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Post by 0 on Jun 30, 2017 2:24:08 GMT
Well, there she was, seeming to have at least some wits about her. ...God damn it.
With a grunt, he hopped up onto the cockpit and popped it open, the oblong glass dome flipping back. The two containers he'd been carrying were tossed in as he dropped himself down into the pilot's seat.
A moment passed as he glared up at the rising smoke, before finally glancing over at the woman and telling her that she might as well get in.
His eyes glanced at the fuel gauge as he started up the craft. There was just enough to get him some distance away from the crash site, but not much more than that. Hopefully something would pop up in the meantime, somewhere to land that would be at least somewhat more safe than the flammable forest.
His hands wrapped around the joystick, waiting for the stranger to hop in so that he could close the cockpit and get out of there.
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Post by tiel on Jun 30, 2017 3:31:10 GMT
~ h-a2083 ~ The man beckoned her into his craft, and relief flooded over her. She had found a master, but not in the way she had expected. She was supposed to have a smooth ride to her buyer, and was supposed to be asleep for the majority of it. Instead she was vigorously tossed out of her ship, stumbling upon a wild animal, and eventually finding a strange man. However, after all that, she had gotten to the place she had intended to be at. Sort of. She nodded and began climbing into the cockpit of the craft. "Thank you," she said. It was a kind gesture of him, after all. Finding her footing, she thrust herself inside, stumbling forward a bit. She stopped herself from landing on anything important by clutching onto the edge, then searching for a place to fit. In the small area, she kept her limbs close, trying not to take up too much space.
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Post by 0 on Jun 30, 2017 4:11:11 GMT
The man grunted as she climbed in and thanked him. Yeah, sure, whatever let'sgetthefuckouttahere.
Briefly hopping to his feet, he pulled down the craft's glassy cockpit, then lowered the vertical thrusters and pumped the power up. His ears caught wind of the woman shuffling around behind him, probably moving all his shit out of their proper places, but there was a much more important matter to attend to at the moment. The engine roared as steam hissed up around the plane, trees cracking and swaying as it lifted up from the ground.
Pushing it above the canopy, he drew back a lever, the long, almost rectangular wings unfolding to either side. Twisting the tail of his coonskin cap behind his head, his fingers worked to initiate the horizontal thrusters, disengaging the landing ones, and away they went.
He stayed a fair distance from the canopy, but didn't go higher than he really needed to; less fuel wasted that way. Head craned around as the trees sped by below them, watching the columns of smoke grow ever more distant.
As he thought, more light began to flare up from behind them, soon accompanied by loud roars. A series of explosions, big and small, racked the air around the crash site, and the aeroplane rocked in the proceeding shock waves. He gripped the yoke and pulled hard in the opposite direction, waiting for the wave to pass; when it did, the plane began to turn up and backwards, but he was quick to adjust before the craft could stall, returning it to its horizontal positioning.
Stifling a sigh of relief, he finally turned around to see what the woman was up to. No knife in her hand...that was good. Though it was clearly made for only one person, the cockpit was long, leaving ample room for her to sit behind the seat; or at least it would have, if not for all the junk he had piled back there.
"I suppose you wouldn't know the way to any towns within a thousand klicks, would you?"
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Post by tiel on Jun 30, 2017 14:34:37 GMT
~ h-a2083 ~ Sitting down, she pushed her back against the side wall so that she would not fling backward at take off. After the craft was above the trees, the ride became smoother, and the man turned around to glance at her. She made eye contact with him, his gaze reflecting curiosity. She stared back just as curiously. He asked if she knew directions to any nearby towns, but of course she had no idea. "There is supposed to be one close by, but I don't know where," she said, recalling where she was meant to be taken in the first place, but she didn't know where her buyer lived, and then again, it might have been a much longer trip than she anticipated. In an uncomfortable position, she decided to scoot back some. She used her hands to push against a crease in the wall and move backwards, until her back was not in a cramped spot. A small box fell over in the process, and she rushed to pick it up. "I—I'm sorry sir," she said grabbing little items and placing them back in the box before they rolled into a spot she could not reach.
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Post by 0 on Jun 30, 2017 17:35:49 GMT
She didn't know. Figures.
His brow furrowed in irritation as she knocked over a box, contents spilling out; his mouth opened slightly as he prepared to snap at her, however she seemed to jump the gun before he even could, apologizing immediately, and his annoyance waned just a tad.
Well...fglgl.
He grumbled to himself as he turned back around, trying to focus on the flight ahead. He didn't like having a passenger, and he didn't wnat to think about it anymore than he had to.
A couple hours would pass before, finally, something besides the forest came into view. A large flat-topped hill rose above the trees, a sort of grassland with a smattering of groves, rock piles, and even a small lake, a river running from it and off the plateau.
Running well past fumes by now, the fuel indicator had been flashing and beeping at him for the past hour, the man having to fiddle with the controls constantly just so it wouldn't fall too close to the forest canopy. Nerves well worn, he was more than happy to oblige this new spot, even if it meant there'd be little else for him to go. If the forest caught fire from the distant crash, it hopefully wouldn't be able to reach them from this new height.
Slowly, he brought the atmospheric craft up towards the plateau, and then down in the grass beside the lake, leaning back in his seat with a groan.
"Hey," he said, turning around with a hand up, prepared to shake her awake should she have fallen asleep. It wouldn't have surprised him, what with what she must have gone through.
He hadn't spoken most of the entire journey there, pretty much ignoring anything the woman might have said, if anything, or otherwise speaking in the tersest of words. "Ride's up. Get out."
He rose to his feet, pushing open the cockpit's dome, waiting for the lady to get out first, and keeping a close eye on her in case she thought to steal anything. --Even though most of the stuff was just old bottles and wrappers.--
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Post by tiel on Jul 1, 2017 15:10:30 GMT
~ h-a2083 ~ She blinked her eyes awake, realizing they were no longer flying. She had drifted asleep in the back of the craft. When the man told her the ride was over, she stood up shakily having just woken up. She climbed out just as she had climbed in, then took a moment to take in her surroundings. They were next to a lake, and there were not as many trees as there were back where her ship crashed. She could see in the distance a cliff dropping down to a view of the forest. This was a lovely area, but there were no houses, no buildings, and as far as she could tell, there would be no civilization in sight for a long time. She knew little of the world, but she knew ships, having been programmed to help fix them when she had to. And it was clear from the meager size of this craft, that even if the fuel tank was full at the beginning of the trip, it would only be able to keep going for a short time. Not enough time to find a town of any sort. Which begged the question "Where are you going to get fuel for the rest of the trip?"
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Post by 0 on Jul 1, 2017 16:35:26 GMT
Nic pulled himself out after the woman, closing the cockpit behind him just before he dropped down to the grass below.
Outside the shadows were lengthening, though the sun was still high; it'd be a while yet before evening set in, so he might as well get back to rebuilding his fire pit. Try to find something to eat, too.
As the man began to walk around, eyeing the ground for sticks and stones, the stranger's voice rose to his ears.
Ahaha...that was quite the question. He wished he had a solid answer himself.
"Dunno," he said, pulling himself back in something of a stretch. He began to move towards the lake's shore, where small twiggy bushes grew; besides wood, he was sure there'd be some rocks in there. Then he'd just have to find some good fire starters....
"Maybe I could build a signal fire, hope some other ship flies over this podunk forest and cares to come down. Maybe share some of its own fuel or haul us off. Or try 'n' kill us, yannow."
He wasn't sure he wanted to build a signal fire right this moment, however; the chances of being seen were slim at best, and he wanted to save the fire for a meal if he could find one. If only that otter were still around....
"Otherwise, I guess we'll be walkin' tomorrow."
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Post by tiel on Jul 1, 2017 23:55:04 GMT
~ h-a2083 ~ The man had no idea, but he didn't seem all that concerned. He suggested he build a signal fire, seeming awfully optimistic about someone flying by to rescue them, up until the last part about them possibly killing them, at which her hopeful state deflated. She joined the man in picking up rocks and twigs as he had been doing, working as efficiently as she could. According to her prior knowledge, she should be the one doing all the work, and him helping made her skin crawl, but she thought it might be rude telling him to stop, so she worked twice as hard to compensate. He mentioned that if no one showed up, they would do some walking. She hesitated at this, wanting to ask another question, but wondering if that would be disrespectful. "How will we know what direction to walk in?" she decided to ask as respectfully as she could.
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Post by 0 on Jul 2, 2017 1:14:57 GMT
The man grunted when he noticed the woman starting to look for her own firewood, but had little other reaction, continuing to pull dry twigs from around the bushes at the lake's edge, gathering up small rocks in his arms. Arms full, he noted the woman's oddly hurried pace. Did she think this was a contest or something?
With a shrug, he poured his own findings a short distance away from the craft, and began to arrange the rocks in a proper circle, digging out the inside with his hands as a makeshift pit. If she wanted to hastily haul sticks around while he built the actual firepit, that was all well and good to him.
He'd expected something of a protest to his last statement, especially if the woman was as untrustworthy as he continued to deem her to be. Instead, he was asked what direction they would be walking in.
"All but where we come from," he told her. Seemed the most reasonable to him. "'Less you manage to think of a better option."
As his fingers scooped out piles of dirt, it flew into his mind once more of the possibility that the woman might have had a head injury. Took him a while to finally remember, but he thought that perhaps he should say something before he forgot again.
"'Ey, you happen to be hurt anywhere yerself?" he asked, adding, "Wouldn't wanna trek into the woods and have ya collapse on me. I ain't gonna be draggin' yer ass around, 'specially back up this mesa."
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Post by tiel on Jul 8, 2017 16:41:17 GMT
~ h-a2083 ~ ((Sorry this reply is sooo late!)) The man answered her question breezily, then asked for any better options she might have. "N—no that plan sounds very reasonable," she said, shaken that he would ask for her opinion. So far, being under a master was not what she had expected it to be. He seemed to treating her like any other person rather than a servant. He asked if she had any injuries from the crash. This seemed like a foolish question. Didn't he know about her skin as thick as steal? She began to think he might not know she was a servant at all, based on how he interacted with her. "No, sir. My skin is nearly impenetrable." she responded. There was not a scratch on her, only rips and tears in her thin clothing. "Is there anything you need me to do?"
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Post by 0 on Jul 9, 2017 19:17:08 GMT
Well, wasn't she the agreeable type. No ideas of her own? Disregarding the stammer, she seemed remarkably calm about the whole situation. Perhaps she wasn't a victim of the crash, and just some random bystander, but...she seemed way too clean and prim to be some homeless lady living in the woods.
Standing up, wiping the dirt off his hands by rubbing them against each other,he pushed some of the rocks closer together, examining the firepit. It was a little on the small side, but otherwise it wasn't all that bad a job.
The man lifted a brow as the woman made her next statement, eyeing her suspiciously once again. "Uh...huh," he said, sounding not at all convinced. He wasn't about to contest her point, however; if she didn't want treatment for her clearly bonked-up head (which he now considered that she might not even know about it, it bein' a head injur an' all), he wasn't about to go and get himself worked up trying to fix the stranger.
"Yeah, drop yer sticks there," he answered, pointing to a spot about two meters from the fire pit. After a moment he pressed, "Ya happen to know ANYthing about this forest?"
He really didn't want to be aimlessly walking around the woods for...well, who knows how long. In a brief fit of desperation, he added, "Or perhaps alternate fuels?" which he didn't really expect her to know, either.
"Or maybe," he continued, "ya have some parts hidden on yerself fer a wrecked-up communicator?"
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