185th Page

[aldebaranshit]

(April 18th - 19th)

So upon asking around in Hugel, you've learned that Arunafeltz has been abandoned for some years now. Something about the majority of the city disappearing off until the remainder moved off to Lighthalzen and left the city as a ghost town. Many of them have heard of the traveling machine, but never had seen it for themselves, except for a few who can recount their friends or family members going off world.

The journey to Arunafeltz shouldn't take more than a day. Once you get there, you should start rooting around the city center. Explore a little bit, and enjoy yourself. Your company. You're this much closer to getting home.

[Mission: Explore the city and rig your ride home.]

(plot post )

Comments

[rhymeswithdesign]

[hands the book over and raises his eyebrows at bo.]

I have to admit, I was expecting you to be a little more chuffed at the idea of going home.

[taps ash against a dusty porcelain unicorn.]

[foodporn]

I contain my excitement well. Mean poker face.

[looks up from page at him before setting it aside. swipes finger along a dusty table idly.]

[rhymeswithdesign]

Bollocks.

[frowns at bo when she meets his eyes.]

What's the matter?

[foodporn]

Just seems kinda fishy. Years old world-traveling machine, abandoned city, you think it'd be a bigger deal if it was the thing that was going to get us home, doesn't it? Doesn't really add up. I think there's more to it that no one's talking about.

[ie doesn't want to get her hopes up. watches the rest of their party meander around city looking for mysterious mystery machine and kind of halfassedly looks around the building she's in]

[rhymeswithdesign]

[nods in reluctant agreement. pries up a corner of a rug with his toe, makes a face at what he finds, then stamps it back down again. ew.]

Good point. Any port in a storm, though. You know? Yeah, it seems suspicious at best, but it's a lead, and there's people saying they've seen it work, so I figure we've got to give it a go.

[foodporn]

[mostly not even what she's bothered about but it sounds good enough on paper]

Recklessly jumping into something that has a fifty fifty chance of working or blowing us up? Hey, I've done stupider.

[leans out of house again to watch most people migrate toward the city center. guess we're going that way]

[rhymeswithdesign]

Me too. At least this way nobody dies if it works right.

[leans out the window alongside her. bit of a tight squeeze. sorry not sorry.]

Looks like they're heading for that glass-domed place.

[pulls back inside the building, drops his cigarette butt in a teacup.]

[foodporn]

Well Dean's the one with the idea of what we're looking for. Follow the leader?

[like ducklings. pats his arm and scoots past him into the street]

[rhymeswithdesign]

Looks like.

[slides his hands into his pockets and follows bo. at least the view is nice from here.]

So... You remember how we finished Ninurta, right?

[conversational whiplash.]

[foodporn]

[blinks back at him. weird time to bring up ninurta. unless he thinks they're connected but everyone always thinks ninurta is behind everything these days]

The Sparta hole? Yeah, why?

[crotchbite]

[ waves from the wagon. yeah you two go. be ducklings. she's gonna watch over their stuff. ]

[foodporn]

[trails off mid reply when she sees hel]

[:/]

[crotchbite]

[ no go on lil' duckling. no hard feelings.

she did it 4 u etc etc ]

[rhymeswithdesign]

The— Never mind. Yeah, the hole. More to the point, of how she ended up there. I was thinking of the necklace we gave her, and what gave it to us.

[when bo gets even less perky than her usual, follows her eyeline to hel. oh. frowns at the back of bo's head.]

...Ah.

[because the machine is sending them home, right? and hel and bo don't have the same home. at least he thinks he understands now. makes more sense than paranoid cynicism, for bo at any rate. he thinks.]

[foodporn]

You wanna go ahead? I'll be in in a minute.

[looks back to him. tearful goodbyes. you know.]

[rhymeswithdesign]

[stares at bo. no i don't want to go ahead, i want to. agh. goddammit.]

Yeah. Want to meet up at the castle, or what?

[doesn't have any tearful goodbyes. all of his apparently happened offscreen. just goodbyes.]

[foodporn]

[be a big boy. cuffs him on the arm and heads over to her not-gf]

[awkwardly loops fingers through her belt loops and scrunches mouth to the side]

So... not gonna. Come in? See us off?

[bon voyage? sailor kiss?]

[rhymeswithdesign]

[takes the hint all the way to the castle.]

[crotchbite]

[ oh god. she's not very good with goodbyes that don't involve slow motion and explosions and blood. oop.

leans against the wagon, shrugging a little ]

Do you want me to? [ cus she will. if. she wants. ]

[foodporn]

[shuffles a step closer and flaps hands at her waist like a kind of shrug but not really. useless flappy hands. because she feels useless with hel's not getting home thing. she thought she could do something to help.]

I want you to try. Maybe it'll work. This way? Maybe it was only for the other way.

[crotchbite]

[ looks at her flappy hands and presses her lips together in a smile. ]

Okay. I promise I'll try after you get home. [ licks her lips with a sigh, grabbing her flappy hands. stahp. ] I'm afraid I'll fuck it up for the rest of you if I try to break my promise.

[foodporn]

[she really wants to be the big hero and exclaim dramatically i'm not going without you!! or something telemundo-y, but she has to think about getting back to kenzi, dyson, trick. lauren, even if things are kind of botched between them. looks down at dirt and digs toe a little, trying not to get all emotional. failing]

How can you be so calm about it?

[crotchbite]

[ tilts her head down to catch her eyes ] Just because I'm not going this time it doesn't mean I'm not going sometime. Besides, I guess I could start a business here. I'm keeping all of our stuff.

[ trying to make light outta it ]

Come here. [ tugs her closer by the hands and slips her arms around her waist ] I'm sorry I didn't apologize sooner.

[foodporn]

Well don't do it now, you'll just make it worse.

[rests hands at her arms loosely and smiles down between them trying to keep it light but no. it's not working very well]

I just started to like you. [bats at her arm in that stubbornly not going to be miserable voice] I don't wanna lose you now.

[crotchbite]

[ weh. what do you say to that.

laughs a little and arches her eyebrows like really ]

Just started to like me? Well, that's rude.

[ leans back to holds her lil cheeks in her hands and brushes her thumbs against them ]

You're going back home. You'll get over it. [ keeping up her smile and all that but she's gonna miss her bunnyteef face a lot, which is probably why she ends up slipping up ] I'm gonna miss you.