Day Eleven - No One Suspects the Dog

[lies_unspoken]

Who: Isabel, Kara, Piteraq || Isabel, Lizzy
Where: Outside
When: Early evening
Rating: PG?

Status: Closed, completed
Summary: Bel, disguised as "Molly" is sent into Riverfell. She poses as a normal dog in an attempt to learn things about Riverfell that maybe one of the human residents wouldn't

Comments

[xiong_shashou]

Starbuck stepped out of the Barracks and took measure of her surroundings. No signs of the Cylons, but from the feel of the dirt beneath her boots and the cool, biting breeze on the air she was definitely grounded, the dimensionality of the horizon assuring her she wasn't on some frakked up version of a Cloud Nine-like cruise ship either. Her first thought when she woke to her room was that she'd fallen into another hallucination - she had been in her viper flying, after all, not on a planet or abroad Galactica - so she waited a moment with baited breath for Leoben to appear and provide her with some new knowledge. She didn't fancy the toaster bastard any more than she had locked in a room with him on New Caprica but she'd become grudgingly accustomed to his likeness popping into her head. When neither him nor her mother appeared she sat up and began to examine her new locale - she found the letter, it was full of nonsense. Warriors? A black... castle? Powers of Light and Dark? She was indeed a fighter, but she sure as frak didn't belong to some crazy bitch name Acevona. What kind of name was Acevona anyway? Maybe it was a call-sign?

Her next thought was that it was some sort of sick Cylon game, like back on New Caprica. Blood boiling at the thought, Kara stormed from her room just to see if she could, pacing through the hallways until she made her exit. But there was no evident trace of any Cylon presence here, and so her breath caught in her throat when she contemplated the third logical option. Was this... Earth? Had she flown through those clouds and somehow woken up here, as per that "special destiny" Leoben insisted she had?

If so, they'd gone to a hell of a lot of trouble for nothing. The place was hardly picturesque. There really did seem to be a lingering darkness about the landscape, evening light falling aside.

Jingle jingle jingle.

She blinked, squinting into the darkness. Something was moving. Unholstering the pistol at her side she proceeded forward slowly, eyes alert. It drew closer, and her finger curled around the trigger. From the shadows emerged... a dog? She lowered her weapon, a grin splitting across her features as she laughed. Gods she had been getting herself worked up - she nearly shot a dog! She hadn't seen a dog since before he attack, and something about encountering one warmed her heart. Perhaps if this was Earth, it wasn't such a gloomy place after all? She whistled and crouched down, gesturing for the critter to come her way.

[lies_unspoken]

Bel wagged her tail a little. She'd been pretending on Earth for over two centuries that she was a normal dumb dog; the act shouldn't be that hard to call back up.

Normal dumb dogs were dumb, and Bel trotted toward the whistler, only starting to hesitate when she was nearly within grabbing distance. She sniffed cautiously, her tail still moving back and forth, panting and looking friendly-hopeful, the way she'd seen so many strays look at people they hoped were kind (but feared were not).

[xiong_shashou]

Starbuck smiled and held out her hand for the dog to sniff, and looked the animal over. It seemed to be a female, and a beautiful one at that, with a light fluffy coat that looked ever so soft to touch.

"Here girl, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," she assured her companion, reaching around the dog's head once it finished sniffing to scratch it behind the ears. As she did so a glint of metal around its neck caught her attention, and she grabbed the tag of the collar and tilted it up to catch the fading light and read the inscription.

"Molly, huh? Well, if you have this then there's clearly someone else around here who could explain what the frak is going on," she muttered to herself, patting Molly on the head absent-mindedly as she did so.

[lies_unspoken]

Molly. It sounded so strange to her ears, but she wagged her tail enthusiastically at 'recognition' of her name. She supposed it shouldn't sound strange; she'd had a number of names over the years, but Isabel had been her favorite, and the one she'd come to consider her own - even if only because of her attachment to the one who'd bestowed it upon her.

She cocked her head slightly before lifting her nose to sniff the air. Her eyes set on the distant figure of the approaching woman, and a faint whine vibrated her throat.

Piteraq was still ... ... annoyed. Oh, it didn't affect her much, one way or another, that she couldn't talk to anyone about what secret DauphinMare held - it bothered her that she'd been bound to begin with. Nevermind the limitations to it.

The red-head paused as she noticed a newcomer and a dog. She assumed they were together - it was a natural conclusion to draw - and she paused within speaking distance but (she hoped) not within distance for the dog to attack. "Evening," she called cautiously - but more or less openly.

[xiong_shashou]

Starbuck turned her head as the dog's focus changed, muscles tensed to whip around and bury a bullet in the woman's skull if she recognized her as one of the Cylon models. As the stranger drew nearer and spoke Kara recognized that this was not in fact the case and straightened up to standing, returning the address.

"Evening," she repeated with false confidence and then without further hesitation, dove into the heart of the matter, "Who are you, and where is this?"

[ashes_like_sand]

"Piteraq de Chagne. This is Riverfell," she said quietly. She wondered if the woman was new, or hadn't read her papers - or had, and was seeking a more concrete answer. "Who are you?" she returned, her eyes flicking down toward the dog before her gaze returned to the woman.

Bel wagged her tail and panted, ears pricking slightly as she followed the voices. Piteraq she knew was the one who had been in DauphinMare, but would the women exchange any useful information?

She supposed she'd have to wait and see.

[xiong_shashou]

"Kara Thrace," Starbuck responded coolly, and noting Piteraq's apparent interest in her new companion she also offered that information before continuing, "And this is Molly ... I read the note, but where exactly is Riverfell? Are we on Earth?"

[ashes_like_sand]

"We're in a bubble. Trapped here, but outside of time. We've taken that to mean no time is passing where we're from." She wasn't sure how that was possible but ... hell, she wasn't sure how she'd been pulled here to begin with.

"So, no. Not on Earth, or any equivalent of Earth," she finished. "We're at war with this other place. DauphinMare. But that was all in the literature."

Piteraq studied both of them critically, reading them. The dog seemed like ... well, just a dog, so she dismissed it for now. The woman though ... she was curious what she did and why she'd been called here.

[xiong_shashou]

At war. Right. No matter where you go, some things never change...

..but that worked for Kara. War she knew. War she could do.

But outside of time?

"So this is all some kind of frakked up dream? I'm going to wake up in my viper like nothing ever happened?"

She sure hoped they weren't wasting 'real' time, because she sure as hell didn't have the time to frak around.

[ashes_like_sand]

To Piteraq, a viper was a snake, though context discounted that particular bit of trivia. "I don't know, but that's approximately how I understand it. When this is over, we'll be returned to the point in time from which we were summoned - or slightly before. But I don't pretend to know everything about this place, or the one we're warring against."

Bel sat down beside Kara, tilting her head and shifting her body to scratch behind her ear, her tags jingling with the motion of her scratching. It was, she realized, a little more difficult to look like she wasn't paying attention than she'd thought it would be.

[xiong_shashou]

"Right, so when the war is over, we'll be returned to our... time."

Kara paused a moment to digest this conclusion, accepting it rapidly and steeling herself for what must be done. The whole thing seemed like some badly written myth, but if it got her back on track to finding Earth then so be it. She swallowed visibly, nodding her head and forcing a trace of a predatory grin onto her lips.

"Fine then, let's win ourselves a frakking war. This Acevona, the one who wrote the letters - can I arrange to speak with her? I'd like to know what the tactical situation is."

The jingling caught her attention and she reached down to idly scratch the dog's ears again - the action of combing her fingers through the creature's thick fur had a calming affect upon Kara and it kept her from bursting forth with a myriad of other questions jumping to mind. Piteraq seemed content to be forthcoming with information but Starbuck didn't desire to come off as a pest.

[ashes_like_sand]

Piteraq nodded before she gestured toward the looming castle. "I think if you just head up there, you can have an audience with her. Or her second. The angel," she clarified.

Though she wasn't sure if the angel spoke to the ones who sought out Acevona; she'd only ever noticed him outside. But then, what did she know?

Bel chuffed quietly as she leaned against Kara's leg, content enough with the scratching. With her eyes half closed and her tongue lolling out almost comically, Bel thought she was playing her part well.

[xiong_shashou]

"Great, thanks," Kara offered shortly, wickedly awkward grin still fixedly in place. She was debating taking off to the castle right away but thought the better of it, deciding she should assess more of the overall situation here before crossing paths with their supposed Commander. Er, leader, person... thing. However military hierarchy was structured in this place.

"You were summoned as well," she stated after a slight pause, probingly curious about her new comrade, "Where from? You seem to know of Earth - were you from the Colonial fleet or were you..." she trailed off, grin becoming genuine with the excitement her train of thought generated, "...from there? Earth?"

If Piteraq knew of Earth, perhaps she could provide Kara with information that would help her find it when she was returned to her own time. Perhaps all this was part of her 'special destiny' and not just a bizarre pit stop along the way.

As she spoke she continued to scratch the dog, strangely comforted about the warmth of its weight on her leg. She'd liked dogs; had one once, back on Caprica. They were easily relateable creatures to Kara - very primal and straight-forward - they liked to fight, frak and receive a pat on the back once and awhile. If you took good care of them they loved you. If you abused them they'd become screw ups, much like herself. All cause and effect.

[and_snow_fell]

"An Earth," Piteraq said cautiously. "I do not believe it is the same one that some others here are from."

She wasn't precisely sure how better to describe it; she'd heard the others talking of Earth, and discrepencies, and alternate timelines ... any number of things could be different from place to place.

But she'd come to conclude that her place of origin was not so different from an older (or would that be newer?) version of their Earth. A slightly more primeval one.

Though the people were not yet providing her with anything worth taking back, Bel thought it would be uncharacteristic of a dog to simply roam away from people, with no provocation or distraction.

Drawing her head away slightly from Kara's hand, she lifted her nose to sniff the wind before she stood to shake out her fur. That done, she resettled into a sit beside Kara.

She could be patient.

[xiong_shashou]

"Right, different times," Starbuck said dismissively, filling in for herself what her companion left unsaid. It seemed likely they were still probably the same Earth - in the same place. That was what mattered, the place.

"What was it like there?" she asked, chiding herself mentally - she should be asking more about Riverfell and Dauphinmare now and saving the Earth-questions for later - but Kara found she was unable to quell the almost child-like enthusiasm this prospect represented.

[ashes_like_sand]

"My home? It ... was cold. We were nomads in a more arctic region. Lots of snow and frost and ice and things like that. Lots of traveling." She really wasn't sure what the woman wanted to hear, nor was she sure why she was so interested.

"There were warmer regions, of course, to the south, but our way of life kept us to the northern regions." Her head tilted curiously to one side, a smile on her lips. "Why ... would you want to know about my world?" she inquired.

Bel sighed. This was not going the right direction at all. Dumb dogs got bored, didn't they? She nuzzled at Kara's thigh before she pushed up to her paws and started to pad off toward the lake. She could, if nothing else, get a drink and see how it went from there.