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+--- Thread: Finding Home (/showthread.php?tid=3597)
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Finding Home - Clownpiece - 01-19-2016
Monster and moose stumbled forward through the gate, leaving the endless white behind them. Drawing the mount to a stop, Somerled clutched at his head, vision spinning from the weird spatial-distortion teleportation thing he just had the displeasure of experiencing. This wasn’t a foreign form of travel to him by any means, what with forays into those magics being all too useful for getting from place to place, but it wreaked havoc on his mind all the same. It didn’t feel like a natural form of transportation to him. Take a step forward and suddenly you’re six thousand kilometers away. If that wasn’t a recipe for jet lag to the extreme, then nothing was.
The dizziness refused to let up, in fact, if it was possible, the monster was quite sure that it was getting worse. He cursed the creator of the portal, wondering why they couldn’t just stick with disassembly and reassembly. It’s so much simpler. Make a consciousness somewhere else, kill off original. Voile, no jet lag.
If the unsteady tottering at a standstill was any indication, his mount wasn’t faring much better than he was. Good, the spirit thought, he wasn’t the only one who detested this shit. As luck would have it, not long after he had that thought, he felt as though the beast was beginning to pitch sideways, perhaps succumbing its own wobbliness. In a panicked response, he quickly threw himself to the side, quickly dismounting from the behemoth so his leg wouldn’t be crushed. As Somerled discovered the hard way, it’s a terrible idea to make balance-related decisions while in a warp stupor. The moose hadn’t been falling over in the first place, and he threw himself off it in the clumsiest dismount ever, for what would appear to the average bystander as no reason whatsoever.
Somerled hit the ground heavily, solid surface meeting aggressively with his back and evicting the wind from his lungs. As he lay there, the dizziness likewise forced out of him by that harsh meeting with the ground, he found that the moose was not, in fact, perturbed by that teleportation. On the contrary, if that look it was giving him was anything to go by, it was mocking him. As if to say hey, look at this dumbass being upset by travelling. Which did not sit well with him at all.
“Nice going.” Before he was able to start yelling at everything however, his voice spoke mockingly, not bothering to hide the hint of a laugh.
“Oh shut up,” he groaned, springing back up to his feet quickly. As much as he wanted to just stay there in defeat, now wasn’t the time for laying around. “You can’t feel this shit, hiding in there.”
“You can’t either,” came the retort from his other half.
“Yes, but I have to live with the damage. Now shush.” Somerled commanded his other half to not start speaking, glancing around the immediate vicinity. A path of concrete or asphalt or something ran from the gate off into a direction currently being blocked by his moose. Just his luck, however, the path of solidness was what he landed on, and not the ridiculous amount of sand that resided everywhere else. Other than sand, gate, and path however, there wasn’t really much in the way of scenery, besides whatever the path actually led to. Sure, there was sea beyond the sand, but that was more of a vast expanse of wavy nothing. Last time he checked, water didn’t have notable landmarks.
With his cursory observations of out the way, the spirit turned his head towards the bright blue sky above. The weather was always much more fun to look at than land, it had weird things going on in it. Heat bearing down from the sun suffused through the spirit’s body. “Temperature is a balmy twenty six point six degrees Celsius, relative humidity of eighty one point four percent,” he read the atmosphere, accounting for the sun and humidity when he spoke the temperature. “Atmospheric pressure of...” he trailed off, wracking his brain to try and read this part. Try as he might, however, it was out of his grasp. “Too high for me to read,” he admitted, giving up on it. “It’s in your territory, Sonny. But I can safely say we’re not on the Isle of Man. In fact, it’s downright tropical here.” He kept his head turned upwards, basking in the glow of the sun, waiting for the other two to come through the gate.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 01-20-2016
Aadibah thought she was in the ocean again, back at home. A wave of cold washing over her body, already shivering, yet still thrusting against the wave, her lips pulled taught from ear to ear. Her body became rigid, her eyes squeezing shut, her mouth sucking in one last breath, waiting for the salty water to crash into her, and throw her off her feet and drive her into the sand. The soldier thought about how she would have to wash out the grit later. It never came.
Instead only warm, wet air met her cheeks, her lips and brow. Aadibah could smell salt and hear water throwing itself against a shore, but it was farther off. Her eyes shot open, the light of a high and hot sun striking at them for a moment before their pupils shrank, the apertures allowing her to take in her new space. Sand was all around, except under her. There was a gravel path coming from the white gateway that had brought them here. She could still feel the rubber seat underneath her legs, her hands clutching the metal.
What was that? The same feeling from first arriving resurfaced. Like waking from a dream, but it was a memory.
Are memories just dreams here, then?
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 01-20-2016
Connor shivers,
'Damnit I hate that!’, he thinks angrily as he exits the gate. He takes a deep breath,
“Okay stop, I need to check something”, he pulls on the brake gently and comes to slowly stop. After making sure Somerled stops, he takes off his jacket, and turns on his Gauntlet. The holoscreen pops up and he finds the information he was looking for.
“Okay according to a file on the Dataverse, this road should take us directly through the town called Costa Del la Sol.”
He puts his jacket up in a hidden compartment in his bike. He looks up to Somerled.
“Want me to lead?"
Re: Finding Home - Clownpiece - 01-21-2016
“Costa del Sol, huh,” Somerled parroted, hesitant to turn away from the warmth of the light. “It’s a fitting name.” Saying nothing else, the weather spirit allowed the gentle sounds of wind and waves to fill the air. His eyes darted across the vast blue above, unmarked by any clouds, no longer scanning the weather at its surface. A voyage seemed to be on their horizon, and for that, they would want to avoid any typhoons.
Quote:“Want me to lead?”The voice of Connor found his ears, overshadowing the delicate process of reading. Wrenching his head away from the sky finally, he spun on his heels, stopping upon facing his moose.
“Lead on,” he said, grabbing hold of the saddle and hoisting himself up and into it easily. “I don’t know anything about here.” He brought the reins up and pulled them taut, and the great beast he rode was forced to hold its head up, grunting anxiously. “What is this ‘Costa del Sol’ anyway?” He pulled at the reins again, and with a reluctant tread, the moose turned itself along the path to face down it. Here, Somerled found the answer to his own question. Not too far into the distance sat the city itself, far more imposing than something its size should usually be.
Buildings gleaming in the sunlight, the city was far from the largest Somerled had seen in his life. It was still large enough that just seeing it from this distance was enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. His moose shifted under him, neck straining against the grip the monster had inadvertently tightened.
“Relax,” his voice ordered him, guided by Sonny rather than him. “There’s no council presence here.” The command took a few seconds to process in his mind, but soon enough the monster, releasing his tension, eased up on the reins a bit.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 01-24-2016
Quote:“Okay according to a file on the Dataverse, this road should take us directly through the town called Costa Del la Sol.”
Aadibah, bringing herself back into the real world, looked forward to where Connor said the town should be. Sure enough, on the horizon a smaller coastal city could be seen, the rooftops glinting in the high sun.
The salt-water... I can't get fully submerged. If my suit powers down then I'll sink like a stone. That, and it'll get in everything.
"How much swimming do you think we'll have to do here?" The soldier vocalized her concerns, and tapped Connor's bike with her fist, "Can this go over water?"
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 01-25-2016
"Uh no, but I think I can transform it into my speed boat.", Connor gives a smile. "And Costa del Sol is the Empire's settlement here.".
Connor throttles his bike forward and takes the lead. He drifts through the city slowly, making sure that he doesn't run into any passing vehicles or daydream. Like last time.
"My boat can only carry four people....Somerled, once we get to the port you are going to need unsmoked your moose...sorry dude.."
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 01-27-2016
That would be a very small speed boat... The soldier was about to voice her concern, but then remembered that "transform" probably meant "make appear out of thin air". Instead, she opted to just nod and wait to see what would happen. Again.
Quote:"And Costa del Sol is the Empire's settlement here."
As the hover bike shot forward, her suit working against the momentum, speeding towards the coastal town, Aadibah's eyes widened in response to Connor's words. Empire?
Just about every empire that had been recorded in history had one thing in common: Too big for their own good. She'd seen ambitious men, from her enemies and among her own ranks. Someone who wanted to rule the world, either honest in their desire for power and control, or lying to themselves about the "good of man". Aadibah knew how easy it was to rally behind the simple cause, the cause of putting everyone under the same umbrella. Safe. Happy. Obedient.
It was a recipe for disaster, to say the least, and now the presence of the man she was riding with caused her to scoot forward in her seat just a tad. Still, she played along.
This train of thought was violently derailed, despite how hard set it was on its course, when a straight-jacket tier event occured before Aadibah's very eyes. Somerled was just... gone. Poof. No, not even poof, just not there.
"Uh... Connor..." The soldier nudged his back with her elbow.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 01-27-2016
Connor was looking through the town, smiling to himself. He took a deep breath in, and smelled, food. His stomach grumbleb in unison and he chuckled to himself. Then,
Quote:"Uh... Connor...", he also received a few nudges in the back. He slowed down some and turned his head towards her.
"Hmm? What's wrong?", then the absence of the gaint mammal that Sommerled was riding occurred to Connor. "Shit....he's missing isn't he?"
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 01-28-2016
"Is this... normal, perhaps, around here?" Aadibah tried her best to start getting used to absolute madness of the place. She had just been transported from a seemingly empty white void to what looked like the Caribbean in a matter of seconds, so perhaps people suddenly disappearing out of the blue and more or less into thin air shouldn't be surprising. It was still another pick into the already crumbling granite walls of sanity around her mind.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 01-29-2016
“Not that I know of...unless that Omni guy sometimes pulls Primes to a different place for something, or Somerled could've wandered off and gotten lost.”
Connor looks around, then decides to move to the side of the road while he talks with Aadibah. He looks forward and can just barely see the port of the city.
“We're almost to port. We can either continue, or look for him. Unless you think he is no longer in this verse.”, and leaving it like that he brings up his Gauntlet Computer and hops on to PesterOmni real quick.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 02-01-2016
Quote:Unless you think he is no longer in this verse.”Aadibah took that statement in stride instead of trying to comprehend it.
Well, the man did make a moose appear out of thin air. And it's not like we- I need him for anything. I figure someone like that could handle himself.
"We should keep moving. We have a place to sit for the night, right? There's places to get provisions here, too?" Her inner strategist started to come out, the environment and situation triggering her instincts.
While speaking, the soldier scanned the entire town, hoping her eyes wouldn't catch anyone or anything that could mean trouble.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 02-02-2016
"Uhhhhh, I think so, but I didn't plan on staying here for the night. Although I feel like I can have a meal.", Connor grins and starts moving again. They drift along the road as Connor scans for a place to eat.
"Yeah I thought we'll just leave the port tonight and get to the closest island soon...", he spots a small shack like restaurant. He takes a deep wiff through his nose and his head perks up excitedly.
"Hey I hope you like Mediterranean!", he pulls over to the side and powers off his bike, which lowers itself gently on the ground. He looks at Aadibah and grins excitedly.
"Well come on!", he pulls on her hand.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 02-06-2016
The soldier felt weight and pressure on her wrist, the arm that was clenching the motorcycle seat remaining firmly in its position. Despite the man putting his body into trying to drag Aadibah along like some kind of Japanese cartoon character, and she had to put a leg out to prevent the bike from tipping over. Calmly, her hand slipped out of the grip while dismounting.
"I'm not against it." The voice had a chill in it, daggers replacing eyes as she shot Connor a look. "I was deployed in Beirut for a while, I think that's where I acquired the taste for it."
Aadibah then strolled into the bar, seemingly taller than she had been before, her shoulders held low, her back ram-rod straight.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 02-08-2016
Connor pulls himself together and lets go of Adibah as they step on to the street. He looks around and smiles, then he takes a deep breath and enjoys the familiar smells and sights. He steps in line and has a few people in front of them.
“Beirut? I haven't quite been there myself, but I heard that there are some nice museums there. Oh and Adibah? I’m sorry for pulling you, that was quite foolish of me…”
While they wait in line Connor decides to summon a few coins so they can pay for the meal.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 02-08-2016
Aadibah cringed a bit at herself. Look where you are. Maybe you don't have to... have to be like the sand anymore.
"Never went to the museums... and it's quite alright. Just don't do it again." As the soldier stepped in line, she saw Connor do the "magic" thing again, and the sound of precious metals shaped into small circles clinking against each other met her ears, the small glints of light reflecting off faces causing one eye to wince shut.
"How is it that anyone can pay for anything here?" She asked, "How is it that this place isn't some sort of heaven, when everyone can just make what they want?" Aadibah was completely perplexed at the idea that there was a building dedicated to serving food in exchange for currency, and nothing but prosperity everywhere she walked since the second she'd arrived everything from a hovering motorcycle to a moose had appeared out of thin air.
Remember those Eragon books? A part of her contested, Remember how much energy it costed for someone to do something as simple as lifting a pebble off the ground? Perhaps the same rules applied here.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 02-08-2016
“Well things this small or trivial don't do too much, but even after that I feel like I can go for a nap.” Connor gives a sleepy smile.
“Every time we summon something we experience massive fatigue. Depending on the importance of the item the greater the fatigue and the more is depleted our natural reserves of Omnimilum. At least that what the research I have done says…”
They are up next in line. “A pita with gyro meat and plenty of rice, two waters and whatever the lady would like”, Connor then puts a stack of 5 golden coins on the counter, “That should be more than enough.”, he gives a flashy smile and waits for Adibah.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 02-09-2016
Aadibah had never been to Greece, but she wasn't one to deny food. In fact, her mind was just now registering the needle in her gut that signified an empty void that should be filled with masgouf. Unfortunately, the soldier expected hardly anyone here to be of her faith or of similar upbringing.
But wait The nagging voice in the back of her mind sprouted up, That's just it, how can you eat here, that hasn't been prepared correctly? How can you pray here? How can you please Allah here? You don't even know where to face to pray. You haven't even prayed since you arrived. As much as the little voice made Aadibah want to reach in and crush it with her hand, it was right. It was easy to guess there were no mosques, or even churches or synagogues, and this "Omni" character is probably the closest thing to a god these people had to believe in...
No. She shouldn't think like that. Allah was here, he was everywhere, and he was watching her. So perhaps this place... is a test? If she didn't eat she'd die or be constantly exhausted for sure, unless she could prepare every single meal for herself, and if she did eat... would that be haram here? Would Allah be disappointed in her, or proud? Perhaps... perhaps it was a lesson, on something? Perhaps she needed to sin, for some reason? Why would Allah ask her to do such a thing? She knew if it was her time, Allah would not make her suffer before she died.
...You....you have the strangest tests, my god.
"I'll take a gyro, that's all." Aadibah finally decided. "Just meat and bread. Nothing else." At the very least she could practice restraint.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 02-10-2016
Connor looks at Adibah and notices that she is visibly shaken. He makes a concerned face but doesn't say anything quite yet. The employees behind the counter make the meals right in front of them. Even taking gryo meat fresh off of the stove. They hand the food to the two soldiers and then the two go and sit. Connor grabs a booth table for them and sits down in the comfy seat. After a few moments of awkward silence, he pushes one of the waters over to Asibah's side. He also starts to unwrap the paper around his pita.
"Hey, are you alright? What's wrong?", Connor asks in his most heartfelt voice. He takes a sip of water and looks her in the eye, waiting for a response. He doesn't even lift his pita to his mouth or anything if the sort. He is 100% focused on the conversation.
Re: Finding Home - Aadibah - 02-10-2016
Aadibah was just about to hound down her first meal in a long while when the man suddenly uttered a few words that elicited her mind to groan like a spoiled child.
Quote:"Hey, are you alright? What's wrong?"
Hell... I just settled the issue, don't make me go questioning myself again. "I'm fine, Connor." Gah, no, that won't do. You just broadcasted to anyone paying attention that something isn't entirely alright with you. The soldier decided to go with a half truth, wanting to get along with the meal and deal with her relationship with Allah on her own terms. A loud sigh escaped her lips as she inhaled a large bite before explaining herself.
"I am of the Islamic faith, and by the word of Allah- mff..." Aadibah interrupted herself for half a second to wipe grease off the corner of her mouth, "-I may only eat meat that has been slaughtered and prepare properly, and only by a Christian or Jewish man." A man from the future... how will he take to this? What is the state of faiths in his time?
"However, it would also be foolish to deny food offered, and I need the energy if I am to survive here." She elaborated. "So, I thank you Connor either way, you have shown me kindness in a foreign... verse, I guess I should say." She attempted to get with the local lingo.
Re: Finding Home - The Rogue - 02-11-2016
"Damnit!", Connor facepalms himself then lowers his head till his hand rest on the table.
"How could I forget! You're Islamic, I am so sorry, I should chosen a better place...", Connor keeps on mentally kicking himself. He takes a few more sips of water and starts eating. His face shows how upset he is at himself.
"You know, I don't know everything about this place, I have only physically been to one, now two excluding the Nexus, verses. Everything I know is from a place the locals call the 'Dataverse', kinda like the Internet here. Apparently we can go physically inside there with the proper equipment. Also, I am sorry if my actions have led you to think otherwise.", Connor says rather solemnly. Now due to his more saddened state he slows down in eating a bit, realizing the possible repercussions of this confession.
He stares off into a fixed plane in the small restaurant, his body goes into some sort of 'auto-pilot' type mode, seeming to mover without him cognitively thinking about it. His mind wanders, about a previous discussion Aadibah and he had. Then on the table globules of Omnimilum originating from Connor come together and make a rough rectangular shape. The rectangle is somewhat thin, it has significant length and horizontal width. After a few more minutes the rectangular prism forms into a neat shape and starts to shrink, revealing Connor's Monofillament knife. It takes a few more minutes, the process is complete, but Connor didn't even consciously think about summoning the knife so he leaves it be for now.