randomplaces | Welcome to the Backwater

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Welcome to the Backwater

Picture a paved square, faced by the backs of various brownstones and ringed with couches of various sizes. One of the buildings is marked 'Visitor Centre', and beyond it seems to be a park of some sort. The paving of the square is white, and broken up into large square blocks that are so neatly set that there are no edges to trip over. Some blocks are missing, so that trees can grow out of these spaces. The square has a light scattering of couches spread around it, and these couches vary from something people from a no frills reality would think of as for dolls, to a massive white thing that's bigger than a mobile home. Between the square and the green space of the park is a road paved with common pavement made from old rubber tires, and there are trees growing wild all around that park. In the distance, over the trees, can be seen something that looks like a larger version of Mad King Ludwig's castle, and some sort of cliffs.

There are people in the square, many look human, and many don't. They mingle with mostly easy going equanimity, asking questions and answering them, chatting, getting oriented by reading books and pamphlets, or just selling sandwiches. Up in the sky, which looks fairly normal, float four islands that look something likes the ones off that movie with the blue cat things, and a flock of five houseairships, one of which is round. The Visitor Centre is an A frame with two windows and a door on the front, and a sign along the top that says, "Ask a question."

Welcome, newcomer, to the Backwater Nexus.

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Mack smiles at her when she pats him, then looks at the laughing Mira with uncomprehending laughter twinkling in his sea-blue eyes as he steps over to the front of the rickshaw. When Vik thanks him again he looks at her alertly.

Mira nods and wipes at her eyes. "It's not silly. I know who Pookie is. But I know a little half Maximal baby named Pooka, and he'd just be thrilled about something having a name similar to his. He's the Black Dog from the Black Dog bar." She darts around the rickshaw and gets up on the seat beside Vik, then looks at Aoife. "You coming with?"

"Pooka's bigger than you are, you goober. And yes... ack, NO! I have to go catch Whirl and bring her back to the hospital!" She points to where a woman with insanely long blue ponytails and a very noticeable chest is dancing around in a little slip dress style nightgown which features a ;p face making smurf making a rude gesture with each hand and crossing the fingers over his head, then heads toward her at a run.

"Erm..." Mira shakes her head. "If Whirl's dress weren't nanotech I'd be afraid of moons." She turns back to Vik. "Aoife'll probably be back later, are you alright with me?"

Rose, meanwhile, gently taps Vik's arm, and then waves, paying no attention to her mother's pursuit of the cackling one.

Edited 2020-03-23 23:32 (UTC)

Vik smiles back at Mack, who seems quite the gentleman. Feeling comforted and content, she waves at him and wonders why he isn't able to speak. Then dismisses her ponderings; who needs speech when they're extra pleasant and kind-hearted without speech?

Then Mira bounds into the rickshaw beside her. She nods, smiling at Mira, "Yeah, c'mon up, I'd love to spend time with ya!"

Then a whirling woman with very long blue ponytails dances into view. Vik's eyes go wide, her mouth drops open. "Woooah Nellie!" she blurts at no one in particular.

"Yah, moons indeed, wow!" She comments and watches Aoife racing off to the ..emm.. happy woman in a gownlike slip thingie.

"Ack! Good heavens, she needs something like Nineveh's dress." She says softly and chuckles.

Then she feels a gentle touch on her arm. She looks over and sees Rose waving to her. Vik smiles and waves back.

"I'll hopefully see you later Rose." Vik thumb-points in Aoife's direction, "And umm.. take good care of momma, huh? Looks like she's got a right handful to deal with." She shakes her head and watches Aoife for a bit, then looks at Mira.

"For lunchtime, this seems pretty.. distracting! No dull moments in the Backwater today it seems." She snerks as she watches Aoife and the other woman.

Vik looks up at Mira, "So Pooka is *the* black dog of the Black Dog Bar, eh? And bigger than you - woah! That's some pup for certain!"

She grins. 'no dull moments and then some' she muses in her head.

Mira chortles as Rose nods and turns away to crawl off toward the trees behind them across the street. "Yeah. He's Blackout's grandson, so he's going to be big, even if his dad's smaller than me. He'll look like the King Kong of Alaskan Malamutes when he's done upgrading." A glance toward where Whirl and Aoife just whipped out of sight around a brownstone a little ways a way. "Nineveh? Oh her dress is nanotech too, and now I think I know where Whirl got the idea to make her chest that size."

Then she looks at Vik and grins widely as Mack lifts the bars and starts pulling them in the direction that Aoife and Whirl went. "This is a QUIET morning in the Question Square!"

Vik watches Rose take off in the direction of the trees across the street. 'She's a kind and quiet one as well', she muses to herself and smiles. That gives her hope.

"Wait, you said.. woah! That sounds like one awesome size - a King Kong sized Malamute?!" *blinks in wonderment* "Wow, that is waaay big!"

But Mira's comment about Whirl and her chest size puzzled her. "Uumm.. nanotech can do.. *that*?" Vik blinks and shakes her head, but Mira's comment gave her an idea.

"Hey, I wonder if nanotech could fix my bum joints and bones?" she glances over to Mira and shrugs helplessly, "Hey, if I'm gonna dream, might as well be big, right?" she grins, but realizes that's one dream that will remain a dream until she goes Home to be with the Lord one day.

Vik chuckles as Mack starts pulling them away, "Well, if this is a quiet day here, that only underscores what I've thought; there is never a dull moment here!"

Vik grins and they scoot along, she sorta likes the idea of no dull moments actually. Life as a homebound disabled person is one lonely life. Most of the time that suits her just fine. But she's missed safe, encouraging contact with people.

The reason she'd grown accustomed to lone wolf living was tons of bad experiences with people in recent years. Being hurt and used countless times, abused also.

Until now she'd not realized just how far she'd distanced herself from people. All to shelter herself from being hurt even more. She'd gotten to the place where she couldn't endure further damage and hurts anymore.

Maybe the reason she'd ended up in the Backwater was to finally, safely, break that awful cycle. She thanks the Lord most earnestly in her silent prayers. He knows best, afterall.

"No, I meant Whirl saw Nineveh the other day, and that's probably what decided her to look the same up there. I was talking about her dress." Mira shakes her head. "Though Whirl's things ARE nanotech. She's wearing a skin like you get for game avatars. Um. There IS healing nanotech, but it doesn't work for everyone."

The little green girl cocks her head then, as though listening to someone that Vik can't hear, then looks up at the human lady. "Aoife says to let you know that it's polite here to ask what people are."

Vik nods, considering Mira's words. "Thank you for clarifying that. Hehe, wow, I sure got all confused." she shakes her head at herself.

"However healing nanotech sounds like a wonderful thing. One can always hope, right?" she touches her lip with a finger, "wearable nanotech skin.. like for avatars? Hmmm.. all stuff I'd be interested in learning more about..."

Another intrusive yawn gapes her mouth wide open. She snaps it shut as she reminds herself of that old adage about catching flies that way. "Once I'm more awake though. Right now I don't trust myself to make sense of 1+1=2, ya know?" She smirks and hopes she can keep going just a little while more.

Vik watches the scenery passing by with bleary, tired eyes, she almost nods off. Then Mira tells her it's polite here to ask what people are. Her eyes pop back open.

"It is? Really?" Vik looks to the side a bit awed and then back to Mira, "where I'm from, asking that might get someone's face punched in." Yet the idea intrigued her.

"Well, this isn't exactly asking what someone *is* but.." she can't help instinctively lowering her voice, "why can't Mack speak? Was he born that way?"

There was concern in her face. Not all muteness is from being born a mute. Sometimes it's from an accident, or someone was hurt some terrible way. Sometimes muteness is from sickness or something else altogether.

Vik shook her head. She realized her thoughts could simply be from tiredness getting to her. For all she knew, Mack is just the strong silent type. And then Rose is so quiet.. Vik is too tired to remember if she'd even once heard Rose speak today. 'yep, I be tired if I can't remember that', she half heartedly scolds herself.

Edited (Avatar change) 2020-03-25 01:30 (UTC)

"Well, if you don't know what somebody is, how can you react to them the right way?" says Mira practically. Then she looks ahead to their source of locomotion, her expression sobering slightly as she thinks of the best way to answer without scaring Vik. Finally, she shrugs. "Mack's a zombie. His strain doesn't talk."

Vik listens intently, her head slightly tilted. Mira's answer made perfect sense. She wondered why she hadn't seen things quite that way before.

"Well, that makes sense, Mira. It *would* be hard responding correctly to anyone if you don't know what they are. Almost the same as if you didn't know who someone was.. wait, no; understanding *what* they are trumps knowing who they are." she says seriously.

"Frankly, it surprises me how much I'd never considered, before I got to the Backwater, that is. I've certainly learned to look at the world very differently since arriving."

She smiles as the scenery goes by. Then Mira's answer about Mack caught her by surprise.

She looks at Mira, not fearfully, just supremely surprised. Vik blinks as the meaning filters through her sleepy mind. "A zombie?" She looks away a moment, considering things deeply, then continues.

"His strain made him a mute then?" She thinks about that a moment, then shakes her head slowly. She's only scratched the surface of this world, and learning huge things she'd never considered before.

"You know, I shoulda realized, given the uniqueness of the Backwater and it's people, that even a zombie could likewise be elementally different than I'd ever guessed at."

She smiles at Mira, "I'm glad you explained. It was a puzzle for certain. And actually comforting somehow. Can't say I understand why, it just *is*. Thanks for telling me Mira."

She pats Mira's arm in thanks, "Mira, I got a long, long way to go in learning all about the Backwater and it's history and people." she sighs sleepily, "..so very much to learn yet.." and she yawns long and tiredly. Her eyes keep trying to slam shut on her. Vik shakes it off for a bit, but she's loosing the battle.

She smiles softly at Mack. She muses in her sleepy thoughts, 'yep, the strong, silent type for sure. good old Mack, a really nice guy..' and her eyes slide shut, a soft, barely audible snore is heard.

Edited (Typos) 2020-03-25 15:19 (UTC)

Moments later the rickshaw stops, and then arms are gently lifting Vik as the soothing rumble sounds softly again. They pass from the mild, bright, not sun of outside in this nexus between realities and into the slightly less bright light of inside a house.

Vik's dream had something to do with laughing hysterically at Starscream and Knockout running from Terrorcons. She chuckles in her sleep, muttering about Starscream squealing like a girl.

Then a soft rumble soothes her, she relaxes and sighs deeply. Her dream shifts to being picked up and carried by an enormous, purring kitty, who's face resembled Mack's face, including his beard.

In her dream, she's melted by the enormous cuteness of it all, and snuggles the huge, purring kitty, petting the huge, furry face as she might pet a little kitten.

Then her dream shifts again, and she dreams she's sleeping soundly, surrounded by gigantic mountains of warm, buttery sausage kolaches.

At first, she makes a confuzzled sound, then giggles, muttering something about discovering Kolache Heaven. One that she can sleep in. She dreams that she snugs a warm, melty slice of cheese under her chin as she would a warm blanket. She sighs and mutters something unintelligible.

Her sleeping face is grinning, and ever so close to drooling, mainly because she loves kolaches. And well, who doesn't drool in their sleep?

"We'll have to introduce her to Mama Scream," someone says, but Vik is tucked into a comfortable recliner next to a lace curtained window in a quiet living room and left to sleep.

((continues here))

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