"Stop there! Who are you?!" Elaine's French accent never left her. Or the rest of her family for that matter. But right now, she just sounded furious as she shun a flashlight at the trespasser. She had just been in her tent, getting ready to go to sleep when she was sure she heard footsteps. She had kept quiet at first, not sure if it was just in her head or not but hearing the steps continue made Elaine regret turning her lamp off. But her annoyance at anyone trespassing on the excavation site got the better of her as she instantly grabbed a flashlight and went outside, shining her light towards the person standing near one of the caverns the excavation group had made. Appearing to be analysing it.
The person appeared a bit off guard with her appearance. Probably didn't expect any of the archaeologists to remain, Elaine thought to herself.
The intruder himself, when he turned around, was a bit odd to the Frenchwoman. He wore a white mask and dog eared hat for one, along with a grey feathered boa and cloak over a dark suit. She could still see his mouth, and from what she could tell he seemed apathetic then and there. Until he gave either a smirk or smile. Elaine couldn't really tell.
"Ah, I wasn't aware that there was still anyone present here." Elaine already had her guard up as the intruder began walking up to her. His voice sounded a bit aristocratic and confident. But it was the cause of the confidence that had Elaine worried.
"Not all of us believe in ghost stories, Monsieur," Elaine replied coolly. Still keeping her flashlight on the man. She had a moment where she felt glad to have learned kickboxing once the man was barely several steps away from her. She wanted to check around her on the off chance there may be others present but it somehow felt like a bad idea to take her eyes of this man for even a second. It felt like a gamble, but she thought she made the right decision.
"So you're not afraid of this Spectre that everyone is afraid of?"
"There's nothing to be afraid of." Elaine huffed. The masked man however seemed to be mildly amused however as he made his retort.
"Oh? Then tell me? Why do you have a flashlight then? Surely if there's nothing to be afraid of, you should be okay in the dark on your own."
"Because I'm not stupid and don't wish to end up dead."
"If that's what you think will be the result of meeting me, then you wound me." He put a hand over his heart, his mockery clear while Elaine bit her tongue for a moment and breathed deeply through her nose. She then repeated her original question.
"Who are you? And what are you doing 'ere?"
"I don't think I need to tell you my name or reasons. However, I may part with my name if I receive your own in return." Elaine narrowed her eyes. She'd rather not give her name, but it seemed there was no choice if there was to be any progress.
"Elaine Hawthorne." Elaine said shortly. "Now yours'."
"So demanding for a young lady, but you can refer to me as Descole." He seemed to think Elaine should have been happy enough with that name. But instead it only raised some suspicion.
"No first name?"
"What makes you so sure it was my surname I gave?" Descole questioned.
"No loving parent would be cruel to give that as a first name." Elaine answered back. "Not unless they thought it was 'umourous." 'Descole' as he called himself didn't seem to think it was amusing and his mouth seemed to be in a distinct frown. But Elaine went on before he could have a chance to reply.
"And I gave you my full name. Don't I deserve to receive your own in return?" Elaine mocked the words he said not too long ago. It wasn't too long before he was smiling though.
"You just asked for a name to call me by in the beginning. You shouldn't be greedy now."
"I didn't realise your name was the most valuable thing in existence." Elaine muttered. But it seemed that was all she was going to get out of him as far as his name was concerned, and just went onto the next question.
"You still didn't say why you're here." He didn't answer straight away, but when he did he answered,
"Well you see, I am a scientist of sorts with a deep interest in archaeology, and I heard that the Golden Garden could possibly be here so I felt that I had to come myself." Elaine thought this story through in her head. It wasn't unbelievable really. There had been some mild interest among the people in town and one or two had come up here. Plus there had been an article printed in some of the papers so it shouldn't have been surprising for this Descole man to have heard of it. But there was a small problem with that that stood out like a sore thumb.
"Then, why are you here during the night?"
"I arrived here late and when I heard that the archaeologists were gone, I thought it couldn't hurt to have a look here myself." Elaine's blue eyes showed some of the doubt she had about the story. It seemed slightly believable but it sounded mostly nonsense to her.
"Even though there's supposedly a spectre 'ere?"
"From what there is to observe, it hasn't come here." Descole noted calmly. Elaine felt there was something else but couldn't quite place it.
"That doesn't mean you should be 'ere, Monsieur."
"Have you found anything yet?" Descole changed the subject, much to Elaine's chagrin.
"I don't see 'ow any of that is your business."
"After coming here, I think I'm entitled to seeing something of some sort of value."
"Then you'll be disappointed to learn that there has been nothing found yet relating to the Golden Garden." Elaine huffed, and stood straighter, trying to look taller. However, Descole was still taller than her. He didn't tower over her, but he was still taller.
"No?"
"Non. Except for a vase, rien!" Seeing him frown gave Elaine some hope that he would leave. But it was dashed when he said,
"I still want to look at it." Elaine pursed her lips as she tried to think of some way out of this, but it seemed he would just look even if she said no again. But maybe if he saw the vase, he'd go and never come back. Mumbling to herself in her mother tongue, Elaine stepped outside her tent.
"Suivez-moi." Elaine grumbled as she made her way towards the tent where she had left the fragile vase on the folding table, with only a brush and notepad to keep it company there. The light brown haired woman lit up a lamp before walking over to the vase as Descole followed.
"It was found in one of the caves after a small flood." Elaine began as she carefully held the artefact up in her hands, holding it up for the masked man to see. Though it was also on the off chance he may try to look with his hands instead of his eyes. "Not very surprising but it seems to be definitely to be of Azran origin.
"And you can verify that?"
"It's these glyphs around the rim of the picture going around it." Elaine explained as she pointed to the glyphs. The picture itself, while faded and a bit chipped, had enough remaining to show what looked like a little girl standing by a sea turtle that was stuck in the sand. As the picture went around the vase, the images changed along with the glyphs above it.
"It tells a story of a little girl finding a sea turtle stranded on a beach. She can't push the turtle out and she can't get 'elp from the villagers because then the turtle will be eaten. So she gets jellyfish from the water and feeds them to 'im until he is strong enough to return to sea. The night after that, an abandoned ship crashes onto the beach, with food for the villagers to eat."
Elaine had only looked up at Descole once she had finished explaining the story, and saw that he had what seemed to be a mixture of curiousity and surprise on his face.
"You can… Can you read the Azran glyphs?" Descole questioned. He sounded genuinely interested, and almost sounded as if he was demanding her to respond. "It's… quite a difficult language to grasp."
"True," Elaine agreed, "It took me nearly six years to fully understand it, but it was worth it. I'm not sure 'ow likely I would be 'ere if I didn't understand the glyphs. 'Onestly though, I always found it easier for me to understand then Greek or Latin."
"I see." Descole murmured, though mostly to himself. If Elaine could have seen his face, she would have seen how calculating it looked as he thought over what he said. But he then looked up at Elaine with a faint smile.
"I must admit that if I thought there to be anyone here, I never expected them to be competent enough at their job. You however seem to currently go against that theory."
"What do you mean by that?" Elaine questioned. She was beginning to wonder if she let something slip that she would end up regretting later. But Descole just chuckled as he turned around to leave.
"Nothing for you to fret over, my dear. Just expect me to keep you some company from time to time for conversation purposes."
"'Ey, attendez!" Elaine carefully put the vase back down before stepping outside again. But her surprise guest was already gone. Elaine could only scowl in annoyance as she looked around a bit more.
She never agreed to any meeting.
