Jonnie ⚜ Merritt (angryjonnie) wrote in thegalaxy, @ 2016-01-29 15:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | !locale: naboo, dee |
deep within the endless void
Who: Dee and OPEN
What: Dee arrives.
When: morning
Where: the village market
Rating: PG [for now]
Dee had seen too many worlds to be troubled by Naboo. It was more welcoming than many places; more welcoming indeed than her adopted hometown of Palisade had been, when first she drifted through its gates seeking a new purpose. The immigration service had given her a stipend, for one thing: enough credits to last her six months, they had said, provided she was frugal. Dee had learned frugal living from the best of them, and hoped to stretch the allocation until it was threadbare. That she was also granted free housing for up to a year was another, unexpected boon. Six months to find employment, a year to find a home… it would be more than enough time, she thought, if she could not find her way back to Palisade.
She walked through the village market, watching the people as she passed. She was grateful her clothing did not appear to stand out. All the same, she bought a plain black hooded cloak from one vendor, draping it over one purple-wrapped arm. One never knew when something nondescript would prove useful, after all. She bought food at another stall, water at another, and at a third, an alcoholic drink whose name she could not pronounce.
A small group of café tables stood at one end of the alley. She made her way there, studying the crowd all the while, fighting the rising urge to disappear back into the refugee village and the small home given her there. If she was ever to return home, she had to make friends here. She had to learn the ways and means of whatever dimension she had found herself in. Then and only then could she attempt a dimensional port back. Not for the first time, Dee found herself wishing she still had the Haruspex Requiem. The death mask might have heightened her powers just long enough, she thought, to tear a hole back between the worlds. As it was, since her arrival on Naboo, she had only managed to open a portal to N’Rygoth’s own hellish unplace. She would keep trying, of course. But she would try other avenues, as well.
She sat down at the outermost table, choosing the chair that would allow her a view of the market. She tasted the alcohol first. It was sharp and heady, but oddly refreshing, like juniper and mint. She took another deep sip. Then she pulled her little bowl of food from its bag. She raised her spoon and dug in. Alternating draughts of alcohol or water with the indescribable food helped, she found, so long as she did not consider too much the texture or taste of what she ate. She had done worse before. In time, she thought, even this will seem mundane.