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]

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.

[greatcleavage]

Roy didn't know what was worse -- that he'd brought this on himself, or that he was getting hungry too. "Enough, enough!" he said, lifting his hands to stop the recitation. "Just so long as we're not being taken to a pile of carrion or something!"

[najaran]

"Oh, you want to stop and eat, not pick up something to carry on as we go?" It was hard to tell if she was intentionally joking or honestly confused.

[greatcleavage]

Roy chose to take the question seriously for the sake of his own sanity. "Finding a town and further information would be ideal. I have no idea where we are."

[najaran]

"Alright. Though... we probably can't land IN town, we'll still have to walk some," she said, considering that.

[greatcleavage]

"Hmm, yes, he might get mistaken for a monster." And plenty of adventurers or even town guards took a 'shoot first, ask questions later' stance towards that sort of thing. Some of them weren't even misguided about it.

[najaran]

"Well he is. But they'd probably guess that he is bonded to a Cepter. Then we might not find anyone to sell us food."

[greatcleavage]

"That assumes anyone here knows what a Cepter is. There's a possibility not." A strong likelihood, in fact, but Roy didn't want to oversell things.

[najaran]

"If we're still on my world, they will," Najaran said. "And jail cells rarely have yummy food. Last time Altia had to break me out and steal my cards back for me."

[greatcleavage]

Having been to jail himself despite his rigid attempts to be Lawful, Roy let that comment pass without incident. "If we're anywhere I know, they won't. And we may be somewhere strange to both of us entirely."

[najaran]

"So we're taking a chance?"

[greatcleavage]

"I don't see another viable option." Low on food and with no resources...

[najaran]

"Alright then, but if we get arrested, you're getting us out."

[greatcleavage]

"If we get arrested I will do what is in my power to navigate our release through the system," Roy corrected. "Unless the authority is illegitimate."

[najaran]

She frowned back at him confused. "How can authority even have parents?"

Gooligan gave a double mustached face... um.... mustache.

[greatcleavage]

"'Illegitimate' has a broader meaning than that," Roy said, his mind going relatively numb.

[najaran]

"Grandparents?" Some days she was as bad as Elan.

[greatcleavage]

"A meaning not tied to the concept of family."

[najaran]

"Oh." she turned to face forward again but not before he caught the hint of an impish grin.

[greatcleavage]

"I wonder how badly it would count against me to leave you in jail longer than is necessary," Roy grumbled.

[najaran]

Naja tossed back her head, laughing. "I am glad we're friends now!" He was fun!

[greatcleavage]

"I'm so glad I can contribute to your delight and enjoyment of life."

Why did this keep happening to him?

[najaran]

"And hopefully I can towards yours!"