campaigns:taika-daagru:2023-11-25
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campaigns:taika-daagru:2023-11-25 [2023-11-26 03:42] – created pinkgothic | campaigns:taika-daagru:2023-11-25 [2024-02-04 02:30] (current) – pinkgothic | ||
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**Concavenator**: | **Concavenator**: | ||
- | "I-- I would", | + | "I-- I would", |
Just as she turned to climb down the ladder to the inn's entrance, she turned and asked: "Maybe you'd like to come too, if you have this time...?" | Just as she turned to climb down the ladder to the inn's entrance, she turned and asked: "Maybe you'd like to come too, if you have this time...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was the matter of organising the way back, but it struck Kukri then and there that it was rather impolite not to say farewell, herself, after having gone through the trouble of introducing herself to the family in the first place - not that ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She hesitated. It hadn't been a wholly pleasant encounter last time. If she could avoid it, she would feel better about taking Giya away from Yakak' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And so both a guilty personal distaste and a concern for arrangements she hadn't made yet came together, and she finally said: "I appreciate the invitation, but I should organise the sled." | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Giya came to a sudden halt with one boot on the ladder' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kukri was alone once more in the room, with the shivering light and the creaking walls and the warm smell of blubber tea. As unpleasant as the idea was, she had to go outside as well. Her first task was to find a sled driver willing to carry passengers, and who didn't seem likely to rob them or to carry forbidden cargo. With a good sail sled they could be back in Grikaa by tomorrow, and one pulled by a good team of astrapotheres could make it in a couple days, either way before their supplies and money completely ran out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | She carefully slid out of the bed and winced as her injured foot touched the floor, leaning back against the mattress and groping for the walking stick. Right, there was that too. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | It really was such a pest that it was still tender. She knew enough of the workings of her body to know with certainty that the damage was quite minor, but her body insisted otherwise with unfortunate vehemence. But that, too, was a reason not to also visit Giya's father and his brood again - she would have slowed it down considerably. It lessened the sting of guilt a little. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Instead, she now limped down the ladder, careful in her descent. Then she was down, and despite her handicap, far too quickly outside in the biting cold, pulling her coat close and stalking with an awkward gait toward the road she had originally come in on. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The distance felt greater than she remembered, but she blamed it on her foot. Walking simply took a greater concentration and it was a little slower than her normal walking speed; the combination made the walk stretch. As the main road came into view, she kept an eye out for sleds and their owners. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now that the Month of Water was beginning, the streets were considerably more crowded. Dawns were still blurring into sunsets, and torches and bonfires were still the chief sources of light, but people were much more confident in braving the environment outside. The Awakening market was still ongoing, with its little wooden benches and cabins bursting with smoked fish, bottled resin, flasks of podocarp wine, iguanodont hides, cast iron pots, devotional pictures in ochre and charcoal, and all sorts of talismans carved from wood, amber, ivory, and jet. With all the people travelling to and fro in such occasions, there must be plenty of drivers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Indeed the mast of a sail sled rose between columns of smoke, many paces behind a row of cabin. It tottered in the wind, straining against its rigging, with many loud imprecations accompanying its movements. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was something reassuring in the bustle, a familiarity within all the strangeness of this distant place, like a promise of infinite tomorrows. But even ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | None of those thoughts would get her a sled, though, and so she worked her way forward to the sail sled, curious to speak to its owner. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | A middle-aged woman stood at the side of the sled, at the feet of creaking cords and flapping tarp, piling burlap sacks on its bridge, and rushing back and forth between its sides to balance the weight. She had a heavy padded coat bundled about herself, and a bulky feather beard emerging from it. Her eyes darted all around, as if awaiting or fearing something. The actual sled, some six paces long, sat on the frozen ground on battered wooden runners, crusted with brine and mud. It would need to be dragged onto open ground before departure, and indeed the harnesses hung from the sled's sides; Kukri feared they were meant for 'ikra use, rather than for draft animals. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even moral aesthetics aside, if the sled was going to be pulled by 'ikra, she might as well walk back - 'ikra had the endurance of 'ikra and she had only just proven that Giya and her had good endurance. She allowed herself to approach the sled a little more closely to inspect the harnesses, to better guess what really might end up pulling the sled. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The harnesses seemed to end in handholds, rather than collars. That was rather unpleasant, but there was next to no chance that a sled of that size, with that amount of cargo, would be pulled by hand for more than one or two leagues, after which the wind would do all heavy work. Animals might be employed for the travel back south, which would be against the wind. Still, with her suffering ankle, even a single league dragging a heavy load would be a rather miserable experience. Much would depend from the driver' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reluctantly, | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The schedule was surprising, but welcome - the less time they had to continue spending here, the better, and they were about ready to bail. "I have an injured leg," Kukri admitted - not that it wasn't clearly obvious, but speaking plainly of it seemed only polite. "But I suspect that my apprentice may be able to help." She was tempted but not quite willing to make the decision for Giya - even if that meant spending the rest of her money on only the ride. They'd recovered well from the trek to the glacier, they could surely handle the discomfort of chewing on old food on the way. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Fine for me," she -- the sled's driver, presumably, as nobody else had appeared -- replied. "Then I reckon you should go and call her. Sure hope she's not too far. But as long as the quarter day's not done, you'll find me here". She drummed with her fingers on the side of the sled and looked away from Kukri, not toward the open tundra, but the shacks and cabins of Yakak' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was a brief hesitance in Kukri' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was striking how different the city looked, with so many more people walking around, the light of lamps and bonfires multiplied, and the snow mostly cleared away or trampled into mush. The demeanor of people did not seem correspondingly more cheerful, but that might be attributed to Kukri' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kukri tried to banish the unhappiness from her body language as she approached, fighting against the reluctance to expose herself to that measure of poverty again. It was real, she told herself, and ignoring it wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Quietly, she approached the family home, looking for signs of Giya. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | A kid burst out of the curtains, hopping, not walking, in the manner of nestlings; his or her feet broke through the upper crust of snow just a pace in front of Kukri' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A feeble voice seeped out from the house: " | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Djayu, almost surely. "It is again Kukri of the Society of Natural Philosophy," | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thank you," Kukri said. "I was a bit of a fool and hurt my foot, but it is a minor injury, more inconvenience than likely to spell any lasting trouble. Indeed, though, I must head back to Grikaa, where my skills are of use and I can earn my keep. And--" she gestured to Giya respectfully, | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ah, yes, yes", he said, looking somewhat uncomfortable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | As before, there was little that Kukri wanted less than to observe these people - it felt like disrespectful gawking from inside, making her rather uncomfortable. She would certainly take none of their food and drink, given how short they were of it. But she also did not mean to rush her freshly baked apprentice, and so she said the thing that was right, not the thing that she wanted: "I have no need for sustenance, but would be honoured to be your guest if you will let me simply sit by." None of it was a lie - she would be honoured, in the sense that one was humbled by another' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Something turned slightly less gloomy in Giya's posture. "Sit with us, then, please" | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | And so she sat, doing a decent job at hiding how uncomfortable it made her. Giya had sacrificed plenty of things to help her and to come with her now; surely Kukri could bear these moments, in turn. At least that's how she considered it. She tucked her arms under her body, dipping her muzzle in a polite gesture of thanks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | For some time it was peaceful, even pleasant, the kind of drowsy warmth one finds in a nest, even if it belongs to strangers. Old Djayu was not a poor host, in his way. Giya drew near to Kukri and for an instant seemed about to poke her with her snout as one would a nestling, though she changed her mind at once. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A voice rang out, in the trampled square just beyond the curtains. "Oi! Philosopher! Time to go!" The people in the nest were run through by a current as they were jerked back to consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The voice startled Kukri - by her understanding, | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was not. The person in question was somewhat younger and leaner, wrapped into a flapping dark cloak and a broad-brimmed hat. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Oh - an associate of the sled driver, then. Kukri whipped her own head back around to glance toward Giya. "Giya, it's time to go," she said, as gently as the abruptness of it allowed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Giya leapt up to her feet, twitched as if to shake torpor off herself, and jumped out onto the cold floor. She made a couple steps toward Kukri and the open space, tilted her head toward Djayu and looked at him in silence for several heartbeats, still walking, more slowly but surely, away from the nest. And in a moment they were both out, in the dim flickering lamplight, staring at a cloaked figure that almost disappeared in the distance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **pinkgothic**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | As a last gesture to the family she was rending apart, Kukri said: "Thank you for your hospitality. May ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Concavenator**: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Djayu had already vanished behind the drapes, but Kukri heard him reply: "And upon you, madam. Thanks" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Giya pursued Kukri in silence, helding her speed even with her companion' |
campaigns/taika-daagru/2023-11-25.1700970143.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023-11-26 03:42 by pinkgothic