User:Arrow Quivershaft/Departing
 | 3P story universe |
{{#ifeq: User |User| Departing | Arrow Quivershaft/Departing}}[[Title::{{#ifeq: User |User| Departing | Arrow Quivershaft/Departing}}| ]]
{{#ifeq: | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}} | ||
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}| ]]
}} |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}} | |
Author: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}| ]]
}}
}} |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}} | | Authors: ' |
Authors: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}]]
}} |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}} | |
Authors: {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | {{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Arrow Quivershaft | }}]]
}}
}}
}} {{#if:| — see [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}
The next day we met at the docks. I had everything ready, the backpacks ready for me and Alex, food, everything. We were ready to go. Dawn was there with me as I stood there with our gear, watching Alex and Blossom approach. I’d already paid the boatman for the two of us and gotten our tickets.
“You both ready?” I asked as they arrived.
Alex nodded. "Ready to rumble. Hey, who's the new addition?" he said, looking to Dawn.
Blossom smiled at Dawn and waved shyly. “A friend of Nathan’s."
"Dawn's the person I asked you about,” I explained. "Dawn, Alex and Blossom.”
Dawn nodded her head once. "Hello."
"Hi, it’s nice to meet you." Blossom said.
"Pleased to meet you Dawn." Alex said, holding out his hand to shake.
Dawn didn’t miss a step. "Sorry Alex, I don't do that anymore."
Alex pulled his hand back. "Ah ... anymore?"
Blossom smiled "You’re very pretty." she complimented Dawn.
"Don't worry about me. Let's get you folks underway." Dawn stated. She turned to me. "Nathan, you've got lead, I'm just a tagalong."
"Sure thing." I grabbed the stuff and hauled it up to the boarding plank. I flashed my ticket and waited for Alex and Blossom to cover their fares.
The boat was an old-fashioned caravel. Small, but about the highest tech you could get in realm. Just a quick boat for in-and-out of realm trips. We wouldn’t be the only ones. They had a radio for emergency, but of course that wouldn’t work once we got in realm. Still, I’d been on this boat before. Nice, fast trip in realm.
I lugged the gear aboard and set it down in the main hold. Given the shortness of the trip, there weren’t really guest rooms. Just a main hold, and some hammocks spread out. Nothing really elaborate. I stowed the gear in a compartment and locked it, and then returned to my group.
I sat down in a chair as we waited for the boat to leave.
Alex took a seat next to me. "Hmm. Nathan, I hope it isn't too personal, but that tattoo...?"
I shrugged a bit. "No, it's not too personal. I'm a devout follower of Athene."
He nodded, looking a bit worried.
Blossom was looking at Dawn a bit as she sat down in her own chair. For now she was just listening.
Dawn settled into one of the hammocks near our seats. "Our ride's about a day long... Hope you aren't the types to get seasick."
Alex grinned. "We're about to find out."
"I've never been on a boat..but I don’t think I get seasick." I decided, given obvious documentation that Blossom had been on a boat before with the RAF, that her memory wasn’t very good. Extra watching, this one.
"Keep a bucket handy.", Dawn advised.
“Why, what happens?" Blossom inquired.
“You get sick." Alex stated.
"What type of sick?" Blossom, again.
"Vomit type sick." Alex explained.
Blossom finally got it. "oh.." she smiled a bit, like she was remembering a good memory. Weirded me out a bit, I’ll admit.
Alex took out something and stared at it. Looked like a custom lighter.
"Do you ever fly Dawn?" Blossom asked, changing the subject.
"Not out here in the scientific realm. I'll be able to fly once we're in Greece." Dawn explained, patiently.
"What? Why’s that?" Blossom seemed confused.
I glanced at Dawn with a “See? Green” look.
Dawn returned the look. "Uhm... Honey, I break the laws of aerodynamics."
Blossom looked a bit confused.
Alex spoke up before she could say anything. "The realms are magical right?" He was staring at his lighter.
"I sure hope so." Dawn said. She’s more blunt than me at times, and that’s one of the traits I admire, is being able to just hammer the point home without trying to be nice about it. "That lighter got much plastic in it?"
Alex paused, then shook his head. "Umm, don't think so."
"Here's how it works... Inside the realms, explosions don't happen, electricity doesn't flow, and synthetic compounds break down in an awful hurry." Dawn elaborated.
Alex frowned slightly, holding the lighter tighter. He didn’t know what it was made of. “Ah.”
"Outside the realms, magic doesn't happen, and all the laws of science have to be obeyed." Dawn paused. "There was a reason we had you wear cotton clothes instead of polyester."
"So what if..someone was magically made a certain way." Blossom asked, seeming a bit nervous.
"Like I was? They deal with it." Dawn cut to the point.
"Deal with it how?" Blossom asked, pushing the question line a bit too far.
"However." Dawn shrugged.
A pair of minotaurs and a few other human groups settled in as we got underway, the telltale sound of the engines kicking in as we started to leave. Of course, the engines won’t work once we get past the realm border, but they’re good for moving up until then.
"That doesn't answer my question." Blossom pouted.
"It all depends on the person, hon." Dawn took a bit of a teaching tone.
Alex tucked away his lighter. "You just live with it, Blossom."
Blossom nodded, accepting the answer for now and falling silent.