seemed to be excelling at.
"-- This whole... Deal of violence and risking your neck day by day isn't a right Life, you know?" He presumed to know what she meant by 'wrong', though he was clearly buying some time to reorient his otherwise dreamy thoughts.
On one particular twig, he stared hard at it in thought, humming before looking to Courcy with a poignant leer; plucking up the twig and raising it up for emphasis.
"You could help me build the place, actually! Gods know you've more muscle in your right bloody arm than I do!" He chuckled, with a growing awkwardness as he strode to the log and shrugged,
"Maybe." He admitted, with a smirk and a glance, before crouching and seeing to setting the kindling about the log.
"Seems a frightful habit of the folk in this Estate is to just... Keep moving. You lot always run about throwing your lives and everything at everyone and anyone." Lekalis' head jerked to one side in a halfly nod.
"It's a wonder anyone here's not six feet under already. A miracle." His gaze widened and he seemed to work absentmindedly for a moment, before looking up to Courcy again,
"I told Tilly this, and I'll tell you : Slow down once and awhile and think. Get a direcion, figure out the whose, the whats, the whys and hows of your Life." Lekalis explained with a smile, as he pulled out the flint and steel from his own burlap sack.
"I'm willing to pose a question or two for you, if you want." He offered with a smile that skewed to a happy smirk as he quirked his head to one side and saw to striking a light for the fire, picking up a little whistling tune.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 1, 2018 12:34:32 GMT -8
Tilly squinted at the claw-marks; they certainly looked inhuman. And she certainly did not want to keep something a non-human beast desired.
She gave a wary glance around, as though suspecting an ambush, and gave the crate a gentle shake with the toe of her boot once more.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 1, 2018 13:02:27 GMT -8
/Flotsam Beach/
/Tilly/
This time, there was a shifting of leather then...
tink... clink, clink--, the noise of coins sliding over eachother echoed inside the crate and ended with a heavy thud, as the sack seemed to fall.
The claw marks looked to have been three gouges, roughly twice the size of Tilly's own finger, and wide. What looked like a slimey residue remained on the wood inbetween the marks. A scale or two were left behind as well, glittering in a soft silver and pink hue.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 1, 2018 13:09:05 GMT -8
Tilly bent and plucked up the scales with careful fingers before pocketing them, with a mind to display them to Lekalis and Courcy, warn them of the trials ahead...
No doubt these belonged to the fish-folk she'd heard rumors of. Though, seeing the might of their claws in person was certainly more harrowing than simply hearing of it.
She shuddered, and then made to pry the crate open with her pickaxe.
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Post by black379 on Feb 1, 2018 13:21:59 GMT -8
"It's the way I've always lived." Courcy answered with a sigh. Her shoulders sagged as her eyes fell to watch Blood build the fire. "Maybe not monsters and all... but violence, risk-taking..." She forced a laugh, halfhearted at best.
"Dunno what life's left of me." Shrugging, the ginger crossed her arms in her lap and looked Blood in the eyes. "Go for it, I guess."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 1, 2018 13:26:41 GMT -8
/Flotsam Beach/
/Tilly/
The scales, once on Tilly's fingers, seemed to go transluscent for a moment, though their color came back when she slipped them into a pocket; the only hint was the faint pinkish glimmer at the edge of the crescent shaped scale.
There were about twenty fingernail sized scales to collect, which Tilly would gather rather easily. They were a bit sticky but they flaked away with enough effort.
The sodden wood popped and groaned as Tilly dug her pickax' tooth into it, and a soft popping sound exclaimed the lid's removal.
Inside, was a large head-sized sack of coins, and a collection of leather bound notes about a foot in length and half that in width. There was a box of infernal black too, which was about a foot large in all directions with no discernable way to open it.
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/Lekalis/
He harumphed, as a spark caught flame in one of the twigs and hair-like strands of dead moss; a solid fire immediately sprang to life and illuminated the Ex-Lord's features as he knelt there beside the fire.
"Right then; why do you fight, dear Courcy?" He spoke quickly, motioning for her to come closer as his eyes drifted to the fire with a nod.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 1, 2018 13:36:12 GMT -8
Relief washed over Tilly and a triumphant laugh bubbled out of her mouth. She clapped her hands together, once, and then set to work stowing away the coins, counting them at surprising speed as each one went into her coat pockets, seemingly at random. She was making to distribute them evenly across her coat, like golden scales of her own.
She could have danced a happy jig right then and there, but much still remained.
Tilly eyed the box, but opted to (attempt to) read the notes instead, with the hope that it might reveal secrets of the odd box.
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Post by black379 on Feb 1, 2018 13:56:17 GMT -8
The flare of orange warmth stole her attention. Blood's question seemed to come more from the air than it did from him. Courcy dismounted her satchel and scooted beside the red-cloaked man. Her hands splayed out to catch the heat from the newly birthed fire.
"Because I can." She responded after some thought. "Because... I'm not some weak girl."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 1, 2018 15:57:12 GMT -8
/Flotsam Beach/
/Lekalis/
"Well then, if you're not some... Weak Girl; what are you, Courcy..?" He mused sweetly, enticingly as he braced his hands on his thighs and rolled his neck in a smooth easy manner with a catlike grin.
He noted her movements with some amusement as she drew closer, and seemed to flare teeth like a devil in the firelight. Yet somehow, he still held a look of sincere curiosity, lacking any libido or innuendo typically rampant in his features.
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/Tilly/
When all the gold was accounted for from the little sack, a small crab spidered out suddenly; a Dungeness crab with a body the size of Tilly's thumb skittered away in utter panic, as it tried to desperately haul a coin harboring a single barnacle on it away from Tilly's hand.
The notes, as she picked them up, had a bold '+' sign burned into its center, with the initials
'C.C.G.' labelled below the '+', and another title of sorts
'Notes on Rubor Phylactic'
Within were a variety of notes written in a scattering of English; a few familiar diagrams were spotted about, and the notes had an inconsistent handwriting to them. Flipflopping between English and German.
There was a diagram of the box near the end of the notebook; drawn at all angles, with a diallect Tilly couldn't rightly place, but she knew to be arcane in nature, much like the lettering she'd find in one of Jacques books.
Whatever was inside the box, it seemed to be very important, but man made as the designs and ink looked modern in design. It hadn't been buried before too, and was handled with gloves, as the surface was still smooth; if anyone had touched it with finger prints, they would have definitely showed.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 1, 2018 16:26:45 GMT -8
Tilly didn't need to know what the notes said, and she certainly didn't care too much; it looked fancy enough to her to warrant keeping, so she rolled up the notes and slipped it into her satchel, tucked into the corner of the bag.
Sizing up the box, it'd be a tight squeeze in her satchel, but with some clever repositioning she could make it work.
...Though, bereft of fingerprints, obviously there was a reason for it.
She knelt down and slid her satchel off her shoulder, maneuvering the hem of her coat to handle the box without touching it directly, like a protective pair of mitts. She squeezed the box in.
Finally, she looked about, amused, to see where the crab had fled. Then she leaned forward, double-checking that she hadn't missed anything else in this fancy crate...
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 1, 2018 16:29:58 GMT -8
/Flotsam Beach/
/Tilly/
There was nothing inside the crate besides a few growing barnacles, a seaweed had somehow gotten in? And some little indentations where the box had slid and impacted against the interior.
The crab on the otherhand, had gotten surprisingly far away; Tilly wouldn't really see the crab, so much as a glimmering coin skittering across the surface of rubbish and wood about twenty feet away from her.
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