With temperatures rising over 143°C (289.40°F) in most areas, the only relief is during the nights when it is much cooler. All travelers are advised to keep to the local towns on the desert's outskirts and avoid traveling too far from civilization. (+3 Endurance, +2 Defense)

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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 3:37 AM

The caravan gathered at the edge of the city, to quarter their camels and work out arrangements for the night. The town had wide, camel-friendly streets, but even so, it wasn't quite built for a caravan to walk through at its leisure. Besides that, the beasts needed rest, which they would have while their masters stayed and took care of business in town.

Dante dismounted gratefully from his own beast, sodden clothes and all. He had elected to put them back on since it would be easier to disrobe after he dismounted.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 3:39 AM

The camel looked just as glad to be rid of him, probably not the least of which was because the sodden cloaks hadn't exactly made him lighter. It followed when he led, though Dante didn't know whether it was because they'd bonded, or whether it simply knew that he was leading it to food, as was the way when its caravan reached a town.

Either way, it let him end things on a good note. He quartered the camel with its fellows, and laid a hand on its flank.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 3:48 AM

"This is where we part ways," he said. The camel had already turned away to stick its nose in a manger, chewing away. Dante had to laugh at that. "Indifferent until the end, are we?" He couldn't begrudge the camel for its attitude, and with a last pat, he left it be. It was just as well anyway, since he didn't care to be remembered much these days.

He had actually forgotten about the boy from before. As he turned the corner, however, he found that Rava hadn't forgotten about him.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 4:09 AM

The boy was leaning against a post, his tousled hair heavy with rain. The weight pulled it straighter, and the way it framed his face now lent him an air of androgyny. His clothes fared better, but the overall effect brought to mind something like a drowned rat.

He was grinning.

"This is your kind of weather, isn't it?" he said, as if they were great friends sharing a joke. Before, Dante might have wondered where he found that bravado, but the war had taught him many things.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 4:15 AM

Rava wasn't the first brazen orphan boy Dante had met--- and what else could he be? Dante didn't pay much attention, but he'd never seen an adult around the boy in a way that suggested any particular bond. If he was looking to attach himself to Dante, however... Dante wished he could tell the boy to save his breath.

"People keep telling me that," he said.

Rava's grin widened. "It's because you dress like that." He indicated Dante's sodden ensemble with a broad hand motion.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 4:21 AM

Dante sighed. He supposed he was in no place to call anyone a drowned rat; he was sure he looked a sight right now himself. "Yes, well, if you'll excuse me. I need to find lodgings for the night." The sooner, the better. That way he could peel all this off and be done with it. He suspected the rider from before had been ribbing him when he'd mentioned that the sun might come back. Looking at the sky now, heavy as it was with clouds, Dante doubted the skies would clear until nightfall.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/24/2017 4:24 AM

He should have known better than to mention something like that. Rava's eyes lit up with that same gleam Dante had seen in them the first time they'd met. "I know a place," he said. Dante was already trying to come up with a reasonable way to say no immediately, without hearing him out. "It's a good deal. Clean, too. Safer than what you'll find, looking like that."

It rankled Dante that he probably had a point about this. It was true that he couldn't pass as a native here under any circumstances.

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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:14 AM

And it was true enough that a great deal of places often took advantage of those who didn’t know any better. Dante had been a victim of it often enough to know that much. A place like this, which made its trade primarily by serving those who passed through, was more than likely to partake in such behavior.

Theoretically, the boy offered a respite from that, but how much could Dante trust him? But more than that, he didn’t want to encourage the boy as a hanger-on.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:15 AM

Dante had some coin--- enough for himself--- but hardly the sort of money where he could be supporting someone else on top of it, especially given that he didn't have a steady source of income.

He understood the boy’s plight, but he was still reluctant to invite any further liberties than what the boy had already freely taken for himself.

The boy must have seen Dante’s reluctance, especially as Dante made little effort to hide it. Rava sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to cheat you, alright?" he said.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:15 AM

Seeing that Dante wasn't convinced, Rava went on. "Sure, I want to make a bit of coin, but I promise it’s less than you’ll be scammed out of if you try it on your own. Folks here are harder than they look! We don’t get that many outlanders.”

Dante said nothing, but privately he wanted to ask why he ought to place his trust in Rava. He didn’t doubt the veracity of the statement, but there had been nothing thus far to suggest that Rava himself was any different.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:16 AM

“I’ll try my luck as it would find me,” he said, and hoped this polite refusal would be enough.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t. “Hey, how’s this? You try asking around yourself, then come with me to my place. See if I don’t get you a better deal than you’d find yourself. How’s that? You’ve got nothing to lose, right?” He smiled hopefully up at Dante. If the expression wasn’t a genuine one, then he was certainly quite the actor. Even Dante, shrewd as he had become these last few years, was hard pressed to tell.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:16 AM

Dante thought on the proposal for a moment in silence. In truth, it wasn’t a terrible arrangement. The boy was right in that he would lose very little, mostly in the way of time. And he supposed, if it was being offered, the genuine patronage of a local would be worth having. That was how he had gotten himself this far, to be sure.

In this case, the local in question did leave some things to be desired, but… Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Dante did understand just how strange his own circumstances were.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:16 AM

“Very well,” he said, with a slight air of resignation. “Give me a place to meet you, and I will go once I’ve made my rounds.”

“Great! Why don’t we just meet back here then, near the camels? Nice and easy to find, isn’t it?” said Rava, clearly in high spirits. His features brightened with this taste of success, scant as it might be. Dante wondered whether it was because he was genuinely confident in what he had to offer, or if success made itself known to him so little that even this much was grounds for celebration.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:17 AM

Nevertheless, he didn’t voice the question on his mind aloud. It would have been rude enough, and he had decided that he would maintain as much distance between the as professionalism allowed, on his part if not on Rava’s.

Dante nodded wordlessly, then turned to leave. There was nothing more that could have been said, after having come to their agreement already. He did consider, very briefly, the possibility of Rava abandoning him when he came back to the camels, but dismissed it almost immediately.
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Re: Rosewater Rain [self]

Postby crow » 06/26/2018 12:17 AM

There was nothing for the boy to gain by doing anything of the sort, not when he had worked so hard to pursue Dante to begin with; and Dante, for his part, would not bear any loss from it.

He needed only to focus on the task at hand: finding a place to stay. To that end, his troubles began almost immediately, and not in such an anticipated area as the price of the lodgings, but in finding a suitable place to begin with.
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