(no subject)

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

For the past day or two, ever since he stopped by the Cooper farm and got his car fixed up, Neil has been driving aimlessly around Kansas and the surrounding area.

He's usually happy to stop for a chat. There really isn't that much to do around here except talk to strangers.

Comments

[blueisboring.livejournal.com]

Ai-Ling has been distracted from her search for Miki only by the very strong drive to a) stay alive and b) have fun doing so. She's not figured out how to drive a car, and her hitchhiking attempts were terminated after she had to defend herself from unsavoury drivers one too many times.

That's not to say she's avoiding the road: right now, for example, she's walking along the side of a road, using a rope slung over her shoulder to pull a sled she made herself out of a couple of skate boards and a lot of scrapped wood. Her belongings, on the back, include the salted remains of a deer; she'd hate to waste any.

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

Huh.

She's on the opposite side of the road, walking in the same direction he's driving; that's good, because it means she's not on his blind side, and he sees her before she sees him.

As he comes up behind her - driving slowly, because he's in no particular hurry - he's still debating whether or not to stop and say hello. Some people don't like to be bothered.

[blueisboring.livejournal.com]

Had any of the dangers Ai-Ling has faced actually been a serious threat to her, and not just a morally-angering annoyance, she might have given the car a berth. As it is, she slows down and stands to the side,letting him pass.

But with a wide friendly grin, and even a wave of hello. She's not going anywhere, and sometimes it's nice to talk to people.

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

That settles it. He stops and leans out the lack of a window, grinning back.

"Hi."

Okay, so it's not the most brilliant conversational opener in the world.

[blueisboring.livejournal.com]

"Hi."

She thinks his eyepatch looks dashing. He probably gets that a lot. Ai-Lingresponds to dashing looking young men by standing up straight and tall (she's too short for this to be effective), and trying to show that she's just as dashing, thank you very much. Her hand on her sword hilt is resting, not threatening.

"Have you been travelling long?"

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Not by most standards. A few days. You?"

Neil has only been wearing the patch for about a week, and he spent most of that time driving around the Shatterverse talking to himself and/or his car. It's safe to say he hasn't quite acclimatized to any quantity of dash that may be present.

Neither of his hands is anywhere near his gun, which is in a shoulder holster currently hidden by his half-open jacket.

[blueisboring.livejournal.com]

"A few months," Ai-Ling answers. "I'm looking for someone."

She doesn't expecthimtohave seen Miki, but she assumes letting people know she's looking will maximise their chances of being reunited.

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Who?"

[blueisboring.livejournal.com]

"My husband."

Ai-Ling is pushing nineteen, and looks a couple of years younger.

"He's ridiculously tall," she holds up a hand about a foot above her own head. "Dark skin and blue eyes," a combination she has yet to see outside of the Water Tribe, "and has probably got himself into all sorts of trouble without meto look after him."

[shadelet.livejournal.com]

He does not have to even stop- this stranger is coming straight to him, via the shadow in the legroom of the passenger seat, rising up like some off-brand Ringu clone to peer out the windshield.

"Wheeee!"

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

She appears in his blind side.

His hand is off the steering wheel and on the gun in his shoulder holster before he consciously hears her voice; then his head finishes turning and he reverses the movement almost as fast as he made it.

For a second or two he can't think of a single thing to say.

Then, both hands on the wheel, he offers her a rueful grin. "Hello. You kind of startled me there. Do you pop up in strange cars a lot?"

[shadelet.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes. If it looks neat. I'm Penumbra. Who're you?"

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Neil."

He can't manage a good to meet you quite yet.

"Penumbra? That's a nice name. I don't think I've heard it before."

[shadelet.livejournal.com]

"It's my name, so nobody else can have it until I'm done with it. Why are you wearing a thing on your eye?"

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

He blinks once and smiles.

"Oh, that. To keep it covered. I can't see out of it anyway; I got hurt there in a fight."

[shadelet.livejournal.com]

"ooooooh! Did you win, at least?"

She drifts backwards a little bit, sinking slightly through the seat before correcting herself. "Riding in cars is tricky."

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm, I can see that."

Oh boy. Neil's smile fades as he thinks her question over; then it reappears, in company with a shrug. He doesn't answer directly.

[sworntoalostgod.livejournal.com]

At some point, near the farm, there's a middle-aged man walking in front of a brown horse on the road. A child of around eight sits on the horse, fiddling with the reins - though the elder keeps correcting her for it.

When Oliver sees the oncoming car, he gestures to the horse, who ambles to the side of the road. The horse is apparently quite well-versed in hand signals.

Bridgette sighs and says, "You sure we can't go faster?"

Shortly, "Yes, Miss Dubois." The person in the car gets a glance and a small, friendly 'sorry I was blocking the road' sort of nod.

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

Neil nods back, glancing out of the window with some interest and slowing down considerably.

Horses: not exactly common in 2307.

[sworntoalostgod.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Oliver greets, and if it's not an overly enthusiastic greeting it's because his attention is split between the horse, the girl, and the new person.

Beau snorts, shaking his mane when the strange metal thing slows. It takes a Command from Oliver to keep him walking peacefully.

"Hello!" says Bridgette, giving the eyepatch more of a stare than is polite. "You're new, huh?"

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Wry: "Is it that obvious?"

[sworntoalostgod.livejournal.com]

"Well, I live at the farm and I only seen you around the other day," Bridgette explains. She falls silent, her expression going more private, thoughtful. She used to be a lot more afraid of men, she remembers. She wonders what happened to change that.

Oliver, after glancing at the normally talkative young girl, picks up the slack. "You only saw him around the other day," he corrects fussily. "Ah, this is Bridgette Dubois, and I am," he hesitates a fraction of an instant, "Oliver Wycliffe."

"And Marie," Bridgette adds, gesturing to the area in front of her. The area of completely thin air. "And this is Beau," she adds, patting the horse.

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Neil."

The car is moving at a snail's pace by now. He checks behind him for approaching traffic-- clear all the way to the horizon, as usual-- and stops.

[sworntoalostgod.livejournal.com]

Again with the lack of surname. Oliver despairs of ever understanding any culture not his own.

"Well met indeed, sir. Has someone given you a tour of the farm?" Oliver asks. A Godsworn is ever at another's service, after all.

[neraiutsu.livejournal.com]

"Not yet, no. I was only there for a short while-- as long as it took Steve to fix my car up."