Land of the Machines
Thread Topic: Land of the Machines
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Raisa's eyes widened at the scene that was played before her. So that's what happened if you stayed too long here. She followed Nora.
But I wasn't planning on living here, Rasia thought. She had planned to go to the next city after awhile. Awhile changed based on the city, and it seemed like awhile was going to be shorter than usual this time around.
But if something happened and she had to stay longer? The Oiri might not take it too kindly, and she'd end up like that man she had just seen. -
After a little while more of walking, and the crowds died down and the buildings got smaller, they finally made it to Copper Street, a run down area of the town. Old fliers fluttered around in the light breeze, and hot steam poured out of the vents in the ground. Only a few people were out walking in this part of the city.
Alainora stopped in front of a small house. It was made mostly of wood, but appeared to have patches of scrap metal placed throughout the house as well, as if trying to patch up what couldn't be done with wood. There was an attached garage, and it almost seemed like it was bigger than the house itself. A dingy flickering light was lit by the door to the house, but other than that, it was extremely different than compared to the rest of the city.
"Alright, here we are," Alainora said, a slight sigh in her voice. "I know it's not much." -
"Don't worry," Rasia said, "I've had to deal with much worse." She remembered the first night sleeping on the streets. She had been doubting she'd be able to survive it. Rasia was used to plush pillows and soft blankets. Not cold hard stone, and being exposed to the elements. She had survived the night, though. She was starting to get used to it.
Thank you was starting to have a whole new meaning to her. She used to get things, and of course, having been brought up to be polite, she had always said, "Thank you," but she had never really thought about it. But now she was. "Thank you" meant someone was caring enough for her well-being. Now days, it meant that someone was helping her get to the next day and cared enough to do it. -
Alainora lead Rasia inside. There was a small living area, a kitchenette, without a stove, and a small hallway that lead to two other rooms; the bathroom and a bedroom. There was hardly any furniture and all the lights seemed to have been tampered with somehow.
"Morgan! I'm home!" Alainora shouted as she took off her bag and set it in the living room.
"Did you get the part?" A man shouted from the bedroom, his voice muffled from the distance.
"Yeah, I'm gonna work on the heater soon!" She paused and turned to Rasia. "Come on, my room is in the garage. We can get you changed in there."
Alainora opened the door to the garage. As expected, there was no vehicle in there, but it was a somewhat large space. There was an old fold out bed pushed up against one of the walls, and a few feet over from it a work bench. There was a lamp on the work bench which was the only light on in the room, but Alainora flipped a switch and a dim yellow light shined from overhead.
Pushed into the far corner of the room was a rack that had various types of clothes hanging up. Alainora pointed to it.
"I have stuff you can look through over there. Everything thrown on the bottom of the rack without a hanger is stuff that doesn't fit me, which will probably be your best bet." -
Alright, thank you," Rasia said. She sifted through the clothes and grabbed a few outfits she liked. One of them was much too small for her, the rest were either a little tight, or fit her fine. She chose one that fit her well and walked back to where Nora was. "Is this one good?" she asked her. If it wasn't, there was another one she could wear instead.
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Alainora looked up from her work bench. She was trying to sort some parts out so that she could get started on the water heater, something she had been needing to do for awhile.
"Yeah, that's perfect! That outfit was way too big for me. You can keep it," she said, standing up from her desk and walking over to the water heater on the other wall. "I just need to fix up this heater and we can see about getting some food or something if you're hungry."
Putting some goggles over her eyes and pulling her messy curly hair into a bun as best as she could, Alainora got to work on the heater. "So, Rasia, what village were you from originally? I'm assuming you're a refugee, right?" -
"Thanks," Rasia said when Nora said it was okay. "And I think this one fell off a hanger, or something," she said, holding up the one that was way to small for her.
Then Nora asked where she was from and if she was a refugee. Rasia froze. "I – I'd rather not talk about it," she said, looking down. She really didn't. She tried not to think about it, actually. But lately it was the only thing she could think about. -
Hearing that Rasia didn't want to talk about it, Alainora kept quite and continued working on the water heater. She knew what Rasia was going through. Almost everyone in the city understood. Almost half of the population was composed of refugees of the war. Too greedy to take the fighting to their own homes, the two cities ravaged every single village in between, stealing resources and ideas.
After hearing a satisfying pop, Alainora smiled and began turning some knobs on the old machine. A rumbling sound vibrated throughout the metal, creating a nice low humming sound.
She quickly got up from the heater and shouted "Morgan! I think I got the heater working again! Can you see if we have hot water?"
"It's working!" the man shouted after a short pause.
"Oh, finally. It's been almost a week since we've had warm water!" -
"How are you able to fix things so easily?" Rasia asked. She certainly would never be able to fix a water heater. She'd never really ever seen people have to fix things before, unless there would be a hail storm, or something, and everyone was out fixing their roofs. And in the palace, you just expected everything to be working 110%.
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An awkward grin spread across Alainora's face as she scratched the back of her head.
"Oh, I don't know really. Practice, I guess? When my brother and I moved here, we were only little kids. I think I was 13? I've always been a really small kid, and factory workers would take me in and they would have me work on the hard to reach equipment. I mostly learned from them, and they would pay me with food in return, since we were too young to receive our government checks at the time. Now that I'm older, I've made a job out of it to pick up extra money. It comes in handy, you know?"
"Hey, Lei Tir!" Morgan said, knocking on the already open door. "I know I said that I would be home tonight, but I got called in for an overtime shift."
The smile quickly disappearing from her face, Alainora looked up at her brother. The two seemed extremely different from one another. Where Alainora was very short, her brother towered over her, his height hitting at least six feet. His shoulders were wide, and his arms looked worked by physical labor. He had messy, brown hair that threatened to hang in his eyes. In fact, their eyes were pretty much the only physical thing they shared.
"Really? But this is your seventh day in a row that you'll be working. You're going to overwork yourself," Alainora complained.
"I know, but you and I both know that we could use the extra money," Morgan retaliated.
He sighed and looked away from his sister, only to do a double take when he saw Rasia.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know we had a guest." -
(Your responses are dwarfing mine lol)
"It's fine, " Raisa said, a slight smile on her lips. "You can go if you want." She didn't want to affect their schedules too much. She wanted them to not have to feel like they owed her hospitality as a guest. She would be out of their hair in a few days at the most, anyway. And then she'd go to the next city. -
(I just have so much to say i guess i'm overly excited about soaping again haha)
Morgan lowered his head with a soft sigh, scratching the back of his head. "I already told them I'd come in, so it's too late for me to say no now. I go in an hour."
Pressing her lips together, Alainora crossed her arms and stood up, staring at her brother. She looked almost pathetic trying to stand up next to him.
"You're an idiot. I don't care about the money, I care more about your safety, and exhausting yourself in that factory isn't going to do us any good!"
The two of them stayed silent for a moment, and an awkward tension spread throughout the room. Alainora looked away and began walking over to her workbench instead.
"I'll leave some money on the counter before I leave. Maybe you could take... uh...?"
"Rasia."
"Yes, Rasia, out to dinner." -
"You don't have to do that," Rasia said. She knew that "going out to dinner" was usually more expensive than buying the ingredients and making it yourself. She didn't want to affect them this much. She knew she was depending on them, but she did not want to hurt them. "You've done so much for me already."
-
"Well, I need to go out anyway. We don't have anymore food left here, and trying to find good produce at the market is a nightmare," Alainora explained. "I know this really good soup stand, Teold Enow, that's pretty cheap."
"Yeah, it's been a bit since you've been there. I'm sure Cassie misses you," Morgan chuckled as he started to leave. "You two have fun with that, though. I need to get ready for work."
Alainora turned her attention to Rasia. "Well, it's just about dinner time. Wanna head out?" -
"Sure," Raisa said. She definitely felt more confident that she'd blend in with the crowd. Getting out of that dress was a relief. She was still going to keep it. That, and the necklace she wore around her neck (forgot to mention that in the character sheet. Longer chain, though) were the only things she had of her mother's.
"I'll be out of your hair in a few days at the very most," Raisa said to Nora.
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