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Anna ~ Don't let anyone dull your sparkle ~ & Maven's Queen
message 101:
by
Anna
(new)
Aug 25, 2019 05:15PM
The next morning, Jarin awoke early. He was still tired, but wasn't going to try to run off anywhere. Something felt strange around his middle, and when he felt it, he frowned. He just remembered that his stomach had been heartlessly dragged across the ground and piles of wood, and now it felt like it was bandaged up. He yawned, shifting a little into a sitting position. He leaned against the wall and looked at his wrist and that hateful little piece of metal trapping him with this girl. He pulled on it several times, but did nothing but irritate the skin around his wrist. It was useless to try and remove it, so he sighed and slumped down.
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Dasha had not ended up getting much rest. Instead she had staired aimlessly up at the sagging ceiling for a couple hours until she had decided there were better things to be doing with her time. Around now the sun was just beginning to rise. In the night Dasha had managed to find a back doorway which lead out to a small area littered with other junk, mostly more broken crates and shattered bottles, and a couple half dead trees. From one tree a rope swayed ominously in the wind from a high branch, frayed where it had been cut. Now she sat out there, under the tree with the rope, a small fire built and going with a couple of fish that she had managed to catch at a nearby stream speared on a stick and held over it. Soon she would need to go back in and check on her prisoner.
Jarin glanced around the cabin, but didn't move anywhere. It wasn't like he could do anything or get away, and certainly not out of this time period. Something inside of him was urging him to change into the other clothes he noticed in a pile and go exploring, but he had already stretched the girl's temper one too many times. Any more, and he probably would kill himself. So he hunkered back down with a grunt and waited for her to return-hopefully bringing food.
After about ten more minutes Dasha was happy with how the fish looked. She doused the fire before heading back towards the structure, cooked fish in hand. She quietly came through the back door, fully expecting to find the prince still asleep. To her surprise she found him awake and sitting up. "Ah, you're awake." She commented. She had already traded all of her modern attire for clothing from this time period, however she still wore her supply belt under the large shirt she now wore and her boots, which with pant legs pulled down over them, were well passing enough anyway. She broke the stick with the two fish on it in half and held one out in his direction as she neared. ". . . Here, it's not much of a breakfast, but it's better than nothing."
Jarin took the fish and looked at it on the stick for a moment. He didn't really like fish, but he wasn't going to complain and have the girl throw a comment at him about how he was such a prince or something along those lines. "Why are you feeding me?" He asked with a frown. He lifted the bottom of his shirt, revealing her own old shirt. "And why is your shirt wrapped around me?"
He took a bite from the fish, hiding a grimace.
"Do you always unnecessarily question everything?" Dasha asked, meaning it as a rhetorical question and not expecting an answer. She settled in at the opposite side of the room, across from him. ". . . You're worth slightly more alive than dead, so I have to make sure you don't die of anything stupid like starvation or infection." She answered boredly.
Jarin frowned. "I was just asking. Besides, how am I more alive than dead? They'll only kill me anyway." He finished the fish and tossed the stick towards the girl. "Got anything else? Besides fish?"
Dasha shrugged, "I don't know why it would be set up that way, I just know it is. Maybe killing you is a last resort." She guessed aloud. ". . . Unfortunately for now fish is about all we have." She answered. "I'll try to find something else, but if I were you I wouldn't get my hopes up too much."
"Yeah." Jarin muttered. "Meanwhile, what are you planning on doing? Making me stay here while you try to fix that gadget you broke?" He yawned and lay back down again, using her jacket as a pillow once more.
Dasha rolled her eyes "For the second time, I did not break it. It was obviously already busted." She defended. She stood up and walked over to the side of the room that he was on, swiftly yanking her jacket out from behind his head before shaking it out and draping it over the back of a wobbly chair at the corner of the room. "But yes, I am going to try to fix it. No way am I leaving you here alone though, not after last night. You're coming with me."
Jarin sat back up after she yanked the jacket away from him. He wished she didn't think he was just some stupid prince all the time. Yes, he was a prince, but that didn't make him stupid. And after awhile, when everyone just wanted to kill him, it got annoying. He often wished he could just be some common person."Fine. I'm a prince; so I can handle it." He told her, rising.
Dasha didn't see what a title acquired by accident of birth had to do with anything in this sistuation, but she didn't argue that topic. "You are not handling anything." She stated instead, "You are simply going with me so I can make sure you dont wonder out and do anything to jeopardize the future, our lives, and most importantly my career. Your job is to stand back and stay quiet." She supplied, leaving no detail open for interpretation. She glanced to the pile of clothes on the floor and then back to the prince. "You have five minutes to get dressed, you can't go out in modern clothes." She didn't leave any room for negotiation as she headed towards and out the back doorway again to give him his five minutes.
Jarin rolled his eyes at her back. She was so annoying, and he felt so frustrated now. Nothing he said was right. He didn't care about her or her job. He wanted to just completely ignore her and spite her, but what could he do for a grumpy irritating bounty hunter who wanted nothing more than to bring him back so he could die?Jarin yanked his shirt off, grimacing as it bumped the fake bandages around his abdomen. He picked up the white linen shirt that already seemed to be slightly dirty, and pulled it on over his head. Then he changed into the other pants and fastened the leather belt before putting on the pair of dusty boots. He slapped the hat down on his head. The outfit made him fit perfectly in this time period, besides the cuff around his wrist.
Jarin stepped out of the rickety shack in his new clothes, the lump around his waist rather noticable.
While Dasha waited she braided her hair back, securing it with a short, dusty section of frayed rope. It took her a couple of tries to get it to work properly. As she finished with that she caught movement by the rickety building and saw the prince step out of the shack. She scanned him over, half expecting to find that he hadn't changed. He had though and it looked like she had done a fairly decent job of finding clothing that fit appropriately. About the only thing she wasn't happy with was the shirt, her makeshift first aid job was noticeable beneath it, but it would have to do for now. Besides, that surely wouldn't be all that abnormal here. What was abnormal was the cuff. Her own shirt sleeve covered her's but that was probably due to the fact that her's fit significantly larger on her. She made a mental note to try and find a shirt with longer sleeves for him later on. Hopefully they wouldn't run into anyone anyway. "Boots fit alright, cowboy?"
"Tight, but I got my feet in. Just depends if I can get them back out. Probably won't matter, as I'll be dead soon anyway." Jarin said, walking over towards her. "And look." He held up his wrist and showed her the high tech looking cuff. "Anyone that walks by will see that I look very much from this time period." He said sarcastically. Jarin looked around shoving his hands into his pockets. The town wasn't busy yet, but was probably going to get later. The buildings lined a dusty street with a few wooden boarded walkways out front.
They were a bit farther away from the direct town, at the end where the older buildings were. Most people wouldn't be spending time over here unless they were just passing by.
Dasha rolled her eyes, "Always so negative. You don't know that you'll necessarily be dead soon, whoever called for your capture might choose to just imprison you indefinitely upon an alive arrival." She commented with a shrug. "Its the best I could find given such little time and resources." She stated in reference to the shirt. "Besides, I just want to get a quick look at things so we shouldn't be out long enough for running into people being an issue. . . but just to be on the safe side, let's get moving." She didn't wait for a reply and started off in the proper direction.
Because being imprisoned for the rest of my life will be so much better, Jarin grumbled miserably. He trudged after her and kicked his feet through the dust, sending up clouds that floated behind them.
Dasha didn't comment any further on the subject. She continued on, trying to forget that he was even following behind her. Soon she reached the site of the doorway that had brought them here: Another very small shabby looking building, but in better repair than the one that they had just come from. She stepped up onto the lopsided platform of wooden planks that sat before the doorway, the planks creaking underfoot as she headed through the doorway. Just as the last place, this one looked abandoned, as it needed to be to serve as a functioning time travel doorway. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for or what to expect. She had never had to worry about knowing how to make repairs before.
"How long will it take?" Jarin asked, peeking his head in slightly around the corner. He didn't think it would be quick, but he didn't really know anything about time travelling anyway. He sat down on the outside of the shack and leaned his head back, resting it against the rough boards."It's boring out here. Why can't I go on and do something?" He complained after about only five minutes.
Dasha ignored his first question, unsure of the answer herself. She scanned the room looking for any clue as to where to focus. She paced the small, dusty room, not even knowing where to begin. She stopped by the doorway again, rationalizing that it had to be near it and not towards the back of the room. She started inspecting to boards by the doorway. Soon she found a small carving in one plank of wood. As she studied it and traced over it the cuff at her wrist lit up as did the plank of wood. She was then able to pry it away from the wall, revealing a complicated patchwork of gears and other pieces. She stared at it a long moment, overwhelmed, before the prince's comment broke her out of her slightly catatonic state. She breathed a heavy sigh. "Because as you clearly demonstrated last night, you do not recognize the consequences that your actions may have."
Jarin scowled and moved his hand around in the dust, pulling up a stone and rolling it around in his hands. He yawned, peering up at the bright warm sun. It was only in the morning, and sooner than later it would grow hot and uncomfortable. He hoped that by then she would have given up so they could go back into the cooler building.Another thought, though ridiculous, entered his mind. What would happen if he tried to kill the girl? Could he tear the bracelet off her arm and be free again? No. That was worse than ridiculous. She was a bounty hunter, and he was a prince with not even close to the same amount of knowledge as she had.
He tossed the rock away from him and pulled his hat off his head. He laid it on top of his face and closed his eyes.
Dasha, not wanting to mess anything up further, simply studied the set up. Twenty five minutes later ,once she felt she had a good look at it, she replaced the board that she had removed making sure it snapped securely back into place. She needed to do a bit of studying before she dove into this. The communication cuff didn't have a strong enough signal to send a distress message, but maybe there was enough to bring up a simple repair manual. Surely it had to be a simple fix. She headed back out of the building and found the prince, sitting outside the building, hat over his face and probably asleep again. She stood there, watching him for a moment with her arms crossed. She had to resist the urge to kick him to get his attention again. "Alright, let's go." She announced loudly instead.
Jarin shifted and sat up, the hat falling into his lap. He hit it back onto his head and stood, brushing off his rear end. "Alright, now are we going back to the future to kill me?" He asked, glancing at the building and crossing his big arms. He hated how much she was treating him like a dog. Do this, do that, come here, go there, let's go, blah, blah, blah.
Dasha sighed again. "As much as I wish that was the case, it is not." She couldn't wait to get this prince out of her hair, somehow he managed to get on her last nerve without even trying all that hard. "I've gotten a good look at everything, but before I go poking around and mess anything else up I'm going to try to do a little research. I should be able to find a simple repair guide saved on my cuff's data base that will help me learn the basics. In the mean time it's best we continue to stay out of sight."
"And meanwhile you expect me to stay quiet and good while you take hours and hours to not fix this stupid device? I'm going to go stir crazy with doing nothing!" Jarin suddenly shouted, throwing his hat at her hard. "I don't care if you're a bounty hunter or the queen of England! I'm sick of you and all your stupid commands on making me wait for nothing to happen! Why don't you just kill me right now and then you can take all darned day?!" He was very loud, and someone stepped out of a nearby building, squinting down the road at them.
His sudden outburst caught Dasha off guard, but somehow she managed to keep her cool, at least for now. The only tell otherwise was her hand clinched in a fist at her side ". . . This is not the time nor place for this." She said calmly, unflinching. "I know you don't care about the delicate fabric of time and you have no reason to, but I assure you it is all very necessary."
"Yeah, well maybe you should shut me up before I cause a bigger scene!! After all, I'm a idiotic prince FROM THE FUTURE!" He yelled loudly.The man frowned and started walking down the road towards them. "Is everything alright?" He called out.
"And all you want to do is murder me!" He continued. "Some crazy woman from the future brings me here to kill me!"
((The man: https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com...))
Great. Now he had drawn attention to them, the only solution was to work with it. She discreetly pressed a button on the cuff at her own wrist, making it look like she was adjusting her shirt sleeve. She powered her's off making it to where both would just look like bands of useless metal incase the prince got any more wild ideas. "Yes, we're fine." She called out to the stranger. "My friend is just a bit confused, must of had a bit too much to drink last night." She offered in explanation to the prince's loud proclamations that must sound like nonsense to those in this time period. She gave the prince a warning glance but didn't say anything further as to not give him any fuel to work with.
"Yeah, her friend! That's just nice, honey, but you aren't my friend!" Jarin continued.The man drew closer and frowned. "I didn't see you in the tavern last night and you don't smell." He looked at Jarin for a long time. "Um...are you sure you're both alright? Is he bothering you?"
"I'm not bothering her! I'm trying to get away from her, because she's bothering me!" He held up his wrist. "She put this on me so I can't escape, and now she wants to time travel back to drop me off so I can be MURDERED FOR BEING A HUMAN ON EARTH!"
Dasha sighed and was silent a moment before glancing to the stranger who was now closer. "He's been like this all morning. I just assumed. . . but if you say you didn't see him in the tavern . . ." She let the statement trail off and adopted a sort of nervous look, biting her bottom lip and playing her part well. "I hope it's not anything serious, we made certain to circle wide around that last town we passed as there was rumor about a fever going around there. Added a whole day and a half to our ride . . . that crazy thing was supposedly a cure all." She said, referring to the cuff that he had just shown, "bought it from some travelling merchant who swore it was the reason behind his good health, we see now how credible that was." She retrieved the hat that the prince had thrown at her from the ground, brushing the dust off of it. "Anyways, thank you kindly for the concern, but everything is alright, or at least I hope it'll be once he gets some rest." She gently but firmly grabbed the prince's arm, intending on leading him away and ending this interaction.
The man seemed to accept the story, and nodded his head. He turned around and returned to his building.Meanwhile, Jarin was livid. He yanked his arm away from her and glared daggers at her.
"You idiot!" He growled. "Merchant? Sickness? I think the only one who's sick is you, for deciding to capture people for a living! Rest?! I don't need rest!" He swore rudely.
Dasha watched the man leave and only resumed with the prince when he was gone. She glared back at him, the only outward display of her seething anger. She managed to keep her voice even and low, "You don't know anything about me or my choices so don't talk like you do." Normally she would of just ignored such a comment but this time it had struck a nerve. "Maybe you don't need rest, but a severe attitude adjustment wouldn't be a bad idea." She shoved the hat she was still holding back at him, hard. "If you stopped and removed your head from your royal backside for a moment you might be surprised to find that some things are indeed bigger and more important than you." She turned the cuff on again and dissapeared into the shack behind them once more. To heck with the repair manual, she couldn't stand this much longer.
"When you've got nothing else to worry about, worrying about your life and wanting to stay alive is kind of important." Jarin gritted his teeth and sat down outside the shack. There was no way he was going inside with her. He tossed the hat beside him and brought his knees up to his chest. When the woman had thrust it at him, he had nearly stumbled, but managed not to.
He started wondering how far away he could get before he was jerked backwards from the invisible lead. Maybe he could go and talk to someone-someone who wouldn't just hear the woman and decide he was sick or mentally unstable.
Dasha, still seething, went back to the panel of wood that she had replaced only a few minutes ago and roughly removed it again. She looked to the complex labyrinth of gears and had to remind herself to take a moment and not just start angrily tearing through everything. That would just cause more problems. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a calming deep breath. Once she felt less explosive she took another look at what was beyond. She carefully reached forward and tried turning one of the gears. As a result other pieces began moving. . . Until they suddenly haulted, unable to be turned any further. Dasha frowned, her eyes scanning over the path of movement that had just halted. Her eyes came to rest on a particular gear with odd shaped teeth on it. Upon further inspection she found that two of the teeth were bent and a crack was present down the middle. It probably wasn't the whole issue, but it was most definately at least a contributing factor. This was obviously an issue as 1) she couldn't exactly easily get a replacement, and 2) she didn't have the correct tool to remove it even if she did have a replacement part for it. She continued to study the gear work, trying to determine if there was anything else that was throwing it off as well.
Jarin shifted against the wall and pulled the edge of his shirt up, looking at the makeshift bandage wrapped around his stomach. It was uncomfortable, but wasn't as painful as injuries in the past had been. He glanced towards the door, and seeing that the woman hadn't stepped back out to yell at him for something else, he started undoing the shirt, pulling it to the side. His wounds underneath weren't very deep, but they still hurt a little. Several of them were red-not with blood-around the perimeters. When he touched the skin around one, it felt warmer than it was supposed it be.Oh well. Jarin guessed he was going to die in more than one way now; with the woman's threats and irritable manner, and some infection from the wild west.
Jarin quickly tied the cloth back around his abdomen, pulling the shirt down over to cover it again.
He sighed and looked around, feeling the sun on his face again. It was growing hotter, scorching the dust and buildings nearby, so Jarin snatched up his hat again and plopped it onto his messy tangled hair.
Coming up otherwise empty handed, Dasha sighed and took one last look at the broken gear before putting the board that covered it back in place. It was beginning to get hot in here, she could imagine how it must be outside. Why couldn't she of gotten stuck in a more modern time period with widespread conveniences such as electricity and running water? She wiped her hands off on the rough fabric of her pants and slowly headed back outside again, feeling the wave of increased heat as she stepped out of the sheltered area. She stopped just outside of the doorway, stepping off to the side and leaning against the exterior wall, arms crossed. By this point most of her anger has dissipated, but she still harbored some hard feelings. She could feel the warmth that the structure had absorbed from the sun seeping through the fabric of her shirt and warming her back further. For a long moment she didn't say anything and didn't acknowledge the prince, just stood, staring out at the dust covered little town. Finally she broke her silence, but still didn't so much as even glance towards the prince. ". . . Good news is I think I found what's wrong." She let the statement trail off, not knowing if even that simple statement was going to cause a big scene again.
The prince was sweltering out in this heat. He heard a crunch of stones and sand beside him but didn't glance towards her. He continued lying there, slouched against the rough boards. In fact, he didn't even respond or make any sort of movement to show that he knew she was there. He yawned and swiped off the sweat heading on his forehead.
So that was how he was going to play it, just ignoring her childishly. Maybe the silver lining in that meant she wouldn't have to listen to him anymore. She played along for now, unmoving from her own spot proped against the structure. Her mind went back to the busted gear, trying to think of a solution, any solution, that didn't involve the only obvious option she could think of.
"Okay, you win. Not that I care. What do you need?" Jarin finally broke the silence and squinted at her. He wondered what he could do to make her less angry with him all the time. Perhaps less arguing with everything she said. He wasn't sure. Anyhow, this sun was extremely uncomfortable and he wasn't sure what to do to make it better while he waited.
Dasha was expecting the silent stand off to last mich longer than it did. She forced herself to stay civil despite the annoyance she still felt as to not say anything stupid that would throw them back to square one. ". . . One of the main gears is missing a couple teeth and is cracked, it is not fixable but is replaceable, the only issue is getting a replacement and the right tools to do so. . ." She let the statement trail off. "We could wait for aid from my time, but I fear it will not come timely enough. I will not have enough of a signal to send a simple distress message until the full moon. We can not stay here that long, today made that apparent . . . There is only one solution I can think of." She paused, obviously internally conflicted about even voicing the so called solution.
"And what would that be?" Jarin asked, tilting his head towards her. He wasn't sure he really wanted to hear such a response. Also, he didn't agree with her that "today made that apparent." She had been the one who had gone on and on about him being sick. It wasn't his fault that he was captured and expected to do nothing and be totally fine with dying or being imprisoned.
"Making a replacement here, from materials in this time. A blacksmith may be able to re create the piece needed, but it is much too risky to even entertain the idea of relying on such services. . ." The only relatively safe option was to make it themselves. "Perhaps if the methods were learned though . . .through an internship or something. . ." Dasha let the statement hang and took in a deep breath, the next part the thing that she was mostly conflicted over. "The problem is they would never allow a female to hold such a position in this time period . . ." She glanced to the prince, knowing that even he should be able to connect the incredibly close together dots.
"So what...?" Jarin sighed heavily. "You're going to make me learn how to make a new piece, make the new piece, and bring myself back to be turned in? Look at the logic there, or lack of. Why on earth would I purposely make it so I can go back and have a miserable rest of the short life I'll be allowed? If that?"
Dasha breathed a long sigh and was silent for a long moment, "No, I'm not going to make you do anything." She stated. "However I am prepared to make a deal. If you succeed, I will release you back in your time, at this point getting you out of my hair is reward enough . . . I do feel it fair to warn you that there will undoubtedly be others after you if you are released, but I will not be one of them which should be of great comfort."
Jarin gave a half smirk at that last comment. "Of course others will be after me. But how do I really know that what you're saying is true? So many people bargain, but they're all lies." He crossed his arms, squinting up at the blue cloudless sky. "What if I decline? I could get used to it here. No one would be after me here. I could live like an ordinary person."
"You have no reason to believe it is the truth." Dasha admitted, "I guess you will just have to trust that I am an individual of my word, just as I would have to trust you wouldn't do anything incredibly stupid." She fell silent a moment, considering his last point. She took in a sharp breath as her mind jumped back to the quick judgements about him she already held. Irresponsible. . .Apathetic. . . Egocentric . She closed her eyes for a moment, gritting her teeth to keep from saying anything negative. This was never going to work if they continued to always be at each other's throats. Finally she found some civil words to speak. "I suppose that would seem like a better option to you, but it would not be without consequence to both you and the future world. . . You may be able to pull it off for a while, but someone will eventually find you anyway, it is not a matter of if they will but of when they will. With the price on your head there will be no mercy for you, even here."
"If I am to die anyway, the future doesn't mean anything to me." Jarin said stubbornly. "It's not fair. All I wanted to do was leave home and try to live a normal life. I don't want to be a stupid prince. I'd rather change my life to be someone that no one cares about. I suppose the only option is yes, to make that certain part and return home to be killed. I guess my life is just shorter than most."
Dasha had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything about his first comment. She caught herself feeling a bit bad about the fact that no matter his options, he was one step closer to death either way and quickly pushed it down, throwing up her icy wall again. There was no good way to reply to that anyway. " . . . We should get out of this sun." She stated, pushing away from the side of the building. "It would suck to be dehydrated and get a sun burn on top of everything else."
"I don't care anymore." Jarin sighed, standing and turning to go inside. He really was stuck. Nothing he did would keep himself safe. Perhaps he would just learn and make that metal gear, and at least make this girl pleased with him somehow. He sat down and slumped against the wall, groaning a bit. His head swam a bit but quickly returned to normal.
Dasha waited a moment before following him inside the structure. She however went to the other side of the room and settled in. For now there was really nothing more that she could do, besides check her cuff again and see if the signal status had changed at all. She pushed up her sleeve and did so, but was quickly met with the all too familiar data retrieval error message.
