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 Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:20 am
Alice
Alice cocked her head over to one side with a quizzical look to her face as Bill started to walk off, should she follow him? Alice didn't have anything else to do at all but if Bill left she would be alone again. Deciding it was best to try and stick with someone for now she floated idly down the alley after the cat, her hair and sash rippled and streamed lightly around her as if Alice was swimming through water. It was an odd way for things to move if she was suspended in the air, well if you could really say Alice was in anything at all, never mind the air.
A few thoughts passed through her mind as the scenery shifted by. Was the rest of the city like the alley? Were things like Bill common? Was there any more like her? Only time could tell really, and adventuring out from the alley was a step in some direction at least.
"Rehfah sho bee? Emmmm..... Fun, Wizard~ Kyahaa~!" Alice laughed girlishly and upped her speed a little to float along side the small furry mammal and before trying to catch his tail once more. It seemed that any questions Alice was thinking had been put on the back burner, for now.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:30 am
Sam's view became blocked by a humanoid. The humanoid spoke. Sam was either hallucinating or this means that someone was in this wasteland (Sam assumed, he had not looked around) with him. Either way politeness was always key, even hallucinations got angry.
"Pfa, une hya phobirm dha tsas greci."
Yes, but you know not what (I) say.
He did not bother to try again in English, he just laughed and pointed at the humanoid's gun.
"Mret ga robberai?"
His terrible version of "this a robbery?"
He laughed some more, then his face became grim.
"Kya tonk yam det!" Mad Sam started laughing again. He looked over the man standing above him better. Poor guy looked more drained than Sam felt.
"Hya gahnt tsomme whater?"
He tried to stop himself from laughing, because water didn't matter when you were dead.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:36 am
Alana jumped a bit when the man spoke. He made logical sense, but then again why should she trust him at all? He was obviously bloody and beaten for a reason, maybe he pushed someone the wrong way. As for the gun, well, Alana never trusted anyone with a gun. Finally she found the words to speak. "I'm fine where I'm at. Thanks anyway." Alana didn't want to listen to them. For all she knew they could be more dangerous then what was in the dark.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 12:13 pm
The hooded man leaned back as Jim sat up and started moving but he shook his head with a subtle smile at the man's words. "Just because a motivation is not readily apparent does not mean it does not exist," he spoke to both of them a touch warningly, "Blind faith in kind strangers is as misplaced as a sense of safety in shadows" he spoke calmly, coolly as he washed the blood from his hands with water from a canteen pulled out of his cloak. "Both are always hiding something and it is just as likely to be dangerous as it is good." He paused tilting his head at the smell of Jim's cigarette. The lips curled wryly and a wrapped hand reached up gracefully to snatch the smoking stick from the inspector's mouth. "And these will kill you," he finished with a nod then took a long drag of it himself.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 12:54 pm
Pango had noticed the odd merchant slip away to the forest but the youth made no mention of it - one less mouth to feed and body to protect. That one didn't seem to be a newcomer anyway.
Alex rambled on about the Kumariel and their differences between the elves of his world, which amounted to not very much at all, as he lead the little group toward the city. Most of what he said was rather frivolous pertaining largely to cultural styles, food, and the cowardice of archery. It seemed, like many elves, the Kumariel were renown marksmen but the knight had little respect for anyone that wouldn't face their foes on the field. At least the food was good and he spent most of the day talking about their sweet cakes, sugar fried dumplings, and rice rolled fish.
As the day drug on the little group finally reached the great ringed city. There was no wall at the outer ring, only the deep, wide channel with a few narrow, unguarded bridges. It was obvious the outer ring was the lower class by the lack of security and look of the buildings but still there was a richness to the place. Brightly colored mosaics patterned the clean stucco walls of short buildings with red tiled roofs and merchants lined the streets selling all manner of things from fine silks, to blacksmithing, and writhing pits of what looked like eels in between. People of all sorts mingled about the dirt pathways and in small boats in the channels: tall people, short people, old people, young people, white, black, brown, yellow, even a few purple, some with pointed ears, some with round, some had no ears at all, a few even had wings.
Alex grinned wide at the diversity and watched with an almost child-like wonder as he rode his horse through the crowds, clearing a path for the others to follow in his wake. The people in the street gave them a wide berth, some staring at the shining knight in awe and others grumbling whispers about self righteous pricks and staying out of their way. Alex didn't seem to notice these mumblers and just smiled at everyone that gave him a glance as he lead the group through muddy streets to a stop at what looked invariably like a bar.
The Blackthorn Inn was a tall building of a darker make than the bright stucco of most those surrounding it. Not a complete anomaly in the outer ring, many buildings there didn't quite seem to match, but it hadn't been whitewashed and made to conform as the others. The dark wood fame was unpainted and richly oiled to a deep mahogany hue and the stained glass windows lent a different sort of color than the bright mosaics. The smells coming from inside were simply delicious: hearty, sweet, spicy, savory, and with an overtone of hard alcohol to wash it down.
Alex swung off his massive horse and dropped the reigns over a post rather carelessly leaving the animal not really tied as he all but skipped up the steps toward those smells. It was uncertain if he even remembered the others following him, so distracted by the scent. Pango though was bitterly aware of the escort and grumbled as the youth slid down from the horse and tied it properly before giving the group a flat glare.
"Keep it under 10 golds or I'll take it out of yer gear" the youth warned then waved them inside.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:02 am
The inspector choked at the sudden, unexpected rudeness of the action. He decided to let is slide, but his displeasure was apparent on his face. He picked up his hat and dusted it off to distract himself from his outrage. After examining the piece briefly, checking for damage and blood, he placed it back on his head and changed the subject.
"I know all about secrets, believe me," He grumbled, still somewhat irritated.
"If your hidden motive is something you want me to do, then spit it out already," he continued before beginning to rise with help from the ground and wall. He still felt rather weak, and at his size, standing up from the ground was never an easy task.
"Otherwise," He groaned in his final strain before assuming a proper standing posture, "I just got a couple o'things I gotta ask before I go on my way."
While he waited for a response, he began to adjust his tattered clothing, closing his coat to cover up most of the blood stains on the clothes beneath. The bullet holes were still clearly visible, and even the thick coat had been soaked through in spots, but for the most part it would save bystanders from the sight of blood.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:30 am
The strange cloaked man seemed as unconcerned by Jim's irritation at his rudeness as he had at the wounds. He simply leaned back and stood in a graceful movement that belied the supposed frailty implied by his bandages, pallid skin, and somewhat raspy voice. He breathed smoke as he listened to the inspector's almost complaint and took a moment to consider the question.
"Aelzwyr," he spoke calmly pulling the cig from pale lips to hold familiarly between ink stained fingers. "The Land of Lost Things" he answered what was sure to be one of those questions, "Something of the trashbin of the multiverse, where the lost and forgotten go to not take up space in their own realms, or to find themselves - depending who you ask." He gave a bitter leer and took another draw of the cig then let it out in rings, "Earth" he purred "Mid, maybe early 20th century. . . the silver age of tobacco." Traveler half sighed then shook his head.
"There is no way home." he turned slightly to include the girl in the statement that was sure to be an answer to another question they were both asking. "No safe way at least. Not that I've found. May as well get comfortable."
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:46 pm
Quintus didn't catch most of what Sam said, but "water," was clear enough, and he latched onto that rather quickly. "Water? You have some?" he asked, trying and failing not to sound too desperate. That was what thirst did to you. "I'm dyin' here," he admitted with a grinding chuckle, humoring his new acquaintance and sliding his pistol back into his shoulder holster.
He knelt, half because he wanted to be closer to the stranger so he might be able to catch more of what he said, half because his legs felt like they might give out at any second. Was he that dehydrated? Apparently. Two days, plus... well, time didn't seem to feel like moving here, so an indeterminate amount of travel time here, rounded out to just about the longest a man could survive in this kind of heat without water. There'd be physical consequences for this, he knew, though how permanent he wasn't sure. The aftermath of this sort of thing could scar for life, but that was rare... or so he thought. He'd been out of the desert for years, really. The details escaped him. He'd probably just need a week or so to recover from it. He'd get that, if he lived to get out of here.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:26 pm
Linda was in too much of a daze to verbally acknowledge. She was simultaneously called to be the scents, the sights, and the sounds.
There was far more biological diversity, to say the least, than the Eternal Empire's earth. On one level, it spoke to her of people undominated, worlds unbroken, lands unconquered. On another, it spoke to her of how little she'd seen, how little she knew. She was quite sure she'd seen at least a dozen species she'd never seen before, and was in fact quite right about it.
The sounds held the chatter of untold histories in the languages she didn't know, made known to her in not just the words of the Eternal Empire but in the ideas, the thoughts, as well.
The scents were a whole different world. For all her genetic modifications, Linda 213 still had a distinct affinity for the smell of cooked meat and the taste of simple carbohydrates. It was primal, basic, and completely unfiltered by a world where all the food was soy- and krill-derived nutrient pastes. For her to experience these smells for the first time without being able to taste them yet was nigh unbearable. Without realizing it, she passed the back of her finger alongside her mouth to wipe away a stream of saliva.
Deep within Linda 213, a fountain of raw, bestial desire burst forth, and one proto-thought took her brain and made her consciousness its own:
MY BODY IS READY
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 9:18 am
Sam beamed up at the kneeling man, and without moving too much from his position he reached over to his bag, opposite the man, and stuck his hand inside. He called forth one of his favourite fruits, the boli. The boli is a fruit that looks much like a large pear with the rind of an orange. It is juicy, delicious, and full of vitamins and electrolytes, not to mention water.
The reasons are obvious as to why they are Sam's favourites.
The grinning man demonstrated the method by which to consume said fruit by making a gesture with it, then twisting the stem (which went over the top like a cap), and tilting it back as if he was drinking from it. He also made a sucking noise. It looked silly, but eating the fruit was dangerous, the juices were healthy and nutritious, the flesh was overly so, to the point of diarrhea.
The merchant made a grimace as he thought of this and put the fruit down, going for one of the stones on the "good side" of his backpack, then holding that up to the man.
"Pong dit in kya hear!"
Put this in your ear.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:49 pm
There was no reason for the cat to answer the first of her questions as stepping out into the twilight of the street did so better than any cryptic rhyme Bill could have given her. It was a resounding no. The alley had been small and dark and dirty and for the most part plain. The street was large, open, still dirty, but brightly lit by strung lights and glowing globes of floating luminescence. People and things of all kinds milled about in the chaos of a patchwork market. Vendors sold colorful fruits alongside musty books and sparkling jewels, pelts, spices, crafts, silks, weapons, livestock, anything, and everything. It was sensory overload for the strange Alice.
Too many things, new things, too many people, new people, too much to keep count of and all just there, all around her. Some stopped to stare curiously at the floating specter of a young girl, some shied away to give her space, none approached, most just went on about their day. The cat stared up and told the girl, "Come, Alice, come follow. None of these will see you straight. Come, Alice, come. We must see the Wizard before he is late."
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:04 pm
Jim's brow tightened with fearful thought as he thought over what he was hearing. Was he really no longer on Earth? His eyes traced the trail of blood behind him. Sure enough, it ended a mere ten feet away. The stranger named the origin of the tobacco he tasted by both place and date, suggesting that it was also no longer 1937. He did not, however, seem to speak of the time and place as one speaks of home. From that, the inspector determined that this person must be extremely familiar with different times and places, perhaps Aelzwyr more than any other.
Snapping back to the problems at hand, Jim turned his wandering gaze back to the cloaked stranger. "What's the currency here?" He asked promptly, realizing that he needed new clothes, ammunition, and soon enough food and shelter.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:57 pm
Alana's mouth dropped as the Traveler spoke of no way home. She couldn't stay here forever, could she? Forever without seeing her brother or the life she left behind. Admittedly her life wasn't as good as she'd liked it to be, but starting over in some new, strange place made her feel a bit scared. She didn't have to do this alone. Not yet at least. She took a step into the light, only part of her scarred arm in the shadows behind. She too was curious as to how she would be able to get money. With that she could at least buy cloths, weapons, and food; by now her stomach was growling loudly.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:00 pm
Traveler gave the girl a slight nod for her stepping closer then tilted his head to Jim's question. He flicked the ash from the cig idly, like a long time smoker, then took another drag and held the paper rolled tobacco up as if to display, "Better'n gold, friend." He flashed a wry smile, "Should cover the bandages. Probably get some of the street vendors to give you trade but they'll try to cheat you. Queen's currency is metal, gold mostly but she'll take anything precious."
He tilted his head slightly at the sound of the girl's growling stomach. "Come, there's a market street near. I've coin enough to feed you." He gave them both a slight bow as he stepped away to lead them down a side street toward the smells and sound of a distant market.
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