The Good Ship (Flighter and Oit)

((Good luck finding the shower, Walt.


//Creepy and disturbing laugh...))


Drianne had the door open plenty, and she turned from her working desk to go see Todd by the opening. "Oh hey! You have the clothes!" She said, pushing herself off the table to bound across the clothing-filled floor to arrive infront of Todd. She reached up to his arms, took the clothes out of them, whirled around, and trotted back to the back of the room. "It won't take long to do. I'll have these clothes ready before you know it!"


"And we're helpin'!" Airii shouted, poking her head out of the dressing room. "We're gunna wash it when it's done. Gunna be all sparkly when we're through with it." Airii gave a thumbs-up, then poked her head back into the dressing room.


Drianne sat back at her table and placed the clothes down, laying them out to inspect the damage. While doing so, she asked, "What are you going to do while you wait, Todd?~"


Chrysaorus sat out on the lone central island of a patio in the center of her humongous garden, looking over books and scrolls given to her by the very kingdoms that they belonged to. Her back lay resting on one of the handles of her chair while her legs hung from the opposite handle of the chair. She put her foot in the air, and turned a page.


((REDEMPTION))
 
Todd nodded happily to the girls, appreciating their helpfulness and good attitude about the task. Drianne asked him what he'd be doing while he waited, and it didn't take much thought for him to answer.


"Oh, y'know, I was just gonna go find Chrysaorus and maybe talk to her, I guess." He told Drianne with a sheepish smile, "I'll be back in half an hour, alright -- Oh! And don't go out into the halls! Walt decided that running around naked was a great idea."


He gave them a salute, then left. Todd took off his blood-stained jacket and put it in his room, leaving him in a white shirt and a dark grey sweater vest. He wondered why he hadn't thought of doing that during the feast -- The outfit underneath the jacket was almost entirely blood-and-dirt-free, and it looked suitable for those sorts of events. Well, Todd supposed it was too late now.


With the help of a servant, he was able to locate the garden, and, careful not to stumble into the beautiful plants and flowers, he found Chrysaorus.


"Hey there, mind if I join you?" Todd asked.
 
Drianne nodded to his answer, picking up her needle and some black string. By the first try, she already had the bit of string inside the hole and knotted accordingly. "You could've shown him to the bathroom before having him undressed, you know!" She shouted, but Todd had been lone gone then. She shrugged, then began stitching up the costume and fixing it up.


--


Chrysaorus blinked, turning around to see the owner of the voice. "Todd?" Chrysaorus nearly knocked all of the books off of the table and umbrella next to her. "Oh. No. I don't mind." She then said, nonchalantly, as she fixed her gaze back upon the book that rested within her hands. "You can take a seat over there, maybe move the chair." Chrysaorus pointed a finger at the chair by the other side of the table. With the same finger, she flipped a page, and continued scanning that page's contents.
 
Todd winced when she nearly knocked all the books over, but internally sighed in relief when they and the umbrella did not topple over. She suggested he take a seat, and Todd nodded to her. He moved the chair closer to the table and sat down.


He smiled at her, thinking of what to say to her. She was reading though, should he say anything? Would bothering her come off as rude? But staying completely silent would be creepy. It would make him look like a stalker, especially as he's been staring at her for the last five seconds. Compliment her. Compliment her, make her feel good about herself.


"I don't mean to bother you, but you know, you have a stunning garden," he told her, giving the place another look-around, "it's a shame that all these flowers look so dull compared to you."


No, why did he say that? Christ, that was cheesy, that was so bad. Back up. Back up, back up, back up. But no, he couldn't get out of this one -- it was quite obvious what he meant by saying that, and now he couldn't take it back. Todd set his gaze on his wringing hands, which were once again quite sweaty. He was so rusty in the flirting department -- he hadn't done so for nearly four years now, and any skill he did have he had lost during the zombie apocalypse.
 
Chrysaorus flipped another page, looking through it, then flipped another before finally realizing that Todd had said something. She didn't mind being interrupted; she actually enjoyed having the company while she studied. But what he said confused her a little. She stuck a thumb into the page to save it from being lost among the other pages.


"I can't quite tell if you are complimenting the flowers, me, or insulting the flowers. Thank you, nonetheless." She put her book back up infront of her face and kept reading.
 
Todd sighed, disappointed, when Chrysaorus shared her uncertainty about the meaning of his compliment with him. For a second, he wondered why he was flirting with her in the first place, but that thought was quickly put away.


"I was complimenting both the flowers and you, y'know?" He explained, "I was saying that you're... You're more beautiful than the flowers, n-not that the flowers aren't also... Beautiful. I - It - I was just... I was just trying to be creative with the whole... 'Complimenting you' thing?" Oh yeah, real smooth, right?


"I-I'm sure you get that all the time, though, what, with you being queen and all. A guy like me telling you you're pretty? That's not special."


Todd rested his chin on his knuckles, looking away from Chrysaorus, ashamed of his little attempt. It hurt him, how interested he was in Chrysaorus, how he had somehow developed these feelings for her -- Unless it was just a crush. Maybe that's all this was. And then he'd be over it and then he can move on. Right, good.
 
"Oh? But it is, Todd." Chrysaorus put the book back down onto the table. She folded her arms nicely into her chest, and turned to Todd with a gentle smile.


"Being a queen does not automatically mean that I am pretty. It only means that I am the queen. Yes, I have collected my fair share of compliments, but I have never thought them to actually be truthful. Why, they would sometimes only compliment me for their own benefit of becoming allies, or so they could receive gifts once in a while. Todd, atleast I know you're being truthful. And that, on its own, makes it special."
 
Todd smiled back at Chrysaorus, warmth in his eyes, happy to hear those words come from Chrysaorus. Maybe he wasn't as rusty as he thought he was, but he should definitely not attempt any more fancy wording. Then the darker thoughts, that pessimism entered his head. What if she knew he liked her? What if she knew and she was just toying with him? Was he a joke to her? Would Chrysaorus even be like that? No, no, she wasn't. He couldn't just doubt her. She had enough doubt from other people.


"What is that you were reading?" He asked her, pointing his thumb at the book the queen had put down. What was she interested in? Todd would love to know. He'd like to know everything about her.
 
Chrysaorus turned back to her book, and held it up to her eyes. Todd asked about what this book was about, and she answered plainly, as she had usually done. "It's the recorded history of Moorborne. I need to read it if we are to become allies in the Union..." She twisted a little in her seat, and brushed her hair behind her shoulders again. "I plan to read on those odd books over there, maybe figure out how it is written."


((They're books from Earth by the wurr))
 
((Wooorrwww))


Todd glanced at the books but paid no mind to them. He looked back at Chrysaorus, who was once again reading. He smiled a bit.


"I had a friend back home who would read constantly. He would write too. And smoke. I hated the smoking, but I never had the heart to do anything rash about it. I guess it doesn't matter now since he's... Dead. But it's just interesting, having those reminders pop up every now and then."


He glanced at those books again.


"Moorborne, eh? And the Union? What are those?" He asked, raising a brow.
 
"Moorborne is a lesser kingdom in the north, founded by a bunch of travelers who found residence on the cold mountains. Their men are quite strong despite them being a small nation. They're famous for taking down large creatures and using them for both food and clothing." Chrysaorus turned yet another page. "And, the Union is an agreement between other kingdoms to avoid wars, trade, and come to agreements on land matters. Putting it simply..."
 
"Ah!" Todd exclaimed, understanding, "Right, in Concordia, the city I was mainly working for - though Walt would have disagreed - was planning to pull something like your 'Union' once the war was over. Not that... We can help with that now but ehh... Maybe they'll be fine without us, over there."


He leaned back in his chair, looking around and rubbing his neck. It was interesting to learn about this, along with these Moorborne people. They sounded like the vikings of Earth's past, or the dark elves of Concordia's present. People like that were unruly. They felt they could be commanded by nobody but their own, as they understood how well they could tear apart other people.


"That's a dangerous game to play, Your Highness -- Or Chrysaorus, or Chry, whichever you prefer. If those people don't see this kingdom as worthy as their own, they may crush your people."
 
"I've thought so." Chrysaorus nodded. "But my army is sufficient, and their leader is... Very heartful... And he doesn't seem like the type to break the oath. If the time comes, though, Escherisa will be ready." Chrysaorus closed her book after finishing it, and placed it down on the table. She took up one of the other books, that were recovered from Earth, from the pile of books and began examining the cover. "These books have strange words unknown to the lands of Rouphoria... Would you like to look at it, Todd?"
 
Todd listened to Chrysaorus as she spoke of her knowledge of the Moorborn people. He was glad that she was still taking precautions. Such a deal with such people, no matter what, was a dangerous thing. Then she slipped a book to him, asking him if he could look at a book that she couldn't seem to read.


Why hand him such a thing, Todd wondered. He was no linguistics major, and unearthly languages were completely out of the question. Then he took a look at it and he let out a gasp of surprise.


"Th-this book is in English, Chrysaorus! It's from Earth!"


A wide grin grew on his face. He laughed in disbelief.


"Wh-where did you get this?? Where did you get those??"
 
"Hm? You know what it is?" Chrysaorus bent out of her seat and leaned in forward towards Todd. "I got it using a witch's spell for retrieving an object from somewhere far away. What is Earth? Surely it is not this Concordia where you came from, right?"


((Blaaahhhhh))
 
Todd flipped through the book excitedly, happy to see something from Earth. He hadn't seen anything like the book in his hands in about a year now. He was even starting to miss such little things through the strange new discoveries in both Concordia and Escherisa. He missed his TV, he missed practically every sport (except golf, screw golf), he missed the city, and he missed his mom and friends most of all. They were still gone, though. Todd knew this. Everyone was dead. That life he once had, that life he longed for, could never be brought back.


He had almost not heard Chrysaorus as he felt himself tear up, but when he realized that, yes, she was trying to ask him something, Todd wiped the forming tears and looked up at the queen to answer her immediately.


"Earth is my home, Chrysaorus." He told her honestly, the passion coming off his voice like a warm glow. Then all that passion turned to sadness, "... Or rather, it was my home. It was ruined by a horrible disease. Earth quickly succumbed to The Infection, and people turned on each other. Well... They weren't people anymore. I'm sure if I went back there, no one would be alive or human anymore. My home's gone. It's been gone for about a year now."


Again, he had to wipe his tears. He tried stopping himself before he would embarrass himself further in front of Chrysaorus.


"Walter came from Earth too. Judging by his accent, he lived in Britain."
 
(( Screw golf?


But golf is fuuunnn Toooood ))


Chrysaorus gave him a little frown. If she had known the tradgedy that happened on Earth, she wouldn't have asked what it was. She sat properly in her seat and crossed her arms neatly into her lap. She was almost stumped on what to say next.


"I didn't know much about Earth, or what happened there. But from your point of view, it sounds like something utterly painful to go through. But do you know one benefit out of all of this, Todd?"


Chrysaorus wasn't exactly sure how to put it into words. She looked away for a few seconds. "Had you been dead on Earth, along with the other humans, this--" She looked up, and motioned towards the environment, "would not be here. I would have been possessed by Abbessus and my kingdom will fall into chaos. And, I would've not even *met a man such as you. It would all be over for me. So don't be sad about it; besides, it's the past, and what happened had happened. Nobody would want you to mourn over their dead bodies until you died, they would want you to use what life you have and be happy."


Chrysaorus put a hand over her cheek, and hummed with her eyes closed. "... I guess that's for cheering you up, hmm~"
 
Todd listened to each word she told him, and before he knew it, he was crying again -- Though he was also smiling. He smiled through the tears, laughing a little as well, not truly knowing what to feel.


"Thank you," He told her quietly when Chrysaorus was finished, "Y-yeah, yes. You did a good job cheering me up. D-don't mind the tears -- m-my head's just not screwed on right at the moment. C-can't figure out what I'm actually feeling, heh."


He flipped open the book again and read a quote from it aloud.


"'Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass


number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls."


Todd chuckled.


"This one doesn't have a cover, but it's definitely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I haven't read this one since I was a kid."
 
Chrysaorus giggled a bit at the sight of Todd crying and laughing at the same time. "I believe the term is, 'happy tears'!" She remarked, before leaning in intently to listen to him read the quote from the book.


"What's it about? This Hairy Powder and the Feel Oscipher's Stone?" She asked.
 
Todd laughed a bit at Chrysaorus's mispronunciation of the book's title. He then went on to explain for her, this piece of his childhood. As he did so, his eyes lit up with an inner excitement that he knew he hadn't felt for a while.


"It's about this kid named Harry Potter, and on Earth, in our world, magic doesn't exist. Harry is forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs in his aunt and uncle's house because they hate him or something, until one day he receives an invitation to Hogwarts -- A school for witchcraft and wizardry, y'know? And as it turns out, he's the 'boy who lived' because he was the only one who ever survived a spell that's supposed to kill you from the main bad guy, and --" He stopped himself before he gave away too much.


"Well, it's very exciting. I don't know if there's any others in that pile you have there, but this one is where the series all began." He was all smiles at this point, having been completely distracted by Earth's destruction.


"If only Walt could remember... He mentioned having lived in a library for a very long time. I'm sure he must have read Harry Potter. If he ever gets his memory back, I bet he'd be thrilled to see one of the books has been brought here."
 
How did she get in this mess, exactly? Sanade Nishijima, nineteen years old, literary arts major and part time sushi chef glared at the sheathed knife in her hands as she broke through the treeline and onto a paved path. She took a look around, her eyes searching both horizons that the road led to. It didn’t seem like she was in Kyushu any more. This did not look like something out of her hometown. Why, oh, why did she ever pick up this piece of crap? Flinging her arms into the air, Sanade turned right and continued down the road. No point mulling about it on a deserted road, then, all the while muttering darkly and cursing the knife in her hands. How did picking up a knife devolve into a transfer of worlds? She only wanted to carve up some dinner from the magoro in the fridge. Growling, Sanade pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and, don’t try this at home, kids, twirled the knife in her hand, almost expertly from her days working with her uncle at his shop. However, long sleeves were not meant for such acts of dexterity, and soon, Sanade’s fingers stumbled across the fabric of her dark indigo jacket and the knife bit into her skin. She yelped and dropped the knife onto the brick road. The blade clattered across the pavement and tumbled down the sloping road.


Sanade stomped her feet on the ground, the act unsettling her rectangular glasses and sending them down the bridge of her nose, and she made her slow descent down the slope. The knife lay on the ground, having come to a stop due to physics still acting on it. Sanade picked it up and dusted the blade, having not learned her lesson about playing with knives. The knife was rammed back into its sheathe, a simple wooden home for the dagger-like kitchen implement. As her eyes lifted, however, she found herself looking up at the most grandiose castle, its spires reaching into the skies.


Sanade was silent. The impression that she wasn’t on Kyushu sank in deeper. This was no Oriental castle, this was a Western styled one, one that was only mirrored in fiction, on television, on the pages of storybooks. Sanade looked at the guards that stood at the double doors of the castle, then at the condition of the castle itself. Well maintained. Another possibility sank in. She wasn’t even on Earth. Sanade spun around, pocketing the knife in her cargo trousers and wiped her sweaty palms on her jacket, tugged at the tassels of the hood, then pressed her lip onto her upper row of teeth, making a hissing ‘F’ sound. Those familiar with the practice would know what this entailed. After a second or two of holding the note, she said one very clear word.


“Ffffffffffffffuck.”
 
Chrysaorus' hands pushed against her legs. Her back was at a certain acute angle. She was listening intently, which was ultimately shown with the passive curiosity that was there within those sharp eyes of hers. It was very interesting just to learn bits of culture— probably because Todd had highlighted it within his explanation of Harry Potter— from a mere book. She couldn't even imagine how it was on Earth just because she never heard of a world without magic. It must have been thrilling to read about it in books.


Her hand reached out for the table, and nearly subconsciously she grabbed another book from Earth. It seemed nearly similar to the other with the text inside, only it had a cover. She handed it to Todd after inspecting it. "I think this is another." She mumbled, her face still frozen in its ‘willing to learn’ state.

———

​



The man was quite fair. Tender-skinned, nearly a cream color. He had soft blue eyes, and blonde hair spiked nicely upwards behind a few bangs (which had bits of them dyed brown). He had a bit of a kiddish frame and stood a little over five feet. Over his kid-like body he wore a typical blue shirt and baggy brown pants, with tough black shoes and gloves. Over that, though, were full plates of armor that covered him plenty. Except for his head.


One of the amazing things of this person, however, was that he was lugging around a huge double-sided canon, harbored by magic, of course. And it stood exactly his height and width. He carried it around like luggage as he went on his parole through the kingdom.


He had arrived next to the castle, and stopped to wave at the fellow guards that stayed at the entrance.


"Hey, Garren!" One of the guards shouted.


"H-hey!" The man shouted back. He continued, merrily, on his way, but the sound of some metal clinking to the stone ground met his acute ears. He turned, careful not to knock anyone over with his cannon, to observe what had occurred.


Some woman, standing some distance away from the castle, had cut her fingers with a blade that had fallen. Then, after the woman stayed standing there for a bit and fixing the— whatever that thing was on her face— onto her nose and let out some "fff" sound, the man called Garren approached her, and lent her a well-needed hand. Well, that was what he thought.


"If you would come with me, ma'am, into the castle, I will call for a maid of some sort to tend to that hand of yours." He tried not to let his normally easygoing nature reach her, and so he kept a stoic expression. "Will that be alright?"


((Unnecessary describing is unnecessary. Now I actually like this piece of cannon fodder.))
 
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Todd became even more excited when he saw the next book Chrysaorus pulled from the pile.


"That -- That's the sequel! Well, one of them, anyway! The second book!" He exclaimed joyously, "You got more than one Harry Potter, and this one has its cover intact! Chrysaorus, if it didn't probably get me arrested, I'd hug you!"


He gleefully thumbed through the book, then glanced at the pile.


"What else is there?" He asked excitedly, putting the two Harry Potter books aside, "I'm wondering if it's all fiction in there or if you managed to pull any, uh, almanacs, or encyclopedias, or a biography or something."


Todd was practically grinning from ear to ear. These books were treasures. They were relics from the once-lively Earth.
 
Chrysaorus blinked hard. Arrested? She wasn't sure why she would have him arrested, but she supposed that he didn't know his boundaries, and was just acting politely to make up for the lack of knowledge. Todd wanted to see if she had any other books from earth, and she nodded, pointing at two piles of books separate from the others.


"They're in those two piles there, but wait. Arrested for what? And what is a hug?" She asked.


((I couldn't word))
 
((It's okay everyone has off days :J))


Two piles worth of Earth books?? It was like Todd hit the jackpot! Still, he hoped that the majority of them were in English. He didn't know any other languages, and, well, Earth had quite a few of those. He certainly had no use for a copy of War and Peace if it was in Russian. Who knew, though? Perhaps Walter knew languages he didn't He did spend more than half of his life in a library, whether he remembers it or not. There was much to learn from those, certainly.


He searched through the pile, noticing that one was a beat up volume of Spider-Man. Sure, it was in French, but what a find all the same! Then his grin dropped when Chrysaorus claimed to not know what a hug was. Well, he did hug her when she was fighting against Abbessus. Perhaps she didn't remember that?


Todd figured that, since Chrysaorus asked why he'd get arrested, he'd be safe from demonstrating what a hug was.


"Okay, Chrysaorus?" He addressed her, moving around the table to stand in front of her, "This is a hug." He then leaned down and hugged her. It felt nice, though since the queen didn't even know what it was, Todd doubted she'd feel the same way. Perhaps it was just alien-like and strange to her. Or perhaps she knew what it was, but didn't know the name of it?


How did she not know what a hug was?
 
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