[Bed and Breakfast (Lobby)]
And like that, Joseph was gone.
Amy felt her heart sank. It was odd; she had only known him for, at the most, an hour. Yet here she was, already missing her friend. Still, it was the right thing to do; he needed to be with his family.
But was this really the right decision? The way Omar and Davey looked...something seemed a little off.
"Davey?" she said, turning to him, "Do you know about the cave? What was that all of that about?"
Maya, on the other hand, was relieved that all of this was (mostly) over. She sat on the steps, pulled out her phone, and began to play games on it. All she wanted to do now was catch up, have dinner, sleep, and get ready to fly home tomorrow morning.
edited 29th Jan '17 6:37:32 PM by Masterofchaos
Crazy Kiwi
Wagon - Railway Street East
[Vicky, Zuri, Nemaforte, Iraal, Scents, Oswald, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion]Zer Gwion... Gwion was sure he'd heard that particular term before. Not on Earth, in any case, but perhaps in Capital City. He was no expert in languages but due to his extensive travelling he could greet people in a number of human languages and knew simple words or phrases such as "yes", "no", "thank you" and occasionally "I don't understand" in some of them; he was even familiar with such terms as "M'sieur", "Herr" and the "san" suffix.
Iraal had asked him to walk with her so he swung himself down from the moving wagon onto the packed-earth road and fell into step beside her. "What's on your mind?"
Up on the wagon, Wolfe listened to Vicky's quick summation of what had befallen Lupin and Yamiko and would have pressed her further had not she been understandably distracted by Zuri choosing to make a reappearance. As strange as it was to him, it didn't seem to unsettle Vicky as much as the sight of Zuri's corpse had clearly done. Odd that she should be so discombobulated by the presence of the body and then react to the presence of a ghostly figure with - once she had gotten over the initial shock - idle chatter about animating the corpse, necromancy and zombies. Strange girl!
Teri noticed that, some strange reason, Nemaforte and Oswald got off the wagon and Oswald made what sounded like a farewell, Weren't they all heading in the general direction of Main Street? Wouldn't it be easier to ride on the wagon than walk?
Then Vicky recalled more details about the nature of Yamiko's affliction and asked Nemaforte if she could assist. Apparently, the rest were OK, which was good to hear.
"I was thinking off getting off at The Tipsy Toad," said Wolfe, in answer to Vicky's question. "I want to catch up with the rest of our group and Aubrey - now that he's been found. You see..." he broke off at the sight of the ghostly Zuri hoisting Zuri's cadaver into a standing posture and moving it towards the edge of the wagon. "The fuck? Are you planning on carrying it to the Main Street?"
Doc Carson's
[Lupin, Yamiko, Amanda, Mari, Kaitlyn, Doc Carson, Nurse]Kaitlyn watched and listened as Mari likewise failed to be intimidated by the young student. Red Oni... wasn't that supposed to be some sort of demon? Weren't they supposed to be larger than humans? Or was she just being poetic?
Kaitlyn actually heard the sound of metal being bent out of shape - a high-pitched sound above the range of normal human hearing - before the crumpled scalpel was dropped on the floor. Surely she didn't do that with her bare hands. Clearly the seemingly innocuous Japanese woman was more than she appeared to be.
To Kaitlyn's surprise, Amanda's response was to laugh - overdoing it, somewhat; very theatrical and contrived - and then claim that she found it funny that people should take her seriously when she threatened them. The silly bitch was clearly desperately trying to cover for her stupidity in threatening someone or something far out of her class and Kaitlyn doubted anyone believed her.
Kaitlyn gave a disbelieving and derisive snort, "Run along and play somewhere else little girl, the grown-ups are busy."
She turned half of her attention to what the doctor was saying but kept an eye on Amanda - the girl was clearly a coward who talked tough when she thought she had the upper hand then backed down when it was clear that she didn't and Kaitlyn knew better than to turn her back on cowards of that sort. They were just the sort of people to attack when you weren't looking, just to make themselves feel big again.
She actually felt a little cheated - she had hoped that the child would have been stupid enough to take Mari up on the offer to "step outside"... it could have been fun to watch, however brief.
A lot of what the doctor said made little sense. The nurse's ministrations were a lot more straightforward - a simple splint and a sling - but it looked as though Lupin would benefit from a decent painkiller and a few hours' sleep. In fact, he looked as though the sleep was not far off.
Kaitlyn felt like a bit of a "spare wheel" - the doctor and nurse had everything well under control and there wasn't a lot for her to do except stand around and fight the urge to bitch-slap the stupid little tart that had been running off at the mouth. Not the most enjoyable way to cap off a busy and tiring day.
[Town ~ Doc Carson's] (Mari, Amanda, Lupin, Yamiko, Kaitlyn)
Mari palmed her face. Here she was, dealing with a perilous young fool of a sadist, who was now laughing like a mad woman. Taking a step back, Mari shook her head, "You're insane. Be glad I'm not one t'punch first, ask questions second anymore."
Turning towards the doctor, she frowned slightly. There was something left of the psychic inside, not much though, that much she could confirm. There wasn't much she could do for her. She stooped down to pick up the scalpel she had mangled.
Mari dropped off the remains of the scalpel by Doctor Carson. "Sorry 'bout that. Was dealin' with someone who's nuttier than a fruitcake," she said, apologizing to the doctor as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. If there was one thing Mari was sure of, it was to not get on a doctor's bad side. They could get quite... creative when administering treatment.
Stopping to glare slightly at Amanda, Mari wandered over to stand beside Kaitlyn. She offered the woman her flask, "Care for some Scotch?"
Attitude is prohibited
[Bed and Breakfast] >>> [Outside]
Rin followed Omar Joseph outside, wondering if she had perhaps gotten herself into something foolish. Nevertheless, it was too late to back out now, she supposed. Stepping out, she looked up at the sky. Alien though it was, it was still the sky. It was nice to be able to see it again.
A small, holographic outline appeared over her face; a horizontal strip that covered her eyes and wrapped around the back of her head. An opaque, black visor materialized out of thin air, filling in the outline. The rectangular metal "plates" in her back, and in the backs of her arms and calves, opened at their base and began emitting a soft, blue light. She hopped and came to a gentle stop in mid-air, effortlessly hovering in place.
She looked over at Omar expectantly. All that was left to do now was get underway...
Not entirely dead.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Doc Carson's (Yamiko, Lupin, Amanda, Kaitlyn, Mari)
"Run along and play somewhere else little girl," said Kaitlyn in response to Amanda's charade, "the grownups are busy."
Amanda scoffed. "Busy with what? Waiting around and doing nothing while watching doctors take care of people you barely know? If you wanted to do that, you could just turn on the TV."
She smiled and made a small giggle when Mari called her insane - to someone like her, that was definitely a compliment. Heck, she would have been offended if someone called her normal. She was half tempted to torture both "grown-ups" right then and there just to make things a bit more fun, but since even she was on the verge of full adulthood, she knew better than to cause a scene in a hospital, especially one where she was outnumbered four to one (Lupin and Yamiko hardly counted, since they were too weak to do anything to oppose her).
The doctor nodded in agreement at Mari's apology. "I would've had a similar reaction myself, actually." He joined her in glaring at Amanda. "Though I would ask that you please bend that scalpel back to its original shape. My hands aren't made of rock like yours are." He turned back to Yamiko, but after a thought, took another look at Mari. "No offense, but... you're not some sort of demon, are you?"
"Really?" Amanda asked sarcastically, twirling around a strand of her curly light brown hair. "You ask that question to her rather than me? But as I said, I'm only here to check on Yamiko, as if you can't do anything to help her, I have something that might work."
"Amanda, I am a doctor," he said curtly. "I have a plethora of things that 'might work'." After waiting a bit to see if Mari would reply to his question, he turned his attention back to Yamiko, only to pause a bit before speaking up again. "Actually, come to think of it, if there is that kind of brain activity, the best thing for her might just be a good night's rest followed by a good dose of caffeine."
"Well that's boring." Sighing, Amanda decided instead to check on Lupin. Looking at him, she had to wonder how he broke his arm... but his injury was hardly interesting enough to ask further questions about. Now, if his arm had been snapped in half so that the bone broke through the skin, or had been rotting away from a corrosive fog, or had been simply shattered... then she might be interested, but all she could do now was stare. And roll her eyes at his attempts to stand up.
"You have to enjoy it," she told him. "If you keep on being so stoic like that, hunger will only make you weak. And if you're weak, you can't feel the pain of it as easily."
At that point the nurse was helping Lupin up; the latter lifted his head to speak to the annoying teen. "You have to shut the hell up. If you keep on talking loudly like that, hunger will only take you faster. And if you're dead, you can't feel any pain at all."
In fact, his own pain - that in his arm - had dulled considerably since his arrival here, in the face of both his lingering weariness (which, as Amanda had annoyingly pointed out, was due to being incredibly famished) and the concern for Yamiko that was just now creeping up on him. And yet, since he didn't have much capacity for panic at the moment, all he did was lazily drag along the mostly-empty rucksack toward where Yamiko was lying down.
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Town ~ Bed & Breakfast (Main Hall) —> Outside the Bed & Breakfast] (Cynthia, Connie, Davey, Joseph, Omar, Amy, Maya, Rin)
"Thank you!" Cynthia said, bobbing her head. She was grateful that Davey was willing to watch her belongings. He seemed like a trustworthy individual. Noticing that the others had already made their way out of the bed and breakfast, the young knight turned and made her leave as well.
She stopped outside of the front door, noticing Rin's slight change in appearance, eliciting a soft "oh" from the young woman. While the other woman had lept to the roof of the building in a single bound earlier, Cynthia hadn't noticed any accompanying lights. Though, considering she had been dealing with a rather painful stab wound at the time, she hadn't been in the "noticing details" state-of-mind.
Cynthia pulled her attention away from Rin for the moment, as hard as that was, to catch up to Omar. "Connie mentioned that there was a cave-in in the cave we're going to," she said as they approached Omar's motorcycle, "I might be able to use my magic to help with that." Cynthia smiled, raising her gauntleted hand, faint lines of white light crisscrossing the polished metal surface.
[E. Railroad Street: Wagon (Iraal, Scents, Oswald, Zuri, Vicky, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion)] I'm assuming everyone is still more or less in one group?
Scents stared at Zuri using telekinesis to animate her own corpse for a moment. Then she turned her head and simply curled up on the ground next to the wagon (not nearly as uncomfortable in armor as it looked, at least with the internal cushioning). Yeah, like I was saying, too much. It wasn't just the ghost, really - all Splinters were just pieces of the same Faith, and she could live with being wrong about ghosts even if it wasn't for the extenuating circumstances. It was just everything all put together, right?
At some point she would probably have to get up and go get a drink. And a sim if this wasn't where it was, but that would to wait until they got out of here. For the moment, though, this was just easier than dealing with anything else.
At least Oswald seemed like he was going to be okay. She should probably say something about that, in a moment.
Iraal walked south across the street for a moment until she and Gwion were near the entrance to one of the back streets, then tapped her backup to begin displaying the journal she had been reading back at the beginning of this day - what seemed like a much longer time ago than it had actually been. After a moment of letting herself relax, she focused on the virtual icon for her social software that was reminding her of what she had to say to Gwion.
"Zer Gwion," she told the enhanced human (realizing only now that she couldn't remember if that was a proper or surname), "I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your performance. As much of a failure as this may have been, you performed about as professionally as could be reasonably expected." Her voice turned slightly dry. "You also did not make a pass at me, which was good. I'd be willing to provide a reference for you if you want one, for your future work." She'd considered making the same offer to the Terra Novans - and even Nemaforte - but had rejected the idea, since they had come on the expedition mostly for reasons of their own.
"I know Scents was the one who originally hired you, but," not just thanks to her interaction software, "I can see she's not feeling well just now. So I also would be willing to simply settle whatever terms she agreed on with you now," she continued.
After a few moments of just ignoring everything, Scents looked up at Vicky and laid her ears back. "I... um, well, am never going anywhere near those crazies again in my life," she said, voice a little high. She glanced with one eye at Zuri's grotesquely hilarious animation. "Or death, for that matter."
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Maya)
Davey kept up his polite smile, waving as Cynthia and Rin followed the other two out of the building. Once they were gone, it diminished only slightly as he turned his attention to Connie.
She had stepped away, standing with her arms folded, close to a wall but not leaning against it. She seemed to be looking at Maya, or at least in her general direction, but her eyes appeared unfocused, or spaced-out. Her hair and clothes—having been treated to a dip in an old waterlogged mine and dried in the desert sun—were a mess, and Amy and Maya's situations weren't much better. But they at least seemed consciously present.
There were a lot of pieces still missing from Davey's overall muddled picture of what had happened to the three girls when he had parted ways with them earlier that afternoon, but clearly something about it was still bothering Connie.
She still hadn't noticed him looking at her, and before he could say anything, Amy called his attention away.
"The cave?" he repeated, then shook his head, "no, never heard of it before you all brought it up. But I think I know what's in the cave. What that man—Owen, was it?"
"Omar." Connie corrected him. She didn't look over at him or Amy, but she seemed a little more focused on her immediate surroundings.
"Thank you," Davey said, continuing, "the way he—and you—described it, as a way for your friend to return home, and Omar's refusal to describe more…" he turned his hand this way and that,like a seesaw, "it… well, it lines up pretty neatly with something I've heard of before. Very neatly. So neatly that I'd be willing to bet that it's exactly what I think it is."
"All right," Connie said, finally looking over to him and Amy, shrugging, "so what is this thing? What's the big secret?"
Davey paused for a moment, glancing quickly from Amy to Connie with a hesitant twitch edging at his mouth. "Well, unfortunately, I can't tell you more. I mean- I could; I'm physically capable of it." He let another moment pass, then sighed out his next few words, "But I think it might ruin your friend's exit strategy, so to speak. But mark my words, I'll tell you everything I know once the others return— those that are returning, that is. Now," he glanced down at his hands, knitting and unknitting them, and tapping his short fingers together, "I know this must come as quite frustrating, but trust me when I say- ...Connie?"
The teenage girl had excused herself without a word and was half way up the stairs to the second floor. "Connie," Davey persisted, "where are you going?"
"I owe you a shirt," she replied, without much in her voice to reassure him.
"Connie, I can take care of that now, you don't have to bother yourself with..." It was little use. Connie marched onward, disappearing into their upstairs room, silent but for the soft thud and occasional creak of her footsteps. Davey stared on for a moment, his whiskered mouth set in a wide, helpless frown. "Well... so be it," he murmured, before turning his attention back to Amy and waving it off, "she just needs a few minutes, I think. Some time to let things settle." His face lit up a bit, "And speaking of 'things', Amy, Maya," he looked between them, "it seems you've been up to quite a bit since we parted. Please," he smiled, his dark brown eyes twinkling with enthusiasm, "do enlighten me!"
[Town ~ Railway & Main] (Joseph, Omar, Cynthia, Rin)
Joseph's gut was on fire. As much as he felt emboldened by Rin and Cynthia's willingness to stick with him, and see him safely to Omar's big cave secret, he also felt awful. There was an angry fit of regret knotted up inside, berating him for having mistrusted Omar and wasting precious time running away only to ultimately choose to come back. It was joined to a feeble sadness: once again he was losing friends. Sure, they might have ultimately led him astray, but they did it for very good reasons. He got along with them. He liked them. And for some inexplicable reason, they seemed to care about him too. And now there stood a good chance that he would never see or hear from them again. It was far from the first time, but it never seemed to get easier to cope with that longing.
Lastly, and most pressingly, was a sense of imminent dread, making it hard for him to feel anything but numbness. Omar's attitude after Connie had mentioned the cave-in did not bode well. It boded the opposite of well. Omar had gone from his earlier relaxed way to being—somewhat understandably—impatient and frustrated, but now he was a statue, all stoicism and bitter resignation.
Omar's motorcycle was parked right at the edge of the porch, propped up loosely and still warm. It was a small thing, ideally suited for one, doable with two, and a difficult matter for three to share, but that was the plan. Omar made a brisk beeline for it, grabbing the handlebars and leading it a few feet away from the building before seating himself. He looked back at Cynthia, pointing to her and waving her over to the bike. "Come on, you sit behind me and Weller behind you."
Cynthia began to bring up a point about what Connie had mentioned earlier. Joe, not quite waiting for her to finish, nodded his agreement and chimed in, "Yeah, I was thinking about that too. If there's a cave-in right where this thing is, doesn't that mean-"
"Listen," Omar interrupted him, "just forget about it for now. There's no use in worrying about it until we assess the situation for ourselves. Right now time is our most important ally, and we shouldn't squander it any further."
Cynthia's confident offer to use some kind of magic to deal with the cave in instilled a similar confidence in Joseph, who looked from her to Omar with a big dumb hopeful smile on his lizard face. Omar, however did not seem so confident. "We'll see," he said. "Lets get there, and then we'll see."
Then he looked past Joseph and Cynthia. "I trust you'll have no problems following the motorcycle?" he asked, looking at Rin as she activated the means by which she could fly. "It's not far, just off the side of the road a few miles south of town."
Joe, following the turn of attention, looked at Rin some sense of awe. His already rather large eyes widened further. The very center of his mouth opened slightly, searching for a syllable, and maybe even a word.
"Whoa," he managed with elegance. "Did you just... can you just... do that?"
edited 6th Feb '17 11:33:32 AM by Ryuhza
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast-Main Hall]
Amy smiled. "Okie dokie! I got to fly in my plane—and guess what? Nothing went wrong! I told you I was a good pilot! I just wish you were there to see it. Maybe I can take you for a flight before I get ready to go tomorrow? That'd be fun!"
Maya noticed Connie heading up the stairs; her instinct told her this had something to do with what happened earlier. For some reason, it seemed that Davey didn't want to comfort her...so, to her reluctance, she decided to talk to Connie. She knew that she wasn't her favorite person, but this could still be a chance for them to be on somewhat better terms.
She put her phone away and stood up.
I'll be back. Maya signed.
Amy tilted her head. "Do you want me to come with you?"
Nah, I got this. Don't worry, I won't be an asshole...for once. She smirked, Kidding, kidding. But for real; I won't be long. Just keep talking to Davey, I should be back by the time you're done.
She headed up the stairs to where Connie was.
Amy felt a little worried, but ultimately, she knew it wouldn't be too long before her friend came back, so she shrugged and continued her story.
"After that, we ran into Connie again and we found a cave! That's where we met Omar and Joseph! He's super friendly like you! Except he was a little shy...but don't worry, my hugs made him all better!"
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Wagon -> Railway St East (Zuri, Vicky, Scents, Wolfe, Teri)note
When Vicky heard Wolfe say where he was planning on going, Vicky could only assume that the Tipsy Toad was some sort of saloon, since, you know, it's the Wild West. "Well then, I suppose we'll be going our separate ways soon. I don't know where exactly I'm going, but I know I'll be meeting up with all my classmates at least. So..." She looked around at the other occupants of the wagon; by that time, Oswald and Nemaforte had just left. "Well, at some point we should return the wagon though, right? If need be, I could even just go there myself with the driver." She gestured to the front of the wagon. What was his name again?
That when she saw Scents looking up at her, clearly freaked out by all the supernatural stuff that happened on this journey, but not too noticeably so. Facing her, Vicky sighed. "I won't lie - I initially thought it kind of odd for a three-eyed armored space fox to be freaked out by the supernatural. I suppose you really can't judge a book by its cover."
Though she had no translation software besides her own phone, something in the back of her mind told her that she ought to be saying something else. Sighing, she decided to say just that. "Look, I'm really sorry things turned out... the way they did. None of us should have come with you guys at all, especially with all the supernatural baggage we brought along. I..." Here tears started to leak out of her eyes. "I thought we were going to embark on an epic journey to discover a rare otherworldly artifact, and I guess we did but..." She searched her mind for ways in which she could possibly repay this vayen and her green master, and it pained her to discover that there was nothing. All along she had simply been an annoyance, nothing more. So instead, she just looked at the floor of the wagon. "They don't exist. Ghosts don't exist. Space nautili don't exist. Gods don't exist. All we can truly rely on in the end... is just what we have all around us. Friends, food, home... well, at any rate, you're probably pleased to hear that this is goodbye. Zuri and I have to go meet up with our classmates and uh, plan a funeral."
Zuri took a ghostly glance back at Vicky. "We can worry about the latter when we get back to Boston."
"Uh, yeah... good idea." Taking a deep breath, Vicky turned back to Scents. "Nevertheless, I really did enjoy meeting both you and Iraal. Who wouldn't enjoy meeting people from other planets, after all?" With a meek smile on her face, with one hand she wiped off the few tears that had trickled down her face, and the other she held out to Scents to shake.
Zuri, meanwhile, took a couple more steps behind her body toward the edge of the wagon, and as she did so, without her even realizing it, her ghostly form phased right into it. Though as she climbed out of the wagon, her ghostly form occasionally floated out of the body, and then went right back in as that part regained control of her body. This feels very strange... It's as if I'm mortal again, but my entire body is numb. Once on the street, she walked carefully, holding her arms out for balance and carefully placing one foot after another, as if she were walking a tightrope.
Railway Street East - Intersection of Main Street (Zuri, Gon, Ari)
The two Japanese siblings took their time getting to the wagon containing Zuri and Vicky. Ari wanted to head right for them, not being too fond of Westerns or the outdoors in general, but Gon kept stopping her. "Look! Look at that! A real Western general store! Can't we take a peek in there real quick?"
Ari heaved a small sigh, momentarily removing her glasses to wipe the dust off of them. "No Gon, we have to go meet up with Vicky and Zuri." She stopped and cast an alluring gaze at him with her spectacle-covered eyes, though her expression remained otherwise emotionless. "Besides, haven't you always wanted to see an old-fashioned wagon, with real horses pulling them?"
As she hoped, her brother's eys lit up. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Come on, let's go already!" And grabbing her little sister by the hand, he ran up the street towards the outskirts of town.
"Look! There's the wagon out there!" Ari gestured over to an intersection. "And there's Zuri!"
Once the two reached her, Zuri's ankle seemed to give out, and she stumbled to her feet. Strangely, what looked like her astral projection was standing in the spot where her body had been. As the siblings approached, they could see that Zuri was holding her athame close, even when she fell to the ground.
"Zuri!" Excited, Gon began to run up to her, but before he could get to her, Zuri's ghost leapt forward and stopped him.
"Wait, don't get too close! I'm, well..." Zuri glanced over to Ari for a bit, then back at Gon, looking very uncomfortable. "Um, when we were on our excursion, something... bad happened."
"Yeah, to Yamiko, right?" Ari asked her.
"Well, Yamiko did get possessed by Amanda, but something, uh, worse, happened to me."
"Why are you talking to us as your astral projection?" asked Gon. "Isn't it easier to just talk to us physically?"
"Yes, it is, but... well... I can't talk through my body because... my body is, um... well..." She sighed. "...It's a corpse."
She predicted Gon to jump back in horror, but instead he gave her a disapproving look. "You're not joking, right?"
"...Why would she joke about..." Ari stammered, sounding clearly uneasy, an impressive feat for someone usually stoic. "...W-w-wait, are you saying you're dead?"
Gon just then at least grew wide-eyed. "...No, you can't be dead! You're just uh, really sick, right?" Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head. It was Ari's turn to give him a disapproving look. "...W-w-wait, are you saying you're serious?"
Zuri nodded, and then leapt back and stood her body up, moving inside it and sliding her athame fully out of its sheath. "My death was actually..." She tried to speak through her body, but said voice was very hoarse, and she couldn't figure out how to make her body take a breath, so soon she lost the wind to do so, and instead peeked her ghostly head out of her body's face and spoke through the former. And the head was smiling. "Well, I finally got to see my parents. It turns out that like me, they died by astral projecting for too long-" She felt her left arm fall, realizing that she had lost her ghostly grip on it. "Why is controlling my body so hard? Especially since technically I'm holding my soul." She looked toward the exposed ritual dagger, and realized she had dropped its sheath, which she immediately went to retrieve... via her ghostly arm. "Makes me wish I had studied necromancy rather than astral projection."
Gon looked very clearly weirded out by all this. Why'd I even decide to take this class in the first place? "That... I don't think even qualifies as a psychic power. Though if Amanda's torture thing does... A-a-anyway, shouldn't we be figuring out a place for all of us to meet up?"
"What about the hotel suite?" Zuri suggested. "We need to check out of there anyway."
"How about the train station?" Ari pointed over to a set of railroad tracks on the other side of the street. "I seem to vaguely remember us arriving on a train... though maybe that was a dream."
"Oh! I know!" Gon excitedly shouted. "Let's meet at a saloon! They've got to have at least one here, right?"
"There's a rather nice one right over there," said Zuri, gesturing - successfully with her physical arm this time - a couple of buildings down Railway Street.
"Though I don't suppose they'd check I Ds there, would they?" Ari asked them.
"Hell no!" said Gon. "If this is really the Wild West, all we gotta do is look tough! And Merlin and Lupin and Yamiko can at least vouch for us age-wise. And if the going gets tough we at least have our powers." He turned both of his palms upward and conjured fireballs right above them.
Ari was just now getting her phone out, though instead of tapping away at it like she usually did, she just pressed both thumbs firmly against its touch screen and closed her eyes. She started to say something, but though her mouth moved, no sound came out. After speaking what was probably a sentence, she opened her eyes, and while her eyes were still glued to her phone (which now had a glowing screen), her voice could now be heard. "I have just contacted the others. We are to rendezvous at the Washington." She gestured in the direction of the saloon Zuri was indicating.
After exchanging nods of confirmation, the three of them headed back down the street, glimpsing the wagon, as well as Iraal and Gwion off having their own conversation.
Main Street -> Doc Carson's (Merlin, Nemaforte, Oswald)
The vertically challenged black-ponytailed young man in a fancy purple coat and green eyeshadow glanced all over at the buildings as he walked down the street, frequently raising eyebrows at all the Western decor... though deep inside he knew that it wasn't decor, but that it was somehow real. If this is one of Nightfright's dreamscapes, it is a wonderfully elaborate one indeed.
It wasn't long before he spotted a Doc Carson's somewhere down the street. And it also wasn't long before he encountered two individuals heading that same direction. One was a hooded figure with sickly-looking blue legs... that were covered with fur on closer inspection, and the hood like it had horns underneath it. The other was a witch with large ears... some sort of elf? Their auras were both peculiar as well: the former's was very thin, indicating a profound weariness; and the latter's was noticeably bright and thick around her head with a purple spot at the front of it. Both sights caused Merlin's eyes to widen... though not by much.
How peculiar indeed. It seems this horned being is not under control of the witch, and yet she is leading him along as if he's her unwilling subject...
All this time, Nemaforte had been calmly guiding Oswald down the street, which was familiar to her as she had just been here the night and morning before. Along the way she had removed her sunglasses and gloves, as it was late enough in the afternoon that the sunlight was quite weak, casting an orange glow about the town. However, as she looked around at the buildings, she found that she couldn't read any of the signs on themnote , so at some point she found herself looking around as if lost. That's when she spotted the peculiarly-dressed short young man headed in the same direction as the two. He looked a bit odd though, as she saw him simultaneously as slim and in a purple coat, and chubby and in a tuxedo. And when she blinked a few times, he was one or the other, or again both... though Oswald would have seen only the formernote .
"Sen tetedan,"note Nemaforte said to him, "if maybe, know you do of the Doc Carson's Surgery?"
Merlin's eyes lit up with excitement when he heard the witch speak. The peculiar accent, the phrase in a language he hadn't heard before... And even more when he saw a bovine snout under the furry fellow's hood. And yet, when he spoke, he sounded calmer, though withan accent almost as peculiar and just as unidentifiable as Nemaforte's. "Why yes, fellow witch! You are standing right next to it!" Indeed, he saw the "Doc Carson's" sign very clearly above the building right next to them.
Once they approached the door, the young man held the door open for them, since Oswald looked clearly weak. The same nurse who had been attending to Lupin answered them at the door, her eyes immediately fixing on Oswald. "Oh my, you look like you've spent the last month lost in the desert! I'll... call the doctor over - wait here, okay?"
Meanwhile, Nemaforte noticed that the strange man - who now she clearly saw in his purple coat - was still there, and though he clearly seemed in good cheer, there was worry hidden underneath that layer of his aura.
Ryuhza, since the Doc is a NPC, you can have him talk to Oswald if you want - we can probably all assume he'll be fine leaving Yamiko for a moment since he recently determined that she'll be all right.
edited 7th Feb '17 10:51:26 PM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Davey, Amy)
Davey walked across the room, keeping one ear turned towards Amy all the while. "An airplane?" he repeated, a touch of wonder in his voice, "Shoot, I haven't been on one of those in clean over fifteen years, and even then, it was an airliner, not a two-seater or three-seater or whichever your plane is." He found himself a cozy looking chair and hoisted himself up onto it, sitting a bit sideways and letting his legs and tail drape over one of the armrests. "I remember being pretty, eh... nervous about it too; I'd just seen Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and I didn't want to sit near any of the windows."
He fell silent for a moment, leaning back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling, lost in the memory.
"But sure," he said, finally turning his head back to Amy, "barring some unexpected disaster, I think I'll take you up on that offer. Sounds like a gas."
He shifted his gaze to Maya as the other girl began heading up the stairs after Connie. "Remember," he said as Maya passed by, "Connie undoubtedly has a lot on her mind; if she's trying to get some space for herself, it might be because she needs some space for herself. To let things settle in a bit, like I said. So if she isn't very receptive… try to understand that."
He paused for a moment to scratch at an itch on his side, then added quickly, "Oh, and if she seems lost, tell her to grab the maroon and amber pinstripe silken shirt and my dark brown corduroy trousers too, if she doesn't mind."
Once Maya was gone, Davey looked back at Amy and set his hands behind his head. "Very fortunate, that. You finding each other out in the desert, I mean. Plenty of ways to get lost out there…" he smiled, "but I guess you three are smarter than all that." He suppressed a small, inward chuckle when Amy mentioned her method of curing her friend's shyness. "Joseph, that was your amphibian friend, right?" he nodded his head towards the door. "He reminded me a bit of Connie, back when Rip and I first met her. So," he waved his hand around, gesturing in the general area where the others had been before departing, "what's the story there? Connie gave me the abridged version, but she left out all the flavor."
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Shared Bedroom)] (Connie, Maya)
Upstairs, in the bedroom that she, Davey, and formerly Irina had shared, Connie was crouched down, rifling though a bag of Davey's clothes. It was a slower process than normal, but only because she was taking more time than she needed to complete the task at hand. That wasn't to say that she didn't need the extra time for other reasons. Time to think. To breathe. To separate herself from the two girls she'd been with for what felt like half the day. Time to slow down. Time to stop. She felt like she had been going and going and going ever since the tanks rumbled up to their doorstep. She had cracked up a bit then. She had bolted from the building, running for her life. In all the time since then, she had yet to stop and pick up the pieces. She hadn't taken time to reflect on all that had happened, all she had done, and what it all meant. That took more than the time needed to fish out a random shirt, so she spent most of her time just looking them over instead.
After a minute or two, she heard footsteps from out in the upper hall. She looked at the door, and surely enough, Maya was there. Connie didn't smile, or frown, or look upset, or react much at all to the other girl's appearance. She just casually raised her hand in a wave, and returned to picking through David's excessive amount of clothing.
"Hey Maya."
[Town ~ Main Street —> Doc Carson's] (Oswald, Merlin, Nemaforte)
Oswald stood before the wagon for a few more seconds. He caught a few glances, but no one returned his farewell, or said anything to him at all. He blinked once, then twice, rapidly. He opened his mouth to speak again, perhaps thinking to apologize for any undue stress he had caused, or to bid them all well in some other way. But they all seemed distracted; wrapped up in their own conversations and sentimentalities. In the end, he let out his breath and simply gave a firm nod. With nothing more to say, he turned and followed after Nemaforte.
As they walked down the street, Oswald kept his head as deeply concealed beneath his hood as he could, without completely losing track of where he was headed, or at least who he was following. He explained it only once, murmuring, "The fewer eyes I attract, the better." There was nothing to be done about his horns, sticking out from holes in his hood as they were, and the rest of his clothes were too ragged to cover him consistently, but he did keep his spaded tail pressed closely to the side of his leg, making it a look little less distinct from a distance.
With his hood in the way, it was hard to tell how many—if any—passersby were passing by, until Nemaforte stopped and clearly spoke to one. Oswald raised his head slowly, until it was high enough—not nearly as high as he may have expected—to see the stranger for himself. His expression was fixed with cautious eyes and a stoic frown as he studied the stranger, but after a few seconds of the diminutive young man's clear enthusiasm, Oswald couldn't keep the edges of his mouth from tugging into a smile.
He followed Nemaforte and the stranger over to the door, bidding the latter a warm, "Thank you," as he stepped inside and was almost immediately greeted by a concerned nurse. He bowed his head politely and replied, "I don't know quite how long it's been, only that it's been quite long enough."
As she left to fetch the doctor, Oswald began fumbling with the buttons holding his hood together around his horns. "Nemaforte," he said, turning his head to her, "I meant to apologize for becoming upset with you earlier, about Zuri's body." He finished unfastening the buttons and pulled his hood off, exposing the whole of his head to the light, in all its strange and shabby splendor. "I thought I understood what was happening, and… I thought that I understood about death, but after all I've seen in just the past hour, it's clear that my understanding is foggy at best. It was not my place to scold you, and I can't possibly thank you enough for all that which you've done for me." He placed one of his sooty hands on her shoulder, "I hope you understand that."
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)]
Amy giggled. "Don't believe everything you see on TV, Davey! But I understand; it's always scary the first time, but when you go a couple more times, you get used to it."
She then tapped her chin, "Hmm...well, it all started when we found Connie in a cave. She looked pretty shaken up, and she thought there was some monster. Then we ran into Omar! He already knew what was in the cave, but Connie was still pretty scared. She and Maya got in a fight and..."
She frowned.
"...They're...kind of on thin ice with each other. But then we found out that there was no monster in the cave; it was Joseph! Then we saw that there was more in the cave, but Omar said that we should stay near the front. It made Connie kind of suspicious, so while Omar was gone, we looked deeper. That's when we ran into another guy named Aubery! He was trapped down there, but we got him out in time. He's in town now, probably getting something to eat, or maybe finding a place to stay. Connie thought—and I think she still thinks—that Omar was his kidnapper, but he's not! It was just a huge misunderstanding."
She rubbed her shoulder. "That's kind of the gist of everything. Now we're all kind tired, and a little hungry. Hopefully we can get back to sort of happy mood when Maya and Connie comes down! But I already miss Joseph...I wish he could've stay a little longer...but he needs to go home soon."
[Bed and Breakfast (Bedroom)]
Maya gave a two finger salute, then wrote on her phone, Sup.
She rubbed the back of her neck. You left kind of fast, and it looked like something was bothering you, so...I came to see what's up. I know I'm not your favorite person at the moment, but...the least I can do, so we could be on pretty good terms, is check on you.
She twisted her lip.
If you're upset about what happened—about what I said to you—then you have my sincerest apologies. I shouldn't have painted you like a villain; you were just trying to look out for Joseph, and I was being a 'cynical bitch'. It was super wrong of me.
edited 9th Feb '17 5:43:28 PM by Masterofchaos
Attitude is prohibited
[Town] (Railway & Main)
To Joseph, Rin nodded. She could indeed 'just do that.' She could do much more than that, in fact. It wouldn't have been difficult for her to pick up the motorcycle, with all three of its passengers, and fly up above the clouds then back down to their destination, all in a matter of seconds. Of course, given the speeds such a feat would require, the G-forces it would incur, neither the passengers nor the bike itself would likely be fully intact by the end of it... Hence why she did not offer. That, and she was rather opposed to the idea of being anyone's vehicle. She was neither a ferry nor a mule, after all. To say nothing of the fact that only Omar knew where, exactly, they were going.
To him, she simply replied "we should get going." Her tone was neutral, if a bit chilly, and with her visor covering her eyes it was difficult to read her expression.
Although she knew it was irrational and perhaps even irresponsible, she hoped Omar would drive as quickly as he could. She felt as though it had been ages since she'd flown quickly along the ground. Being up in the sky was a different matter. There was hardly anything around to serve as a point of reference, and certainly no obstacles to dodge. Hoshi and Miyuki sometimes flew along the ground, through the canyons, back in Hakoda, but... She was usually too busy to join them...
She looked down at Joseph. "Ready when you are," she said.
Not entirely dead.
[Town ~ Railroad & Main] (Cynthia, Joseph, Omar, Rin)
Cynthia nodded in acknowledgment and took her place on the motorcycle behind Omar. While sitting there, she dwelt on the slight discomfort in her stomach. It wasn't from the injury she had received earlier, that had fully healed by now, no, it was from the sudden realization that she was on a motorcycle. One of the fastest means of land travel, and one wrong turn could result in face-planting into the ground at high speeds.
The young knight had to dispel those thoughts, it wasn't good to think that way. She resigned herself to merely looking slightly disgruntled when she noticed the strange antics of some people nearby. A young woman had met up with two others, and promptly collapsed on the ground. The others held a conversation with... someone she couldn't quite see, before the fallen woman awkwardly stood to her feet.
Seeing as they apparently didn't need any help, Cynthia began to divert her attention elsewhere when the boy of the group suddenly put on a small display of pyrotechnics. The young knight tilted her head. "Oh, so he can use magic too..." she commented to herself. She returned her attention to the situation at hand and waited for Omar to get them on their way.
[Town ~ Railway/Main (Outside Bed and Breakfast) —> Southern Desert] (Joseph, Omar, Cynthia, Rin)
Omar nodded, turning his attention first to Cynthia and—once she was on board—to Joseph, who was still watching Rin's small demonstration of her abilities with a fixed fascination.
"Come on Weller, I'm sure I don't need to remind you yet again that-"
"No- yeah- I'm coming," Joe replied, finally tearing his eyes away. He gave Rin a quick salute with a smile, then hurried to the motorcycle, just barely squeezing on the back end. Feeling just as self-conscious in times of urgency as he did in times of calm, he searched for a place to put his hands that would keep him secure without having to touch anyone else. Before he could find one, the motor rumbled to life, and his arms ended up tightly crossed, pressed against his chest, as though he was afraid that they were going to get torn off.
Omar checked his watch one more time. 20 minutes with change. We can do this. He glanced back once more, "Cynthia, you hold onto my waist, Weller you hold onto hers. Like a conga line," he added when Joseph seemed hesitant. "Mind your tail and don't fall off; we're not stopping until we're there."
Joe complied, reigning his tail in—and away from the rear wheel—as much as he could, tightening his legs against the increasingly warm sides of the motorcycle, and even lightly touching the tips of his claws to Cynthia's sides. Just a precautionary measure, he thought.
Without another word, Omar pulled on his helmet and twisted the throttle. The motorcycle jumped forward a bit, then began moving at an even pace for a few meters as they turned onto Main Street. Then the motor roared and the bike tore through the town, kicking up dust and filling the streets full of loud brapping with reckless abandon.
In a few short seconds, Joseph's precautionary measure became a necessity as he clung to Cynthia, giving some mind towards avoiding accidentally jabbing her in the ribs and giving more mind towards avoiding a much grislier accident for himself. The buildings and people of the town raced by, seen only through the narrowed blurry windows of his eyes. He missed seeing the strangers on the sidewalk, or looking back at the bed and breakfast, or catching one last glimpse of the hotel where he had stayed the night before. He couldn't even think to regret not getting to say goodbye before the town faded from around them, replaced by smaller, more scattered buildings and eventually just vast expanses of flat, dry desert.
Mustering up a sense of determination and a bit of boldness, he turned his head to the side—carefully avoiding bumping his blunt lizardy snout into Cynthia—and opened one eye a little more, watching as the people, the buildings, and finally the whole town itself shrank, and grew indistinct. If there was even the slimmest chance they could hear him, he would have whispered "goodbye."
[Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Davey, Amy)
Davey nodded slowly and passively as Amy divulged the details of her adventure. Sitting in his over-sized chair and touching his stubby fingers together, he looked a little bit like a psychiatrist.
"It's all beginning to make sense," he said, nodding again, "well, as much as such a strange string of events can make sense." He was silent for a moment, staring pensively at his hands. Another moment passed, and another, before his eyes wandered upwards, finding Amy again. "It certainly explains why she seemed so hostile to Omar, and why she distrusted him." He paused for yet another moment, this time steering his gaze up the stairs at the end of the hall. "Well," he said, tipping head from side to side, "if Connie believes that, I'm sure she has a good reason for it— or had, in any case. She's a smart girl; she wouldn't get up in arms on a whim."
Davey was quiet for a few seconds more, still looking up at the stairs. He propped up his head with his hand, burrowing his muzzle into it with his elbow resting atop his knee. He exhaled a quiet sigh, muttering under his breath, ""'Oh, this is going to be difficult…''"
As Amy finished saying all she had to say, Davey's eyes wandered back to her. He smiled, whiskers bouncing as he said, "You're telling me! I didn't even get to introduce myself. A shame— it's always nice to talk with those travelling similar walks of life as yourself. But I suppose the situation was quite urgent, and we can't fault him for wanting to go back home; he looked even more beat up than you three. Ah," he wagged a finger, "speaking of which, I'm sure we'll go out for dinner soon, but if you'd like to clean yourself up before then, there's a shower in the bathroom under the stairs. Oh," his eyes lit up again, "and you're probably wondering what happened to Irina and Samuel, aren't you?"
[Bed and Breakfast (Shared Bedroom)] (Connie, Maya)
Connie continued sorting through Davey's bags while Maya typed up a message, though she wasn't really focused on the bags as much as she was on the message being written. When it was ready, Connie looked over it for several seconds, her eyes a little tired and emotionless.
After reading the message, she shrugged, glancing up at Maya and saying, "It's no biggie, I'm not mad at you. I mean, I guess I was, 'cause I thought we'd buried the hatchet back at the cave, but…" she shrugged again, "I mean, you were right. You can say it if you'd like. Fact of the matter is that I pushed Joe to leave the cave, and if his plans to go home are messed up now, well that's on me. It's my fault, ain't it? And that's pretty fucked up, so…"
She shrugged yet again, then pulled out a small button up shirt with an intricate—some might call busy—floral design. It was a little psychedelic. Connie held it up and glanced at Maya, "Funky, huh?" She set it aside and pulled out a similarly sized pair of black trousers. They were tailored perfectly for David's form, even including a neatly-stitched hole for his tail. "It's like playing dress-up with a seriously weird doll."
She set the pants back in the bag and glanced briefly at Maya again, "You ever have any dolls?"
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)]
Amy nodded.
"Yeah, I think I need a shower." she said "I've been outside for so long, and I think I'm stink. That's my least favorite part of adventuring! And sorry for bringing all this confusion to you...that's not how I wanted the reunion to go."
At Davey's next statement, her eyes slightly widened. "Yeah...where did they go? I'm kind of worried; last time I saw them I tackled that guy threatening Sam with a gun! Did they get out ok?" She frowned and gasped, "Oh no! He didn't hurt them, did he? I knew I should've stayed with you guys!"
[Bed and Breakfast (Bedroom)
While Maya was glad she didn't ruin what little bond they had, she still felt like something was bothering her. But she decided not to hound her over that. Instead, she looked at the shirt Connie pulled out for Davey, which threw her off guard.
Huh. she wrote, I honestly didn't see him as the type to like floral clothing. Then again, most people don't expect me to like dresses and skirts.
She smiled fondly at Connie's next question. I used to have these cute collection of dolls when I was younger. I ended up giving them to my younger sister, and I haven't gotten into dolls since then.
She tilted her head. I am super curious; how did you run into Davey? I mean, no offense, but you don't really seem like the...how to put this nicely.
She rubbed the back of her head, You're a cute human girl and he's an adult and....not exactly human. Plus, you seem to be a little weirded out by non human stuff, like how you were with Joseph for a bit. So...how did you bump into each other?
[Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Davey, Amy)
"Oh no, no," Davey said, shaking his head. Then he paused, stroking his whiskers for a thoughtful moment, "Well, not... directly. Ah... here, I'd better just explain from the start."
He straightened out his sitting position and cleared his throat, then turned his dark brown eyes to Amy. "After you and Maya left, Samuel was able to talk down the man with the gun, Todd. The uh- Todd from Samuel's story, Todd. He told Irina and I to leave, so we rode south until we hit the edge of town. And that's when..."
Davey's words faded out in a sigh, and his eyes drifted away from Amy, growing a little hazy. His mouth—or rather, the side of his muzzle—twitched, wrinkling a bit, as though something unpleasant had just walked into the room. "Well," he continued, briefly lowering his gaze to the ground before raising it to meet Amy again, "we hit the edge of town and ran into a soldier, someone operating on the same orders as Todd. Irina was on their wanted list, so he tried to hold us up. There was a scuffle, and the soldier fired his gun, and… and- and, Irina was... hit."
He went silent for another moment, before considering the kind of impression his last words must've left on Amy. Davey quickly threw up his hands, "Oh, but don't worry, she's all right. I helped stop the the bleeding—hence the fate of my poor shirt," he added, with a loose wave of his arm towards the bathroom, "and Samuel found us. He and Irina performed some type of magic ritual—a blood ritual, I believe they called it—which helped even more. It was, a… bit of a tense time. Todd showed back up again, that didn't help matters. Oh," his eyes lit up a bit, "Jim McGee and Minerva also rolled by; somehow they managed to steal one of those tanks that were surrounding this place."
His brow creased for a moment, and he glanced at the front entryway with unease, "Those had better not come back. I do not have enough wind left to go chasing tanks off the front porch." He gave a quick huff, drew in a long breath, then continued. "Anyway, Samuel arranged for transportation to get Irina somewhere where she could be taken care of properly, and we…" he turned his paw-like hands over in a shoulderless shrug, "we said our goodbyes."
Davey looked away again, resting his arms on the chair's arms, though 'rest' was perhaps not the right word for something so restless. Any semblance of a smile had disappeared. All he could do was avoid Amy's eyes and think, Patience. Patience.
[Bed and Breakfast (Shared Bedroom)] (Connie, Maya)
"Hell, I don't think I've seen him wear even half of this stuff," Connie said, gesturing at Davey's multiple bags seemingly filled mostly with clothes, "...but he insists on packing it all." She shrugged, "Dave digs his duds."
She read Maya's message about having dolls, and for the first time since Omar showed up at their doorstep, she found the edges of her mouth pulling into a sideways smile. And it was nice, even if it was completely despite herself.
"Yeah, I had dolls too," she said, halfheartedly suppressing her halfhearted smile. "I used to kinda modify them. I mean, they'd come with their own little outfits, dresses and sun hats and all that, but I used to make them look like punk rockers." She smiled in full then, letting out a short, quiet laugh. "It's funny, 'cause I never really listened to punk rock or followed any bands, I just uh… I saw them in a magazine and I thought they were the coolest thing ever. Of course my parents would never let me dress like that, so I dressed up dolls instead. And yeah, I tried giving them to my little sister, but she… y'know," Connie shrugged and smiled, "she wanted her own. But hell, mine were pretty good for custom jobs by an 11-year-old. I think I still have them somewhere-" her face fell, and it was a few seconds before she finished her sentence, murmuring so quietly that Maya probably wouldn't hear, "...back home."
Her despondency disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared, but it was replaced by her earlier listlessness. It took several moments to even notice Maya's latest message. Connie read it over, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear only for it to fall back out moments later. "Well, it's not like I went to a bunch of dive bars looking for the weirdest friends I could find. It was a circumstantial thing—and, y'know, so was the thing with Joseph."
She took a deep breath before continuing, "It's a long and complicated story, but… I'm not from here originally, you know?" She waved her hand around at the room, "this place, this whole world. It's not mine. I got lost, about half a year ago. I ended up here. That's um- ...that's extremely lost. Anyway, I ended up here, by myself and I didn't know where I was, I didn't know where to go, I had no idea how to get back home, I—like I said—I was lost. Once I finished freaking out, I wandered on my own for awhile; like a day and a half, before finding a town. Apparently I was really lucky for nothing to have happened out there when I didn't have any protection, but- y'know, I- 'I digress', right?"
Connie leaned back a bit, propping herself up with her hands while sitting on her knees. "So I ended up in a town—a bit like this one but bigger and with less sun—and, well, actually I did end up going to a bar. I went there to get food and a place to sit and think about what the fuck was going on, right? And this guy with a mustache and his weird dressed-up pet otter come in. I wasn't trying to attract attention, so I only looked at them once or twice, and they sat at the table next to mine. I didn't realize until later that the 'otter' was talking. They were stoked about finishing a job or something; you know, getting paid. And that's where my problem came up: I had money on me, but not the kind the bar would take, and they weren't going to settle for an I-owe-you. They overheard me arguing with the barkeep that my money was good, and they must've pegged me for what I was; Lost as fuck.
"So they paid off my meal—well, I think Dave probably paid for it. Rip is generally a good guy, but he can be a bit stingy about money. Anyway, they paid off my food and invited me to sit with them, and I wasn't sure whether to be grateful or worried, but I went, and I ended up just being dumbfounded because, well, David started talking, you know, right in front of me." Connie let her eyes go wide, wearing a flat, stupefied frown, just as she had on the day she first met Davey. "So yeah, I was pretty weirded out. It's not… it's not because he's not human, exactly, it's just- I didn't expect him to talk. You know, it threw me for a loop and shit. I mean, I had never seen that before, y'know, not outside of like, cartoons. I mean, have you? Confronting that in real life was… it… it was a lot to take in. Dave did the majority of the talking, but I spent most of the conversation looking at Rip."
She let out her breath in another sigh, "Anyway, they said they could show me around town, and help me get oriented. Then it turned into an offer to stay with them for a little while, and then… well, here we are. My best friend is an almost-thirty talking otter, who wears floral shirts. Is that life or what?"
She paused, then frowned slightly, looking at Maya. "But seriously, Dave is… he's more human than it might seem at first glance. And it's uh… it'd be good for him if more people treated him that way. There's a lot going on underneath the surface, and plenty of stuff that I don't even know about."
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast (Lobby)]
Amy listen intently to Davey's story. When he talked about what happened, she looked down at her lap sadly. Most of all, she felt guilty that she wasn't there, and sorrow that a chance to get to know Sam and Irina was now gone.
That made three people that she wished could stay in the Frontier much longer.
"...I see." she said, "Oh man...to think this whole day started with us just telling stories...I want to go back to that. It's not fair. I just wish I got to know them more. I really liked them!"
She quickly noticed Davey's demeanor. She tilted her head in worry and confusion, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Davey? Are you ok?" she asked, "Do you need Amy's wonderful excellent solution to sadness?"
[Bed and Breakfast (Bedroom)]
...So, basically, Davey was being a nice guy and that's how you met. Maya wrote, That's almost like how we ran into him. We got caught up by the sandstorm, and he helped us find a hotel to stay in. I still think it was dangerous that he risked all that for some beer. but if he wasn't out there, I don't know if we would ever find a hotel.
She rubbed the back of his head. To be honest, until we were told otherwise, we thought he was wearing a costume. But that didn't really change our thoughts about him; we're still thankful we ran into him when we did. And I think Amy was still gonna hound him with hugs and kisses regardless.
She smirked.
You know, you're lucky that you met someone like Davey. There aren't a lot of people out there that'll go out of their way to help some strangers. And, Connie, if you want, Amy and I can try to help you find your way home. She looked away, That is, if you're comfortable with the idea.
edited 14th Feb '17 11:33:23 PM by Masterofchaos
[Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Davey, Amy)
Davey raised his head,wearing a pretty lousy smile. He couldn't pare back much of the glumness from his eyes, but he answered, "Oh, I'm peachy. Like I said, it was a very eh… tense time." After a quiet few seconds, he added, "And I wish I had gotten to know them more too."
He was leaning forward in his seat then, almost slumped forward, with his hands resting in his lap, his tail occupying most of the seat behind him, and his legs dangling off the edge, nearly touching the ground. He turned his attention from the floor to Amy a few times, as though there was more on his mind, but ultimately, all he asked the girl was,
"Do you have a change of clothes?" He blinked then nodded towards the bathroom, "For after you shower, I mean. At the risk of assuming too much, I'm going to assumed that you won't want to crawl back into that after your shower."
[Bed and Breakfast (Shared Bedroom)] (Connie, Maya)
"Wearing a costume?" Connie repeated, "Really?" She tipped her head to one side, "I mean, I guess it was during a sandstorm. Probably hard to see much of anything in that. And he was wearing that poofy snow parka…" she laughed and shook her head, "man, it must've been a trip seeing who was under there."
Her smile lessened slightly, though this time it wasn't for herself. "Yeah, he does stuff like that a lot. Probably too often for his own good." A sideways frown tugged at the corner of her mouth. "He, um… I think he's got a bit of an inferiority complex. You know, like he's always trying to show off or prove himself, and— I mean, it's not something I want to bother him with. We already talked and he's got enough on his mind already. But part of me worries that one of these times he's going to bite off more than he can chew and…" she was silent for a second, then shrugged helplessly, "fuck, I don't know."
She went quiet again before reading Maya's latest message. She looked up at Maya and smiled, though without much confidence. "Look," she began slowly, "it's not that I'd be uncomfortable with it, or that I don't appreciate it; I do, without a doubt I do. It's just that…" she sighed,"I've been at this for six months. Half a year, Dave and Rip have been trying to help me find a way home. I hate to hear it, but they've also both tried to explain that it is very- ...that there's a very low chance-" Connie pressed her lips into a tight frown. "Look, it's just hard. And we've been at it for six months, and unless you guys have some big insight that's flown over all of our heads, I'd rather not shake things up too much."
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast (Hallway)]
Amy nodded.
"Yep, yep!" she said, "I always bring extra clothes with me when I leave home! That's another crucial step of being an adventurer; always be prepared!"
Her look then softened. "And Davey, if you wanna talk about something, I'm here. I promise I won't baby you or anything like that; I just want to help, if I can. That's what friends are for! Please feel better, Davey!"
She then stood up, stretched, then headed towards the stairs. "It's up that way, right?"
[Bed and Breakfast (Bedroom)]
I think finding out the truth just made her want to cuddle him even more. Maya wrote, You have seen how she is around him, right?
When Connie talked about Davey, she shrugged. Can't say I'm too surprised. He did seem a little on edge earlier during breakfast, before the tanks. He kept dogding my questions, and I didn't want to hound on the dude. Whatever's going on, he doesn't want to talk about it. Though in my case, I understand. I'm still kind of a stranger.
At Connie's refusal, she quirked an eyebrow.
Connie, it's really no problem. she signed, I mean, Amy likes you. I don't know how ya are around girls, but even if you don't swing that way, Amy is more than willing to help out someone lost. she crossed her arms, You sure nothing's bothering you?
Attitude is prohibited
[Outside Bed and Breakfast] >>> [Southern Desert]
When Omar first twisted the throttle, Rin seemed to vanish, leaving only a cloud of kicked-up dust and sand in her wake. She was nowhere to be seen until they were clear of the town, when suddenly she was right near by, descending from the sky at a fairly gentle pace while still matching the motorcycle's speed. Completely horizontal now, eye level with the bike's passengers, her arms slightly spread behind her, she made flying look incredibly easy.
She looked over at Joseph, Cynthia and Omar and flashed a quick smile. Then, perhaps to prove some point, she slowly pulled several feet ahead of the bike, then pulled up and dramatically looped around, approaching the bike's side from behind it and resuming her previous position. This was fun, she thought. If only they could go faster still...
Not entirely dead.
[Southern Desert] (Cynthia, Joseph, Omar, Rin)
Cynthia felt the grip of Joseph's claws through her uniform as she herself clung to Omar. They were speeding into the desert now, having quickly left the town. With the wind whipping into her face, the young knight was forced to close her eye.
She was barely able to notice Rin flying beside them, showing off her skills. Cynthia wished slightly that Rin would be able to come with her to her homeland and give a few pointers to some of the flight mages. With recent happenings, the newly formed Cadian Air Force was sorely lacking in qualified flight instructors of any variety.
Turning her head away as something small bounced off her eyelid, Cynthia sorely desired a pair of goggles as she waited for this ride to be over.
edited 19th Feb '17 11:58:35 PM by WillDeRegio
Crazy Kiwi
Wagon - Railway Street East
[Vicky, Zuri, Scents, Teri, Wolfe]Wolfe and Teri remained with the wagon as Gwion went off with Iraal and Nemaforte and Oswald set off by themselves.
Vicky stumbled through a faltering and tearful farewell and apologised for the "supernatural baggage" she and her companions had brought - as if it had been her fault, which it wasn't.
To Wolfe's great surprise, Zuri's ghostly form managed to get back inside the corpse and animate it down the street. He watched briefly in
morbid fascination then turned back to Scents.
"It looks like the party's breaking up. We're heading for the pub, if you'd like to join us for a drink."
[Iraal, Gwion]
Gwion followed as Iraal led the way to a place where they could talk privately and listened in polite attention as she thanked him most graciously and offered to settle up the account and provide a reference.
He gave a half-nod, half bow. A reference from Iraal would be of no value at all on Earth but in Capital City and other worlds it would be extremely useful. "You are most kind, and I would be honoured to have a reference. As to making passes, that would be thoroughly unprofessional. The fact you mentioned it at all suggests that this sort of thing has happened to you or others in the past, and I feel appalled that anyone in this profession would do that."
He pulled out his office and made a quick calculation, factoring in how long they had been gone for and taking a considerable amount off the price on the grounds that he was less interested in getting paid for the job than he had been in gathering intel about the group known as the Mad Bastards.
He showed the screen to Iraal. "I think this ought to cover it." It was only a little more than what he had spent on provisions, rifle and hat but he was planning on writing those off as business expenses anyway, so it didn't bother him.
Doc Carson's
[Lupin, Yamiko, Amanda, Mari, Kaitlyn, Doc Carson, Nurse]To Kaitlyn, Amanda's scoffing response was only to be expected - after all, she was little more than a child and clearly not as emotionally mature as her apparent age might suggest.
Kaitlyn said nothing in response, She had no need to justify herself to this child - and rather doubted that explaining that she was concerned for the well-being of two people, whom she had helped get out of a perilous situation in the desert, would do any good in any case... It was, going by the previous couple of minutes, highly unlikely that Amanda was capable of even comprehending compassion.
Mari's comment about Amanda being lucky that Mari was no longer the sort to hit first and ask questions later echoed Kaitlyn's earlier musings about gang members, which suddenly got her thinking about Vicky's naive vision of dealing with the reality of the criminal world. In Vicky's case, seeing the aftermath of what real gangsters were capable of doing to their victims would likely turn her guts inside out and give her PTSD-induced nightmares - and Kaitlyn would never want her to experience that.
In Amanda's case, an encounter with the criminal element would most likely result in her being seriously fucked up by people who were more than "accustomed" to ignoring personal pain and famously intolerant of smart-mouthed arseholes - and with a rather "forthright" way of dealing with either - and Kaitlyn didn't think that a bad thing at all. From what Amanda had said about her preferred amusements, it would only be a matter of time... in fact, it was surprising it hadn't happened already. She must live in a really safe neighbourhood.
Mari approached and kindly offered Scotch. It wouldn't be Kaitlyn's first choice of drink, but it was certainly quite an acceptable substitute and most definitely welcome. Kaitlyn accepted graciously with genuine gratitude.
"Shall we head outside?" She asked Mari. "It's getting a bit 'close' in here."
edited 20th Feb '17 1:11:59 AM by Wolf1066
[Town ~ Doc Carson's (Operating Room —> Lobby)] (Mari, Amanda, Lupin, Yamiko, Kaitlyn, {Merlin, Nemaforte, Oswald})
After Mari passed her flask off to Kaitlyn, she retrieved the damaged scalpel. Fiddling around with it for a few moments, she bent it back into a more serviceable shape before returning it to where she had originally got it. She then rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah... I've been called a 'demon' before. Not quite the right term, but close enough I guess," she said, shrugging. She figured it couldn't hurt to tell them what she was, especially with her recent display of durability, "I'm actually an oni."
Mari turned back around to face Kaitlyn when she suggested that they leave. It would probably be for the best, sticking around any longer might result in disrupting the good doctor even further. Bells jingled as Mari nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she said, looking over her shoulder, "I guess I'll be seein' you guys later, or somethin'"
Heading into the lobby of Doc Carson's, Mari noticed the new arrivals by the door. Glancing at the shorter man who had a distinct similarity to the other college students, she sensed his power. It confirmed her suspicions, he too was a psychic. As was the odd woman next to him, who appeared to be a pale elf. Then there was the very weak power signature coming from the large man— minotaur.
Mari paused for a moment, before waving. "Oh, 'ello~!"
[Town ~ Railway Street (Near Wagon)] (Oswald, Gwion, Teri, Wolfe, Iraal, Scents, Nemaforte, Vicky, Zuri's ghost)
The huddled pile of rags with horns that was Oswald's figure stirred only slightly when Nemaforte nudged it. His hood rose up a bit, enough to cast light on the edge of his nose and allow him to see that just beyond.
"Town," he repeated, his voice kept low but still quite audible, "so timely." He didn't come across as terribly enthusiastic, despite the much-needed benefit to his health and general wellness that seeing a doctor could potentially bring.
He closed his mouth and sighed, lowering his hood again while the rest of his body began to stir. However, before he could even begin to stand on his own, an unseen force brought him quite unceremoniously to his feet. Oswald let out a surprised grunt, reaching his arms out and wobbling slightly on his legs as he tried to maintain his balance. Once stable, he stared wide-eyed at Nemaforte.
"It's just a never ending bag of tricks with you, isn't it?" he said, still sounding more surprised than irritated. Shaking his head slightly, he straightened out his raggedy cloak, then allowed himself to be led out of the wagon. Once he had touched down onto the hard dirt of the street, he turned around to face those who were still by—and in—the wagon.
"I owe you all a great debt," he said, bowing his hooded head slightly. "You brought me away from death's door. If it were possible, I'd wish to meet you each again when my pockets are filled with more than crumbs and lint. Until then," he muscled up a smile that wasn't quite as weary or unbalanced as his last few, "know that you have my eternal gratitude, and be well, my saviors."
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Connie, Davey, Joseph, Omar, Amy, Maya, Cynthia, Rin)
Omar massaged his eyes and smiled a tight, fairly joyless smile. "Good, then it's settled."
Joseph clasped his short-clawed hands together and looked between Cynthia and Rin, grinning a big toothy grin. "Thanks! Thanks! I mean, really, thank you so much."
"In twenty minutes, you're going to realize that this was a waste of time," Omar said, glancing down at his watch again.
"Hey," Connie stepped a little closer, "peace of mind is never a waste of time." She paused, then turned her eyes to Joseph, "But I've gotta say, I don't really get why you're going through with this."
There was a slight bit of hesitation lingering in his eyes, but he said, "I've got the chance, and there's no risk, I... you know, I've got to take it. I've gotta know, to be sure."
Connie shook her head, her mouth pulling into a sideways frown. "But you do know. I know, Amy knows, Maya knows, we were all there. We went through every open part of those tunnels, and what did we find?"
Joe blinked, then shrugged, "A guy in a cell?"
"Yeah," Connie nodded, "but nothing to get you home. I mean, unless Omar was planning to have him give you a piggy-back ride all the way there." She stopped for a moment to give Omar a suspicious stare, as if what she had said could be even remotely possible.
Omar rolled his eyes, "I had nothing to do with that man, I said as much already. And as for Weller's way home, you weren't looking hard enough. It was on the first right once you climb through that hole in the wall."
"Like hell it was," Connie retorted, "that's where we went first, and we didn't find shit; it was all caved in."
Omar went still. "It was..."
Before he could continue, Connie turned to Davey, who had been observing the whole situation with quiet interest, if a slight sense of helplessness. He would have offered transportation, but Rip was still out god-knew-where with his truck. "And can you believe this?" Connie asked, pointing at Omar. "He still won't tell us what this 'way home' for Joe is even supposed to be. Like if we know, it'd somehow screw up his plan. Well it's hard to believe that something isn't made-up BS when the guy won't even tell you what it looks like."
Davey's whiskered face—which had been keeping a pleasant smile—fell. His eyes widened slightly in stark realization. "Actually Connie..."
She shook her head slightly, "What? What are you making that face for?"
Davey hesitated, speaking slowly, "...I think I know what he's talking about."
Connie was silent for a moment. Shock, worry, and a begrudging understanding played across her eyes. "You mean this shit is real?" She said, though it was less a question and more a restatement of Davey's words, as she understood them. Davey nodded solemnly.
"You said..." Omar spoke up again, "that it was caved in?" His breathing had become stiff and controlled, as though his insides would fall to pieces if he allowed it to run amok. "The right side. The first right. You're sure?"
"Yeah." Connie said, reluctant to meet the man's eyes.
Omar's mouth twitched, while the rest of his expression looked vacant. He remained that way for a few seconds before coming to life. "Lets go. Now." He began marching to the door, beckoning to the three who were joining him, "outside, come on."
Davey touched Connie's arm, placing his small hand there as though to support her if she started tipping over. He turned his head to look at Cynthia as the young knight asked if they would watch after her belongings. "I would be glad to," he said, fishing out a quick smile. "rest assured, they will be just as you left them."
"Joe," Connie spoke up as the young lizard-man began to trail after Omar, looking more doubtful than ever. He stopped, turning partway to face her. Connie chewed at her lip for a moment, then said, "if it doesn't work out, come back here, okay? We'll take care of you."
Joseph said nothing, just gave a small nod. He waved to Amy and Maya, his mouth picking up into a half-smile. Then he turned back away, walking until he reached the door. Until all that could be seen of him was the trailing end of his tail. And then nothing.
every little word and every little step