Who: Aloy and Teruko What: Exploring the small town and the wilderness When: July 17 Where: Whittier Rating: low
Alaska felt more closer to what her life was in the future than Madison. Back under the Dome, Aloy often felt stifled. While she wasn’t terrible at living in what would be considered ruins in the future, everything was so close. It reminded her of the Carja. Aloy felt more at home with wilderness around her.
This town was smaller than the first one they stopped at. When they had been to Skagway, Aloy had tried to stay behind. Alaska just felt more like home. The Dome, however, had brought her back to the boat before it left without her. While she knew, now, the rules for her exploring, she would use every minute she could and then let the magic of this place pull her back to the ship. Aloy didn’t want to waste time running back to the ship if she didn’t have to.
She was currently up high in a tree. Did she need to be in the tree? No. So why did she climb a tree? Because she could. That and she could see the landscape better. Once she got the lay of the land, there was what looked like a lake not too far off East that she decided she wanted to see. Maybe she could catch a fish to eat.
Aloy jumped down from the middle height of the tree and landed on her feet with a loud thud.
–
Teruko was starting to get what people meant by the dome doing weird things. She'd already experienced a portal (and still had the Pokémon she got) but so far, that was it. Then she was suddenly on a cruise ship with no idea how she got there. At first it threw her for a loop but she accepted it.
Ever since the first day, she'd do a little bit of exploring. Mostly on the ship itself but she did venture out whenever there was a stop. She'd never been to Alaska before and while it wasn't how she pictured visiting, she still wanted to see as much as possible.
When they stopped in Whittier, she went and looked around. As she was passing some trees, she suddenly heard a thump behind her and she quickly turned around, her hand moving by reflex towards her hip where her sword would've been if she had it. So she was empty handed but at least she had enhanced strength and reflexes and other things thanks to the surgeries she's had over the years.
"Geez, you startled me," she said with a slight glare. She didn't like being surprised. "What were you doing up in a tree?"
–
Aloy had a knife on her, but she woke up without her bow or spear which left her deeply annoyed. She had been assured by people who had done this cruise before that all her items would be back home when she returned, but Aloy felt naked without her weapons to protect herself. She also wasn’t in ‘normal’ clothes, having opted to wear her winter gear from home which meant she had fur and hide on her. In some ways, she fit in with the Inuit people that she saw rather than the others in town.
“Sorry.” Aloy realized it might have been off-putting. She had noticed the way the woman reached for a weapon. “I was just taking a look at the surroundings. I know most people seem to want to stay in town, but I do better outside of towns.” Aloy knew where her strengths lay.
–
Teruko definitely didn't like not having her weapon with her. She was just glad she had super strength, not to mention her ability. As long as she had those at least, then she wasn't too bad off.
Her glare softened a little as the other girl apologized before fading completely. "It's fine, no worries." She had been annoyed but ultimately, there wasn't any harm done. If the other girl had attacked, then maybe Teruko wouldn't have been so forgiving.
"Do you? Where are you from?" she asked.
–
That was a hard question to answer and Aloy faltered just a little. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, it was more about ‘how’ did she answer? “Earth, but over a thousand years into the future. Things are… very different.” She had learned not to say ‘this world’ because either people didn’t believe her or they told her she was lying, but from everything Aloy knew about the old world, the Earth of Madison Valley lined up with the past.
“I’m assuming you’re not from here either?”
–
Teruko was a bit confused at the falter. That wasn't too hard of a question to answer, was it? Even if the other girl was from another planet or a place that only existed in her world, Teruko wouldn't have been surprised. She might've only been in Madison Valley for a few months but she knew people came from all sort of places.
"Oh, I see. I heard people come from the past or future. How were things different?" she asked curiously. She found it kind of fascinating that people not only came from different places but different times as well.
She shook her head. "No, I'm from Japan."
–
Aloy had never heard of Japan and it was probably clear by the lack of recognition in her face at the place name. She did nod, though, to be polite, though she wasn’t pretending to know it - Aloy rarely found the need to lie.
“The world gets destroyed. Like, entirely, thanks to mechanical plague that was created. The world had to be reborn through machines that were programmed to regrow and repopulate the Earth. So some of these structures I’ve seen as ruins, but we don’t have the same level of technology.”
–
If Teruko hadn't known that people came from completely different worlds, she wouldn't have thought it strange that the other girl didn't know what Japan was. But she knew some worlds didn't have to same places as hers, so it was less of a surprise.
"Wow, that's crazy. Guess Madison Valley is quite different than what you're used to, huh?" It was different for her, but probably a lot less so. At least she only had to deal with a different culture and language barrier, both of which hadn't been too terrible for her.
–
She nodded. “There’s a lot more buildings and a lot less nature, which isn’t to say there aren’t places with a lot of buildings, but they’re all… built a lot differently. A lot of metal. It’s louder too.” Even with the machines in her world, it was quieter back home. There were so many things happening at once in Madison that it had taken Aloy several days to fall asleep easily. “I like here a lot better, even though I know I shouldn’t.”
–
"So sort of like a city?" Teruko asked as she pictured tons of buildings. "How were the buildings built different?" She didn't mean to ask lots of questions but, well, she was kind of curious about this girl's world and what it was like. Honestly, she was curious about everyone's worlds, especially ones that were completely different from hers.
Teruko tilted her head. "Why's that?" She saw no reason why the girl shouldn't like it here better.
–
"Stone, sand, wood - it depends on the people. My people make structures of wood, but we're generally regarded as… 'simple' people." She made air quotes and she was clearly not a fan of the endearment. She also wasn't sure if saying she was Nora was accurate anymore. That thought alone made her feel like she was dishonouring Varl and she quickly ended that train of thought.
"Well… we were brought to Madison for a reason, weren't we? I've been trying to feel grateful to see into the life of the person who saved the world… even if there's a lot I miss from home."
–
"Interesting. Most of the buildings I know are made of concrete and steel." She tried picturing a city made of stone or wood buildings and it was definitely different. But maybe that was all the material there was and they simply had to make due with what they had.
"I haven't actually thought about that, that there might be a reason," she said. "I just figured it was by random choice." But if there was a reason, then what was it exactly?
–
That was what the ruins were made of. "There are still some structures like that that have survived. Just… no one lives there. They're either falling apart or you need to know technology to get inside and most people from my time have no idea about computers and that sort of thing." More were learning though and when she thought about her friends who were willing to open their eyes to know the truth, it made her miss them a lot.
"When the Earth was repopulated, we were missing a key component to teach us about the past and about technology so we had to learn all over again. I know from reading Earth's history this was a like like when technology first advanced. So I guess, in a way, you could say we're… behind." Even if from the future.
–
Teruko nodded as she listened. It was all quite fascinating and not quite how she envisioned the future. She was thinking along the lines of super high technology and hover cars and things of that sort.
"Sounds like an interesting place. But I'm getting a bit hungry, so I'm going to find something to eat. Maybe I'll see you on the ship or in town when we return." Which sounded inevitable from what people have mentioned.
–
Aloy nodded. Was this a potential friend? Aloy wasn't very good at figuring those things out or making friends to begin with so she had no idea, but she found herself hopeful if only because she needed more friends (she tried not to think of them as simple allies thanks to Varl).
"Maybe, yeah." She paused, then added a little belatedly. "It was nice to meet you."