A couple months had passed since the small group had decided to break up for a bit. Jan had hung around before heading north with Leets and the Professor. Safety in numbers and all.
But that didn't mean too much currently to the two sitting across from each other in the Gecko's tongue. The old man nearby was telling his tales again, but other than that, the place was pretty quiet.
Dracos
Darx sighs and lifts his cup, taking a long drink.
"Mmm. It's boring just sitting around here."
He slowly turns to look at Ryder.
"Ah well, it's better than being out in that damn desert again."
Ryder nodded, all the random injuries from that adventure finally healed...
"Yeah, this does blow. I mean, as much as I like not being hurt anymore, I kinda feel like we should be doing more than just drinking..."
"Hmph, we can't tackle that tower til the others return. Not much else to do, sooo...."
He takes another sip from his drink and smirks.
Mei-Ling pushes open the tavern door, and- timidly- steps into the room. Suddenly self-concious, she surveys her surroundings with mingled fear, disgust, and amazement. Her hair, tied in elaborate buns and plaits, still threatens top almost drag along the floor as she walks- her red-and-orange kimono almost certainly does. Nonetheless, she is completely clean; dirt and dust-free. Wide-eyed, her large green pupils and smooth, asiatic face instantly mark her as an outsider- if the rest of her odd appearance wasn't enough.
Walking towards the bartender, she enquires, in hushed tones; 'Excuse me, but do you have anything to eat?'
Darx flutters his wings a bit, raising his gaze to peer at the girl...
"She's a pretty thing....wonder what she's doing in a place like this."
Ryder sighed as he took notice of the new girl.
"Isn't it obvious? She's got to be new to this hellhole. Look at her eyes... that lost look is the same one I saw in my reflection that first night..."
Darx stares at her a minute more, then turns his gaze to Ryder.
"I'm getting a bad vibe from her...."
"Certainly. Do you have cash?"
Dracos
"Money? Oh.."
Mei-Ling reaches into her obi and produces a small pouch, and checks through it. "I have a few silver and gold pieces.. how much?"
"eh, newcomer?" The woman frowned a bit. "This one is on the house. But go talk with Dr. Simmons and he'll see about trading."
Dracos
"Who? Where?" says Mei-Ling. "Oh, yes, thank you..." Once the meal is served, she takes a seat, somewhere.. and does a very bad job of trying to be inconspicuous, whilst she looks around and tries to acclimatize herself to the area.
The inn/bar is kind of empty at this time of day. Not much going on. There's a couple of guys chitchatting at the other side of the room. Strange folks, a man with wings and another with red and blue hair.
Dracos
Mei-Ling wolfs down her food like a vacuum, because she's utterly starving, having found nothing at all in the wastes outside.
Once she's done that, however, she takes note of the other occupants of the room, and winces, a little.
"Do new people come here often, then?" she asks the room at large.
Darx takes another swig of his drink, not turning to face her.
"You're the first one we've had in a while, girl."
Ryder, being on the other side of the table, looks at the girl, with a smirk not caused by her, but instead by Darx's rampant drunken antics.
"Yeah, the new arrivals has really sobered up recently... I think I was the last one, but you can never tell 'round these parts."
"Oh. I see.. and where is 'here', exactly?" queries Mei-Ling, wondering. "Is there.. a map, or some such?"
"Here... is New Brunswick, outlier, bassackward town in the middle of nowhere. Of course, everything here is in the middle of nowhere, isn't it Darx?"
"That doesn't make any sense," replies Mei-Ling, shaking her head. "Look.. how far am I out of Kara-Tur?"
"Kara-tur? Girl, you're a long way from home..."
Darx turns to look at her, his red eyes half-closed.
"Get used to being in these backwater places. Nowhere else to go, heh."
"There was that tower," mutters Mei-Ling. "But.. there was nothing else. Three days of desert between here and there, and I wouldn't have found here if it wasn't for.."
Shaking her head, she eyes Darx, somewhat warily. "I just want to know where I am in relation to.. anywhere else at all."
"Nothing is recognizable here... people of different places, species, histories, times have all been dropped into this hellhole without reason..." Ryder adds turning to Mei-Ling a bit more.
"So, the best thing I'd suggest is to get used to the unusual, because you're not in Kansas anymore..."
"Kansas? What's that?" asks Mei-Ling, blinking. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. Can you show me where that... Dr. Simmons was, then?"
The female barkeep sighed and looked over. "Dr. Simmons tends to stay in his office. Just head outside and look for the small metal building near the center of town.'
Dracos
"Thank you," replies Mei-Ling, finishing her meal, and turning to move out the inn, in search of this.. place.
There was too much steel here, too much steel entirely. Mei-Ling wondered if the lights were powered by spirits, or if any actually remained in such a place.
It wasn't hard to find at all, practically across the way from the tavern.
Dracos
Mei-Ling attempts to locate the door, or a door-shape item (stupid metal buildings), and knocks on it, steadily. "Dr. Simmons?" she asks, almost timidly.
"Come in." A middle aged male voice called out, not unkindly.
Dracos
Mei-Ling slowly opens the door, and steps inside, looking around, warily. "I was told you could exchange my.. currency," she says, fumbling with the accents of the region.
"A recent arrival?" The man looked up from his desk in a fairly old labcoat. "Lots of you lately. More this past few months than normal."
Dracos
"Then you must be tired of explaining things," says Mei-Ling, wearily. "Perhaps someone should scribe a scroll, with all the necessary details upon it, to lighten the loads of everyone."
"mmm, possibly. Anyhow, where were you from?"
Dracos
"Kara-Tur," replies Mei-Ling. "Far to the east of Faerun, if you have heard of it. I travel, everywhere I can go. This, however-" she laughs, shortly- "seems a little further afield than I originally intended."
"Well, yes it would be." He laughed. "This is New Brunswick. One of three cities one might say in the area. North there's New Reno and Vault City. How recently did you arrive in the Wastelands?"
Dracos
"Three days ago," replies Mei-Ling. "I was.. drawn.. here by some power, and found myself outside a black tower. Then I made my way here."
Mei-Ling shudders involuntarily at mention of the tower, not liking what she felt there at all.
"You went near the tower? Are you sure you are alright, miss? Oh, forgive me, I'm Dr. Simmons, your name is?"
Dracos
"I was a little sick when I went near it, but I'm fine now," lies Mei-Ling, not willing to let on about the ominous feeling she retained since she left the tower. "And my name is Mei-Ling. Pleased to meet you."
"Lucky. We tend to stay away from there. A group tried once a while back to explore it, but most of them didn't come back."
Dracos
"Then I suppose I will follow your advice," replies Mei-Ling. "Besides, I'm sure there are many other places to go aside from there.
I hope, anyhow. I was lucky I was able to walk here before I ran out of water, and I saw nothing else.."
Meanwhile, back in the bar, Darx is rising from his seat.
"Y'know Ryder, I've been thinking. We don't need the others....we can handle whatever's in that tower ourselves."
Famous last words.
"Come, why don't we go and check it out, eh?"
Re: Mei
"True. You can stay here a night and I'll exchange currency in exchange for what you have and stories of your home."
Dracos
"Is that your usual practice?" replies Mei-Ling, fishing out a pouch.
"Yes. I find it tends to be valuable stories and usually a fair trade to help folks who would otherwise be forced to raid our township or stoop to less honest ways of finding local currency."
Dracos
"I dunno man... that tower's pretty damn menacing. We all know the stories about how people go there, never to return again."
Ryder sighed and took another small drink...
"There's obviously something of value in that tower, if it's guarded so well and no one returns."
"Come child, what's there to be afraid of?"
"Since we don't KNOW what happens when we die here, I think the threat of eternal limbo or having your soul ripped into tiny little shreds as the legacy of your life is erased... or some other nasty event... is enough to keep me from needlessly attempting things that could get me dead..."
Ryder finished his little ramble and then drank more of his drink...
Darx smirks and sits back down.
"Coward."
"Nah... just trying to avoid pointless fights, that's all..."
With another smirk, Ryder sips more of his drink.
"Stories? I don't know where to begin," professes Mei-Ling. "You see, for many years, now, I have been wandering, with my only goal being to.. see and learn as much as possible before my time is ended.
I can't tell you much about were I was born, for I was taken from it at an early age, and placed under the tutelage of my.. now former.. master. Most of my life to date has been under him.
People, Magic, Life, Death... I believe he taught me all he could before I left, but I believed I could learn more about magic.. and myself.. through travel. Knowledge of the world, of how it is and how it will be, these things are strength to me. There are as many spirits as there are ideas, and I hope to witness them all."
Mei-Ling starts to ramble on about specfic people and places she's met, nostalgia taking over.
The next morning...
For Ryder, Darx, and Mei-ling...
Mei-ling awakens in the inn room that the Doctor had set her up with last night, a small bag of money at her side as payment for the stories, replacing her previous bag of currency.
Dracos
Mei-Ling stays in bed for a long moment, just staring at the ceiling, not sure exactly what she wants to do.
Eventually, she gets out of bed and gets dressed again, deciding to take things one step at a time, and heads out her room to get some breakfast.
Sally, the innkeeper, served an okay breakfast of eggs and toast as Mei-ling sat there eating.
Dracos
Mei-Ling slowly eats the meal, taking in the surrounding bar.
Today, she resolved, she'd familiarize herself with this place. Yesterday, she'd been half-mad with hunger and thirst (or so it felt), and hadn't had a chance to soak it in.
But this was really just the beginning of another journey, and so she felt she owed it the proper contemplation it deserved.
Darx yawns and heads downstairs, taking a seat and ordering his own breakfast.
This early in the morning, Darx and Mei-ling, while not sitting at the same table, were the only folks other than innkeeper Sally in the inn.
Dracos
Darx yawns again and flicks a wing towards Mei-ling.
"Morning, girl. Didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon."
"If you say so," replies Mei-Ling. "There was little doubt in my mind as to seeing you again, though," she adds. "Tell me, where do you hail from.. originally, at any rate. Origins may mean little here.. except as a definition."
"Meh. I come from a place of nothing but oppression, bad memories, and war....it's really not worth talking about, at any rate."
Le sigh.
"How about yourself?"
"I could say the same," replies Mei-Ling. "War.. misery.. death, they aren't unique to anywhere.
I come from Kara-Tur.. Toril.. Faerun.. do these names mean anything to you? I described as best I could to the doctor, last night. Perhaps we should ask him for tales of each other, seeing as we have already told ours."
"Hmm....those names mean nothing to me. And what do you mean, ask the doctor for tales of each other?"
Walking into view of Darx, Ryder slogs himself down the stairs and over to the bar. He doesn't look very awake right now, as his massive bed-head and the bags under his eyes show.
He sits down, nearly falling over, and waves over Sally...
Sally heads over. "What do you need?"
Dracos
"Cappuchino... Plenty of it.... Need caffine... Bad nightmares..."
Ryder replies with a slur in his speech. Whether or not it's the lack of sleep or any possible hangovers, that's debatable.
"Sure thing." She handed him a cup of hot coffee, black.
Dracos
Ryder slightly blinks at the sight of the black coffee, and then shrugs and starts to gulp it down...
"Thanks Sally... you're the best..." Ryder mutters.
Darx looks up from his meal and glances at Ryder.
"Tired?"
"Nightmares... Lots of pain and death... couldn't sleep..." Ryder mutters, barely being heard by Mei and Darx.
"Oh, it's you... hi again."
"So that's why you were mumbling in your sleep..."
"Yeah, it was really, really horrible... and then, I saw myself in these dreams. And I was laughing... laughing as lives were extinguished. It took hours to go back to sleep after I woke up..." Ryder muttered, taking himself and the rest of his coffee over to Darx.
"Someone isn't used to killing, I take it. >_>"
"You're right," Ryder mumbled, "I'm not used to killing."
"But, that's not the scary thing... the scary thing was with the coldness and ruthlessness that I had... and how familiar it felt."
"Hmph. Get a few more kills under your belt and you won't feel a thing, child."
"Better you are depressed, than completely remorseless," murmurs Mei-Ling. "If you once were devoid of care, and have regained it, then whatever else you have lost, your spirit profits."
"Remorse makes one weak. There's no point in regretting the past, it's over and cannot be changed, so why worry? There's no point in it."
"For the past is the foundation of the present, and a guide to what the future holds," replies Mei-Ling. "One who does not regret, who becomes callous, one such as that has no respect for life.
If you must take a life, and you do not reflect on why, then you will not see a way to avoid taking another. And another. And so it becomes easier. Until you begin to forget the reason why you began... and look only to the lives you will take in the future."
Darx laughs softly.
"Girl, if you think I've forgotten the reason why I am as I am, then something is wrong with you. I have *never* forgotten, regardless of how many lives I have taken or how many years have slipped by."
"I do not know you," replies Mei-Ling, rolling her eyes. "I have no idea how potent your memory is. Nor do I know what it contains.
Much the same as most warriors, I suppose. It clearly does not weigh on you..."
She turns back to her meal. "I am sorry for speaking to you thus, stranger. It is not my usual custom."
Ryder sits silent while Darx and Mei bicker, finishing his coffee with a slightly more awake look on his face than before.
"Darx, she's right... I don't remember at all what was going on in my nightmares, or even if they existed. All that I know is that there was this haunting familiarity about it all, like they did exist and that I was the monster in them, destroying people and places almost like a game."
Ryder shuttered again as he recalled the slowly fading image of a smiling, gleeful Ryder slicing down victims of the Black Moon Assult in Crystal Tokyo.
"Hmph, children, both of you."
"If slaughter makes an adult, I'd rather stay a child," comments Mei-Ling, finishing her meal.
Darx says nothing, just turns back to finish his meal.
Mei-Ling stands up and leaves the inn, deciding to explore New Brunswick... even if there's not very much worth looking at. From her point of view, though, it's all new.
Darx is left with a recaltriant Ryder.
Meanwhile, Mei-ling steps outside, the bright sun almost searing her eyes. Without the common tree cover and brush that she's used to, it is a fair bit hotter and brighter around these parts. From where she stood she could see Dr. Simmons place, standing firmly in the early day sun. Near it, she could see a few small houses that housed the few other residents. Towards the edge she saw what looked, to all appearances, to be some kind of ranch. There was also some strange metal building over the local stream.
Dracos
Darx looks hesitant for a moment, then sighs and stands up.
"C'mon, Ryder.....that girl's gonna get hurt traveling around by herself. We need to get out of this damn bar anyway."
Leets spotted the village of New Brunswick, a mere half hours travel more after his days of walking.
Dracos
Leets trudged through the shifting sands as he approached the town, gazing over the factories smoking in the distance.
"Doesn't seem like much has changed," he thought idly as he came closer. Maybe those two have mellowed out since he last saw them.
A guy can hope anyway.
Leets spotted a young woman examining the village as he stepped in. It might've been simple instinct, or the way she was looking about the village, but his gut tells him that she likely was a newly arrived in this world.
Dracos
Leets watched the newcoming with mild nostalgia, remembering how it was when he first arrived. His brow twisted into a scowl as it brought back the memory of how he was conned by that old man. One he still hasn't run into again yet.
Smothing the surge of annoyance, he called out a friendly greeting to the young woman when as he got closer to town.
Darx calmly steps out the bar, following Mei at a good pace.
Mei-Ling looks about her at the called greeting, scowling slightly at the figure of Dark, but curiosity leading her gaze towards the new figure.
"Hail," she says, deciding to walk towards him.
Ryder stands up, feeling much better and less angsty now that he's fully awake, and follows Darx out of the bar, fixing his hair on the way out.
"Yeah, she's gonna be in trouble if we don't do somethin'..."
Darx quickly catches up with Mei, and stops, blinking.
"Leets? Tis a surprise to find you again."
"Hello, Darx," Leets returned the greeting warily, noticing Ryder join the group.
"New friend?" he asked, looking at the young woman.
"Hmph, tis just a girl. She's new to this world, as you can probably tell."
Mei-Ling mutters something about 'just a man'.
"That is correct," she says, beginning to walk away.
Ryder waves slightly at Leets with a smile... and speaks, with a fake accent.
"allo Leets, what the 'ell are you doin' 'ere in New Brunswick today?"
Leets regarded Ryder blankly for a moment.
"...your accent is horrible."
"Agreed."
Darx grins.
"Let's never have to hear that again, deal?"
"Fine fine... I won't use that accent again. Anyway, what are you doing all the way out here Leets?"
Leets shrugged, swinging his bag forward to reach into it. "I'm on a working vacation and thought I'd drop by to see how you guys are doing."
"That, and maybe ask if one of you could help train me in this," he said as he pulled out the hilt of his sword.
Darx whistles, his eyes beaming as he eyes the sword.
"Not a bad blade..."
He holds at his hand and grins. "May I?"
Leets weighed the consequences of Darx with a sword.
"...only if you stand out of reach of everyone."
"Of course I shall."
Leets cautiously passed the sword to Darx before taking a step back.
Ryder immediately teleports to the roof of a nearby building...
"Better safe than sorry."
Darx steps back from everyone, spreading his wings and grinning wider.
"This is an excellent blade....good balance, well made hilt...I can tell the maker put a lot of love into this."
Darx slowly swings the sword back and forth, whistling again.
"I would love to use this in actual combat..."
"So is one of you interested?" Leets prodded, watching Darx test the sword out.
"Obviously, I'll pay for your help."
Darx draws his own sword, continuing in swing the two in an odd looking, yet smooth, blade dance.
"Surely you jest...I couldn't ask for a payment..."
The blade, indeed, is fine, but feels wrong in Darx's hands, as if it did not BELONG to one such as him.
Dracos
Darx frowns and ends his dance, sheathing his own blade and handing Leets' back the sword.
He mutters. "Odd..."
"What's odd?" Leets asked as he took the sword back.
"Mm, nothing. Just a feeling I had."
Leets shrugged and slid the sword back into the bag.
"So how have you two been these last few weeks?" he asked, gesturing for Ryder to get back from his hiding place.
Suddenly appearing behind Leets with that static noise, Ryder thinks for a moment.
"Up to? Nothing... and that's pretty damn sad if you ask me. I mean, sure, I needed to lick my wounds a bit, but overall..."
Having reached a fair distance away from the chattering group, Mei-Ling sighs.
How many people had been torn from their worlds, as she had? And why? The questions burned within her, but no answers presented themselves.
And there was that constant.. foreboding, that had been with her since she left the tower. Shapes of shadow hovered at the sides of her vision, but could never be truly seen. Despite the heat, she shivers slightly.
She doubted she would find her answers in New Brunswick, though. This place seemed.. a travellers first stop. A gateway of sorts, into the unknown beyond.
Resolving to determine a suitable destination by tomorrow, she continues to wander around the shanty of New Brunswick.
Darx blinks and looks around.
"Damn....that girl got away. Eh, I have a feeling she'll show up again."
He closes his wings and thinks.
"So, now that we're back together, what shall we do? I still think we need to check out that tower..."
"You haven't been there yet?" Leets asked, staring in disbelief. "I'd thought you would have made that your first stop since you seemed so interested in it."
Mei-Ling approached the ranch where she could see dozens of...cows? Eh, maybe, they looked a bit discolored, eating yellowish patches of grass as they roamed around the ranch area.
Dracos
Mei-Ling grimices somewhat as she views the cows, which look none too healthy, at least to her.
She treks up the side of the ranch, heading towards the larger building, eyeing the grass as she walks, too. Practically the first real plant she's seen since arriving, here.. and it didn't look healthy, either.
A lone door makes itself evident on the ranch building, the sound of someone cooking inside can be heard.
Dracos
"Excuse me?" asks Mei-Ling, knocking on the door, and peering in, curiously.
"I decided to wait until I had more backup," Darx explains.
A young, well, maybe not so young, but handsome cowboy greeted her, looking just like he was out of the old west. His clothes were all clean and reasonably well made. Somewhat raggedy brown hair graced his head. "A visitor this morning? Rare. Howdy."
Dracos
Not that Mei-Ling would know what a cowboy was.
"Morning," she replies, looking out at the fields. "Yes, well, I recently.. blundered my way to here. Tell me, do you have a moment?"
"Well enough, but if it's going to take a while, you'll have to come in and join me for breakfast as that's almost done cooking."
Dracos
"Well, whatever you want me to get involved in will have to wait. I've still got to finish some business in Vault City."
Leets shrugged, looking sheepish. "If you don't mind waiting, then I guess I'm in."
Darx ruffles his wings, annoyed.
"Fair enough. How soon can you have this business over with?"
"Depends on how soon we get to Vault City," Leets said.
"And sorry, but I only have one visitor's pass with me."
"Doesn't matter, I'm not welcome there, remember?" Ryder mutters a little disgruntledly.
"Well this time, you can have Darx keep you company."
"Your own fault, for stirring up trouble, child."
Darx sighs. "I suppose we'll just wait around town til you return."
"That will probably work for the best," Leets said in agreement. "In any case, I'm leaving tomorrow morning."
"I'll be seeing you then," he said and headed to register at the inn.
"I don't have an objection," replies Mei-Ling, grinning. "Have you been living here long?"
"Ten years now." He waved her in, setting two plates of some yellow stuff that smelled good (eggs). "Took a while to build this and all."
Dracos
Mei-Ling lets herself in, and takes a seat.
"Oh," she says, musing. "I'm new here, myself.. though you probably guessed that already.
Were you.. brought here, the same as me?"
"Yeah. I don't think I've met the person who wasn't brought here yet."
Dracos
"Heh.. and ten years, you say. Were there people here.. before that? I'm trying to get a sense of scale." Mei-Ling shrugs a little.
"A few around these parts. More elsewhere." He slowly started eating.
Dracos
Darx gestures to Ryder.
"C'mon, let's find that girl."
And lo, he takes off in the direction Mei headed when she left.
They too arrive at the ranch, the cows peacefully grazing.
Dracos
"Hmm....seems peaceful enough. Why would she be here?"
"How far out of town?"
"Nearest cities are a few days travel north of here."
Dracos
"No roads, I assume," muses Mei-Ling. "Have you ever been up to the cities? What were they like?"
"Nope. Got a fair living here, why move about?"
Dracos
"Hmm."
Darx makes his way towards the house, slowly circling it, trying to peek through any windows.
Peeking in, he could spot the woman and what appeared to be the owner of the place having breakfast and talking.
Dracos
Darx ruffles his wings, annoyed.
"Hmph, some nerve she's got, eating breakfast while the rest of us are out here looking for her."
He walks around to the front door and knocks.
"Huh... lots of visitors today. odd."
The man got up and opened the door. "Howdy?"
Dracos
Darx looks pretty annoyed. <_<
"The girl. Tell her I wish to speak with her."
"Don't worry, I can speak for myself," says Mei-Ling, walking over to the door. "Thank you for breakfast."
Turning from the man to Darx, she raises an eyebrow. "And just what do you want?"
"Coming to keep an eye on you, fool. I told you this was a dangerous place that a girl such as yourself doesn't need to be wandering alone."
Mei-Ling raises an eyebrow. "If you'd like to work as an unpaid bodyguard, that's fine with me," she notes. "My only concern is that you bring more danger with you than you ward away."
"There's a great deal of difference between bringing danger and finding it to end it, dear."
Darx hmphs. "Besides, who said I'm wanting to be your bodyguard? I'm just trying to get it through your thick skull how dangerous this place is."
"Eh, Brunswick isn't very dangerous and if you two are going to continue this discussion, I'd prefer it out of my door frame." The ranch owner frowned disapprovingly.
Dracos
Darx glares at the owner.
"What you prefer doesn't matter in the least to me. However, my group and I need to return to the inn, so we'll be taking our leave."
And with that, the winged maniac turns to walk off.
"Girl, you'll come back with me if you have any brains at all."
"If you say so," smirks Mei-Ling. "Some advice for your future dealings with people. Insults make a poor argument."
"Some advice for your future dealings with me. I don't need your advice, girl."
"Don't worry. I don't expect to have future dealings with you," says Mei-Ling, lightly. "Have a nice day!"
"I take it that means you aren't coming back to the inn with me?"
"Evidently," replies Mei-Ling, rolling her eyes.
"Hmph, suit yourself."
And lo, the winged one leads Ryder back to the inn.
"Mmm. What a strange man," comments Mei-Ling, turning back to the rancher.
"You wouldn't have a map of the area around New Brunswick, would you? Or know where I could locate one? I intend to leave the town, soon, but some guidance would be helpful."
And lo, Darx returns to the inn and heads on in.
"Darx... pissing her off wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do y'know. She's probably, knowing our luck, either extremely powerful or immensely important..." Ryder rambled as they made their way into the bar.
After a moment's thought, he added, "Though, you're Darxie... you're around to piss off everyone in existance."
Leets glanced up as the inn door rang, noticing Ryder and Dex walk in. "Hey there, you two." He waved in greeting before going back to his breakfast of hotcakes.
"Her? Powerful? I doubt it....she seems too frail for that.."
"Hi, Leets" Darx nods in greeting to him.
Leets invited the two to join him. "What are you two talking about this time?"
'Meh, just some girl we ran into. She seems to be new to the desert, and ignored my advice to not go exploring too much."
"Looks have nothing to do with it... I mean, do I look like I can blow shit up good?" Ryder replies with a smirk forming at his last statement?
"Hmm, you have a point. You don't look like much of anything. No one would guess you're so....destructive."
Darx calmly smirks back.
"And what... is that supposed to mean my fine feathered friend?"
Ryder calmly, with an edge on his voice, retorts, taking a seat next to Leets.
Darx takes seat on the other side of Leets, grinning.
"Just a simple jest between friends, my gender-swapping ally."
"A jest it may be, but still, thine words ring hollow, as if thy wast not showing me the proper respect..."
Ryder continued the descent into old English with a smirk...
"I see you two are getting along as well as ever," Leets chuckled between bites.
"So what's the plan with your little Tower expedition?"
"We're exploring the tower, once everyone is done with the various tasks they have and we can regroup."
"At least, I assumed that was our plan."
"So I take it you know where Smith is then? Or how you're getting into Vault City to talk to Hornsby?"
Darx ruffles his wings, thinking.
"Well....I suppose I could just fly over the walls of Vault City..."
He sighs.
"I have no idea. I was planning on leaving all that up to you guys."
"I still don't like the idea of going to a Tower which could potentially tear my soul out and rip it into little shreds as my body degrades into sand..." Ryder mentions.
"I agree with you, but Smith did say it was one of the few unexplored parts left in this world," Leets said. "Besides, someone has to have survived to tell the horrors of the towers."
"And if no one has....then we can be the first."