"Looks like a MooBoy town" is what Cap would've said if he was able. As it was he was still rendered speechless, his guts minced by the stark realisation that Yus's Thread-influenced words had pounded into him. A soft voice filtered into his consciousness, hers. "Are we there, Cap?" Instinctively he signed his answer, for (grating as it was) Qaro's flippant remark had been right on the nose. The cocky captain had indeed regressed to some of his childhood ways - lack of speech being the main contender. Pretty annoying as he had become somewhat accustomed to being a chatterbox over the years and, despite an alarming amount of people claiming he had the vocal intonations of a moobeast, he was in fact rather fond of his own voice. Qaro had been right about that too. He suddenly realised his signing was yielding no response. Oh, right. Yeah. Duh. He mentally floundered in the problem for a moment. This communstipation was likely gonna be trouble. Even Yus's hands wouldn't be sensitive enough to feel letters traced on her palm, would they? He decided probably not. Especially with his handwriting. Just in case, he tried spelling out NEARLY THERE, but as predicted she didn't seem to understand, just giggled at his tickling finger. At the unexpected cuteness and its contrast to the harsh setting, he felt the side of his own mouth pull into a partial smile, and again willed himself to push a sentence beyond the barrier of shame lodged in his throat. Still words wouldn't come. All he managed was a distressed sounding squawk. "What's wrong!?" breathed Yus, sounding alarmed. "Did you hurt yourself?" Alarmed himself at worrying her, he rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. The alien emotion panic shook him for a split second before a thought struck, and he placed her hand on his head. He gingerly shook in the negative, and this time she understood. Yesses and no's then. It was a start. ~ Leaving her hand in place on Cap's soft but pool-gunge matted hair, (and resisting the temptation to give it a little stroke), Yus enquired "Are we going in? I don't particularly want to meet another hungry desert creature..." Cap's reaction - a sharp no-nonsense nod - told her that he felt much the same. They walked hand in hand down the long sandy slope, and began to mosey on into town. ~ The ground was loose at first, but as they drew near Cap dully noticed the sand turning to dust and patches of hardy shrubbery springing up at the sides of the track. A little less deserty, a smidge more comfortable. Some of the surroundings were even mildly familiar, in the sense that the ranch they were approaching kinda reminded him of an old-fashioned version of his childhood home. This came as a strange and unexpected slither of comfort during these - he searched his mind for an appropriate word and settled on weird - post-crash times. Slither was an apt word too as it went, because unlike the moobeasts, horses, and zerkdugs of his childhood ranch, this one held giant worms in paddocks and pens. From the look of it they were smaller, tame versions of the horrific thing that had wanted to eat Yus and himself in the desert. Eugh. Ugly muthafunkers. He shuddered and, though right then she couldn't have known why, Yus gave his hand a comforting squeeze. Not for the first time, Cap reflected that he would have been faring a lot worse if it weren't for this plucky young lady. She was extremely strong. Not despite but because of her gentleness. He took a moment to gaze with rapt appreciation at her lovely determined face, smiling with such warm admiration she could surely feel it, like sunlight on her skin. Admitting to himself that this was a romantic, but unlikely, notion he brought her hand to his mouth to trace his lips, wanting her to feel the smile somehow, even if just digitally. Apparently registering the expression, she smiled kindly back. Something inside Cap warmed, and this time it wasn't internal bleeding from his lung injury. Forget Qaro's hoodoo, this was real magic. In a little over an instant, the world seemed to blur around them and slow, Yus's sweet smile highlighted in focus while the rest of the universe turned fuzzy and insignificant. It was as if they were in a protective bubble, all the danger, pain, and angst kept at bay, miles away, someone else's problem. He distantly pictured all the troubles of the universe turning biege, grey, and on the verge of fizzling out of existence altogether, while he and Yus on the other hand were illuminated in glorious technicolor. Damn. It was like his body had been dehydrating and he'd just taken a sip of chilled pinegrapple juice. Or, having been music-starved for months, he'd just heard the intro to one of his favourite tunes starting up. It was a perfect and much-needed breath of soul relief. An ear splitting shriek rudely selected that moment to erupt from somewhere, painfully piercing the hallucinatory haven and shattering the precious moment of calm. Cap sighed grumpily, his muscles tensing as he switched back to Survival Mode. Yus bundled against him in an impressively instantaneous kind of fight-or-flight crouch. Where had the freakish sound even come from? He squinted his good eye, internally cursing its bruising and the lack of working cybernetics in the other (a bit o' fast Seek and Focus would've been pretty swell right about then). He currently felt so inefficient, and now that he was getting well enough to properly consider his broken parts, this began to grate on him. Sqqqrrrueeeeeeeee!!!!!!! The sound came again, if his cyber parts had been working 'DANGER! DANGER!' would surely have been registering on his internal display. He looked about urgently. Hold up, hold just a duggy herdin' minute up, it was just one of the worms in the paddock. It would seem the burly beast was excited because it was feeding time. A curiously dressed ranch hand, who appeared to be clad in Hazmat-Lite, was nearly knocked to the ground as a herd of the fat wrigglers rushed for a huge bucket. Despite Cap's disgust for the creatures it was a pretty funny image, almost cute. Almost. Cap chuckled silently, not emitting any sound, just vibrating a little. Yus felt the good-natured tremor, clocked its meaning, and immediately relaxed. Without really thinking what he was doing, Cap gave her a quick kiss on the head as if to say "yep, everything's fine" and for his troubles he received an affectionate pat on his chest, then she took his hand again, and they continued down the hill to the settlement. ~ Both of them felt the sunlight massage their aching backs, and both of them considered that if circumstances had been different, this might in fact have been quite a pleasant stroll. But circumstances were not different. Circumstances were gritty as fluck. ~ Now that the worms had their... for want of a better mental description 'heads'... stuck in their meal, things had turned very quiet indeed. It was starkly noticable, and verging on the eerie. As they passed the worm pens, the ranch hand gave them a strange tilt-headed stare through the oddly overprotective headgear. Cap nodded politely but the gesture was not returned. Eh, people. He shrugged internally and tuned into the pleasing scuffing sounds his feet made on the dirt track, Yus's too. Lighter and more dainty soundin'. Cap was gently appreciating this when another horribly abrupt sound made them both duck in shock. KABOOOOFF! It was followed by a simple demand. "WHO GOES THERE!?" Cap snapped his monogaze to the person, instantly taking in their 5 foot seven stature, their brown overcoat, crumpled hat, dumpy figure, and overly stern expression. He was surprised and somewhat delighted to see the old weapon they were brandishing - an extremely outdated shotgun, and presumably the source of the bang. He was personally used to lazerweapons but he'd always, always, wanted to try out the kinds of guns you saw in old holomovies. Digging at his ringing ear, he stood up straight and straightened Yus too. ~~ Wits immediately about her, not knowing if the sound was a small explosion, or if Cap had fiddled with and clumsily broken something as they'd walked by (fairly likely, in her opinion), but recognising a threat and a stern tone when she heard it, Yus quickly cried out "Yusseca and the Captain! Please stay calm! We crashed in the desert. Qaro told us you could help us." There was a beat of the sunlight and her heart, then she heard the person spit into the dust before announcing in an extremely suspicious and twanging tone "Ole Qaro huh? Hmf. Well." Another wary pause before "I guess y'all better come see the shiruff..." ~~ Rather distractedly, Cap motioned for the person (who he was starting to think of as "Shooty") to put their gun down so it wasn't levelled at them. It was was reluctantly lowered. Once that minor matter was dealt with he moved on to the really important stuff, asking if he could have a go on the cool old device. He enthusiastically signed his request. Irritatingly Shooty did not understand this at all. Cap scowled. Frustrated, and grouchily wondering why everyone in the universe was not adept at sign language, Cap attempted some larger, simpler, gestures. After five minutes of this Cap decided it wasn't gonna work. Shooty, who was staring at him blankly, was obviously a fool. ~~ Deputy Winsturdle stared, almost transfixed by the movements, wondering why this odd machine-faced person was performing a peculya dance in the dust. They momentarily locked a simultaneous eyebrow-quirking gaze. Winsturdle gave a little head-shake. The stranger was clearly simple-minded. ~~ Yus wasn't sure what was going on, but she could hear and feel strange flapping sounds, and the sensation and vibrations of the dirt around their feet being disturbed. Was... Was he performing some kind of routine for the stranger? "Um, Cap?" No response from him, but she felt the bangy twangy one leaning conspiratorially towards her. "This clucken-flappin' idiot was your Captain? No wonder you crashed." "How ru--" "Little slow, is he?" "He's lost his voice" replied Yus primly, disliking both the insult to Cap, and thinking about the crash. She distracted herself by wondering if this person was male or female, she couldn't tell from the voice. Perhaps, like the Cavefolk, this town's people were also genderless. That would probably make sense as they were relatively near the Cavefolk's territory (presuming you counted being on the same planet and same landmass 'relatively near'. They had only travelled to the outskirts of the desert after all). She suspected this town's inhabitants were distantly related to them, or even just another group of the same people, who had maybe branched off at some point in their recent history. She smiled, Daddy would have been proud of her reasoning. Oh, the person was replying. She resisted the temptation to bask in comfortable memories and tuned back in to the conversation. "Oh, ah see." The person coughed. "Weyall, anyhow, you folk need to come with me. We don't genr'lly lahk strangers round these parts. But when they do come, they gotsta report to the shiruff, see." ~~ Annoyed that he hadn't been given a go on the gun, Cap trailed grumpily behind Shooty, and Yus who - blind or not - seemed perfectly able to follow the weapon wielder's shuffling steps. They were lead through the dusty town and along a street of squat conjoined wooden shops, offices, and, gloriously, a bar. Cap planned to visit that little gem later. They were lead over a creaking wooden threshold and into a humble office. Cap saw Yus's eyebrows raise, likely at the sound of gentle snores and strong scent of whiskey. He quirked an amused brow himself. The Sheriff was sitting asleep, hat pulled down, ornately booted feet up on the desk. Shooty coughed loudly. "Hey Shiruff, wake up, we's got gyists..." With a snort the sheriff entered reality and pushed the hat's brim up. "What? Hmm? Zorry!" the light voice was muzzy. "Musta dropped off there for a moment." The shooty one's eyes darted to the bottle on the desk and back to the sheriff's face. Cap noticed and smiled. A sheriff after his own heart. "Yeah..." agreed Shooty with almost disguised disapproval, "... Musta." Cap smirked, the word was as loaded as the shotgun. The sheriff gave an awkward throat-clear, before taking a deep breath and slapping their own face a couple times. "There we go, good as new. So!" the sheriff said, brightly now, smiling up at Cap and Yus. "What can I do for you good people?" Cap smiled back. She or he (or both, or neither) had a very pleasant fair-skinned face, and long blonde hair which was currently tied back under the hat. They did not speak gruffly like Shooty, and the latter's twang was also absent. In fact the sheriff's accent could be described as what Tag would have called well-to-do. In other words, plummy as a big juicy ... um, plum. (Cap frowned at his lack of fruit-based synonymary skills, wondering for a moment if his brain was less healed than he'd supposed.) Clicking his neck he quickly forgot about plums and continued to drink the person in. It was quite a pleasant experience, they somehow projected an air of innate friendliness, and charming dappiness. He reckoned that'd likely be rare in a gritty hole like this. Wondering how on Eryth such a person had managed to become Sheriff he mentally shrugged just knowing that he immediately liked them. "Would you like a cup of tea?" The deep blue eyes (which didn't stay still for long and were now directed at a small kettle) sparkled. Cap nodded in the affirmative. Yus smiled and politely said "Oh, that would be lovely. We are rather thirsty." Cap switched his own gaze to her, thinking that sometimes Yus sounded rather well-to-do herself. He resisted the urge to give her a cuddle. "Erm, Shiruff..." Shooty prompted. The sheriff who, when awake apparently found it difficult to stay still, was now leaning back on their chair, tipping it and swaying a little, playing with the balance between upright or floor-bound. S/he fiddled with a piece of paper, a pleasant and mild-mannered look on their face. The gently fidgeting moment seemed to stretch on for ages before Shooty gave a hard-bitten glare of such intensity that it broke the stasis. The sheriff frowned then seemed to realise the meaning. "Oh ah, thank you Deputy Winsturdle. Yes, of course. What I meant was..." (and here an unconvincing Shootyesque twang was attempted) "...'What'n the hell're you doin' roun' these parts, and what the darn, um, damn, damnation do you want?'" There was a moment's pause before, as an afterthought, the sheriff spat to add emphasis to the words. Unfortunately for the sheriff the hocked loogie didn't fly across the room as intended, just dribbled down a pale pink lip and onto their chin. Shooty, AKA Deputy Winsturdle, cringed noticably at the poor and overly-polite attempt at badassery. The sheriff produced a handkerchief and dabbed the wetness daintily away from their chin. Winsturdle's hand twitched, and Cap reckoned a facepalm was being surpressed, with difficulty. If not currently as mute as the damn desk Cap would have giggled at the awkward tension. As it was he just snorted. Blinking more than usual Yus cleared her throat "Well... um, Qaro sent us to you because poor Cap here needs repair, and--" The sheriff's brows shot up, completing a hat-trick of encounterous eyebrow action. "Qaro!?" "Yes, Qaro." "Oh, dear. Well, there's a name we've avoided for a while..." Yus grimaced. "Nothing too bad I hope?" There was a rustling as the sheriff, forgetting about the tea, seemed to settle down. "Ah nothing a little friendly warfare didn't resolve." There was a smile to the sentence. "Oh! Goodness!" "Quite." ~~ The sheriff smiled at how relatively high and how pleasant this newcomer's voice was, then looked at the quiet, taller one, taking the person in properly for the first time. Sweet hogietroids! It was difficult not to wince at the scarred cycloptic visage, but the sheriff valiantly managed out of politeness, but then noticed something rather curious, the excitement of which pushed discomfort away. "Well I'll be! Do you know, I've not seen anyone with chin bristles for a very long time." In response the spike-faced one gave a lopsided smile, and the sheriff, distracted once more, gaped openly, wondering if the wonkiness was the person's default grin, or an effect of the obvious facial damage. The red-haired one, (who seemed to be the brains and the leader of the duo), explained rather simply and to-the-point, that "We're gendered." The sheriff was more than a little shocked. Gendered!? "Blimey!" At that, the precariously balanced chair lost its contest with gravity. The sheriff tipped backwards and thunked unceremoniously to the floor. "... ... ... Ow." ~~ Impressing Cap with her consistent kindness, Yus quickly asked "Are you okay!?" She must have worked out what had occurred from the sound effects. Hat, hair, and clothes askew, the bungling sheriff clambered clumsily up the desk. "Oh yes, perfectly allright thank you." Cap snickered gently, watching with a wide grin as an ever-reddening (and Cap suspected, long-suffering) Shooty helped the sheriff up. The fall-jolted hat was nudged up once more, and some blonde hair blown aside. "Ahh, it's nothing. Happens more often than you might think" came the amiable explanation. Cap, who reckoned that sort of thing happened a lot, privately thought doubt it, and smiled at those friendly sparkling blue eyes as they met his good one for a moment then hurriedly looked away. "They crashed in the desert" Shooty explained, then motioned at Yus. "Fne says their names're Yusseca and Captain." Fne? Thought Cap. Fne!? Well, I guess that's how we address one of these folk. ~~ The sheriff considered this for a moment. Then fne came to a realisation. "Oh. Oh! I see, a crash." Fne settled fners butt back into the chair. "Is that how---" and here fne paused and gestured around fnir face to depict the person's scars. The spike-chinned one's wide smile instantly evaporated. Ah, the sheriff thought. Obviously not. Oops. "Oh I ah, yes of course not, how silly of me." Silence and a stony face. The sheriff tried to make it better, but just continued making matters worse. "I suppose they wouldn't be so... Healed. Sorry." The expression remained unimpressed. Well, this is awkward. "Is that how what?" The sweet-voiced one enquired, and at the question Sheriff glanced over and now realised that this one hadn't seen the gesture. Fnir pale eyes were blind. The sheriff's own eyes shot back to the scarred one, who was now openly scowling. "Erm, never mind." There was a terrifically uncomfortable silence, broken only by Deputy Winsturdle's embarrassed choking. The sheriff busied fneself by getting up and preparing the cups of tea fne'd previously forgotten. After what felt like a month of discomfort waiting for the water to heat, the sheriff gently handed the curious guests a couple of steaming mugs. What kind of thing did you discuss with gendered people? What was polite conversation in these circumstances? Hmm. Something jogged fnir memory. Ah yes. "So are you both female, or male? Or are you delightfully one of each?" The resulting expressions were ones of surprise. The sheriff blinked, a little embarrassed fneself to have blundered again. Fne supposed Qaro must have demonstrated far greater wisdom on gender history. Eugh typical know-it-all Qaro. "I'm very sorry, I'm afraid that such terms have fallen out of use around here really, we don't have much need for them." Fne gave a nervous snorting little laugh. "In fact, had I not once met a trader from Valsqutr who passed through here quite some years ago now, I might have even believed gendered people to be a myth!" The one with flame coloured hair stared sightlessly the sheriff's way for a while (during which time the sheriff was unsure if being on the receiving end of the 'gaze' was pleasant, or uncomfortably intense), before explaining "Well I am a female, a woman, and Cap here is male, a man." "Ahhhhhh, I see" remarked the Sheriff "Of course." Fne nodded as if understanding fully. Everyone smiled, the matter apparently settled. Then the sheriff - who in fact had not understood at all - added: "And what does that mean?" To be continued... |
Imagining hilarious, beautiful
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