Mysterious Circumstances (pm to discuss joining)

[slippedhalo]

Hilde gently pushed the cat from her lap, "Hera, down!" She said as the cat landed on her feet and scampered off. The old woman used her walking stick for support as she rose from her chair and approached the trio climbing the porch steps, reaching up to embrace her grat niece and kiss her cheek. "I'll have more time for that soon, honey. Now that this fine gentleman has arrived. Austin, is it?" She asked, shaking his hand and smiling up into his dispassionate face. "...The first natural born translator of the alien language in a lifetime, what an honor it is! You must be excited to meet The Cousins, eh?"

His shrug wasn't very encouraging. Still, she pressed on. "Well, come on inside. The food won't stay warm forever. Kendal, it's the beef stew I taught your father to make. I hope you like it....Austin, who's your beautiful companion?"

April smiled and shook Hilde's hand, "April, Commander April Foster, ma'am. You have a lovely home. Thanks for the invitation."

Hilde put an arm around April, hugging her gently, "Oh, Austin, she's a keeper! April, are you the 2nd?"

April nodded, "Yes, ma'am. I helped Kate get us down from the ship."

"Then, thank you. You got our boy here safely. Now, once he's finished his internship I'll finally get my retirement." She indicated the small, round table in the cluttered but neat kitchen and told the three to sit as she ladled steaming bowls of beef stew and passed them to her relative to distribute. "I'm old. I love my job muchly but it's time for me to be selfish and enjoy my twilight years. Austin, I'm so grateful for you. I hope you enjoy this job too. It's crucial to the colony survival. We need to work together and trade with the other races. It can't be done without good communication...Eat up. There's plenty!"

 

[SlySparrow0003]

Kendal smiled a full smile as she ate up. Swallowing her food she said enthusiastically, "Wow Hilde, the foods great, I always wondered were my dad learned to make such great stew!" Grinning as she ate more, Hilde was such a nice person, always a sun on dark days.

 

[slippedhalo]

Hilde smiled at her great niece's compliment. It felt good to be appreciated and it was nice to still be able to have lots of family alive and well. So many in the colony weren't as lucky. She, herself lost her sister (Kendal's grandmother) and three of her four children in that plague long ago, plus, her great niece, Kendal, had lost her lovely husband that year, and before she could even tell him there was a third baby on the way...tragic. Yet, she and Kendal were from a family considered "lucky". Some entire lines had been wiped out or left with just one or two surviving members.

She had to shake herself out of the digression of thoughts and sat down to eat now herself. "Feel free to pour yourself some iced tea or lemonade. Both are freshly made." She said between bites, ignoring the click her dentures made as she chewed. It used to annoy her to no end, but George, the dentist, said that was as tight as he could get them to fit before they'd be painful. So, she had to learn to live with the noise, more noticeable to herself than others, anyways, as a consequence of maturing, just like the arthritis and sore knee.

 

[Othermoose]

Austin ate a few spoonfuls of the stew before pushing the bowl away. He looked at the lemonade with distaste. "Do you have anything acholic? Or tobacco? I've needed to smoke since I woke up." Austin rasped. He wasn't looking forward to being the lifeline between the humans and the cousins, and he was going to need something to take some of the stress off of himself.

 

[Othermoose]

Will shrugged, "There's not much to tell. The pamphlets explain a lot...oh, those merfolk...nympho's, all of them." He laughed, "...but, really sweet."

"That's exactly how I'd describe Adrianna. Our mermaid. She's a sweet girl, but if she had legs she couldn't keep them closed." David joked. "Several of the people on the ship were... Intimate with Adrianna. Is it common for the merfolk and the humans to pair up here? Is it even allowed? And when exactly will we get those pamphlets? That seems like information we'll need soon." David said.

 

[slippedhalo]

Austin ate a few spoonfuls of the stew before pushing the bowl away. He looked at the lemonade with distaste. "Do you have anything acholic? Or tobacco? I've needed to smoke since I woke up." Austin rasped. He wasn't looking forward to being the lifeline between the humans and the cousins, and he was going to need something to take some of the stress off of himself.

Hilde regarded him for a long, hard, minute. She then, simply replied, "Nope." She stood and took the bowl he disgarded, slightly offended. She remained calm. "And, no. We don't bother with tobacco. We grow things if use." She said with a steel tone. "You can have some mint leaves or valarian root to chew on if you need something to keep your mouth busy. Or, you could eat your dinner. I'd offer you a freshly baked roll but I'm half afraid you'd reject the offering without realizing what it takes for an old woman to get a sack of flour home around here...I guess we have more work ahead of us than I'd originally thought...was hoping for time off by Summer...Oh well."

 

[slippedhalo]

"That's exactly how I'd describe Adrianna. Our mermaid. She's a sweet girl, but if she had legs she couldn't keep them closed." David joked. "Several of the people on the ship were... Intimate with Adrianna. Is it common for the merfolk and the humans to pair up here? Is it even allowed? And when exactly will we get those pamphlets? That seems like information we'll need soon." David said.

Kate nudged David and chuckled, "We got them from Alec at that awkward meeting in the Town Hall. I put them on the dining table for everyone to read earlier. Good to know nobody has bothered yet." She said.

 

[Othermoose]

Hilde regarded him for a long, hard, minute. She then, simply replied, "Nope." She stood and took the bowl he disgarded, slightly offended. She remained calm. "And, no. We don't bother with tobacco. We grow things if use." She said with a steel tone. "You can have some mint leaves or valarian root to chew on if you need something to keep your mouth busy. Or, you could eat your dinner. I'd offer you a freshly baked roll but I'm half afraid you'd reject the offering without realizing what it takes for an old woman to get a sack of flour home around here...I guess we have more work ahead of us than I'd originally thought...was hoping for time off by Summer...Oh well."

"I didn't ask you to make me food. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't eat. Don't get your walker in a twist granny." Austin growled before stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. "This is going to suck." He thought to himself, missing the ship for the first time.

 

[Othermoose]

Kate nudged David and chuckled, "We got them from Alec at that awkward meeting in the Town Hall. I put them on the dining table for everyone to read earlier. Good to know nobody has bothered yet." She said.

David chuckled and smiled at Kate. "We're all idiots. If you don't spell it out for us we're going to miss it." David laughed. He began to laugh even louder when a loud snore came from Erik. "See? He's not even awake and he agrees with me. We all need a leader Kate." David laughed before giving her a quick kiss. "I assume you read the pamphlets, so what did they say?" He asked.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

Kendal was angry at the disrespect he was giving to Hilde. "Step off, kid" she growled at him.

 

[slippedhalo]

April sighed, glaring Austin's way.

"Ma'am, my apologies. He's...tired...I guess. It's been such a crazy day..."

"...Crazy. That was my thinking too, dear. Perhaps, I was too anxious to meet Austin. It has been a long day."

April nodded, desperate to save this olive branch on a day full of clusterfucks. "Exactly. A long day. Maybe, um...on another day?"

Hilde eyed Austin, "I ain't your granny, kid. You'd have a pulsing hot hand print across your cheek right now if I were but you'd also have been raised to know better in the first place had this lady had a hand in your upbringing." She said, pointing to her chest with a thumb. "Chuck that chip off your shoulder and come back when you understand a little common courtesy. I love my species far too much to leave their fate in the hands of someone who couldn't care less but I'm getting to a point where I can't keep it up anymore. Then what? You want to look all those kids on the schoolyard in their happy, shining faces and tell them you'd rather get drunk and be left alone to do selfish prick stuff than keep the peace between us and a race advanced enough to keep us from the brink of extinction if they continue to like us enough to help? "Sorry if you get sick and die, little Billy, I'm just too sleepy to be bothered learning the Ancient Race's secret recipe handed down to The Cousins which kept them healthy as can be while we wasted away and could always succumb again."...We still don't know why the disease stopped killing us when The Cousins started sharing some of their foods with us. I'm still working on the delicate unraveling of that mystery. But, as things stand, if I die tomorrow and nobody continues my work, we're vulnerable and all the prigress made won't matter, not if Mr Manners, here, acts so ridiculously adolescent that they opt out of further sharing. We need them more than they need us. And, I don't like admitting it, but, dammit, I need you."

She was getting herself agitated. Sitting and trying to catch her breath, she leaned heavily on the kitchen table, dizzy as her heart palpatated from too much agitation.

Concerned, April poured the old woman a glass of lemonade and handed it to her but as Hilde's hands were currently undteady, she brought thr glass to Hilde's lips and beseeched her to drink. "Please, my apologies...I'll take care of this somehow, Ma'am. Please don't upset yourself. You are too precious to the community and your love for humankind is admirable and amazing. He won't let you...us, down. I have faith in him. I will help him somehow."

Hilde looked exhausted as she rasped, "You seem to love a challenge, dear."

April smilled, patting Hilde's shoulder and turned to look at Austin, "Love is sometimes a strong word for it...but, I want to do the right thing and I know deep down he does too."

 

[slippedhalo]

David chuckled and smiled at Kate. "We're all idiots. If you don't spell it out for us we're going to miss it." David laughed. He began to laugh even louder when a loud snore came from Erik. "See? He's not even awake and he agrees with me. We all need a leader Kate." David laughed before giving her a quick kiss. "I assume you read the pamphlets, so what did they say?" He asked.

"They are literally distantly related to us. We share some ancestry, a race called The Ancients. The Ancient's experimentation with apes became what evolved into us. Their experiments with avian creatures, birds, evolved into The Cousins. Whereas we seem to have destroyed or lost most evidence of The Ancients and their influence on our development, The Cousins saved and memorized much of the history and knowledge learned from and about them. They live simply by choice not necessity. They are incredibly intelligent and advanced and find humans to be kind of daft and highly sneaky. They don't trust us much. They saved humans on this world from extinction during plague season by sharing grain and foods unique to their islands and culture, it's believed. The prevailing theory is that the cure for our plague was in something in their diet. But, we can't be sure. They won't discuss illnesses. Not with us. Only among their own, privately. Plus, we're still deciphering their complex language. Hilde, the expert, can still only pick up about half the words in every statement and then has to guess the meaning based on body language and context. Mistakes have caused incidents of refusal to cooperate lasting sometimes months at a time. Some cultural taboos learned were then listed. I will try to learn them all. We all should..." Kate said.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Natalia smiled, "I would like that a great deal!" She said.

Caleb smiled as well, "Could I come too?" He asked.

Jocelyn had been curious what made this family tick. Jason seemed down to earth and personable while his father had seemed stiff, cold, and unyielding. At least, that's the impression she'd gotten in that brief introduction earlier. She decided to go along in order to find out more. "I'll come too. I don't want to risk waking up the newly engaged lovebirds or interrupting any possible alone time they may be having by going to our room right now, anyway." After helping clean up from dinner they prepared to join Jason. The dusk on this planet wasn't a quick affair with two suns. They still had a good four hours or more left of light in the day, anyway.

Jason smiled. "Excellent and your all welcome. We can borrow some of the police horses and just check out some of my closer paddocks to give you a basic idea of the farm. If you like it I can arrange a longer tour and we can even ride out to this dome of yours. I would sure like to see how your farm is set up and I am certain you will need to see to your animals as well."

He walked off and soon returned with four horses. Three smaller ones and a large one. "These small ones are for you. They are all ridden by females and while still strong animals are a little more docile and take commands a little better. This one here," he said patting the neck of the large black he was leading, "Is the only one that will be able to carry me, so don't get the idea that I don't think you are capable riders."

He helped them to mount then swung himself up into the saddle. "Okay we will take it easy at first to see how your training has gone then we can speed it up a little." He set off at a brisk walk towards his farm watching them to see how they did.

 

[Othermoose]

April sighed, glaring Austin's way.

"Ma'am, my apologies. He's...tired...I guess. It's been such a crazy day..."

"...Crazy. That was my thinking too, dear. Perhaps, I was too anxious to meet Austin. It has been a long day."

April nodded, desperate to save this olive branch on a day full of clusterfucks. "Exactly. A long day. Maybe, um...on another day?"

Hilde eyed Austin, "I ain't your granny, kid. You'd have a pulsing hot hand print across your cheek right now if I were but you'd also have been raised to know better in the first place had this lady had a hand in your upbringing." She said, pointing to her chest with a thumb. "Chuck that chip off your shoulder and come back when you understand a little common courtesy. I love my species far too much to leave their fate in the hands of someone who couldn't care less but I'm getting to a point where I can't keep it up anymore. Then what? You want to look all those kids on the schoolyard in their happy, shining faces and tell them you'd rather get drunk and be left alone to do selfish prick stuff than keep the peace between us and a race advanced enough to keep us from the brink of extinction if they continue to like us enough to help? "Sorry if you get sick and die, little Billy, I'm just too sleepy to be bothered learning the Ancient Race's secret recipe handed down to The Cousins which kept them healthy as can be while we wasted away and could always succumb again."...We still don't know why the disease stopped killing us when The Cousins started sharing some of their foods with us. I'm still working on the delicate unraveling of that mystery. But, as things stand, if I die tomorrow and nobody continues my work, we're vulnerable and all the prigress made won't matter, not if Mr Manners, here, acts so ridiculously adolescent that they opt out of further sharing. We need them more than they need us. And, I don't like admitting it, but, dammit, I need you."

She was getting herself agitated. Sitting and trying to catch her breath, she leaned heavily on the kitchen table, dizzy as her heart palpatated from too much agitation.

Concerned, April poured the old woman a glass of lemonade and handed it to her but as Hilde's hands were currently undteady, she brought thr glass to Hilde's lips and beseeched her to drink. "Please, my apologies...I'll take care of this somehow, Ma'am. Please don't upset yourself. You are too precious to the community and your love for humankind is admirable and amazing. He won't let you...us, down. I have faith in him. I will help him somehow."

Hilde looked exhausted as she rasped, "You seem to love a challenge, dear."

April smilled, patting Hilde's shoulder and turned to look at Austin, "Love is sometimes a strong word for it...but, I want to do the right thing and I know deep down he does too."

"I don't owe any of you fucks a god damn thing! And I couldn't care less about you or any of the fucking kids here! You can all rot for all I care!" Austin shouted. His chair clattered to the floor as he quickly stood up. He began to cough and threw up a large glob of blood on the floor. "And fuck you too, pig." He said between coughs to Kendal as he left the small house. His coughing didn't stop and he threw up another larger glob of blood. "Fuck this hurts." He thought continuing to hack up globs of blood.

He kept walking until he couldn't breathe anymore and collapsed against a tree truck, still coughing. He slowly slid down the trunk until he was gasping and coughing against the bark. He could barely breathe and his shirt was splashed with blood, but he refused to ask for help from anyone. Austin was content to sit against the tree and cough until he died.

 

[Othermoose]

"They are literally distantly related to us. We share some ancestry, a race called The Ancients. The Ancient's experimentation with apes became what evolved into us. Their experiments with avian creatures, birds, evolved into The Cousins. Whereas we seem to have destroyed or lost most evidence of The Ancients and their influence on our development, The Cousins saved and memorized much of the history and knowledge learned from and about them. They live simply by choice not necessity. They are incredibly intelligent and advanced and find humans to be kind of daft and highly sneaky. They don't trust us much. They saved humans on this world from extinction during plague season by sharing grain and foods unique to their islands and culture, it's believed. The prevailing theory is that the cure for our plague was in something in their diet. But, we can't be sure. They won't discuss illnesses. Not with us. Only among their own, privately. Plus, we're still deciphering their complex language. Hilde, the expert, can still only pick up about half the words in every statement and then has to guess the meaning based on body language and context. Mistakes have caused incidents of refusal to cooperate lasting sometimes months at a time. Some cultural taboos learned were then listed. I will try to learn them all. We all should..." Kate said.

"And we're expecting Austin to deal with these people? That kid has all the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. We'll be at war or dead within a week of him being in charge. Whoever chose him made the wrong choice." David said worried about his and Kate's future.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May listened on Dave and Kate's conversation. If there was one thing she hated besides everything, it was doubt of someone else. She knew how it was, and in a doubt of Austin who had probably gone through something traumatic. And she had a large dislike of David. She grabbed a apple and walked out of the house. She wasn't angry, just wanted to get away again, and she started to head for the lake, unlatching the houses gate.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

Kendal got up angrily, "I'm going after that little prick and I'm gonna teach him some respect." Kendal said angrily, going for the door.

 

[slippedhalo]

"I don't owe any of you fucks a god damn thing! And I couldn't care less about you or any of the fucking kids here! You can all rot for all I care!" Austin shouted. His chair clattered to the floor as he quickly stood up. He began to cough and threw up a large glob of blood on the floor. "And fuck you too, pig." He said between coughs to Kendal as he left the small house. His coughing didn't stop and he threw up another larger glob of blood. "Fuck this hurts." He thought continuing to hack up globs of blood.

He kept walking until he couldn't breathe anymore and collapsed against a tree truck, still coughing. He slowly slid down the trunk until he was gasping and coughing against the bark. He could barely breathe and his shirt was splashed with blood, but he refused to ask for help from anyone. Austin was content to sit against the tree and cough until he died.

April and KEndal called it a night after the outburst. Hilde, desiring to go to bed more than talk further, saw them to the door and said farewell before leaving the clearing up until morning and going to sleep.

April stood by the carriage as Kendal prepped it to go. She watched Austin with an angry exression on her face. "Get in the carriage. We have to get back and...just get in. I'm tired of babysitting when lives are at stake. You're bleeding? Then, get in. I'll contact Yuet in the meantime. I'm not about to let hundreds die because you can't take a goddamn compliment."

 

[slippedhalo]

Kate shrugged, "It's no choice. He's gifted." She explained.

 

[slippedhalo]

Jason smiled. "Excellent and your all welcome. We can borrow some of the police horses and just check out some of my closer paddocks to give you a basic idea of the farm. If you like it I can arrange a longer tour and we can even ride out to this dome of yours. I would sure like to see how your farm is set up and I am certain you will need to see to your animals as well."

He walked off and soon returned with four horses. Three smaller ones and a large one. "These small ones are for you. They are all ridden by females and while still strong animals are a little more docile and take commands a little better. This one here," he said patting the neck of the large black he was leading, "Is the only one that will be able to carry me, so don't get the idea that I don't think you are capable riders."

He helped them to mount then swung himself up into the saddle. "Okay we will take it easy at first to see how your training has gone then we can speed it up a little." He set off at a brisk walk towards his farm watching them to see how they did.

Natalia got up onto the dark brown mare who'd offered her snout to her for petting. She had a sweet way about her, like a kind old lady. She rode up alongside Jason, smiling confidently. This was nothing new to her. Natalia was a farmer at heart.

Caleb had only ridden a horse one time and it had been a guided thing with a boy he'd had a crush on in high school, before he'd come out. They were fourteen and goofy and Caleb was so focused on the boy he hardly remembered a thing about the horseback ride. So, he followed Natalia in her lead and got lucky because this dappled grey mare was being extremely patient with his awkwardness. He got the hang of it after a few minutes.

Jocelyn had absolutely no horse experience. She fumbled, irritated the light brown horse left for her, worried about catching up with the others, she hustled, soon had caught up but followed behind the other three because her horse didn't seem to like her or want to move much at her behest.

 

[Othermoose]

April and KEndal called it a night after the outburst. Hilde, desiring to go to bed more than talk further, saw them to the door and said farewell before leaving the clearing up until morning and going to sleep.

April stood by the carriage as Kendal prepped it to go. She watched Austin with an angry exression on her face. "Get in the carriage. We have to get back and...just get in. I'm tired of babysitting when lives are at stake. You're bleeding? Then, get in. I'll contact Yuet in the meantime. I'm not about to let hundreds die because you can't take a goddamn compliment."

"Fuck. Them." Austin rasped before standing up. He walked away from the carriage still wheezing and coughing. He would be running if he was capable, but walking was the best he could do at the moment. He didn't want to be the bridge between civilizations. He didn't want to be a savior. He didn't know what he wanted. He didn't know why he was so angry right now. But he knew he wouldn't stop, and he knew he wouldn't apologize. He'd just keep running until he couldn't anymore.

As Austin made his way deeper and deeper into the dark woods, his rage and wheezing only grew worse. He was pissed that his new boss thought herself so much better than him, and he was pissed that April didn't take his side. The diplomat trained half of his mind told him that they were in the right and he should beg forgiveness, but Austin was happy that his rage could out weigh their programming. "Serves them right. If they..." Austin's mind went blank as he tumbled off a cliff.

================================================================

"Austin!? Austin!? Wake up please! Please you have to wake up!" Called out a shrill voice in the distance. He slowly opened his eyes to see Adrianna and another female mermaid looking at him in concern. "What...?" Austin asked before coughing up a mixture of blood and lake water.

"You're awake! I'm so happy you're alive!" Adrianna squealed hugging Austin tightly. " Melonie and I were swimming when we saw you fall from that cliff. We grabbed you and brought you to the shore. Are you ok?" She asked as she continued to squeeze his aching ribs. "Yea... Just sore." He whispered gently pulling Adrianna off of him. "Where's April?" He asked. "I don't know." Adrianna said with a shrug. "We saw you fall and we brought you here. We've been trying to wake you up for the last few minutes. We haven't seen anyone else." she said.

 

[slippedhalo]

April lost sight of Austin and began to panic. Her senses reeled. Her heart raced. She was imagining everyone coughing up blood, dying...herself included. She couldn't move. The panic overtook her. There was nothing she could do to make things better and that helplessness reminded her of lying in bed dying in another life. "No!" She cried out, covering her face with her hands as she fell to the ground, immersed in sobs.

 

[slippedhalo]

Brian Sullivan, otherwise known by all as Sully, was hunting in the woods. It was the only thing the mentally deficient man was trusted by his gramps to do. He was whistling a tune and dreaming of a pretty woman who would love him and make him feel good without laughing at him or calling him stupid or the mean r word like others usually did, when he nearly tripped over...a truly beautiful woman. Thinking it must be a sign from god, he grabbed her and covered her mouth to keep her from screaming. "You'll be my wife!" He announced happily through his slurred speech as he gagged her with her own hairband and knocked her out with a konk by the butt of his rifle to the side of her head, tossing her lithe body over his shoulder, Sully headed off to his cabin with his brand new "bride".

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May trudged through the hills and woods, she paused a moment, thinking she heard something but continued on through the forest. She got to the lake, but decided to walk around it and see where it goes. She realized she was getting higher and higher, and then she heard faint voices. She looked over the cliff and saw... Austin and Adrianna, and another mermaid, and the mermaids looked worried. May ran down the path she was following and ran along the beach, she saw Austin with blood too. "Austin?! Oh my god, what the hell happened to you?!" She stood 10 feet away, her face in shock and horror.

 

[Othermoose]

"Hi May." Adrianna said as the girl approached them. "I think he's ok. He just fell off the cliff, but we brought him to shore before he could drown. But could you maybe help him back up..." Adrianna was cut off by Austin's growl. "I'm fine. I don't need any fucking help." Austin groaned as he got unsteadily to his feet. "Tell April I'm sleeping in the woods." Austin said to May before limping back towards the trees.

He walked blindly through the dark trees still seething over the incidents of tonight. He groaned as he tripped over something. "Fuck me." He groaned picking up what he'd fallen over. He turned on his wrist computer light to see April's shoe. "That's weird... Why'd she leave it out here?" Austin wondered. He felt a prickle of worry for his girlfriend rise in the back of his mind, but quickly dismissed it. "She's fine. She was probably looking for me and lost it. Babysitting hazard." He thought angrily. He grabbed the shoe, planning to return it to her tomorrow, and continued to look for a place to sleep. After a few minutes he found a nice grassy patch under a large tree. He lied down on the ground with a pained groan and quickly drifted into an uneasy sleep.