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Tweak says, "A teddy bear."

winters__heat (winters__heat) wrote in tsc_scenes,
@ 2013-12-11 12:30:00

Entry tags:

*crossroads, *room of rings, connor macleod, juliet winters

Back to Acoste
Who: Juliet & Connor
Where: Calderville --> Crossroads --> Acoste
When: Week 0, Day 3
What: Traveling, meeting Connor, returning!
Status: Thread WIP

Juliet dropped the comms unit onto the floor as the steering wheel bucked in her hand, right in the middle of talking with the latest new arrival, Connor. "Christalmighty!" she growled, grabbing the wheel and getting the vehicle headed on toward the lip of the crater again, the road disappearing over it. She carefully ignored the very, very steep drop to the right, a few stones having been dislodged by the SUV's wheels when it had veered that way momentarily.

"Keep going, keep going, keep going!" she muttered under her breath, the lessons she'd had all those years ago in advanced driver training coming back in a rush, thankfully. Her initial response had been to jump off the accelerator and slam on the brake when the wheel had whipped around crazily, wheels being sent in crazy directions by the massive ruts in the road's dirt surface this far up the wall of the crater. But the driving instructor's steady tone had cut through and her foot had remained on the accelerator, both her hands grabbing a hold of the wheel again, and her arms bringing it back around and holding on as the heavily laden vehicle lurched up the last few hundred metres.

Finally the two peaks she was going between, the broken edges of the caldera, were behind her, and the huge expanse of the bowl was spread out in front, visible over the bonnet. The buildings of Crossroads nestled on the southern side of the lake, and Juliet paused for a moment to take in the view. She remembered then that she'd dropped the phone on the floor and after making sure the handbrake was on, scrambled around beneath the seat to finally locate it. She hopped out, climbed onto the roof, and took some pictures of both the town, a small speck in the distance, and the crater, before climbing down and setting off again.

The road inside the crater was a little better, but was still fairly rough until she was on the flat, finally. A small plume of dust trailed behind the vehicle, making her arrival easy to be seen by anyone at Crossroads. It enveloped the SUV when she slowed and pulled up on the road, not bothering to pull over, given at that moment as far as she knew this was the only vehicle being used. Opening the door she jumped out and looked around, trying to remember the name of the guy she'd talked to. Connor!

"Hello? Connor?" she called out, looking around then figuring she'd check the ring building first.

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macleod1518
2013-12-11 10:41 pm UTC (link)

After his conversation with the girl over the radio/phone thing, Connor stepped outside and trained his eyes on the road leading out of the valley to see if he could see her arrival. Sure enough, a SUV came lumbering along over the top a few minutes later.

He kept his katana close at hand though not in plain view, just in case. He didn't sense a quickening but Connor hadn't lived to nearly five hundred by taking foolish chances in strange situations.

"Here." He called out as the girl, Juliet he thought she said her name was, stepped out of the SUV.

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Juliet and Connor meeting

winters__heat
2013-12-11 10:54 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, there you are!" she said, looking over the bonnet of the SUV to see the man she'd been talking to on the radio. "Sorry about before, few deep ruts in the road made it a bit difficult to negotiate," she said walking across to him. No vampire, no demon, but something a little different about him, and she tilted her head as she held out her hand to him. "I'm Juliet, like I said on the radio. And you're Connor. Had much of a look around yet?" she asked, indicating the other buildings.

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	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-11 11:07 pm UTC (link)
	"Enough to see there isn't much reason to stay here." Connor replied, shaking the offered hand and plastering a smile onto his face. "Just bunkbeds and rations. It'll keep you warm, dry and alive but not much else." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

winters__heat
2013-12-11 11:38 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, seems it's just mainly the place people arrive, so far. There's four of us here, so far, you make five, and we all went to the village at the beach and are going to look around from there." She indicated the vehicle, then waved a hand toward the western edge of the caldera. "I went over to the town over west for a reccy and found vehicles, so am bringing this back for the others, or at least for Micha, as I don't think Jake and Neytiri will get much use out of it."

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	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-12 12:07 am UTC (link)
	"And who are Micha, Neytiri and Jake?" Connor wanted to learn as much about the others who were already here as he could. If he was going to be stuck here he needed to know what to expect and what the threats were. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

winters__heat
2013-12-12 12:14 am UTC (link)

"They're friends, we all ended up here from the same place. We were wondering if it was only going to be us, but it looks like it isn't, because you're here!" She noticed his gruffness, and knew how disorienting it had been the first time she'd been pulled through to the weird place they had come from. "Look, I know how this must be seeming really weird? And really? It is. But I can assure you that so far? Nothing has tried to kill, or eat us. But we have only been here a few days, and there's lots still to explore, so who knows, there might be some nasties, we just haven't found them, and they haven't found us."

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	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-12 12:23 am UTC (link)
	Connor nodded, absorbing that information. "And why wouldn't Neytiri or Jake get much use out of the car? Are they Amish or something?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting winters__heat 2013-12-12 12:25 am UTC (link)
	One thing she'd learnt at the other place was not everyone came from the same world, nor even knew of other ones. "No, they're Na'vi, and about ten foot tall," she answered, grinning as she watched him, wondering if he knew who Na'vi were. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

macleod1518
2013-12-12 12:39 am UTC (link)

If it weren't for the fact that he himself was immortal, Connor would have laughed in her face at that answer. "Never heard of Na'vi," was all he said, keeping a nonchalant expression.

He figured if she was bullshitting him he'd find out soon enough, but he doubted it. Over the centuries he'd developed a good sense of when someone was lying and he wasn't getting that vibe from her. "Ten foot tall huh? I guess you'll tell me their blue next."

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Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

winters__heat
2013-12-12 12:47 am UTC (link)

"Mostly," she said, deadpan. "Different shades, and patterns. They're also really good at climbing trees, and in Jake's case, falling out of them, and great at hunting and have these ... well, they're ikran, and I guess kinda like dragons, but not. Jake used to be human, but ... man, it's a long story, and probably better coming from him. If you want to come to the beach he can tell you. Neytiri is getting better at speaking English, but she tends to let Jake do most of the talking."

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	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-12 12:58 am UTC (link)
	"Right." Ok so he should have known better than to open his mouth. And one of them used to be human? "I think that's a story that will require alcohol," Connor shook his head. He'd heard some fantastic tales in his time, but nothing like this. "And this Micha's just an ordinary human then?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting winters__heat 2013-12-12 01:09 am UTC (link)
	"Uh, sometimes?" Juliet said, thinking hard on whether Jedi knight would qualify as 'ordinary human'. She decided that appearance-wise she would fit for the sake of the conversation. "But then other times she's a mermaid." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-12 01:17 am UTC (link)
	"Of course she is." He needed to quit asking stupid questions. "So we're talking Splash here? Legs on land, tail in water?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

winters__heat
2013-12-12 01:25 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, that about covers it, I think," Juliet said, figuring that again, Micha might prefer to fill in the relevant details to the newcomer. "So, you have a choice. You can either come with me down to the beach, or go through the ring to one of the places, either the beach, town, or whatever it is down south," she told him. "Up to you, but I better get going soon, cuz it'll take a few hours to get to the beach from here by road."

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	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-12 01:35 am UTC (link)
	"Right." Connor nodded. "I just think about which place I want to go and the ring will open a way there?" He wanted to confirm what she'd told him over the radio earlier. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting winters__heat 2013-12-12 01:40 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah exactly. Well, as long as it's one of these places you can see on the handset," she told him, pulling hers out of her pocket and showing him. "We know the beach and the town ones work, I just went to the town this morning to get this," she told him, "so it figures the other one, the little village place? It's probably the same." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

macleod1518
2013-12-12 01:50 am UTC (link)

"Then I think I'll be going to the town," Connor informed her. "No offense but I want my own wheels if I'm going to be stuck here." He wasn't entirely sure he was stuck there, but she had no reason to lie to him as far as he could tell.

If everyone was at the beach community he probably ought to make his way there eventually too. After he checked the town out thoroughly first.

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	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting winters__heat 2013-12-12 02:08 am UTC (link)
	She shrugged and smiled. "Sure, it'd be good to have someone do a good reccy of the town. I just hunted around to find what I know we needed, like a bit more clothing, and food, and just grabbed the first SUV I found," she told him, again indicating the loaded up vehicle. "Oh, how are you at cooking, in particular baking?" she asked. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Juliet and Connor meeting macleod1518 2013-12-12 02:35 am UTC (link)
	"Baking?" Connor wasn't sure where that had come from, but it was a simple enough question to answer. "I can handle just about anything from a open fire to a modern oven, given the right equipment. Why do you ask?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

winters__heat
2013-12-12 03:17 am UTC (link)

Juliet grinned as she walked around to the driver's door of the SUV. "You could come in handy!" she told him, giving him a wink before climbing up into the vehicle. She opened the window after closing the door. "Plenty of drygoods and tinned food in the stores, but nothing fresh. I've been collecting fruit from various trees around the place, at least around the beach place," she continued. "Jake and Neytiri will probably bring back more this afternoon, but I can't guarantee what you'll find down in the town. And uh, if you need to contact us, just use the radio, or text, or whatever."

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Re: Juliet and Connor meeting

macleod1518
2013-12-12 03:51 am UTC (link)

"Will do." Connor nodded, a bit bemused as Juliet gave a wave and drove off. He shook his head and turned back to the building with the rings, picking up his katana from its nearby hiding spot as he went.

"Guess I'll find out if she's telling the truth soon enough." He muttered, going to stand at the indicated spot and thinking about the town he saw in the picture. Sure enough the ring lit up and the town could be seen on the other side, just as Juliet had told him it would be. The immortal muttered a prayer in Gaelic and walked through at a brisk pace.

The next thing he knew he was standing at one end of a stereotypical town square, with no sign of the ring behind him. "She was telling the truth all right." Connor couldn't quite believe it, but his eyes weren't deceiving him so it must be so.

It was time to do some exploring.

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winters__heat
2013-12-13 09:27 pm UTC (link)

Juliet glanced in the rear vision mirror as she drove away, the small cloud of dust from the surface of the road only rising about knee high. The man turned and walked back into the round building, and Juliet turned her attention back to the road. She was tempted to pick up the radio and call the others, but decided against it. It would only be a few hours and she would see them, tell them face to face.

"At least this place has plenty of room for different people!" she said out loud to the windscreen. "Gonna need a bit of help if we don't figure out the food supply." She smiled a little as she recalled him saying he could bake. "Well that's something!" she added, then turned her attention to the road, and the steep climb up out of the caldera and back down the other side to the beach.

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