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[neraiutsu]

For the past day or two, ever since he stopped by the Cooper farm and got his car fixed up, Neil has been driving aimlessly around Kansas and the surrounding area.

He's usually happy to stop for a chat. There really isn't that much to do around here except talk to strangers.

Comments

[blueisboring]

Ai-Ling has been distracted from her search for Miki only by the very strong drive to a) stay alive and b) have fun doing so. She's not figured out how to drive a car, and her hitchhiking attempts were terminated after she had to defend herself from unsavoury drivers one too many times.

That's not to say she's avoiding the road: right now, for example, she's walking along the side of a road, using a rope slung over her shoulder to pull a sled she made herself out of a couple of skate boards and a lot of scrapped wood. Her belongings, on the back, include the salted remains of a deer; she'd hate to waste any.

[neraiutsu]

Huh.

She's on the opposite side of the road, walking in the same direction he's driving; that's good, because it means she's not on his blind side, and he sees her before she sees him.

As he comes up behind her - driving slowly, because he's in no particular hurry - he's still debating whether or not to stop and say hello. Some people don't like to be bothered.

[blueisboring]

Had any of the dangers Ai-Ling has faced actually been a serious threat to her, and not just a morally-angering annoyance, she might have given the car a berth. As it is, she slows down and stands to the side,letting him pass.

But with a wide friendly grin, and even a wave of hello. She's not going anywhere, and sometimes it's nice to talk to people.

[neraiutsu]

That settles it. He stops and leans out the lack of a window, grinning back.

"Hi."

Okay, so it's not the most brilliant conversational opener in the world.

[blueisboring]

"Hi."

She thinks his eyepatch looks dashing. He probably gets that a lot. Ai-Lingresponds to dashing looking young men by standing up straight and tall (she's too short for this to be effective), and trying to show that she's just as dashing, thank you very much. Her hand on her sword hilt is resting, not threatening.

"Have you been travelling long?"

[neraiutsu]

"Not by most standards. A few days. You?"

Neil has only been wearing the patch for about a week, and he spent most of that time driving around the Shatterverse talking to himself and/or his car. It's safe to say he hasn't quite acclimatized to any quantity of dash that may be present.

Neither of his hands is anywhere near his gun, which is in a shoulder holster currently hidden by his half-open jacket.

[blueisboring]

"A few months," Ai-Ling answers. "I'm looking for someone."

She doesn't expecthimtohave seen Miki, but she assumes letting people know she's looking will maximise their chances of being reunited.

[neraiutsu]

"Who?"

[blueisboring]

"My husband."

Ai-Ling is pushing nineteen, and looks a couple of years younger.

"He's ridiculously tall," she holds up a hand about a foot above her own head. "Dark skin and blue eyes," a combination she has yet to see outside of the Water Tribe, "and has probably got himself into all sorts of trouble without meto look after him."

[neraiutsu]

"What's his name? For that matter, what's yours? I'm Neil."

Her age is so very much not his business.

[blueisboring]

"Miki," she answers. "And I'm Ai-Ling, Hi."

[neraiutsu]

"If I see him, I'll tell him you're looking."

[blueisboring]

"Thanks," she says. "And give him a smack around the head for not finding me yet."

This is all his fault.

[neraiutsu]

Snort.

"I might leave that part out."

[blueisboring]

Ai-Ling grins with her own cheekiness, because she's the funniest thing in the world.

"Where are you headed?"

[neraiutsu]

"Nowhere in particular, other than that way." He nods forward, in the direction he'd been travelling.