Through the sea of sand (Open)

[Alex Silver]

Alex contemplated the words that came from Erik. Indeed, he would have himself been a rather unfortunate person to have been stumbling through this wasteland of realms blindly as he found – as they were spoken – that the man’s mistakes were failures of judgment he could have very possibly made along the way. The wisdom of others is intended to be passed along, as they say. Thankfully, he would not have to learn those lessons the hard way. Obviously, he was very grateful for the man’s gesture of kindness and generosity as far as information was concerned. In thanks, he offered a polite bow of the head which truly came off simply as nothing more than a rather long nod, albeit appearing somewhat more sincere and grateful. “Nonetheless; Thank you.” He merely replied.

It was then that the man spoke of those people in white armor and the prospect of having a bounty upon oneself were you ever to offend them. This was information he undeniably would come to find handy in his future travels; while he was not the type to antagonize people without motive, he was very much against letting people walk all over him and had a tendency to not let the law come between him and one of his goals. He could have very likely disregarded these individuals if it were not for the possibility that they were a real threat and – once again – he was glad this was not something he would have to find out the hard way. Once again, he gave a heavy nod and noted; “Thank you again Erik, all you’ve thought me will no doubt prove ever helpful.” And once that was spoken, he watched as the man seemed to melt his vehicle.

Having almost on instinct made his own motorcycle (thanks to the magic from his world being relatively similar to the way omnilium appeared to function) Alex found some degree of familiarity in watching the object melt. It was not exactly the way it worked in his world; over there you would integrate one object into a smaller device such as the pendant around his neck so that it could be summoned again at a faster rate during some later point in your adventures, but it was nonetheless a good thing to see that omnilium could be retrieved from objects in this manner. He would make note of that. It might come in handy later after all.

This is when Erik discussed his own departure. As he had expected the man would be leaving, so he simply rose the hand that was not holding his own cigarette and gave him a polite wave. “I hope your travels will be swift yet uneventful.” He spoke in a tone that was a little off tune considering the tough air he was trying to put on, and took a long drag of his cigarette before blowing a cloud up into the dry air of the desert. Erik had things to do and he himself needed to get better acquainted with the realm, so perhaps it was for the best that the two would go their own separate ways here.

After that, he turned his attention to the kid, Sebastian, whom seemed to be struggling with his first few drags of the cigarette which appeared as comically large in his hand as it was incredulously small in his own. This brought a faint smile to the lips of the horned man. A bittersweet smile. In a way, he was glad to have been the provider of the tobacco the boy had asked for; there was nothing better than aiding a fellow smoker in their need for a good cigarette. On the other hand however, it reminded him both of the fact that this habit would very likely eventually kill him once his lungs would no longer be able to handle it and of the younger members of his group back on his home planet who choked on their first few puffs of tobacco as they took example from their elders. Perhaps he should stop smoking in front of people of smaller size… No. He was not a role model and never set out specifically to become one. Besides, as an advocate of freedom, it was only right that he would let others make their own mistakes if they were not immediately lethal.

The boy addressed the taller man with a request which somewhat surprised him, but relieved him to a certain extent; while Sebastian was relatively small and some may be misled by this in believing that he was not a fearsome warrior, Alex could tell by the look in the shorter and younger man’s eyes that he had gone through many adventures and had lived through very tough times in the part. Truly, he was potentially a very capable companion. Then again, even had he not appeared all that reliable, the prospect of having a partner in his discovery of this place was much more pleasant than that of venturing the realm – or verse, considering the nomenclature – all alone. “Well Sebastian…” He began to respond, looking over to his motorcycle which was standing neatly behind him as he leaned against it. “I myself have no idea where I am or how to get to any of those towns so I can’t very well serve as much of a guide but…” Turning back to the kid, he offered a light smile and a gentle nod. “If you would have me as your travel companion, I would be happy to come along for the ride.” That said, he would step a few steps away from his motorcycle and looked between Erik – who was likely now departing – and Sebastian. “What he said about secondaries is also true about vehicles, so I’d recommend you try making one so we can go a bit faster. If you don’t think you have it in you though, I guess you can ride behind me on this thing.” That said, he extended his rather large arm and patted the leather seat of the vehicle, then turned to the white-haired young man and awaited his response.