Wherever the closest motel is.

Bow chikka bow wow

>>134455
Okay, open ended orders. Of those two choices, it seems like one is currently in semi-open warfare, while the other is a more 'stab you in the back' type situation. ...as a soldier, I might think that you might prefer being in a place where people are trying to shoot you in the FACE as opposed to stab you in the BACK. So I'll say North Poilen. Maybe even find someone else from the TGC there.

...also, another question. You are obviously shocked by her appearance. And I don't think you were okay with the 'thing' back int eh vault. ...I assume you have animals, but do you have any OTHER intelligent races running around? Elves, dwarves, orks? Or is it humans all the way across?

>>134460
Not sure why there would be three, but seeing as we're the second, there's at least two.

Anywho, head to Qer. If the political situation is unstable in the other area, it means there's a higher chance for whoever you're supposed to be getting us away from finding out you have us.

It's going to be real easy to drop off the radar in a place that's full of outlaws. Just try not to get on the bad side of any of the ruling criminal organizations, whatever those may be.

Anyway, I also second getting a drink. We can worry about what we'll do once we're out of the country once we're actually out of it. Just don't get so drunk that you're an easy target for thieves, we're shiny and some street rat could get ideas about stealing us.

...In fact, is holding us necessary? There's a chain around us, so you might be able to wear us like a pendant or something.

My hypothesis that we are one of three is based upon>>134103

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)16:42 No. 134516 ID: aa5284
File 126654015824.jpg - (193.65KB , 777x777 , 02-17.jpg )

>North Poilen
>I might think that you might prefer being in a place where people are trying to shoot you in the FACE as opposed to stab you in the BACK.

True.

>the political situation is unstable

Even more true. North Poilens have never been fond of Confederates like myself. We're seen as the self-imposed watchdogs of Gaeten. There's been talk of them brokering important war criminals to the Coalition in exchange for political favors, or financing.

>Qer
>easier to drop off the map

I have to agree. It'll be easier to have you stolen, but I'm not about to let that happen. I guess that's our destination.

"Qer."

>"Qer?"

"You have no idea what that is, do you?"

She hums a no sound. It's almost like she's trying to be cute, or she simply doesn't care.

I point her in the direction of Qer, and she takes the next exit.

You know, she's relatively normal looking, for the most part. The differences are subtle, but there are enough of them to be distracting.

>elves, dwarves, orks

I've never heard of any such creatures. The only other creatures people have claimed to be sentient I'm aware of are Adurites. Surely you know what those are, though.

>a bar

That will be my next stop, I promise you.

>if there are people looking for us

I doubt it. Even I had never heard of you before yesterday. Maybe Kitty knows something about the Tear?

Oh sure of COURSE we know all about the Aldurites. But just in case Kitty doesn't know about them, you should explain to her everything.

>>134524
You are a horrible liar.

>>134516
Seems like she's really new here, as well. ...strange as she knows how to get to us, but not where other things are. Just something to keep in mind for when you are ready to start grilling her for information.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)17:12 No. 134562 ID: aa5284
File 126654195558.jpg - (196.43KB , 777x777 , 02-18.jpg )

>But just in case Kitty doesn't know about them, you should explain to her everything.

Sure, and I'll explain what a cat is, while I'm at it. They're almost as common on the Expanse.

I put the Tear around my neck.

"You know anything about this thing?"

>"Keoradine's Second Tear?
>It's probably not a common legend here. Honestly, not many people know about them, even on non-Prime worlds.
>The story goes that when the world was made, Keoradine, who became the sky, shed three tears for the world that had been destroyed.
>As they were shed at the moment of creation, they took on power of their own. What kind of power, I don't know. They're supposedly magical. There are plenty of frauds, though.
>I was curious about the one I heard was in your country. When I was trying to get in, you guys showed up. I had thought it was another fake until I realized Piaculum was guarding it.
>Figures it would be on some backwater world like this one.

>Prime Worlds

I didn't pick up on that.

"What did you mean when you said "Prime World?"

>"Prime Worlds. Don't know how to explain it really... There are worlds that are almost exactly alike. The most common kind, I guess? It's more slang than any kind of real definition.
>"You've probably guessed, but I'm not from... Kalian? Isn't that what you call yours?"

I probably shouldn't tell her what the Tear really does. It doesn't seem like it would benefit.

"I got run off the road by a guy in a black suit, and a black hat."

>"Didn't see anyone but you."

Guess it would be stupid to ask if she recognized the description. He didn't really mention anything I can remember that would be of any help.

So she really did just come to this world because she was curious? Y'know what they say, Curiosity killed the cat-lady. And remember, she's not FROM this world, so she might NOT know what those oh-so-adorable Aldurites are.

She mentioned 'Piaculum' again. I'm wondering if that was big-an-ugly's NAME... or if that is the name of his TYPE. IE if there are more of them. But she relaly didn't seem to want to talk about it earlier, so maybe pressing now wouldn't help.

...if there is nothing else to talk about, you could stare at her ass again.

The man mentioned something about a "real world". Please inquire.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)17:31 No. 134587 ID: ebea88
File 126654306482.jpg - (196.08KB , 777x777 , 02-19.jpg )

>Adurites

I guess you really don't know. They're fire breathers. Stand on two legs? Have two tails coming out of their shoulders? No eyes or head? Look like they're made of shredded, painted skin? That ring a bell? I can't really explain them any better. Maybe you'll see them one day.

"So why did you come here? Why're you after this thing?"

>"Well, I'm not anymore, obviously. I don't really want it. I was just interested. Sort of like you said. Bored? When you get my age, you do what you can to keep your mind off time."

"How old -

>"Old am I, yes," she interrupts. "A hundred and... fifty-three? You lose track of the years."

"Is that -

>"Normal for my kind," she interrupts, again.

She must have had to answer this line of questions before.

>"Look, I don't want to deal with any of this racist shit. I'm human, okay? Where I'm from, we were made this way. I'm not sure how. We just were.
>"And we don't live any longer than you do. What are you, twenty-something?"

"Forty-three."

That seems to surprise her.

>"You don't look a day over twenty-two, if that."

That surprises me. Last I looked in a mirror, I looked like shit.

>"I'm this old because I can't die," she continues. "I'm what they call an Amortal."

"Can you-?"
"Read minds? No."

Anyway, inquire whether she can't die period, or simply can't expire of old age. And as for the Aldurites, how does something with no head breath fire? MOUTH IS ON HEAD. Anyway, I'm not sure whether or not I buy her story, but there's no real point in worrying. At the moment she IS helping you complete your mission, after all, and that's what they call a tactical asset.

>>"I'm this old because I can't die"

Can't die from old age, or can't die period? If it's the latter, hellloooooo invincible meat shield.

Inquire about the other worlds. I wanna know if she knows about this real world. It seems... important.

Jeez. Has she had this conversation before?

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)18:08 No. 134655 ID: ebea88
File 126654533177.jpg - (180.23KB , 777x777 , 02-20.jpg )

"Can't die from old age, or can't die, period?"

>"Period. It took me a while to realize what had happened to me. Digens strip us of our mortality, for whatever god-forsaken reasons they dream up. And before you ask, I'm not even sure what a digen is. They look just like a normal human. Just that they're powerful enough to destroy entire worlds on their own.
>"Amortals, on the other hand, are only a lot stronger than a normal human. Picking up trucks, smashing through walls. That kind of shit.
>"We're pretty resilient, but we can get our bodies blown to pieces if we aren't paying attention. Still hurts. That's why I use a gun. Even a bullet to the head can take you down, if you aren't consciously resisting it.
>"Everything grows back from the biggest piece of you, after a while. It's a gruesome, horrible life."

"Sounds like a bunch of bullshit."

>"I know."

>I wanna know if she knows about this real world.

I barely even remember him mentioning that.

"The man in the black suit... he said something about the real world?"

>"I think you may have just been delirious. You sure you didn't run off the side of the road? It wasn't raining pretty - "

"I'm sure."

Guess it doesn't mean a thing to her. I'm guessing he was just some sort of religious zealot. Crazy bastard. Too busy living in his own world to care about this one."

Whatever. I'll be glad to get to Qer, and get you out of my hands. Then, I have to get my wife and kid, and get off Gaeten, entirely.

>>134655

Have you tried throwing yourself into the Sun? That works in most cases.

SOMETHING TELLS ME IT WON'T BE QUITE SO EAAAAASY.

Seriously though I hate so-called immortals, or amortals. Everything can be killed. Or worse. Wrapped up in chains and sunk in the ocean... buried alive... And there are some things there are no coming back from. What can grow back from a pile of ashes if you toss her in a furnace? It's silly. But still... whatever.

>>134655
>Whatever. I'll be glad to get to Qer, and get you out of my hands. Then, I have to get my wife and kid, and get off Gaeten, entirely.
I really want this to happen as well, but... well, plans as simple as this tend to NOT stay simple for very long.

>>134655
Oh, I see. I wonder, did the suit guy decide to make you Amortal as well? Look at yourself in the mirror.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)18:27 No. 134711 ID: ebea88
File 126654645522.jpg - (230.53KB , 777x777 , 02-21.jpg )

We share some idle banter for the rest of the way, but mostly silence.

I'm making plans for when we get to Qer. I decide to head for Tallwoods, a town on the northern fringes of our borders. It's small enough to not be a center for any kind of military action, seedy enough to have some information, but not dangerous enough to get us... well, me, killed.

>Have you tried throwing yourself into the Sun?

The what?

>What can grow back from a pile of ashes if you toss her in a furnace?

"Are you sure you can't die?" I ask her. "Burnt down to nothing? You can't grow back from that."

>"That's what I thought, once upon a time. It's not natural, however it works. The mass just seems to come from nowhere. I got knocked into a vat of acid, once. That was fun. I ended up reconstituting from the air, or something, and woke up a year later. There's a whole pseudo-science behind it, I hear.
>"You can get trapped, in a way, though. I've only met two other Amortals. One threw himself into a volcano forty thousand years ago, only to wake up sixty-three years back, when it went dormant. Even before that, his consciousness somehow returned. So he just... thought for a few thousand years.
>"You can stay dead for a long time, if you're clever, I guess. But you can always wake back up, even if you don't have a body. Don't know how it works. There's no rest."

Jeez.

>Oh, I see. I wonder, did the suit guy decide to make you Amortal as well? Look at yourself in the mirror.

My skin runs cold at the thought. I'm not even going to try. I don't think I could handle the thought of it. But anyway, I don't feel any stronger, or... no, I'm not. I'm just not.

>>134711

>>pseudo-science behind it, I hear.

Try Conservation of Mass.

Hmm. Perhaps you should ask if all Amortals look like her, or is it just the bond of immortality that makes them Amortals. I have to wonder about the biological changes that occur in such a being.... Clearly there's some sort of magic or other unknowable cause that binds the consciousness to the physical world and regrows the body around that consciousness, but I wonder if such a being could have children. If so, would they pass along the curse?

And seriously, she's over a hundred years old and doesn't know what the sun is? Where does she think light comes from? Fairies?

>>134711
Well if you go and die again, we won't be complaining if you come back from the dead. Unless you're a brain eating zombie, that would be kind of gross.

So anyway, just what kind of information are we looking for? You said your mission wasn't really detailed outside of, as the expression we would use goes, "getting the hell out of dodge". Which, in case you didn't know, means to escape as quickly as possible from a place of peril.

Anywho, now that we're out of there, what do you plan on doing next?

>>134711
The sun. You know... the sun. That thing that's present in the day time, that isn't there in the night?

...You do have day and night in this world, don't you? Don't tell me it's always dark and rainy, that would be utterly depressing.

>>134730
He also said his world is basically an infinite flat plane, or something. The concept of a PLANET confused him. Sure, he might have a sun... and have no idea how you can throw yourself into one.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)19:02 No. 134773 ID: ebea88
File 126654856548.jpg - (211.54KB , 777x777 , 02-22.jpg )

I convince Kitty to stop just outside of the city. She has a change of clothes I can use to disguise myself. People don't need to see us driving into town in a TGC jeep.

The thought I might be immortal - amortal, whatever... it's bothering me. I have to try to think of something else.

>The sun. You know... the sun. That thing that's present in the day time, that isn't there in the night?

That's right. Your universe has crazy round things everywhere in the sky, doesn't it? That must be horrifying, never knowing when they'll fall down. It probably doesn't work that way, but I can't imagine a world like that.

As for our light, it comes from the sky, of course. I don't know the science behind it. All I know is that the sky lights up at day, and dims to almost nothing at night.

>So anyway, just what kind of information are we looking for?
Good question. I wish I had more orders to act on. I was never much of a man to rely on for this sort of thing, although everyone thought I was.

I guess I should concentrate on finding a place to hide this thing. Something like the Vault, except out of the hands of the Coalition? That seems as good an idea as any.

>I wonder if such a being could have children. If so, would they pass along the curse?

Not sure. It doesn't seem like something appropriate to ask a strange woman.

I can't get this amortality thing off of my mind.

"Kitty?"

>"What?"

"How would you know a... digen? A digen if you saw one?"

>"I only know of three, although there are supposed to be more. The one I met was named Reklaw. He made me this way."

"Do you think that he... could have made me, this way? I mean, if I survived that crash, and I look to be in my twenties when I'm - "

"Was he a tall man, with a beard? Wore armor, and a duster off of one side?"

"No. I was talking about the man in the black suit."

"Oh. Then no. At least, it wasn't the one I know. I don't know what the other two look like. Gath and... Caiphas are the other two. Don't know what they look like, or what they do."

I still can't concentrate. The idea of living forever. It bothers a soldier. The thought of outliving my wife and child...

>"This is really bothering you?"

"Yes."

>"There's a way to find out."

A way OTHER than trying to die and seeing if it works?

"You mean dying right? Yeah, thanks I'll pass sweet cheeks."

>>134773
>All I know is that the sky lights up at day, and dims to almost nothing at night.
That would be your moon orbiting this world. Um, a moon is something that orbits a planet. And orbit is... um, well, the best way to describe it is "circling around something."

Obviously the world he lives in is near infinite, and has no celestial bodies. Trying to explain suns and moons and stars would be absolutely futile, not to mention far from conducive to the plot.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)19:29 No. 134817 ID: ebea88
File 12665501671.jpg - (155.50KB , 777x777 , 02-23.jpg )

>A way OTHER than trying to die and seeing if it works?

Yeah, that was my thought.

"You mean being killed?"

>"Ha. That would be a depressing way to find out you were wrong."
>"No, but seriously, just put your hand in mine."

Should I do it? You're the ones that trust this girl. What do you say, voices?

>>134817
Yeah go ahead. I mean, what can she really do to you that she hasn't already had the opportunity to do?

Remember not to use the hand you have us in.

What are you afraid of? Her being able to beat you in thumb-wrestling? DO IT PANSY.

(On a secondary note, we've now been invited to both hold her hand and look at her ass. Weather forecast looks favorable)

>>134783

Enough with the orbs already. He just stated that there is no sun, so clearly it's not your namby pamby Euclidean universe with gravity and planets and stuff. If it was a moon it'd at least look like a glowing disc in the sky. The only way the sky would lighten or darken at an even intensity is if the whole sky were producing light. By what means there's no telling, unless we get up there, look at it closely or something. I'm not eager to fire us at high velocities up into the air.

I am curious if the horizon gets brighter or dimmer during the day compared with the rest of the sky.

Goddamn those fucking tits. And you know what? They'll never sag because of her amortalness.

If you put your hand in mine
Then there isn't no mountain... we can't climb~?

Sure, do it. If she really wanted to do anything crazy like kill you, she'd have done it already.

...Come to think of it, maybe we should like, be quiet for a bit or something. If us coming in contact with a person allows them to hear us, then what if you touching another person lets them hear us?

>>134839
Well, shit I hope she doesn't hear my thoughts.

>>134834
I second this unspoken notion; screw the hand, grab the tits.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)20:09 No. 134925 ID: ebea88
File 126655258394.jpg - (164.44KB , 777x777 , 02-24.jpg )

All right. I'll do it.

This will confirm both what I am, and what she is, if she's being truthful about this Amortality business.

After this is done, it's time to head into Tallwoods, and make our next move.

I offer her my hand. She takes it, gently.

[end of chapter 2] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/18(Thu)20:10 No. 134928 ID: ebea88
File 126655264149.jpg - (210.26KB , 777x777 , 02-25.jpg )

"AAAHHH SON OF A BITCH TO HELL WHY"

"If you're right, that should go back to normal in a few hours."

Hahaaa, saw that coming

"Couldn't you have just scratched me? Something that won't make me half useless and hurt like a GODDAMN ARGH SHITFUCK BITCH MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

>>134928
Well, that was a dick move.

I was honestly half expecting some kind of RESONANCE REACTION or something. Sorry it turned out like that, man.

>>134928
Oh god, sorry man. ...though I personally vote she has earned herself a good old fashion CUNT PUNT for that.

[chapter 2 epilogue] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/02/19(Fri)02:49 No. 135251 ID: 212869
File 126657657062.jpg - (665.71KB , 2195x1700 , 02-epilogue.jpg )

>"Boo hoo, I broke your fingers.
>"Are you done yet?"

>>135251
Get some sticks and a few scraps of cloth and splint your fingers. If you have indeed turned amortal then they should be fine soonish. If not then you need to splint them to make sure they stay somewhat straight.

I admit, I had some fun switching back and forth between the pictures of >>134925 and >>134928 ... It's a wonderful emotional look. (I need that face in FULL frame)