RP:A Celebrity Encounter!

Summary: Twitch and Sidd have their first run in with a famous crustacean.

08/13/2017

The Pass through Xalious

Twitch was on her way back from a long trip to do very little. She had an excuse to be this far from home, though, and her cover story would hold up as long as she was hasty in returning. The little mousey wore a long cloak and cowl, to hide her features, especially from humans. She had to keep her identity a secret... people didn't like fermin very much, and she'd been in some pretty serious trouble before on account of her heritage. Little pink eyes darted this way and that, and she shuffled along the road, minding her own beeswax.

Sidd emerges from the forest to the north, looking like a wrote off piece of trash. A common theme, it seems. He was dirty. Sweaty. Mohawk flat and messy. One would probably think that the youthful male had been on one hell of a bender. If only they knew the horrors he had been faced with the night prior! Clutched in his hand was a fairly thick piece of wood, an item he had come to cherish as his only means of defense from whatever terrors were stalking the lands. It probably wouldn't be exactly all that effective, but it gave him solace. Sidd stopped as he reached the main road, his cool blue eyes taking a moment to survey first to the east, and then to the west. Did he finally get back to a more familiar location?

Twitch saw a guy with a mohawk, who looked a little more than a little hungover. He was clutching a stick, so he was probably on guard... but she had to make up for lost time, and that meant taking risks. She stuck to the shadows, skirting the edges of the treeline. She did better in urban environments, and didn't know this place, but her skills should hold her in good stead. Furry little pawed hands reached for his person, targeting his coin purse. It was the moment of truth...

Sidd would most definitely catch Twitch red handed. Not because he was super trained or anything, but rather that at this moment he was one hell of a poor bastard. There was nothing on him of value, and he was definitely on edge, so the slightest touch could be felt. "YO. What the?!" he called out in surprise, fluidly stepping back and spinning around to face the would-be thief. "Whoa. I'm sorry." he stated, unknowing of the stranger's intention. He had his fingers clenched tight around that stick; It was raised slightly in defense. He analyzed Twitch carefully. "Rough night. I'm a little jumpy. If I bumped you or whatever, it's my bad." Clueless.

Kreekitaka was trying to be subtle. Well, as subtle as possible, anyhow. Something Krice had said a few days ago about traipsing huge creatures through populated areas. He wasn't making too big a deal out of it. Just riding his war scorpion down the street with a truck-sized armor-backed dinosaur on a lead tied to the seabug's tail. Nothing unusual there, right? It should also be mentioned that Kreekitaka himself was something of a sight--the uyeer are... rather unique in appearance. Kree himself was eight feet tall when standing straight, though his crouch upon his scorpion belied this from a distance. His carapace was a deep blue, unlike the sandy brown of the scorpion. Upon his back were a pair of large seashells which slowly dripped a supply of water over his gills and around his waist was a brightly-colored kilt whose stitching seemed to change color and gleam in the sunlight. Compound eyes gave him a 360-degree dome of vision, and he happened to spot the altercation from a distance and angled his little convoy in the direction of the what-had-looked-to-be-from-a-distance squabble. "How goes?" he called, the sound projected from him sounding... somewhat breathy, as if he had to force the syllables out in an unnatural fashion.

Twitch freaked out. Not so much because of Sidd, but because of the gigantic nightmare convoy approaching them. She didn't wait for a response. She squeaked loudly, and scrambled backwards, then straight up a tree. The little thing could climb! She was at the top, watching warily through the cover of the leaves in an instant. Whatever was going to happen... she wasn't about to play the hero. She had a family to look out for, after all!

Sidd should be used to this by now. He had been in strange lands a couple times- He had seem some... things. First Twitch quickly getting up that tree. That was weird. No way a human could be that fast, right? "Uh." he spat out, somewhat stunned. When Sidd turned toward Kreekitaka and his unusual mount, his jaw dropped and slowly he retreated. "You gotta be kidding me, man." This was a main road, he should be safe, right? Not like some sort of dangerous creatures would dare do anything here. Then again, how many times had he been attacked in broad daylight? In public? That stick went up again- he was ready to defend himself if needed. It was when the strange creature spoke that Sidd would lift a brow and attempt a response, "It goes.... good? Yeah. Good. Uh. You?" He wasn't quite sure what else to say. A crustacean riding a scorpion with dinosaur in tow was currently blowing his mind.

Kreekitaka shifted his weight slightly atop the scorpion once they'd reached a respectable distance and rapped it with a claw. The creature dropped down, and Kree himself rose up on four legs and stepped off of its head. Paddles rippling up and down his sides, he offered both a respectful clench of his facial crushers and light bow. "I know, I have been absenTAH! from HHHTHese yan's for some monHHHTHs. I suspecTAH! HHHTHe fake news from YarkeTAH! cyaimeDAH! I was syain! HHHTHey cyaimeDAH! I was from space, before, so I woulDAH! noTAH! puTAH! iTAH! pasTAH! HHHTHem." He was speaking as if he expected these people to recognize him, like he was some kinda celebrity or something. Perhaps they'd seen the trilobite logo on his kilt before?

Twitch knew nothing about any sort of crustacean that walked on land... then again, her only experiences above ground dealt with people's pockets, and she had indeed seen that logo before. It didn't register to her that he had any real association with it, though... she was too terrified of him to think straight anyway. She'd been nearly killed by far less terrifying things in her time, and had never seen something so ominous and known anything good to come of it. She would wait where she was, in the tree, until he was gone. That was the only sensible thing to do, the only course appropriate for someone who wanted to live another day.

Sidd glanced up at Twitch. What was her deal. Was she just gonna let the guy be murdered? Self preservation and all, he guessed. Damn. Another step backward started off the human's actions as Kreekitaka came down from his 'steed'. "Uh. What?" he blurted out in retort. Sidd had no idea what the thing was talking about. This whole world was new to him. Everything. So far, it had been relatively normal. Everyone he met were human- or so they appeared. He was still having trouble getting past the fact that he was face to face with a talking lobster? Crab? Something from the sea? Or space, apparently. Trying to play it off like he had even a semblance of a clue, Sidd nodded and said, "Oh yeah. Fake news, dude. From Yarket. Totally that."

Kreekitaka nodded and gestured with a claw to Sidd. "See? ExacTAH!yee. I oughTAH! TAH!oo begin my own pubyication. I mighTAH! be abo TAH!oo DAH!istribuTAH! iTAH! via my shops. I woulDAH! of course reporTAH! onyee HHHTHe truHHHTH. My company is known for quayiTAH!ee, you know." He tilted his head a little and shot the man a little up-and-down glance. "...Say. You have HHHTHe yook of a man who hasn'TAH! yeTAH! haDAH! HHHTHe opporTAH!uniTAH!ee TAH!oo purchase someHHHTHing from one of my sTAH!ores." Another moment or two, and things clicked. "Ah! An' you haven'TAH! meTAH! me before, so--righTAH!. Ahem." He extended a claw to shake. "KreekiTAH!ka. MasTAH!er of Fashion, Champion of many TAH!ournamenTAH!s, Conqueror of GraviTAH!ee, eTAH! ceTAH!era." He shot a glance up to the tree. Maybe the person up there might find him worthy enough conversation to come down and meet with him.

Twitch wondered at the things this crab man was saying. Did that mean he was wealthy? He might be a good target to rob... then again, she'd probably get eaten trying to steal from him. It. Whatever that thing was... it could talk, but she wasn't sure it wasn't totally, completely evil. After all, it was very, very different. And scary. Upon further reflection, she found that that's probably precisely what most humans thought of fermin. And that's also probably why less human bodies turned up in the sewers these days. See? Prejudice has its place.

Sidd had to really think about what Kreekitaka was saying. The thing had a really strong dialect that was a little hard to understand at times. Not the first time he's run into this sort of thing, and sure as hell won't be the last, he was positive. The extended claw was met with hesitation. Would this be like a horror scenario? Was the crustacean baiting him? Sidd began to envision the most messed up scenarios. He thought that maybe as soon as they touched, Kreekitaka would latch on, pull him close and devour the human in a few swift bites. Then again, the creature was probably just being polite and Sidd didn't want to come off as a dick. Don't be a dick, Sidd. The mohawked human took Kree's claw and gave it a firm shake. "Nice to meet ya, ..man? I'm Sidd. Yeah, I'm totally not one of your customers, sadly. Just, uh, got into... town? The country? Somethin'." There was interest in Kree's words, one set in particular caught his attention. "Master of fashion, eh? Whoa. Wait. Like, you're fashionable? Or do you actually do the designing clothing thing?"

Kreekitaka rippled his paddles up and down his back and tapped his chest a few times after the shake. The sound it produced was surprisingly musical--almost like chuckling? "Yes, TAH!oo boHHHTH. You see HHHTHis?" He gestured to his kilt, with its gleaming embroidery which, on closer inspection, depicted the scene of some battle--warriors with upraised weapons clashed, and monsters tussled, tentacles and teeth ripping at each other, while in the background a palace broke into pieces. The shimmering threads almost seemed alive--as if the embroidery had captured the emotion of the battle. The colors seemed to shift subtly depending on which way the light hit it. "I make iTAH!ems such as HHHTHis, an' finer ones besiDAH!es. I can make a sTAH!ory come TAH!oo yife on fabric. I aoso crafTAH! armor, an' can byenDAH! HHHTHe TAH!oo however my cusTAH!omer sees fiTAH!."

Twitch disappeared without warning.

Sidd finally became at ease. Big scary crab-man wasn't so scary after all. He was a big friendly fashion designer. There was a huge battle of 'what the hell' going on in the human's head over that idea. "That is gnarly, man! I dig it. You seem like you're pretty damned skilled. I would guess with skills like that, you're probably making a lot of coin!" It then dawned upon Sidd- he had left a note in the Kelay tavern not too long ago. "Holy hell! What are the odds?! I need a tailor! I lost something that was pretty damn dear to me, so I wanted to get a new one made. Ya think you'd be interested in doing some work? I ain't rich, but I got some coin saved up. I'll pay anything- one way or another."

Kreekitaka tried to refrain from pointing out that he was making enough coin to finance a small army of mercenaries which had been enough to take over his hometown, and managed to succeed. Humility wasn't exactly his strong suit, but he figured it would make more of an impression on this customer if he found out the extent of Kree's riches later on. "Marveyous--or raHHHTHer, consiDAH!er yourseff fortunaTAH! HHHTHaTAH! we crosseDAH! paHHHTHs TAH!oDAH!ay, HHHTHen, as you can finDAH! no one greaTAH!er aTAH! HHHTHis crafTAH!. WhaTAH! is iTAH! you have yosTAH!.?"

Sidd dropped that stick he had been holding onto. He had been using it as a makeshift creature deterrent after a close call with some sort of vicious predator, but it seemed like the threat level for now was as low as it could be. Still, eventually, he would need some way to protect himself. First things first, however! "It's a jacket. A coat. You know? Leather. Black. I had the thing since I was a teenager. Lots of good times and memories with that thing. Bummed out that I lost it on my way here, so I want to get a new one. Something tells me though, that this land ain't got nothing like it. So I guess I'll be a fashionable guy if I can get one made. One of a kind, yeah?" Sidd grinned. "If you want, I can totally sketch it out for ya. Give you some specifics or whatever. Just... Not sure how to get it to ya. Is there, like, a spot around here for delivering notices or mail?"

Kreekitaka snapped his claws open and extended several small tentacles from the middle each one, which swiftly went to his utility belt and extracted from little holsters a pad of paper, a measuring tape, and a pen. The sketch happened in the tentacles of one claw while the other snapped open the tape, ready to take measurements. "I have seen such HHHTHings arounDAH!. NoTAH! ofTAH!en, buTAH! occasionayee. HHHTHey yook marveyous in HHHTHe winDAH!. I can DAH!oo beTAH!er. Arms up, pyease? I can make one which appears as if iTAH! is in a winDAH!, even when HHHTHere is no winDAH!. Or one wiHHHTH armor hiDAH!en wiHHHTHin, TAH!oo proTAH!ecTAH! you from harm. Or one which weighs aomos' noHHHTHing? Or perhaps one with... hmm, no, noTAH! casuoh enough. Mus' iTAH! be compyeeTAH!yee byack? How DAH!oo you feeoh abouTAH! spyashes of coyor?" It had been far too long since Kree had gotten to ply his craft--for a while, he'd had people to do it for him. Still did, technically. But there was a certain satisfaction in making things yourself.

Sidd rubs the back of his neck as he thinks, soon to do as the crab-creature asks- Most likely so that measurements can be taken. "Black for sure. I don't mind colorful clothing, but jacket's definitely gotta be black. Hmm. Armor within, eh? Would it be heavy? I'd be down with that if there were lightweight materials that can do that." He observes Kreekitaka as he works, still specifying what he was looking for. " Definitely gonna need some inside pockets. And a couple on the outside. I mean, it is a jacket, so that's probably a redundant request. Oh, and nothing longer than the hip, yeah? I'm not into the whole trench-coat thing. I'm an edgy guy, but not "I Vant to suck your blood' edgy. Y'know?" It was when he scratched the back of his calf with his tattered footwear that he realized, "Oh! I also need new boots, if we can swing that. Basic black boots. Comfy. Wanting to have like, a steel toe in the front. I'll pay whatever!"

Kreekitaka shook his head when asked if it were heavy, and took measurements as he talked. "PockeTAH!s, of course. Reayee, so shorTAH!.? Mos' orDAH!ers I geTAH! for such a HHHTHing are far yonger, HHHTHis is someHHHTHing new." Well yeah, Kree, it's a fantasy game. People are gonna be trenchcoating it up like it's going out of style. But shhh, we can't tell him that. "I have TAH!oo aDAH!miTAH!, I am DAH!isappoinTAH!eDAH! in HHHTHe yack of coyor--I say, you oughTAH! come by my shop someTAH!ime so we can DAH!iscuss maTAH!eriohs. I have one in parTAH!icuyar which may appeoh TAH!oo you--in HHHTHe DAH!ay, iTAH! is byack, buTAH! aTAH! nighTAH!, iTAH! gyows a very fainTAH! byue, so as TAH!oo byenDAH! in wiHHHTH moonyighTAH!. I can hanDAH!oh booTAH!s aoso, an' I can DAH!oo aomos' beTAH!er HHHTHan sTAH!eeoh--aTAH! yeasTAH!, in TAH!erms of weighTAH!." He knocked his elbow into one of his paddles. "Same sTAH!uff as whaTAH! covers me. Fear noTAH!, ao carapace armor is from DAH!iscarDAH!eDAH! exoskeyeTAH!ons which have been grown ouTAH! of. YighTAH!er HHHTHan sTAH!eeoh, guaranTAH!eeDAH! noTAH! TAH!oo syice your TAH!oes off in case of an acciDAH!enTAH!, somewhaTAH! yess DAH!urabo however. Is up TAH!oo you. We can speak of paymenTAH! once we have DAH!eciDAH!eDAH! on maTAH!eriohs."

The twin moons have risen high above Lithrydel into the centremost point as midnight swiftly approaches. The bright moons of Hollow are clearly visible, without a single cloud in sight, until a circular shape slowly begins to consume the bright moons in the sky. A rare, beautiful and breath-taking sight, but something about the land seems far darker. Not just because the light of the moons has been blotted out. Perhaps you might feel a shiver of fear trickle down your spine, but with the lunar eclipse being such a rare occurrence, you might just shrug it off and enjoy the view instead.

Sidd chuckles and nods at the idea. "That sounds pretty kick ass, really. I'm down to check out your workshop. Could see some of the cool stuff you design." The human looked to the sky, his mind having wandered slightly as he listened to Kreekitaka speak. It was so surreal that things looked so similar to home. So similar, and yet very, very different. He still had no idea exactly where he was, or how he came to get here. Was this still part of that piece of land he met the Siren and her child? Suddenly Sidd snapped back to focus, blue gaze falling over the fashionable crustacean, "Lighter than steel? I'm down for that too, then. Never really saw an exoskeleton armor type before. That's just wild! Hey, I don't mean to cut this short, but I really need a nap." He motions to his current tattered attire and adds, "And a bath. I slept in the woods last night after running for my life, so I'm a little drained. But you and I, we're gonna get together real soon, yeah? Show me some of your awesome designs." Sidd offers a larger than life smile and a polite salute, " It was awesome meeting you, Kree-ki-taka? Did I say that right? Seems fate ain't so much of a bastard after all. Take care until we meet next! You'll have to tell me about that sometime, too" He points to the scorpion and dinosaur that had been accompanying the Ulyeer. "Anyhow, smell ya later, pal!" With those final words, Sidd makes his exit off to the east, where he knows a certain inn will be waiting to eagerly take his leftover coin.

~FIN