Belloq Log

[archeologue]

Who: Belloq and OPEN
What: Belloq around town. Three locations, three starters.
When: Today-ish
Where: Museum, Resort bar, Pugsy's
Notes & Warnings: None at the moment. Will edit if something comes up.

Comments

Museum

[archeologue]

Belloq wandered the museum, eyeing the artifacts within their cases, and amusing himself by trying to pinpoint the age of each artifact without looking at the information plate. It was a waste, he thought, having these priceless relics here where any old riff raff could look at them at hardly any charge. Most of these tourists probably didn’t really appreciate them like they should. They glanced at one vase quickly before moving onto the next, like they were only slightly more interesting than street signs. Now, someone who paid two million dollars for an artifact, that was a person who likely appreciated what he had.

He almost wished someone would come and steal the damn things. He’d do it himself, except he was no cat burglar.

[lindir]

[Middle-earth was not big on museums. Elves certainly had no need for them. Ancient objects were often kept in the home of their owner, or their descendants, and often times histories could be told directly from someone who was there.

However, the museum is a quiet, low-lit place, which draws Lindir to it. Right now, he's standing in front of a damage statue of some sort of deity.]

[archeologue]

[Belloq tipped his hat at the fee. He imagines that the Fair Folk probably have their own gestures of greeting, but he doesn't know them, so he settles for the etiquette he does know, for now at least.

He stands by him in silence for a moment, looking at the statue.]

Do your people have gods?

[He asks quietly.]

[lindir]

[Thankfully his Elven senses allowed him to not be startled by Belloq's approach. Lindir looks over at him and inclines his head slightly, returning the greeting.]

Perhaps it may seem so to you. We do not use this word. Ilúvatar, the Father of All, has brought us into being, and the Valar guide us.

[archeologue]

If the story of your people is that Ilúvatar created you, I think that qualifies as your god. Are the Valar like angels, then? Spirits who serve as mediators between gods and morta-- [He remembers that Lindir is not mortal.] Between gods and those who dwell on earth?

please forgive me I rarely skip out on this stuff but tolkien is complicated...

[lindir]

[Lindir catches that, and does not like at all being mistaken for a mortal. He gives Belloq an annoyed look and stiffens up - but then he exhales and relaxes again.]

The Valar are the Powers of Arda, responsible for it's shaping...

[Lindir explains some about the Valar, which starts to become a little long winded...]

np!

[archeologue]

[Belloq listens closely. Knowing the cultures and mythologies of other peoples is important in his line of work.]

Do your people make statues of these spirits? [He gestures to the cult statue on display in the museum, using it as an example.] Or any other sort of relics?

[He suspects an elven artifact would be worth a small fortune to the right buyers.]

[lindir]

On occasion. The Noldor in particular are gifted in crafting, however not much has survived from the First Age.

[archeologue]

Rarity and age make them all the more precious.

[lindir]

Indeed. Anything we have saved from the north is treasured... sometimes even our people.

[Lindir smiles slightly, thinking fondly of his lord and idol.]

But I have not walked there. I was born after that time, though sometimes I wish I could have seen Gondolin before it's fall.

[archeologue]

So...you are a young immortal? [It's a strange notion to him. The idea of "immortal" goes hand in hand with "timeless" in his mind. The thought that, likes humans, some are old and some are young is novel.]

[lindir]

[Lindir crosses his arms behind his back casually, taking a moment to think about that. The question actually gave him pause.]

I would not say I am very old, but I am certainly not young. There are some who are much older than I, My Lord Elrond or the Lady Galadriel, for example. The oldest and wisest among us are few in Middle-earth, but there are many others in the Blessed Realm.

By the measure of Men, the Eldar mature in a century's time. I myself have lived for over 3453 years.

Resort Bar

[archeologue]

Belloq sniffed the wine in its glass, swirled it to examine how the liquid rolled, then at last took a small sip, holding it on his tongue to take in the taste.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Definitely not French, but not bad all the same.

Pugsy's

[archeologue]

His Orion “friends” told him that this was the place to go to find the sort of person he was looking for—a person who didn’t ask too many questions when given the proper amount of money incentive. They even gave him a list of names and descriptions to help him find someone who would take him out into the forest to explore, and look the other way if he should happen to stumble across an archaeological find that he didn’t want to report to the Preservation authorities.

He peered through the smoky room, noted a collection of people nearby laughing and playing darts, throwing the sharp little projectiles at a picture of…no, he couldn’t tell who it was anymore. Too many holes. Carefully staying out of the path of the darts, he went to the bar and ordered a drink from the dog-faced bartender.

[vengeance_driven]

Niko wasn't playing darts at that moment, but he was watching his "side" play them, sat playfully up on one of the higher drinking tables and dangling his legs off the side. Somehow he managed to do that and hold his glowering look. It was a talent.

After the Andorian playing took his shot, he was in the group of a couple of Krogan and a Klingon that cheered for him. He thumped the Klingon's chest armor before he hopped down and went to get some more beer for himself.

On his way he passed Belloq. "Hey, I remember you. The Frenchman. How are you, man?"

[archeologue]

Belloq nodded and smiled at his fellow foreigner. Although in this place, "foreign" started to take on a whole different meaning. A man with a different accent didn't feel so foreign when some of the other people had antennae, or fur, or scales.

"Very well, thank you. Planning a little expedition soon. Actually, I'd like to talk to you about it. Some friends of mine know some friends of yours and your name came up as a good man for a job. Let me buy you your drink. You can call me Dr. Belloq, or Rene if you prefer."

[vengeance_driven]

Or apparently came from a different universe where your city didn't just have a different name as what someone else would call it, it was a different thing, a different time altogether.

But Niko adapted well as he always did and he responded to Belloq with a bright sort of, "Sure!" Who was he to turn down a free drink. He had a seat, deciding he should probably call him Rene if he wanted to work with him, unless he turned around and insulted his intelligence.

[archeologue]

Belloq orders a beer for himself and throws down a few emeralds to pay for both his and Niko's drinks. It isn't the sort of drink he'd normally chose, but he shudders to think of what the wine might be like in a place like this, and beer was relatively difficult to ruin for him, if only because he wasn't fond of it in the best of circumstances. But it was wet, and had alcohol in it, and that was good enough for him.

"I need a guide to take me out into the forest. Someone who won't mention it to the authorities if I should accidentally forget to report any archaeological finds. I've heard that you may be just what I'm looking for. You'll be paid, of course."

[vengeance_driven]

"Well, at least you don't dance around a subject." He was glad he was still sober for the business portion of the conversation, anyway. He tried to make a point of that.

"It is technically my legal job here." He leaned his elbows on the bar. "It puts it at a lot of risk. All I am good for is using a gun and driving. It's the only job I can do, and so far I haven't done that kind of business.

"It doesn't mean that I won't, but you'll have to give me something that makes it worth it."

[archeologue]

"Time is precious. We have so very little of it on this earth and I prefer not to waste it. I heard from my green friends about your other job here, and now you about mine, too. It's much simpler this way. We can speak freely."

Belloq shifted on his bar stool so he could move a little closer to Niko, speak to him over the noise of the pub.

"Driving is all you have to do. Drive, and look the other way now and then when you're not driving. No one gets hurt and you get five hundred emeralds. If I get caught later..." He shrugged phlegmatically. "...you could just say that you were busy taking a piss behind a tree and saw nothing. I wouldn't rat you out." And his Orion benefactors have promised to pay any fines or bail fees he might incur.

[vengeance_driven]

"And what if it's something that's a little larger than normal." Niko knew not all the items out there were small- that skeleton for one.

But he really, really wanted to get that ship of his own. He didn't want to be stuck forever doing guide work just for the chance; he had to pay his way through flight training anyway.

There was plenty of this to go around, right?

"Alright," he turned and looked away, off at the darts game, not feeling especially proud of himself as he turned a glass in his fingers. "As long as your loyal. I'll do my part, so long as it's just driving. And if I tell you to find someone else, I won't rat you out. But if I'm out, I'm out. Agreed?"

[archeologue]

Belloq shrugged. "Take a very long piss?" he suggested. But in truth, anything that was too big for him to carry out himself, he'd flag its location for later retrieval rather than trying to haul it out then and there.

"There may be more money in it for you if you were willing to be further involved." And help Belloq remove and secretly smuggle out larger artifacts. "But I would have to clear it with my friends."

He held out his hand to Niko, offering a handshake to seal the deal. "For now, all you need do is drive, no strings attached, you can change your mind any time. I don't rat you out and you don't rat me out. Agreed."

[vengeance_driven]

"I would have to clear it with mine, too. I get in trouble, they get my back. But they'd get pissed if I got in trouble by doing things without telling them."

He finally took a drink of his beer.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same, ah?" Except patrol. Oddly enough, he's liked most of the security guys he's met. They seemed to be doing their jobs just fine and weren't using it to stamp power into other people's faces.

[archeologue]

"It's comforting, in a way. Every culture, even out here on strange planets, has crime, people who want to acquire what they don't have. It is a uniting force, a shared experience."

Greed: the universal constant.

"As Jean Jacques Rousseau said, it is the price we pay for civilization."

[vengeance_driven]

"There are always people that want something that they're told that they can't have for the good of everyone. And they're willing to go through everyone else to get it.

"Be wary of your bosses. Even the warriors I side with are honorable, but money is their constant. Yours, I'm not so sure of what dealings they do but you should be careful. I hear the price for pulling away can be high." He actually sounded a little bit concerned as he warned him.