shatterverse | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Jordan and Ai-Ling did, eventually, find a workable motor vehicle; a dark green Sedan car that must have been conveniently flashed in recently, from its relative newness and working condition. They strapped Jordan's new push bike to the trunk and headed towards Kansas.

Ai-ling hasn't turned out to be a natural driver. The car's workings are counter-inuitive to her and she needs things explaining a post-industrial person would take for granted.

She is, however, dedicated to learning, and there's not a lot more to expect from a student, so she's soon capable at least of keeping them moving along an empty desert road.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jordan's patient, all the same. Surprisingly patient, even. She just sits in the passenger seat and guides or instructs when needed. Otherwise, she's looking out the window and frowning.

And not just at the sad and sorry state of the road beneath their wheels.

Journey, on the other hand, just sleeps in the back and occasionally sticks her head between the girls to pants excitedly until they open a window for her.

"What are you thinking about?" Ai-Ling asks when she's relaxed enough to think of talking ad driving at the same time. Jordan's quietness and frowns are being noticed.

Hopefully Ai-Ling will get used to the quietness. The frowning is abnormal, though. Jordan just shakes her head a little, still looking out the window. She knows the highway they're on, she's been on it countless times in the past few years.

But it's never been broken like this, ragged and tore-up, and the area surrounding it has never looked this... ravaged.

"Everything's different," she says after a moment, soft.

"You're from another version of this world."

Not a question, just reminding herself. Ai-Ling tries to imagine what it'd be like to see Ba Sing Se torn up like this, and nods sadly.

"There are people trying to fix it."

She'd said it before, but Jordan nods confirmation all the same. Yes, she is. And yes, she's sure people are trying to fix it.

But what, exactly, are they fixing? What are they trying to save?

New gods of prophecy, adornments hanging openly from trees, and girls carrying spears that don't know what dogs are.

Jordan shakes her head, perhaps unclearly, and settles her chin in her palm.

And there's quiet for a while longer, because Ai-Ling's been on her own a lot and grown used to it. She doesn't tolerate it for long, though.

"They operate out of the farm, but work outside as well. When I've foud my husband, we're going to join the effort."

She's thought about this a lot, and it's really not that different from trying to fix the struggles back home.

That gets her attention. Not that Jordan hasn't met girls her age, or even younger, that were married. It's just that this girl is capable, carries weapons.

She's not exactly a middle-American farm girl.

Which reminds her.

"What do you do with that?" Jordan asks, nodding at the spear in the backseat beside Journey.

Ai-Ling takes her eyes off the road long enough to glance back at the spear. Her sword lies alongside the driver's seat, but spears are too long and awkward for that, she's less attached, and it has less use for defense.

It's a strange question though, and she frowns.

"I hunt."

Jordan nods, picking up on the frown, and alters her question.

"Like for a job or for food or...?"

"For food," Ai-Ling answers. She tries to imagine what hunting for a job would be like, and fails. "At home, anyway. I was on a hunt whe I was flashed in. I still hunt for food, but sometimes it's to protect people as well."

"Hunting? Or fighting?"

It's an important distinction, though Jordan asks casually. It's not a life-or-death distinction, she's just trying to get an idea of who Ai-Ling is.

"You can't really fight with a spear."

She corrects herself instantly, "well, you can, but I can't. I'd rather use this."

She takes her had off the wheel long enough to touch the broadsword at her side. "I know it better."

Jordan's lips quirk into a small, amused smile. It's equally as lighthearted as Ai-Ling's, even if a part of that is just novelty. It's not often you meet a fighter, a hunter, as young as they are and still that cheerful.

"I mean... when you help people, are you hunting? Or just fighting what they need you to fight?"

Well, Ai-Ling's not lost anything, yet. Miki is merely misplaced. She'd know if he wasn't, and her faith in that keeps her going.

Usually.

"It depends," is the answer. "Like, last month I hunted down a sabre-toothed animal that had been killing children in a town. The men had those gun things, but they'd run out of, um... bullets? That was hunting."

She's not fully sure why Jordan's making the distinctio, but she'll go with it.

A satisfied nod is given, in any case. She's confirmed that she isn't a Hunter, but a hunter. Capable but maybe not knowledgeable. At least, not in the things Jordan is.

"...sabre-toothed?"

"Like a mooselion."

Ai-Ling spares a hand again and mimes a massive hand-sized tooth extending down from her mouth. "Only not. More like... just a lion."

Ai-Ling says a lot of things like that. Little things that aren't exactly wrong, just right enough for her to be confused. Enough for Jordan to be unable to chalk it up to craziness.

So she blinks, and then nods. "We have those. I've never heard of a mooselion."

"They're from my home," Ai-Ling explains. "I've only ever seen one in the zoo."

Jordan nods, lips curled into a small smile. "Only place I've ever seen a lion," she offers.

"I bet that will change after you've been here a while," Ai-Ling returns with a smile.

Jordan makes a face, mostly of mock-fear. "I hope not. I wouldn't know what to do with it."

If it's not supernatural, there's really no reason for her to kill it.

"The same as you'd do for any animal," Ai-Ling says. "They're not like the weird stuff that needs special killing."

She's not going to forget the first vampire she met.

"I don't kill animals," Jordan points out simply.

Behind them, Journey snorts with her head out the window, as if agreeing.

"Not ever?"

Ai-Ling keeps her eyes on the road, but she's curious enough to sound surprised.

"Are you like the Avatar? Never eating meat?"

Jordan shakes her head in answer to the initial question, but she's frowning for the second. She knows things are different enough that she doesn't feel a real need to demand an explanation, though.

So she moves on to the third question. "I'm not a vegetarian, no. We don't have to kill animals ourselves to get meat, where I'm from."