Parthenope (throughseaglass) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-01-15 08:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | parthenope van der zee, player: lyddia, plot, zmarie roque |
Here we come to a turning of the season, witness to the arc towards the sun
1/15/19
Parthenope ✦ Marie
RECRUITING FOR THE GOOD GUYS PG COMPLETE |
A delightful morning at Sweets For My Sweet, non? Marie had been meaning to check it out anyway - she was intrigued by a very old member of the Fae community who produced liquor capable of being used as gasoline for some automobile brands but also light, fluffy cupcakes. It seemed an interesting contradiction. Admittedly, she was also here for a little recruiting - specifically, the mermaid she’d been observing. A dispatcher, but also apparently could add ‘prize counter at video game arcade’ to her resume. But beyond the bland facts about jobs and interests, Marie was looking for people to join her team who were good at extracting information - she was good at it too, but she couldn’t fuck everyone and then corrupt their memory. Greg couldn’t beat everyone up either, despite how he probably wanted to. And here Parthenope thought she’d just be able to grab her coffee and enjoy the caffeine in peace. Well, not so much - because today was her lucky day. Opportunities could come about from even the strangest of places, right? She’d added a bit of whiskey to her own coffee, something pulled from the small bottle in her jacket pocket (that creamer stuff was terrible anyway, you could make bombs from it, and she didn’t want her sludge to be too sweet) when she spotted the mermaid with the to-go cup. Off she went, getting to the door before her mark and holding it open with a polite smile; despite the lid on her coffee, the fumes of whiskey so strong you could strip paint with it were likely prominent. It was 5:00 somewhere, who cared. “Hello there, Parthenope. How are you this morning?” Sweets for My Sweet had become Parthenope’s second home since it had mysteriously appeared in Summerview. Being on land had given her a real sweet tooth, since the sweetest things she’d tasted back home were… Shrimp. And the occasional excellent oyster. Sugar didn’t do well under water for obvious reasons. Not that she needed more sugar. Her new job at Josie’s Arcade put her in direct contact with blue flavored slushies (her new favorite food) at all hours, but there was nothing like a banana bread white zombie latte to start her day--nutty, sweet, fruity, and a little earthy--and neither the Diner nor the Arcade offered such a delightful concoction. And then she ordered a cinnamon chip scone for good measure, because good coffee deserved a delicious accompaniment. It was just how these things went. So, it was a good thing Marie was so quick to get the door, or she probably would have been staring at it willing it to open, or else trying to figure out how to rearrange her food and drink so she could have the use of one of her hands. (What a struggle.) “Oh goodness, thank you!” She gushed slipping out into the cool air on Summerview’s main drag. “I am… Lovely, I suppose, but not very coordinated. You’re a lifesaver.” And holding the strangest smelling cup of coffee she’d ever had chance to whiff, but she wasn’t here to judge. “How about you?” "Pretty good, thank you," Marie replied, with a touch of Nawlins in her tone along with that sort of smooth, radio-announcer timbre that often came about by smoking. Which she did, sometimes - she'd even indulged in a clove that morning. With more and more supernaturals essentially being ejaculated into this town, she needed to bolster up her resources a bit. Add to the numbers, add to her team - because she didn't have a good feeling about such a large number seeking sanctuary, call her crazy. Not everyone would have Summerview’s best interests in mind. Therefore, she needed more hands and eyes and ears and generally more everything. People who were fit for the job, people who didn’t mind doing a little dirty work. So, that’s why he’d been stalking the mermaid for a bit. Not difficult to dig up some info, and she seemed like she'd be fit for some dirty work for the good of the people or whatever. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to catch up with you for awhile, Parthenope, and as luck would have it - we both stopped at the same place to get coffee today.” Yes, a stroke of luck indeed. Or careful planning. “Very coincidental,” Parthenope agreed, her tone airy and sweet as usual, but with a smile that knew things. She wasn’t exactly sure what Marie was up to, but she wasn’t dumb. Sometimes having such a light sweet voice (a “little girl voice” someone had called it once, which had been really quite rude) gave people the impression she was soft, or just a straight up airhead. She was not nearly as clever as Peisinoê, but she wasn’t an idiot. And her Sight betrayed Marie’s snooping a little bit. But, she also didn’t detect any ill will, and so was willing to play this game of cat and mouse. She took a sip of her coffee (it was sort of charitable calling it coffee but it was, in any case, a caffeinated beverage made with unroasted coffee beans). “People don’t usually come looking for me,” she continued, “This must be a special occasion.” A special occasion, definitely - it was almost like a birthday party, without the cake or presents. "We'll keep walking, yes?" Marie motioned ahead of her, indicating that they could continue on this invigorating constitutional - she didn't exactly wear anything Gucci and/or particularly 'power suit' to recruit potential spies, just skinny jeans and a ‘caged heart’ graphic t-shirt under her jacket, hair streaked candy pink and pulled up into a ponytail. Mais oui, also with her boozy coffee. "I didn't want to chat about anything awful,” she promised, with a husky chuckle. Marie knew the girl had skills, that was why she was here - and lying to try to get someone to come play Jamesetta Bond was obviously a stupid idea. “So I’ll start by asking what exactly you’re up to these days? In terms of side hobbies, and such.” Parthenope nodded, taking a bite of scone and began walking in the direction Marie had indicated. She was certainly dressed for the weather and a walk, if the walk was happening on the pages of a magazine ad, which coincidentally, how she tended to choose her outfits. Just a huge purple sweater that could almost fit a second one of her inside it, buttery soft leggings and a scarf that was almost a blanket. The sort of thing someone would wear if they were rolling around in leaves with their dog in a Ralph Lauren ad or something. “I would hope not.” She let out a breathy giggle. How inappropriate would that be in these circumstances? No it was too nice a day for that and bad news should always be given sitting down, not walking with a fist full of coffee and scone. “Hobbies? Hmm… This? And needle point? I have a new job at the Arcade I’m rather enjoying, so I’m trying to learn some of the games in my spare time.” She shrugged. Truth be told, Marie loved needlepoint. She sewed, and refurbished clothes and sometimes furniture in her spare time, but needlepoint was a whole other ballgame. So they’d definitely get back to that. Later. “You were once with the police station, weren’t you?” she asked curiously, sipping on her coffee as they walked. The main drag was quiet this time of day; could be due to the fact that so many supernatural types were nocturnal. Only came out at night when the monsters were supposed to lurk. She had a point to inquiring about dispatch, really. “Because I’ve sort of started a new group. Kind of related. But a lot juicer and a lot more...interesting.” There weren’t a lot of guarantees in life - but ‘interesting,’ when it came to this, was definitely iron-clad. She nodded again. “I was. Pêisinoe didn’t think I was living up to my potential there,” she said earnestly. “And now I work at a prize counter in an Arcade.” Seemed like a lateral move at best, but she was enjoying herself more. Much more than she would have been at home, too, probably. She couldn’t really say though. “Related how?” She asked, head tipped to the side curiously. This was kinda fun. Far less rude than stuffing Parthenope into her car for a talk, speeding off. Marie just didn’t want to do that. But no - like this, she got to enjoy her tasty morning brew in the open air. “Not exactly law enforcement, but keeping an eye on things, shall we say,” she began to explain. “With certain groups of humans and supernaturals. Traveling to other sanctuaries. Talking to people. Finding things out. You’re good at that, aren’t you?” Her gaze cut over to the girl, burnt amber and a glint of inquisitiveness. Parthenope took another bite of scone considering that. She wasn’t interested in law enforcement per se. That wasn’t why she’d taken that position. Helping people was what she enjoyed really, and what she’d been trained to do, in some capacity. She’d been raised to be a diplomat, essentially. Which didn’t sound exactly like what Marie was proposing, but sort of close? She figured it was best to just lay that all out. “I was raised to be a diplomat, so I suppose I have some skill in that sort of thing. Though I think land dwelling types find my style a little off putting. From time to time.” “Perhaps, but I doubt they’d...suspect you of anything?” was Marie’s logic. No, Parthenope had a certain amount of charm to her; land-lubbers probably just called it quirkiness, and she’d just be the weird girl as opposed to the weird information-gatherer. She swallowed another mouthful of coffee, tossing the whiskey-stained empty cup in a nearby trash can without missing a beat. “Some spies have diplomatic status. So that’s basically what I’m getting at here.” Since they were laying it all out, well. Let’s just do that, shall we? Hmm. That was a valid argument, even if Parthenope hadn’t ever thought of her quirkiness as an asset. But she supposed. In the right light… But alright, even if she was interested in flexing some of the muscles she’d let atrophy since she and her sister had made the decision to live on land, she had no idea what she was getting into. And well. Again, she wasn’t as silly as people tended to think (which, also might have been an asset, now that she was thinking of them in that mindset). “It sounds interesting, but… I’m not sure what the cause is?” Sort of the most important thing. Even the most basic arcade games had a goal in mind. She could be enticed to spy, perhaps, under the the guise of diplomacy--it had been done before by her people, though not too often, she didn’t think--but not for a cause she didn’t believe in. That was a question Marie expected - because why would anyone sign up to assist a cause, when they had no idea what the cause even was? Only an idiot. She didn’t employ idiots, thank you. “It seems like most in the town are what we consider neutral,” she said. “Picking sides is honestly ludicrous but it’s the best explanation for it - and the sides I refer to are the ones dealing with how supernaturals view humans. Some want them out of the picture, and that group is making strides to rise up. The other side is more equal opportunity - as in, there can be terrible people on both ends of the spectrum, so we’re not necessarily owed anything by humans. I tend to not want to hurt them, myself.” And that’s what she was looking for - fellow supernaturals who, in her view, wanted to actually do the right thing. Who weren’t so blinded by hatred and revenge and their own personal darkness that they lashed out at those who weren’t deserving of such a thing. Oh how very interesting. She wondered if Peisinoê was aware of any of this going on. She had been raised to be neutral--to be an arbiter for feuding peoples--but goodness was that tiring after a while. It was difficult to not have an opinion--or worse, to have one and not express it. And while she had no lost love for the humans who’d made a garbage dump out of the sea she hailed from, she didn’t believe them to be so bad that she wanted them out of the picture. “I believe the saying goes ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,’” she said after a long moment. “So I think I will help.” “Oui, that saying has some wisdom to it,” Marie smiled slyly, pearly gates on display. She procured a card from her jacket pocket, flipping the tiny thing between her fingers - simple information, just all about Boudin (its logo was the crawfish, along with one of her favorite phrases - laissez les bon temps rouler) and its hours and whatnot. But then she also found a pen and scrawled her mobile phone number on the back. “Whenever you want, call me or text and we’ll set something up. I can go over things in more detail.” The card was offered to Parthenope. “It will be nice to work with you.” Parthenope stuffed the last of the scone in her mouth, crumpled the paper and tucked it into her purse so she could accept the card. She turned it over a few times in her hand. Finally she nodded. “I’ll let you know.” She still needed to think about it, but she honestly couldn’t think of a reason at the moment not to help with such a thing. It would mean she was doing some good in the world--which was something she’d been hoping to do, really--and it would use some of her education. Perhaps having the skills of a Jane Austen heroine did come in handy after all? |