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 Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:05 am
The world was on the move. Ace Widesky could feel the change in the air with every fiber of his being. He had a nose for these kinds of things, after all. If something big was about to happen, he would be there. He would get the story first and foremost.
But right now wasn't the time to travel. Ace had been traveling all day, and he was, excuse the pun, dog tired. The Trentian Wastes were as good as anywhere to set up camp, if you knew the right places, and Ace knew the right places. He found a little oasis surrounded by scrubland and set up his tent for the night. It was getting cold, which was not totally unusual for the wastes after sunset, so he built up a fire. This, too, was standard procedure. He'd been lucky earlier and trapped a rabbit, so he set that on to cook now.
He settled in to warm himself by the fire and wait for his dinner to be ready. Under the crackle of the flames, he thought he heard the snapping of twigs. Ace looked up and peered into the gathering night, wishing his dark vision was better. He thought he saw a figure approaching, thought he smelled a familiar scent.
"Is that you, Writ Cambell, you yellow-eyed son of a b***h?" he called.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:52 pm
It was beginning to get dark when Writ finished up setting up his tepee. It was a small affair, three or four rods holding up a weather worn canvas adorned with an equally beaten hide of a large dog. If you asked him about it, Writ would tell you it was a god that, with an offering, would provide good luck to those superstitious types willing to part with a few coins.
Course, that wasn't really that god's purpose. Though Writ couldn't say that his deity wouldn't be pleased of what he was doing. Didn't matter much. Seemed to him that people didn't care much for gods anymore. With all the technology literately flying around, he found himself to be a sort of rarity of the land. He rarely found his own kind- most of them were scattered across the wastes, nomads like himself. Wanderers with nothing but the wind behind their back and the spirits by their side.
Not to say that they didn't cheat every once in a while. Writ clicked open a lighter and lit his pipe. He had found the nifty little firestarter at market, and it seemed like a good alternative to cracking two rocks together and praying for a spark. Inside his tepee there were a few other gadgets that had caught his eye during his travels. Shiny dohickies and miniature gizmos could be found in his pack, some with a purpose, others there for his amusement.
Writ wandered away from his camp with his pipe in his mouth. The nomadic life was a lonely life, and he was hunting for company. Sometimes he would run into the occasional trade caravan or wayward traveler, but this time he would run into-
"Ace! You cocky b*****d" Writ's dark vision was a lot better than his friend, "what are you doing here?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:45 am
So it was Writ Cambell. Ace couldn't say he wasn't pleased. He invited the coyote man to sit by his fire, mostly so he could get a better look at him. Writ had varying degrees of scruffy depending on how long he had been out in the bush. So did Ace. So did everyone in their profession.
"Just following the winds," he nodded. A part of him wanted to ask Writ for some of whatever he was smoking. Another part of him knew it was probably way stronger and far stranger than anything he had ever tried before and would make him hallucinate like no one's business.
"There are some strange ones blowing," he added, turning the rabbit on its makeshift rotisserie. It ought to be almost done by now. "Have you heard any news from north of here in your travels?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:20 am
"All I've heard were rumors." Writ took a puff of his pipe, "It's a whole new world up north." He pulled himself closer to the fire, it was beginning to get cold.
"There's blue people, and people with fur like us, except some of them aren't like us." He rolled his eyes as if he was trying to find something in his brain, "Like, they don't have fur, but then I guess then they wouldn't be like us... But there are people like us." Writ was beginning to confuse himself. He pulled one of his ears and shook his head back and forth as if it would straighten everything out.
He said, "I've heard so many stories about the place I'm getting confused." Writ took the pipe out of his mouth, "So I'm going to see it for myself."
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:34 pm
"So it's true that someone's gone and blasted a hole in the mountains?" asked Ace, smiling lazily. "I was on my way up there to see for myself."
He prodded the rabbit a bit more, then pulled it from the fire and held it out to cool a bit.
"People like us, huh?" he asked. Well, who was to say there weren't aliens with their faces out there somewhere in the sky. Maybe this whole scene was playing out over and over on countless planets into infinity. Ace didn't know. He was a scout, not an astronomer.
He pulled a leg off the hunk of rabbit meat for himself, and then waved the stick at Writ. "You want any of this?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:26 am
"The stories wouldn't be flooding out if it hasn't." Writ said, grabbing the stick and getting his claws into a piece of meat. He popped the bit of bunny in his mouth.
"So you're headed there too, eh?" Writ chewed, "Looks like you could use some company." He scratched the back of his ear, "Isn't wise to go all alone if you ask me."
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:59 pm
"I've been wandering around the bush all by my lonesome for years, and I'm doing just fine, aren't I?" asked Ace, shooting Writ a questioning look.
He took the rabbit back and ripped off another piece. He chewed it thoughtfully. "What's the worst there could be?" he asked, licking his fingers. He prodded the fire with a stick. "I've handled bandits before. I figure there's not anywhere on the world rougher than the Trentian Wastes."
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:23 pm
"All I'm saying is there's nothing like a familiar face in a different place." Writ shrugged, then gave Ace a grin, "Or are you still hung up on what I did to you that one time? I had to do what I had to do out there. Wasn't anything personal, you understand." Writ picked out a bit of meat from his teeth with a claw.
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:33 pm
"Yeah," replied Ace grimly. "Because you sleeping with my sister was totally necessary. Yeah. She asks about you every time I go home - have you seen Writ? How's Writ doing? You'd think you'd asked her to marry her and have your puppies, they way she fawns over you."
He made a short barking sound as punctuation and stripped another piece of meat off the rabbit. He chewed it thoughtfully and handed it back to Writ.
"I guess we can head north together," he shrugged. "Never know when you might encounter hostile natives - I could always use you as a buffer."
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:22 pm
"The life of a nomad is a lonely one indeed." Writ laughed, "Though I'm not the type to go settle down with a family. But you already knew that."
Writ changed the subject quickly as soon as Ace made up his mind, "Great!" He didn't know what "Buffer" meant, but he was still happy for the company, "So we start tomorow?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:23 pm
"I don't see why the hell not," shrugged Ace. "Sure. We'll leave as soon as it's light to see. If we start too late in the day, we won't get anywhere." But he figured Writ knew why, so he didn't bore him with a science lecture.
He leaned forward and stared into the fire hungrily. He wanted to get to the scene of the action before the hoi poloi mobbed the place. After all, he was Ace Widesky. If he hadn't heard about it, it wasn't news worth knowing.
"Yeah, we'll leave first thing."
He stirred the fire with a stick and looked over at Writ. "Hey, bum, I shared my food with you - you got anything good to share with me?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:03 pm
Writ held his chin and thought for a moment. After a bit he produced a small leather satchel from the depths of his poncho. It had a damp, organic scent to it. Like dirt. Tied on top of it was a spare pipe.
Writ looked up to the sky, "I had a vision the other day with this." He recalled, "There was a city, between the dessert and the sea, with fur-less people everywhere, but there were others, who were different, with feathers and gills and all sorts of crazy things that didn't belong to the fur-less, and they fought one another in that city with voices in their heads..." He was beginning to trail off, "and I was there! But different... somehow..." Writ trailed off again, spacing out in his memories.
It took a bit before Writ snapped back to reality, "So how about a little enlightenment?" He tossed the pouch to Ace, "I found this little plant at a caravan the other day. It's good stuff. Insights of the gods in one little bag."
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:51 pm
Ace caught the pouch and untied it. He balanced the pipe in his mouth and loaded it with a pinch of whatever it was Writ had just offered him. "And they sell that in caravans?" he asked, the pipe clenched between his teeth. He reached behind him to rummage around in his pack, and brought out a small crystalline fire starter.
"Never mind," he said, and lit the pipe. He inhaled and blinked a few times, feeling lightheaded.
"Good stuff," he agreed.
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