Belle
When Belle excitedly told Wise she needed to get to Blazewood in the Outer Rim, she hadn't fully considered the logistics behind the request. She'd thought to drive there- perhaps even in the Random Play car. She'd forgotten that Lycaon seemed reluctant to use it. In fact, Lycaon had a very different concept of their travel plan, and she'd felt the heat of his breath on the back of her neck as he whispered as such in her ear.
And now they were on the roof of Scott Outpost waiting for a helicopter. Alone. A blessedly quiet moment without Qingyi or anyone else. Just the two of them and the city skyline.
Belle thought her life was far too roller-coaster, at the moment. Terror to passion then back to terror again. She wanted a moment to just… sit. And relax. With Lycaon. Off-duty Lycaon!
Belle glanced up at him as she wished for it.
Lycaon towered at her side with a hand to his communicator, eyes and ears focused on the city horizon. He was monitoring communication from somebody in Victoria Housekeeping- Belle wasn't exactly sure with who, but probably regarding the logistics of their abrupt travel plans. He certainly wasn't off-duty right now.
Belle absentmindedly rubbed at one of her temples, the little electronic band that Doctor Ray had given her for the extraction procedure was already gone- its job complete, for now. Belle was to return in another four days for another extraction. She'd been so distracted by Soldier 11 and Jane Doe and everything that she'd barely registered that the procedure occurred and completed.
For all the gloom and doom over her own procedure today- this "milking" of her data-bulged mind; Belle had expected the extraction process to be a grievous trial. It had turned out to be nothing at all, really; and Belle's surprise seemed to satisfy Dr. Ray a great deal.
Apparently, two dozen doctorates had been working double shifts on inventing the extraction process. Practically since the moment Lycaon brought Belle to Scott Outpost unconscious… what? Four days go? Five? Belle had lost count.
"New science is usually messy," said Doctor Ray. "But you truly felt nothing? That's encouraging. It's what we wanted and expected: an indicator that we are on the right track."
"I'm sorry I caused so many people so many problems. I wish I could do something to repay you and your team," said Belle while her mind proved unable to come up with anything better than chocolates. Maybe a pizza party? As if.
"The data in your head is a miracle, Belle. It might contain knowledge lost to the entire human race during Hollowfall," said Doctor Ray, "But we need all of it before it's of any use. So: don't die, and be back here on time. That's thanks enough for us- and for our interns… you'll probably make their careers.
"A- alight," said Belle. What was there to say to that?
Rising out the recent memory, Belle spotted the helicopter long before she could hear the clopping rhythm of its rotor. It zoomed out of central New Eridu like a raven with a specific purpose. As it neared, Belle could see that it was a small bubble of a craft with nothing much more than engine, rotor, and seats. It was clearly a chopper for transporting a few people and that was about it.
It set down upon Scott Outpost nimbly, sending out a blast of dust. Lycaon put a hand on Belle's upper back and ran her over to the waiting chopper, the blades spinning up a wind storm over the small roof. He bent way over, keeping his head well below the droop of the slowing rotors, and perhaps for the sake of habit, pushed Belle's head down, too.
With her natural (lack of) height, Belle didn't think she was in any danger from any helicopter in existence, but Lycaon was ever one to err on the safe side. He opened the back passenger door for her and Belle began climbing in. Then, she caught a full, red-eyed glare from Ellen Joe in the opposite seat.
Great. Ellen. She was coming, too?
"Please strap in, Lady Belle," yelled Lycaon. "We will be testing the limits of fuel capacity this evening!"
Realizing she'd paused and was likely staring at Ellen with a shocked expression, Belle tried to rush back into motion and missed the footstep and stumbled forward into the fuselage of the helicopter. Before she could right herself, Belle felt Lycaon's hands at her hips and butterflies in her stomach as she went weightless. He effortlessly lifted her and set her into the helicopter seat. Like a toddler. Or maybe a large stuffed animal.
Belle blushed, but Lycaon seemed distracted momentarily, perhaps reasonably so with securing her and getting himself into the helicopter. And perhaps she was only feeling embarrassed because Ellen was watching- in any other situation, she might have liked the lift up.
Belle managed to belt herself in while Lycaon handed her a headset and then shut the door, cutting out most of the rotor noise. He then climbed into the seat in front of her. Meanwhile, a helmeted, visored and anonymous man sat in the pilot's seat, seemingly waiting for Lycaon's order. Since the helicopter pilot was wearing a tuxedo, it seemed obvious to Belle that he was a Victoria Housekeeping employee.
Lycaon lifted his own headset to his ears. Belle got her own set on at about the same time.
"Go," said Lycaon over the com system.
Belle immediately felt the butterflies again and felt pulled down into her seat as the nimble aircraft clawed itself into the air. Scott Outpost quickly fell away and behind them. They skirted Hollow Zero, and Belle knew that was because helicopters avoided Hollows due to the strange air currents over the top of them. But they passed close enough for her to stare down into the great beast, glimmering darkly in the afternoon light.
Somewhere in that hollow, Belle was sure, was the answer to everything that happened with ether, and the fall of the old civilization, and all of it.
"Did you have a good day at school, Miss Ellen?" said Lycaon's voice.
"Hey, Lycaon," responded Ellen with a darkly petulant tone. "I said no more helicopter pickups!"
"Apologies, but the needs of the client are paramount and we are in haste."
"Can you imagine what it's like to have the entire school watch you leave? It was super embarrassing, Lycaon! Pick me up somewhere else!"
Lycaon's voice sounded contrite in the headset. "I fear the roof of your school is the only suitable landing in that area."
"It doesn't need to land. Go to some other building and I'll just jump!"
The headsets were silent for a heavy moment.
"Miss Ellen.." began Lycaon. "What is Tenet #139?"
Ellen continued with a petulant sigh: "I know, I know. Never jump towards rotor blades. Jeeze. It's not like I'd actually jump into them…"
"It only takes once," said Lycaon, sounding mildly satisfied..
"Has it ever happened? Someone just jumping too high and getting blendered? Like- do you even know a specific example? Huh, Lycaon?"
"I do not wish it to be you, Miss Ellen."
"... I knew it…" and Ellen crossed her arms and looked out her window.
Belle followed the exchange quietly and saw no reason to get involved with the dispute. There was a pattern to Lycaon and Ellen's conversation which Belle realized was vaguely similar to her own adversarial conversations with Wise. This was certainly a familial relationship between the two.
The helicopter passed over the Chasm and quickly left the city behind, their path curving slightly towards their unseen destination, Blazewood- wherever that was, exactly- out here. The landscape below was arid and wild, brown and gold with dried grasses and stone. Here and there, a ruin of a road snaked through the landscape. Three motorcycles were cruising along far below her, and Belle wondered what it might be like to roam such empty roads. Then the helicopter banked slightly to avoid passing over one of the countless untamed hollows of the Outer Rim. She lost track of the riders.
"How long is the flight?" said Belle, testing her own com system.
"Just about an hour, at present speed, Lady Belle," said Lycaon's voice in her ear. "Are you hungry? Would you care for a snack? Please open the hatch in the back of my seat. It should be roughly eye level to you."
Belle blinked and noticed the latch in front of her for the first time. She opened it; revealing a tastefully organized arrangement of top-shelf snack foods and dried fruits. There were premium potato chips, shelled pistachios, jerky, trail mixes and dried mangos, bananas, and.. chili-sugar dragonfruit? Well, she definitely had to try that one.
An annoyed sigh from Ellen came over the coms next. "...Please enjoy it with a cool bev…"
Belle looked over to see Ellen, who was still looking out the window, had opened up the console between their seats to reveal a narrow cooler of sodas, juices, water, beers, and white wine. Chili sugar dragonfruit and a glass of chilled wine? After almost getting assassinated today? And before that? Being with Lycaon in the hotel bedroom?
"The wine, please, Miss Ellen." said Belle, earning herself a glare and a resigned sigh. But Ellen began to serve her all the same.
Belle took a deep breath and settled back into her seat. Wine and a snack and a nap?
Why not
"…Belle…? Lady Belle?" said Lycaon's voice in her ear.
Belle's eyes fluttered open. She blinked, feeling the motion of the helicopter and remembering where she was. She'd actually fallen asleep!
"We will be landing shortly."
Belle rubbed the back of her hand over the corner of her mouth and looked out the window. Outside and below, the terrain was much the same as it had been: brown and gold scrubland, but there were notably more cacti here, adding a pleasant amount of green color. Two roads in relatively good repair snaked through the area, one traveling under a sheer cliff of perhaps less than a hundred feet, and the other traveling on the high ground parallel to the precipice. Belle's eyes followed the cliffline into the distance and saw it run into the horizon without break. That wall of stone, rising out of the landsca[e, seemed to be the impetus for the small settlement their helicopter was headed for: Blazewood.
A small portion of the town was adjacent to the lower road, and a rickety looking cargo elevator connected that portion of the town with the topside section, which the upper highway cut right through. Belle surmised that using the elevator to transfer cargo from vehicles on the high road to vehicles on the low road (and vice versa) likely saved dozens, if not hundreds of miles of travel time. It was a town born of logistical convenience, and thus, probably not for comfortable habitability.
Belle frowned down at Blazewood in mild dismay. Several hollows loomed in the near distance. There seemed no natural source of drinking water. And evidenced by dust and piles of tumbleweeds, wind storms likely plagued both parts of the town without the mitigation of vegetation or topography.
As the chopper neared the ground for landing, it kicked up a dust storm of its own, blankets of dust and sand billowing away and curling over. The skids barely touched earth before Lycaon was out his door and opening Belle's, a large paw offered to help her down, and another on the back of her head to keep it down as he quickly guided her out and away from the aircraft. Belle winced her eyes closed from the dust as the chopper immediately returned to the sky.
The rotor sounds quickly faded into the distance and a mild breeze whisked away the dust. Belle could open her eyes and stand up straight, feeling the Outer Rim on her skin for the very first time. The air was dry and a bit hot, surprisingly so to Belle after a lifetime in the humidity of New Eridu's coastal climate. Had they flown far enough for such a big difference? Apparently so.
Lycaon and Ellen moved together near her, and as Belle oriented herself, she realized they had moved between her and a person walking in their direction from the edge of the town. Belle peered between her bodyguards and beheld a petite, blond girl walking towards them, alone.
She wore amazingly short shorts and a cut-off top with a seemingly superfluous cut-off leather jacket. It exposed bare midriff and bare legs down to a pair of black riding boots. A blond ponytail billowed out from under a spiked skullcap motorcycle helmet. Belle wondered if the girl had actually just gotten off a motorcycle or if she just sort of wore the helmet all the time like a fashion statement. The girl also carried some sort of large club or bat.
The blond girl walked forward silently. Lycaon and Ellen watched her approach silently. Ellen's massive war-shears hung ready at her side, completely still in the shark thiren's iron grip. Meanwhile, the blond stranger stopped, put a hand on one hip and her large war bat came to rest lackadaisical on a small shoulder.
The two sides stared at each other at respectful distance. A tumbleweed rolled between them on a gust of dust laden wind.
Finally, the blond girl called out in a haughty, sort of mildly-nasal voice: "You're Billy Kid's friends, yes?"
Lycaon and Ellen looked at each other, then back at Belle. She took that as her cue and squeezed through between them to stand in front.
"Yes. I'm Belle. Billy told you I was coming?"
"Yes, he did. I'm Luciana de Montefio," said Lucy, a hand to her own chest and a raise of her chin. "But Billy failed to mention that you would be arriving by helicopter. And with two Victoria Housekeeping bodyguards to boot."
Belle looked up at Lycaon, but he remained focused on Lucy. Belle looked to her other side. Ellen looked bored, but her eyes were roving the landscape. With her bodyguards focused on bodyguarding, Belle supposed that meant she was to handle her own diplomacy. Which was only right, since Billy was her friend, after all.
Lacking any other inroads to conversation and desperate to respond, Belle blurted out: "You know of Victoria Housekeeping?"
Lucy lowered her bat and put both hands near her hips and made an indignant huh sound. "Just because we live in the Outer Rim doesn't mean we are ignorant! Of course, I know about the premiere bodyguard service, Victoria Housekeeping!"
Belle blinked and blushed, realizing she'd inadvertently offended this new potential ally in the first sentence of their conversation. Yes, she was surprised this Lucy person knew about Victoria Housekeeping! But not because Lucy was in the Outer Rim! Belle hadn't heard of them until she'd woken up literally in Lycaon's arms.
Belle wasn't sure what to say next. She hesitated.
Lucy glared for a moment, then gestured behind her. "Well, then, come on! On behalf of The Sons of Calydon: Welcome to Blazewood."
Belle blinked, looked at Lycaon (he nodded), and so she walked towards Lucy and the town. They approached and Lucy turned to walk just before Belle, and their small party silently and awkwardly trekked the distance back to the town. It wasn't far and the border between the wilderness and the town proper seemed to just be a slight incline of the foundation of the outermost structure.
Desperate to warm the relationship with this friend of Billy Kid's, Belle tried to fill the silence with something, anything. "The Sons of Calydon? Is that the authority in the area?"
"That's right," said Lucy, not looking back. "I don't expect someone from the city would even know the name, but we are the de-facto rulers of the Outer Rim. If you want to move around out here, ship out here, do business out here: you need to talk to our Overlord! Caesar King!"
Lucy somehow managed to look back over her shoulder at Belle while also looking down her nose: "And since I'm second in command, you also have to talk to me!"
Belle's mouth opened and closed as she couldn't think of a good response. She was dying here! But what did someone say to a statement like that?
"We are deeply gratified by your personal attention, Miss de Montefio," said Lycaon.
His voice carried such a genuine tone to it that Lucy stopped to look up at him. She suddenly didn't seem angry. Then, after a half-second, Lucy continued onward- and while her voice still sounded haughty, it lost all the previous indignance.
"It's the least I can do for a close friend of one of our close friends," said Lucy with self-importance. "Anything less would be improper."
Belle glanced up at Lycaon just behind and to her right. His eye flickered to hers and he stoically winked down at her. He was a treasure!
"Our Overlord is away on business just now," continued Lucy. "So I will take you to our headquarters for refreshments while we all wait for her return."
"That sounds great!" said Belle, intentionally injecting some enthusiasm into her voice.
Lucy made that huh sound again, but it didn't sound hostile this time. Just some sort of agreement with a strangely passive aggressive flavor. Belle thought this little blond Lucy was as prickly as the cactus they walked past on the side of the street.
And there were quite a few cacti on the side of the street! Many were stubbornly growing out of the patches of natural dirt found in the cracks of broken pavement and at the base of the desert-eroded hollow block structures that most of Blazewood seemed built from. The one part of town that looked different appeared to be their destination: a small collection of brick buildings and a few people idling about near where the upper highway passed through the settlement. Beyond that intersection, such as it was, a semi truck was parked between two of the tallest buildings in all of Blazewood- as in, two stories tall.
Lycaon and Ellen drew stares from the locals as their party walked down the street. Their butler and maid uniforms were polar opposites from the denim, leathers and casual fabrics of the locals, so it was bound to be noticeable out here in the Rim. But then again, Lycaon and Ellen tended to stick out in New Eridu, too- but the bleached whites of their uniforms were much more notable at this moment. Belle didn't see anyone wearing anything white, and with the dust constantly billowing around them with every wayward gust of wind, it was easy to surmise why.
Lucy led them around the front grill of the parked semi truck and Belle was surprised to find the cargo trailer open on the side, and contained within was an entire sports-bar. A line of stools went down the bar line. A petite blond woman in red and black kecks was face down on the counter and asleep in the last stool, but all the others were empty. Not much clientele, but it was just late afternoon.
Yet another blond woman stood behind the bar, drying a clean glass with a rag in the image of bartenders everywhere. She was young, buxom in her halter top and leather jacket, and also kept her midriff bare- which seemed to be the style out here.
The bartender's eyes went to Lucy and Belle and she smiled widely and began bouncing excitedly in place, pigtails and breasts bobbing along. "Hey, they're here! Hi! Welcome to Blazewood! Come have a drink!"
"Burnice," said Lucy, clearly addressing the bartender. "This is Belle and… and her bodyguards."
"Hi, Belle!" said Brunice with a flash of white teeth and a blast of enthusiasm. "Hi, bodyguards! It's so great that you're here! How's Billy?! How's Nicole?! Come sit down and tell us all about everything!"
"HI!" said Belle, trying in vain to return even half the energy that seemed to gush forth from Burnice.
She settled into a stool and immediately found three large shot glasses in front of her. An alarmingly pinkish-clear liquid was inside, still jostling from Burnice's lightning quick service. It looked like something that went inside car engines.
"Let's get your visit started the right way!" said Burnice. "With a shot of Nitro!"
Lucy settled into the stool to Belle's left and immediately received her own shot glass from Burnice. She lifted the drink and looked at Belle with a bland expression on her face. Belle realized Lucy was waiting to drink a toast with her. Was Lucy even old enough to drink? …was there even a drinking age out here?
"And for the bodyguards!" said Burnice.
"Thank you, but we cannot drink on duty," was Lycaon's immediate reply. Ellen said nothing but looked on with marked curiosity.
"Awww," said Burnice, who somehow managed to smile during disappointment. "I think on-duty is the best time to drink…"
The woman asleep at the end of the bar snorted in her sleep but didn't raise her head off the bartop.
"You take the third one, Burnice," commanded Lucy. "The three of us will do it."
"Okay!" Burnice snatched the last remaining shot off the bartop and held it up near Lucy's.
Belle generally didn't like taking straight shots of anything, but this hardly seemed the moment to object. It would be entirely rude if she were to refuse this offering. So lacking a choice, Belle lifted her own glass and the three clinked together loudly.
"Cheers!" "Cheers!"
"Ch- cheers!"
Belle tossed the shot into the back of her throat in imitation of her hosts. The instantaneous, sickly burning told her immediately that whatever this Nitro stuff was, it was at least 150 proof. And there was something else to it that Belle didn't have the words to describe, or the cognitive capacity even if she did. Fire roared through her brain. She swallowed and immediately began coughing, her eyes watering and blurring her view of Lucy and Burnice's gritted-tooth smiles.
Was that poison? Was she dying? Belle coughed again. Was that alcohol or hot sauce? Both? But even as she fretted, a deeply satisfying heat spread out from inside her chest and started up a pleasant buzzing in every pore of her body. She looked at Lycaon, who watched her with some degree of concern. His stance was graceful but imposing, his shoulders broad but not threatening, his metallic legs gleamed gold in the light of the falling sunset.
Damn. He was handsome!
Belle looked back at Lucy and Burnice, the latter already pouring out another round.
"Welcome to the Outer Rim, Belle!"