Away from comfort [NPC/ Ashelin]

[Jak Mar]

The dreadlocked former Governess and Captain of the Freedom guard/ Krimzon guard found herself biting her tongue, leaving "her safe haven" or at least, that's what she called it. She had no idea where this Endless Dunes was, but she had gotten some sort of map from Louis, the hotel manager who said it was easy to get to.

She was still annoyed at Jak for even summoning her in his sleep, the ottsel was hanging around and the long eared man had left her all alone to travel a strange land by herself. Not that she couldn't handle it but she usually preferred to have someone hanging around her, besides Daxter.

The Vastly deeps was a huge island with a lot of things to offer and she had tons of cash on her. How much was in the pack was left to be determined.

Her mouth was still agape on how much Jak, Ash and Desman could summon with just OM and free cash was hers. She groaned and continued the walk with a pack on her back, taking in the island's beauty.

So much so that she almost forgot her main mission. She found herself staring, almost. Maybe Torn's death had taken a lot out of her or maybe she was just used to being spoiled so much. 

She looked on the map and pointed to a location which was a little more than a few hours walk from her location if she still hoofed it. 

Perhaps she can load up more in this island's town. 

Perhaps the OM cash summoned would buy most anything.

But the one thing this "OM" couldn't do is buy someone's life back.

[Rick]

At the end, the weird palms on the entrance were, in effect, palms, it's just that they were intrincally woven into a perfect arch somehow. Stylishly weird. Nice.

And the following landscape didn't dissapoint either. Unlike the empty white void, this place was actually pleasant, leaving aside the difference in temperature. Once Rick removed his coat, the marching streets of young people alongside the loud music on the background, the many busy bars and restaurants, and the crashing ocean waves on the morning beach at the horizon became a place worth exploring. He didn't care that his legs were starting to ache after the previous long walk.

But first things first: where the hell was he? Omni said something about an "Omniverse" of sorts, if he heard correctly. Was it a planet? If so, then there should be space station somewhere where he could find a ship sailing to Earth. Of course, he'll prefer to spend some time here first, but knowong where his ticket to home was would allow him to relax.

A bunch of teenagers laughted at him. "Earth?", one said. "Are you serious man?"

"The guy must be a newbie", said a girl, smile still big from the laught. "Also, nice tattoos"

Rick smirked at her. "Thanks. But anyways, I'm still a little confused about this whole thing. I suppose you guys know what's happening, as funny as you might find it"

The first guy laughted some more. Another one said to his group, "Dude, you should check that up on a computer, before the whole city laughts at you"

"I don't mind that. But anyways, thanks for the help."

"See you man! And good luck! You're gonna need it!"

They kept walking on the street, now hitting each other and laughting some more. The girl turned back to face Rick again and, when he answered that with his usual two finger salute, she covered her mouth with her hands and laughted, probably from embarrasment. The other guys hitted her with their elbows, and laughted even more. And they kept doing that dumb teenage bullshit until Rick didn't care enough to keep watching them.

So, a computer seemed like a better bet. Where he could find one? A library. Where's a library? A woman in a scandalous bikini was kind enough to enlighten Rick on this. Good. Thank you, sexy lady.

And there, most of Rick's questions were answered. The seeming godlike nature of Omni (as oposed to Rick's impression of a particularly powerful alien), the unconnected nature of the Omniverse relative to "Earth's universe", the many sub-zones (this one being the Vasty Deep, as this wiki explained), what omnilium was, what was it for, how wrong Rick thought about its summoning properties, and many other things that Rick only passed through the titles after a solid hour of reading. It was noon already, and his stomach didn't hesitate in letting him know.

After treating himself with an expensive lunch at an alien restaurant with equally alien food, it was time to secure a room for the night. Sadly, it'll be imposible to find his way back to Earth, so the best thing he could do now is getting installed as soon as posible, and get himself started on his new life. His racing background was just that, "background". This place appeared to be "full of surprises and interesting stuff to explore", paraphrasing an ad he saw while on the computer.

He walked a few blocks, but most of the district appeared to be populated almost exclussively with restaurants and bars. Maybe there was an "hotel" district somewhere around here too. There must be. Probably near the beach, so that's where he headed now.

And not that far away from it, Rick saw a petit woman with long ears stare at a map. Maybe she'll know more about the layout of the city? Or at least have the means to do so.

"Excuse me, lady", he said. When she turned around to face him, he noticed her face covered in tattoos. He almost smiled in approval. "I'm looking for a place to pass the night. Do you happen to know where I can find one?"

[Jak Mar]

The long eared former governess would of blinked and eyed the nearest stranger who was going up to her in a instant, but it was suddenly just a old habit of hers, she supposed.

That’s when a man wearing no shirt, had tattoos and sunglasses on asked where he was as she looked down at her map.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Ashelin raised a eyebrow at the strange man. "

“Actually, there’s a hotel on the Vasty Deeps I just left, nearby me. Owned by someone named Desman, I believe?”

If she didn’t look closer, this man could pass as Torn if he didn’t have short ears and no nose.

Then again, she could be hallucinating again.

The man appeared to be looking her over up and down as she growled sharply.

“Listen, pal. I doubt you want to end up on the wrong side of my boot.”

And her boot had a spike on the top of it.

[Rick]

He'd be lying if he said her threat didn't shock him a little. She looked dangerous, yes, but he didn't expect for her to fluff up with just a harmless request. As much as he wouldn't want to break his polite persona for dealing with strangers, threats never felt well to him.

"Take it easy, man. I just thought you could help me out. Which you did, so thank you for that, but no need to get aggressive over it", he said with a frown, then took a short step back.

"I'm sorry, ok. This is actually my first few days in the Omniverse and... yeah." She sighned.

Well, maybe he overreacted on his judgement, just as she did with his request. Some of the tension on his body slipped away.

"This place...", she continued, "I heard from a good friend of mine, Jak. We are in the Omniverse."

"Yeah, I know. I just read all that stuff up in the library. Glad to know I'm not the only newbie out there" He smirked at her, and relaxed his hands on his hips.

She nodded, and now with a less stern voice, she said "Let me tell you a funny story: I got summoned here during one of my old boyfriend's drunken dreams." She grumbled and looked down "Sorry for the threats, bad things had happened to me over time, it's a lot to handle."

"It's ok. We all lose our shit every now and then" As if it never happened to him... Rick glanced at the beach at the end of the street. "So, you and your boyfriend are staying here on vacation?"

She nodded again "Yeah, it's a long story. But my friend's not around, he left for a place called the Frozen Fields." She fell quiet for a moment, as she held out what appeared to be a photo. He couldn't see what it was about.

He broke the short silence, and pointed at the map on her hands. "And you're... heading up there?"

"No, I'm heading toward a desert-like place they called the Endless Dunes. I'm looking for a man named Damas, Jak's father."

No idea who those people were. "And you're doing that alone? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yeah, unless you got some experience..." The woman scratched her neck "Ok, tell you what. Are you good at cars, racing?"

Oh lady... "You're looking at the Earth Prix grand champion for three consecutive years. I think that qualifies as good with cars and racing"

He smiled for himself; short snaps of many races and cups he won throughout his life crossed his mind. While he was probably getting carried away by sharing this part of him, it was imposible for him to not think about his life passion, regardless of how true that was at the moment.

[Jak Mar]

Ashelin eyed the ground "He's Jak's father. in my world,he was the previous leader of Haven City. Shortly after, Ashelin shows him a short recorder, and shows a video of a dark beast attacking near her and then almost attacking jak and his friends. "Because of this, I'm hoping to find Damas to make up with him and get him on the straight line. The woman was almost clearly shaken up and said in a breath "That's Jak's dark form. I saw it with my own eyes." She shudders at the very thought of his darker half.

The former Governess turned toward Rick and nodded "I have some supplies, but I was given them by my friends. Since you are a prime, you can get more supplies when we need it. I have backup cash in case."

She shows him a map of the dunes and nodded at Rick "Thanks for the ride, later I'll figure out a way to pay you back."

"Let's try not to get ourselves killed out there, ok." Ashelin stared over at Rick.

Then again, she was friends with the most reckless of drivers named Jak and Daxter.

She frowned "Are we ready to go?"

[Rick]

"Sure" It's not like he had something better to do, leaving aside his original idea of finding an hotel room. But fuck that – travelling through the desert with a sexy girl looked like a better idea anyways. "But first," he added, "let's go to a less crowded place"

They moved to one of the streets that crossed this one; because it didn't lead to the beach, it was less crowded. And from there, they entered an alleyway. At no point did the woman hesitate; her steps as sharp and decisive as her voice. It didn't appear she was being dragged to an empty alley by a stranger. And if it did, it sure as hell didn't seem to bother her.

The wiki about primes he read about earlier mentioned the ability to summon stuff with that shiny thing called "omnilium". All primes are supposed to be adept at it, but doing something so magical and out of the ordinary was... weird, to say the least. But he had to try.

So... One had to visualize something on their mind, concentrate to not lose the image, and the thing will appear out of thin air. Visualize... His old racing car: a blocky yet smooth red exterior, with it's oversized wheels escaping from the robust carcass wearing tires with exaggerated desings. It had no roof – in its place, a skeleton-like structure of metal wired itself, giving it the feel of protection with the added wildness of an opened convertible. Perfect for crossing the empty-ass desert of New Mexico at unrecommended speeds. Now, concentrate on it... But how, exactly? Mmhh...

"So?", said the woman, snapping Rick back to reality. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm trying to 'summon' my car. I'm supposed to concentrate on it, but I'm not... Entirely sure...". He made a little pause, then added, "Just... give me a minute."

"Whatever you say..."

With interrumptions out of the way, Rick tried again. To his surprise, a big mass of... something appeared before him, probably omnilium. The more attention he payed to the specific details of his car, the more the mass morphed itself into what he had in mind. Until, after several minutes, the whole car materialized in the place of that weird, glimmering mass of colors.

"I think our ride is here", he said, entering the car. The keys were already set; with a soft turn on them, the powerful engine roared to life, bringing the whole vehicle on its soothing but violent rythmic vibrations. Once Ashelin got herself comfortable on the passenger's seat, Rick took both them out of the alleyway, being careful to not accidentally pass over the many pedestrians that populated the sunny streets of Costa del Sol.

So, their mission consisted in finding some guy in the middle of a desert, to convince him to somehow help them into fighting that beast, "Jak's dark form", as she called it. Sounds easy enough – as long as they don't expect Rick to fight alongside them, he wouldn't have a problem. Doing the chauffeur job was well within his abilities. Fighting magic monsters was not.

Some time after they started moving, Rick said "Im Rick, by the way"

She closed her eyes for a second and nodded "Ashelin. I'm Governess Ashelin. Also Captain of the Freedom guard from back home"

He smirked "Really? You look like the kind of girl who would rock that position"

Ashelin blinked "Wow, I've never heard someone say I'd rock in that position, except maybe... Torn."

"I don't know who he is, but I bet he's right" He let slip a short laught.

She fell silent, then added in a soft voice "He's dead. He was my Commander back in the city"

Rick's smirk dissapeared in record time. "Oh..." Goddamnit.