[LOG] Start of Something New

[powerofchange]

CHARACTERS: Maria, Aligoté, the Huxleys (Aznor/Forte/Roger), maybe Stanice and some local NPCs?
WHEN: SD 773 / 7Q751, a few days after this
WHERE: mostly in Surferio
SUMMARY: Maria and Aligoté go house-hunting, sort of.
WARNINGS: nothing comes to mind yet


Maria had given Fayt's suggestion to relocate to Surferio a lot of thought. Her initial idea had been Aquios, since she'd spent the last couple of months already hiding out there anyway, but Fayt brought up a good point - that her following in the Legions was bound to get her roped into one of them sooner or later. And she was really tired of fighting, tired of being in command. Econtra had only been six months for her, more or less, but those months felt like a lifetime, and she didn't want any more of that, if she could avoid it.

So after settling her business with Quark (Cliff was hardly surprised at her decision to disband it, and was even relieved), she made arrangements for a trip to the old Aquor capital with Aligoté. Mostly to check out the place, but also to enjoy themselves and take their much-needed break; while the city was ancient, it was beautiful, and she had a feeling he was going to like it there.

They went the old-school way, though: wagons and horses, transporting crops and food products for trading. They sat at the back of the wagon, legs dangling, watching as Aquios faded into the horizon and became one with the seemingly endless fields of green.

"Sorry this isn't a first-class trip, my lord," she teased, bumping her shoulder against his lightly.

Comments

[aviances]

If anything, Aligoté actually looked quite at ease with their chosen mode of travel, and playfully bumped her shoulder back a moment later. "Nah... this is familiar in a lot of ways. Trains go a lot of places in Aquavitae, but there's an awful lot of places that still prefer this way of doin' things."

And after the cold, dull and ruined world that had been the Econtra compound, being surrounded by greenery, sunlight and fresh air was a gift in itself. He felt better than he had in a long while, and it showed in the brightness of his eyes and the cheekiness of his grin.

"Don't you go gettin' started with that 'lord' thing, too," he mock-complained. "Talk about those people not havin' an eye for the obvious..."

[powerofchange]

It wasn’t just Aligoté who was in better spirits. Maria, normally so tough and serious and even businesslike, was definitely cheerier; she’d been laughing louder, her smiles wider. She even had flowers in her hair now, a gift from a little girl they’d met in the Castle, for their safe journey.

“Tell me more,” she requested, laying her head on his shoulder. “About Aquavitae. The cities. The people.”

There were still a lot of things they didn’t know about each other. It was about time they started.

[aviances]

"About Aquavitae," Aligoté echoed musingly, teasing his fingers through some strands of blue hair as he thought. "Well... the thing about Aquavitae is that each country does its own thing. You know how I told you that only the trains an' the post service really connect everywhere, right? And there's all different levels of stuff. Like Pisang, that's a pretty motorized place. Lots of little scooters and cars, stuff like that. An' it's pretty central to everything, so it's got a huge train station for the Ambon rail line."

He paused, shrugging out of his jacket. With the sun high overhead, it was getting too warm to wear it. His black wings flexed briefly, freed from the constraint, and he winced a little at how stiff they were. He couldn't see behind him, but he could feel the feathers matted out of place.

[powerofchange]

Maria closed her eyes as Aligoté began to tell her about his homeworld; it was comforting to have his fingers tangled in her hair. She remembered what he'd said before about their trains and postal service - the latter was particularly interesting, as their mailmen were said to be able to deliver letters anywhere - but other than that it was new information. Scooters and cars, huh? Certainly a far cry from the backwater planet they were in.

Then she shifted, allowing him to shrug out of his jacket, but she didn't need to see him wince as she quickly noticed the condition of his wings. Someone's been slacking. "The war's over, you know. So you have no excuse not to take care of yourself," she said, a little sternly.

[aviances]

Aligoté huffed a little, but she was right. "I know," he grumbled. "Just hasn't been high on the list of things that needed lookin' after. 'Sides, it's hard to get them right without a mirror or someone else helpin', I wasn't an owl before I got changed, I'm sure not one now."

That leads him to another train of thought briefly before he returns to recounting Aquavitae. "You sure this half-Featherfolk story is going to work? I mean, half-anima ain't so weird once you've met anima, but I got the feeling it happens less here."

[powerofchange]

"Just ask me, silly," Maria said, grinning at him. He was adorable when he got all huffy; she was beginning to understand the satisfaction Sheifa got out of relentlessly teasing people. "It might not be my area of expertise, but I think I can hold up a mirror just fine, at the very least."

Somehow, Aligoté could always bring out the softer side of her -- and nowadays she didn't mind so much.

At his question, she looked thoughtful, but the makings of a smile was on her features. "It happens less in Aquaria, true, and much less in Airyglyph. But in the Sanmite Republic... remember Roger, the kid Fayt mentioned? He's a Menodix. They're descended from raccoons. So he looks like a human child, but with a raccoon's ears and tail. There's a lot of Menodix in Surferio, and other humanoids." She was confident nobody would beat an eyelash about his appearance, even if he didn't exactly have the big white wings of a Featherfolk.

She suddenly remembered something, fishing out a communicator from her pocket. Fayt, true to his word, had made her one, although he'd reminded her at least half a dozen times that she shouldn't be careless in using it, UP3 and all. Cliff had laughed, saying he was still a square even after everything the inhabitants of Elicoor II had seen. "I had Mirage cash in my investments, so we have a few thousand fol to get started. What do you want to do?" It was so like Maria to think of the practical things in life.

[aviances]

Maria's answer about the varied citizenry of the Sanmite Republic did put him a little more at ease, and he supposed they'd have to make the best of it regardless, which... he actually had started to feel up to that challenge. One could even say that a new optimism had taken hold of them.

"Maybe I'll just ask you for help fixin' them instead of holding the mirror," he returned. By and large, he didn't like people touching them, particularly without permission. But that had always had more to do with situations and trust levels as much as the sensation. So this was... an experiment, in some ways.

[powerofchange]

A look of surprise crossed her face at his words. She knew he didn’t like people touching his wings, but now he was letting her help. And it felt... good. A step in the right direction, for them both.

“I’ll be gentle,” she promised. Gentle was probably not a word one would normally associate with Maria Traydor, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have it in her.

[aviances]

Aligoté nodded in response to her promise, and faced away from her so she'd have easier access to reach them.

"So, uh... where'd I leave off. From Pisang, if you go east, you've got Tuaca, where there's just tons of chocolate orchards. Whole hillsides of them! I didn't realize that was something unique to Aquavitae at first, y'know, til people in Econtra started lookin' at me funny and asking what I was talking about with chocolate orchards."

The feathers on the wings had been pressed down in the wrong positions from being under his jacket most of the time, so they required straightening. It wasn't exactly painful, but each one connected to nerve endings so it was a bit like someone playing with knotted hair -- peculiar and with the potential to be ouch if care and patience wasn't taken.

[powerofchange]

Maria shifted to a better and more comfortable position, although she didn’t hurry. She’d never really done this sort of thing before. Cared for someone in the physical sense of the word. Her life on Earth and later Klaus and eventually one starship after another didn’t offer much opportunity; they had technological tools, modern means to do nearly anything. Caring, for a rebel leader like her, meant shooting down the enemy, or letting herself be captured so her allies could escape.

But something this simple, this intimate... it was new to her.

She rested both her hands on his wings, slowly, carefully, half-listening to his narrative about Tuaca and chocolate orchards. She felt his tension, and only when it eased did she start to move her fingers towards one of the misshapen feathers.