Open NPC Post [Saturday/Sunday]

[rowan_narrators]

After their arrival, the caravan sets up camp outside the oasis, pitching tents, lighting fires, setting a perimeter. Guardsmen start fetching water from the waterfall, hunting and gathering to replenish their own ill-stocked supplies.

Guardsmen can be encountered anywhere in the oasis, on their way to complete tasks, Saturday evening or Sunday

Comments

Guardsmen- Sunday morning

[weedyshyguy]

Bret had been doing good so far. Keeping out of people's hair. Avoiding the people from the caravan on top of not bothering Cordy and Cherry had been extra challenging, but he hadn't messed up yet. Didn't mean he wouldn't, but he could hope.

He was off to find a secluded area (there seemed to be fewer and fewer of them with all the new people). It was early and he'd just woken up and he needed to use the toilet. He wasn't really paying as close attention to where he was going as he had the night before.

[rowan_narrators]

The Wizard.

Sergeant Maxwell stepped forward, hand on the hilt of his sword, quite obviously nervous. "Halt."

The Wizards were not allowed anywhere near the royal family without being bound in silk. The orders were incredibly clear.

[weedyshyguy]

"Huhwhat?" Bret shook himself. He looked at the man blearily, slowly realizing what was going on. He'd somehow stumbled towards the caravan.

Well, he hadn't been trying to. "Oh, sorry. Wasn't looking where I was going." He tugged at his jumper a few times, feeling silly still wearing the weird penguin number Cho'd found. But it was warm. Nicer to wear at night. Just a little embarrassing for a first impression.

"So, um...you guys are human? That's cool. I mean, me too. Um..." He had a question but he wasn't sure how to ask it. 'Are you like normal humans?' sounded a bit mean. There had to be an inoffensive way to go about it.

"Humans can do magic and stuff here too, right?" Seemed like as good a place to start as any.

[rowan_narrators]

"All humans have the potential to manifest as a majik." His hand was still on his sword, his posture still guarded and full of tension. Bret being so close was making him uncomfortable, and it was very obvious.

[weedyshyguy]

The man seemed intent on keeping his hand on his sword. Which was okay, he guessed, as long as he didn't intend to cut anyone's head off. Bret took a step back.

"Oh, alright then. It's just, back home, that definitely wasn't true. Even in stories- it was usually elves and stuff that got to do magic. This is all very new." He hoped if he kept talking the man would decide not to kill him. If that's what he had decided, anyway. "So, what's your name?"

[rowan_narrators]

"Maxwell," he said. Then, after a moment he added, "of Dangerfield." The concept of people from other world was just... it couldn't actually be real. Except that his Captain had informed him it was, and that he was to treat them as an unknown until instructed otherwise. Unknown. Theoretically he knew what that meant. In reality, it turned out to be strange demon men hitting on him and human Wizards who... "There's no magic where you come from? How is that possible?"

[weedyshyguy]

"I'm Bret. Of. New Zealand. Or Earth." How specific was he supposed to get?

Bret wasn't sure how to answer that. "Um. By magic being impossible?" He thought back to Jack and Guy's 'conversation' about the poly-universal stuff. "I guess there's just lots of different realities. This one has magic, mine didn't. Some of us are from worlds where there's magic but it works differently than here."

Maxwell wasn't relaxing, Bret noted. And talking about strange worlds might be making it worse. He should change the subject. "Um. Is Dangerfield nice?" It really didn't sound like it would be.

[rowan_narrators]

Maxwell was still staring. He couldn't help it. "Yes. Yes, it's... very nice..." Human from another world where there is no magic. He couldn't just call him Bret. That was far too normal. "And... New Zealand is nice?"

[weedyshyguy]

"Yis. Not as much desert." Not that he really knew how much desert there actually was, here. "It's an island." He wished he had more interesting things to say.

Although, the way this guy was staring, what he was saying was either really interesting or really scary. He bit his lip, shifting uncomfortably. "You're staring."

[rowan_narrators]

Maxwell cleared his throat. "Yes, well, you're a Worldwalker." As though that was all the explanation that was required. In his mind it was. No need to mention that, at present, the thing he was staring at was the hideous scene playing out on the other man's sweater.

[weedyshyguy]

"Oh, right." Bret had forgotten how some of the elves and demons had reacted sometimes. It felt like they'd been on their own for a while now. He supposed he'd have to get used to it again, once they got back to civilization.

Still. "I'd prefer it if you'd stop. And it'd be nice if you didn't look like you're about to chop my head off. I'm not gonna do anything."

[rowan_narrators]

"You're one of the Wizards." Maxwell swallowed and, while he moved his hand from the hilt of his sword, he didn't relax in any other way. "I've heard the stories. You can't control what you do. Even if you don't mean to, without being silk bound..."

[weedyshyguy]

It was a little unnerving to have this guy know what he was without being told, but he didn't comment on it. Bret's hand moved to his pocket to take out the silk- Never mind, left it in Jhelbor. Oh well. "Well...yeah. But I'm getting better." It felt like a lie, sort of, but the things that had been happening lately (like the pig when he talked to Jack and the clothes and the other day he tripped and fell into the mud which may have just been clumsiness) had been sort of alright. Nobody had been hurt. Humiliated, maybe, but not hurt.

Then he remembered Gob's magic show and had to keep himself from wincing. "Okay, um, as long as I'm not upset or around Gob, nothing especially bad happens. I've actually had days where I'm almost certain I didn't do anything." Given, those were the few days he'd almost completely shut his mind off, but it had happened.

[rowan_narrators]

Well, that was... mildly reassuring? Maxwell stood his ground, shoulders back and chest slightly puffed out in place of a firm grip on his sword. "You are not allowed to approach the royal family without being silk bound, W-- Bret of New Zealand."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret resisted the urge to grin proudly at the title. "I wasn't trying to. Sorry. It's early." It probably wasn't but they lacked the luxury of clocks so he wasn't sure. "But I guess if I ever needed to, you could give me some silk so I could do it myself?" Sometimes wizardry was fun. Sort of. But he was aware how badly it could go. He might just go back to wearing it all the time if it really bothered everyone that much.

[rowan_narrators]

Maxwell immediately reached into a pouch in his belt and drew out a length of pale yellow silk, holding it out to Bret. If the Wizard was willing to bind himself, he certainly wasn't about to stop him. Majiks in silk weren't much of a threat. Especially this one. Maxwell felt supremely confident he could have the man on the ground before the first knot had been untied, it push came to shove.