The Misadventures of Riley & Kit: Cultural Differences
The center of Holdfast Township, the major settlement of Triumph, built in the style of the Amish of Earth That Was, having little technological equipment outside of horse drawn carts, water pumps, and wind mills. Stakes with hooded lanterns line the main thoroughfaire, lit at night to provide illumination. The town is orderly in it's design, with the simple, two floor homes built uniform in their placement alongside one another and in their placement by the street. A large church dominates the eastern side of town, it's graveyard stretching out behind it further into the landscape, while to the west and north the small town stretches.
Along the western side of the street, between homes, are a mercantile dedicated to dry goods, a blacksmith resting alongside it. Further down is what passes for a hospital, two floors in size, and having perhaps the most advanced technology on the planet, with a few more core-ward trained physicians working there, and having outfitted the building with what modern technology they could bring. But at the furthest north end of the town rests The Maiden House. Built of stone, like the church, and three floors in height, it would appear abandoned if not for the two groundskeepers keeping it set, and the women in clerical style attire walking about it. Occassionaly a young woman is brought in, or out. Those who go in seeming a little more free with themselves. But those who leave appear to be more servantile in their posture and demeanor, a sight that often visibly unnerves the women going inside.
Kit breathes in the clean air of the township and looks around. "It's sorta pretty isn't it?" As they walk she watches people, never certain where trouble will find them. The Maiden House, however gives her pause or rather the demeanor of the women themselves. "They remind me of Miku. Don't look like they'd say boo to a ghost." <English>
Riley wanders along beside, looking short. "Sure is." He's not really looking at the surroundings when he answers. He's looking more at the girls. <English>
Kit nudges him with her arm. "Which way do you want to go?" Her mouth quirks up into a smirk. "And don't say where the women are because I don't think men are allowed in there." The time it took to travel across the expanse of space has meant her face is more healed and the bandage has come off, just leaving the stitches hidden by her long hair. <English>
"Huh?" as she nudges him Riley becomes aware he was staring. "Oh um how bout that way?" he says pointing to the west. "See if we can find a good bar in this place. Triumph is kinda backwater." <English>
What passes for roads on Triumph might hardly be recognizable, elsewhere. Indeed, it's little more than a dusty track worn across the prairie and through the scrub brush, a dusty line through the dusty plains. But it is enough to indicate relatively frequent travl from one point to another, the ground packed solid and cleared of plant life by horses, wagons, and occasionally even motorized transport, though the ungraded, pitted track is likely not accomodating for such vehicles. Indeed, where other planets may have a bridge, the road merely fords wide streams on the shallowest, rockiest passages available.
With a laugh Kit heads in the direction he indicates. "Well at least you're safe from a Triumph settler marriage." She waggles her brows at Riley. and looks around. "Man this place is...just barely more than wilderness." She nods towards the outpost off int he distance. "What do you think that is?" <English>
Riley follows close beside, and lets out a laugh of his own. "I dunno, I hear they're mean cooks, keep a clean house, and even do massages and foot rubs." He grins, knowing full well that will get her riled up a little. When she points out the outpost up ahead he shrugs. "Wanna find out?" <English>
Kit snort a laugh, "I massage you plenty, O'Hare. And in more interesting places than your feet." Nodding in response to his query she says, "Yeah, let's see what it is." <English>
'Pirate Outpost' gives the idea of a coastal fortress on some tropical island. In this case, that idea would be entirely misleading. In the midst of the prairie, the pirates seem to have comandeered what was once a ranch complex. Certainly, the walls of the abandoned ranch house are thick, constructed of stone and whole logs. More than enough to stop a bullet. The old barn is somewhat less sturdy, perhaps, but it's sheer size is no doubt useful for storage. A few more buildings have been added.. more industrialized, modern structures, the sort that can be fabricated from steel and set up without having to do much more than pour a bit of concrete on site. And concrete is used in the construction of the landing pad as well, one large enough for a large transport ship to set down and supply the place. There aren't walls, as such.. That would be pointless, when any attacks are likely to come from the air. But there are fortifications.. Earthworks reinforced with concrete to provide defenders with cover, platforms atop the buildings, and a watchtower equipped with a spotlight, high enough to see quite a distance across the plains.
And what's stranger, is that it is entirely, utterly, deserted.
"Huh. That's odd." As they approach the structure Riley scans the area for any sign of life. Getting a little closer he raps a knuckle on the thick walls and is greeted with a dim thud. "Pretty heavily fortified. Seems kinda outta place in a place like this doncha think?" <English>
"It does," agrees Kit. She doesn't like that it seems so empty either. "Wonder what drove them out..." Spinning around slowly on a booted heel she takes in the full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. "Maybe the folks of Triumph have a bit more gumption to them than seems likely from the surface?" <English>
"...maybe." the pilot looks curious and wanders around to explore a little and heads over to the barn to look inside. "Nothing in here but trash. And not much of that. Whoever was here, doesn't seem to have left in a hurry. I don't think-" His head whips around, and he stands motionless as he hears the faint sound of falling stones behind him somewhere in the complex. <English>
Kit is more cautious. She keeps her hand near the holster of her obviously visible gun. "If I was in charge of the town I'd turn this place into the jail. It's a bit odd that they've just left it as is." <English>
Riley slowly makes his way toward the sound he thought he heard. He heads out from the barn and towards one of the newer structures. His hand is also hovering over his gun. Theres another sound. It's muffled, but sounds a little like a girl's laugh. "I don't think it's as empty as we thought." he says quietly now. <English>
Stepping to the side, Kit moves toards the doorway from the opposite side. She moves well for such a tall woman, but what she is much better at is eavesdropping. Her dark head tilts slightly and her eyes get a faraway look as she focuses more on her hearing than what she is seeing. "Shhh," she murmur to Riley. <English>
Riley obeys, but only because he's trying to listen as well. He presses his ear to the door of the building trying hard to pick anything up. When he can't hear anything he shakes his head. Very carefully he reaches for the nob, turns it, and slowly opens it enough for them to fit though. It's a heavy door, and it opens with a creak to a dark hallway. Before they can slip in the couple is greeted by a series of short, shrill, rhythmic screams. Riley hangs his head in tired frustration "Shit, not slavers again." he says quietly. <English>
The walls are too thick for Kit to really get a sense of what's happening, but she knows enough to respond with, "No. She wouldn't be laughing." Leaving her gun holstered she quietly slips a throwing knife from the band she wears and palms it as she does her best to slip in quietly. Her eyes have to adjust to the dim light provided by the opened doorway. Not content to leave the mystery unsolved, she heads down the corridor, hoping she's more of a clever Daphne than a bumbling Fred as she is far too tall to be Velma. <English>
Riley follows along, allowing his eyes to adjust. The only light in the corridor, apart from where they just came in, is a small flickering sliver of orange from underneath a door on the far side. The screaming has stopped, but the slight deprivation of sight makes the sounds coming from further down seem a lot louder than they really are. Heavy breathing echoes off the walls, accompanied by a kind sick, rhythmic wet sound. Theres something about that sound that's really familiar, but the pilot can't really place it in this context. He's still on his guard for some kind of unexpected danger. <English>
"Oh for fuck's sake," mutters Kit. She groans and slips her blade back into the pouch which houses it. "Do you want to mess with them?" Clearly she assumes Riley has put two and two together, or rather in this essence put one and one together. Her head turns and she looks back at him, her smirk near feral in the darkness. "Wonder if they're kids. Remember how we used to sneak off?" <English>
Riley has pretty much reached the door by the time Kit starts talking. His hand is on the door knob, when he turns around to look at her. Even in the low light it's obvious by his baffled expression that he still hasn't gotten it. "What are you talking about?" he says as he opens the door without looking.
The door swings open with a creak, but the sound is overshadowed by the cries from the lantern lit room "yes yes yes ah Yes ah AH Yes YES YEEEEEEEeeees!" In the room clothes are scattered about in odd little piles. Among them a priests habit, and a dress in the manner of the girls from the maiden house. Occupying this space are two very naked individuals, neither of whom seem to be aware of the now voyeristic intruders as they are both facing the wall. Or rather propped up against the wall. They are a bit engaged at the moment as well, and don't seem to show any sign of stopping.
Riley finally remembers why that sounded familiar. He's currently frozen, staring at the vigorous couple like one stares at a bad accident. More with shock than genuine interest. <English>
Hands on her hips Kit watches the couple as if she were watching a bit of sport. "Points for creative use of the wall as a structure to get leverage off of, but not for creativity," she critiques. "Also, there is a distinct lack of romance about it all. More feverish coupling." She keeps her voice low so that only Riley can hear it, but then given the amount of wailing the other woman is doing the couple likely wouldn't hear her commentary anyway. Lifting a hand Kit gestures, indicating the rutting and sadly, rather harisute backside of the preacher, "Also, his form is poor. Which could be why she's accepting facing the wall." <English>
It's too much. Before he even attempts to suppress it, Riley breaks out laughing. Not a little snicker either. A loud, full belly laugh.
The couple in the room are suddenly aware they have an audience, and the presumed priest screams in surprise. It sounds oddly similar to the girls cries only moments before. Like a coward, he tries to hide himself behind the lithe form of the girls naked body. Since their clothes are out of immediate reach, the girl tries to cover herself with her hands as her entire body blushes a brilliant red. She can't be a day older than nineteen. "Y You have no right to be here." the man stammers. He appears to be in his late thirties but he cowers like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Th This is a holy...Private place. N No Nothing is g going on here. She just came for confession."
Riley is doubled over now with laughter. He may fall at any moment. <English>
"Confession was it?" Kit sounds like she rather doesn't believe the preacher. In fact she is looking at him with a raised brow. "So would her penetance be to get down on bended knee? I'm guessing that you don't believing in sparing the," her gaze drops, "rod." She reaches over and pats Riley on the back, lest he start to choke with laughter. "Come on. Let's leave the preacher to his good works." <English>
It's all Riley can do to try and stop laughing. The best he can manage is to tone it down to a prolonged snicker. He holds on to his wife to steady himself with one hand, and crosses himself with the other as he starts to head out the door. "Forgive us father. I guess we've sinned. We'll let you get back to your...liturgy." Still chuckling he turns back to leave. Before closing the door he pops his head back in for one last word. "Father, you may wanna get sheath for that sword of the spirit there. Avoid any...immaculate conceptions." <English>
Kit sniggers and gives Riley a gently shove towards the door. "Don't be such a hypocrite. The good father knows how to handle his divine septre, I'm certain." She does give the young woman a once over and then with a chuckle follows Riley out the door, pulling it shut behind them. "You know, I didn't expect it to be that, but it was rather priceless," she states with a bark of a laugh. <English>
"Oh my god yes. Hilarious." Riley chuckles as he stumbles alongside. "I don't think I'll get that image out of my head for a while. He looked like he was trying to nail her to the wall. That couldn't have felt as good as she let on." As the near the entrance there's another door, slightly ajar, off to the side. "Ya know this ain't such a bad place for it though." he says as he gets a divine little idea of his own and nods to the door. "Got any sins you need to get off your chest? or clothes?" <English>
"Oh she was totally faking it. I could tell. Men never can tell, but other women can." Kit glances at the opened doorway and then at Riley. "Are you feeling overcome with your ecclesiastical passion, Ri?" Her lips quirk with amusement. "Do you feel like you need to get down on bended knee and worship?" <English>
"I could go for a little Sacriment." Riley says with a wink. "It /is/ my turn to be on bended knee anyways I think. Have a little taste of the forbidden fruit while I'm down there." He smiles lustfully and takes her hand to lead her into the room. About this time, the screams from the other room start back up. <English>
Her head turns back towards the room they just exited and Kit starts to snigger. "Think you can work with that soundtrack?" She leans in and nips the side of his neck. "You can make it a contest, see who can scream the loudest. At least mine will be real." <English>
Riley looks back as well. "Babe, I'll have you speaking in tongues. We'll show em how it's done." He opens the door on a room that looks pretty much exactly like the other one, only less....occupied. He takes off his shirt and begins to unbuckle his belt as he walks in backwards, not breaking eye contact. <English>
Ahey, when he looks at her like that she just cannot resist. Thankfully Kit doesn't even have to ponder trying. She follows him in, pushing the door shut behind her. The last time she rolled around in hay was also with Riley. It doesn't get any less itch, the hay anyway. Riley, however has improved over the years then again so has Kit. A good while later she leans up on her elbow and looks around. "Where did you throw my shirt?" <English>
"Shirt? I threw it over there....at least I thought I did." Riley gets up and looks puzzled as he struggles his pants up. He doesn't see her shirt anywhere actually. "You don't really need a shirt right?" <English>
As if to prove his point he playfully grabs a handful of boob. <English>
Kit gives his hand a playful slap. "No, I can go like this and just have every man staring at my tits. That's fine with you, right?" <English>
Riley laughs "I probably wouldn't notice. I'd be to busy staring at your tits." <English>
"Next time you're so taking all of /your/ clothes off," grumbles Kit as she gets to her feet. Picking up her trousers helps her uncover her shirt, which is promptly pulled over her head after said trousers are pulled on. "Our good reverend friend is rather silent. Let's hope he's not waiting outside with a pitchfork." <English>
Riley pulls his own shirt on and heads toward the door, chuckling as he goes. "I'm sure he's long gone." When he opens the door he's greeted with the form of the now fully clothed girl sobbing on the floor. "Please don't tell the elders.*sob**sob* The impure girls get married off to all kinds of unsavory men. I*sniff* I'm supposed to go to a magistrate when he gets here. He's to be my first. He can't know." It seems she's not really aware that he could probably figure it out when the time comes. <English>
Still tucking her shirt into her belt as she follows him out the door Kit stops dead at the sight of the girl. "Well you'd best get that magistrate real drunk then darlin' because he'll know. And probably put prick your finger and put some blood on the inside of your thighs too." Yes, she is standing there giving the woman advice on how to fake virginity. "Also, be very tense." <English>
Riley eyes his wife suspiciously. "I really don't want to know where you learned that trick." then reaching down he helps the girl to her feet. "C'mon, lets get you back to town. We won't tell a soul. Honest." As he helps her up she whimpers a little "Is it supposed to hurt?" she asks. <English>
With a sweet grin for her husband she says, "I never duped you with it. As well you know." Her dark head shakes as she looks at the girl, "Not if it's done right, but men feel manlier if they think it hurts," answers Kit. She isn't the cuddling type and so lets Riley manage that part of it. "But if you get pregnant you're screwed kid, so find the old lady who helps the girls get rid of those and do it fast." <English>
Kit's directness doesn't do much to comfort the girl. She instantly breaks down crying again, making it very difficult to get her to move. Riley gives his wife a sarcastic 'oh thanks' look, and tries to prod the girl along. The sobbing is punctuated with mostly unintelligible ramblings. At one point she wails in something close to english "Mmm gonna go to HE-E-E-ELLLLL!" <English>
With an annoyed sigh Kit reaches out and grabs the girl with her hands, grabbing her shoulder. "Stop it. Right now," she says in a very firm tone of voice. "Now you are not some weak-willed-pansy-assed-Core-raised-miss-who's-never-got-her-hands-dirty, are you?" Not giving the girl time to answer she answers for her. "No, you're not. You're from hearty Triumph stock. So you're going to suck it up. You're going to put one of those asinine fake smiles on your face which makes men think you're as docile as a damn cow and you're going to know behind that facade that you are a strong woman and nobody is going to ever take advantage of you again. Do you want to control your destiny or be some thing men can use for their own pleasure and cast aside when done, barely giving you a thought?" Again, the poor girl has no chance to reply. "Of course you want control. So own up to what you did. See the old woman. Get the nasty herb drink. Keep track of when...whatever you lot here call your blood...comes and for Goram's sake, stop crying like a child." <English>
The girl stops crying more from terror than anything. She's legitimately afraid of Kit. She tries to compose herself and sniffles a little before replying. "But miss, I'm a woman. We're born to please our men." she gives Kit a sharp look like one gives a snake or a rat. Something loathsome that they would rather get rid of, but are too scared of. "I think you're just being mean because your too tall to find a real man. One you can serve like God commands."
'Oh dear lord,' Riley thinks to himself, now she's done it. Of course he's offended by the real man comment. Especially after giving Kit pleasure this girl can't even fathom. But he's more worried about what is wife is gonna do with that comment. "Heheheh Isn't she quaint. Take it easy now honey. Cultural differences and all that." <English>
She tried. Kit really did try to be nice. Helpful even. "You're going to hell. You're going to have bastard babies which God will never forgive you for. You will end up having one of those horrible scratch hair undershirts and you'll be made to wear it even in the heat of summer. It'll probably give you a heat rash. No decent man will have you so you'll get bartered off to the highest bidder amongst the fatest most foul men in the Township. Likely some gormless wonder who is missing half his teeth and still lives with his mother. A fat, flabby, bald, pasty man with a hairy back and a penchant for bathing only once a month. And you won't be good enough even for him, his mother will spend every day of your life telling you that." The words come out so mater-of-factly that they sound as if she weren't upset, but Riley knows Kit well enough by now to know she is only just warming up. <English>
The girl bits her lip for a second as it begins to wobble. It looks like she's about to cry, but she holds it in. "Your a liar." she says in soft angry tones. "You're the one that's going to hell. The Father told me God would forgive me, and that the devil and his whores would lie to me." her eyes narrow in judgmental fury. "You're the devil's whore. Get away from me before I call the elders to stone you like the witch you are." With that she spits at Kit, turns on her heels and runs toward town.
Riley puts one hand on his wives shoulder to calm her, and with the other and holds her pistol in it's holster to make sure she doesn't shoot the girl in the back while she runs away. <English>
Thankfully she doesn't go for one of her knives either. "Get...me...on...the...fucking...ship...now," she mutters through her clenched teeth. Kit stomps off, heading back towards town and the landing pad. She needs to kick something or someone or maybe just getting off of Triumph will be enough. <English>
