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It was disgusting how they clung to each other, blindly following a way that was soon to die out...or kill them first...either way it didn't matter. She had lived among them long enough to dislike them...hate them even....but there was a sliver of pity for them...if one would call it that. Their ignorance would doom them and that was not her fault in the least.
The travel from the small desert camp was an exhausting tread through soft sand and scorching heat that grew hotter as the day progressed well into night, though the traveler was quite certain the heat should have tailed off dramatically as night drifted silently over the expanse of rock and sand.
Just her luck.
It was not for another three hours before distinct shapes shown in the distance against the faint glow of a long set sun. A horizon of buildings stretched wide across her plane of sight as she drew nearer, taking one heavy step after another, daring to pick up her pace a little. Behind the deep prints in the sand were a smaller set of four, each close together as if some small creature had lopped its way from one footprint to the next, trying to keep up.
Long slender claws extended to the sand as the woman dipped down, offering her arm to the lengthy creature. A small black nose gently poked the tip of her metallic claws as if testing the stability before climbing its way up her forearm. The creature settled its forepaws in the palm of the steel covered hand while looking out into the city as it came close.
"Ed fuhd pa silr muhkan," she finally spoke for the first time in nearly half a day, though her voice was dry and hoarse. Using her free hand to brush back the seeping wet strands of hair from her eyes, she sighed. "Drec fych'd dra pacd bmyhhat etay," she admitted with a grimace on her lips. "Pid ed fyc paddan dryh fyedehk draen vun hudrehk... Fa'mm syng uin ufh bydr huf....fuhd fa..."
The creature, unable to understand the Al Bhed tongue, just stared at its own, waiting patiently for her to finish before its attention turned back to the city waiting for that final step from the desert.
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It was a little more difficult than originally thought for then to find a place to rest for the night. At the ungodly hour of 2 am, no place was open, nor did anyone want to be awakened just to tell this pair of travelers that there was no vacancy in their establishment. Time after time they were cast disgusted looks for their weary condition, and called ludicrous for even attempting to secure lodging with the meager about of money in their possession.
"That's not even enough to use the bathroom..." a stout, middle aged man chuckled at their misfortune. It was the last inn available, and her last resort before caving in and sleeping on a bench somewhere. "But," she lifted her gaze from the grains she tracked in on the floor and gave the man her full attention. He lightly scratched his center bulge, "Since it's the middle of the night, I'll let you stay here. It's not much but at least you can have a bath. You look like you need one..."
It was a generous gesture, one she should have been singing the man's praises for, yet she kept herself in check. Letting out a minute sigh of relief to assure him, she took the key off the table while uttering a small word of thanks. Having not yet mastered the common Terran tongue, there was little she knew, except for the commonly used words. Eventually, it would have to change if she wanted to make progress in the world...but that thought was for another time.
As soon as the key was inserted, she swung the door open, discarded what little she had, and slipped silently into the small bathroom with her companion in tow.
It felt like hours before she was satisfied that all the sweat and filth of the journey was gone from her skin, and it was well worth it as she walked out of the tub and fell into a pile of clean sheets. The bed itself was hard and irritating, but she didn't care. It was a bed, and was alot better than sleeping in the streets. Her furred companion, now rid of sand from its fur, quickly joined her on the bed and curled up next to her head. And both, in a matter of minutes, fell into a deep, relaxed sleep.
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The night passed uneventfully, which was how any exhausted person would want it to be. Yet when dawn came and drifted into late afternoon, the female traveler remained confined to the deep pillows and comfortable sheets of the bed. It was rare for her to sleep in, as in the past there was always someone to wake her at the crack of dawn and drag her out to excavate in the sand. But now, there was only a small, hungry ferret attempting to wake her by pawing at what little of her face was exposed. It was a full hour before its efforts paid off and the woman stirred and rolled out of bed. Groaning as she rubbed her eyes, she glanced down at the creature staring impatiently for attention.
"What?" she yawned. The ferret continued to stare. "It's not that late in the day is it?" She didn't bother to look out the window, because it didn't matter if it was late or not. They were no longer on a set schedule, and she easily acclimated to the situation. Reaching down, she gave the ferret a gentle stroke then went to get dressed. It was better to leave from the inn as soon as possible, lest the owner wanted a favor for another night....or something to that extent. She shivered uncomfortably, then quickly ushered the thought from her mind.
"Iku," she clicked her tongue sharply while extending an arm to her companion. Obediently it climbed up to her shoulder and wrapped around her neck as she finished her ensemble and gathered their things.
"I'm leaving," was all she said as she passed the front desk, placing the key on the counter without so much as a grateful word to the manager. Gratitude was given the night before, and there was no reason for it again. It might give the wrong impression...or so she assumed.
It wasn't as hot as it was the previous day, but it was still unpleasant to be outside. But hopefully the trip would not be as long for them to reach a destination, afterall, this time they were looking for a way out. A boat, an air ship, anything would suffice if it meant getting them off this excuse of a continent. They walked at a leisurely pace, taking their time since there was no point in rushing. For all they knew the next ride off the continent could take hours and they would be stuck waiting. Instead, they took their time and wandered the city, ignoring the strange glances cast onto the darkly dressed Al Bhed female. There was really nothing of interest to see, yet it was a better way of passing the time, she reasoned with herself. But the more streets she wandered down, the more she felt lost rather than searching. In truth, she didnt have the slightest idea what to look for. Reading the signs were out of the question, as were asking for directions when she struggled to put two Terran words together, let alone a sentence.
She gave a frustrated sigh. "Trec ec netelimuic..." She gently rubbed the back of her neck with a metallic hand to ease the oncoming tension. At this rate they would be stuck here...
"Hey!"
Out of reflex, she flexed her claws and glanced toward the direction of the sound. It was a man, minutely attractive, dressed to lavishly to be from this continent....a drifter perhaps. He smiled in a way she assumed to be charming and beckoned her with a light wave. "Hey, you've been wondering about for hours. You need a place to go or something?" His gesture was kind, but there was a foreign glimmer in his eyes that made her feel more wary of the man than put at ease. None the less, she walked over to him keeping her eyes trained on him for any strange movement. "Yes..?"
His smiled widened flaunting rows of perfectly straight, white teeth. A few could have been mistaken as fanged. "I said I've seen you walking about before...You look like you need a ride. Perhaps I could give you one." And there it was again, the strange glimmer in his eyes as he looked at her. It was enough to make her frown with uncertainty and take a step back. His smile faltered a little. "Come now. I don't mean to harm you...I'm just trying to help you out, that's all."
"Kad yfyo vnus sa..." she growled under her breath, taking another step back. The man's smile fell altogether and he dared to take a step toward her. "Hey liste-" A set of dagger-like finger were instantly poised at his throat, silencing him before he could utter another word. Fear lit his eyes as he stared into a pair of fiery orbs that could rival the sun in their intensity. The female's frown deepened as the claws pressed harder against the man's throat. "Leave..."
Quickly the man jumped back, nearly tripping over himself as he scrambled to gain his footing and make a run for it. "Crazy bitch!!" He shouted back when he was certain the angered Al Bhed was no longer within attacking range. When he was nothing more than a speck down the street, she relaxed, placing her hands at her side and took a deep, calming breath. Looking around for the first time at the startled faces of other patrons on the street, she felt a slight, uncomfortable warming in her cheeks. Perhaps she had overreacted...a little.
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Finally! Of course she would have shouted this if there wasn't a chance she would look like an idiot doing so, but the furry creature around her neck exclaimed enough for the both of them. Crawling around over the Al Bhed female's body, it yip with joy at the sight of an air ship just a few docks down. It was with pure luck that they found it, and though it looked like a peice of shit, neither of them were complaining...as long as it did its job well. People pushed their way through the bustling crowd to reach the commercial ship giving no regard to each other....which made it all the better for someone with quick fingers. Two pairs of claws worked dexterously through the crowd slipping in and out of pockets too deep for the unfortunates to notice, but they didn't take too much to draw attention....just enough to help their finances for their time on the ship.
It was suprisingly easy to board, but not so much to descretely find a place to settle for the trip. She had no duration of the time it would take or the destination they were supposed to reach. Such things seem irrealivant when one was trying to make an escape....or just leaving.
She kept as close to the wall of the ship as possible in order to make getting around the mass of passengers easier, then found a small nook under the stairs leading to the upper deck. It was a tight fit, but enough to suffice them for the journey...however long it was. "Iku..." She lightly clicked her tongue for its attention and pointed to her lap. Obediently the ferret slipped down and curled up close to her stomach keeping itself quiet. It was not long after they were situated that the remaining passengers were loaded and a heavy jerk was felt throughout the ship as it moved from docking position. In a matter of minutes the ship crept its way from the dock, heavily overloaded with passengers, and took to the sky, drifting along at what felt like a snail's pace.
Anyone who had spent any time in the desert would have taken one look at the slim man in black clothes and wondered if he was completely sane. As Roscoe wiped off another drenching of sweat from his forehead and adjusted his slipping mask for the umpteenth time, however, his fashion was not the first thing on his mind. He had recently slipped into another one of his characteristic depressions, and right now not even the cooling breeze of the airship's movement could have spared him his sadness.
Back in Alexandria, Roscoe had messed up yet another audition. He just couldn't understand. He had played the role of Angry Soldier Number Two with such vigor and emotion that it would easily have brought the hardiest theater goer to instant tears. But the playwright came up to him and said (in that artificially polite tone of voice the actor had grown to hate) that they were looking for someone "willing to play down the soldier's personality". As though Roscoe knew how to play down a personality!
Defeated, Roscoe did what he occasionally does when time and money allows and he's had a bad let-down. He got together his things; his best suits, his travel masks, his deck of cards; and he took the first airship he came across to wherever it was headed. Apparently, the answer to this particular airship's destination was a place called Figaro. His stay in the desert land could probably be best described as "one continuous heat stroke." And then came the fun part of trying to figure out a way to get back to where he came from.
Even now, he wasn't sure where this particular airship was headed. But as long as he stayed in this funk of his, he didn't much care. Let every grain of sand in the desert beat agianst his brow, and every ray of the sun fry his meager brains to soup, he...
Someone cried out, cursing at him in some language completely foreign to him, and Roscoe belatedly realized that, during his inner monologue, he had unintentionally made a wide sweeping gesture with his arm, which had caught his fellow passenger upside the head.
With a half-hearted apology, Roscoe beat a retreat, marked by the generally unkind comments of the people he bumped into on his way. He sat on an unoccupied stretch of floor (Unknowingly, with his back directly facing our thieving Al Bhed heroine) and he sighed; it was a sound as though all the injustices and melancholy sentiments were released in that one sigh.
ooc: Just to inform you, the thread was continued on another continent. If this is not a problem, I will follow the same route but with different stops.
Admin post:
The ship was crammed far beyond it holding capacity, but it still managed stay afloat. The sturdy structure creaked and whined as it pulled out of the dock, dropping suddenly as the loss off support, but was still airborne. The entire ship swayed as it turned to its plotted course and jerked once the engines were on full, urging the obese airship forward.
By the slow pace, it looked as though this trip would take longer than anyone anticipated. Why would the captain in his right mind allow a ship to become this full? Weren't there safety regulations? All around you people seemed not too concerned about their situation, all they cared about was getting to where they needed to go. Some conversed among themselves about their destinations, and the word on everyone's lips was Luca the first stop. Another city was Kilika followed by murmurs of Midgar.
As an hour slipped by, the excited talk among the passengers quieted down considerably, finally allowing one to think and hear their thoughts. Behind you was a relieved, but agitated sigh. A female garbed risque in black sat curled in the small crevice under the stair, petting a long pelt of fur resting in her lap. Her eyes were closed behind orange tinted glasses, but her expression was nothing short of annoyed. She turned sideways into the nook facing away from the passengers, not wanting to be bothered.
"Excuse me," your attention was diverted from behind you to the front by a meek little voice. A child stood in front of you clutching a worn out doll by its hand. His eyes bore curiously into your face as his head tilted slightly. "Why do you have that thing on your face?" He pointed at your mask.
Roscoe snapped out of his depression, with a start that would probably have hurt someone had he not kept himself in check. When he realized that his ambusher was nothing more than a curious little boy, Roscoe merely wiped his brow, pretending that his little outburst hadn't happened.
Instead, he put on an accomodating smile and said. "What, this mask on my face?" He tapped it lightly, putting on a conspiratory looking face and whispering. "Well, just between you and me, it's a disguise. That's right. I'm secretly an agent of justice, traveling around the world to find and defeat all the loathesome villains and dastardly masterminds in Gaia."
He nodded to himself, deciding to roll with his story. "Have you heard of a man known as The Wasp? He's the biggest villain of them all; a cowardly, evil man who targets only the most famous and handsome actors as part of his mysterious plans. I've heard reports that he may be in hiding somewhere in..." Where were they headed again? Luca, he thought he heard the other passengers saying. "...in Luca. So keep your eyes peeled, young man; you never know when you might need the help of an expert hero like me."
Satisfied with his partially true story, Roscoe leaned back against the stair case and moved his mask out of his eyes, tactfully masking his annoyance at having to have to constanly readjust the blasted thing. After all, it would hardly do to have a hero of justice be defeated by his own clothing. "Go on, run along now young man. And if you see any dastardly villains, you know where to find me." Heh, kids...
A child's mind was far too easy to manipulate, and this one was so enthralled with the story he believed every word to be true. He gasped at the thought of a villain lurking through a city, a protectively clasped his toy to his chest. "O-ok!" It looked like you managed to get the child away from you for a while and give you peace. But as the ship continued to rock and plummet at random intervals, it would have been impossible to get any real peace and quiet.
As you were left to your own thoughts, time blurred and could not be accounted for. One's nerves could have easily been tested by the continuous thought of if they were getting any closer to their destination. And of course, the children saw no need to keep their thoughts to themselves. "Are we there yet?" A chorus rang out almost at the same time by a range of little, bored voices. The parents were either asleep or ignoring the little nuisances all together...which was bad news for the other passengers.
A small blur suddenly shifted through the crowd, taking the distraction as opportunity to slip into deep pockets without so much as a stir from the victim. The grey mass made its rounds around nearly all the passengers before slipping back into the nook under the stairs and lay quietly. Not long after the ship jerked backward and its already snail's pace lessened as the ship began to descend. A crackled voice suddenly cut through the children's yammering.
"All passengers disembarking at Luca, please gather your belongings. We will be docking shortly."
Roscoe sighed; at least children could still be enthralled with fantastic tales and heroes of justice. What was it about adulthood that made people less receptive of their ideals? Now it's all this talk about subtle "nuances" of character and making them seem "mature." Well, why couldn't one be mature and still tout the old ideals of truth and justice?
These thoughts were occupying his mind for what had to be the thousandth time since he had fallen into his slump. And it was these thoughts that plagued him until an announcement started going around. So he was right; the next stop was a place called Luca. Roscoe wondered idly what sort of strange things could be found there. After all, Luca was (he figured) in a continent he had never visited before. He had seen enough of Alexandria and Lindblum to know that huge differences could arise even between different cities. Who knows what kinds of things the people of Luca might have?
As he gathered up his meager belongings, he wondered what sort of people lived there, what they did for entertainment. Maybe they had theater troupes and playhouses that were better than those in Alexandria, ones that recognized talent when it walked through the door. That would show those playwrights, wouldn't it? To be recognized abroad for talents that those at home blatantly ignored.
He couldn't keep a broad, goofy grin off of his face as he jostled around in the cabin, moving with the equally impatient crowd for a chance at getting through the door for fresh air and a first look at the city. From here, all he could see when he looked out the door was the clear blue sky, and the smell of salt water. He was so excited, nothing else mattered, not even the heat stroke he was still recovering from or the fact that right now he desperately needed a bath. Luca... even the name sounded adventurous!
