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The Croesus [Open]

Postby Indigo » 05/24/2016 6:14 PM

The machine crouched in a field at the edge of town appeared, at first glance, to be some sort of spaceship. Most of the crew reckoned it had been at some point; it wasn't even close to being aerodynamic and quite a lot of the machinery inside it was completely useless in an environment with normal gravity. But whatever it had been once, it wouldn't be taking anyone off-planet any time soon. It hadn't been even close to functional when Six found it in a crater in Lambastia and not even Eliza could make it spaceworthy again.

Still, as an airship the Croesus worked reasonably well, and they did still have Eliza on hand to deal with any catastrophic mechanical failures. Usually. It had begun with a kind of blocky shape, a brick in space, but a number of additions had been made so it would fly in the air as well; not least of them the wings and a set of spindly legs to support it when not in flight. The name would probably not have been Six's choice, but it was already painted on the side, and none of them could get it to come off. And as Marvel often reflected, there were far worse names to be saddled with.

Image

They were here looking for work, the air-travel kind, though mail delivery or smuggling or carrying a passenger didn't make much difference to them. Most of the crew had headed into town for a bit—Belle, as the newest hire and the youngest, had been left behind to watch the ship, and Six was still inside arguing with someone or other. Belle was sort of unclear on the details.

She'd drifted away from the gangplank to get away from Six's yelling, which could be heard even from outside the ship, and now she was drawing a design in the dirt with her paw as she watched for potential customers. Honestly, when Six had hired her she'd expected things to be more exciting than this, but so far all that'd happened was Marvel and Tobias got in an argument over dinner and Six was being harassed by some kind of authority figure. Maybe a client would shake things up.
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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Feint » 07/03/2016 6:57 PM


Kamon skidded to a halt inches away from Belle's face and bunny hopped backward, apologizing. He had a grin on his face spreading from ear to ear, and was panting heavily with exertion. He looked back over his shoulder intently, as though anticipating a pursuer. Nothing appeared. Eventually, he turned around again to face Belle.

"Hello!" he said to Belle, a little over-enthusiastically. "Got a lift for me, love? What's the weather like up north this time o'year? Ice a little thinner yet?"

My wraiths, though not wraiths then, wandered deep into the heart of the polar storm. They tried to fight sleep, naive to the inevitability of their fate. When they awoke, they saw before them my own self, so much a part of the ice and cold they almost fail to see me. I wear a crown of the coldest, sturdiest ice, and my claws and fur have coated themselves in it.
I stand aloof to the cold, for I have lived in it so long, been a part of it so long, it no longer concerns me.

My wraiths are cursed to wander the polar tundra, eternally freezing, following mortal explorers and trying to warn them with their presence that they should not travel onward, should not make the same mistake. But there will always be those who persist in pressing on, never knowing what they are doomed to face, or destined to suffer.

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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Indigo » 07/03/2016 8:14 PM

Belle jumped back. "Uh! H-hi." Six hadn't given her much in the way of instructions for this whole process. Easiest question first, then. "I don't think we've been up north lately and our weather guy's not here right now, but, you know, probably. Depends where you go. Did you have a place in mind?"

Her surprised squeak must have been louder than she thought, or maybe Six was just done with her argument, because she heard feet on the gangplank and next thing she knew her boss was standing next to her. At least she managed not to jump this time. "Uh—"

"Don't mind me," said Six. "Just making sure everything goes smoothly."

"Right," Belle said, not having any idea what that was supposed to imply. "Well. Uh. You look like you're in a hurry, mind giving us a quick rundown? We have a policy about being prepared for danger."



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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Feint » 07/18/2016 3:45 AM

Kamon giggled and wiped his nose with his paw, then sniffed, as though his nose were running.

"I was just joking, love," he said, all smiles. "It's summer, so there's no ice up north right now. Not unless you go into the arctic circle, and I don't have that kind of money, I don't think."

"Do you, uh, do you go to Wilt'no?" He turned again to look over his shoulder, this time in the other direction. He seemed intent on finding someone - or something - that was looking for him.

"What?" he asked. "Oh, no, it's fine," he said, giggling like a high schooler. "I was passing a buddy of mine and didn't want to talk, but he made eye contact." He giggled harder. "He called me and started toward me, so I took off. He chased me. I think I lost him, but I'm not sure."

My wraiths, though not wraiths then, wandered deep into the heart of the polar storm. They tried to fight sleep, naive to the inevitability of their fate. When they awoke, they saw before them my own self, so much a part of the ice and cold they almost fail to see me. I wear a crown of the coldest, sturdiest ice, and my claws and fur have coated themselves in it.
I stand aloof to the cold, for I have lived in it so long, been a part of it so long, it no longer concerns me.

My wraiths are cursed to wander the polar tundra, eternally freezing, following mortal explorers and trying to warn them with their presence that they should not travel onward, should not make the same mistake. But there will always be those who persist in pressing on, never knowing what they are doomed to face, or destined to suffer.

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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Indigo » 07/18/2016 10:56 PM

"We go wherever we're paid to go," Belle said, with another glance at Six. She was fairly sure her boss would intervene if she said something really wrong, but there was always the chance she'd let Belle make mistake after mistake and not point them out until the end, just to really drive the lesson home. Not that Belle was sure she thought that would happen either, but she'd heard some real horror stories from Marvel and she could never tell when he was joking. "What part of Wilt'no?"

The giggling did make Six shift her feet a little, but what that was supposed to mean Belle couldn't guess. She was somewhat at a loss.

"We'll take you on if you can afford the fare," Six said finally. "How much of a hurry you in? Some of my crew are still in town, and I'd rather not leave them behind, but I'll leave sooner for the right price."



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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Feint » 07/24/2016 7:05 PM

((Sorry about the wait, my internet connection hasn't been working very well (it was at 0.13 mbps :l). I fixed it, so I'm back.))

Kamon chewed his lower lip thoughtfully.

"I can wait, I think," he said. "I don't really want to leave anyone behind for the sake of my sense of humor." He craned his neck to look over his shoulder again, but there was still nothing there.

"I'm thinking the southern bit of Wilt'no," he said. He was suddenly notably more serious. "Where I'm headed is kind of out of the way, but the southern outskirts are closest, I think." He procured a bag of keystones from seemingly nowhere and held it out to them with his teeth. "Iff shuh be effuff," he said.

My wraiths, though not wraiths then, wandered deep into the heart of the polar storm. They tried to fight sleep, naive to the inevitability of their fate. When they awoke, they saw before them my own self, so much a part of the ice and cold they almost fail to see me. I wear a crown of the coldest, sturdiest ice, and my claws and fur have coated themselves in it.
I stand aloof to the cold, for I have lived in it so long, been a part of it so long, it no longer concerns me.

My wraiths are cursed to wander the polar tundra, eternally freezing, following mortal explorers and trying to warn them with their presence that they should not travel onward, should not make the same mistake. But there will always be those who persist in pressing on, never knowing what they are doomed to face, or destined to suffer.

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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Indigo » 08/07/2016 10:23 PM

"Sense of—" Belle stopped. The rest of the crew had given her a lot of conflicting advice about the kinds of questions she should be asking, but they all seemed to agree that she should avoid ones she didn't want to know the answers to, and she thought this might be one of them.

Six took the bag, looked inside, and grunted. "Good enough, for the circumstances. Come on." She jerked her head toward the ship and started back up the gangplank, Belle trailing behind. They stopped just inside in a round, unadorned room, bare metal with the remnants of paint clinging to some of the seams; Eliza had guessed it was originally an airlock. Two halls branched off. Six pointed down one. "You need any particular accommodations? For magic or space or electronics or anything? If you don't, take your pick of cabins. I got some negotiations to finish, but Belle here can help you with anything you need."

And with that she stalked back to the bridge, leaving Belle to shuffle nervously and wait for further orders.



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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Feint » 08/11/2016 5:22 PM

Kamon seemed afraid of the gangplank. His tail fluffed out a fair bit as he cautiously tiptoed his way up. One might guess he was afraid of heights; with his bony, useless wings, he was not a flying lakundra.

Just as his foot crossed the doorway, a shout came from outside. An irate-looking, wingless smilokundra had appeared where Kamon had initially been standing. He reared up onto his hind legs and hollered a few choice words at Kamon before turning in a huff and leaving. Seems his friend had finally caught up, if he was even still friends after what Kamon did to him.

After Kamon finally stopped laughing, he poked around the potential former airlock with his nose, seemingly ignoring Six. Eventually his curiosity was satisfied, and he turned his attentions to Belle.

"Got anything with a window, love?" he asked.

My wraiths, though not wraiths then, wandered deep into the heart of the polar storm. They tried to fight sleep, naive to the inevitability of their fate. When they awoke, they saw before them my own self, so much a part of the ice and cold they almost fail to see me. I wear a crown of the coldest, sturdiest ice, and my claws and fur have coated themselves in it.
I stand aloof to the cold, for I have lived in it so long, been a part of it so long, it no longer concerns me.

My wraiths are cursed to wander the polar tundra, eternally freezing, following mortal explorers and trying to warn them with their presence that they should not travel onward, should not make the same mistake. But there will always be those who persist in pressing on, never knowing what they are doomed to face, or destined to suffer.

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Re: The Croesus [Open]

Postby Indigo » 09/11/2016 2:09 PM

Belle couldn't hide her alarm at the sudden shout, nor her relief when the source immediately turned away. Why he didn't come closer to the ship she couldn't imagine—it wasn't a particularly threatening machine, at least to her mind, though she had spent the last month or so living on it so maybe that affected her judgment—but she found herself not particularly caring.

She nodded and led the way down the hall, which did not appear to have any doors in it; they were disguised in some complicated fashion that nobody seemed able to figure out even though Eliza poked at them every time she had the chance. The invisible doors made several of them uncomfortable, to be perfectly honest, but it wasn't bad enough for a more dedicated effort and certainly not for Six to hire a specialist to look at them. "We don't make that kind of money," she'd say.

The end of the hall was a sort of cul-de-sac, though a small one. Belle tapped a spot on the wall and a hidden door slid open next to it, revealing a small room of which one entire wall was glass. "Best window on the whole ship," she said, "except for on the bridge, I mean. Do you need anything else?"



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