trans_9 | We Are Here to Do What We're Supposed to Do [open]

In Hydroponics, there are various animals. Big ones, little ones, toothy ones, toothless ones. And as Nehaalista combed across the various paths carved through the artificial wood, she could pick out one or two creatures that were familiar to her. The ravagers clicked together on their insect legs, and a small herd of elekk, only three or four of the elephant-like creatures.

She paused to watch their progress, scritching the top of her white cat's head, when one of them in particular caught her eye. While it was missing the usual purple armor that her mount was known for (because Light forbid she ride that Light-given Horse that came with her abilities), Nehaalista was sure it was hers. It still had that old, green ribbon attached to one of its horns!

Hoping for the best, and preparing to be let down in case the creature wasn't hers, Nehaalista put her fingers to her lips and whistled sharply. The elekk lifted its head and looked around for the source of the call, trumpeting in reply. Nehaalista whistled again, and the elekk came rumbling toward her.

Ten minutes later, Nehaalista was riding on the elekk, stretched out on the wide back as it lumbered about hydroponics, her cat comfortably riding on its knobby head.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That was what happened when someone came from a culture that didn't believe in last names. Titles. And lots of them.

[I have not seen a sporran, no. Are... these common, where you're from?] Because she is having a really hard time with the crotch pouch. Humans, in Nehaa's well-informed opinion, were remarkably weird.

Nothing wrong with a good title - very useful things, they are. Otherwise you have to come up with a name like, oh, John Smith. And then people give you these skeptical looks... That's neither here nor there, however. Jamie rubs at the back of his head for a moment.

"Er...yes and no. They were fairly common back in my day, but I guess they got a wee bit less so as time went on. Or so I've been told. I've not been to Scotland recently. Not my Scotland, anyway." The one on that alternate Earth they went to wasn't the same at all, and Jamie's fallen into the habit of thinking of it as not really being Scotland.

"They're just pouches like any other, really," he adds, shifting the belt it's on off to the side so the sporran rests on his hip for a moment. "It's just a wee bit easier to wear it in the front most of the time."

Jamie thinks it's perfectly normal - although he's aware Nehaalista may not agree. But to each their own. He's got crouch pouches, and she's got large trumpeting animals. "If ye don't mind my asking, does your beastie have a title, too?"

Nehaalista looked up at the elekk, which was still wearing its white kitten hat before replying. [No, it does not have a title. Or a name. Neither of them do.] Because really, when was she ever going to be able to call for them?

[It is an elekk, though. From Draenor. The cat is... a cat. Nothing necessarily special about it.] She smiles.

"El-ekk," Jamie repeats, trying to figure out the how to pronounce the name just from reading it. He's not at all sure he's gotten it right, but it sounds right to him - so he'll just go with it. "So it's a riding beast for ye, it seems."

He chuckles at the mention of the cat being special, however. "Well, maybe. For all I know, it could be a magic cat of some sort. There's enough beings here that I've not ever seen before that it's certainly possible, aye?"

Nehaalista would certainly qualify as that to him, and he gives her a shrug as if to add a 'like yourself' to his sentence - although, he doesn't mean anything bad by it. It's more just a statement of fact. "Actually, I think there is a magic cat here already, but I've not met her."

[A harder kk-sound, and you have it,] she corrected gently. She'd heard more than her fair share of Azeroth's finest stumble over a word she'd kill to say herself. [I bought the cat from a little boy for fourty-five silver. More than I should have, but he needed to eat, too.]

[The elekk is a riding animal, yes. Like the Taubuk.] Which was large, overgrown goat, as far as most other races were concerned. It tasted delicious. [My people domesticated them when we landed on Draenor.]

Jamie tries again, "Right. Elekk." This time he manages to get the harder kk sound in the word, and thinks that sounds much better. He can't quite help a somewhat hopeful glance in Nehaalista's direction, even if he doesn't directly ask her if he got it correct this time. Instead, he says, "That was very kind of ye to help him like that."

He means it, too. Not everyone would be willing to help someone out like that. And while he doesn't know what type of specific riding beastie a Taubuk is, he does pick up on her phrasing. "Landed on?" That sounds as though there might have been some sort of spacecraft involved. A regular sailing ship, and she would have said 'landed at'. Jamie's familiar enough with planetary travel that he takes a guess. "Is Draenor the name of the planet, then, or is it a specific place on the planet ye landed on?"

[Adventuring garners someone like me plenty of money. Besides, it was the right thing to do, as the Light bades.] Hey, she didn't get a holy steed for nothing! Nehaalista did seem pleased, though it was more over his now more-proper pronunciation than it was about her own deeds.

She shifted on her hooves and rubbed the elekk's side as it grazed on the grass at their feet. [Draenor is the planet's name. Well, was, it is called "Outland" more often than not now. "was called"? I do not know what term to use anymore.] Which was both a sobering thought and a frustrating one.

[My people are originally from a place called Argus. I've never seen it, though.]

"Adventuring?" Jamie asks curiously. "Ye mean, like going on adventures? How does that get ye money?" He's been on plenty of adventures, and he can't say that he's gotten money for them. Gotten locked up and nearly killed plenty of times, yes. Gotten paid to do so? Not so much. Although...

"I got a radio once by doing something like that," he admits. That radio's still probably somewhere on the TARDIS, come to think of it. Not that he can get into that at the moment, but maybe once they figure out how to defeat the Ohm that part will sort itself out.

It seems that Nehaalista is thinking along similar lines - at least in part. "Aye, well, I've not been able to figure that out either," he comments, looking less than thrilled by the admission. "I usually just wind up sounding like everything's still there. Maybe once we defeat the Ohm it will be."

Edited 2010-09-27 04:33 (UTC)

Nehaalista looks thoughtfully up at the quasi-realistic sky before answering, [I say "adventuring" but it's a bit more like filling a job in for a person who is having issues with one thing or another. That is what usually leads one to adventures, after all.]

She smiles with a little, little bit of hope before replying, [Perhaps it will. One must have faith for that, after all. And considering my calling, I seem to have that in spades.]

Jamie nods, hooking his thumbs behind the belt that holds the sporran in place while he tries to find a slightly more comfortable standing position. The worst thing about not having pockets is trying to find someplace to stick your hands while you talk. He doesn't mind it, though, not really having used pockets for most of his life.

"Faith?" She mentioned the Light before, and now that and a calling? He can't help but wonder if she's some type of religious...well, whatever her race is. "What is it that ye do, then?"

[I am a Vindicator,] Nehaalista explained. [We are the holy soldiers of the Light, and the main force of the Draenei people. I believe the humans call the other humans who do the same work for the Light "paladins."] But she doesn't look so sure of this. Paladins aren't exactly the same as members of the Hand of Argus, though their abilities were very similar. [Of course, not all of us are mute, just me.]

She grins then, showing white-white teeth.

'Vindicator' doesn't sound so familiar to Jamie, but..."I've heard the term paladin before," he comments. "In my day, usually ye would associate it with stories told about the warriors of Charlemagne's court. He was a great king...oh, about a thousand years or so before I was born."

Dryly, he adds, "Mind ye, I'm from a time that's a wee bit earlier than most of the humans on the ship, so they'll likely tell ye it's been longer if ye asked."

Her grin seems to be infectious, as he smiles as well. "Aye, well, mute or no, I'll not argue with having ye here. I hope ye don't mind it too much."

We Are Here to Do What We're Supposed to Do [open]

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