Shared Story: Character Campfire

Razugual looked between the two with a hint of apprehension. "I can't- What I am is both hard to explain and—surprising as it might seem—not of great importance, but you two..." He gave the older of the two boy an especially drilling stare.

"There have been a number of questionable people passing through here, but I'm having the most difficult time imagining how two youths like you managed to get lost this far out in the desert." There was that other young girl, but with a quick look around, Razugual found that she was nowhere in sight. She must have vanished— no, no, left- sometime while he had his eyes shut.

He pulled back onto his haunches and, somewhat distractedly, asked them, "Where are you two from?"




"Ah! So the educated man did bring a bottle? Brilliant, take a good swig if you thirst right now, then fill it up with this muck." Instructed the magician, who then kicked at the puddle with his pointy and somehow unscuffed shoe, launching a light shaking of dirt into the already dirty pool of water.

The magician shook his head at Sano's sudden outburst. "No no Sano, I haven't gotten to Latin yet. And who's leaving? If you wish to fly away, then why not I simply turn you all into birds and be done with it?" He held up his hands in an honest shrug, then added with something of a sly smile. "It's a very simple process... and I've always wanted to try a larger group act."

edited 13th Oct '12 7:56:32 PM by Ryuhza

"That..." John trailed off, stunned, "W-What was that for?! Where else are we going to find water?!" He looked back at Thomas, who's right eye was twitching. Uh oh...

He quickly tried to calm down his older brother as he answered Sano's question. "Um...w-we're trying our best to fix it, but unfortunately, we're not sure if we brought the right tools."

Damien looked at the magician sharply. "Hope you haven't gotten any funny ideas about me and some 'group act,'" he said, nearly losing his cigarette with every word. "And can we get back to the campfire soon?" His feathers ruffled as he looked around. He couldn't see a single wolf, and it was starting to worry him. "The gas station might have something we can fix your airplane with. Maybe even some gas."

edited 13th Oct '12 7:49:10 PM by DaeBrayk

(OOC: I can't guarantee I will be staying long; there's a busy week ahead for me - but this seems too good an opportunity to pass up. You'll have to forgive me if it seems I get some details not-so-right.)

"My fuel tank's ruptured..!" Larry shouts into his mouthpiece. He is pulling his jet's control stick towards him, feeling like Atlas struggling to hold the Earth in his arms. "Base Four, my altitude's dropping rapidly, 3000 feet.. 2500.. you know my coordinates, send a carrier here to pick me up ASAP!"

His name is Larry Foulke, a 2nd Lieutenant of the Ustian Force. His comrades would call him "Pixy" however, for his unique dogfighting style.

Through the cockpit he can see the desert ground now, rapidly approaching him. Hazy smoke emanates from the ruptured fuselage of the F-18 fighter jet, leaving a blotchy streak across the sky. He imagines any time now, his jet would erupt into sudden flames - out of the heat of air friction, or even the tinest of sparks.

He decides to eject; before pulling the ejection seat, he levels his plane as much as he can with the ground, turning on the flaps to decrease velocity - in the hopes that he can salvage the plane after it makes its "landing."

Larry shoots out of the cockpit into the air. His seat lets out its twin parachutes, and he hangs on as his seat glides down, down like a hangglider onto one of the arid foilage. In the background he hears the snap of his plane sliding across the sand, making a violent tumble to a stop.

He surveys his newfound surroundings. It's a particularly warm night, one where you're able to see things clearly with a vague, dim brightness. The outlines of the tufts of cloud in the sky. The canyon in the far distance.

And last but not least, the glowing fire by what looks like an abandoned gas station. Larry suspects that he isn't going to be alone while waiting for Evac-transport, and rightly so. He sees silhouettes of figures someways off by the fire. Whether it's a good thing remains to be seen..

He unstraps himself from his seat, and brushes off the dust from his suit. Then he proceeds towards those figures, cautiously at first, his M9 holstered if it turns out to be trouble.

edited 13th Oct '12 9:19:01 PM by QQQQ2

Mud pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows in an expression of disbelief towards John's upset reaction. When he seemed to realize that John was being quite serious, he scoffed and said, "Oh piffle, you weren't going to drink from the pool anyway- not directly. In any case, I assume that an educated man wouldn't drink this filth straight from the ground. Grime on top of filth is hardly going to make it significantly more repulsive, and by the end of purification, none of that smut will matter in the least, so you can go ahead and tell your blessed little heart to still itself."

Mud aimed a sideways and rather insidious smirk at Damien, then stroked his goatee in cartoonish villainy. When he was satisfied with his display, he answered Damien's question. "If there's no further call for water, then we may go. Are we all filled up gentlemen?"

I think I'm going to wait on Raz's reaction to the crash-landing 'till the others at the campfire have had a chance to respond to the current conversation.

edited 13th Oct '12 9:42:36 PM by Ryuhza

(OOC: Alrighty. Don't take too long. )

"I had my fill and so have my canteens, so I'm ready to go. But we should stop by the balloon on our way" Sano takes out a bar of chocolate from one of his many pockets and takes a bite. "There is a few dozen of these in a cooler, but they will probably melt in the sun."

Late edit.

edited 17th Oct '12 3:22:29 PM by m8e

QQQQQ was ban-evading and has been re-banned. Do we just pretend his post didn't happen?

edited 14th Oct '12 8:53:38 AM by SnowyFoxes

I thought QQQQQ's old ban was only a week-long. Never mind I guess.

Maybe he did something else to tick off the mods and made it permanent, hence the need for a new handle. I dunno. But we should drop that now.

Philip sighed and looked through his pile of wondrous odds and ends, trying to remember if he picked up anything that he could use to spear some meat for roasting. He was determined to ignore the two kids for now. The younger one was kind of annoying. Razugual didn't seem too fond of them either.

Finally, he came up with a coil of metal wire, thick enough to hold some chunks of meat. He straightened out one end and stuck his very badly cut meal onto it. And he still hadn't figured out how he was going to wash his hands. Wiping his hands on his already filthy uniform wasn't much of an option, but Philip figured he could handle dirt better than raw meat juice. He had practice. So he "cleaned" his hands and finally started cooking.

"I wish there were a doctor here. At least I'd now how much longer I'd have to live. It's nice to have a schedule." The last bit had only a hint of a joking tone.

Nathan smirks, "I wouldn't count on that, they're always wrong. Either you're going to die in fifteen minutes but oh no we really did have that treatment, or you'll live for another fifty years like this but then you get a stem cell batch denied."

He rips a section of meat from the bone with his teeth, before barely chewing it and swallowing it whole.

"What you really need for that is an executioner."

"Oh I just hung around some group of freaks who do freaky things," Ian replied to Raz bitterly. "I have no idea how I got stuck with them. But it just happened. When I got separated from the others though and had to babysit this brat. He runs around a lot and drag me all over the place and here I am."

Razugual stared blankly at the teenager. His response did not really answer the companion's question. With a shake of his head, Razugual began to dismiss him, saying, "Sounds really terrible kid, but you'd better keep an eye on him." he eyed the younger boy warily for a few moments, adding quietly, "I somehow doubt that the boy understands the gravity of this situation."

He almost left it at that. Razugual turned his head to stare at the fire, and at Philip, and the other man in the shiny white suit. Philip was finally eating, and they were talking about... what were they talking about? He wasn't listening. Again, one thing flowed at the back of his mind, influencing him to impose himself upon a complete stranger. He glanced back at the younger boy. He wasn't being imposing, was he? It was just... consideration for two youngsters lost in the desert.

Turning back to Ian, he asked, "How long have you two been wandering? Do you have food? Water? It's not safe to be out in the desert by yourselves, there are wolves-" Razugual stopped, realizing immediately that the two were already quite aware of the large wolves. "The desert is vast and empty. I can't even say how far out we are, but from the shambles this place is in, I don't think it's frequented very often. Exceptin' tonight, that is."




Mud wrinkled his forehead in surprise at Sano's possession of chocolate. "Chocolate bars? What a dandy treat for two ambiguously employed men to have in a hot-air balloon in the middle of the desert!" He twirled the end of his moustache and shook his head in fascination. "You are a most interesting person auratus Sano. I think I should like to ring bells in your ears someday."

If you need time to have time to have passed, then feel free to say it has passed. Within reason, of course. Just consider that the beginning of the thread was around the start of nightfall. Time between events has not been defined exactly.

edited 15th Oct '12 8:13:41 AM by Ryuhza

How much time has passed? and how far is it between stuff?

If the water was found past the horizon Damien and the others would now be something like 4-6km from the fire depending how flat the terrain is. They wouldn't have walked in a stragiht line to it and with interuption like the balloon falling from the sky and Damien being turned into an dodo it should have taken a at least a couple of hours to get there.

They have also spent some time at the fire(except Sano and the twins) and at the water hole.

edited 15th Oct '12 4:31:12 AM by m8e

These things are kept intentionally liquid. There is a campfire within sight of a gas station. There is a muddy hole somewhere out there, probably too far for the campfire folks to see, but perhaps not so far that the people at the water hole can't see the light from the campfire. For all we know, Mud and Damien got five feet and stood behind a rock bickering for five pages before finally completing the twenty meter journey to the water hole, or perhaps they've been clipping along at six miles an hour in a perfectly straight line since the moment they left, and are now thirty miles away.

The two basic measurements are "within sight" and "within walking distance," and what this means in numbers is different for every character. As for time...

Damien craned his neck up and puffed his feathers again, completely failing to glare menacingly down at the magician, since his full height barely reached the man's chest. "I think I've stopped wondering why your name is Mud," said Damien. "My compliments to your mother for figuring you out so fast."

Insults aside, he assured himself that was all just part of the flashy act. The magician would turn him back when this was all over, or they would just have to solve the long-standing ornithological debate on the dodo bird's combat capabilities.

"Yeah, I've filled up," said Damien. He fished his pocket-watch from his jacket and fumbled it open. His impulse had been to check how long they had been gone, but as usual his pocket-watch seemed to have gone either back three-and-a-half minutes since he had last checked it at sunset, or forward twenty-three and fifty-seven. After a good fifteen seconds of staring, the little brass watch finally oozed out a single "TICK," which came free from the watch with some reluctance, as if it had become tacky in the heat. He snapped it closed and decided not to mention it yet.

"Lead the way, Sano," said Damien. "I'm sure we've got time for a detour."

edited 15th Oct '12 12:46:58 PM by DaeBrayk

Sano tilts his head while looking down at the bird. "I was kind of passed out while it crashed, so I don't really know where it is. But, The wind was blowing to the east, and I think I would have flown over you if I hadn't." Sano takes a good look at Mud. "I think it's best if someone else leads the way. Someone who saw the crash."

"Be gentle now. We don't want to make a river of bad blood between us, now do we?" Mud said, giving Damien a look of mild concern, then his gaze rose. He smiled distantly, staring far into the night. "No. Of course not..."

He continued to stare, until all of a sudden he turned sharply to face Damien directly. "And to think- not a single bravo or—bury me—a thank you for all I've done!" The magician tutted, but had on a warm smile, and he patted Damien's head a few times with fondness before withdrawing to... scribble in the dirt with his foot again.

Indeed, Sano had barely begun speaking when the magician had outlined a shape that looked a little like a fat light bulb. "In time- in time!" he muttered, fixated on adding a small basket to his scratchings. "Give me but a moment. I won't need more than three."

As he finished his illustration, the magician drew his own watch from his pocket. It was rather large and unwieldy for a pocket watch, silver, with several wild designs cut into it's sides. He set it down in the middle of his drawing, then stood very upright and tapped his foot. "All right now, lets go, come on, let's find it." His words were addressed to his watch. A few moments later, the watch's hands all turned very smoothly to one distinct angle.

With a brief nod and a glance in the direction indicated, Mud stooped down and retrieved his watch, then dug a large line across his picture in the direction of the balloon. Fortunately, it pointed back towards the gas station— or at least, the path they had come from. The balloon did not crash terribly far off their course after all.

"Yes some food and water would be nice!" Ian answered. "We're also looking for directions. You know which way can get us out of this wasteland quick enough? We've been wandering here for nearly a week."

"A WEEK!?"

It was all Razugual could do not to clutch his head as he cried this out. "You two have been lost in the desert for a week??"

He looked them up and down. His wide eyes were— if possible— even wider. The two didn't look terribly ragged- perhaps, perhaps they had lost track of the days already. Possibly... Razugual would have been surprised to hear that they had survived a single day, let alone several

He shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. "Right, okay... food. Is there any of that cooked wolf left?" he asked the other two. "We don't have water right now, but a couple of others who were here elected to go find some." He scanned the surroundings with dismay. "I'd hoped that they'd be back by now..."

Razugual stared at the horizon for a moment more, then with a sudden sharp movement, turned his head back towards the older of the two boys. "What's your name, kid? Both of you."

I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna drop out. Again, I'm really sorry, but I don't know what else to post here anymore.

After an uneventful trip to the balloon Sano immediately goes to one of the boxes. In fact he goes right to the white one that have toppled over and landed just outside the balloons basket. He goes through the stuff that's still in this box and arrange them back in the proper order, but not finding what he is looking for he continues with the stuff that lays in the sand.

Then under a carton he finds what he was looking for. It's looks to be a pocketwatch. It looks nothing like the antique pocketwatch Mud have, but it still looks to be a pocketwatch. Except for the face it's almost completely covered with a white semi-transparent rubber, the casing looks to made of silver or maybe steel. Instead of a chain it have a wire covered with another transparent material. When Sano grabs it the face lights up and shows the numbers 03:56:23.

"03:56:24"
"03:56:25"
"03:56:26"
Then it goes dark again.

Sano puts it in a breast pocket, and then addresses the others. "Looks like none of the boxes got damaged." He points at the different boxes and list some of their content. "That's the cooler with the chocolates, beer, whisky, rum and other treats, that one is empty, that one too, this box that toppled over is the medical supplies, bandages, painkillers, antiseptics, stuff like that, and that box is the miscs, clothes, books, tools, et cetera. We should take some of this stuff with us to that camp."

edited 20th Nov '12 4:30:07 AM by m8e

A hand emerges from the mountain of physics lab write-ups and AP Bio notes and math problems and reaches for the keyboard...

"Executioner? Nah, I'm still hoping I'll die in my sleep. Much nicer that way." Philip frowned and tilted his head to one side. "I've seen a few executions. Mostly hangings. Not nice. One decapitation. Messy, but quicker, I guess."

Might as well do something helpful for once. "Er, you can take a few of these for now." He held out his improvised utensil. It hurt to swallow, so he had been eating slowly and most of them were left. "And if you sit tight there'll be more."

edited 18th Oct '12 1:09:09 PM by SnowyFoxes

"Oh I'm Xenu the- Ow!" Corey was clobbered over the head by Ian once again. That's twice in the same area.

"Quit bullshitting!" Ian yelled then properly greeted himself. "I'm Ian Steele and this little brat is Corey Crone. We actually had supplies the first couple of days but starved the next few. Wait are you guys lost too?"

edited 18th Oct '12 4:44:18 PM by PsychoFreaX

Razugual stared at Corey very especially blankly for some time. He was relieved to hear that the two had had some food and water in the past week. "Well then, I guess you're lucky that you didn't stumble across any of the more vicious wildlife before you found us. Oh- I think Philip's got a bit of food for you." He said, nodding at the bloody man who was offering them his current share of the wolf.

"Seems like a good idea to get to cooking another one of those wolves." He said, "Is our skinner still around?" He couldn't see the young man with the knife anywhere. Perhaps he had slunk off with the others who had left the campfire without a word. Or maybe he went off to take an extended piss and got lost.

Turning back to Ian, he tried to answer his question. "Well, I can't speak for everyone, but me and Mud— he's out looking for water with some of the others, he dresses like a magician, be careful around him though; he likes to amuse himself and is rarely very considerate about it." He paused, looking very blank again. "Where was I? Oh- right, me and Mud were heading for this place called 'Aaoci' in search of a very important person. However, a... uh, gas station is actually a pretty uncommon site in that place. The land we were traveling in I mean. This" Razugual said, waving his clawlike fingers at the night sky, "This looks like Earth. The place we were at... isn't Earth. I guess you could say we're a little lost."





Mud walked around the crash site, surveying the contents of the balloon. "Were you two planning to go on a long trip, or a very short excursion?" He said, with a hint of amusement. "Well, I can think of quite a few people and one large white worrywart who might appreciate these. It's a terrific shame that there are so many boxes though. Too many, I think, for two men and a dodo to carry in a single trip."

He spent a moment with his head bowed and hand over his mouth, contemplating the problem. It was not long before his eyes lit up dazzlingly and leaked their way down into a large grin on his face. The magician lifted his head, and asked. "Say! Would either of you fine gentlemen care to temporarily take a grand position as this expedition's personal beast of burden? It will be a fine experience, I'm certain of it!"

Not understanding the reason for Mud's amusement Sano has to think for a moment to come up with a good answer to his silly question. "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."

"I don't think the bird would mind being the beast."

edited 20th Oct '12 2:17:58 AM by m8e