The Oasis

[greatcleavage]

What the heck was he doing here?

Beneath the shade of the palm fronds, Roy stared out at the desert that stretched out in every direction. Somehow he'd found himself here, against all logic. A weird sidequest? A dream? Maybe he was dead again and his spirit had been hijacked.

Well, what could he do but wait and see what came along? The oasis showed signs of being used by travelers, so he wouldn't be stuck here forever anyway...

Comments

[najaran]

"Well that was why you were explaining it, right?"

[greatcleavage]

"Well, I was certainly trying, but I'm not exactly sure how to at this point. I was presuming we had an adequately shared common ground of understanding, but..." How could he even begin?

[najaran]

Her shoulder slumped. "But I;'m too stupid to understand?" she guessed.

[greatcleavage]

"No one who can wield powers like you do," Roy said, fire coming back into his voice, "is stupid. You and I just know very different things."

[najaran]

She blinked startled several times, then softened into a grateful smile, tears in her eyes as she swallowed. "Thank you," she whispered. She lifted her hands to her chest and her deck flew into her fingers, pressed to herself. "But my cards get the credit," she said softly, gratitude in every word. "Every card, the people who gave them to me... They're the strength I have to keep going. I couldn't do much of anything without them."

Gooligan, balancing carefully on his point looked about to say something, then decided to stay quiet to see how this went.

[greatcleavage]

"You're their summoner, though. You're the one who calls on them and directs them. So they need you as much as you need them. Give them all the credit they're due," Roy said, "but don't dismiss yourself."

I really need mum's help making icons for this

[najaran]

She gave him a small teary smile. "Thank you," she said softly.

[greatcleavage]

Gods. Who'd spent all this time telling a girl who could wield numerous and powerful summons that she was stupid? Naive and not terribly educated, maybe, but Roy had meant what he said. Stupid people couldn't master the skills she'd shown.

"It's just too bad you don't have something like a flying carpet or a griffon mount in those cards, though," he said, trying to steer the conversation away from sensitive things.

[najaran]

She blinked a few times, then pulled her deck away from her hands flipping through it quickly. Then she grinned, lifting one card as the rest flew behind her to their resting spot. "Betcha Thunderbeak could carry us if we asked nicely!"

[greatcleavage]

"I -- you know what, why don't we try that instead of waiting or walking?" Call it a crazy idea on his part.

[najaran]

"Sure!" She threw the card into the air and it broke apart as the creature came out of it. It was a huge creature like a cross between a pterodactyl and a phoenix, all tight skin over bones and muscles with a huge wingspan. It landed beside them, kicking up sand as it did, then its huge head went and nuzzled Najaran. She flung her arms around that huge head and hugged it.

[greatcleavage]

Now Roy was starting to get a handle on just how she was able to use these cards. The creatures within them truly seemed to have their own personalities, and Najaran's own personality lent to them liking and trusting her. Meaning they'd do their best by her.

Roy nodded politely to the bird, not exactly sure what a proper greeting was.

[najaran]

She grinned then grabbed the back of that big head and swung herself up to sit on his neck. She reached down. "Pass me Gooligan?"

[greatcleavage]

"My apologies for the familiarity," Roy said quite respectfully to the staff. One ought to be courteous to other intelligent beings, after all, even inanimate ones. Picking him up, Roy passed him up to Najaran.

[najaran]

"I like this one, he's polite," Gooligan muttered as Najaran took him from Roy, then put him in her mouth so her hand was free to offer Roy a hand up. "Unlike some people," he muttered.

"Wha whaz at?" she asked around the cane that was his body.

Poor Gooligan.

[greatcleavage]

"I might be a little less polite if I considered you a close and personal friend," Roy said, in oblique defense of Najaran. Very carefully, he took her hand -- well aware that his weight and strength were likely a great deal more than she expected.

[najaran]

And she might surprise him with her higher than expected strength stat as she easily pulled him up behind her, then tucked Gooligan under her arm. "Apparently when I found him the first time as a kid, first thing I did was to start chewing on him. I think Master Horowitz said I was about five, maybe? But Golligan is useful for all sorts of things besides chewing on!"

[greatcleavage]

"Oh, you've been with him for quite a while." But isn't five kind of old to chew on things...?

[najaran]

Have you seen her appetite?

Najaran nodded. "Yep! Me and Gooligan have been together practically forever. He doesn't even have any memories from before meeting me!"

[greatcleavage]

"Huh." Well, that isn't suspicious in any way, shape, or form. Roy leaned back slightly to look at the staff, wondering if he'd betray anything involuntarily.

[najaran]

"But plenty of people remember him," Naja went on. "Real bad guys too, who want to know why he's not on their side, but I know Gooligan is on our side, always."

"That is right, I would never work for people such as the Black Cepter or the Lord of Flies. And I certainly would never betray..."

Najaran cut off his heartfelt and earnest words. "Besides, how would I ever stir soup or find my way without him?"

"Master Horowitz," he said dryly, clearly not how he intended to end that originally. "I would never betray MAster Horowitz."

Najaran glanced back, over Golligan's head and winked at Roy with a grin. "We ready to fly?"

[greatcleavage]

...She actually had the self-awareness to mess around like that? Okay, Roy's respect for her went up a notch.

"I'm perfectly ready." He only had one rank in Ride, sure, but that would be enough to get by.

[najaran]

She grinned. "Good, hold on tight then! Alright, Thunderbeak! To the closest food you can find let's ride!!!!!" she cheered, not following her own advice as she pumped one fist in the air.


The huge creature dunked its head into the oasis for a long drink, then hunched its hind legs, the only warning before it launched itself strongly into the sky, water flying off its head onto them as his wings snapped out loudly to either side.

[greatcleavage]

That was a smoother launch than he anticipated, and Roy held on with a minimum of effort thanks to his rather absurd Strength score.

But... "Uh, what does Thunderbeak consider 'food'?"

[najaran]

"Oh all sorts of things!" And then Roy would get a cut away that implied her spending four hours listing yummy foods. Most of which sounded more like things she wanted to eat than the massive bird did. Except... that he was licking his lips at some of them.