For as far as the horizon stretches to, all that can be observed are the golden dunes of an endless sand sea, each mound smooth and gentle enough that it distracts from the scorching heat the cyan sunlight breathes down. Not a single cloud is present in the blue sky to absorb the heat, leaving it to the grains at the very surface to receive the unfiltered roasting, the only perhaps slightly cooler areas being behind the slopes opposite from the sunlight, cast in distinctly harsh shadows.
On that scalding sand surface scurries a creature, a four-legged reptile resembling a desert horned lizard, its wide feet shuffling the sand in a manner like paddling over a pool. It roams aimlessly a few feet before stopping, its beady black eyes just gaze blankly, the right of which it licks with its long split tongue slipping out of its mouth before retracting in before its white teeth could gleam for a full second. It then continues to wander onward, not seeming to notice that it's being watched from a safe distance behind by another figure, the figure of a man in a wide gus hat that darkens his face in shadows. His left hand remains by his hips, hovering beside his belt where a hilt is tucked around his blue hakama, whereas his right hand is dug inside the brown haori jacket he has on, holding where an inside pocket would be. He stands entirely still like a statue, just staring back at the lizard which licks its left eye before once again pausing, lounging seemingly mindlessly in the open desert. It then turns around, walking a tight semicircle, as its mouth opens, not to lick its eyes but flash its rows of razor sharp teeth, emitting an aggressive hiss.
All the sudden, the lizard charges straight at the man, hissing louder, its gaping mouth revealing its weapon to its prey who's not far taller than it, as in fact the lizard is about the size of a wolf, its mouth large enough to fit the man's entire hand. It races straight at him who takes one step back just as the lizard springs into the air, pouncing with a wide mouth to aim for a bite to the head of the man who then grabs the hilt and pulls it out of its sheath to reveal a tanto-like weapon, though one whose blade isn't solid but instead strangely sports a thin steel frame, but one that then ignites a red plasmic blade that takes on the proper shape, one the man drives into the reptile's underbelly with two swift stabs both in the same spot, the first penetrating the underbelly and the second penetrating the scaly skin on the other side all in time for the lizard's body to land on the man's shoulder.
The man stands upright after the brief duel, the lizard's large corpse now slung over his shoulder as a convenient position to carry, its body still, lifeless so swiftly. The man spins around to scan the surrounding dunes with sharp green eyes, but upon finding no other life in his proximity, he stashes the tanto back in the sheath on his belt and turns around to then begin strolling in the opposite direction from the encounter.
Already at the top of the dune he's currently on, the man drags the lizard towards the opposite edge which oversees the base of that dune leading to a wide open plain populated by a small town of wooden houses and other buildings accompanied with a forest of green pine trees. More vibrant than even them though is the very center of the town, a large oasis shimmering blue, a distinguished mark in an otherwise monocolor land, one that repels the black roots sticking out of the bases of the surrounding dunes, scattered like withered trees, their leafless branches darker than the shadow backsides of the nearby dunes.
At the edge of the town marked by the furthest houses, a pair of boys in yukatas chase each other past the doorway of the house, running along the wooden porch leading to the staircase. Behind them follows the mother, dressed in a white kimono paired with a long brown skirt which she grips with one hand to better her attempts at catching them, but isn't able to before they land at the base of the stairs, the sand surface not as soft as that found on the dunes, providing a tougher, stable natural road. They escape off to the street, leaving the mother at the top of the stairs in defeat, panting heavily, only now able to watch in despair as her boys drift from home all meanwhile another man approaches the house from past the town, climbing down the dunes functioning as the mountains of a valley.
No longer able to take action towards her boys, the mother surrenders and spins around to walk back home, though pauses in her spin upon noticing the man walking down the dune. She steadily strolls to the edge of the porch facing out of the town, observing the man in the gus hat, carrying the large lizard on his shoulder as if it was a bag.
Step by step, the man strolls down the sand that's still a bit soft around the edges of the town, but it at least doesn't exactly sink his feet or require a struggle to trudge through. His leather boots tightened by straps with metal buckles are worn from age, creased, stretched, and faded. They're at least functional, held together and tall enough to avoid sand slipping inside.
Synchronized to every one of those steps, the limp head of the lizard subtly bounces off the man's shoulder before laying back atop it, its split tongue derpily sticking out of the mouth. Its black beady eyes remain open as it did in its final, brief moments, just as wide as the hole straight through its scaly back, the edges of which are charred black, cooled off.
Streets are defined right from the entrance of the town as all the houses at the edge are not only lined up, but spaced evenly to create a row of said streets. They remain clear for a decent distance too as each house and building sit on a grid, as even the desert pine trees are kept off those aisles, most of them next to buildings to embellish the town with spread color.
As the man reaches the entrance to the town, the mother lounging by the edge of her porch hollers over, "Hey, you caught that Devil yourself?"
The man doesn't stop his stroll, though he does turn his head to the woman to then holler back his answer in a voice slightly dry, giving it a slight hoarse effect though at the same time softening it in a way that's almost gentle: "Yes ma'am, there's quite a lot by the outskirts."
After placing both of her arms over the porch railing to lean forward and rest herself, the mother smiles before jesting, "Well, if you can catch something like that yourself, maybe I should ask you to catch my boys. They fast but I'm sure they ain't as fast as one of those."
To that joke, the man smirks and releases a light chuckle, shaking his head at the absurd idea and gently rejecting, "Oh ma'am, I'm sure you don't want me hunting your kids. But if they're anything like one of these, they'll come running to you on their own, you just gotta wait."
A chuckle releases from the mother who shakes her head and doubts playfully, "Oh I don't know about that, one of these days they're going to run out and never come back," as she watches the man reach her house, continuing down the street.
In passing, the man flashes her a smile and empathizes with a nod, "I'd offer help but that's not something even I know the solution to, ma'am. Now you have a nice day."
After the mother's brief parting words, "You too now," he turns his gaze ahead and continues past the house, readjusting his shoulder to keep the lizard propped up stably.
Walking down the street, the man carrying the dead lizard passes other folk whether it be children or adults, families of them ambling about though some of them steer a safe distance from the man in fright of the lizard. A couple kids point at the lizard but their parents yank them away, and a trio of teenage boys whisper to each other while staring down the man, snickering. They're all dressed in casual yukatas, kimonos, and hakamas though most don't wear extra layers of jackets. Almost all of them wear gus hats to combat the constant heat, most of them a shade of brown but there's a few colored blue and olive green.
On both sides of the streets are the buildings composing the town, many of them designed like older western architecture: long flat boards atop the porches, predominant use of wood as the external material though at least many buildings are painted with colors more vibrant such as reds and greens. Townspeople enter and exit some of these buildings, some who exit the building carrying bags which indicate those establishments to be stores. A few of the folk leaving stores notice the man passing down the street with the lizard on his shoulder, enamored by the size of the corpse. Pairs mutter to each other with smiles before continuing on with their day, finding short amusement from the sight.
Winds still do reach the town at least, picking up grains of sand in the road, playing with the pine leaves of the tree. The stronger gusts even manage to slightly sway the branches, powerful enough that many of the townsfolk feel compelled to hold the crown of the hat down to keep it in place, as an unkeen few lose their hats to the current, forcing them to have to turn around and chase after it frantically. The man with the lizard is at least quick enough to hold onto his own hat, his pace unobstructed by the wind, continuing to walk ahead as children run past him to chase their loose articles.
After enough trekking through roads of the same width, the man reaches an opening that leads into a wider plaza of sorts, and at the far end of the plaza past its railings is the vast oasis past the shore, the area of the town most open for there's no land built atop it, allowing perfect viewing of the rest of the town's center where other plazas can be seen among buildings that all are built around the blue core. This very plaza being entered is open too, a rectangular plot where all the solid buildings remain on the perimeter to allow a mass of people to roam freely. The rectangle isn't entirely clear of structures however, as there's tables and tents scattered all over the area, booths where people can purchase bags of vegetables and other goods: a marketplace. There's a tent over a long table propping up stacks of folded clothing that women pick out, inspecting each article keenly to determine their purchases. A woman slips into a red haori she picked up from the table to be judged by her friend, which the man entering the marketplace observes while adjusting his shoulder to again prop the lizard up in a more comfortable position. He passes that booth, his destination elsewhere.
Under a different tent, a man dressed in an apron over his yukata grabs a bag of sliced red meat and hands it over his flat table, allowing a man to pick it up on the other side, just another customer dressed in a hakama. The customer grabs the bag and thanks, "Good day," before turning and leaving the booth, allowing the next in line to step forth to the booth, that being the man lugging the giant lizard on his shoulder, who immediately upon stepping in the tent rolls the lizard off himself and onto the table to which the man in the apron stumbles back and exclaims, "Hey hey what the hell are you doing, is that Devil alive??"
Raising an eyebrow, the man shakes his head and places his hand next to the burnt hole in the back to disprove, "Of course not, I assume this is a butcher, not a pet shop. I don't need the whole Devil, just enough for a few meals for two."
Staring at the whole lizard corpse, the butcher scoffs before explaining, "You know I already have meat to sell, I don't need customers bringing me them. I already have a hunter for that."
Tilting his head in puzzlement, the man reflects for a moment before recalling, "Oh wait, I think I ran into that kid, so that's your associate? I'd recommend finding another, he was just chasing after the little ones, and struggling at that. I don't know how he hasn't had his arm bitten off yet, it's just a matter of time."
The butcher glares at the man and reprimands angrily, "Hey, that's my son you're talking about man, don't talk ill of my family."
The man, shocked by the reveal, straightens his neck and eases, "Woah now didn't know that, I'm sorry. But I'd say you best give him some hunting lessons, especially sending him out like that. I think there's a sandstorm coming our way later too, I hope he's aware of that, there's no seeing in them. Anyways, you going to cut the meat or should I find a knife shop?"
After an irritated chuff, the butcher reaches for a shelf under his table to pull out a butcher's knife, the handle wooden connected to a strange frame of a blade, only a thin metal rectangle, though –like the tanto– off that rectangle emits a full plasmic blade, its luminescence reflecting off the table and apron as he accepts, "Okay okay, I'll cut it up for you. You got a big one, I'll give you that, gonna be a bit harder to get through the hide but I'll manage."
He then begins to trace over the lizard with the edge of the knife, leading it along the neck before he then suddenly raises the knife and swings it down, chopping straight through the neck, perfectly cutting through the body and stopping the knife before it can cut through the table.
Watching the butcher get to work, meticulously examining the body before making another clean cut at the thigh, the man folds his arms over his shoulder and asks, "So, what's your name? If this turns out good, I'll probably be seeing you a whole lot."
After another clean cut to separate the last leg of the body, the butcher breathes a sigh before facing up at the man to answer, "Name's Tolger, and yours? I don't think I've seen your face around here much."
The man pats down his shoulder briefly while greeting, "Jahl, we just got here a couple days back."
Shock glimmers in Tolger's eyes as he props the limbless body up, standing it up on its butt, and with a smile he exclaims, "Oh wait, you're that new guy, came here with your daughter right? I've heard some about you, I tell you what though you're probably the strangest refugee we've gotten."
As Tolger hovers the knife over the neck and gently cuts into the surface of the body before dragging down, peeling the hide off the skin with immaculate precision, he watches Jahl chuckle and shake his head before correcting, "She's not my daughter, just someone I picked up on the way."
Smooth as butter, the red plasma edge of the hollow blade peels the lizard's hard brown hide, which folds out like a banana's peel, revealing the tender fair meat underneath. At the same time, Tolger understands, "Ah got it, you'll probably need to explain that to anyone in the market you talk to then."
After tracing the knife all the way to the butt, the butcher gently rotates the knife, fully separating that strip of hide which rolls off the body whole, revealing that strip of meat to be completely clean, leaving the hide on the table. Like clockwork, he rotates the body to have more hide facing up, raises his knife to the neck, and begins peeling another strip of hide off while appending, "I will say, I haven't seen or heard of her after y'all came in. My son's been meaning to talk to her but hasn't had the chance. She just getting a hell lot of sleep or something?"
Jahl shakes his head as he unfolds his arms after which he sighs and explains, "She's not asleep, hell she's hardly been sleeping. She stays cooped up in the place we're staying in, refuses to go outside, trust me I tried. She was too sociable on the way here, so I'm not sure what's with the lock. Maybe she's shy."
Running the blade down to the bottom of the lizard with greater speed now that he's done the process once, the butcher more rapidly strips the hide off the lizard, widening the first strip he made as this second one was perfectly lined up with it. He rotates the body again and meticulously continues the process, lining up again with the last cut while offering, "Ah I see, that's not all too uncommon here, we get some people need time to adjust, have a lot on their minds and all. We've seen a better uptick in attitude these last days after that whole broadcast, one hell of a stunt that. But like I said, my son's been wanting to see her, maybe let him show her around town and she'll get more comfortable?"
After rotating the body upon a clean cut, over half of the body's hide peeled off, the butcher pauses to eagerly watch Jahl's contemplation, frowning in deep meditation, again crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes dart to the ground and sharpen, until eventually returning to Tolger to decide, "Like I said I ran into him earlier, I'd say maybe let's put some time before that. Take him on some hunting lessons or something, she's more hard-skinned than you think. I don't think it'd go so well if he tries now."
Staring at Jahl in a frowning pause, Tolger chuffs and gruffs before spinning the body and starting another cut, clearly disappointed with resentment in his voice as he mutters, "Sure you ain't her dad? Like I said, I don't favor your insults towards my boy, he's a fine man in the making."
Jahl huffs through his nose while watching the butcher continue to scrape off the final strip of hide, and as he does so he offers, "I mean hey, I'll give him some lessons if you want, I'll let you tag along so you don't think I'm stealing him."
Running his blade down that final strip of protective armor cleanly, Tolger raises his head to Jahl and tilts it before prodding curiously, "How do you know so much about hunting anyways? Were you one from where you were from?"
Upon completing that final peeling, Tolger tilts the knife to push the skin into the table, leaving behind a pristine block of meat standing up. He then places it on its side gently, making sure not to pressure too hard and squish the specimen.
Jahl again ponders in silence as Tolger begins to chop the body up into chunks, first making quick vertical cuts down the body, the blade effortlessly slicing through the skin, tissue, bones, and all else inside the body that once drove the creature that had tried to fight, the very muscle used to prey now being prepared for consumption for its predator. Jahl sways his head from side to side and hesitantly answers, "I…guess you could say that."
After completing a row of vertical cuts, Tolger begins horizontally chopping the lizard to separate whole chunks of meat, each chunk nearly the exact same size. He dices the game up while guessing, "Devils too? Or you from out of the desert? What they got out there, bulls and whatnot?"
"Men," Jahl simply answers, to which Tolger immediately pauses the cutting.
For a moment the butcher remains locked, utterly stunned by the unforeseen answer, though he musters the courage to raise his head back up to meet the eyes of the hunter. He stares at the man for a few moments as if inspecting him off his eyes, though ultimately concludes with a light chuckle and remark, "Well guess that's as far as I'm prodding today," before he then resumes chopping up the lizard as he was.
Understanding the awkwardness of the subject, Jahl sighs and mutters defensively, "The pay was good, but uh…yeah." His words trail off upon recognizing the pointlessness of that defense, and he takes a deep breath to reset himself, upon which he finds the body fully chopped up into chunks, the last cut made before his eyes before the knife is returned to the shelf under the table.
Tolger grabs a bag from under the table and stretches it wide before facing Jahl and asking formally, as though the last exchange flew over his head, "How much would you like?"
At first caught off guard by the innocence of the question before then understanding it to be a passage to move forward, Jahl nods and requests, "Three pounds should be good for a while, thank you. The rest is yours."
Now Tolger is the one caught off guard by the answer, though he straightens himself before trying to calculate, "Got it…okay so three pounds of Devil meat…that should add up to I'd say nine credits, you using physical or transfer?"
Jahl just stares at him in bafflement at first however, his eyebrow raised before proposing, "First off I hope you're only charging me for your service of cutting the meat, not the gathering. Second, if I'm selling you most of the meat, surely it'd be best if you just subtract my pounds from the amount you'd pay for this."
Surprised by the assertion, Tolger crosses his arms over his apron and recognizes, "Oh wait, you're trying to sell this to me aren't you? Like I said, I have a hunter, I don't need this."
Jahl sighs to what appears to be a decline, and he huffs before determining, "Then give me the three and I'll seek another buyer for next time, feel free to sell the rest and figure how to keep up those raised expectations."
Chuffing at the escalating attitude, Tolger raises his left hand up, and before his palm projects a flat yellow screen as he surrenders, "Okay fine fine, I'll transfer you the credits, I guess for a weight like this, it'd be something like seventy credits."
Glaring back at the butcher, Jahl contends sharply, "Hell you mean seventy, that right there is at least ninety pounds, should be double that."
Grumbling from the aggressive negotiation, Tolger glares down at Jahl but ultimately groans and glances at his holographic screen before one more submitting, "Okay fine, one thirty five, sent. You're really an asshole, you know that."
The screen vanishes and he slides the arm back to the table before beginning to slide a few chunks of meat in the bag he had already brought out. After dropping in about six, he hands the bag over the table to Jahl who smirks and picks up the bag while thanking, "Pleasure doing business with you, gentleman."
Tolger huffs but can't help smirking, prompting him to nudge his head and shoo, "Get out of here, I got this mess to clean up now."
Jahl flashes a smile and shakes his head, abiding the man's request as he brings the bag to his side, turns around, and begins strolling off away from the tent. He ambles a few feet away, though he glances back to remark, "Let me know when you want those lessons for your boy." Without even waiting for a response, he turns his head forward and continues his walk away.
Tolger huffs at the snide, but can't help smiling at the interaction. He shakes his head to himself before glancing down at the huge pile of meat on the table, though his attention is then raised to another customer who approaches the tent, a few bags already held in her arms, rocking next to her long skirt.
Without other chores left in the marketplace, Jahl carries the bag of cut meat that he had taken in exchange for the whole lizard, exiting the plaza on the right side of the street to allow the other townspeople to enter the marketplace on the left, no longer shooting strange glances at him as he's blended into typicality, carrying the same type of bag countless others do around him.
While there aren't vehicles driving on the roads, the density of the pedestrian crowd amounts to traffic on its own, streets split in half for opposite flows, each half running multiple lanes of people, the main distinction from typical traffic being the mess of those lanes as they meld together and spread apart.
They do at least reach intersections where two streets converge, yet rather than waiting patiently at the edge, both networks cross concurrently, weaving through each other. Some of the pedestrians bump into each other, banging against Jahl's shoulders to which he presses the bag against himself to further protect it. His grip on the handles clench, and he pivots to lead with his shoulder, pushing through the crowd with gentle force, nudging those in the intersecting street to separate for him to thread through.
Further from the busy chaos of the town's central plots, the streets are not so densely populated, pedestrians scattered, easier to navigate around. Some do carry bags like Jahl, but many more roam without such indication of chores, a few being those same boys chasing each other down a street intersecting the one Jahl's approaching, gracing him only with time to notice the boys before he'd be able to take any action to catch them.
He doesn't even attempt to, but instead finds amusement in the sight similar to the other pedestrians in the crossroads, a few being women who share a secondhand pain realizing those boys must've escaped far from home. They just mutter to each other though without trying to reach the boys, keeping to their own schedules like Jahl who continues his path through the intersection as the street he walks down is sandwiched between rows of houses like the ones from the outskirts, well past the businesses.
Lugging the bag of meat, at least not as heavy or cumbersome to carry as the whole creature, Jahl strolls down the residential zone where few pedestrians accompany or pass him, less than earlier. It's not long before he departs the streets too, as upon reaching one house in particular he turns towards the staircase leading up the porch which he climbs, the wooden steps creaking under each step. At the top is the porch itself, a little shorter than the one in the outskirts, nonetheless he ambles to the solid wooden door, and as he nearly reaches the door it then vaporizes into a cloud of particles that fizzle out, letting him step up in through the door frame as a breeze drives into the street.
He stops one step through the doorway upon feeling a touch of sand grace his back, picked up from the winds to which he glances back, staring at the street in a silent pause. He watches a brief yellow fog rise from the sand road before it disperses upon the wind's death, leaving him to turn back into the house and stroll inside with a sigh.
Past the doorway, which after Jahl's entrance secretes clouds that solidify the door once more behind him, he's greeted by a short corridor, the floors and walls all made of wood. Only a few steps deep and the corridor opens up to the left, revealing a spacious living room with a few leather couches accompanied by a few wooden tables, all of which hover over the ground without solid legs, including a wider coffee table that the couches surround. He ignores the lobby corridor which continues on to a closed doorway, instead wandering in the living room with the bag still in hand, inspecting the wooden walls where windows allow him a glimpse of the neighboring houses.
His attention diverts to the open doorway in the other end of the room, leading him to another pretty spacious room, this one not as large nor open as it features a large table in the center of five chairs, seeming to most likely serve for dining. At the far end is another open doorway which he approaches, passing a closed door on the left wall of the dining room.
Past the doorway he's focused on is a corridor more narrow, one with two closed doors directly across each other. Another door on the left is passed near the end of that corridor, for the hallway then opens up into a kitchen room identified by the pots and pans lying around the various tables and counters. There aren't any more open doorways as this appears to be the end of the house, only leaving a window to peer into the backyard, a short plot of bare land dividing them from the house across.
He glances around the kitchen as he drops the bag of meat on the counter beside him, a perplexed expression stuck on his face, his eyebrow raised as if left absent of something.
That's when he suddenly hears a spark behind him followed by a young feminine shriek, horror engulfing him, prompting him to spin and sprint straight down through the corridor.
At the other end, Jahl races back into the dining room and up to the closed door where that shriek had blared from, triggering that door to automatically dematerialize into a cloud that he races straight through, entering a far smaller room compared to the rest with a twin-sized bed at the far end –a mattress mounted on a hovering wooden frame–, behind which is a window displaying the house across, and beside the bed is a wooden wardrobe cabinet. Across that cabinet is a wooden desk accompanied by a chair where sits the familiar teenage girl dressed in that same red hakama under the white skirt, who spins towards the door and shrieks even louder upon noticing the intruder, instinctively reaching for the hilt of the long sword whose blade is also a thin frame though the shape and length best resembles a katana, triggering Jahl to throw his hands up and shout, "ALLY WAIT!!"
Startled by the pleading cry, the teenage girl identified as Ally raises both of her free hands too, leaving the sword and shouting back: "WHY ARE YOU JUST BUSTING THROUGH THE DOOR??"
Standing in the doorway, nearly risking being cut on sight, Jahl takes a deep breath and places his hand over his chest before answering, "I thought I heard something happen, so I-," though his voice quickly trails off as his gaze does to the desk where his sword sits. While it is very clearly his sword by glancing at the hilt, he's shocked to find it separated from the frame, the hilt itself disassembled into multiple sections with the guard removed same as the pommel; inside the opened hilt are smaller cylinders spread over the table, scrambled among small hexagonal plates colored starkly different many of which are lined up together in patterns sitting out and encased in other components like the inner casing of the hilt's inner cylinders. In the center of the table closest to her is a small cylinder built with a silver frame over a transparent case that exposes a bright cyan luminescent core which radiates over the table, connected to a pattern of hexagonal nodes.
Staring at the disassembled katana in an utterly defeated stance, Jahl slowly places both hands over his temples as though falling into insanity to which Ally quickly raises her hand over the battery on the table in a wholly useless attempt to conceal the mess as she clarifies anxiously, "Wait, before you ask, yes I know how to put it back together and I can do it on my own!"
Stumbling forwards in a miserable march aimlessly roaming in the bedroom, Jahl groans and mentions in woe, "That was a present my daughter gave me for my birthday last year, it's not a science toy."
Ally throws her hands in the air and questions, "Wha- I'd just get my dad a belt or something, what kind of birthday present is a kata-," before her tone immediately becomes apologetic, "I mean no sorry I'll have it put back together and working later, I promise. It's just that I was trying to follow the guides for the whole purifying power thing and the tanto has everything so crammed together it's impossible to mod so…I just figured this would be easier ...."
Leaning against the wardrobe which creaks on impact, Jahl slides his hands over his mouth which muffles his groans before those hands slide off his face after which he suspects, "You took my sword apart all for that..? How do you even know if it'd actually work or not? Or if it's safe to fire something like that? I mean how specific are those documents anyways, I mean were you taking any of these into account? Some guy tells everyone he has the secret to killing the unkillable and you just take it as gospel?"
"He's not 'some guy' Jahl, you know this!" Ally argues back defensively, throwing her arms down.
"I don't care, if God told me the same thing I still would think twice about breaking everything I have just to try following him," Jahl asserts back, his voice raised in a manner almost scolding, enough that Ally reels back against her chair in a defeated frown.
Aware of his own belligerence, Jahl frowns and sighs, crossing his arms over his chest and broaching in a calmer voice, "So you've been holed up in this room all day? You'd best get out some, see the town, the breeze by the middle is real easing. The people here aren't too bad either, I was talking to the butcher and he said his son wanted to hang with you, you could do with a friend around here seeing as we'll be resting for a while."
Despite having just fallen into a somber mood, Ally is triggered again as she raises her head back up at Jahl to argue enraged, "Huh?! You were talking to that creep's dad?? I remember him when we got here, god no don't make me talk to him, I'd rather blow this battery up on my face!"
Despite having just adjusted to a mellow mood, Jahl is triggered again as he raises his hand up at Ally to assert sternly, "That's my battery, you best not be blowing that up anywhere!"
Throwing both of her hands in the air, Ally expressively reasons: "But he's so weird, even in the little bit I saw him he just looked so desperate and clingy, I'm sure he's not just wanting to talk to be friends! Why do you know his dad? That's weird, if you try to force me to go anywhere with them I'll run out of this town!"
Placing his hand over his forehead which he leans back with a lengthy groan, Jahl recoils back upon the extreme threat, placing the back of his head against the wardrobe.
His hand slips down his face with a sigh, muttering under his breath as his hand glides over it, "If kids were like this back when I was one, I don't think I'd ever have had a wife."
Once the hand slips off his face, he again balances his mood back to a calmer state with a head shake to then mention, "You know, I think it'd be best you have your own hat, maybe get some boots that aren't on the verge of ripping apart. The market here's got plenty, and there's a lot all around the lake."
Finding the atmosphere gentler, Ally loosens up and spins her chair back to face the desk, sliding up to it to begin inspecting the chain of nodes linked to the battery as her other hand picks up a tool resembling pliers while she nonchalantly figures, "Well I guess next time you're there talking to that creep's dad, you can pick some up."
Behind her, Jahl breathes a heavy sigh and crosses his arms over his chest before acknowledging, "I know that whatever I get, you'll find some problem with. Like the color, or some pattern, or I don't know, you'll find something."
"Oh come on, I'm not picky," refutes Ally while plucking off a few of the colored hexagonal chips at the edge of the chain with the pliers, which pull off as if bounded by a magnetic force that she can simply rip apart, placing those removed chips in a pile beside the battery all as Jahl then reminds, "You wouldn't stop complaining about the hat's brim during that whole walk."
After placing the battery back down, Ally picks up a small device resembling a soldering iron without a cable which illuminates a small green dot light, and she presses it against the edge of the hexagonal node at the end of the chain, causing that entire node to illuminate as a green screen projects in front of Ally containing a list of text constantly fluctuating. Her eyes sharpen to focus on the screen, causing the text to continue fluctuating, though she does still leave focus for the conversation, huffing and then justifying, "Well yeah, it was too big, but that's because it's the wrong size."
Jahl shakes his head and recalls sternly, "And you kept talking about the material being too suffocating or whatever that means for a hat. Pick something out yourself, here I'll lend you the credits, we're doing pretty good with them anyways."
Ally chuffs as she pulls the iron tool away from that node –which causes the holographic screen to vanish–, placing it on the table before picking up the pliers which she uses to grab one of the chips from the pile she left on the table, raising it to the edge of the last node in the chain to then connect the two by what looks like a magnetic attraction binding the two automatically. She then continues to grab another node and connect it to the thread in a careful sequence, reassembling the remainder of the chain before sneering, "What, were you bounty boarding in the morning?"
Jahl disapprovingly shakes his low head and huffs before muttering to himself, "I shouldn't have let you dig that out of me." He then raises his head back to Ally and advocates, "Anyhow, go to the market and pick something up yourself, just be back before dark. I don't know how safe the nights here are yet."
After attaching the last node to the chain, Ally dangles the battery up as she places the pliers down to pick up one half of the hilt's body –the component directly attached to the guard– where she carefully slips the chain inside the inner walls of the chassis until she's able to slide the entire battery chamber inside the chassis with a satisfying click, all of which she does while huffing but ultimately agreeing, "Okay fine, let me know when you're ready to go, I guess I'm basically done now. See, it wasn't that bad now was it?"
Jahl raises his head to the ceiling and slips his arms back to his side before revealing, "Actually, I figured you could go on your own. I'll lend you the credits but I spent all I got and needa charge, might take a nap on the sofa or something. Besides, I'll just slow you down, I trust you'll keep yourself safe," spoken while Ally slips the smaller cylinders inside the hilt from the pommel side before attaching the pommel back which attaches magnetically, yet she stops right there.
Instantly after Jahl's finished his proposition, Ally spins her chair to face him and bewilderedly pleads, "Wait what, why aren't you coming? Come on, you're making me go myself? You kicking me out of the house or something?"
A sigh is breathed from Jahl and he shakes his head, finally stepping off of the wardrobe, straightening his posture. He rolls his shoulders, massaging his left one with his right hand as it seems that there's still some residual stress after the haul earlier, and while massaging it he begins to amble towards the open doorway as he remarks, "I figured you'd be over our moon for freedom, I really don't get you. Go explore the town, meet some people, make some friends, burn some credits. As long as you don't come back bruised or with a boy, you can do whatever you want," and with that he exits the room, leaving Ally to sigh and hang her head low, clearly not extremely motivated with the glorified errand.
She leans back against her chair which reclines slightly, letting her temporarily rest with her hands on her forehead, exhausted despite having not stepped one foot outside all day. She groans to herself, though given that the door remains open in addition to her volume, it likely can be heard throughout the floor.
Entering the open living room past the dining room, Jahl saunters over to one of the couches along the wall facing the entrance corridor, dropping his hand from his shoulder upon threading between the couch and table in front. The couch he stops at has three cushions, long enough for three people to be seated side by side, or as Jahl climbs onto the middle cushion and swings his legs over the adjacent cushion, long enough for one person to lay on it. His boots sit on the arm rest at the end of the sofa, just long enough for him to lay his head against the armrest on the other side, keeping his arms over his torso since the couch is unfortunately rather narrow as a bed.
While Jahl shifts to adjust his position for maximum comfort, he pauses upon watching Ally depart her room, pacing up the dining room into the living room, walking up to the other side of the coffee table next to the couch Jahl has made his bed.
Ally pauses on the other side of the table to briefly face Jahl and survey, "Is there anything you need from there?"
Scooching down to find a better angle of contact between his head and the arm rest, Jahl ponders the opportunity for a moment with a scrunched forehead, though ultimately softly smiles with the answer, "Long as you get yourself what you need, I'm good. Have everything I need right here."
Ally nods and snarks, "Well then don't expect me to bring you anything," before she spins to face the entrance corridor which she approaches, exiting the living room and vanishing from Jahl's view behind the wall. A few moments later, he can hear the whoosh of a door's dematerialization, followed by a few footsteps, followed by the whoosh of a door's materialization, then followed by pure silence all but for his gentle breaths.
Jahl holds his gaze towards the door behind the wall for a few more moments, prepared for a quick drop by to grab anything forgotten, yet as more moments pass in silence, it's safe to assume that no such drop in will occur. He sighs and picks up his gus hat before readjusting himself, mainly his neck and head to face the ceiling, scooching down more until he's no longer supporting his head on the arm rest but rather having it laid fully straight on the cushion even at the expense of leg room, requiring him to hang his knees over the far armrest, letting his boots rest just at the other edge.
After finding a comfortable position, Jahl yawns, stretching his muscles as it's a great yawn pent up, as despite it only being the afternoon he's still had a long day. His face relaxes after the yawn and his eyes slowly begin to wane and shut as he places the hat back on himself, not atop his head for it'd no longer be feasible, but instead over his face, using the hat like a sleeping mask as it covers his eyes, allowing him to drift off into a nap.
All that can be observed for as far as the horizon stretches is the endless sand sea composed of golden dunes, mounds gentle enough that it distracts from the stifling heat the afternoon sunlight blasts down. Only a few sparse clouds absorb the heat in the majorly clear sky, beaming that heat down on the fine grains of sand, no shade in the open desert as the only areas slightly cooler would be the slopes behind the sunlight, dark in shadow.
Scurrying on that sizzling sand surface is a four-legged reptile resembling a desert-horned lizard, paddling through the dunes, wandering aimlessly. It pauses momentarily to lick its dull beady black eyes with its long split tongue, its white teeth gleaming for a moment until the mouth closes. It continues to roam ahead, though it suddenly circles around upon noticing another figure approaching it, the figure of a teenage boy about sixteen years of age from a glance, his face cast in shadow under a gus hat a bit oversized for himself, though the face is just visible enough to discern a bandana covering most of his face but his eyes. He's dressed in a bright red yukata, the sleeves long leading to his hands which tightly grip a knife with a plasmic red blade emitting off its frame, resting down in front of his skirt which is a little oversized, reaching the sand. He slowly creeps towards the lizard, one foot after another, trying to move as quietly as he can yet he's already become the subject of the view of the creature which licks its right eye but keeps its mouth open, letting its tongue hang between the rows of sharp teeth, hissing in a hostile tone.
At once, the lizard begins to charge straight for the teenager who raises his knife up, but strangely enough the lizard runs another circle and races away from the boy, fleeing in a state of panic without the boy having even made a single swing. He just watches the lizard run off, readjusting his grip upside down and raising it to aim a throw, though its chaotic movements make it difficult to get a solid lock, combined with the boy's shaky arms, struggling to keep the weapon still.
After the lizard runs too far for him to reasonably hope to land a strike, the teenager lowers his arms, clearing his head which is when he focuses on a strange whistling sound from behind him, the song of heavy winds in an arid land. Puzzled, the teenager turns around to face the source of the whistle, which is where he finds that charging straight for him down the golden sea is a horrifically tall tsunami that consumes all the dunes in its path: a sandstorm heading straight for him.
At once, the teenager spins away and begins sprinting, his arms rocking back and forth, clinging to his knife with his right hand, his boots trying to spring off the sand with every step as that soft sand tries to pull him in, causing him to stumble in his steps. He huffs loud enough for it to be heard through the bandana, now the prey to flee the predator, but this one chases him relentlessly, its aim absolute for it consumes all, a boundless border shaving the land. Running on uneven ground sinking him in, and retreating from an enemy that moves with the speed of the wind, he begins to run down the slope of the dune at the edge of the town, as he hadn't drifted too far from home, for he can still perfectly glance at the bright blue oasis in the center.
Running down the slope however incites new challenges as controlling his balance grows more difficult when the force of gravity is trying to shove him on his face. So despite his best attempts at outrunning the tsunami, he's caught by the wave, consuming him in its cavernous mouth covered in a thick yellow fog completely obscuring his environment: the sky, the dunes, he can't even scan the ground a few feet past him before it blends with the haze. Trying to observe his environment leads to however a far worse state as the sand blasts into his unprotected eyes, blinding him as he shuts them hastily, unable to open them back up without letting more sand enter through.
Stuck with his eyes shut, the teenager attempts to continue his retreat back home, running straight forward down the dune without being able to judge the surface he sprints on. But as he tries to run forward, another problem presents itself: the current of the storm itself. For that whistling is the engine of the storm racing forward, pushing all the sand at that charging speed, the sand that pushes against the boy's back, beating him constantly.