August 3: And We Say
Title: And We Say
Series: Many Mothers’
Author: Vashti (tvashti)
Fandom: Mad Max: Fury Road, BtVS
Character(s): Max Rockatansky, Furiosa, Faith Lehane
Rating: PG/FR-13
Summary: It takes a Mother to defeat an army.
Length: ~1,430 words
Disclaimer: Only the words are mine, and that’s probably up for philosophical debate.
Notes: Follow's yesterday's story War Song, and Just Before the Day.
*-*-*
The Mother was scary.
She was easily one of the oldest people her had seen in either this life or the one before. She was also one of the most bloody-minded.
When one of Old Joe's old Imperators tried to double back and ambush her, she got the other women out and handled him -- tall and muscle-bound as most Imperators were -- herself. By the time reinforcement had shown up in the form of Max, Furiosa, Abundance and the three others young women with them, all that was left to do was throw the Imperator over the edge. Which the Mother had. With him struggling a foot off the ground, held up by her red battle axe.
"Glad we're on her side," Max had mumbled as they marched after her.
“You have no idea,” the younger women said together. The Mother cackled as if she’d heard it all.
If they hadn’t known from the way she handled the Imperator, it was clear that Max and the Green Place warriors were the Mother’s entourage...maybe an honor guard. A memory of being an outrider for some self-important someone who was probably long dead dusted itself off and presented itself at the forefront of Max’s mind. He’d always been bored on those assignments. Taking care of the Mother’s castoffs as she handily cleared the way before them was anything but boring.
Every now and then as they passed an intersection, either the Mother or one of her warriors would look down the tunnel yip. A sharp whoop always sounded immediately after, followed closely by a new Green Place warrior.
By the time they were headed towards full natural light, they’d acquired one other ancient Vuvalini and fourteen young women. They were so different, these women, and still the same. Some covered their hair, some let it run wild. There were brunettes and blonds, one redhead in Abundance, and two salt-and-peppered silvers in the Mother and other old Vuvalini Some had skin in shades of brown this world no longer had examples of. At least one seemed to flicker like Max’s ghosts as she passed through shafts of daylight. But they were all slender. There was none taller than Max’s shoulder, unless he counted Furiosa beside him. They dressed like warriors. They moved like warriors. And they left a trail of dead like warriors.
“ ‘S gonna be a hell of a clean-up job when this is all over,” Max muttered to himself. They all giggled and chuckled like they’d all heard.
They were stepping out into daylight before he could pick that apart. And it wasn’t important. Not really.
They were standing on another outcropping, lower than Old Joe’s perch with an easier view of the desert plain below. It was filled with roving cars: rigs, full pursuit vehicles...anything with wheels. Most of the fighting was happening within the three towers of the new Green Place, but there were skirmishes happening down below as well. Mostly the Green Place warriors were keeping the reinforcements away from the battle.
“Furiosa, c’mere,” the Mother said, twirling her battle axe like it was police baton in her right hand as she gestured for Furiosa with the left.
“Yes, Mother,” she said, stepping forward.
Max did not at all resist the urge to follow her, to protect her back.
The Mother pointed with the...pointed end of her axe. “You know this situation better than anyone here right now. The original Bullet Farmer is dead, right?”
“Yeah. I killed him.”
The Mother patted her face but kept her eyes on what was happening below. “You say the nicest things. Okay! So if the old Bullet Farmer is crow meat, who’s most likely to have taken his place and brought the party to our doorstep.”
“Honestly? The Imperator you threw over the wall, Rasp, was probably part of it. War Boys and Bullet Bug-- Bullet Reapers don’t usually get along.”
“They’re lookin’ like besties right about now.”
“Rasp always wanted us to have a closer relationship with the Bullet Farm. Makes sense that he would make alliances there after surviving the Fury Road.”
The Mother turned her eyes from the plain, right arm still outstretched. “Yeah, but with who?”
Furiosa met her eyes for a moment, then turned to carefully study the field below. Then she went behind the Mother’s back, placed her metal arm over the Mother’s outstretched one, and moved the point of the red battle axe until it was pointed much further to the left. “Høster. I can’t be a hundred percent at this distance that it’s him, but--”
“What, you got, like, 80%? 85%?
“Uh, yeah. I’m pretty sure.”
“Sounds five by five to me,” the Mother muttered as she shook herself out of Furiosa’s light hold.
Between one blink and the next, the Mother had turned, taken aim, and let the battle axe fly out of her hand and into the chest of the man Furiousa had been pointing to.
Max and Furiosa shared a look.
“Wanna see something cool?” The Mother extended her right arm. One moment her hand was free. In the next, the battle ax was clutched firmly between wrinkled fingers. “Nice, right?”
Max shook himself.
“Who else you got? Ladies, you guys can go, like, beat up some baddies if you want to. We’ll call when we’re ready.”
So they lost more than half of the young women they’d picked up as Furiosa and the Mother spent the next half hour spying and taking out anyone who seemed to be leading the battle for the Bullet Farm.
It was fascinating. And a little boring. And a lot scary whenever the Mother snorted a giggle. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said one time as she and Furiosa scanned the plains below. “I love a good knock down, drag-out fight just as much as the next slayer, but seriously? I am over this battle already.” And with that she’d thrown the axe for the last time.
A high pitched shriek went up from the plains, cutting what had been a raucous celebration. It was immediately followed by even more high-pitched incomprehensible yelling. Max frowned and covered his ears, but the Mother, Furiosa, the old Vuvalini and Abundance (still with them) laughed.
“Then you shouldn’t have taken so long!” the Mother shouted back. Which brought rolling laughter up from the plains and...the tunnels behind them.
Max didn’t know where to look first.
“Confused are ya?” Abundance plopped herself beside him.
“Why didn’t you leave with the others?”
“Wasn’t I sent t’find you? An’ wasn’t it the Mother herself as told me to point you in the right?” She shrugged. “As no one has seen fit to rescind my orders, figures I might as well stay close on. Plus, the most fun always happens near elders. *Specially* the Mother.”
“I heard that.”
“Am I wrong then?”
The Mother grunted but didn’t rebuke Abundance or her wolfish grin. Instead she said, “Lets get out of here. I’m too old to be on clean-up, but Vi and Shannon will try.”
Max and Abundance stood, but no one actually made a move to leave the rocky outcropping. The waiting made Max nervous and twitchy.
A whisper on the hot desert wind… Have you saved us now, Max?
“Hush, little girl!” the Vuvalini snapped. It was almost as startling as seeing Glory.
“Now is not the time.”
And as if she had broken something held over all of them, a sharp whoop sounded from the plains below, then another, answered in kind by the throat of the Mother herself. It became a wave of whoops cresting and rising through the Green Places three towers. Soon the affirmations morphed into the joyful cries that Abundance and her team had tossed between them on the first leg of the journey back to the new Green Place.
“Alright kids. Let’s book,” the Mother said as she started forward. “Furiosa, you take the lead.”
“Up or down, Mother.”
“Party’s happening below, then that’s where I wanna go.”
Grinning, Furiousa strode ahead to lead the way. Max hung back, ready to watch their rear as he had been doing. It was a surprise to find the Mother at his elbow. “Left my staff waaay up in the old bastard’s chamber. Now that the adrenaline rush is down, I could do with a little help. You up for it?”
“Uh. Sure. Yeah.”
The battle axe went across her back. Her left arm looped around his right, and they made to follow the others.
Curious thing, though - the Mother felt nothing like frail.
Fin
Note2: I'm not sold on the title. I also thought about "Ride-along"...
Series: Many Mothers’
Author: Vashti (tvashti)
Fandom: Mad Max: Fury Road, BtVS
Character(s): Max Rockatansky, Furiosa, Faith Lehane
Rating: PG/FR-13
Summary: It takes a Mother to defeat an army.
Length: ~1,430 words
Disclaimer: Only the words are mine, and that’s probably up for philosophical debate.
Notes: Follow's yesterday's story War Song, and Just Before the Day.
*-*-*
The Mother was scary.
She was easily one of the oldest people her had seen in either this life or the one before. She was also one of the most bloody-minded.
When one of Old Joe's old Imperators tried to double back and ambush her, she got the other women out and handled him -- tall and muscle-bound as most Imperators were -- herself. By the time reinforcement had shown up in the form of Max, Furiosa, Abundance and the three others young women with them, all that was left to do was throw the Imperator over the edge. Which the Mother had. With him struggling a foot off the ground, held up by her red battle axe.
"Glad we're on her side," Max had mumbled as they marched after her.
“You have no idea,” the younger women said together. The Mother cackled as if she’d heard it all.
If they hadn’t known from the way she handled the Imperator, it was clear that Max and the Green Place warriors were the Mother’s entourage...maybe an honor guard. A memory of being an outrider for some self-important someone who was probably long dead dusted itself off and presented itself at the forefront of Max’s mind. He’d always been bored on those assignments. Taking care of the Mother’s castoffs as she handily cleared the way before them was anything but boring.
Every now and then as they passed an intersection, either the Mother or one of her warriors would look down the tunnel yip. A sharp whoop always sounded immediately after, followed closely by a new Green Place warrior.
By the time they were headed towards full natural light, they’d acquired one other ancient Vuvalini and fourteen young women. They were so different, these women, and still the same. Some covered their hair, some let it run wild. There were brunettes and blonds, one redhead in Abundance, and two salt-and-peppered silvers in the Mother and other old Vuvalini Some had skin in shades of brown this world no longer had examples of. At least one seemed to flicker like Max’s ghosts as she passed through shafts of daylight. But they were all slender. There was none taller than Max’s shoulder, unless he counted Furiosa beside him. They dressed like warriors. They moved like warriors. And they left a trail of dead like warriors.
“ ‘S gonna be a hell of a clean-up job when this is all over,” Max muttered to himself. They all giggled and chuckled like they’d all heard.
They were stepping out into daylight before he could pick that apart. And it wasn’t important. Not really.
They were standing on another outcropping, lower than Old Joe’s perch with an easier view of the desert plain below. It was filled with roving cars: rigs, full pursuit vehicles...anything with wheels. Most of the fighting was happening within the three towers of the new Green Place, but there were skirmishes happening down below as well. Mostly the Green Place warriors were keeping the reinforcements away from the battle.
“Furiosa, c’mere,” the Mother said, twirling her battle axe like it was police baton in her right hand as she gestured for Furiosa with the left.
“Yes, Mother,” she said, stepping forward.
Max did not at all resist the urge to follow her, to protect her back.
The Mother pointed with the...pointed end of her axe. “You know this situation better than anyone here right now. The original Bullet Farmer is dead, right?”
“Yeah. I killed him.”
The Mother patted her face but kept her eyes on what was happening below. “You say the nicest things. Okay! So if the old Bullet Farmer is crow meat, who’s most likely to have taken his place and brought the party to our doorstep.”
“Honestly? The Imperator you threw over the wall, Rasp, was probably part of it. War Boys and Bullet Bug-- Bullet Reapers don’t usually get along.”
“They’re lookin’ like besties right about now.”
“Rasp always wanted us to have a closer relationship with the Bullet Farm. Makes sense that he would make alliances there after surviving the Fury Road.”
The Mother turned her eyes from the plain, right arm still outstretched. “Yeah, but with who?”
Furiosa met her eyes for a moment, then turned to carefully study the field below. Then she went behind the Mother’s back, placed her metal arm over the Mother’s outstretched one, and moved the point of the red battle axe until it was pointed much further to the left. “Høster. I can’t be a hundred percent at this distance that it’s him, but--”
“What, you got, like, 80%? 85%?
“Uh, yeah. I’m pretty sure.”
“Sounds five by five to me,” the Mother muttered as she shook herself out of Furiosa’s light hold.
Between one blink and the next, the Mother had turned, taken aim, and let the battle axe fly out of her hand and into the chest of the man Furiousa had been pointing to.
Max and Furiosa shared a look.
“Wanna see something cool?” The Mother extended her right arm. One moment her hand was free. In the next, the battle ax was clutched firmly between wrinkled fingers. “Nice, right?”
Max shook himself.
“Who else you got? Ladies, you guys can go, like, beat up some baddies if you want to. We’ll call when we’re ready.”
So they lost more than half of the young women they’d picked up as Furiosa and the Mother spent the next half hour spying and taking out anyone who seemed to be leading the battle for the Bullet Farm.
It was fascinating. And a little boring. And a lot scary whenever the Mother snorted a giggle. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said one time as she and Furiosa scanned the plains below. “I love a good knock down, drag-out fight just as much as the next slayer, but seriously? I am over this battle already.” And with that she’d thrown the axe for the last time.
A high pitched shriek went up from the plains, cutting what had been a raucous celebration. It was immediately followed by even more high-pitched incomprehensible yelling. Max frowned and covered his ears, but the Mother, Furiosa, the old Vuvalini and Abundance (still with them) laughed.
“Then you shouldn’t have taken so long!” the Mother shouted back. Which brought rolling laughter up from the plains and...the tunnels behind them.
Max didn’t know where to look first.
“Confused are ya?” Abundance plopped herself beside him.
“Why didn’t you leave with the others?”
“Wasn’t I sent t’find you? An’ wasn’t it the Mother herself as told me to point you in the right?” She shrugged. “As no one has seen fit to rescind my orders, figures I might as well stay close on. Plus, the most fun always happens near elders. *Specially* the Mother.”
“I heard that.”
“Am I wrong then?”
The Mother grunted but didn’t rebuke Abundance or her wolfish grin. Instead she said, “Lets get out of here. I’m too old to be on clean-up, but Vi and Shannon will try.”
Max and Abundance stood, but no one actually made a move to leave the rocky outcropping. The waiting made Max nervous and twitchy.
A whisper on the hot desert wind… Have you saved us now, Max?
“Hush, little girl!” the Vuvalini snapped. It was almost as startling as seeing Glory.
“Now is not the time.”
And as if she had broken something held over all of them, a sharp whoop sounded from the plains below, then another, answered in kind by the throat of the Mother herself. It became a wave of whoops cresting and rising through the Green Places three towers. Soon the affirmations morphed into the joyful cries that Abundance and her team had tossed between them on the first leg of the journey back to the new Green Place.
“Alright kids. Let’s book,” the Mother said as she started forward. “Furiosa, you take the lead.”
“Up or down, Mother.”
“Party’s happening below, then that’s where I wanna go.”
Grinning, Furiousa strode ahead to lead the way. Max hung back, ready to watch their rear as he had been doing. It was a surprise to find the Mother at his elbow. “Left my staff waaay up in the old bastard’s chamber. Now that the adrenaline rush is down, I could do with a little help. You up for it?”
“Uh. Sure. Yeah.”
The battle axe went across her back. Her left arm looped around his right, and they made to follow the others.
Curious thing, though - the Mother felt nothing like frail.
Fin
Note2: I'm not sold on the title. I also thought about "Ride-along"...