| Desert Rescue | ||
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Summary: A man recently arrived through the Stone Portals is attacked by wolves. He's rescued by Lillia and taken to her home village hidden in the sands.  |
The caravan traders know them, marking their sun-bleached tablets and carving their sign into ancient rock formations. The mercenaries know them, and if they do not they leave their tracks and their blood to be taken in by the relentless sands. Of late, the rules have been shifting. This was supposed to be a quiet place. A dusty haven between larger encampments, it's stone ground smooth by sandstorms and the passage of traveling feet. Now it is only a haven for sandwolves. One howls from the top of an abandoned hut, roof already battered and half collapsed from the winds. Four, then seven voices answer. The howls turn to snarls and growling whimpers. There is a man in the blazing heat. He is stripped to the waist, black hair sodden against his back from the heat. The pants are ill fitting and he has no shoes, though no sign of pain shows from what must be an intense case of hotfoot. The oversized wolf snarls as he skewers it through the neck with the ragged edge of a broken blade, jerking the handle free and retreating before heavy jaws click shut on his arm. He retreats a few steps further, watching the wolves circle with chest heaving and obviously sunburned and exhausted, movements slow and heavy. He's not likely to last long in this condition. Out in the distance, a strange call is heard. It's an oddly resonant sound, rising up in pitch from low to high, and could possibly be mistaken for an unnatural sound. Except it's not. Over the sand dune rises a very large lizard. A lizard large enough to pull a wagon. It's easy to tell it's that large by the very wagon it happens to be pulling at this very moment. A robed, hooded, bandanaed, and goggled driver holds the reigns, a driver that doesn't slow down as the lizard and wagon approaches the pack of wolves. At first, it appears the driver doesn't even notice what's going on... but as the wagon gets close, one hand reaches down to their side and comes up with a crossbow in a one-handed grip. There's a bit of unsteady aim, and then a squeeze to release the bolt. With the unsteady base and the one handed aim, the bolt misses badly enough that one can't be entirely certain what was the driver's target: Man or beast. Instead, the bold embeds itself in the sand after having flown between the man and the nearest sandwolf. It can be determined, however, that the driver did in fact intend to hit a target from the curse she utters after the fact. The failed shot turns out to be a timely intervention, for one of the six remaining stalkers sees the arrow flash by, startling as the bolt sinks with a soft 'twhap' to the burning sand. As a result, it's lunging swipe is rewarded with a sharp bit of steel across the nose. The sandwolf lets out a whimpering yelp, smacking their nose into the burning sand and slapping big paws to either side of it, comical if not for their deadly intent. The largest one snaps at their flank, prodding them into action again. The six wolves are the ones to back up now, smelling lizard and an end to an easy meal. Another grazing blow from the exhausted man decides them and the leader lets out another howl, the sand-colored pack fading back into the dunes rather than risk further death or injury. The man staggers on his feet, arm sagging as they retreat. He stares at the lizard and the wagon, a blank stare common to madmen and the completely displaced. He wrenches the bolt from the sand, fighting to suppress a limp as he extends it towards her. The robed, goggled, hooded, and bandanaed woman brings the lizard to a halt as soon as the wolves start running. She looks down at the man as he reaches up to hand her the bolt and says, "Seriously? I've dozens of those. Get in the back before the sun bakes you even more." She sounds... annoyed for someone that just rescued a stranded man in the desert. Not even concerned that the man may rob her... except that, in the back, there's almost nothing. Just some jugs of water and some travel rations, and even the water looks to be mostly empty by now. If the guy shows any difficulty getting up the small steps built into the wagon, she will get out of her seat to help him up. "Help yourself to some water, but just to drink. No washing. I'm close to a village, but not close enough that I want the water just dumped out." The inside is also surprisingly cool... maybe related to the snowflake ornament hanging from the center rib of the colored wagon. It appears to be made of solid ice. The man turns his attention back to the bolt. He examines it more closely, handling the tip carefully as he rubs a thumb along the shaft. He then turns his attention in stages to the lizard, the wagon, and finally the woman. He staggers, again putting a hand over his eyes to stave off a momentary vertigo. He draws in a breath and lets it out four times, centering himself before he gives a curt nod and climbs into the back of the wagon. He doesn't have difficulty so much as he stares at it for some time in the same way he did her and everything else. Puzzling. Sorting things out in his head as though execution single instructions one at a time. He brushes sand off his ill-fitting pants, a futile gesture as sand has a tendancy to get everywhere it's not wanted. "a village..how.. how far?" he clears his throat until he's able to speak louder than a cracked whisper, taking several small sips of water and then forcing the jug back into it's proper place after a coughing fit nearly robs him of most of it. The woman says, "Easy now. And you can have more than that. There's plenty of water in Stargazer." She looks off into the distance, looks down at a compass, then off in the distance again. "We should be there just before nightfall," she determines. "Eduardo knows the way better than I do." The lizard makes some chirping noises, apparently in pride at his handler's words. "Name's Lillia, for the record." She herself steps into the wagon's interior space, taking a swift breath in before lowering her hood from her head, then her bandana from he face. "How'd you get out here? I thought there were signs to help people showing up at the Stone Portals to keep from getting lost," she says before pouring a bit of water for herself into a mug that was hanging from a hook. At her urgings, he takes a little more but ends up coughing out most of it. He frowns at himself and succeeds to keep some down on a third try. "Lillia." he inclines his head slightly, as formal as a bow would be in another time and place. "Eduardo." his muscles twitch and jump as he attempts to make himself comfortable, pale skin flushed so red as to be radiating heat into the blissfully cool air of the interior. He eyes the snowflake with raised eyebrows, peering at it with guarded curiosity before looking out at the desert. "Yes. I.. must have missed the signs. Was there anyone else around, that you've seen? A blonde haired man, perhaps?" he searches the horizon for something other than rolling dunes. "..I came up the side of a mountain with my team. But.. things went out of control and we were separated. And I found myself here." He makes a low 'hmmgh' noise in the back of his throat, gesturing out into the desert. "..give or take a few miles." Lillia frowns, then shakes her head. "I've not seen another soul since yesterday." She raises the bandana again now that she's done drinking, but doesn't lift the hood of her desert traveling robes this time, keeping her white hair and cat-ears quite visible as she steps back out to the front. "I'll keep an eye out for them," she says, "But a blind search will get us nowhere right now. We're not very close to any mountains, anyway..." Her voice trails off as she whips Eduardo lightly with the reigns (really, with his scales it doesn't look like that could possibly hurt), setting the lizard off and moving again. "...The mountain didn't seem to be made of metal, did it?" she ventures. He is staring at her with the same guarded curiosity he gave the snowflake. He seems to realize that he is staring, combing more bits of sand from his skin and looking at the floor of the wagon as it bumps and jostles into action. The broken blade clatters where he put it down, his eyebrows raising as though he'd forgotten it's existence temporarily. The blade, even a fragment, is long enough to be a longsword all on it's own "No. I'm afraid not." He says after his examinations are over. "Tell me more about these Stone Portals." He pauses, then clears his throat. "If you wouldn't mind." Lillia shrugs lightly. "There's not much to say, really. Stone frames floating above the ground, occasionally they link up extradimensionally to other worlds and people or things fall through, then pop, no more link, just as fast. I occasionally go out there in case something interesting has fallen through, but only if I happen to be in the area for other reasons." She pauses, then looks over her shoulder at the guy. "You got a name?" she asks. No, not going to question how long that sword looks like it might have used to be. Definitely not going to make an overcompensation joke in this situation. "Hm." is all that he seems to react to 'not much to say' and does not meet her eyes when she asks for his name. He pauses to rub the bridge of his nose, a painful prospect as it is already starting to peel, muttering something in another language that has all the tone and inflection of 'Why not?' dressed in different pants. "Sephiroth." his eyes flinch at the corners as he says that. As though to hide his anxiety, he plies her with another question. "And what was it that drove Miss Lillia and her faithful companion out into these wastes? Not that I mind, overmuch. The rescue was quite timely." Lillia laughs and looks forward again. "Eduardo is a rental. I usually rent him when I head out to Stargazer, but I'm not sure he qualifies as a 'faithful companion'. But several reasons, actually. Buying scrap, taking orders for the next trip I come in, and of course the Starfall Festival tomorrow." She looks back over her shoulder again and says, "Or you could just say I'm making an overdue visit to my old home town, with just a hint of business opportunities to be had." "Hm." again. That seems to be the man's default response, even to mild embarrassment. It does show up on his face, but like a wandering charlatan, is turned away at the door and hidden by the same tired resolve that has been frozen on his face since the sandwolves. "I see. A visit with an escape clause attached and a bonus should everything go well. Good planning, that." He begins to cough mid-sentence, and continues to do so until he breaks down and has some more water, the reverse of his earlier problem. "Are situations like the one I found myself in common in your business?" Lillia grins behind her bandana, not that he'd see anyway since she's not facing him. A series of very large, very old crashed starships are beginning to come into view over the dunes, their visage warped by mirages. "Well, it's far from unheard of. It's why I always carry more food and water than I actually need out here. But I don't think I've picked anyone up in... Nearly a year now?" She looks over her shoulder at the man for a moment again, then asks, "So... did you come through the portals? Or are you actually from this world?" She pauses, then takes a different approach. "Ever heard of Valis?" she asks. It's like asking if someone in medieval Europe if they've ever heard of Rome before, if he's actually from anywhere on this continent. His eyes stray to her ears again as she talks until they are arrested by the huge, glimmering husks of metal thrust out of the sand like knobs of metallic coral. He reaches up by reflex and stops himself from touching his face again. Instead he folds his hands in his lap, the rough fabric at least a thin barrier against discomfort. "I must admit to not being familiar with the territory." Which answers and in fact doesn't answer the question. "What are those?" he points towards the distant husks, shifting just enough to get a better look at them. Lillia is looking forward again, but raises an eyebrow out of sight. Typical. Probably a bigshot where he's from, too afraid to lose face by saying he's lost. "Eh? Crashed starships from... a long time ago. The old war, when Synthatek and Valis went at it with each other. And a few newer ones from idiot pilots getting off course too low." Her eyes, though hard to see in the thin slits of the desert goggles, are darting left and right as she mentally identifies the hulks. This is where she doesn't need Eduardo's instincts anymore, and could guide a wagon herself through from memory. "Huh. Sand's built up against Skyranger more than usual," she says idly. "Almost didn't recognize it. Wonder if someone plugged that hole up with something, or just..." She then shrugs, not finishing the sentence. "Starships." he intones in an odd, lower register. It would be disbelief if he wasn't smart enough to see the distant hulking shapes for himself. There is a moment where he tunes out, his eyes glazing over with some memory before he slaps a hand against his leg. It doesn't make a very loud sound, but it certainly must have stung. "So.. there is a truce between Synthatek and Valis for now?" Lillia chuckles in a low laugh. "Valis hasn't really been powerful enough to take on Synthatek in over a while now. Empire broke apart over a thousand years ago. It's not so much a truce as a moot point now." They're finally approaching a hull that looks, more alive, somehow. There are plants growing on it in places. Actual green ones. In fact, one patch in a fold of the hull looks intentionally put there, which is even more obvious when someone is seen walking out of it. This is what gives a sense of scale of this ship: it's truly humongous, over a kilometer long behemoth of metal, ceramics, composites, who knows what materials it's made of? But it's large enough to hold that small farm on top of just one small part of it. As the wagon approaches more closely, the ship's name can be seen boldly, its lettering repainted countless times to keep it legible: Stargazer. Desert Wastelands: Stargazer Village(#1463RLA) In the wreckage of what was once a starship by the name of Stargazer there now thrives a small town, itself named after the long defunct starship. Visitors are greeted by a sign that once clearly was where the ship's name was painted on its hull, but has been repainted over the centuries so many times that none of the original paint is still there. Here is the center of large salvaging operations where people come home to after another expedition out in the wasteland for the valuable metals of the wrecked spaceships. Cobbled together buildings from various bits of spaceship dot the ground under the large section of intact hull that shades the town from the harsh sunlight. And at the center is the town's prize possession: A water mana node, stationary in its place, supplying the town with all the fresh water it should need. A large pool has been built around the node, holding the water that pours out of it so the townsfolk can gather water from it at their leisure. "I see." He drinks in this information like everything else. In small, precise sips and silence. When Stargazer comes into view, this juxtaposition of metal and greenery is a familiar one, in a sense. But as his eyes roam the scenery, there is no quiet, desperate struggle between competing forces. Although not the largest metal structure he's seen, the town that grows out of the metal does so in a way that integrates the rusted hulk without resenting it. Neither is the greenery a hinderance, but in fact welcome shelter from the bleak surroundings. Sephiroth moves closer again, until he is nearly at the front with Lillia, eyes darting from place to place. The plants, the sign. The farm. The cobbled together buildings already under the cooling shade of the Stargazer's hull. "This is your home?" Again, that lower note of disbelief. It's not scorn, either. Just.. shock. Lillia takes the wagon under the hulk, revealing it to mostly empty on the inside. That is, empty of things that were inside it when it was remotely functional. No, now inside it is a vibrant town lit from openings in the hull above and kept cool and surprisingly moist by a large fountain and pool in the center of town. Yes, there are also numerous dwellings built into the underside as well. "Ehhhh... it's where I grew up, where my family lives, but I travel enough that I don't really have a set 'home' anymore, if you ask me. Honestly, I find it a bit difficult to spend too much time on this continent these days." Now under the shelter, her goggles and bandana come off, and once Eduardo comes to a stop by some stables, she's quick to throw off the robe as well, glad to be rid of the sandy thing for now. This does, however, reveal that her cat-like features do not end with her ears, but include a tail as well. And she's not the only one. Almost half the people here have the same cat-like features that Lillia does. And many are approaching the wagon already. Sephiroth makes a small sound of acknowledgement. "I'm.. very familiar with that, at least." He looks down a his hands, calculating. He clenches them several times before relaxing them and his shoulders. "I'd like to repay a tiny fraction of the debt I have for my rescuer." he makes another soft sound, a huff of embarrassed amusement. "I would offer to roll up my sleeves, but confess to having misplaced them." He looks out at the crowd. Uncertain. Checking body languages. Looking for escape routes. While his eyes shift back and forth, he asks in an otherwise calm voice. "What do you mean by 'this continent?" ) [Spoofed By: Sephiroth] A pair of pre-teen cat-girls, one blue haired and the other green are among those that have approached. "Lillia! What'd ya bring?" asks the green-haired one. The blue-haired one adds, "Besides the dried up wolf-bait," with a dry tone as she looks at Sephiroth. Lillia sighs and shakes her head. "Viola, you'll see tomorrow at nightfall, it's the Starfall Festival, afterall!" She then shoots a more displeased look at the blue-haired one. "Rosa, don't be so rude. He nearly died out there." She looks back to Sephiroth with an apoligetic look. "Sorry about my sisters." When a more portly cat-man approaches, Lillia's ears flick back slightly in a wince before returning to normal. "Oh. Mayor. Get me a supply list and I'll try to fill it in a month. I think your last letter got lost, I don't have anything with me this time for the town." Lillia tenses up a split second before looking back at Sephiroth with a tired look. "Hey. Don't worry about it. Kind of like... rules of the desert for decent folk. Someone's out there dying of thirst, help 'em. Now, if you want to earn your place in Stargazer..." she motions with her head towards the now retreating mayor. She blinks at the last question and says, "Oh. Well, we're on the continent of Distant Oceans right now. Most technology beyond springs and cogs doesn't work here. I'm kind of used to all that tech by now." As he gets out of the wagon, a strange thing happens. The little signs of stress and pain are washed away once he's under the scrutiny of a crowd. He pulls back his hair, tugging his fingers loosely through the sandy mess without a hint of self-consciousness. As though wearing armor or a dress uniform rather than ragged and barely holding together pants, he lets out a long breath and fixes Lillia with an even stare. "We will continue this conversation at a later date, then." he says with finality. He locks eyes with Rosa as he grabs the broken blade, "Rosa." he inclines his head, though his eyes never leave her as you would an opponent across from you on a practice mat. "Pleasure to meet you." he nods to the other, with slightly less intensity. "Viola." He then walks across the cooling sand after the retreating mayor. Viola offers a quick grin at Sephiroth, while Rosa looks down at the blade as the man grabs it, then right back to his eyes as if to say, 'Are you seriously attempting to frighten me?' Lillia, however, shoos the two pre-teens away. "Go tell mom and dad I'm here so they stop worrying." The pair run off, and Lillia looks to Sephiroth with a raised eyebrow. "If you say so." The mayor stops and looks to the man as he catches up. "Ah, hello, young man. What can I do for you today in Stargazer?" This doesn't look like some career politician type... no, this town is too small to support someone like that. Instead, he looks like he probably is the sort that's actually good at keeping the town together, but still runs his own business on the side. "If you're looking for a place to stay, I can show you to the Rescue Inn. An older couple runs the place, catering to those that have just arrived on our world and other refugees looking to get their feet back under them." Sephiroth maintains the eye contact, his expression neutral and allowing Rosa to think whatever she wished. It's often easier that way. When he catches up with the major, he salutes almost reflexively before burying the sharp edge in the sand to keep it close but keep his hands empty while he talked. "Thank you, sir. I would greatly appreciate it. I.. find myself at somewhat of a disadvantage, so anything I might do in the morning to repay such kindness." he clears his throat. "..sufficiently prepared, of course. If you'll excuse me, I believe I will go attend to that." And hopefully before his last reserves gave out and he flopped bonelessly to the sand like a beached fish. | |