Building the legend...

Posted on Sun Sep 29th, 2024 @ 1:22am by Lieutenant Betaras K'ner

Mission: Deep freeze
Location: Viking lands...
Timeline: Pre-current

K’ner eased up, not truly wanting to startle the stocky figure but wanting to get in closer before she made her appearance… plus she wanted to give them the chance to complete their ablutions in private. She remained in line to the figure’s return, rising slowly at the sound of soft footfalls. The form in the mist stopped, pausing in their journey, but also seemingly aware something was… different.

‘Aware…’ K’ner thought. ‘That’s a good sign.’ Her hope rose, to find another of the crew, or, hope against hope, another of her own team…

K’ner waited, as did her team. They wouldn’t move prematurely before K’ner signaled, and she wasn’t going to do anything until the figure decided how this was going to go. It would be easy to call out and the other guard would hear at the least. But… it would take anyone some time to get here. K’ner could do a lot in that amount of time.

Obviously the other figure must think so as well, pausing almost a full minute before continuing forward, bringing them closer to where K’ner was standing. In all the bundled furs it was often difficult to know what someone carried, but when the team wanted to make the statement, their belts and harnesses could be adjusted to fit outside as well, much as she was now, displaying her weapon resources in plain sight.

At about two meters the figure stopped, a faint cloud of mist escaping to one side of the wrap that still shielded their face. K’ner thought this one had some combat experience and had purposely rolled the shemagh that way to route the vision-impairing cloud away… Both were sizing up the other, and K’ner hoped a bit of respect was afforded. That might keep this from escalating. If it came to a fight, it would be fast… fast to start, and fast to end.

K’ner decided to make the first overture, moving her hand slowly up to her face, and pulling her own wrap loose, then away to the side so it wouldn’t get in the way if things didn’t go well. The other figure hadn’t changed their posture the whole time, but now turned its head a little to the side.

“Holy Shickles you’re ugly! You eat a Tarnon alive or something?” The figure’s voice had a odd timbre, certainly unique for this region.

K’ner clamped her jaw in place hard and replied with a snarl. “And you talk funny!”

Both growled and rushed forward, leaning in for leverage and slamming together with enough force to spit snow in all directions. K’ner let herself be turned as they went to the ground and grabbed her attacker by the shoulders… very large shoulders.

Time stood still for a moment as they both gripped each other firmly, neither giving any respite or easing back.

Then the snicker started, K’ner chuckled, Chbet went to knee to lift them both back to their feet as the soft laughter faded. “It’s good to see you sir!”

K’ner nodded, shaking the Corporal’s shoulders hard. “Indeed. And you!”

“The others?”

K’ner waved and three figures appeared in the mist, each removing their face-covering as they approached to accost and greet the large Aquelian.

“Roadie…”

“Peke…"

“Nod…”

Chbet shook their frumpy head, most of the snow gone from the previous scuffle. “I was worried they’d spread us all far and wide this time.” Roadie looked confused, and Chbet looked over at K’ner, who subtly shook her head, indicating the blocky engineer didn’t have his memories intact for this one.

Chbet continued as if no time had elapsed, falling back into discipline with a welcome ease. “I’ve got Kotsoo with me, he’s a newbie. We joined in with this village, doing security and grunt work, building stuff, some hunting when they need it. There’s some overly-aggressive fauna around here.”

K’ner nodded, realizing by Chbet’s phrasing that Kotsoo must not have his memories intact either. “We’ve noticed. Taz is with us as well, she's keeping an eye on your group. Where are you headed?”

“There’s a meeting going on with a neighboring community, another day or two away. They seem to be a strong clan with some good management. Their Jarl is named KeVn or something, with a couple more names that could be good indicators, so we offered to escort on the off chance it might be the XO and more of the crew.”

K’ner nodded. “We’ve heard of the village, but haven’t been there. The last group we encountered wasn’t very… talkative.”

Chbet nodded. “That’s why it’s been so quiet out here then. Normally there’d be a bandit scrape or two by now in the three days we’ve been on the road. Some people just can’t be nice...”

They discussed a few more pertinent details, bringing both sides up to date on info learned since the latest sim iteration, but decided to remain separate for now, both to keep tensions low with the group, plus they couldn’t give away any clues if they didn’t know anything. Since Kotsoo didn’t remember the real times, it seemed better this way too, for now. They would know more in a couple of days…


OFF:

Lt Betaras K'ner
Hazard Team Combat Medic TL-B / CMO
USS Chuck Norris

:o)