[Open] A Woman At Work

[stitch_witch]

WHO: Lark, Open
WHERE: Ul'Dah - Weaver's Guild and Markets
WHAT: Working as a weaver, looking for escort into the wilds
WHEN: During Eorzea event.
WARNINGS: None
NOTES: Unless otherwise noted, Lark will be wearing This

I - A Good Loom Does All | Ul'Dah Weaver's Guild | [Open]

The words were there on the paper, and Lark could not resist. Where there was a guild, there were people selling tools to the guild. Every morning she rose quickly and dressed herself. And then it was off into Ul'Dah.

The guild had everything she needed. It took little effort at all to prove herself suited to the crafting, and to be given the tools for starting the trade. The woman could not have been happier.

Which was why she was there now, sitting in one of the front rooms of the guild house, humming to herself as she took an afternoon break in her weaving to sip at her tea and enjoy a light lunch. Though when she looked up and saw one of her He Row compatriots, she looked very shocked.

"Good day," she said. "Have you come to learn? They are quite lovely here at teaching."

II - Market Day | Ul'Dah Markets | [Open]

Truly this was a lovely city, unlike anything she had known before. Yes, she had known many cities back home, but never one in a place like this. And never so loud of one. But, well, it made her feel a bit like home. More than Temba, more than the illusion created by young William, this felt like home. Perhaps it wasn't the blessed wonder of the Circle, but it was familiar.

Perhaps that was why Lark had adapted so quickly. To the clothing she had found herself in, to the working with the guild, and of course, to this. The bustling of the market. Lark moved happily through it, smiling to everyone she met, talking with merchants and discussing sales of the cloth she carried with her and purchasing of other supplies she would later take back to the ship.

Mostly, though, she looked happy as she tucked a stray hair back under the edge of her cap and she stopped by a vendor selling little cakes of dye.

"Oh what vivid colors!"

III - Questing Along | Ul'Dah Outskirts | [Open]

Raw materials were, at the end of the day, what any weaver or spinner needed. And those materials, Lark had been told, were in some cases to be found out in the wilds. There were plants that needed harvested, creatures that needed defeated, and things to be gathered. Only one problem.

Lark stood just outside of the gates, sighing to herself. Her basket at her side was what she was supposed to fill, and she wasn't certain how to go about it. It wasn't like her magic was suitable to combat, unlike that of some of the children, or perhaps Niko. No, this wasn't something Lark could do herself.

"Which leaves the question as to what I should do..."

Comments

[tsundullahan]

Celty jerked her own 'head' up at that. At first she wasn't sure what she was looking at. Something big that could fly. That was troubling enough. Although perhaps not that bad considering she could have imagined much worse. Human-sized bats. That would be terrifying.

It did not seem like an appropriate time to be writing anything so she had to settle for gestures instead, pointing at the thing as she glanced at Lark. Is that..?

[stitch_witch]

Human sized bats would be TRULY horrible. Lark had no problems with animals, but a bat the size of a person might scare even her.

"I think it is," she said, expecting she was reading the gesture right. Oh dear.

She pulled a spindle of heavy thread from her pouch and started to unspool it. "Try and distract it. I will see if I can bind it."

She had no clue what Celty might be able to do, so she had to figure out how to catch the thing.

[tsundullahan]

Distract... Celty looked curiously at Lark, wondering what she meant to do- bind? She could probably handle that all, but at least Lark's materials would last longer- or at least raise less questions.

Still, catching was something Celty knew she could do. Either way, they'd have to get it close, and she wasn't sure if the thing was dangerous beyond just being as big as it was, and she wasn't going to endanger Lark trying to find out. Moving outwards a little to keep some distance between them, the dullahan picked up a rock, watching the bat before she hurled it at the creature.

[stitch_witch]

Well, she hadn't expected 'throw a rock at it' but why not? If it works, she won't judge. Instead, as the bat weaves away from the thrown rock and starts moving for the dullahan, Lark gathers her threads and flings them through the air, even as she charged it with her magic. The threads wove themselves into a net, which draped itself over the bat.

Or, well, would have had it not dodged that too.

"Oh drat."

[tsundullahan]

Celty did not normally go around starting fights. She ended up caught up in them because of jobs gone wrong. The rock at least served to catch the bat's attention. There's something considerably frightening about a creature that big coming for you. Its veering off course did not quite help as it looped around towards her again, and Celty cast a brief look at the falling net before she threw out her hand towards the incoming bat.

Shadows swirled and snaked towards and around the creature, but unlike the threads Lark had thrown, these continued to move after the bat as it tried to flit aside. Celty closed her hand around the shadows and gave it a yank to the ground as they trapped the bat.

[stitch_witch]

Oh, that's... interesting. The bat fell to the ground, captured. And Lark looked at the other woman, impressed.

"I thank you. I shall have to practice my throw. Hold it a moment. I will take only one fang. I do not wish to render it unable to feed itself fully."

That would be cruel.

[tsundullahan]

It seemed a little cruel to be removing teeth from the creature at all. Still, Celty gave Lark a nod. It wasn't difficult to keep hold of the bat, at least.

[stitch_witch]

Yes, it was. But it was better to take one for the request than to, you know, kill the things and THEN take the teeth.

"I cannot fathom why people would need such things," she says with a sigh as she moves to the bat. To keep it from biting her she has to sadly stuff some of her thread in its mouth to hold it open. "Poor thing. I feel..."

Can she even do this?

"What if we just said we didn't run into any?"

[tsundullahan]

Celty looked at Lark, feeling a little of the tension she hadn't realized she'd been holding in her shoulders suddenly ease. She slipped out her paper to jot her words down.

𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙.

[stitch_witch]

"Alright then. Back away. I'm going to release the thread in the mouth. And then we should... We should run."

Oh this poor thing. Lark just had to release it. Not that she had another way to come up with how to get the fangs, but it doesn't matter.

[tsundullahan]

Nodding, Celty took a few steps back, however not too far. She was ready to defend Lark if the bat got too aggravated, if rightfully so.

Even as she waited she couldn't help but wonder if the other things they set out to gather would be as involving. She hoped not. The ways of this world were so strange...

[stitch_witch]

This world was super strange.

She rises and moves away from the creature, letting her thread trail back with her. So long as it's connected to what's in its mouth, she can pull it back. Then, once she was a little bit away, she pulls. The threads in the creature's mouth unravel.

"Release it and run?"

[tsundullahan]

The dullahan's gesture is clear enough as she makes a quick sweep of her arm, pointing for Lark to go. She was ready whenever the woman was, but she wanted Lark to make her move first. If they might drew the things ire, then Celty felt she would be the better choice to cover their flank.

[stitch_witch]

Well, then it was time to go. The woman darted away at her best speed. And, once the creature was allowed free, it rose into the air, screeched in anger, and gave chase.

"Quickly, let's flee back to the city."

[tsundullahan]

Flee? Well, Celty wasn't going to argue. She started to run once Lark had passed her, tossing up a wall of shadow to try slowing it down, or at least let them get some distance. Hopefully it would be dissuaded from continuing its pursuit. Ah, what she wouldn't give to have Shooter here.

[stitch_witch]

With Lark's back turned, she didn't even notice the wall. But she did reach for Celty's hand, as if to pull her along.

"Come, I don't want you left behind!"

[tsundullahan]

She hadn't expected that, and in fact almost startled at finding herself being tugged. Her feet started to move to adjust for her suddenly offset balance, and Celty turned her head to look after Lark as the woman continued to run with her in tow.

Well, she didn't have to tell her twice, at least. Celty picked up speed to match Lark, hurrying along.

[stitch_witch]

At least they are both hurrying along, even with the thing flying after them.

"Well this was not the day I anticipated," she admitted as she rushed. But she held her wind well as she did so, knowing how to run and breathe all at once.

[tsundullahan]

It was difficult to write and run so Celty could only gesture with a headshake and hope it was enough. Not exactly how she'd expected to spend her day either. She just wanted the bat to leave them alone. If it ended up chasing them all the way back to town just to get itself killed by people there, she'd be quite upset!

[stitch_witch]

Yes, that would be upsetting. Might even be worse than hurting it themselves. Lucky, after some number of yards fled, the creature turned back, and Lark came to slow before stopping to catch her breath.

"I fear I'm getting to old for this."

[tsundullahan]

Celty slowed to a jog as she saw the bat was finally abandoning its chase. She dropped her shoulders in another silent sigh, relieved that they'd managed to get out of that dilemma. Again she removed her writing tools, turning a freshly scrawled sentence towards Lark.

𝑆𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤?

[stitch_witch]

So what now indeed. Lark looked at the words for a long moment, trying to come up with a good answer.

"I fear I shall have to abandon the tasks set to me. I cannot bring myself to hurt these things. It wasn't even interested in us until we acted."

[tsundullahan]

It was a decision Celty could respect. She nodded. Hunting and gathering had been two separate things in her mind, but now she wasn't so sure, much less that she wanted to find out.

She pointed back towards the city. Should they just go back?

[stitch_witch]

Lark read the meaning of the pointing rather easily. For a long moment she considered, before nodding.

"Yes, I believe that is wise. I fear I would not enjoy defending myself, and I don't wish to put you into a strange position to demand things of you that you do not enjoy."

[tsundullahan]

She'd never had to do this sort of thing so the thought of actually enjoying it hadn't even crossed her mind. But as much as she knew how to fight, she'd rather avoid it, so Celty nodded in agreement. That worked for her.

Her next gesture was similar to the first, but clearly an 'after you,' sort of flavor.