Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, or any of its characters, and I do not own any characters that any of my characters may resemble in name, description, or behavior.
Chapter 2: The Journey
A large vehicle moved through the empty dune. The vehicle could be easily described as odd. It mainly consisted of a large brown, well, train engine. The increase in size allowed the blue class sand steamer to hold up to 600 passengers as well as the 40-person crew, comfortably. It was now pulling into the city of November, one of the larger cities left.
NOTE: In my version of this world, the cities with month names spiral around, with January in the center and December on the outermost edge. Each month city is closest to the two cities whose names are neighboring months. For example, February is closest to January and March. March is closest to February and April, etc. The rest of the cities are off the spiral, close to one month city or another.
A week after their trip started, in November, the local doughnut shop was getting half its annual income. Vash was waiting patiently for the shopkeeper to come out of the building with his 20 dozen doughnuts, while Alex was walking around the city, looking for a restaurant that served breakfast this close to noon. Meryl and Millie were both in the transportation office, attempting to get their car, as well as Alex's motorcycle, allowed as cargo on the sand steamer they were taking to Sky City.
"Sir, do you know what time it is?" the restaurant owner asked Alex, astonished.
"Yes, and I know that if I'd asked an hour ago, you would have said 'of course,'" was Alex's calm reply.
"You know as well as I do that at this point, we can't ask the chefs to make a breakfast meal, they've already converted the kitchen for lunch!" said the restaurant owner, exasperated.
"All I want is an omelet. I don't think that's too much trouble for them," Alex, beginning to get annoyed, replied.
"All right, we can allow that. There are people who like omelets for lunch anyway."
"Thanks. I'd like a reservation for four, in ten minutes."
"You are quite welcome, sir. May I have your name, please?"
"Put the reservation under Alex."
Alex exited the restaurant, and nearly ran Vash down. With a nod of apology, Vash and Alex began to head for the transportation office, hoping that Meryl and Millie would have been done convincing the attendant to allow them to store their vehicles as cargo on their trip.
"I'm sorry for the hassle. I just wasn't sure that a single group was allowed that much weight in luggage. The regulations are confusing at times," said the sand steamer attendant, obviously afraid, but trying her best to hide it.
"That's about time. I was supposed to meet the rest of my group ten minutes ago, but I had to make sure that our luggage would go with us on the trip," shouted Meryl.
"I understand ma'am, it's just that I had to check with my supervisor to make sure it was alright. I don't get these kinds of requests every day."
"Thanks. But don't let it happen again." At this point, Meryl grabbed her baggage check, and stormed out, quickly followed by Millie.
Once they exited the building, Vash greeted them "Hi. Hope you didn't scare her too much. I'd hate to not be allowed on the steamer because my traveling companion traumatized the attendant."
Meryl, obviously not in the mood, replied "Very funny, Vash."
Attempting to change the subject, Alex said "I got us lunch reservations; they're for right now, so we should probably go get there before they give away our seats."
Vash, oblivious to the mountain of doughnuts he was consuming, said "That sounds great. Let's go!"
After that was done with, the sand steamer was ready to be boarded. Vash and Alex reported to the guard's station to pay for their rides, while Meryl and Millie went to the concession's stand to pay for theirs.
A few days into the trip, Vash and Alex were put on half duty, as it seemed that the entire planet was seeing a drop in crime.
One day, when they were both off duty, Vash commented, "It seems quiet. Maybe too quiet."
Alex's response to that was a quick chuckle and, "Never say anything like that. That always changes your luck."
"Well I'm bored out of my skull! Anything would be an improvement."
"I can't argue with you there, but we'll probably be regretting it sooner or later."
"I don't doubt it. So, how much longer till we reach June?"
"Probably two weeks. Plenty of time for something to happen."
It didn't.
