At Least It's Not a Fetch Quest

At Least It's Not a Fetch Quest
Date of Scene:	24 February 2014
Location:	Fluorgis - Shard Seekers HQ - Lobby
Synopsis:	In which Reize's specialty compensates for the consequences of Ivo's absence, and the Shard Seekers get back to work, thanks to a new and understandably dubious acquaintance.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Ivo Galvan, Mir Clarence

---

Ivo Galvan has posed:
"Upon reflection--"

Ivo stares vacantly at the crumbling parchment strewn on the table before him, inked with figures and numbers and what appear to be numerous question marks, the dust upon his hands rendering them nearly as white as his pale countenance.

"I should have anticipated this."

The absence of the Shard Seeker strategist, self-appointed though he might be, has not been kind to the clan's logistics. Suffice to say, despite their success in defending Fluorgis previously and the respect they still enjoy, the finances required to upkeep their headquarters and the expenditures associated with endless adventure have left something of a mess. Specifically, a mess of bills. Unpaid bills.

Long overdue bills.

"I had several long ventures in mind," he murmurs, "in pursuit of anomalies detected by the device, but we may have to reserve those plans until we deal with these pressing matters. I'm not sure we can even afford provisions for the Saga at this point." Assuming they don't have to sell it.

The Shard Seeker Device remains unperfected, but its capacity to detect strange magical artifacts and absurdly dangerous monsters, if not necessarily World Shards, remains quite high. While as heroes World Shards are the priority, as adventurers, all of the above are suitable excuses for a quest. Or at least--

"Reize," Ivo calls, looking up from his workdesk toward the rest of the lobby, regaining some of his composure, "we may have need of your specialty again. We may need to pursue..."

He quirks a smile.

"...a sidequest."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It has been a busy day and that left Reize to go into the HQ and get Lynn aquainted with her quarters. She gets to have the ladies bunk area at the HQ. Sure, she'll have to be roomed with the other females, but she won't have to worry about any interloper. ...Well, unless Reize ends up getting knocked in the room somehow.

It's happened before.

This leaves for Reize to meet back with Ivo. Reize takes the moment to look over where Ivo is staring at. He glances over the parchments and he scratches his head. "...So that's what they were?" He looks over towards the paper, "I looked over those. I saw lots of numbers, and tossed them back on the table."

He offers a shrug.

Frown.

"Wait, what?!" The boy looks over at Ivo, "So we are having money issues?" He furrows his eyebrows. "Ugh... too much adult stuff that is annoying." He puffs his cheeks, the antenna hair flipping up angrily.

Once Ivo brings up an important matter.

Reize's eyes light up. There is a glint of hope in his eyes as he hears those magic words.

"...Side quests?"

See those eyes become starry as the night. They glisten with fondness. "...Sidequests...~"

Mir Clarence has posed:
While the intrepid adventurers were busy discussing their utterly abyssmal lack of funds within, from outside, someone was approaching the headquarters of these so-called Shard Seekers. A girl with long, green hair tired back into a ponytail by a blue ribbon. She was short, at five feet tall, and her eyes were oddly pink. All in all, she could have been mistaken for a child at first glance, but the way she carried herself at least suggested that she was more mature than she appeared to be.

"Wait here, and watch the cart, okay?" The girl spoke to her company, which as it turned out, appeared to be a chocobo decidedly much larger than she was. The feathery tassels flowing from either side of it's head suggested that it was in fact a chocobo from Pulse. A wild one, that for some reason this girl made company with.

And being dragged along behind the feathered creature was a large, red merchant's cart. There was a small space that held greens, likely for the girl's chocobo companion. The rest of the space was taken up by a decidedly large, closed receptacle that offered no insight as to it's contents, save for a small smokestack billowing up and out of the top from a vaguely chimney-like opening.

She, and her cart carried a scent of baked apples and spices. Perhaps a hint to her occupation. Nonetheless, here she stood, staring up at the building in contemplation. "...Maybe I should check out Clan Gully first."

Somewhere, a boy in a stupid, red hat sneezed.

Poor kid.

The chocobo offered a 'Wark!' in response, and the green haired girl smiled a little in amusement. "Yeah, I guess we should check here first, since we're already standing out front...You're right!" Did she actually understand, or was she putting words in the bird's mouth? Who knew. A nod was given, and then she stepped forward, a gloved hand grasping the handle and turning...

Opening it, the girl stepped inside. "...Helloooo?" She called out, walking into the Shard Seeker's HQ, curiously eyeing the front foyer. "...Wow, this place looks less impressive than I thought it'd be..." The girl muttered to herself, disappointment gradually filtering into her expression. "...Do the people who supposedly saved this city really have a place so unkempt...?"

Now she was thinking about turning around and checking out Clan Gully even more...

Ivo Galvan has posed:
"Sidequests!" Ivo affirms.

The door opens, bearing with it the scent of sweet fruit and wild yeasts upon the breeze, and the erstwhile knight looks up from his friend's reverie with a smile. "And what decent adventurers have a well-kept home?" is his easy reply, stepping forward toward the entrance and raising his hand in greeting. The lobby is quite in disarray, and the spaced-out boy and dust-strewn man do little to offer a better impression, but Ivo, as always, is undaunted. "Welcome to the headquarters of the Shard Seekers, young miss. I am Ivo Galvan, vice-captain, and this is our leader, the redoubtable Reize Seatlan. His will to aid those in need is as unerring as his sense of his direction errs."

A flatterer as always.

"Please, tell us what ails you. How may we be of service? Ah, would you like some tea?" Ivo turns toward the open kitchen in back, its windows revealing a garden once cultivated with great care. "Assuming they haven't cut off our access to the Fire Crystal's power already," he mutters under his breath, stepping over to the stove and adjusting the dial. He pauses for a long.

"My apologies. We seem to be out of tea," he then says, turning around with the same smile. "May I offer you a glass of cold water instead?"

That's definitely a tin of tea leaves right there on the countertop.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff.

The arouma of the delicious baked apple bread is catching Reize's attention. It flows through his nostrils and he leans his head away to the side. "Mmm... this smells good." He happily turns his direction towards the entrance.

It is then that the person responsible for the smell makes her entrance into the facility. He looks over the woman and greets her with a bright smile, "Ooii!" Waving a hand at her direction, Reize offers a sheepish smile.

"Apologies. ..It's been a while since many of us came here. We were on a voyage that...did not turn out so well. We've been gone for so long, so it's not in the best shape. We'll likely begin handling some clean-ups, soon." He laughs sheepishly.

As Ivo introduces him, the boy offers a wave and a bright smile. As Ivo hypes up Reize's convention, the boy brightens even more.

"Yeah!!"

...

...

"... Wait, what?"

Reize turns towards Ivo, shooting him a glare regarding his sense of directions. He frowns towards Ivo and then he looks over to the sight of the headquarters. "... It has definitely been far too long since we've taken care of the place."

Mir Clarence has posed:
"....." Mir is silent, as she offers no response to the two, but a mildly incredulous stare. That boy must have been twelve! And that man's cape was shabby! "Well, I guess you /do/ have a point. After all, there goes the saying, 'a knight in shining armor has never witness true battle.'...Or something." She shrugged onchalantly, dismissing her own point as soon as she'd made it.

"Ivo Galvan...I think I heard that name at the town hall. ...For some reason, they told me to look for you and not..." She trailed off and stared at Reize. "...Him." So that was Reize Seatlan. Leader and apparent 'guild master' of the Shard Seekers. Were these people doing drugs? He didn't seem that capable to her. ...But then, judging by appearances was never really a great idea.

The girl gave a sigh and stepped inside. At the very least she could explain her case. Helping herself to a nearby chair, she smoothed out her skirt and looked over at the Shard Seeker strategist. "Tea? Well..." Nope. They were so broke, their power was cut off. "......." Ner eyes narrowed, unimpressed. "...Nevermind." Okay, how she just felt bad for these people. Have these heroes fallen so far so that couldn't afford to boil a pot of water? Sure, she had magic, but she was a guest!

Heaving a sigh, the girl closed her eyes and then took another deep breath. "My name is Mir. Mir Clarence." She started, opening her eyes and turning her pink eyes upon the two present. "...I came here because I have a job that needs doing. And I'm not a strong fighter." Simple enough so far.

"I need to gather some ingredients in the desert. Some flowers that grow in a network of caverns located somewhere in the desert. I was told there were a lot of absurdly dangerous monsters lurking about, so I'm not dumb enough to try and solo this." Okay, that was a bit more complicated, but still simple in theory.

"Of course, I can pay. Hansomely. But..." Mir narrowed her eyes and looked between Reize and Ivo.

"...I'm not so sure I came to the right place. You guys look kind of weak."

Ouch.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
"All in good time," Ivo says to Reize with aplomb, his confidence seeming to grow with every embarrassing setback as though to counterbalance. Yeah, she definitely noticed the whole stove thing. Damn.

But as she explains the mission, Ivo's smile grows a little keener, and in growing keener a little more honest too. For all he's willing to posture in the name of securing work, this does sound precisely up their alley. And how long has it been since they took on a mission like this together? They'll have to send out the call and see who's able to respond. Aimlessly wandering the worlds is all well and good, but even the once-nobleman has a fondness for ventures such as these.

"You've come to the right place, then," he says, and a bit of his bombast has gone; he sounds like he means it. "We have experience navigating desert caverns, as evidenced by our recovery of the Phoenix Pinion Fossil." Perhaps Mir has heard some of the specifics of their fight to protect Fluorgis. "Foraging and salvage are specialties of ours as well." Easing his scabbard off his hip and lowering it below the counter, he fills mugs of clear water from a basin with the other hand. "Give us a day and a half to summon our comrades, and we'd be prepared to move out immediately after."

And then she drops the bomb.

"Ha ha ha!" Ivo chuckles, unfazed. "A plain-spoken woman is good, and a straight-talking client is better. I can trust you hide nothing of note from us. But by contrast, Miss Clarence, I assure you--"

He leans against the countertop facing her, one elbow upon the stone, the other arm dangling out of sight.

"We are more than meets the eye."

Slowly he siles.

"Your water, if you please."

And then, lowering slowly from above into visibility, a hiltless sword blade floating parallel to the floor, one of the mugs of water balanced carefully upon it, right in front of Mir. Still smiling, Ivo lifts his hidden hand, showing Hauteclare's hilt with an orb of energy pulsing where the blade should be, and with a faint twitch of his wrist, the poised mug drifts harmlessly into reach.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Buh?" Reize looks over Mir with a frown. She does not seem too friendly, overall. The people at the town hall telling her to see Ivo and not him? This draws a frown on his face. "What?!" He grits his teeth, "Those jerks." He shakes his head, lifting his shoulders with a shrug. "Ahhh..." He cannot help but to look around the area a little more. "...Uhh... Wow. It looks like we have left the headquarters far too long."

As Mir finally introduced herself, the boy brightens, "Pleased to meet you, Mir!" Kind of. She doesn't give off a friendly demeanor, after all. The boy blinks for a moment at the assignent. "We'll take it!"

And then, she claims that they look weak. "Hey! We are not weak! We've done many of the tasks that have been given out to us! Don't take us so lightly!" He glances at Ivo, then he gives a grunt, "We've also taken up many tasks by other people. We've freed spirits that were held captive, restored a world that was once lost. The Shard Seekers are very capable of handling the task."

A smile grows, "The least likely people are more likely to prove you wrong."

Mir Clarence has posed:
Mir watched the two of them, and their wildly different responses to her accusations of weakness. She still wasn't impressed, and shook her head with a sigh. "Uh-huh." Smiling, she crossed her arms as well as her legs. "Really? You look like a twig from where I'm sitting." And then to Ivo. "And you look like someone who ought to be sitting behind a desk rather than swinging a sword." That said, the girl shrugged once again. "But sure, maybe I might be wrong. I have heard tell of your group's exploits. ...Traversing caverns, recovering lost artifacts, defeating dangerous monsters and heartless..."

And then the girl smirked. "But you know, I hear Clan Gully has done all that, and more. Plus they're bigger. ...And I hear their leader, Luso Clemens is exceptionally skilled for his age. I've even heard stories of him taking down undead fiends without so much as a scratch on him." Okay, now she was playing the field, verbally poking at them to see if any buttons were to be pushed. "Why should I not go to them with the job?"

Ivo's assurance that they're not as weak as they appear drew Mir's gaze. "...?" She watched as the knight errant performed his little sword show, levitating the blade over to the girl, till the glass of water was in reaching distance. "...." She did eventually reach out and take it.

"So your sword is broken. Awesome." Despite saying that, there was a teasing sort of smile adorning her face. She understood the ability at a glance, but it was more interesting to make fun of him. "Are all of your weapons malfunctioning?"

Reize is given a look after and Mir tilted her head a bit. "...Maybe. But I've got money on the line here. I'm not paying for blind faith and heroic optimism."

Blunt.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Ivo grins broadly at Mir's provocative smile.

"I assure you, my weapon functions perfectly well."

And so does his sword.

Hauteclare's blade, unburdened of its mug, floats back to its roost, rejoining with its hilt with a solid click as the desk-duty knight sheathes it in a single smooth motion, approaching the elegance of his samurai teacher. "As with your money, so shall be our lives," is his smooth reply, "a bet we are fully prepared to make, as we have before. You will not regret employing the Shard Seekers, Miss Clemens." He steps out from behind the counter, bringing Reize a mug of water of his own. "Your money guarantees you success, and a significant entertainment value. The former you pay for--" And he claps his other hand on Reize's shoulder. "--and the latter is free."

Whereupon he leans in toward Mir conspiratorily.

"And you didn't hear it from me," he says in a hush, "but I hear Luso Clemens has fallen into a life of vice and dissipation, and has banished all but scantily-clad de-equipped Viera from his Clan, with whom he lounges about in disgrace. Some say he has been undone after failing a hero's trial for a magic sword. I say he simply gave into an ever-present temptation."

He pats Reize's shoulder again.

"And who can blame him, eh, Reize?"

Assuming Reize hasn't already left the room to join Clan Gully.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
A smile grows as she mentions about Clan Gully. The boy cannot help but brighten, "Clan Gully is a great clan as well! Luso is skilled, but he and I are evenly matched!" The youth smiles, "Luso's a good friend of mine, actually!" He considers, "...Getting his help would be good as well." He taps his chin, giving a thoughtful look a little more.

Now, when she mentions about the money on the line, Reize turns his head to meet with her. "We are as good as our word and your money will be well spent if you choose the Shard Seekers. We've done a lot for this place. The reason for this place's state is that many of us have been dealing with other tasks that drew us away from our main base."

He furrows his eyebrows, "Besides, while you are worried about your money, my friends and I will be putting our lives on the line. We never backdown from anything." Reize looks over towards Ivo when he starts explaining about Luso's fate.

...

...

"Wait. What?"

Mir Clarence has posed:
MEANWHILE

"ACHOO!"

Luso Clemens, boy wonder, and leader of Clan Gully wiped his nose after another heavy sneeze. "Ergh...is someone talking about me?" He mumbled, looking left and right warily.

"...I bet it's some two-bit half knight with a really shabby cape..." He mumbled, from atop of monster carcass.

"Oh well, time to cash in this mark!" And then he hopped off, chopping off a horn and striding off back to town.

Wherever he was.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
"Wait for us, Luso!" cried the small group of unarmed bikini-clad Viera there for moral support, following behind him.

Mir Clarence has posed:
"Are you talking about your sword now? Or did you mean your d-" A loud crash of pottery, followed by a chorus of feline screeches outside drowned out whatever it was that Mir was saying. Followed by another 'God damn it!'. Wonder who that was. Still, the conversation went on unhindered. "...I'll be sure to remember that, next time I check out Clan Gully then." Shrugging, she listened to both Ivo and Reize's appeals, as well as their resolute promises that her money would be well spent.

"....Alright. I'll give you guys a chance. Shabby looking as you might be." Smiling a little more genuinely, she nodded. "Maybe you will surprise me." And if not...well, that was on them. Finally at the moment, she took the time to down a bit of the water from the glass she was holding. "Okay, How's 10000 Gil sound? 2000 of that is bonus for risking your lives. And you're only getting half up front. Deal?"

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Uh, what was the Munny to Gil conversion rate again? Wait a minute, is there even such a thing? It's a hard bargain, but given the bills that Ivo has seen already, he's practically salivating at the prospect of a 5000 Gil advance. Moreover, clever though he may be, he does /not/ want to go toe-to-toe with this young woman in a haggling match. If he were lucky, he'd come out no worse than he started. Best to take her fair price. He'd be able to get more out of a less savvy client, but none seem to be in evidence.

And he'd better say something before Reize, because that guy would agree to take on a quest for a funny-looking pebble, convinced it was a key item. And then, frustratingly enough, it would be.

"I'll ensure your surprises are pleasant," Ivo says, grinning again and crossing his arms. He's pretty sure she said something sassy, but he couldn't hear her over all the cats. Must be Youtube Alley over there. "Sounds good to me. Chief?" Presuming Reize assents, Ivo soon turns to busy himself with the preparations. There are allies to contact and supplies to gather.

And the power to turn back on, if the bills aren't too high...

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize gives things a lot of thought. There is a contemplation of the matter. The Shard Seekers are running out of money. They haven't done anything to upkeep the place. ...They need to acquire funds to pay the bills.

This was likely not a good time to get Lynn involved with them, in retropect.

Nevertheless, Reize knows the situation wella nd what it can be spelled out as.

"Yeah, it is a deal."

Sigh. It is time to get this place running again. It is the Shard Seeker's second home.