[open] March Madness

[exoterminator]

Who: Samus & youuuuu
When: post-summit, March-April
Where: Free Cities, Cadens & Horizon
What: Samus discovers how to reach the Horizon, suffers some ill-effects from Ronan's chaos snafu (plotting), and other sundry things
Warnings: none yet. [also, brackets or prose; I'll match!]

Comments

[fourarmedandangerous]

Goro half-turns his head to look back at Samus as she speaks up. He had welcomed the silence; most humans were far chattier than he liked, the incessant need to fill dead air aggravating. But it's been sometime since they set out, and since Samus has been agreeable traveling company so far, he merely nods.

"Yes." And then motions with his head to the casket currently being balanced on one massive shoulder, held in place by one of his upper arms. He carries another in his opposite lower arm, tucked against his body, for balance. He's been carrying them both since they set out and does not appear fatigued by it. "This one I took from a Solvunn sorcerer in kombat." He turns back to observe the desert in front of him.

"I had hoped to take another, but our battle was interrupted and I chose to withdraw." No need to jeopardize the casket he'd already won. They most certainly did not beat him.

[exoterminator]

She expected the Beast of Burden to do most of the work but when Goro took it upon himself to be said beast, Samus didn't argue it. He had two more arms than hers, after all. So long as the job got done was all she cared about. It meant she could afford more attention to the animals, supplies, and technological equipment here.

"No shame in a tactical retreat." She had her pride and even a bit of circumstantial arrogance but even she knew when to pull back in a situation she was clearly outmatched, or when it wasn't situationally advantageous. It seemed Goro understood the same.

"What interrupted it?"

[fourarmedandangerous]

"Our kombat was interrupted by another." Goro replies as they crest another dune. "Had I not already been guarding one casket I would have been inclined to welcome the additional challenge." He's taken on multiple opponents before and come out on top. "But as it was, retreating was the sounder option. I will finish things with them properly, later."

Retreat was all well and good, but kombat was still owed, and Goro intended to collect, from Himeka at least. The disappearance of the would-be shepherd's domain from the Horizon had not gone unnoticed by Goro, who felt a profound sense of disappointment that he would not have his , rematch.

"How much farther?" He asks.

[exoterminator]

It's not entirely satisfying but her main question had been answered sufficiently enough. It seemed the Dimming was a bit of a loss for Thorne so all the more reason to hurry up with this little experiment and not risk being out here longer than necessary or drawing unwanted attention. She suspected that, given the opportunity, Thorne would try to take these back.

"This is far enough." After the last dune the arid land spills out into a flat plain, dry earth peppered with brush, shrubs and a semi-circle of thirsty desert trees.

"We'll set up camp here." She says, seeing no better place. "I'll tie up the animals, set the caskets there. I'll come over with the equipment."

[fourarmedandangerous]

Goro merely grunts in response, heading to the indicated spot and setting the casket in his lower arms down first before sliding the other off his shoulder and putting it down next to the first. He rolls his shoulders, cracking his neck from side to side as he does so with an audible snapping noise.

"They are placed." He calls to Samus once he's feeling a bit limber again. "But as for the device, I will leave that to you." Its use had been explained to him, but Shokan hands were not exactly built for precision or delicate work, with only three meaty fingers to a single massive hand.

"The desert is dangerous. We will need to keep watch."

[exoterminator]

Goro is useful and competent and that's really all she could ask for in a mission like this. He does the grunt work of moving the caskets and she does as she declared. Once the animals and supplies are squared away she checks in on the device. During their journey it had on and off been emitting some staticky noise, which she remedied with some Percussive Maintenance, but she suspected that was only buying time it never had in the first place. She attempts to take it out but recoils her hand with a hiss.

The device is hot and smells like burning.

"You think they could have anticipated the need for basic liquid cooling out here." She groans and tries again, using the edges of her leather satchels like mittens to carry it.

[fourarmedandangerous]

By the time they're finished setting up, even Goro can smell the burning device, and he certainly hears Samus' hiss of pain. He approaches her as she tries to hold the device without burning herself. "Here." He offers a lower hand. "Shokan do not burn easily."

The benefits of having the blood of the dragon.

"We should not dawdle, however. The device does not look like it will last much longer. What must we do now?"