RP Everyone Anywhere and Else *Me (Thestarjar) and That Guy*

[thestarjar]

"There's padding. It's thinner. I don't know how you can stand something so suffocating!" Theida said. Though she wasn't admitting it, she'd slept very well on the couch, even if waking up had been terrifying.

 

[That Guy]

"We can't count on there being that kind of luxury where we're going, so you won't have to worry about it," Hother shrugged. "And as for me...well, if there are people here who survive sleeping rougher than I do, I've got no excuse for complaining about having to do it for myself."

 

[thestarjar]

"Hmm," she replied in some sort of semi-understanding agreement. Then she looked out the window whose light had interrupted her slumber. "So... Anything else? Are we ready to leave?"

 

[That Guy]

Hother tied one last knot in the package he had been compiling, contemplated it for a moment with his head at an angle, then nodded slowly.
"I think so. It doesn't feel real, but...I think so."

 

[thestarjar]

Theida walked over to the door, not knowing how to operate it, but indicating further readiness to leave with him.

 

[That Guy]

Hother hesitated, momentarily puzzled by her inaction, before it dawned on him.
"Oh, right..." he mumbled to himself, heading over and opening the door. "Do you not have doors where you're from, or are they just that different?"

 

[thestarjar]

She gestured to the doorknob. "We don't have that thing. I saw you use it to get in, so I figured you need to use it to get out. Didn't want to look stupid trying to push open a door that's locked by something other than runes."

 

[That Guy]

Hother scratched his right ear pensively.
"If I'm understanding right, you lock your doors with magic?" He touched the door gently, beginning to move to close it after them. "Doesn't that seem a little excessive?"

 

[thestarjar]

"Uh, no? It's not that hard to etch a symbol into a door. Then it only pushes open if you're authorized, or the person who made it, or however the rune is set up. And it's easier to open, too. When you're allowed to open it, that is."

 

[That Guy]

He mulled this notion over for a moment and a half.
"I guess, if you tried hard enough, you could extract some kind of subtext, from that, about the philosophies of here and where you're from, but I'm not that kind of thinker." He made one last pass of checking that he had locked the door, then made a suitably restrained gesture, to himself, out of turning to face the open world before them. "Besides, I guess it doesn't matter, wherever it is we're going."

 

[thestarjar]

"Uh... yeah, exactly, so who cares?" Theida replied. She looked around. "I think that's the direction I came from," she said, gesturing, "So we should probably go in a different direction. Maybe just the opposite direction entirely."

 

[That Guy]

"That works for me," Hother said, a smile blossoming on his face, the sheer scale and scope of what they were about to undertake finally striking him for the first time. Punctuated only by a single deep breath, he started walking, at about the speed he felt Theida would be able to comfortably keep pace with.

 

[thestarjar]

As they began walking, Theida looked around yet again. "Hey, are people usually out and about at this hour? 'Cause you might get... discouraged... from leaving. Also they might get weirded out by me, but that's a given."

 

[That Guy]

"This early?" He exhaled pensively. "...Maybe, I guess? The sheep don't sleep anywhere near as long as us, but I don't know. Some of them will be under curfew, and the rest wouldn't dare question me. I'm not comfortable with that, but...that's how it is."

 

[thestarjar]

"Oh. Are you some kind of upper class, even though you're not that old? I guess you are kinda tall," Theida replied, forgetting size had nothing to do with social class here, and that she really had no reference for his species' general height.

 

[That Guy]

"Not particularly; I--" He caught himself, and rearranged his thoughts, remembering he couldn't just put it in terms he was familiar with if he wanted to actually convey any meaning. "...Okay, so there are two species that live here. I thought we were the only two sapient species out there, but I guess that's just another 'here' thing. There's us-- the dogs-- and there's the sheep, and...that's the class-divide in a nutshell. We're apparently just 'better' because we're dogs, and nobody dares question it. Another thing you can blame on the elders..."

 

[thestarjar]

"That's terrible. At home, bigger griffins are in charge, but nobody thinks they're better. Well, uh, maybe some of them do, but they're not, and I don't think it's as bad as you're making this out to be." Theida looked around at the too-flat ground, the too-tall buildings, the surfaces that felt strangely barren from lack of runes. "Are we anywhere near getting out of this place yet?"

 

[That Guy]

"Should be, I think. For obvious reasons, I don't usually go out this far." Hother pondered for a moment. "What are the borders like where you're from? Natural? Or are there walls and guards and the like?"

 

[thestarjar]

"Nope, just mountains. It's pretty evident when the built-in structures stop and the completely uncivilized area starts. Wouldn't guards imply that there's somewhere to stop you from going? Do you have those here?"

 

[That Guy]

"...Now that you mention it, I guess it doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?" He looked at the ground for a moment, watching his own footfalls. "Some parts do have barricades, and some don't. I just assumed that the walls were there because those places weren't as obviously borders as the unmarked ones. Anyway, we're heading in the direction of an unmarked part. You can tell it's not our territory anymore because it just kind of...opens out, and there's a lot of nothing."